The Coolidge examiner., 1939-08-10

age, educators soughtmeans OF
showing these childrenof the push
button period" how life went on
before the coming Of the machine
Choice fell on a little village in
western Massachusetts, well known
to some Of the teachers, where the
people were still living in an
agrarian, almost self-sufficient eco.
! nomy. For ten days they lived
together in an old farmhouse
There was no looking on from the
! outside-they did the planning,
marketing, budgeting, chores. and
household tasks. The expense ran
about tweleve dollars per child
Let their own notebooks go on
with the story:
You look for faucet, only to
find yourself confronted by a
pump; after lite manipulation
you develop technique in pump
ing and sit down to dinner with
an eye on the water pitcher, feel
ing very proud"
Pride in achievement sings
| through all of the records. 1--WE
painted the garage after we put
| the Stats on, wrecked the chicken
coop, sawed wood-in other words,
we worked"
A boy wrote THAT evening we
finished kneading the bread and
baked it; when it was done it
smelled delicious" Another boy:
| There were number of things
to do. I decided on carpentering,
and it gave me grand feeling of
satisfaction when I nailed a board
on straight"
Class room laarnings carried
over into some of the comments:
"The block and tackle has me-
chanical advantage of four. I'm
W. .ecking the roof l used first
class lever" "A good example of
the variation of the moment Of
force was that | was able to re-
move spikes with my wrecking bar
which couldn't be budged with a
short-handled hammer"
Youngsters sat at night with
their elbows on "a red-checked
table cloth, earnest faces caught
in the circle of lamplight, and de
manded answers. Why did the
trailer and car travel faster the
the truck when hauling wood? How
are gears used in climbing hills:
Why did the car get stuck on wet
grass where the truck could go
easily? Why did hot box develop
on the wood saw? After such dis
cussions they gathered around an
old organ which they had found
and repaired to sing hymns, to
the surprise of their teacher
friends, because the organ seemed
to prefer hymns"
I'VE saw big pig killed and
thoroughly cleaned and left to
hang stiffly in the barn to dry. In
a few days or so 1t was cut up. l
saw where they got the pork chops
and the bacon I never knew they
could get so much out of pig"
After a visit to local lumber
mill students made calculations on
one tree, including the cost of
Telling. hauling, saving, and truck
ing it to the highway. Much in
terest in conservation, soil erosion
and flood control resulted from the
expedition.
It is hard to evaluate such an
experience. Several projects grew
from it. to continue through the
year in the city. One group Sc
cured, dismantled. and later mount
ed and ran an automobile engine.
Another group continued to cure
and can meats. Attention was
focused on work Of hospital clinics
in caring for the poor; on soil and
conservation work Of the United
States Government; on housing
problems. A background of real
experience gave impetus to the
further study of how power Is
generated to run our machines. Chill
dren did not forget the water
wheel ovkr which they had
clambered. Learning by seeing and
doing is often more effective than
leapning by poring over textbooks.
Apart from more tangible ovid
ence of gain in education ,one
senses a deep inner satisfaction
in city children who have found
! themselves capable of performing
manual labor with the approval oil
81 ro,D (Tboro frank envy of