USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > Education in Indiana. An outline of the growth of the common school system, together with statements relating to the condition of secondary and higher education in the state and a brief history of the educational exhibit. Prepared for the Louisiana purchase exposition, held at Saint Louis, May 1 to November 30, 1904 > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43
In 1883 the law governing the school was radically and care- fully revised so as to embody the result of experience in such work. At this time the House of Refuge was changed to the Indi- ana Reform School for Boys.
The general assembly at its last session passed senate bill No. 56, changing the name of the institution from Indiana Reform School for Boys to the Indiana Boys' School, so that any possible hindrance to a boy's advancement that would perhaps be found in a name and his having at one time been an inmate of the Reform School, has been removed, but the work under the new name with and for and in behalf of the boys is the same as before. Its pur- poses being by strict discipline and mental and moral training to teach a boy the great lesson of life under law, that as he conducts himself so will he be treated.
The Indiana boys' school is a farm and an industrial village with many industries in progress, with a school, a chapel, a hos- pital, printing office and various shops. The buildings in this village are heated by steam and lighted by gas and electricity. All work on the farm and in the village is carried on by the boys themselves under the direction of competent instructors.
This village has over forty-nine buildings, and with but two exceptions the brick with which they were built were made by the boys and laid in the walls by them. The total valuation of these buildings at present amount to $125,635.
600
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
The officers of the institution consist of the board of trustees, appointed by the governor for a term of four years. The present board of commissioners are W. C. VanArsdel, Indianapolis, Ind., whose term expires March 1, 1905; W. C. Ball, Terre Haute, Ind., and Joseph B. Homan, Danville, Ind., whose terms expire March 1, 1907; and the remaining officers are superintendent, matron, assistant superintendent, clerk, chaplain, physician, as- sistant clerk and stenographer. The teaching faculty is composed of five teachers who have charge of the school work. In addition to the officers and teaching faculty there are thirty-six subordi- nate officers in charge of the manual training shops and other de- partments.
The equipment consists of
Library-2,500 volumes. Value $500.
Furniture-Library, schools, 11 family buildings, chapel, old administration building, new administration building, hospital, boys' dormitory, miscellaneous. Value $10,454.70.
Apparatus-School books, etc., boilers, engine pumps, laundry, printing, light, M. T. machinery, blacksmith shop, gas plant, greenhouse, tools, garden, bakery, shoeshop, tailor shop. Value $28,980.50
Personal Property-Cows and hogs, horses and mules, wagons and buggies, farm implements, harness. Value $3,321.
Present enrollment, 592.
The institution derives its support from the state. The last appropriation made for maintenance on an estimated cost of $120 per capita, required $65,000 per annum.
f. THE INDIANA INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS.
The Indiana Reformatory for Women and Girls was estab- lished by an act of the legislature in 1869, and from the beginning had what was called the prison side, and the reformatory side. In 1899, the girls' department was given a more appropriate name, and the title became "The Indiana Industrial School for Girls and Womans Prison." They were placed under one man- agement, but in so far as was possible, while both remained under the same roof, they are kept separate. Since the school was estab- lished, there have been received 1,399 girls. There are now under
601
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
two hundred and fifteen girls. The work done in the industrial school is of two kinds. One half of the girls are engaged in industrial work, while the other half are doing what is usually comprehended under the term school work. These divisions alter- nate morning and afternoon, so that both kinds of work are in progress at the same time. The school work is very similar to that which is done in the public schools, from the fourth to the eighth grade. In general, the work done in this school is very commend- able, and the specimens of composition and penmanship and other evidences of what is accomplished, will compare favorably with those of like kind from other schools. What may be called domestic industries are carefully taught in a number of different departments. The girls are taught laundry work in the best man- ner. There is a scientific kitchen where a small class is taught cooking in the most approved scientific method. Plain cooking is taught as well as the situation and appliances will allow. Gen- eral housework, including the care of the dormitories and bath- rooms, has its place also. The girls are taught to cut and fit dresses and other garments by the simplest and most practical system. They are taught all kinds of plain sewing, hemstitching, crocheting, lace knitting, canning, basketry, bead work, and em- broidery.
The institution is under a board of managers consisting of three women appointed by the governor for a term of four years, who are charged with the general management of affairs.
