DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 
 BUREAU OF EDUCATION 
 
 BULLETIN. 1923, No. 2 
 
 By ALICE BARROWS 
 
 SpecUlilt in Indatttial and Ectmomic Relation! in Education 
 
 Bweau ol Education 
 
 
 
 injssp 
 
 lllfanili 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 government printing otfice 
 1923 
 
I^ibrary 
 
 OF THE 
 
 University ef NortK Carolina 
 
 book was presented by 
 
 (J, S, , O-P d. oL.c<^di cno 
 
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR 
 
 BUREAU OF EDUCATION 
 
 BULLETIN. 1923, No. 2 
 
 A SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR 
 WASHINGTON, NORTH CAROLINA 
 
 By ALICE BARROWS 
 
 Spscialist in Industrial and Economic Relations in Mucation 
 Bureau of Education 
 
 11 
 
 1 
 
 WASHINGTON 
 
 GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE ! 
 
 1923 I 
 
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INTRODUCTION. 
 
 In December, 1921, the Board of Education of Washington, N. C., 
 requested the United States Commissioner of Education to make a 
 survey of the school buildings of Washington, N. C., with a view to 
 working out a building program for the schools of that city. Miss 
 Alice Barrows was detailed by the commissioner to make the survey, 
 which she completed on December 8, 1921. 
 
 Ill 
 
Digitized by the Internet Archive 
 in 2019 with funding from 
 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill 
 
 https://archive.org/details/schoolbuildingprOObarr 
 
A SCHOOL building' PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, 
 
 N. C. 
 
 Contents. —Washington has twice as many children as school seats—What congestion means—Conditions 
 in the negro schools—No modern faciUties—Standards for school buildings changed in past 10 years— 
 Children deprived of play—Advantages of the work-study-play plan—Recommendations for a build¬ 
 ing program. 
 
 The seriousness of Washington's school-building problem consists 
 in the fact that any building program projected now must not only 
 take care of present congestion and provide for growth in the future, 
 but it must also make up for the failure to provide adequate school 
 facilities during the past 10 years. Washington would not now be 
 in its present deplorable situation in regard to school-building facil¬ 
 ities if it had kept up with the growth in school population, but it 
 has not done so, and therefore the city must now not only provide 
 for the future but pay the penalty of failing to meet its obligations 
 to the children in the past. 
 
 WASHINGTON HAS TWICE AS MANY CHILDREN AS SCHOOL SEATS. 
 
 The present enrollment in Washington schools is 1,691. Ten years 
 ao*o it was 1,154. In other words, from 1910—11 to 1920—21 there 
 has been an increase of 46.5 per cent in school population, but even 
 in 1910-11 there were 100 more children in the white schools and 
 200 more children in the negro schools than there were school seats. 
 At present there are 22 classrooms available in the w^hite and colored 
 schools, and there are 45 classes of children. In other words, there 
 are twice as many classes as there are classrooms available. 
 
 WilAT CONGESTION MEANS. 
 
 Such congestion as exists in the W^ashington schools is a menace 
 to the health and strength and mental and moral development of the 
 children. Although, as has just been pointed out, there are twice 
 as many classes as there are classrooms, yet 1,691 children are going 
 to school, and somehow space is found for them. As a result, the 
 following conditions exist: In the white schools there are 8 rooms 
 with mo'^re than 40 children. Little first-pade children are housed 
 in basement rooms where the air and light are very bad. Fi\e 
 classes of primary-school children are going to school in old wooden- 
 
 frame dwelling houses which are not fit to use for school purposes. 
 
 1 
 
2 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 The children are packed so closely into the little sitting rooms of 
 these unsuitable structures that one row of seats is within 3 inches 
 of the wall, while another row of children have their desks directly 
 beside the windows, so that the sun shines on the white paper on which 
 they do their writing, making an intolerable glare for their eyes. 
 As is to be expected, the air in these rooms is hot and close. It 
 would be far better if these children were not in school at all, for under 
 the present circumstances there is no question but that the eyesight 
 of many children is being permanently injured, and their whole 
 vitality lowered by the bad air and cram])ed positions in which they 
 have to sit for three hours a day. It is asking too much of any teacher 
 to teach under such conditions, for teaching })ecomes nothing but a 
 heroic struggle with the impossible. Washington is not providing 
 an education for these children in providing these old, dilapidated, 
 insanitary buildings for them. 
 
