O
424
The Platoon School
1. Is unsound educationally, because
a. It emphasizes the teaching of subject matter
rather than the teaching of children;
b. It overstimulates the children;
c. It breaks down the personal and motherly
contact between children and teachers;
d. It tends to cultivate bad mental habits.
2. Is unsound from the standpoint of health and
hygiene, because
a. It overstimulates children to the point of
nervous exhaustion;
b. It offers greater opportunities for the spread
of contagious and infectious diseases.
3. Is unsound from an economic and financial
standpoint, because
a. It costs more to construct platoon schools
than it does to construct regular schools;
b. It costs more to equip platoon schools than it
does to equip regular schools;
c. Instruction costs are higher in platoon
schools than in regular schools;
d. Supervision costs are higher in platoon
schools than in regular schools.
4. Experience has shown that it does not do away
with the use of barracks nor with part-time in-
struction.
THIOLAUSTONE
TRAULEIUNON COUNCIL 33
FRWATKI
LB
1559
66
M6
FOREWORD
This minority report on Platoon Schools was sub-
mitted to the Board of School Directors of Milwau-
kee, May 6, 1924, by the teacher members of the com-
mittee appointed by the Superintendent of Schools
for the purpose of investigating the Platoon system.
Their reasons for submitting this report are set
forth in the report itself.
louie Suchersteer in.
1+
7-19-1924
Report on Platoon Schools.
To the Board of School Directors of the City of Milwaukee, through
Milton C. Potter, Superintendent of Schools:
The undersigned, members of the committee of five appointed pursuant
of the resolution adopted by the board of school directors on February 5,
1924, authorizing an investigation of the so-called platoon system of school
organization, submit for your consideration the following:
I. ORGANIZATION OF COMMITTEE
Following the adoption of the resolution referred to, President Durand
designated School Director Miss Gertrude Sherman as the school board
member of the investigating committee. Superintendent Potter appointed
Assistant Superintendents W. W. Theisen and William C. Knoelk as the
superintendent's representatives on the committee, and, upon recommenda-
tion of the Teachers' Co-operative Council (a recommendation asked for
by the superintendent), named Miss Ethel M. Gardner and Miss Clara Man-
they as the representatives of the teachers on the committee. Superin-
tendent Potter named Assistant Superintendent Theisen as chairman of the
committee.
Two meetings of the committee were held for the purpose of scheduling
an itinerary and outlining a program of investigation and procedure upon
the program so outlined. Detroit, Pittsburgh, and Akron, O., were decided
upon by the committee as the cities most favorably situated for the pur-
poses of investigation.
Bearing in mind the announced purpose of the board of school directors
to "consider the so-called platoon system to meet the temporary over-
crowding in certain schools," the committee determined to assemble mate-
rial to show what the platoon type of school organization has done in the
cities in which it is in operation (1) to increase the pupil capacity of schools,
(2) to dispense with the necessity of erecting barracks for the accommoda-
tion of pupils, and (3) to dispense with the necessity of holding half-day
sessions and thereby permit all pupils to receive full-time instruction.
Information of this nature might, standing alone, serve as a basis for the
board of school directors to determine whether it was expedient or inex-
pedient to platoon the schools of Milwaukee as a temporary relief measure
in the matter of housing pupils in overcrowded sections of the city.
The committee felt, however, that it was charged with an additional
responsibility. The mere housing of pupils is not the primary purpose or
function of the public school system. Housing of pupils is one of the physi-
cal problems which must be met and solved, but the primary purpose and
function of the schools is to develop character and to train children for
Page One
useful purposes in life. The development of character and the proper train-
ing of children being an educational, not a physical problem, the committee
felt that its investigation of the platoon type of school organization should
proceed along educational lines, as well as along the lines suggested in the
preceding paragraph. Information thus gathered, upon which conclusions
might be based as to the soundness or unsoundness of the platoon type
of school organization from an educational viewpoint, would, no doubt, prove
valuable to the board of school directors in determining whether the platoon
type of school organization should be adopted as a permanent school policy.
At one of the preliminary meetings of the official committee, the teach-
er members of the committee suggested that the scope of the committee's
investigations could and would be enlarged considerably if the committee
divided itself into smaller sub-committees when visiting schools. It was
pointed out by the teachers that in this way more schools could be visited
and reported upon than would be the case if the entire committee visited
the same schools at the same time. The teacher members of the committee
made and emphasized the points that officials of school systems should
not be advised that our committee was coming, and that they did not wish
to be guided about the cities and schools to be visited by an official group of
administrators to be shown the things in those cities and schools which
the school officials there wanted them to see. One of the teacher members,
in stating their desires on that point, used these words: "We want to go as
visiting teachers, not as ambassadors." No objection was made by other
members of the committee to this suggestion.
SEAR
Suggestion also was made that, as a means of gathering information on
the operation of platoon schools, a questionnaire be prepared by the com-
mittee and sent to teachers, parents and others in the cities where platoon
schools are in operation. Discussion on this subject was confined mainly
to the agency through which such a proposed questionnaire could be sent
out and the teacher members of the committee offered the services of
the Milwaukee Teachers' Association in sending out any questionnaire pre-
pared by the committee. The questionnaire suggestion and the offer of the
teacher members apparently died aborning, for the proposed questionnaire
never was prepared by the committee nor, to the knowledge of the teacher
members of the committee, was any questionnaire ever sent out.
Throughout this report the terms "regular school," "platoon school,"
"departmentalized school," and "junior high school" will be used frequently
to designate the different types of school organizations which came under
the observation of the committee.
By "regular school" is meant that type of school organization which is
predominant in the elementary schools of Milwaukee, in which a given
class room serves for one class only. Each pupil in such class has an indi-
vidual seat and desk which is not used by any other pupil. Each class has
one teacher who is responsible for the discipline, conduct and scholarship
of the individuals who comprise the class.
By "platoon school" is meant that type of school organization in which
all the pupils of a given school are divided into two platoons or groups
of equal numbers of classes, which, for convenience, may be designated
Platoon A and Platoon B. The rooms in such a school are classified as
"home rooms" and "special rooms."
When the children report for school in the morning the members of
Platoon A go to designated "home rooms," according to grading, while
Page Two
members of Platoon B go to "special rooms." The members of Platoon A
remain in the "home rooms" to which they report at the opening of school
for half of the morning, receiving instruction in fundamental subjects such
as reading, writing, grammar, spelling, and arithmetic, and for such study
periods as the school program may provide. While the members of Platoon
A are thus occupied in the "home rooms" during the first half of the morn-
ing, the members of Platoon B are receiving instruction in music, art,
science, geography, literature, gymnasium work, domestic science, manual
training, auditorium work, supervised play, etc., in "special rooms" desig-
nated for each such subject. The members of Platoon B do not remain in
one "special room" for half the morning, but rotate from one "special room"
to another at intervals prescribed in the formal program of the school.
At the mid-point of the morning school session Platoon A and Platoon
B change places, the members of Platoon A leaving the "home rooms" and
going to the "special rooms" for instruction in the special subjects named
during the last half of the morning session, while the members of Platoon B
go to the "home rooms," just vacated by the members of Platoon A, for
instruction in the "home room" subjects. In the afternoon a similar loca-
tion and shift of the two platoons are made. Thus, each "home room"
teacher is compelled to care for and instruct in the fundamentals (reading,
writing, grammar, spelling, and arithmetic), two separate and distinct
groups of children of the same grade each day. Each "special room" teach-
er instructs only in the so-called special subject to which she is assigned
(either music, art, geography, gymnasium work, auditorium work, etc.),
the entire day of the "special subject" teacher being occupied in instructing
the children of various grades in one particular subject.
