The Cleveland Technical High School THE CLEVELAND TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL ITS INCEPTION, PLANS FOR BUILDING AND EQUIPMENT TOGETHER WITH AN OUTLINE OF THE COURSE OF STUDY TO BE PURSUED BOARD OF EDUCATION CLEVELAND 1908 The Board of Education Organization for 1908 Members FRANCIS H HASEROT SARAH E HYRE SAMUEL P ORTH WILLIAM G. LEOPOLD ARTHUR C LUDLOW WALTER D SAYLE JOHN C CANFIELD Officers FRANCIS H HASEROT President CHARLES ORR Director of Schools WILLIAM H ELSON Superintendent of Schools The Cleveland Technical High School Building Committee WILLIAM G LEOPOLD, Chairman ARTHUR C LUDLOW SAMUEL P ORTH Architect FRANCIS S BARNUM Principal JAMES F BARKER Address all communications in regard to the Technical High School to James F. Barker, Principal School Headquarters East 6th Street and Rockwell Avenue 2065688 S3 I c The Cleveland Technical High School The building to be known as the Cleveland Technical High School, whose walls are now rapidly rising above the ground, owes its origin to the Board of Education of 1905. The members constituting that Board were as follows : Mr. Samuel Orth Mr. Walter D. Sayle Mrs. Sarah E. Hyre Mr. John C. Canfield Rev. Arthur C. Ludlow Mr. William G. Leopold and Mr. Francis H. Haserot. In his inaugural address, President Orth called atten- tion to the fact that the efforts toward "Industrial education as carried out by the manual training department of the high schools were wholly inadequate. That this manual training was entirely secondary and that though it aimed at manual aptness it was not of such a nature as fitted for an occupa- tion." Mr. Orth suggested that the Board set inquiries afloat looking toward the establishment of a school for such of our youth as desire to choose for their calling some branch of the mechanical arts. On February 29th the President, in accordance with a resolution adopted by the Board, appointed the following Educational Commission "to examine carefully the government, supervision and course of study of the Cleveland Public Schools and make suggestions:" Messrs. J. G. W. Cowles, Elroy M. Avery, E. M. Baker, J. H. Cas- well, Charles Gentsch, Frank Hatfield, Charles S. Howe, F. 4 TECHNICAL, HIGH SCHOOL. F. Prentiss, Thomas L. Johnson, C. W. McCormick, James McHenry and Charles F. Thwing. The Cleveland Technical High School The findings of the Educational Commission were em- bodied in a series of reports submitted to the Board of Ed- ucation during the years 1905 and 1906. Among the recom- mendations was one urging the establishment of a manual training high school and this formed the basis for the further work of the Board in carrying out the suggestion made by Mr. Orth in his opening address. On September 26, 1905, the following resolution was adopted: "That the Educational Committee of this Board be hereby instructed to investigate the advisability of estab- lishing a Manual Training High School in the city and that it be empowered to extend its investigations to other cities as it may deem wise and that the expense of such investiga- tion be and is hereby authorized by this Board." On Monday, March 5, 1906, the Board of Education unanimously adopted a resolution authorizing the issue of bonds for $350,000 for the purpose of erecting a Manual Training High School. Since that time a marked change as to what shall be the policy of this school has brought about a change in name and henceforth the institution is to be known as the Cleve- land Technical High School. Four months later after carefully considering the ques- tion of a suitable location for the institution, selection of site was definitely agreed upon and the property acquired Au- gust 13, 1906. Its location on East 55th Street, at the corner of Scovill Avenue, places the school within easy access of all parts of the city. The East 55th Street car line makes it possible to reach the school from the south side direct and from the east and west sides by transfer from various lines. The Scovill avenue line connects directly with the business district. The neighborhood is ideal, being just on the edge of a great manufacturing district which is de- TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. 5 sirable for such a school and yet the building is not actually within the smoke and grime of such localities. The magni- tude of the undertaking, the intricate problems involved and the newness of this type of school have all served to make a proper solution difficult. The plans have been thoroughly and carefully prepared and the work of Archi- tect F. S. Barnum in this connection has been most effi- cient. Active operation was begun on the building August 30th, 1907. It is expected that the building will be com- pleted in time for the opening of school in September, 1908. The design, as prepared by Mr. Barnum, is English Gothic a style which is coming more and more into vogue for school buildings. It is executed in a dark reddish- brown shale brick with brown terra cotta trimming, rest- ing upon a heavy cut stone water table. The front is di- vided by the projections of the end wings and the central pavilion into most pleasing and harmonious proportions. The selection of the brick named was made through a de- sire to give the building as massive and strong an appear- ance as is possible, to balance the very large amount of wall space sacrificed to ample lighting. The plan is like the letter "E" in form, there being three wings abutting upon the main building which has its main facade facing the east. The front entrance is approached on East 55th Street by an imposing flight of granite steps. The other entrances are located upon Portland and Scovill avenues respectively. Upon entering the building on East 55th Street, access is had to the main corridor leading both north and south and into the wings over this entire floor. At the right is located a reception room and at the left the offices of ad- ministration. Immediately opposite the entrance is a spa- cious auditorium with a seating capacity, including main floor and balcony, of thirteen hundred, available for school assemblages and popular evening lecture courses. Pro- vision is being made to accommodate one thousand day students. 