The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-05-29
MEN IN ARMY
 ABROAD GIVEN REAL EDUCATION

l Paris, May 29.---Correspondence of The Associated Press .)---Uncle sam is now a fully certified schoolmaster with about 100000 khaki-clal pupils. This is the result of the establishment 1 of the Educational Corps of the United States army to provide training for vacations and academic instruction for young men in the army
 The Educational Corps is under the direction of Brigadier General Robert l. Rees, who militarized the American colleges last fall. Under him is an ex- | ecutive commission of three educa- tors, pr. Frank F. SpauIling, Super intendent of Schools in Cleveland; Dr. John Erskine. Professor of English at Columbia; and Dr. Kenyon L. But | terfield President of the Massachu- setts Agricultural College. In all about 7,50O instructors, including a number of men of high standing in American education, are teaching the American soldiers the way to pro- gress. Everything from a, b. c to uni versity subjects and from stenography 1 to engineering is included within the curriculum of this great and unique college.
 The army schools were in full op- eration by January, equipped with S1. 800 worth of books especially or dered from America and provided in part by the American Library Asso- citation. But there has been a short age of books and often one book has ! had to serve for a whole class. 1 Many hundreds Of army schools have been established throughout France wherever there are enough American soldiers to warrant. Gen eral Pershing's order required a post school in every place where 800 or more men were stationed and as the schools had to be opened at once all sorts of queer places, from cafes to monasteries, were used school rooms, until regular quarters could be ! provided The soldiers are studying in barns, stable lofts, aerodromes, army barracks and in one case in a | convent. Meantime the army is en- ldeavoring to provide quarters and sufficient books for its 2G0GO0 students. Tn cities like Coblenz, the city school
 buildings are used without interfering g with the regular school life of the
 children.
 These post schools may be termed the primary schools of the army ed
 ucational system. though this is in exact as in many of these schools more advanced education is being given to officers and men who are
 unable to leave their posts and attend
 
 sity. The men attend these post schools after their regular days work. Then every division has a high school centrally located with better
 accommodations. Some 30,0o0 men are
 attending such high schools. Then comes the big army university at Beaune which will accommodate many | thousands of students. Besides there
 are about 5000 officers and men at tending French universities who have hospitably thrown open their doors to their American friends and 2,000 more
 are in English universi ties. @These
 university students are all men who have had at least the equivalent of two years in college.
 | Obviously few men can be detached from their own units to attend these
 univer -ies but the post school does
 lot interfere with military work, but is available to every soldier and thus has an important place in the educa- l tional system.
 | The breadth of the work in the post | schools being done is astounding. Men who cannot read write are to be founIG studying in the same room with | college graduates who are working for
 advanced degrees. There is a chance | for everybody. The list of subjects | taught would fill a book but here are
 a few to illustrate: Algebra, calculus, | eometry, trigonometry, economies | literature, French, German, Italian, Spanish;, agriculture, autobomile re- | pairing, baking, barbering, bookkeep- l ng, arithmetic, business English, bus | mess forms. carpentry, cobbling, com | mercial law cooking, horseshoeing,
 surveying. mechanical drawing, road | construction, salesmanship, stenog- rappy, typewriting. tailoring. teleg-
 raphy, and telephone repair.
 For illiterates schooling is compul- sorry. for the great bulk of the army | it is elective.