By "departmentalized school" is meant that type of school organization
familiar in our high schools, in which children go from room to room for
instruction in each subject by a different teacher. When employed in ele-
mentary schools, departmentalization usually is applied only to the seventh
and eighth grades, although, occasionally, the sixth grade may be included.
This type of organization is known as the "junior high school" organization.
The committee felt that, in making its report and for the purpose of a
clear understanding of any discussion that might be based on its report,
definite terminology should be employed. For this reason it was determined
to use the term "regular school" when referring to that type of school
organization not included in the definition of "platoon school," "depart-
mentalized school," or "junior high school."
II. THE COMMITTEE'S TOUR
The official committee of the board of school directors, made up of
Misses Sherman, Gardner and Manthey, and Messrs. Theisen and Knoelk,
left Milwaukee, Sunday, March 9. With the official committee went a com-
mittee of three from the Milwaukee Principals' Association, Principals
Frances Walsh, Thomas Boyce and Reinhard Ruhnke, and a representative
of a Milwaukee newspaper, bringing the total number in the Milwaukee
party to nine. Throughout the tour, with the exception of one afternoon
in Pittsburgh and the last day spent in visiting schools in Detroit, this
party of nine traveled and observed en masse, escorted and chaperoned in
each city visited by local school officials ranging in number from one to
four. To this formidable array of visitors was always added the principal,
Page Three
and sometimes an assistant principal, of each school visited, so that the
actual number of persons attempting to observe the work in any given
school was never less than eleven and frequently reached a total of thirteen
or fourteen, except on the two days mentioned.
Pittsburgh, a city with a population of approximately 600,000 and an
industrial center which leads the world in the manufacture of steel, was
the first stopping point. The Milwaukee delegation, nine strong, arrived in
Pittsburgh early in the morning of Monday, March 10, going immediately
upon arrival to a hotel for breakfast. At about 9 o'clock that morning
the Milwaukee delegation was visited at its hotel by Superintendent David-
son of the Pittsburgh school system, Director of Platoon Schools Kennedy,
Assistant Superintendent Foster, who is in charge of secondary school edu-
cation in the Pittsburgh system, and Supervisor Hollinger, director of spe-
cial activities in Pittsburgh's platoon schools.
We were advised by these very courteous and official gentlemen that
their time and the facilities of the Pittsburgh school system were at our
disposal for the inspection of Pittsburgh's schools and, inasmuch as the
official cars of the Pittsburgh board of education were waiting in front
of the hotel, the Milwaukee delegation set out on its two-day tour of inspec-
tion of Pittsburgh's schools under the personal and direct supervision and
guidance of the administrative officials named.
J
Our delegation spent Monday and Tuesday, March 10th and 11th, visit-
ing Pittsburgh schools. On Monday morning the entire delegation visited
the McKelvey school of which Mr. Kennedy is principal in addition to his
work as director of all platoon schools. The McKelvey school is platooned
from the first through the eighth grade and is the oldest platoon school in
Pittsburgh. It is located in one of the less desirable neighborhoods of the
city, a locality known as the Hill Section, which is inhabited by a large
number of negroes. The building has an auditorium which can accommo-
date about 800 people. We were told that the school, prior to the inaugura-
tion of the platoon system, accommodated 700 pupils, and that it now accom-
modates 1,200 pupils. We also were told that prior to the platooning of
the McKelvey school two basement rooms were in use as class rooms, but
that after the platoon system had been installed seven additional basement
rooms were put into use to increase the pupil capacity of the school. Thirty-
one teachers are employed in the McKelvey school. We spent the entire
morning at the McKelvey school.
Monday afternoon, after lunch at the Schenley high school as the guests
of our official escorts, our delegation, still in the company of its official
chaperones, visited the Greenfield school, where most of the afternoon was
spent. The Greenfield school is one of Pittsburgh's newest plants, built
and operated as a platoon school in a fairly good neighborhood. The school
has twenty-two units and we were told that each unit averages about thirty-
five pupils and that the pupil enrollment there does not tax the school to
capacity. Thirty-two teachers are employed in this school and a large
proportion of the pupils appeared to be the children of foreign-born parents.
The outstanding equipment features of the Greenfield school appeared to
be its magnificent swimming pool and an auditorium which was used as an
ordinary class room.
From the Greenfield school our delegation went to the Colfax school, but
we did not arrive there until after classes had been dismissed for the day.
Page Four
The purpose of our visit to the Colfax school was to see its beautiful memo-
rial kindergarten room of which our escorts had spoken in terms of pride.
We saw nothing of the work in the Colfax school, but we were told by teach-
ers with whom we talked that it was a regular school which would go on
a platoon basis in the near future. The Colfax school was the last school
visited that day.
On the following day, March 11th, our entire delegation was called for
by Director Kennedy and Supervisor Hollinger and taken to the Rogers
school. The Rogers school is departmentalized in the sixth, seventh and
eighth grades and platooned from the first through the fifth grade. We
were told that it had been built as a regular school to accommodate 700
pupils and that now, as a departmental and platoon school, it accommodates
880 pupils. We observed that basement rooms were used in this school,
just as in the McKelvey school, visited on Monday. The Rogers school has
an auditorium with a capacity to accommodate about 400 persons. The
Rogers school was located in what appeared to be a fairly good section
of the city and the pupils there appeared to be children of working people.
The classes in the Rogers school averaged about forty-five to a teacher.
Later in the same morning the entire delegation visited the Dillworth
school, which is a regular school, but departmentalized in the sixth, seventh
and eighth grades. The Dillworth school has an enrollment ranging
between 900 and 1,000 and we were told that it was not overcrowded. We
were told that this school will soon be put on the platoon system. The
principal there stated very frankly that the change was not made because
of any congestion in the neighborhood, but "because the superintendent
wanted the school platooned."
At lunch that day the Milwaukee delegation had as its guests the mem-
bers of the Pittsburgh administrative force who were acting as hosts on
our tour of inspection. Quite casually, one of the teacher members of the
committee mentioned that she would like to visit the Watt school during
the afternoon. Platoon Director Kennedy and Supervisor Hollinger seemed
quite disturbed to think that such a request should be made. There seemed
to be a division of opinion among the members of the Milwaukee delegation.
as to how the afternoon should be spent, some members expressing a desire
to visit junior high schools. When the teacher members expressed the
opinion that the committee was sent out to observe platoon schools, Director
Kennedy took them and the members of the principals' committee to the
Watt school, Supervisor Hollinger taking the rest of the delegation to visit
a junior high school.
The Watt school is a platoon school with the sixth, seventh and eighth
grades departmentalized. Prevocational classes also are held in conjunction
with the academic work of the school. There is a working garage with
quite a large class in auto mechanics which is maintained mainly for the
colored children who have come to Pittsburgh from the South and many of
whom have had, we were told, little or no previous school training. The
Watt school is located in an undesirable residential neighborhood and we
were told and observed that over ninety percent of the pupils enrolled there
are negroes. We observed classes there that had only one or two white
children in them. We learned from the teachers with whom we talked that
the principal of the Watt school is a very independent and outspoken man
and not only permitted, but encouraged, independent thought and expres-
sion on the part of his teachers.
