[Illustration: THE FROEBEL SCHOOL, GARY, INDIANA A model Wirt school plant, with all grades, from kindergarten through the High School Social center and people’s university. Built 1913. ] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ THE GARY SCHOOLS BY RANDOLPH S. BOURNE WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY WILLIAM WIRT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS GARY, INDIANA [Illustration] BOSTON NEW YORK CHICAGO HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY The Riverside Press Cambridge ------------------------------------------------------------------------ COPYRIGHT, 1916, BY RANDOLPH S. BOURNE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED The Riverside Press CAMBRIDGE • MASSACHUSETTS U • S • A ------------------------------------------------------------------------ PREFACE THE public-school system of Gary, Indiana, has attracted during the last few years the general attention of progressive educators all over the country as perhaps the most ingenious attempt yet made to meet the formidable problems of congested urban life and modern vocational demands which are presented to the administrators of the city school. A broad educational philosophy has combined with administrative skill to produce a type of school which represents a fundamental reorganization of the public school to meet changing social and industrial conditions. A new balance of school activities, an increased wealth of facilities, the opening-up of opportunities to the younger children, the institution of a new kind of vocational training, the fusing of activities into an organic whole so that the school becomes a children’s community, the correlation of school activities with community activities, and lastly, the application of principles of economics to public-school management which permit greatly increased educational and recreational facilities not only for children in the schools, but also for adults,—these are the features of the Gary school system that have aroused the enthusiasm of many educators, and made it one of the most visited and discussed school systems in the country. Dr. David Snedden, Commissioner of Education in Massachusetts, has said that the system of education at Gary “more adequately meets the needs of city children than any other system of which the writer has knowledge.” Professor John Dewey declared recently, at a public meeting in New York City, called to discuss the adoption of the Gary plan in the New York schools, that “no more important question affecting the future of the people of New York has come before them for