Republican farmer., 1920-07-30
ARMY EDUCATION SYSTEM PROVED
 GREAT SUCCESS
Making Real Americans In Uncle Sam's School At
 Camp Upton.

The army learned much during ths war and has, since the signing of the armisice, instituted many improve ments throughout its organization. The greatest of all these is the es- tablishment of a new educational system. Prior to the war illiteracy was a barrier between the army and thousands oe good soldiers. Regard less of their other qualifications men who could not write their names, un- derstand a command, Or read an or der. were refused admittance into the | service.
 | Officials of the army realized that l great fighting unit must be a great educational institutions and establish l ed vocational schools to train men 1 for trades, but those who did not un- derstand the English language were not competent to take these courses. Last April a school for preliminary l education was established at Camp
 Upton where men who compiled with army requirements in all respect ex- cept Hteracy could learn to write and 1 speak the language. It was a profita- ble experiment. for Uncle Sam and l the men.
 At the opening of the school re- cruits were gathered from over the
 East. A strange looking group they
 were-about 200 men and twenty or | | hair and blue eyes from far off lands l bounding the Baltic Sea, standing be-
 side smiling dusky lads from the Phil ipines. Few could speak or under
 stand the English language. Few
 could write their names.
 Divi. .ded Into Groups.
 If all the new pupils had been of
 the same mental calibre progress
 would have been only a matter of be- ginning classes.
 Some were American boys whose
 early education had been neglected. Some were foreigners, who, though we'll educated, had not learned Eng fish, and some were weakminded and
 lacked the ability to learn. As soon
 as one of the recruits was found to be in the latter class he was recom- | mended for an immediate discharge. The task of "assorting minds" faced the schools psychologists.
 After being in isolation in a casual i detachment for fifteen days the re-
 cruits were given the Beta test to de- termine their intelligence rating"
 as the psychologists termed it. The
 men were placed in groups of A. B.
 c. and D., according to their intelli- gence. Under this system a man mem
 tally deficient would not be placed
 in class with the more apt pupils
 and retard the progress of instruc-
 ton. Each group was put through a
 course of six grades.
 It was found that group A pro-
 gressed about twice as fast as Group
 and that the pupils in completed each course in about two weeks. . When Glass A was graduated all could read and write English. some were well on in history. Few fell
 back during the course. Group B was graduated some weeks after and all the silent men. of many races were
 talking and laughing together. Many
 wrote letters home for the first time
 in their lives. Finally c completed ius
 course, ani the recruits of that se~-
 tion were also familiar with the Eng
 fish language. After the third grade
 Section D was discontinued. About 50
 per cent. of the men were recom- mended for discharge. while the other f 50 per cent. were promoted to Group New Schools Planned r The Beta test is merely a pschoIo- : gica1 effort to determine the menta s alertness of the men. The instructor , stood before the recruits and indi- t cated in pantomine that he wished te I have the men draw some blocks and 4 write the answer or to draw a tai : on tailless pig.
 l The experiment. was not only g new I phase of army education, but a new I epoch in Americanization. After the
 men were graduated they were as-
 signed to some army post, where ir
 many eases. they entered the trade
 schools.
 WLaile at Camp Upton the .ner 4 received two hours and half of edu, D cationa1 instruction daily and thu ? same length of period for dTili. ', Today the school contains 1,50t !. men, It has developed into a grea1 V I melting. pot with a funnel pouring ou 1 material for the American army n Schools will be opened at Camps 5 Jackson, Pike, Travis, Grant ans 2 Lewis They will offer an opportunity e for a man to educate himself and bs e paid for doing it.