Page Five
Late Tuesday afternoon the Milwaukee delegation entrained for Akron,
O., where the night was spent. The 1920 census gives the population of
Akron as 208,435, an increase of 202 percent from a population of 69,067
in 1910. Akron is the largest rubber manufacturing city in the world.
Wednesday morning, March 11th, the visiting Milwaukee delegation
was waited upon at the hotel by Assistant Superintendent McElroy of the
Akron school system. The entire delegation was taken in machines fur-
nished by the board of education to the Lincoln school where the entire
morning was spent. The Lincoln school has an enrollment of about 1,400
pupils and a faculty of over forty teachers. The school has been on the
platoon basis since September, 1923. It is platooned from the 1A grade
through the eighth grade. The 1B grade has half day sessions.
The pupils there appeared to be the children of working people and we
were told that about ten per cent of the school enrollment was colored.
We were told that, in organizing the school on a platoon basis, the principal
was permitted by the school authorities to let out fifteen teachers who had
worked in the school under the regular organization and to replace the fif-
teen teachers so let out with fifteen specially picked teachers from other
schools in the city. Of these fifteen picked teachers, five were taken by the
principal from the regular school over which she had supervision before
becoming principal of the Lincoln school. We were told that the Lincoln
school was not built as a platoon school, but had been remodeled to fit the
platoon system.
We were told by the teachers in the Lincoln school, as well as by Assist-
ant Superintendent McElroy, that the principal, Miss Wilson, was a genius
for organization. Our observation confirmed their estimate of her. The
Lincoln school was the best organized and the best conducted school which
we observed on our entire tour. The spirit of the children and the teachers
could not have been improved upon and the work in special subjects and
fundamentals was well co-ordinated. Miss Wilson told us that when a child
fell behind in his work in the fundamentals he was excused from some spe-
cial activity and compelled to do extra work in the fundamental in which
he was not up to standard. Miss Wilson said that she did not believe a
school should be platooned below the third grade; that she did not think
the academic work in the platoon school was as well done as in the regular
school, and that the children in the platoon school had too many bosses.
In explanation of the spirit of co-operation which was apparent in this
school, the teachers told us that all of them "adored Miss Wilson" and that
Miss Wilson always consulted with the teachers before trying out any inno-
vation and did not insist upon the impossible being done. They said she
was a "very sane principal.
""
After lunch at the University Club, as the guests of Superintendent
Reid, our delegation was taken by the president of the school board and
the school board architect to inspect the King, Crosby and Seiberling school
buildings. All of these schools were specially designed and built as platoon
schools. We did not get much of an opportunity during the afternoon to
observe the work done in these schools. We were kept too busy admiring
the physical plants. However, snatch conversations were held at intervals
with some of the teachers in the schools mentioned and one of the teacher
members of the committee had a fleeting opportunity to look in on a litera-
ture class at work in the Crosby school. She was not impressed with the
kind of work being done nor the manner in which the class was conducted.
Page Six
Late that afternoon the Milwaukee delegation left Akron for Detroit,
arriving there early on Thursday morning, March 13th.
Detroit is a manufacturing center which, during the past ten or fifteen
years, has had the most remarkable growth in population and wealth of
any American city. The 1920 census lists its population at 993,739, but the
claim is made that its present population exceeds 1,200,000. Detroit is the
center of the automobile industry of the world and within its metropolitan
district are located the Ford, Dodge, Hudson, Cadillac and many other auto-
mobile manufacturing plants.
The first morning in Detroit the Milwaukee delegation was notified by
Dr. Theisen to report at the administration building of the Detroit Board
of Education, where we were met by Deputy Superintendent of Schools
Charles Spain, who conducted us to the Duffield school, where we were
later joined by Director of Platoon Schools, Miss Rose Phillips.
The Duffield is a platoon school with an enrollment in excess of 2,300
pupils, a large proportion of whom are colored. We were told that the
school had been open for just two weeks at the time of our visit. Adjacent
to the school was the old school building which had been abandoned and
we were told that it would be wrecked to provide additional playground
space.
At the Duffield school the visitors had an opportunity to see the "grand
traffic change" which takes place in platoon schools in mid-morning when
the two platoons change from the "home rooms" to the "special rooms” and
from the "special rooms" to the "home rooms." It took nine minutes to
make the change, and while it was taking place the children's faces regis-
tered helplessness and bewilderment. In December, 1923, there were 490
pupils in the old Duffield school building attending school in half-day classes,
but this condition had been remedied by the erection of the new and larger
school.
Thursday afternoon we were taken to the Thirkell school, a platoon.
school located in a fairly good neighborhood. The Thirkell school has an
enrollment of about 1,250 pupils and thirty teachers are employed there.
We learned that during the school year of 1920-21, after the school was
platooned, an addition was built to the school to increase the school's capac-
ity by 320 pupils over what the capacity of the school had been as a regular
school.
Friday morning, March 14th, when the suggestion was made by Chair-
man Theisen that the delegation again report at the office of the Board of
Education, the teacher members of the official committee objected. They
again made known their desire to be given an opportunity to see the opera-
tion of some platoon schools without the chaperonage of the "higher-ups"
in the Detroit system, and in this position they were supported by the
school board member of the committee. Accordingly, while the rest of the
Milwaukee delegation visited the Marr and the Pattengill schools on Friday,
the teacher members of the committee, unaccompanied, visited the Davison,
Moore and Dwyer schools.
The teacher members spent the entire forenoon of Friday at the Davi-
son school, which is a platoon school located close to the Dodge factory in
a thickly populated district. This school was built in 1916 as a regular
school with accommodations for 904 pupils. Since that time several addi-
tions have been built to the school and the number of pupils enrolled in
Page Seven
this school at the present time exceeds 4,200, about 2,000 of whom are
housed in barracks. In December, 1923, there were 1,687 pupils in the
Davison attending classes in half-day sessions. There are ninety-eight
teachers employed in the Davison school.
At the Davison school Miss Gardner followed an eighth grade class in
its work in the "home rooms" and the "special rooms" throughout the
entire morning, while Miss Manthey did the same with a seventh grade
class. Each had an opportunity to, and did, talk with the teachers in
regard to the work and each collected valuable material relating to the
routine and record keeping necessary in the platoon system as operated
in Detroit. This day's observation was the first opportunity that had been
offered on the trip for the teacher members of the committee to observe
the effect of the platoon system upon the children and upon the teachers.
In the afternoon we visited the Moore and the Dwyer schools. The
Moore is a platoon school with an enrollment just short of 2,000 pupils, in
which fifty-three teachers are employed. According to figures of the
Detroit board of education, the Moore school, which was built to accommo-
date about 1,000 pupils, has, with the additions which have been made to it
since originally built, a standard capacity of about 1,800 pupils. In Decem-
ber, 1923, there were 404 pupils in the Moore school attending school in
half-day sessions.
Later in the afternoon we also visited the Dwyer school. The Dwyer is
a platoon school with a standard capacity of 1,400 pupils. At the time
we visited there the Dwyer school had an enrollment slightly in excess of
1,500, of whom seventy-six were attending school in half-day sessions, ac-
cording to the figures of the board of education for December, 1923. There
are thirty-nine teachers employed in the Dwyer school.
