The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-06-10
Minnesota State Training
School For Boys; Purpose
w. D. MATHEWS

on their part to get back to the life
OF law-abiding citizen. The old
guard house has been turned into a
cottage for some of the officers and
the old discipline company has been
dlsbanded. Yet there seems to be a
strong spirit among the boys that it
is very wrong to do wrong.
1t amt bad after you get used to
II. The new ones get homesick at
first" said one of the lads as he was
showing me around. This is evil
year ending June 1920 there were
thirty one boys returned by them
selpes temporarily when they got
out of job or wanted help.
There are two chapels in the audi
forum, one for Protestant services
and one for Catholic. The boys have
special suits for Sunday which are
uniform but not of military or con-
vict style.
school one half of each day. They
is some sort of game or recreation
The work may be in the barns, in
the shops, greenhouse, band, or any
kind of work which may or may not
be vocational training. If a boy has
a mentality that will permit the
learning Of a good skilled trade,
then he is given the chance if the
proper equipment is furnished.
When boy enters the place he is
given a physical examination and as
soon as possible he is given differ
ent mental tests in order to find out
what he is most likely to be best
fitted for. 1t is impossible to tell ex-
actly but many things are found
out so that in a short time, by
changing the boy from one thing to-
another, he is put into the work
where he will probably make sue
cess. The rate of mentality of these
boys is much lower than the average
group, SO it cannot be expected to
Yet many boys who are usually con-
sidered as very defective will have
some good special ability that will
make 1t possible to acquire interest
in some work and consequently turn
his thoughts away from the way
ward life that he has been living
Mr.. Fulton is Of the opinion that
when once the boy gets interested
in some vocation his former troubles
are ended. He said:
81 find that usually when boy
gets interested in the band, his
troubles are over"
The printing shop is we'll equip
ped 1t prints notices and pamphlets
for the school and for many other
institutions. The work that Is turned
out Is as good as that of private
shops where union journalmen print
ers are employed. Boys who show
the proper attitude are put on the
linotype machine. Some of the boys
who have gone out from this shop
with nine months or so of training
have been put into positions paying
thirty dollars a week or more.
The carpentry shop boys do much
work about the institution. The shoe
shop boys repair the shoes for their
own use. The tailor shop makes all
of the clothes that the boys wear
besides making the bed linen for the
whole school. A well equipped laun
dry does all of their own work. The
greenhouse and garden boys raise
vegetables for the dining rooms. The
band this summer will be made up
of thirty five or forty pieces.
The boys are paroled or discharg-
ed as soon as 1t is thought that they
can get along by themselves. If a
boy shows himself to be one that
can be trusted, he is sent back home
or given a place where he can work.
There are three parole officers who
check up on the boys and do what
they can to keep them in a school
or at some kind of work. II boy
gets out of work OR has such mis-
fortunes he may come hack to the
school until he is placed somewhere
else. He is urged not to come back
unless it is absolutely necessary.
Quite a number of the boys do come
back this way and are treated as
honor boys until they can be sent
out again.
According to the last report, over
one third of the boys were either
discharged or paroled before they
had been at the school more than
were there less than one year. OF
the boys on parole. about one fifth
return to the institution. Part of
these came back because of un-
suitable homes or employment.
The chronological ages of the boys
admitted range from eight to twenty
years, and their mental ages range
from seven to nineteen years. The
median age of all admitted is little
less than fourteen years. The median
grade in school is the sixth, while
training above the eighth grade
About twelve per cent of the boys
are of foreign birth, while about half
of them come from foreign born
parents.
An examination by ,Terman of
large group of ordinary boys. that is
boys who are not delinquent, show
ed that in any group or community
it may be expected that two percent
are of the lowest type mentally or
morally. About ten per cent are
either moral or are on the border
line. Not all communities are alike
of course and some sections will
have a larger number than another.
n a community is known to be had,
it will probably have more. If it is
known to be good it will probably
have less. Nevertheless this is a
standard by which to judge the
number of boys which may be need
ing tetter supervision. ~.
Out of one hundred homes investi,
gated-homes of the bows who had
already been sent to the training
school-it was found that the super
vision by the parents was very poor.
In one fourth of the places, there
was no supervision at all. In another
forty five per cent thereSwas none of
much value. Tn about twenty percent
it was fair. and in only two percent
was it good. 1t is to be remembered
that these boys had home however
and it does not include those who
were living on the streets and in in
situations.