 CONDITIONS IN THE NEGRO SCHOOLS. 
 
 If the conditions in the white schools are bad, the housing con¬ 
 ditions in the negro schools are infinitely worse. The present 
 negro school can not rightly be called a school building at all. It 
 is a frame structure of six rooms into which children are herded 
 as follows: Sixty-four children in one room with 55 seats47 
 children in another room with only 36 seats; 49 children in a room 
 with only 32 seats; 52 children and only 45 seats; 64 children and 
 58 seats; 63 children and 48 seats; and 76 children in a room with 
 63 seats. Because there is not enough room in th(‘ original building, 
 rooms have been rented for school purposes in three different halls 
 of a most undesirable type. There is a domestic-sci(vnce room, but 
 no running water in the building. There is a majiual-1 raining shop 
 of a totally inadequate size and inadequate equipment. 
 
 There seems to be no question on the part of thoughtful members 
 of the community that such a school buildiiig is a ridlection upon 
 the city of Washington. 
 
 NO MODERN FACILITIES IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN WASHINGTON. 
 
 But not only are the Washington schools badly cong(;sted, and 
 not only do the children have to attend school in buildings which 
 are a menace to their health, but also Washington schools are almost 
 entirely lacking in modern school facilities. There is an auditorium 
 in the white school (with very bad acoustic properties), but there 
 is no gymnasium in either of the schools. There is no shoj) except 
 the one just mentioned in the negro school. There is a lunch room 
 but no domestic-science room in the white school, and a very poorly 
 
 iNo class should have more than 40 children. 
 
SCHOOL BUILDIK^G PROGKAM POR WASHINGTON, N. C. 3 
 
 equipped cooking room in the negro school. Science is given as 
 one of the courses in the high school, but, as a matter of fact, there 
 is no laboratory worthy of the name. There is no physics laboratory, 
 nor mechanical drawing room, nor free-hand drawing room, nor 
 nature-study room, nor music room—in fact, none of the modern 
 equipment considered absolutely essential in schools at the present 
 time. 
 
 Such a condition is an injustice both to the pupils and to the 
 teachers. Washington is fortunate in having a teaching force with 
 a fine, progressive spirit, and a real professional interest in their 
 work, but all the material conditions of the school tend to discourage 
 the development of such a spirit. It is impossible to make bricks 
 without straw, and it is equally impossible to teach shopwork except 
 in shops, or science except in science laboratories, or drawing except 
 in drawing studios, or cooking except in rooms with adequate equip¬ 
 ment, or academic work in overcrowded, badly ventilated rooms. 
 The teaching force of Washington deserves adequate buildings and 
 equipment with which to do their work. 
 
 STANDARDS FOR SCHOOL BUILDINGS HAVE CHANGED GREATLY IN 
 
 THE PAST TEN YEARS. 
 
 Before Washington can carry through a bond issue for school 
 buildings which will meet its needs, one thing is absolutely essential, 
 and that is that the people of Washington understand that the 
 ideals in regard to what should be contained in an elementary school 
 building, a’nd how such a school building should be constructed 
 have undergone a very great change in the past 15 years. 
 
 It is generally recognized now that a school building which con¬ 
 tains nothing but classrooms can not meet the educational needs of 
 the children of the present day. The reason for this is that social 
 and industrial conditions outside the school have changed radically 
 in the past decade, and schools have had to change to meet the differ¬ 
 ent conditions. There has been a tendency for such a long time to 
 think that ''school” and "education” are synonymous that we have 
 failed to realize that this is not necessarily the case. 
 
 For example, Washington, at present, is supplying only classrooms 
 for the majority of its children in its schools, and yet as a matter of 
 fact no child was ever educated by classroom study alone. All 
 children have always been educated by three things—work and study 
 and play. If they are deprived of any one of these, their education 
 is incomplete. We all know when we stop to think of it that a 
 child’s education goes on each day from the moment that he gets up 
 in the morning until he goes to bed at night. Some of this education 
 he gets in school and some of it he gets outside of school, but and 
 
4 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGEAM POE WASHINGTON, N. C, 
 
 this is the important point—the kind of education which the child of 
 to-day gets outside of school* is very different from what ho received 
 50 years ago outside of school, while the education which he received 
 in school has remained much the same. 
 