During their tour on Friday the teacher members of the committee
acquired many valuable "leads" to information on the attitude of teachers
and parents toward the platoon system, which "leads" they had no oppor-
tunity to follow up during the day. Accordingly, when the full delegation
met that Friday evening for dinner, with Superintendent Frank Cody as its
guest, the teacher members announced that they proposed to remain over
in Detroit for the following day.
On Saturday, the teacher members of the committee were, through the
courtesy of Dr. John S. Hall, a member of the Detroit board of education,
put in touch with many parents, teachers and others who had had experi-
ence with the platoon system. Through Dr. Hall, the teacher members.
of the committee also were able to gather much information on the manner
in which the platoon system "was sold" to Detroit, as well as statistical
information on whether the platoon system relieves congestion in the
schools and dispenses with the necessity of operating half-day classes.
III. IS THE PLATOON SYSTEM A REMEDY FOR CONGESTION?
Pittsburgh
While the claim is made freely that the installation of the platoon system
in thirty of Pittsburgh's schools has relieved congestion in certain over-
crowded districts, the only figures furnished to the committee, so far as
the teacher members know, had to do with the McKelvey school, where it
Page Eight
was shown that the present accommodations under the platoon plan take
care of 1,200 pupils, whereas, when operated as a regular school, only 700
pupils were accommodated. However, the use of seven basement rooms in
this school, which were not used when the school was operated as a regular
school, accounts for additional accommodations for 315 pupils, figuring
forty-five pupils to a room.
Inasmuch as basement rooms are used quite generally throughout Pitts-
burgh, it is a fair assumption that increased pupil capacity of the schools
is due more to the use of this space, hitherto unused, than it is to the pla-
toon system. We did not see any schools in Pittsburgh where the children
were housed in barracks, nor were we furnished with information with
respect to half-day sessions.
Akron
In our limited observation in Akron we had no opportunity to collect data
on the question of barracks and half-day classes, except that in the Lincoln
school, a platoon school, the children in the 1B class attended school in half-
day sessions.
Detroit
As evidence of the fact that Detroit is not relying upon the platoon sys-
tem to relieve congestion or to do away with the necessity of housing chil-
dren in barracks and compelling them to attend half-day sessions, the fol-
lowing figures, furnished to School Inspector John S. Hall by the statistical
department of the Detroit Board of Education, are set forth:
-
The total enrollment in the Detroit public schools in June, 1918, just
prior to the beginning of Detroit's experiment with the platoon system,
was 117,527. In December, 1923, this enrollment had increased to 160,108,
an increase of 42,581. In 1919, the Detroit Board of Education embarked
upon an ambitious building program and during the school years of 1919-23,
inclusive, spent $21,105,446.37 in erecting new school buildings and in mak-
ing additions to old buildings. The new school buildings and additions to
old buildings built during this four-year period provided accommodations
for 43,120 pupils, at an average building cost of $489.25 per pupil. The
added building accommodations during the four-year period of 1919-23
more than absorbed the added enrollment in the schools for the five-year
period of 1918-23.
-
Out of the total building outlay of $21,105,446.37 during the four-year
period mentioned, a total of $12,138,709.92 was spent in providing perma-
nent accommodations for 29,470 pupils in the elementary schools, the bal-
ance of the total outlay being spent on high schools, intermediate schools,
special schools for defectives and temporary housing quarters. Of the
$12,138,709.92 spent in elementary school construction, $627,553.80 was
spent in providing accommodations for 2,160 pupils in regular schools, at
an average cost for construction of $290.98 per pupil accommodated. The
balance, $11,511,156.80, was spent in providing accommodations for 27,310
pupils in platoon schools, at an average cost for construction of $421.49 per
pupil accommodation.
Detroit began platooning its schools in the fall of 1918. By December,
1923, fifty-one schools-thirty-three and one-third percent of the total num-
ber in the city-had been put upon the platoon basis. In December, 1923,
Page Nine
there were 11,432 pupils in the Detroit schools attending school in half-day
sessions. Of this total number on part time instruction, 5,431, or forty-
seven and one-half percent, were attending half-day sessions in platoon
schools, although the total number of platoon schools at that time was only
one-third the total number of schools in the city.
As an indication that the platooning of a school does not necessarily do
away with the use of barracks for the accommodation of pupils, we were
told that of the 4,200 pupils registered in the Davison school, the largest
platoon school in Detroit, 2,000 were housed in barracks.
IV. COST OF OPERATING PLATOON SYSTEM
In the preceding subdivision of this report figures were quoted to show
that the cost of constructing platoon schools exceeds the cost of construct-
ing regular schools. Detroit's experience has been that it costs about
$130.00 more per pupil accommodated to build a platoon school than it does
to build a regular school.
So, also, figures compiled by the Detroit board of education show that
it costs more to equip a platoon school than it does to equip a regular school.
The Priest school, a platoon school now in the course of construction, will be
equipped as a platoon school at a cost of $12,484. Figures submitted to the
board of education show that equipment for this school as a regular school
would cost $11,063, a saving of twelve and one-half percent in favor of the
regular school. The Poe school recently was completed and equipped as a
platoon school, the cost of equipment being $14,079. If this school had
been equipped as a regular school it would have cost the board of education
$12,625, a saving of eleven and one-half percent.
In the matter of cost of instruction per pupil the official figures show a
decided saving in the regular schools over the platoon schools. The Febru-
ary, 1924, payroll of the Detroit board of education shows that the salaries
paid to 2,106 teachers and principals in platoon schools for that month
totalled $462,804.67, or an average monthly salary of $219.75. The total
number of pupils enrolled in these platoon schools was 79,193, so that the
cost of instruction per pupil in the platoon schools for that month amounted
to $5.84.
For the same month the salaries paid to 1,218 teachers and principals
in the regular elementary schools amounted to $253,812.47, or an average
monthly salary of $208.38. The total number of pupils enrolled in the regu-
lar elementary schools for the month of February was 46,499, so that the
cost of instruction per pupil in the regular schools for that month amounted
to $5.46, a saving of 38 cents per pupil when compared with the platoon
schools.
With 79,193 pupils receiving instruction in platoon schools at an addi-
tional cost of 38 cents per month for each such pupil, the cost of instruction
in the platoon schools of Detroit at the present time to the taxpayers
of Detroit is over $300,000 per year more than such cost would be if
the schools were operated as regular schools. When all the schools of
Detroit have been platooned, if they ever are, this one item alone will cost
the taxpayers of Detroit in the neighborhood of $500,000 per year in experi-
menting with the platoon system.
Page Ten
The March, 1924, enrollment in Milwaukee's elementary schools was
55,356. If the Milwaukee schools are platooned and the monthly cost per
pupil instruction is increased by 38 cents, as has been the experience in
Detroit, the platoon experiment will cost the taxpayers of Milwaukee, in
instruction cost alone, more than $200,000 each year over what such in-
struction costs are now.