6 TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. The ground floor is appoached by a flight of stairs leading down from the corridor opposite the front entrance. The center space is assigned to the ventilating apparatus. The lecture rooms and laboratories for physics and chem- istry are at either end. In the north wing the entire area has been devoted to a lunch room with the necessary kitch- ens, serving rooms, etc. Immediately under the audito- rium are the gymnasium, running track, showers and locker rooms. The south wing has been devoted to the shops on this floor as well as upon the first floor. The pottery department will be equipped with potters' wheels, lathes for turning models, a slip house and glaze room set, kilns, etc. Adjacent to this is the forge shop with provision for a blacksmith class of thirty-six. The forges will be ar- ranged for down draught and the equipment thoroughly modern and up to date in every respect. The next room is the machine shop with heavy equip- ment suitable for the very best of trade instruction. Lo- cated at the end of the corridor is a foundry provided with a cupola for the melting of iron, a brass furnace, suitable core ovens, etc. At the extreme back of the building the heating and power plant has been installed where it is pro- posed to generate heat and electric light and power. This plant will have a capacity of over 400 horse power. On the first floor in the main part of the building and also in the Scovill avenue wing the rooms will be devoted to recitations. Two large rooms at each corner of the buiding, with a seating capacity of 250, have been set aside for session rooms in order that the pupils may have an undisturbed opportunity for study. In the Portland avenue wing are five woodworking rooms including joinery, turning, cabinet making, pattern making shops. There is also a room for re-sawing and storing stock. Modern methods make it essential that in addition to the usual hand tools in these rooms suitable woodworking machinery be provided. Opposite the entrance to the wing corridor is a CO = Technical High School Basement Plan TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. 7 draughting room for the use of students preparing designs for shop problems. This is easily accessible to all pupils in the woodworking department. There is also a room for varnishing and finishing woodwork. Adjacent to all work shops are located wash rooms provided with individual lockers for the storage of working clothes, unfinished pro- jects, etc. On the second floor are additional recitation rooms, the school library, elementary science laboratory and me- chanical drawing rooms. On the third floor the Scovill avenue wing is de- voted entirely to the girls' department. Here are located the kitchens for instruction in cooking, the dining room for lessons in table service and the laundry. Rooms for in- struction in plain sewing, dress-making and millinery are situated at the corner of the building. Additional mechan- ical and freehand drawing, applied art and recitation rooms occupy the remaining floor space. A club room for school organizations, separate rest rooms for women and for men teachers, are also given space in the building. No cloak rooms for the storage of wraps have been provided, this feature having been cared for by ventilated lockers con- veniently distributed about the corridors. The courses offered by this school will be radically different from those offered by the other high schools of the city. College entrance requirements can not in any way enter into a determination of the outlines of this school's courses. However, the preparation needed for admission to the colleges is even now undergoing radical revision and doubtless the industrial instruction afforded by this school will in the immediate future receive recogni- tion. But first and foremost the Cleveland Technical High School is intended to be a finishing school in itself whose graduates will leave school prepared to enter a vocation. Throughout the country specialization in every direction has marked all growth and development and schools de- voted to special purposes are no exception. For those 8 TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. wishing to prepare for college or who wish a general educa- tion the present high schools are available. A movement is on foot looking toward the separation of all business courses into a Commercial High School. A similar school whose atmosphere will be distinctly academic is already upon the architect's boards. In the Technical High School the atmosphere must be one of manufacture and industry and upon these themes the academic studies are to bear with particular force. High Schools in the past have not taught very many subjects with a definite view to their ultimate utility but have sought only general culture. In a school which trains for a vocation less attention can be paid to general education; subject-matter of a more specific nature must occupy the time and efforts of the students. Arithmetic, also algebra of a very definite character dealing largely with shop prob- lems is essential ; English, treating of industrial and labor problems, of manufacturing processes and distribution of the product together with the study of the great industrial authors such as Carlyle, Ruskin and William Morris, can well supplant the more purely literary authors. So also with German which offers a fine field of technical reading; history can be taught along lines of industrial devel- opment; science can be applied science of the most inten- sive sort; and so on throughout the entire list of studies comprising the course. This means a radical departure from current high school practice and courses will not parallel those in the other high schools. So large an amount of time will be devoted to shop practice and ap- plied mechanical drawing that pupils entering this school from other high schools will be at a distinct disadvantage along these lines. The courses in manual training which remain in