Our Schools in War Time—and AfterDean, Arthur D. (Arthur Davis)
History
Our Schools in War Time—and After
Dean, Arthur D. (Arthur Davis)
Education -- United States; World War, 1914-1918 -- War work -- Schools
In the School of Practical Arts special attention was given to the
making of children's garments, the sewing of Red Cross material, and
the renovating of millinery and clothing. In addition to lectures on
thrift in food the department of cookery gave a course on emergency
cookery for men, which was especially designed for army cooks and Boy
Scout leaders. There was also a series of lectures and demonstrations
by a government expert on the preservation of food, including canning
and drying. Other courses considered the essentials of diet planning
and of how to buy in large quantities for camps and hospitals. The
departments of chemistry and biology gave special instruction in the
analysis of water and of milk, and in the technique of diagnostic
bacteriology. The fine-arts department made some rather unique
contributions, including a study of protective coloring with reference
to _camouflage_ for military purposes, the designing of posters, and
topographical sketching. There was a course on tin-can work for home
and camp, in which, from discarded tomato cans and powder boxes,
were produced all sorts of useful things--coffee pots, camp stoves,
hot-water bottles, lanterns, and candlesticks. A special course in
photography for hospital and field work was offered. In the modeling
class the manipulation of plaster of Paris was demonstrated for nurses
and Red Cross students, to be used in connection with occupational work
for convalescent soldiers. An extremely interesting series of projects
in plastic material was worked up, particularly some clay models of
trenches and dugouts.
Another course which attracted some hundred and fifty students was the
emergency instruction given by the physics department in automobile
mechanics. The object of the instruction was to equip the average
student with a stock of general information that would enable him
to operate a car, to make minor repairs, and to diagnose trouble
intelligently. Some of the matters discussed were the four-cycle
engine, carburetion, transmission and differential, and the storage
battery. For experiment and demonstration purposes the laboratory was
supplied, among other apparatus, with a detachable boat motor and two
automobiles. The latter were thoroughly dissected and then reassembled
from spark plug to tires, and in every possible way the mechanism was
examined and experimented with.
The departments of nursing and health and of physical education offered
some ten courses in all, including home nursing and emergencies,
surgical dressings, care of children, public-health problems, first
aid, medical gymnastics, and invalid occupations.
The department of music offered three courses designed especially to
prepare students to lead music appropriate to patriotic meetings and to
present selections at hospitals and camps.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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