That the platoon system makes for increased costs in administration and
instructional supervision is shown by a comparison of the amounts spent
in Detroit for those items prior to the experiment with the platoon plan and
the amounts voted by the common council this year. In 1918 the total out-
lay of the Detroit board of education for administration and supervision,
exclusive of the business department, amounted to slightly less than $100,-
000. The enrollment in Detroit's schools for that year was between 117,000
and 118,000. The amount voted by the Detroit common council this spring
for administration and supervision in the Detroit school system exceeds
$350,000. The enrollment in Detroit's schools this year is slightly in excess
of 160,000. Detroit's school enrollment has increased thirty-seven percent
in six years. The cost of supervision and administration of the schools
during the same period has increased 250 percent.
V. THE PLATOON SCHOOL IN OPERATION
1 Length of School Day
The length of the school day does not vary much in the cities visited
by the committee from the length of the school day in Milwaukee.
Pittsburgh's school day is five hours and forty minutes for platoon
schools. The morning session runs from 9 to 12 and is divided into four
forty-five minute periods. The afternoon session runs from 1 to 3:40 and is
divided into four forty-minute periods.
Akron's school day is five and one-half hours for platoon schools. The
morning session runs from 8:30 to 11:30 and the afternoon session from
1 to 3:30. There are six thirty-minute periods in the morning and six
twenty-five-minute periods in the afternoon.
Detroit's school day is six hours for platoon schools. The morning
session runs from 8:30 to 11:30 and the afternoon session from 12:30 to
3:30. There are six thirty-minute periods in both the morning and after-
noon sessions.
2. Number of Pupils Per Teacher Per Day
In Pittsburgh each special teacher teaches seven periods during the day,
having one relief period. The classes average forty-five to a teacher, so that
each special teacher handles 315 pupils each day. The home room teachers
handle two groups of forty-five each, a total of ninety pupils during the
day. The upper grades being departmentalized, the home room teachers
in these grades handle as many pupils as the special teachers during the
course of a day.
The number of periods taught by special teachers in Akron ranges from
six per day, in the case of auditorium and gymnasium teachers who teach
double classes, to twelve in schools where no relief teachers are employed.
Page Eleven
The classes average forty pupils, so that special teachers handle during the
course of a day numbers ranging between 240 and 480. Home room teach-
ers handle two groups of forty each, or a total of eighty pupils each day,
except that in the upper grades where the work is departmentalized the
home room teachers sometimes handle as many as 240 pupils per day.
In Detroit the teachers of special subjects handle between 400 and 800
pupils per day, while the home room teachers handle between 80 and 90,
in two groups.
In Pittsburgh the clerical work in keeping records is distributed fairly
evenly between the home room teachers and the teachers of special subjects.
In Akron the burden of record keeping falls more heavily upon the home
room teacher than upon the teachers of special subjects, but at times during
the year, at the beginning or at the end of a semester, the teachers of special
subjects help the home room teachers with their clerical work.
In Detroit, home room teachers are obliged to keep all the records for
the two groups of children committed to their care. Two loose-leaf regis-
ters are kept, one for each group. The lists of absentees are recorded on
separate slips for each class and this information is transferred to the per-
manent record by the home room teacher. Two sets of individual record
cards are furnished, each containing a health record on the back. Record
books for monthly attendance and the number of student hours for each
pupil are kept by the home room teacher and sent to the office each month,
instead of the sheets used in Milwaukee. Large sheets for the duplication
of records in the loose-leaf register are furnished.
Programs and weekly plans are made out for each group and each day
separately. Monthly report cards are made out for the pupils and the home
room teacher is compelled to keep individual record cards for standard test
scores. Blanks and cards are furnished, upon which the standard test rec-
ords are consolidated and data summarized by the teachers and sent to the
office. Each home room and special subject teacher must keep seat charts
for her room, for each class.
In all the cities visited the responsibility for the keeping of records rests
with the home room teachers, although occasionally help is given to the
home room teachers by the teachers of special subjects.
3. Free Text Books
In all the cities visited by the committee free text books are supplied to
the children. In fact, it is difficult to see how a platoon school could be
operated without free text books. In Pittsburgh, the same free text books
are used by two platoons. In Detroit each platoon has its own set of free
text books, but both sets are placed in the same desks in the home rooms.
Free text books for use in the special subjects are kept in the special rooms.
The pupils do not carry books from one room to another nor are they allowed
to nor do they take books home for the purpose of study. We were told that
the appropriation made for free text books is quite large. The Detroit
appropriation this year for free text books and books for school libraries
is $109,200.
Page Twelve
4. Care of Children's Wraps
Wraps are taken care of either in the old fashioned cloak room or in
individual or double wardrobe compartments built along the walls of the
first floor and basement. These wardrobe compartments are called lockers,
but we did not see one with a lock on it. We were told by teachers and
by some parents whom we interviewed that loss of wraps on the part of
children is not infrequent. At dismissal time, we were told, some chil-
dren are compelled to travel considerable distances, especially in the large
schools, in order to get their wraps preparatory to going home. We fre-
quently noted and commented upon the fact that children wore heavy sweat-
ers, rubbers, overshoes and other wearing apparel while in their class room,
especially in the special subject rooms.
5. Equipment of Special Rooms
The auditoriums in the specially built platoon schools usually had accom-
modations for about 300 or 400 pupils. In the new schools auditoriums
usually are equipped with a motion picture projector, a piano and a phono-
graph. We saw science rooms equipped with herbariums for growing
plants, live animals, maps, charts and globes. We saw library rooms.
equipped with adjustable chairs and the usual library tables, bookcases and
books. For the most part, gymnasiums and play rooms were bare. In one
school in Detroit, we were told, where shower baths and a swimming pool
are part of the school's equipment, twenty-four electric hair driers had been
installed for the accommodation of the pupils.
6. Lunch Hours and Recesses
The lunch hours for teachers and pupils, except in Akron, are short.
Pittsburgh provides a one-hour lunch period for pupils and a three-quarter
hour lunch period for teachers. No provision is made in the Pittsburgh
platoon schools for recess periods for the children. We saw little play-
ground space in connection with the Pittsburgh schools visited.
Akron provides a one and one-half hour lunch period for pupils. There
is no provision for outdoor recesses in platoon schools.
The Detroit lunch period is one hour for pupils and teachers. We ob-
served that the teachers usually reported for duty before the expiration of
the lunch period. No provision is made in platoon schools for outdoor
recesses. Some of the Detroit schools visited had fairly commodious play-
grounds, while others were quite limited in area.
!
VI. DOES THE PLATOON SCHOOL MEET THE EDUCATIONAL
PROBLEM BETTER THAN THE REGULAR SCHOOL?
Assuming, but not conceding, that the objectives to be attained by any
form of school organization are, as stated by the ardent proponents of the
platoon school, training in health, the fundamentals (the three R's), voca-
tional guidance, worthy home membership, worthy leisure, citizenship and
ethical character, we did not observe that the platoon school affords any
better training in these particulars than does the regular school. An out-
line of the subject matter taught in platoon schools* and in regular schools,
annotated to the particular objectives noted above, follows:
*The Detroit Educational Bulletin, January, 1923, pp. 21-22.