 Fifty years ago he began the day by doing chores about the farm, 
 taking care of the animals, mending a piece of harness or part of a 
 wagon. Then he went to school and got the ^H^ook learning’’ that 
 he could not get at home, and after school he played in the fields, 
 or stopped in at a blacksmith shop or carpenter shop and watched a 
 friend at work and learned to handle tools himself. All this work on 
 the farm and in small shops was education, and the schoolhouse 
 simply supplemented it—and not very efficiently at tliat. We often 
 hear men of an older generation say that they accomplished a great 
 deal in life, and yet the only education I received wjis in the little 
 red schoolhouse.” But, as a matter of fact, tliat was not the only 
 education they received. The large part of their education they 
 received outside of school in meeting real situations that had to be 
 solved, and having the opportunity to experiment, to handle tools, 
 to invent new ways of doing things. 
 
 But times have changed. During the past 50 years has come the' 
 growth of the modern cities until now half the population of the 
 country is concentrated in them. And the city, whether large or 
 small, is a poor place for raising children because it deprives them of 
 the healthy, wholesome work and play which are essential elements 
 in their education. Children in the cities no longer get the chance 
 to take part in activities about the home or in the community life, 
 which formerly were so educational in character, fur the reason that 
 such activities are no longer carried on in the home. 
 
 In a modern city home, the clothes, furniture, and to a large extent 
 the food, are made outside the home—and very often the eating is 
 done outside the home. We often hear the fact deplored that ‘Hhe 
 home is not what it was,” and that ‘4f fathers and mothers would 
 look after their children more” things would be as they used to be. 
 But things would not be as they used to bo for the sim})le reason 
 that the economic facts in regard to the home are not what they used 
 to be. It is not the parents’ fault nor the children’s. Economic 
 changes have taken certain simple fundamental educational ac¬ 
 tivities out of the home, and neither optimism nor hope will put 
 them back in again. The modern city—and Washington is like all 
 others in this respect—fails to give children the opportunity to create 
 things with their brains and hands which the simpler farm environ¬ 
 ment of a generation ago made possible. 
 
 But children will find a way to express their desire to ^'do things,” 
 to take things apart and put them together again, to find out “how 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGBAM FOE WASHINGTON, N. C. o 
 
 things work.’^ If they can not do this legitimately and constructively, 
 they will do it behind their elders’ backs, and destructively. And 
 because it upsets the smooth working of our adult world we call it 
 mischief. As a matter of fact, mischief in the modern city child is 
 often nothing but the expression of a thwarted instinct for self- 
 expression and creative work. 
 
 THE CITY DEPEIVES CIIILDEEN OF PLAY. 
 
 Changed social and industrial conditions have not only deprived 
 children of the opportunity for wholesome creative work, but—what 
 is even more serious—modern cities have taken away from children 
 the opportunity for wholesome play. 
 
 Cities are the lost playgrounds of children. The city gradually 
 extends until there is little or no free-play space left, and the children 
 are driven to the streets as their only place for play. As a matter 
 of fact, children in a modern city spend twice as much time being 
 educated on the streets as they spend being educated in school. On 
 the basis of the 365 days of the year, children are under the super¬ 
 vision of the school on an average of not more than 2^ hours a day. 
 Investigation has shown that all other child-welfare agencies do not 
 occupy a child’s time on an average of more than 10 minutes a day. 
 It is safe to say that the city home can not keep a child wholesomely 
 occupied for more than 6 hours a day. Adding 10 hours for sleep, 
 there are still more than 5 hours to be accounted for, and, as is well 
 known, these hours are spent by the children on the city streets. 
 And the street is a most efficient teacher. A child will remember 
 what he learns on the street far longer than what he is told to 
 remember while sitting at a school desk. 
 
 In other words, what the fathers and mothers of city children have 
 to face is the fact that, judged both by efficiency in getting results 
 and by the length of time which children are under its influence, the 
 city street—and not the home or the school—is educating the mass 
 of children in our. cities to-day. Can any community afford to let 
 such a condition continue to exist ? 
 
 Washington is a comparatively small city, yet there is no public 
 playground, and the playgrounds around the school buildings are 
 entirely inadequate. The result is that children have to play on the 
 city streets, and since this has resulted in a number of accidents a 
 campaign is now on to prevent their playing in the streets. But in 
 spite of such a campaign, it may safely be prophesied that they will 
 continue to play in the streets and continue to be hurt until adequate 
 play space is provided for them. 
 