Present enrollment, 215.
The institution is supported by the state by an appropriation made by the legislature on a per capita basis.
g. INDIANA REFORMATORY.
The purpose of the law establishing the Reformatory is that as soon as the present contracts expire provision will be made in this institution for a thorough training of each and every inmate in the common branches ; also in some trade, industry or handicraft and to offer such rewards as will enable the inmate upon his re- lease to more surely earn his own support, and make him a more self-reliant and self-supporting citizen. For this purpose it is the duty of the management to maintain common schools and trade
602
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
schools in said institution and make all needful rules and regula- tions for the government of same, and do such other things as are necessary to accomplish such results. The present contracts of institution will not expire until July, 1906. After that date, this institution will be conducted along lines indicated above.
At the present time all the illiterates that come to this institu- tion are given special instruction up to the sixth grade. There are now about 150 of those who are most in need of such instruc- tion. There are ten trade schools, in which 101 boys are em- ployed; in the engineering and electrical department 18; in the tailoring department 19; in the printing department 8; in the brickmasons' department 3; in the blacksmiths' department 2; in the carpenters' department 7; in the painters' department 8; in the tinners' department 4, and in the baking department 6. In each of these departments there is a man who is thoroughly com- petent to instruct these boys in the practical workings of the trades. Text-books are supplied so that during the hours when they have no other work the boys may study the theory of their trades. There are three instructors in the institution, which has capacity and equipment for 200 pupils daily. It is the purpose to give these boys thorough training along these lines, so that when they are paroled or released from the institution they can carry with them certificates showing that they are able to make certain wages in the trade in which they have been instructed.
The compulsory education law in Indiana needs to be more rigidly enforced. Young men are often received in this institution between the ages of sixteen and thirty who can neither read nor write. This should not be possible in a state where the opportuni- ties for an education are as great as they are in Indiana. These young men when placed in school here show willingness to learn to read and write. The average young man can complete a grade in from three to four months. In this institution about 15 per cent. of the boys that are admitted can neither read nor write; 50 per cent. have never reached higher than the second grade; 30 per cent. possibly have reached the third, fourth or fifth grades ; while but 5 per cent. have ever received high school instruction. This alone is an object lesson that there should be compulsory education.
603
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
There is nothing that will tend so much to keep young men from becoming inmates of institutions of this character as educa- tion. Not only should they have education as they find it in the text-books, but there should be established wherever possible in our schools manual training and classes in agriculture.
If the people of this state, as well as other states, would spend more money in kindergarten schools, and would take the boy and girl from the slums and the streets and put them into such schools, and follow them on into the public schools, until they bloom into manhood and womanhood, the good results would be seen from this work in a generation from now by the population of our prisons and reformatories diminishing.
Every teacher should report to the local charity organization, or direct to the secretary of the board of state charities, any case of neglected childhood coming under the teacher's observation. If parents and guardians can not, or will not, insure proper schooling, nourishment and protection to the children in their charge, the state must see to it that these necessities of life are provided. It would be well for the members of the charity organizations, both state and county, to be urged to approach all teachers in their various districts, insuring that interest in the neglected children be encouraged.
Reformatories and prisons are only repair shops; hence the greatest good that can be accomplished by the people of the state is by adopting such methods along lines of education as will bring about the correct rearing of the child. Then, if the child should be so unfortunate as to make a misstep and be committed to a reformatory, all methods used in the institution should be along lines to build up the boy physically, mentally and morally, and not to turn him over to the mercies of the contractor, who under his system will naturally tear down the very principles that we are seeking to build up. Hence, the need of free school books and compulsory education before the child comes to such an insti- tution ; then the need of more schools, more trade schools and more teaching along moral lines after the boy is committed to such institution.
The aim of the department of schools in institutions such as the Indiana Reformatory is to give every inmate the power to read
604
EDUCATION IN INDIANA.
and write and to think and reason for himself. The benefits resulting from the work of the schools in an institution of this kind are incalculable, reaching far beyond mere progress in a text book and affecting the entire future life of the inmate. His reasoning faculties are developed and all the powers of his mind are disciplined and enlarged, arousing within him an apprecia- tion of the value of knowledge.
The institution is supported by appropriation from the legis- lature.
770
-
المالية
ـالعلبة
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.