The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1921-04-08
OTHER CITIES APPROVE
MORE INFORMATION ON
BUILDING PROGRAM
Problems That Require Solution
For Housing the Pupils
$751;. In Mankato
HIGH SPOTS IN THE SCHOOL
BUILDING PROGRAM

The 6-3-3 plan Of school oraaniza-
ton, which is involved in the building
program Of the board Of education. Is
universally approved Sy .dmcster:.
having been auopreu IN every city
where local conditions made it feast
BILE during the past ten years. Buffalo
is erecting twelve junior high school
buildings simultaneously.
It is very unusual to find In any
city that what is most desirable edu :
cationally Is at the same time the most
economical and practical. This is the
fortunate condition in Mankato, how
ever.
This article deals squareIy with the
argument advanced by a few persons,
who are no doubt poorly informed
concerning the local situation. that the
the seventh and eight grades to the
elementary school buildings. IT is
SHOWN That SUCH A COURSE OF
ACTION WOULD INVOLVE GREAT
Err EXPENDITURE THAN THE
PLAN PROPOSED BY THE BOARD
OF EDUCATION, FOR IT WOULD
NECESSlTATE:
First. An addition Immediately to
the new Union Building.
Second: A new building immediate
Iy In each of the other three eiemen-
tary school districts.
Third. An extension of the school
grounds in each district.
! Fourth. Almost immediate replace
ment Of the present high school build
ing.
1t must be evident to anyone who
has read the earlier articles in this
series that there are several problems
requiring solution in the direction OF
Sproviding a sufficient amount Of salts
factory school space for Mankato's
children. Any program OF school con
struction must take into account the
crowding at the high school, and at
the Lincoln and Roosevelt schools
deterioration of the two oldest build
ings, the Lincoln and the Franklin;
and must look forward to future con
ditions so far as possible instead OF
providing simply for the present.
Concerning any suggested school
building program, the board of educa-
ton and the community ought to ask
two questions: First is the suggested
solution desirable from an education
tages that the children of other cities
will have? And second, is it feasible
as applied to the local situation
Under certain conditions, as for ex-
ample in an entirely new community,
where the location of old school build :
ings is not a factor, or in community
with unlimited wealth, where any ac-
ton may be taken without counting
the financial cost, the second question
h0 PrIf a
conditions, it is frequently necessary
to modify the program that is best
educationally in order that use may
be made of buildings already erected
or in order to locate the new build
ings near enough to some parts of the
district. 1t is very unusual to find
in any district that the thing that is
most desirable educationally for the
present and the future, is at the same
time the most feasible. This is the
case, however, in the City of Mankato,
with respect to the building program
which was unanimously adopted by
the board of Education in December,
and which has been enthusiastically
endorsed by mapv Mankato organiza
tons since that time.
The program commits the city to
the So called 633 plan in school or
ganization. Under this plan, the first
seventh, eight and ninth grades are
a distinct unit. called the Junior High
School; and the tenth, eleventh and
twelfth grades are a unit, called the
Senior High School. This plan was
in reality adopted by the Board be-
fore the erection of the Union build :
ing, this being. built to accommodate
grades of this district. The Boards
faction last December sim ply reaffrm
ed its approval of this form of organ
ization. = =
Volumes have been written to show
the superiority Of this organization in
actual practice a.. compared with the
old form. in which there was an eight
grade elementary school and a four
year high school. The 6-3-3 plan is
latter being introduced about 1890 in
some of the more progressive systems
Of this country. Under the 6-2-4 plan,
the seventh and eighth grades were
made a separate unit-separate - N
the six grades below and from the
four year high school above-and the
teaching was departmentalized in
these two grades. That is. each SUBJ
Iject was taught by specialist. Each
one as formerly. The course of study
under these conditions was more 1exi-
BILE than it had been. and it was pos
sible to introduce subjects likely to
unreal to bows and girls who fre.ted
under the cid regime and were likely
TO drop out of school. Manual train.
ing and domestic science have been
the most universally appealing of
these subjects, but others have also
been used wherever the departmental
system has been effected. Since 1900,
1t has been almost the universal prac-
"a in schools large enough to have
at least two teachers in the seventh
and eight grades, to organize the work
Of these grades on basis very diff
ferent from that Of the lower grades.
In 1920, after twenty years of ex-
perience, with the 6-2-4 scheme. and
after careful ANALYSIS of weakness in
various parts of the school organiza-
ton, the ninth grade was included
with the seventh and eighth in a few
city systems where it was practicable
to do it. 1t has long been recognized
that the average pupil in the ninth
grade is more nearly related psyche
logically and physically and socially to
those Younger than himself than he
is to those in the upper three grades
of high school He has not yet passed
completely through the storm and
stress period upon which he enters
two years earlier and which his par
ents and his teachers recognize as the
most critical period of his young life
He Is likely to change his ambitions
over night-varying from a desire to
- 4, &c IAf t,y~