The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1920-07-26
ARMY EDUCATION
 SYSTEM PROVED !.
 GREAT SUCCESS
Making Real Americans In Uncle Sam's School At
 Camp Upton.

The army learned much 0UI1nG the war and has, since the signing of the armisdce, instituted many improve ments throughout it's organization. The greatest of all these is the es- tablishment of a new educational system. Prior to the war iuiteracy was a barrier between the army and thousands Of good soldiers. Regard less of their other qualifications men who could not write their names, un- derstapd a command, or read an or der, were refused admittance into the service.
 Officials of the army realized that a great fighting unit must be a great educational institutions and establish ed vocational schools to train men for trades, but those who did not un- derstand the English language were not competent to take these courses.
 Last April a school flor preliminary education was established at Camp Upton where men who compiled with army requirenen ents in all respect ex- cept Iteracy could learn to write and speak the language. It was a profita- b1e experiment. for Uncle Sam and 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 so nationalities, some tall with blond hair and blue eyes from far off lands bounding the Baltic Sea, standing be- side smiling dusky lads from the Phil 1pines. 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 well 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 detachment for fifteen days the re- cru1ts 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. i c. and D.. according to their intelli- gence. Under this system a manemen- tally deficient would not be placed
 
 and retard the progress of instruc- 1 ton. Each group was put through g course of six grades.
 It was found that group A pro- gressed about twice as fast as Group c and that the pupils in A completed l each course in about two weeks When Glass A was graduated al | could read and write English, some were well on in history. Few fel | back dering the course. Group B wal graduated some weeks after and al the silent men. of many races wer, talking and laughing together. Man | wrote letters home for the first tim. in their lives. Finally c completed ir | course, and the recruits of that sec 1 ton were also familiar with the Eng fish language. After the third grad Section D was discontinued About 5 ! per cent of the men were recon l mended for discharge, while the othe 50 per cent. were promoted to Groul lC.
 | New Schools Planned l The Beta test is merely a pscholo sica1 effort to determine the menta alertness of the men. The instructo stood before the recruits and indi cated in pantomine that he wished t have the men draw some blocks an write the answer or to draw a ta; on a tailless pig.
 The experiment was not only ne, phase of army education, but a ne1 epoch in Americanization. After tn men were graduated they were as
 signed to some army post, where i
 many cases they entered the trad l schools.
 | While at Camp Upton the me lreceived two hours and a half of edu FcationaI instruction daily and tn
 same length of period for drill. l Today the school contains 1,5O
 men. It has developed into a grea
 melting pot with a funnel pouring or
 material for the American arm,
 Schools will be opened at CamI
 Jackson, Pike, Travis, Grant an
 Lewis. They will offer an opportunit
 for a man to educate himself and t | paid for doing it.