Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-05-25
MANY YANKS
ATTEND PARIS
TRADE SCHOOL
Educational Corps Of Overseas
Forces Under Brigadier
General Rees Has $500
Instructors.

of Associated Press.)-uncle San.
is now a fully certified schoolmas-
ter with about 100000 khaki-clad
pupils. This is the result OF the es-
Enlistment of the educational corps
of the United States army to provide
training for vocations and academic
instruction for young men in the
army.
The educational corps is under the
direction of Brig. Gen. Robert |,
Rees, who militarized the American
colleges last fall Under him is ar
executive commission of three edu'
Gators. DR.. Frank Il Spaulding, SUI
perintendent of schools in Cleve-
land; Dr. John Erskins. professor
Of English at Columbia, and DR.
Kenyon l.. Butterheld. president OF
the Massachusetts agricultural col
lege. In all about $500 instructors
including a number of men OF high
standing in American education. are
tea ching the American soldier the
way to progress. Everything from
a, b, to university subjects, and
from stenography to engineering is
included within the curriculum OF
this great and uniqtc college.
The army schools were IN FULL OPP
Grafton by January, equipped with
ST 500 worth of books specially o.
dered from America and provided in
part by the American Library asso-
citation. But there has been short
age of books and often one book
has had to serve for whole class.
Many Schools Established.
Many hundreds of army schools
have been established throughout
France wherever there are enough
American soldiers to warrant. Cen
eral Pershing's order required a
post school in every place where
500 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 as
schoolrooms, until regular quarters
could be provided. The soldiers are
studying in barns, stable lofts. aero
dromes, army barracks and in one
case in a convent. Meantime the
army is endeavoring to provide ade-
quate quarters and sufficient books
for its 100000 students. In cities
like Coblenz, the city school build
ings are used without interfering
with the regular school life of the
children.
These post schools may be termed
the primary schools of the army edu
cational system, though this is mex
act, as in many of these schools
more advanced education is being
given to officers and men who are
unable to leave their posts and at
tend the divisional schools or the
university. The men attend these
post schools after their regular days
work.
Then every division has a high
school centrally located with better
accommodations. Some 10000 men
are attending such high schools.
Then comes the big army university
at Beaume, which will accommodate
many thousands of students. Besides
there are about 5000 officers and
men attending French universities
who have Hospitality thrown open
their doors to their American friends
and 1000 more are i'll English uni
versities. These universities stu
dents are all men who have had at
least the equivalent of two years in
college.
Available to Every Soldier.
Obviously few men can be de-
tached from their own units to at
tend these universities, but the post
school does not interfere with mill
tary work, but is available to every
soldier, and thus has an important
place in the educational system.
The breadth of the work in the
post schools being done is astound
ing. Men who cannot read or write
are to be found studying in the
same room with college students
who are working for advanced de-
grees. There is a chance for every
body. The list of subjects taught
would fill book, but here are few
to illustrate: Algebra, calculus,
geometry, trigonometry, economies,
literature, French, German, Italian.
Spanish, agriculture, automobile re-
pairing. baking, barbering, book
keeping, arithmetic, business Eng
lish, business forms, carpentry, cob
bling, commercial law, cooking.
horseshoeing, surveying, mechanical
drawing, road construction, sales
manship, stenography, typewriting,
tailoring, telegraphy, and telephone
repair.
For illiterates schooling is com.
pulsory, for the great bulk of the
army it is elective.