 30988°—23-2 
 
6 SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGEAM POE WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 LITTLE OPPORTUNITY FOR WORK OR PLAY IN THE TRADITIONAL SCHOOL. 
 
 Such are the conditions surrounding children/s lives in the modern 
 city outside of school. In the meantime, in school the majority of 
 children get only school seats in classrooms. 
 
 It is true that new educational ideals and new educational methods 
 have developed very rapidly in the past 50 years, in response to the 
 demands of changed social and industrial conditions, until now" the 
 actual subjects in the present curriculum include far more than the 
 original three R’s. 
 
 For example, the Washington public elementary schools include 
 in their curriculum most of the subjects taught in a modern public 
 school. But wdiile the schools have added these suf)j(‘cts in response 
 to changes in social and industrial conditions, the t(‘achcrs are being 
 compelled to teach them in buildings adapted to the three II instruc¬ 
 tion of a hundred years ago. It is asking too much of any teacher; 
 for no teacher, however gifted, can make bricks without straws 
 To ask them to teach not only the thi'ee B’s but drawing and music 
 and nature study, and even physical training, in classrooms full of 
 school seats is asking the impossible. 
 
 Good workmanship can not be taught by talking about it in a 
 classroom instead of giving children a chance to w"ork in shops, 
 cooking rooms, sewdng rooms, and drawing rooms. Scientific curi¬ 
 osity can not be encouraged and developed by reading about experi¬ 
 ments in physics and chemistry instead of having the opportunity 
 actually to conduct experiments in woll-equip])ed science labora¬ 
 tories; and healthy bodies can not be developed l)y assigning les¬ 
 sons in a hygiene textbook, or by having children go through two or 
 three minutes of physical training in a classroom full of school seats. 
 
 Children, like adults, learn to live by living. Studying books is 
 only a part, though an important part, of living. Working and 
 playing; experimenting, testing, and making mistakes; (umstructing 
 something; reading and studying; growing healthy and strong through 
 play; learning to play and work with each other; and expressing to 
 ourselves and to one another more or less adequately and j)eautifully 
 what w^e think and feel about it all —that is living.- Tliese are the 
 things that all of us are doing or trying to do all the time (‘xcept in 
 school. Yet, presumably, the purpose of the school is to help chil¬ 
 dren to do more adequately and efficiently and joyfully what they 
 are going to do anyway. 
 
 A school building with nothing but classrooms, such as is found 
 in Washington, N. C., can not fulfill this purpose, for it bears little 
 relation to life. It is like nothing which children will meet in life 
 outside of school, either while they are children or when they grow up. 
 It is like nothing in the world but itself, and it has outgrown its 
 usefulness. 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 7 
 
 THE MODERN SCHOOL BUILDING MUST PROVIDE THE OPPORTUNITIES 
 
 FOR WORK AND PLAY WHICH THE HOME CAN NO LONGER SUPPLY. 
 
 It is for all these reasons that there has come to be a general recog- 
 nition of the fact that the city school must not only supply the oppor¬ 
 tunity for study in good classrooms under wholesome conditions, 
 but it must also return to children the opportunity for the healthy 
 work and play which the home can no longer supply. This means 
 that the modern city school building must have not only classrooms 
 but shops, science laboratories, drawing and music rooms, cooking 
 and sewing rooms, auditorium and gymnasiums, and there must be 
 ample playground space about the school. And the elementary school 
 huilding must have these facilities as well as the high school. 
 
 But how is a modern city to develop a building program which 
 will not only eliminate congestion but also provide these modern 
 educational facilities ? 
 
 IMPOSSIBLE TO ELIMINATE CONGESTION ON THE RESERVED-SEAT 
 
 BASIS, OR THE PEAK-LOAD ” PLAN. 
 
 The answer is that these results can not be accomplished until it is 
 realized that no growing city can even eliminate congestion (not to 
 mention providing modern educational facilities) on the basis of a 
 reserved seat for every child, any more than railroads could function 
 if each citizen had to have his own private car seat for his own exclu¬ 
 sive use during the entire year. 
 