the present high schools must nevertheless be guided by the type of industrial instruction of the Technical High School; this makes advisable the supervision of all high school manual training from this center. Upon the opening of the school a few pupils of ad- Technical High School First Floor Plan Technical High School Second Floor Plan TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOI,. II vanced standing will be admitted but only where the appli- cants can indicate a special fitness for the courses here of- fered. The removal of the present forge and machine shops to the Technical High School and the elimination of the junior and senior years in mechanical drawing from the courses of the other high schools will doubtless create an immediate demand for instruction of the same grade. To meet this demand it is proposed to open this school with classes in all departments, including the junior and senior years. The upper classes, however, will necessarily be small in number and it may not be found possible to admit all applicants. The rating of the diploma from the Technical High School should mean so much in an indus- trial way that the number of pupils constituting the first graduating classes must be greatly restricted, since none will have had the full mechanical arts course of instruc- tion. During the last two years of the course pupils will be allowed to specialize along lines to which they are par- ticularly adapted in order that upon graduation they may be better fitted for their life work. Some vocation must be chosen by a great majority of young men and young women since only a small proportion find it possible to enter a profession or a business career. This is forced upon a majority of our young people early in life and if proper choice can then be made it is a distinct advantage. Since the principles underlying all arts are identical, during the first two years a more or less definitely pre- scribed outline of instruction must be laid down. If at the end of this time peculiar adaptability in any particular direction becomes evident to student, parent or teacher, specialization along this line will be possible. To illustrate more clearly, take the case of a young man who finds that his tastes and talents run along lines of machinery con- struction. During his third and fourth years he may de- vote twenty hours a week to machine shop practice. Af- ter completing the first two preliminary years in wood and 12 TECHNICAL, HIGH SCHOOL,. iron working he may then devote a major part of his time to the particular branch along which his abilities lie and to which he may wish to devote his life work. In this selection the school can properly fill a definite place. If a boy has mechanical ability this is the school for him to attend. If his attainments point in other direc- tions the other high schools are available. The department for girls will have domestic science and domestic and industrial art for its basis and around these studies the rest of their work will be grouped. Home- making courses are of greatest value to girls and to train in this direction will be the aim of these departments. Cook- ing will be very practical and comprehensive, covering prep- aration and analysis of foods, the study of food values, and the preparation and serving of complete meals. This will be supplemented by courses in home planning and house decoration, taking up the study and arrangement of rooms, wall and floor coverings, study of furniture and pic- tures, draperies, etc. This will be organized with particu- lar reference to economy and good taste. Segregated classes for the study of physiology and personal hygiene will give students an opportunity to acquire a knowledge of those things which are so essential to their future health and happiness. This instruction will be supplemented by a complete course in home nursing, including first aid to the injured, the care of invalids and particularly of children. Instruc- tion in our high schools has never been specific enough along these lines but has been of a purely general nature. These courses are to be very practical and to the point to the end that when a girl has forced upon her the care of the home and the family she will be thoroughly prepared for functions of this sort. Keeping of household accounts, economic home management, marketing, etc., will receive due consideration. . Similar opportunities for specialization during the last two years of the course will be offered girls as are provided Technical High School Third Floor Plan 14 TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. for boys. In most classes the nature of the studies and method of teaching demand a separation of boys from girls. There will therefore be organized within this build- ing a boys' school and a girls' school. For a course of study so enriched with industrial work as the proposed outline indicates, a longer school day than is at present the practice in Cleveland is absolutely neces- sary. A two-session day with four school periods in each half has been decided upon. The morning session will open at 8 :30 and continue until 11 :45, the afternoon session opening at 12 :45, closing at 4 :00 one-half of the day be- ing devoted to manual instruction, the other half to academ- ic studies. The deeper interest felt by students undertaking an education of this kind and the relaxation in industrial work of the nature to be provided at the Technical High School make so long a day possible. Then, too, it is felt that pupils attending this school will be so thoroughly in earnest in their desire to fit themselves for a vocation that the hard work laid down in the courses will be entirely feasible. Many graduates from the eighth grade upon leaving the grammar school go to work and, having once started in an earning capacity, never enter the high school. Were studies in which they are interested immediately available many students who now do not go to high school at all would continue their education. By eliminating entirely the long summer vacation a saving of an entire year in the high school course will be accomplished. This is most desirable from the standpoint of the student of limited means who wishes to secure a maximum of education in a minimum of time. It is there- fore proposed to offer a three-year course as well as a four- year course. In any event the work covered will be iden- tical. The school year will therefore be divided into four twelve-week periods with an intermission of one week be- tween quarters. Pupils who do not wish to take advantage of this short- TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. 