Page Thirteen
Platoon
Clinic
Lunch
Physical Training
Play
Hygiene
A. HEALTH
Reading
Writing
English
Spelling
Arithmetic
Geography
History
Literature
Art
Music
Science
B. FUNDAMENTALS
Regular
Doctor, Nurse
Lunch
Physical Training
Outdoor Recess
Hygiene
Auditorium Work
Library Work
C. WORTHY HOME MEMBERSHIP AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE
Domestic Science
Domestic Art
Domestic Science
Manual Training
Drawing
Manual Training
Mechanical Drawing
Reading
Writing
English
Spelling
D. WORTHY LEISURE AND ETHICAL CHARACTER
Drawing
Music
Regular
Physical Training
English
Auditorium Work
Arithmetic
Geography
History
E. CITIZENSHIP
Matoon
Civics
Current Events
School Spirit
Class Spirit
Student Councils
Extra Curricula Activities
We do not want to give the impression that we saw nothing good in the
platoon schools. We make the point that we saw nothing good in the pla-
toon type of school which is indigenous to that type of school and which
could not be done just as well, if not better, in the regular school organiza-
tion. Our observations lead us to conclude:
Page Fourteen
1.
That it is easier to safeguard the health of pupils in the regular school
than it is in the platoon school because the pupils in any given class are
under the personal, direct and motherly supervision of one teacher through-
out the entire day. By constant association with the same group of children
the teacher in the regular school is better able to train them in hygienic
habits, in the removal of unnecessary wraps (superfluous sweaters, rubbers,
overshoes, etc.). Symptoms of incipient ailments are more easily detected
and reported more promptly to the school doctor or nurse. Outdoor recesses
give pupils a chance to exercise in the open air and to relieve the nervous
tension incident to confinement for any considerable period of time. Ado-
lescent girls are given better health protection in the regular school by
reason of the fact that they are not compelled to walk or run up and down
stairs as frequently as they are in platoon schools. The danger of spread-
ing contagion in platoon schools is increased by reason of the constant mov-
ing around of the pupils and the greater number of pupils one infected
pupil may come in contact with in a single day.
As
2.
That more time is devoted to the teaching of fundamentals in the
regular school than in the platoon school. A comparison of a Milwaukee
sixth grade program with the sixth grade program in the Detroit schools
shows that the Milwaukee program allots 220 minutes a day to the teaching
of fundamentals, whereas, in the Detroit platoon program the time for
instruction in fundamentals is cut to 180 minutes per day. The regular
school offers more and better opportunities to correlate subjects, to group
children according to ability in different subjects, to care for individual
differences, and to use modern methods of teaching such as the project,
socialized recitation, supervised study, and individual and group work.
Adequate provision is not made in the platoon school program for super-
vised study. Whenever a study period is included in the platoon school pro-
gram, the supervision of the subject studied is conducted by the home room
teacher who may, or may not, be the teacher of the children in the partic-
ular subject studied. The home room teacher feels no responsibility for the
preparation of a lesson by the children in special subjects. Text books,
except on rare occasions, may not be taken home by the pupils. Instruction
in the platoon schools is more formal than in the regular school due to
(1) lack of intimate, personal relationship between teacher and pupil,
(2) difficulties in discipline,
(3) standardization of subject matter and the method of presenting les-
sons, and
(4) lack of readily available reference material.
3.
That more time is spent in vocational training in the platoon school
than in the regular school. Whatever advantages this may have in training
for worthy home membership is more than offset by the opportunities given
in the platoon school for the cultivation of bad mental habits in the children
by the time wasted in getting ready to pass from one room to another
Page Fifteen
and in waiting for the teachers in special rooms to finish recording absences,
etc. The children in the special rooms have nothing to occupy their time.
while the teacher's attention is diverted from them.
4.
That more time is spent in the platoon school than in the regular
school in training for leisure by the use of the auditoriums and the addition
of literature and science to the curriculum. However, the library work in
the platoon school is not correlated with other class work. This type of
training can be done more effectively in the regular school without expen-
sive library equipment by the judicious use of sets of books sent out to the
schools by the public library. These library books can be, and are, read
by pupils during leisure moments and may be taken home by pupils.
In the use of public library books children are stimulated to get library
cards of their own and draw books on their own cards from the central
library or its branches. Cultivation of the public library habit in children
is a better preparation for the use of leisure time in adult life than being
forced to read in school a certain number of minutes each week from a
limited number of books. By the elimination of the special help period,
now on the program, of the regular schools of Milwaukee, it is possible to
add literature and science to the regular school curriculum without chang-
ing the organization of the schools.
5.
That more and better provision is made in the program of Milwau-
kee's regular schools for training in citizenship than is made in the pro-
grams of the platoon schools. Rather desultory teaching in thrift, Junior
Red Cross activities, and the activities of various pupils' clubs and societies,
carried on at intervals during the auditorium periods, appear to be the only
methods employed for training in the duties of citizenship in the platoon
schools.
In Milwaukee's regular schools, training for citizenship has a definite
place in the curriculum from the first grade through the eighth grade.
Clubs of children take The Literary Digest, Current Events and other cur-
rent publications which deal with the civic and political problems confront-
ing the city, state and nation. Development of school and class spirit under
the continuing influence of one teacher and the better discipline maintained
in the regular school create respect for law and order. Extra-curricula
activities and student councils are used in the regular schools in promoting
lessons in citizenship. No form of student self-government is attempted
in the platoon schools.
6.
That more emphasis is placed upon the teaching of and specialization
in subject matter in the platoon schools than in the teaching of and special-
ization in children, on which subject we quote the following from Frederick
Gordon Bonser, professor of education in Teachers' College, Columbia Uni-
versity, and one of the most foremost educators and authorities on cur-
riculum making in the world:
"The organization of the curriculum on a mere subject matter basis is arti-
ficial and fails to provide for that unity found in life outside of school. We use,
Page Sixteen
now arithmetic, now geography, now English, now science, in connection with the
full development of many specific problems. Any system that tends to separate
subjects increasingly by departmentalizing them in the elementary school in-
creases the artificiality of a subject organization and makes any natural form of
treatment increasingly difficult. It is this intensified artificiality of the PLA-
TOON FORM OF ORGANIZATION and of the individualistic contracting
system of the PLATOON PLAN which throws them into contrast with education
as a life process. These plans emphasize the mechanisms of systems. They make
for isolation of one subject from another from which the present conception of
education and the nature of life demand that we should escape. Tests for achieve-
ments in the mechanical aspects of school work under such plans show very high
results just because they are intrinsically organized to emphasize the mechanical
elements which are tested by these tests. The tool subjects are separated and
isolated from the other subjects and are therefore developed out of relationship
to the very life activities which it is their purpose to serve."
"Correlation means a relationship of two or more subjects in helping in an
activity for meeting a single need. It can occur only where a purposive activity
is furthered by the joint contributions of the two or more subjects. Correlations
cannot be MADE. In meeting the needs of a single problem, aspects of the prob-
lem often arise which call for the help of material from two or more subjects -
Correlations are, therefore, DISCOVERED and not MADE. If it is the SUB-
JECTS that are the bases of study rather than the ACTIVITIES TO WHICH
THE SUBJECTS CONTRIBUTE, THERE CAN BE NO GENUINE COR-
RELATION.”
"THERE ARE NO LIFE ACTIVITIES IN SUBJECT MATTER AS
SUCH. Few life activities are so narrow as any single subject. In a school
system special supervisors or helping teachers may be of great service to grade
or rural teachers in organizing their work, getting out materials, and making most
usable the environment. But neither special teachers nor supervisors can take
the place of the regular teacher in the detailed development of projects made up
of genuinely educative participation in life's activities.
""
The educational objectives to be sought in any school are:
1. To develop character.
2. To give children a fuller vision of the realities and the finer pos-
sibilities of life.