 In other wmrds, the public-school system can not expect to eliminate 
 congestion if it continues to operate on what is known among engi¬ 
 neers and business men as the peak-load’’ basis, i. e., concentrating 
 the greatest number of children at any one time in one place, leaving 
 all other facilities unused. Yet that is exactly what is happening 
 at the present time. According to the traditional school plan all 
 children have to be in school seats at 9 oTlock, or whenever the fiist 
 period begins, and remain there until 12, when they all go home to 
 lunch. They all return at 1 o’clock and study in school seats until 
 3, when they are all turned out into the parks and playgrounds foi 
 play. Apparently, the traditional school is run on the assum])tion 
 that all persons in school wxant to do, or ought to do, the same thing 
 at the same time. Yet, if w^e applied that principle to’any other 
 public utility, as completely as w^e do to the school, it wmiild be im¬ 
 possible for om’ social and industrial mechanism to work. 
 
 As one prominent educator has pointed out, the modern city is 
 largely the result of the application of the principle of the common 
 use of public facilities which each person in the community needs for 
 his personal use only part of the time. ^^For example, public parks 
 ai*c run on the principle that not all people will w-ant to use parks at 
 
8 SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGBAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 the same time and that there is hardly any time when no one wants 
 to use the parks. Obviously, a park system which insisted that 
 people use the parks from 3 to 5 o’clock 5 days a week for only 200 
 days during the year would-be extremely extravagant. And yet we 
 run our public-school system so that children can not use play¬ 
 grounds except between 3 and 5 o’clock 5 days a week. In many 
 cities hundreds of thousands of dollars are invested in playgrounds 
 and yet these playgrounds are empty of school children all day until 
 3 o’clock in the afternoon. In fact, in some cities if a child is found 
 on the playground before 3 o’clock, he is driven off because he is 
 playing truant. Obviously, the playgrounds exist for the use of the 
 children and yet children have the opportunity to use them only a 
 few hours a day, because the traditional school program says that 
 thev must be in school seats from 9 to 12 and from 1 to 3.” 
 
 Our transportation system is made possible because of the fact 
 that all people do not wish to ride at exactly the same time; concerts 
 and theaters are made available to many people because one person 
 can use another’s seat when he does not want to use it. Hotels can 
 accommodate thousands of people because they are not run on the 
 principle of reserving each room for the exclusive use of a single 
 individual during the entire year. Yet a hotel room used only four 
 days during the year would be in use longer than the average school 
 auditorium is used during the year. How can any city afford to 
 have sufficient school auditoriums if they are to be used regularly, 
 as they are now, only 15 or 20 minutes a day ? 
 
 OTHER PUBLIC-SERVICE UTILITIES OPERATE ON THE PRINCIPLE OF 
 MULTIPLE USE OF FACILITIES. WHY NOT THE SCHOOL? 
 
 In other words, all public-service institutions except the school 
 endeavor to holance the load by operating on the principle of a 
 multiple use of facilities all the time. There would seem to be no 
 good reason why this principle of multiple use of facilities should 
 not also apply to the school. There would seem to be no good 
 reason why all children should be in classrooms at the same time, 
 nor wdiy the auditorium and playground and shops should be in use 
 only a fraction of the day. The fact is that there are many things 
 in school as well as out of school that all people do not want to do 
 at the same time, or can just as well do at different times. More¬ 
 over, from an educational standpoint, there is obviously no reason 
 why children should all have to do the same thing at the same time. 
 In fact, the whole trend of modern educational jiractice is away from 
 such a lock-step system. 
 
 Furthermore, it is difficult to see how the problem of providing 
 enough classrooms or playgrounds or special facilities for the mass of 
 children is ever to be met if all children have to be in classrooms at 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PROGBAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 9 
 
 the same time and if all children have to play at once. Wash¬ 
 ington might spend thousands of dollars and yet it is safe to say 
 that each year there would be an insufficient number of classrooms. 
 Such a statement is based not merely on the general principle just 
 referred to. It is also based on facts gathered in school building 
 surveys made by the Bureau of Education in 10 States during the 
 past two years. 
 
 If, limvever, the principle of multiple use of facilities is applied to 
 the piihlic school it is financially possible to eliminate congestion and 
 provide not only adequate classrooin accommodations but also audito- 
 riums, gymnasiums, laboratories, shops, cooling and sewing rooms, 
 and dra wing and music rooms for the mass of cJiildren. In fact, in 
 worlcing out a building program, accommodations may be provided in 
 all facilities if they are used constantly by alternating groups at less 
 cost than regular classrooms may be provided on the basis of a reserved 
 seat for every child, 
 
 THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY, OR BALANCED-LOAD, PLAN MAKES IT FINAN¬ 
 CIALLY POSSIBLE TO ELIMINATE SCHOOL CONGESTION AND PROVIDE 
 
 MODERN EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES. 
 
