Evening star., 1953-01-07
Baltimore Educators Cautious
On TV Results in School Strike
BY Jock Jonas
Stor Staff Correspondent


BALTIMORE, Jan. This
may become known as the Balti-
more experiment, but scientific
data is going to be mighty hard
to find.
Because of a strike of city en-
ployes. which has forced the clos
ing Of lot out of 174 schools, the
youngsters are attending classes
by television and radio-the
Board of Education hopes.
"We expect that because this
is all new, it is going to be some
thing less than perfect, DR..
John H. Fischer. assistant super
intendent of instruction. said.
There is reason for DR.. Fisch-
er's caution. School officials are
hoping to reach 10000 pupils who
can't go to school because the
buildings are cold. Some of the
ianitors who fire the furnaces
are among the strikers.
Attendance Not Compulsory.
But there is no way to make
the pupils turn on the family
television sets. and school off,
cials say they don't have to If
they don't want to.
Harried parents. already
plagued by the problem of get
ting rid of the daily garbage
and worried about possible
breakdowns in the water supply
and sewerage systems. have the
additional parental duty of see
ing that their children ATTEND"
the daily classes by TV or radio.
The Board of Education has
urged parents to keep an eye on
the shows, since special instruc-
tions for them are being broad
cast from time to time.
The youngsters who looked
for a vacation got sad news to-
day. They still have to tumble
out of bed and go to school at
the regular time-but only to
get homework assignments and
to turn in homework from the
day before.
Three Point Program.
A three-point program in the
schools calls for:
/. Regular classes for 10000
students whose schools are un-
affected by the strike.
2. Children who attend schools
that are closed will report at the
regular time in the morning to
pick up homework assignments
and turn in completed homework
from the day before.
3. Glasses on television and
radio.
The plan was drawn up in a
hurry over the week end, but it
appeared to be operating
smoothly. Teachers for the
shows were selected because of
special experience in television
or because of television training.
Three stations-two television
and one radio-have set aside
time for the broadcastS, and
no commercials interrupt the
classes.
The first class that went on
the air was for elementary
pupils. It was a science program
about thermometers. A group of
eight youngsters sat with the
teacher. primarily to give the
teacher the feeling that she was
instructing a live class.
Youngsters Display Poise.
The youngsters displayed a
lot of poise and didn't seem to
know the television cameras
were there.
How many were watching at
home was something the school
officials were not prepared to
estimate. They said they could
only hope that many are taking
advantage Of the classse on the
air.
Some parents said pupils
greeted the first days showing
as a novelty. and there was
little trouble getting them to
watch. But after the younger
set had viewed the first show
ings, they came up with this
conclusion: "
It would have to be more
lively to compete with space
cadets and cowboy heroes-not
enough Indians were biting the
dust.
Growing Concern.
In other fields affected by the
strike. there was growing con-
Germ by city officials and resi-
dents Of Baltimore.
Sewage disposal was a pressing
problem, although its effect was
not being felt Immediately in
Baltimore homes. Ofiicials re-
assured residents that the city