3. To develop and correlate the mental and physical powers of
children.
4. To develop in children a wholesome and tolerant attitude toward
each other.
5. To develop in children happiness and contentment through disci-
pline and the knowledge of work well done.
Again quoting Bonser: "The school is the conscious means used by society
to give children rich and varied experiences in wholesome living in the most
economical way. It aims to bring into the experiences of children the materials
and methods found by the race most effective in adapting conduct to the most
wholesome purposes of worthy living. Since children are living and participat-
ing in various activities at all times, the school is a supplementary part of the life
-
Page Seventeen
which it attempts to enrich To fulfill its purpose, the school must therefore
reflect the interests and purposes of social life which it desires to promote, and
provide the material from the experiences of the past which is required by these
very interests and purposes for their fuller satisfaction.”
VII. MEASURABLE RESULTS OF PLATOON SYSTEM
For any group of people to drop into a city and, in a day or two, gather
an accurate and comprehensive idea of the effects of the platoon system
upon children and teachers, or the attitude of any considerable number of
pupils, teachers, parents, and others toward the system, is beyond the realm
of performance. We did have an opportunity to observe the children and
teachers in the classes which we visited and from that observation are
enabled to draw general conclusions. For four days of our tour, we were
under the personal guidance of local school officials and whatever expres-
sions of opinion we received from teachers with whom we came in contact
seemed to have been influenced by the presence of the teachers' superior
officers. During the last two days in Detroit, however, we gathered consid-
erable information relating to the attitude of parents and teachers toward
the platoon system in operation there.
1. Type of Instruction and Teaching Standards
On the whole, the type of instruction observed by us was not up to the
average standard in Milwaukee. A noticeable defect in the platoon schools
was the inability of the teachers to "clinch" a lesson, due to the abruptness.
with which the class periods ended when the traffic gong sounded. We
did not observe that the teachers in the platoon schools, either the home
room teachers or teachers of special subjects, were better prepared and
equipped for their work than the average teachers in a regular school. We
did not observe the professional esprit de corps which maintains in Mil-
waukee.
Goth
2. Effect Upon Children
We observed that the smaller children became fatigued. On many oc-
casions the children in the auditorium seemed bored with and indifferent
toward the work which was being carried on. Children to whom we spoke
expressed a liking for gymnasium work. They dubbed the platoon school
"the grand change school."
We were told by one teacher that there was a high percentage of tardi-
ness among pupils in the platoon school in which she taught. That the
"added interests," claimed for the platoon school, do not induce the children
to attend school more regularly is shown by official figures furnished to
School Inspector Hall by the statistical department of the Detroit board
of education.
During the school year of 1917-18, just before the platoon system was
started in Detroit, the average percentage of attendance in Detroit's ele-
mentary schools was 91.83. During the first semester of this year the
average percentage of attendance in Detroit's elementary schools was 89.85,
a falling off of 1.98% during the years in which the platoon school has been
in operation. The figures for the first semester of this year show that the
average percentage of attendance in Detroit's regular schools was 91.06,
a falling off of 77/100 of one percent during the six-year period since 1918.
The average percentage of attendance in Detroit's platoon schools for the
first semester of this year was 88.63, a falling off of 3.2 percent since 1918.
Page Eighteen
We were told that the platoon type of school organization has had a
deleterious effect upon the health of many pupils, the constant activity
and motion producing nervous exhaustion and lack of self-control; that
many children develop habits of disobedience and inattention to home duties.
which had not manifested themselves while the children were in attendance
at regular schools. Doctors with whom we talked stated that some platoon
school pupils who had come under their observation showed incipient symp-
toms of mental cramp and retardation similar to symptoms noted in special-
ized factory workers who worked under high pressure.
3. Effect Upon Teachers
We were told by teachers that the work in the platoon schools was more
burdensome than in the regular schools. Some said they liked the work
and some said they did not. Some teachers complained that discipline
was much harder to maintain in the platoon school. We were told that the
absence percentage among teachers in platoon schools is greater than in
regular schools. Physicians with whom we talked stated that it was their
experience that there was more nervous exhaustion among teachers in
platoon schools than among those in regular or high schools.
4. Attitude of Teachers Toward Platoon School
Some of the teachers with whom we talked said that they liked the
platoon school because it relieved them of teaching some subjects which
they did not like to teach. We gathered the impression that some of the
teachers who told us they liked the platoon system liked it because they
knew the administrative officials of the schools wanted it. We talked to
others who stated, privately and confidentially, that the system did not meet
with their approval. They would not, however, say so for publication. As
evidence that the openly expressed opinions of teachers may be controlled
by the "higher-ups" in the school system, we were told the following story
in Detroit:
A school principal took a secret ballot among his teachers on the ques-
tion of having the school platooned. Thirty-one out of thirty-two teachers
voted against the platoon system. Some time later the superintendent's
office sent out a request to have the teachers in that same school express
a choice, and to have each teacher sign her name on the ballot. Every
one of the thirty-two teachers in the school voted in favor of the platoon
system.
Knowing that the Detroit school administration is committed to the pla-
toon policy, and that those who oppose the system are termed "old fogeys"
and "not fitted to work in a 'progressive' educational system," these teach-
ers may have had in mind the following rule of the Detroit board of educa-
tion relating to the powers of the superintendent of schools:
"He shall have sole power to nominate and assign, transfer, promote
and demote or suspend all assistant superintendents, supervisors, princi-
pals, teachers and other employees of the Board of Education. All nomina-
tions, promotions, demotions, suspensions, assignments and transfers of
employees of the Board of Education, which shall be made by the Superin-
tendent shall be reported in writing to the Board at its next regular meet-
ing and shall stand confirmed unless disapproved by the Board by a vote
Page Nineteen
of not less than four members of the Board. (Note: Seven members on
Detroit Board of Education.) He shall have immediate control of all assist-
ant superintendents, supervisors, principals and teachers. All directions
and suggestions to them with reference to the performance of their respec-
tive duties shall come through him."
5. Attitude of Parents Toward Platoon School
We were told that in Detroit the platoon system was put into operation.
by the school authorities without consulting the people. Evidence was pre-
sented to us that the platoon "was sold" to the board of education by a
group of skillful salespeople. The board of education (a majority of its
members) does not admit, as yet, that it bought a "gold brick," so the
board appropriates and spends about $30,000 a year for a so-called sta-
tistical and research department, the chief function of which department
seems to be to feed the people of Detroit and the country at large on
propaganda designed to make an unwary and trusting public believe that
the platoon system is the last word in progress in educational matters.
We talked with parents whose experience with the platoon system had
been such that they would not permit their children to attend a platoon
school. One parent had taken his eight-year old son out of a platoon school
and sent the boy to a regular school in Windsor, Can., across the river from
Detroit. He stated that great improvement was shown in the boy's general
health and the condition of his nervous system soon after the change to the
regular school was made. Another parent said that his twelve-year old
son had shown marked improvement in his school work and in his general
behavior and attitude toward life after his removal from the Thirkell, a
platoon school, to the Goldberg regular school.
