The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-11-28


she was a teacher of children, and
not merely Of subjects or methods,
she was willing to adopt any change
of system, no matter how radical,
il 1t would give the children on part
timethe right to a full day in the
school room.
The change at the Park View
School was made in the middle of
the school year, and only those
teachers were asked to remain who
were willing to assume the added
work such an experiment would en-
tall, The building was not re-
modelled to meet the needs of
platoon school program, but despite
this tremendous handicap the ex-
pertinent at the Park View School
has Been a success. AT the end
% the hrst year it received the
unqualified Endorsement of both
pSrAnts and teachers. It is a fine
example of the character of the
teaching force rising above the ma
tgial limitations of buildings and
efuipment- another instance of a
real teacher on one end of a log
and a pupil on the other making
asgood school Certainly in COM
p$rfson with a properly built and
fully equipped platoon school the
Pbrk View building is not much
more than "the other end of the
log"
Experiment In West.
THE writer recalls an experiment
with a platoon school in a pro-
gressive Western community. A
splendid building was erected with
WORK shops, gymnasiums. assembly
halls, studies, library and we'll
equipped Fairgrounds. But at the
end of the first year the patrons of
~ school could not give it an I'M
qRa1ifed Endorsement because the
principal, who had been a success
N HR conventional graded school.
ca not possess that maximum eff
Gle ncy and executive ability neces-
spy for the organization and oper-
Don of a work-study-pla school.
Washington did not have the build
ing Dor equipment for a platoon ex-
pertinent, but fortunately it had the
Principal and teaching force that
slHn a system demands.
The visitor arrived at the Park
WV School just before the hour
fpnthe changing of platoons. The
ing in one of the recitation rooms.
fdt even in a school that enroIls
oyer a thousand pupils the princi-
pa is required to teach a certain
amber of hours per week. a gong
rFg at 1890 and pandemonium
sefned to break loose. Glasses came
pm all directions and went in all
objections; the halls, stairways and
corridors were SLED with boys and
gGls. not lined up in the old-fash-
iOhed martinez system, but walking
With a freedom that indicated a
goodly measure of self-gOvernment
I'D an invisible disciplinary force
that knew how to draw the line be-
tween liberty and license. To an
ol1-fashioned follower of right dis
ciPline, or TO one who believes good
behavior can come ONLY through
suppression, the passing of the pla-
toens might have seemed like con-
fueton. But when one of the classes
wts followed into a home room
itf was found that they had ex-
changed seats with forty other pu-
pls, who had been occupying the
room, and had settled down to work
with commendable promptness.
Numerous "Home Runs"
The Park View program briefly
put is as follows: There are ten
home rooms" and to each of these
two classes OF forty pupils report
each morning. One forty remains
standing until the opening exercises
arg over when they pass to recita-
tian rooms for instruction in special
subjects, such as penmanship, music.
art literature and nature study.
The seated group remains in the
home room to be taught the
basic subjects-the three Rs-by the
room teacher.
AT 1880 the platoons change, the
home room groups go out to be
taught special subjects, while the
other groups return to the home
rooms and are taught basic sub
Jeets by the room seacher. In the
afternoon a similar exchange is
made.
Unlike many platoon schools the
Park Siew School keeps the first
and second grades distinct from
the platoon organization, thus pro-
teeting the little children from the
overstimulation of too many teach
ers and the confusion of passing
IRON room to room. These little
folks stay in their own grade rooms
and are "mothered" by their own
teschers.
Beside the home rooms, there are
fotr classrooms, used for special
subjects. and the library space is
equipped with a stereopticon and
used for nature study and geogra-
phr. The assembly hall is used for
classes in dramatics, for a study
room and for music. The capacity
OF" the school on a seat-for-every-
chhd basis was $40. Under the pla
tom system the enrolment is l,O62.
This means the use of every avail
aide bit of space.
Business in All Spaces.
In the assembly hall We found
groups of third and fourth grade
children dramatizing their reading
lessons, while in the balcony of the
hau another class was recitinG. A
later visit to the assembly hall
fosnd it being used for a study
ROOM The lighting is not sufi-
cispt, however, for study, and the
sea~S not arranged so a teacher can
easily supervise the study. In the
library, or science room, a large
class was seated in a circle ready
fox nature study lesson. The
waE kshops, as in other Washing
tor schools, accommodate only the
boys Of the seventh and eighth
grades, but a workbench had been
inSalled in one of the classrooms,
and q group of fourth-g grade boys
0RISTS