Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 4.djvu/313

 CHIC A GO VAC A TION SCHOOLS

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MARCHING FROM POLK STREET SCHOOL

and these same boys have been of great assistance in bringing others into the school. Some have attended on condition that their chums would be admitted. Many children who received no admission cards presented the flag pins, claiming that they were entitled to school privileges because they had bought flags, which had been sold through- out the schools. About twenty parents took their children out of school because they said they supposed that regular school instruc- tion would be given in all branches. Their children had failed to make the grade, and they thought they might make up the work in the summer. A school without books was an unheard-of departure, and many parents as well as visitors were curious to know what was going to be done. When it developed that the book of nature was to be opened, and that the summer would be spent in reading headlines and noting some of the contents of the book, some became so interested that they were desirous of reading a few chapters.

As outlined in the curriculum, all work was correlated with excursions. The children were taken into the country or to the city parks. Variety of scenery and productions were carefully considered, a typical farm visited, and the children were brought into close contact with the beauties and harmonies of nature. On these excursions we sought for impressions rather than expressions. The expressions were cultivated during the four days of the week the children were kept in school, through the mediums of oral speech, drawing, painting, singing, and manual training.

Every school was taken from its environment once every week. At first we went to city parks for the purpose of famil- iarizing ourselves with the handling of children, but even these