 A different type of school organization and a different plan of 
 operation from the traditional are required in order to do this. For¬ 
 tunately, such a type of organization has been worked out by school 
 authorities and has demonstrated its ability to effect these results. 
 It is known as the work-study-play, or platoon-school, plan; and it 
 is now in operation in some 53 cities in the country, including cities 
 of such diverse types as Detroit, Mich.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Troy, N. Y.; 
 Winnetka, Ilk; and Newark, N. J. 
 
 The slogan of the work-study-play plan might be said to be “n 
 seat for every child when he needs it, and also modern educational 
 facilities for work and play and adequate time to use them.” 
 
 The plan grew out of a recognition of the fact that the growth of 
 citv conditions makes the educational problem far more difficult 
 than formerly; in fact, has created a new school problem. The plan 
 makes it practicable both administratively and financially for school 
 administrators to provide (what all progressive school administrators 
 wish to provide for children) not only classroom accommodations 
 but also auditoriums, gymnasiums, shops, science laboratories, etc., 
 where children may be kept wholesomely occupied in study and work 
 
 and play. 
 
 HOW IT WORKS. 
 
 The work-study-play plan does this by balancing the load so that 
 half the children in a school are in classrooms while the other half are 
 at work and play in well-equipped shops, laboratories, auditoiiums, 
 
10 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 and playgrounds. For example, a school is divided into two parts 
 each having the same number of classes, and each containing all the 
 eight or nine grades. The first part, which we will call the 
 school,” comes to school in the morning, say, at 8.30 or 9, and goes 
 to classrooms for academic work. While this school is in the class¬ 
 rooms it obviously can not use any of the special facilities, therefore 
 the other school—B school—goes to the special activities, one-third 
 to the auditorium, one-third to the playground, and one-third is 
 divided among such activities as the shops, laboratories, drawing, 
 and music studios. At the end of one or two periods; that is, when 
 the first group of children has remained, according to the judgment 
 of the school authorities, in school seats as long as is good for them at 
 one time, the A school goes to the playground, auditorium, and other 
 special facilities, while the B school goes to the classroom. 
 
 The following is one type of program that may he used. In this 
 program each school (A and B) is divided into three divisions: Division 
 1, upper grades; division 2, intermediate grades; division 3, primary 
 grades. 
 
 Under such a program it is obvious that only half as many class¬ 
 rooms are needed as under the traditional system. For example, 
 in a 50-class school (2,000 pupils) under the traditional plan, 50 class¬ 
 rooms arc needed in addition to all special facilities. Under the 
 work-study-play plan, only 25 classrooms are needed, since only half 
 the children are in classrooms at any one time. Therefore, under this 
 plan, the cost of 25 additional classrooms is eliminated. The average 
 cost of a classroom in this country at the present time for a school 
 of that size is $10,000. Since only half the ususal number of class¬ 
 rooms is required under the work-study-play-plan, i. e., 25 classrooms 
 in a 50-class school, the cost of the remainder is released for all the 
 other special facilities. 
 
 EDUCATIONAL ADVANTAGES OF THE PLAN—AN ENPHCHED CURRICULUM. 
 
 The important point about the balanced-load plan, however, is not 
 its economy, but the fact that it makes possible an enriched education 
 for children. Under this plan the children not only have the same 
 amount of time for reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and 
 history as formerly, 210 minutes, but also 50 minutes of play every 
 day, 50 minutes of auditorium a day, and 50 minutes of shopwork 
 every day in the week for a third of the 3 ^ear; science every day for 
 a third of a year; and drawing and music every day for a third of a 
 year. At present, children get in most schools in the country a 10- 
 minute recess period for play, a few minutes for opening exercises in 
 the auditoriiun, and a few minutes a day or two periods a week for 
 special activities often carried on in the regular classrooms. 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGEAM FOE WASHINGTON, N. C. 11 
 
 FLEXIBILITY OF THE PROGRAM MEETS INDIVIDUAL NEEDS OF CHILDREN. 
 
 A program based upon the multiple use of facilities also makes it 
 possible to have a flexible program. After all, schools were created 
 for children and not children for the schools, and it should be possible 
 to adapt the program to meet the needs of individual children instead 
 of making children conform to the program, as is too often the case. 
 A stud}’ of the different types of work-study-play schools, in different 
 parts of the country, shows that it is possible to adapt the program 
 to the needs of different types of children and different types of 
 communities. 
 