15 ened course or whose physical condition does not permit of the close application of continuous study will still have the opportunity of devoting four years to their high school course. The keen interest already evinced by merchants and manufacturers of the city means that this institution will bring employers into close touch with students seeking positions. The school can thus include in its duties the bringing together of these two classes. The school will be open to all sections of the city and students from any district may attend. The double ses- sion makes a lunch room absolutely essential and to provide a warm noon meal at a very slight cost will therefore be necessary. The lunch room will be conducted as nearly as possible upon a no-profit basis. It has been found possible to supply a good noon meal for from eight to twelve cents, and by supplementing the hot dishes with a luncheon from home, for a sum even less than this. One of the most important missions which this school can fill is the betterment of people already engaged in a given vocation. The abolishment of the apprenticeship system in the subdivision of manufacturing processes has practically made it impossible for mechanics to secure any general training which enables them to better their con- dition. There is a crying need among semi-skilled working classes of an opportunity for industrial education and the Technical High School will offer trade courses during the evening to men and women already engaged in a given trade. The night classes will be divided into two sections, each reporting three nights a week from 7 :00 until 9 :30. One section will meet Monday, Wednesday and Friday evenings, the other Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday evenings. In this way the night trade school could accom- modate 1,400 men and 600 women. The same equipment which is used for technical in- struction in the day school will be available for instruction 1 6 TKCHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. in the evening classes, though doubtless the woodwork- ing department will not be as heavily taxed as will the iron working department. Instruction will be offered men in carpentry, cabinet making, pattern making, foundry prac- tice, tool forging, sheet metal and machine shop practice. Allied with these subjects will be instruction in trade math- ematics and a course in English and applied mechanical drawing; architectural and machine drawing will also be given. Freehand drawing, charcoal and water color ren- dering, clay modeling, book binding, leather work, art metal work and design as applied to the crafts will also be offered. A complete course in plain hand sewing, dress cutting and fitting, machine sewing, spring and fall millinery, and all of the above industrial arts will be available to women in the evening school. Plain cooking and whatever allied courses that are called for by sufficient numbers to warrant a class will come within the scope of the night instruction. A two years' course will warrant the issuing of a cer- tificate and by requiring a high standard of work such a certificate should have distinct value. It should mean the placing in the hands of graduates of the evening schools a certificate of character, workmanship and industrial in- telligence. TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. 17 Course of Study for Boys First Year Periods per Week. English 5 Arithmetic and Algebra 5 Industrial Geography 5 Freehand Drawing and Mechanical Drawing 5 Turning one-third year, cabinet making two-thirds year 8 Physical Training 2 Second Year English 5 Plane Geometry 5 Elementary Chemistry 5 Mechanical Drawing 5 Pattern Making and Foundry Practice one-third year; Forging two-thirds year 8 Physical Training ' 2 Third Year English 5 Industrial History or German : 5 Physics 5 Mechanical Drawing 5 Machine shop one-third year; Elective shop two-thirds year 10 Fourth Year Advanced Mathematics or Science 5 American History and Civics 6 German or Commercial Geography and Law or Elective Shop 5 Mechanical Drawing 5 Elective Shop Work or Mechanical Drawing 10 Note: Students desiring History or German may substitute during the First and Second Years either of these subjects for Science. Chemistry and Physics are then to be taken the Third and Fourth Years. 1 8 TECHNICAL HIGH SCHOOL. Course of Study for Girls First Year Periods per week. English 5 Arithmetic and Algebra 5 Botany and Physiology 5 Industrial Arts or Domestic Arts 14 Physical Training 2 Second Year English 5 Constructive Geometry 5 Elementary Chemistry 5 Industrial Arts or Domestic Arts 14 Physical Training 2 Third Year English 5 Industrial and Art History (European) 5 Physics or German 5 Industrial Arts or Domestic Arts 14 Physical Training 2 Fourth Year English or Commercial Geography and Law or Elective Applied Art 6 Industrial and Art History (American) and Civics 5 Advanced Science or German 5 Domestic Science, Sewing or Elective Applied Art 14 Physical Training 2 Notes The Industrial Arts Course includes: Applied Art 10 Domestic Science or Sewing 4 The Domestic Arts Course includes: Domestic Science 4 Sewing 4 Applied Art 6 Applied Art includes cardboard construction, pottery, leather work, wood block printing, book binding and metal work. Freehand Drawing, com- position and design (any medium). Domestic Science includes cooking, table service, laundry, invalid cookery, nursing, hygiene and sanitation, household accounts, home decoration and dietetics. Sewing includes plain hand and machine sewing, dress cutting and fitting, millinery and art needle work. THE BROOKS CO.