One mother stated that if the platoon type of school organization were
put to a vote of Detroit mothers, she believed that it would be turned out,
root and branch. We learned of still another case where five children in
one family were taken out of a platoon school and sent to a parochial school
because of the bad habits which the children were forming in the former
school. This parent complained of the lack of supervision over children by
teachers in the platoon school. In this connection, it is significant that the
Detroit educators who are boosting the platoon plan never mention the
"boot-leg" liquor party in one of the platoon schools with some of the pupils
of that school as participants.
Dr. Ward F. Seeley, whose son, a normal, healthy child, had been made
very nervous while attending the Thirkell platoon school, is outspoken in his
opposition to the platoon plan. Dr. Seeley withdrew his son from the Thir-
kell school and sent him to the Fairbanks, a regular school, where the boy
became normal again. Speaking of the manner in which parents are be-
guiled into seeming to favor the platoon plan, Dr. Seeley said:
"The school administrators send out their platoon director to propa-
gandize among the parents through parent-teachers' associations. The
parents don't know what to do. They feel that those at the head of the
schools know what is best for the children, so they do as I did-they bite.
Then they find out that once the platoon plan is put into a school, it is there
to stay. These propagandizing educators say that their special teachers are
specialists. My experience with them tells me they are not."
Page Twenty
Dr. George M. Laning, a pediatrician who comes in contact with large
numbers of children of school age and who withdrew his own children from
a platoon school and sent them to a private school, concludes a damaging
statement against the platoon system in the following language:
"I would be sorry to see another city afflicted with the same platoon
system with which we are shouldered."
And so it goes. School Inspector John S. Hall has a file full of letters
from parents in Detroit, praising him for his stand in opposition to the pla-
toon plan and setting forth in detail their reasons for objecting to the sys-
tem. The burden of their complaints against the platoon plan is that it has
had a detrimental effect upon their children both from a health and a scho-
lastic point of view.
In accord with the attitude of people generally throughout the country,
the people of Detroit have been generous in providing money for the con-
struction and operation of schools. They have realized that they cannot
have schools unless they pay for them, but many of them are wondering
whether or not the people's money is being spent judiciously. They have
noted with mixed feelings their city tax bill mount from $10,000,000 in 1914
to $47,000,000 in 1923, and have seen the city's bonded indebtedness leap
from $19,000,000 to $141,000,000 over the same period. The bonded indebt-
edness of the city of Detroit for schools at the close of 1923 was in excess
of $36,000,000, of which amount more than $21,000,000 was incurred during
the period from 1919 to 1923.
People with whom we talked felt that the platoon system of schools had
considerable to do with the mounting school debt and the ever increasing
costs of maintenance and operation.
VIII. HISTORY OF PLATOON SCHOOL MOVEMENT
In all the cities visited by us the platoon system has been adopted as a
permanent policy by the boards of education. In each such place it was
put in for the announced purpose of relieving congestion. Pittsburgh put
three of its schools on the platoon basis in 1916 and soon after the board
of education there voted as a permanent policy "to establish a policy of the
6-3-3 plan; the elementary schools to be platooned." At the present time
there are about thirty platoon schools in Pittsburgh.
In 1918, when Superintendent Charles E. Chadsey was at the head of
the Detroit school system-the same Chadsey who later became superin-
tendent of schools in Chicago for a brief period at a salary of $18,000 a
year-Detroit began its experiment with the platoon system. After one.
year's experimentation, the board of education adopted the following reso-
lution outlining the policy of the board with respect to elementary school
organization:
"That the educational needs of children of the kindergarten and the
first six grades be met by building large elementary schools, with auditori-
ums and gymnasiums, planned definitely to satisfy the requirements of the
platoon form of organization."
In 1921, Akron, O., adopted the platoon system, its sponsors then saying
that it was being used only for the purpose of relieving congestion in certain
Page Twenty-one
schools. At the present time sixteen of Akron's thirty-five schools are pla-
tooned and the board of education there has adopted the platoon system
as a permanent school policy.
The platoon type of school originated in Gary, Ind. In 1908, William S.
Wirt, superintendent of schools in this steel mill city, conceived and pro-
mulgated what was termed a new idea in school organization called the
"Work-Study-Play Plan." For many years the operation of this plan was
confined to the Gary schools. In 1913, Kansas City, Mo., started an experi-
ment with the Gary system by putting one of its schools on the platoon
basis. One more such school was added to the Kansas City system in 1914
and another in 1915, and there the experiment has rested so far as Kansas
City is concerned.
Since 1915 some sixty-odd cities have experimented with the platoon
plan, among which cities are those visited by the committee and others such
as Birmingham, Ala., Braddock, Pa., Newcastle, Pa., Newark, N. J., Roches-
ter, Pa., St. Paul, Minn., Wilmington, Del., Winnetka, Ill., and Youngs-
town, O.
Some fifteen years ago educators advanced as a panacea for many of
the school ills of the country the all-year school idea. Newark, N. J., gave
the all-year school a twelve-year tryout. At the last meeting of the Depart-
ment of Superintendence of the National Education Association, the super-
intendent of schools of Newark, Mr. David Corson, announced that the
practical working of the all-year school plan there had demonstrated that
the system did not do what its enthusiastic press agents had claimed it
would do. The all-year school program has been abandoned in Newark after
a somewhat expensive experiment covering a period of twelve years.
Despite the claims-made as statements of fact-voiced by proponents
of the platoon plan, the plan still is in the experimental stage. The experi-
ence of the cities we visited, especially Detroit, is that it has proved a costly
experiment.
IX. CONCLUSIONS
We disapprove of the platoon type of school organization, both as a tem-
porary and a permanent policy, on the following grounds:
1. It is unsound educationally, because
(a) It emphasizes the teaching of subject matter rather than the
teaching of children.
(b) It overstimulates the children.
(c) It breaks down the personal and motherly contact between chil-
dren and teachers.
(d) It tends to cultivate bad mental habits.
2. It is unsound from the standpoint of health and hygiene, because
(a) It overstimulates children to the point of nervous exhaustion.
(b) It offers greater opportunities for the spread of contagious and
infectious diseases.
Page Twenty-two
3. It is unsound from an economic and financial standpoint, because
(a) It costs more to construct platoon schools than it does to con-
struct regular schools.
(b) It costs more to equip platoon schools than it does to equip regu-
lar schools.
(c) Instruction costs are higher in platoon schools than in regular
schools.
(d) Supervision costs are higher in platoon schools than in regular
schools.
4. Experience has shown that it does not do away with the use of bar-
racks nor with part-time instruction.
The platoon system still is in the experimental stage. It has cost the
City of Detroit millions of dollars without showing any beneficial results
that could not have been attained in the regular type of organization. We
believe that the platoon type of school organization is a passing fad-a
groping in the dark by shrewd and aggressive school people who are willing
to spend the people's money in experimenting, either honestly or for pur-
poses of personal aggrandizement, with the children's natural inheritance-
the schools.
Time alone will tell whether the platoon school will go the way of the
all-year school in Newark, where the twelve-month basis was abandoned
after a thorough experiment covering a period of twelve years. We recom-
mend that Milwaukee's decision on the platoon plan await the result of the
experiment in Detroit and other cities where the experiment is being tried.
Respectfully submitted,
May 2, 1924.
ETHEL M. GARDNER,
CLARA T. MANTHEY.
Page Twenty-three
UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
3 9015 00817 1079
THE UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN
NOV 1 9 1984
DATE DUE

OCT 17 1984
OCT 17 1984
DECTOM
DEC 0 3 150-