Page:American Journal of Sociology Volume 9.djvu/32

 1 8 THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SOCIOLOGY

boys have been committed, of whom 98 have been paroled or discharged, and 80 per cent, of these are doing well. The aver- age age of these boys was eleven years, and the average time during which they were kept in the school was seven months. Twice as many boys will be received during the next year. From the psycho-physical examination, to which these boys have been subjected, we learn that they rank about midway between the John Worthy boys (delinquents) and the normal public-school children ; that is to say, where the public-school children show an average of four or five growth and motor defects, and the John Worthy boys an average of eight or ten, the Parental School boys show an average of six or eight defects, and they rank mentally in the same order, the Parental School boys averaging not quite so high in mental capacity as the normal public-school children, but higher than the John Worthy boys.

The course of instruction given in the other public schools is given here, but in addition manual training in the shops and out of doors, military drill, and gymnastic work are specially emphasized, and the results are most encouraging. Thirty of the fifty acres of land are cultivated as a garden, a tenth of an acre being assigned to a boy, if he is large enough to cultivate it, or to two smaller boys. The teachers are among the best in the city, receiving a little more than the maximum salary paid in other schools, and the family officers, who live in the dormitory buildings, and take care of the children when they are out of school, are selected by a special examination and with a view to their peculiar fitness for the work, liberal sal- aries being paid them.

No corporal punishment is allowed, but the penalties inflicted for breeches of the rules consist of (i) deprivation of privi- leges, (2) assignment of extra duty, and (3) solitary confine- ment for periods not exceeding twenty-four hours each in a well-lighted and well-ventilated room, on a bread-and-milk diet. The military system prevails, and the marking system is in use. It is possible for a boy to work his way out of the school in six or seven months, but very few will do this, and the vast majority will remain from ten to twelve months. This is as