 For example, a child who is backward in a special subject, such as 
 arithmetic, and is held back in a grade because he can not master 
 that subject, and is growing discouraged because he has to repeat 
 the whole year’s work, can double ujd in arithmetic for a number of 
 weeks by omitting the auditorium period until he has made up the 
 work and is ready to go on with his grade in that subject. In the 
 meantime, he has not been held back in other subjects, but has pro¬ 
 gressed as rapidly in them as he is able to. Or, if a child has a partic¬ 
 ular talent in some subject, he can, under this program, double his 
 time in that subject by omitting his auditorium period a number of 
 times a week and yet not lose any time from his regular work. 
 
 Again, it is possible to adjust the time of beginning or leaving 
 school to meet the desires of parents. For example, it is possible to 
 arrange to have the school begin at 8.30, 8.45, or 9 a. m., or any other 
 hour desired. Or, if the school begins at 8.30 and certain parents 
 object to having their children leave for school so early, it is possible 
 to put these children in the ''B school,” which begins the day with 
 special activities; in this case the children can omit the play period 
 or auditorium from 8.30 to 9.20 and arrive at school at 9.20. Or, 
 again, many parents prefer to have their children take special music 
 lessons after school. It often happens that home work or staying 
 after school interferes with these lessons. Under the "vork-study- 
 play plan it is possible to put such children in the A school and let 
 them omit the play period or the auditorium in the afternoon fiom 
 2.40 to 3.30. There is, of course, no reason why children should not 
 be given credit for these out-of-school activities if so desired. As 
 for special facilities in school, each community and each section of 
 the city can have the special facilities which the school authorities 
 
 and the parents desire. 
 
 OPPORTUNITY FOR SHOP WORK. 
 
 Another advantage of the program of the work-study-play scbools 
 is that it makes it possible to give adequate time and equipment for 
 manual work. The object of shop work in the public schools is of 
 
12 
 
 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 course not to make meclianics of children 12 to 10 3 ^ears of age, or 
 even to prepare them to become mechanics. Such a program would 
 be most undesirable and unfair to the children even if it were possible 
 of accomplishment, which of course it is not. There is no place for 
 specialized trade training in the public elementary school. But 
 working with tools, not for training for trade, but for its educational 
 value as one of the educational experiences of the race, is something 
 which all children should have the opportunity to take part in. 
 Nearl}/" all children like to work in shops, drawing studios, and science 
 laboratories; and they should have the chance to do so, whether they 
 are going to be lawyers or carpenters, whetlier they are going to 
 college or directly to work. 
 
 At the present time, in the average school only comparatively few 
 children get the opportunity to do any constructive work in school 
 with their hands and they get it for only few minutes a week, con¬ 
 centrated usually in two days. Under the work-studj^-play plan it 
 is possible for children to have 40 or 50 minutes a day every day in 
 the week in shopwork, science, or drawing and music, and since the 
 program can be so arranged that they can begin such work at the 
 fourth grade, it is possible for them to take part in a variety of 
 activities before tlie^^ graduate, so that they can find out what they 
 do not like as well as what they like. 
 
 The large majority of children who drop out of school would be 
 much better off in school until they are 16 or more if the school met 
 their needs, but it is impossible to expect them to stay in an all- 
 stud}^ school in which the}^ have little opportunity for the constructive 
 work which most children like. The work-study-play school makes 
 it financially and administratively possible to furnish such activities 
 for children, and thus tends to keep them in school longer. Further¬ 
 more, this work is of course a great reinforcement to the academic 
 work since it gives practical significance to arithmetic and English 
 and history. In fact, the special activities increase the time spent on 
 academic work. 
 
 CHILDREN ARE NATURAL SCIENTISTS. 
 
 Children are natural scientists. In every hour of their waking 
 lives out of school they are experimenting and testing, observing, 
 collecting, and classifying. It is only in school that they get no 
 opportunity to experiment. There is practically no science work in 
 the elementary school with the exception of a little nature study. 
 The result is that the spirit of scientific curiosity, which is so strong 
 in children, is now being starved in the elementary schools instead of 
 being fed and developed. By the time children get to the high 
 school, the eagerness of their curiosity has been dulled by inactivity, 
 and in its place other interests, which often have their genesis on the 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGEAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 13 
 
 city streets, have developed. Furthermore, only 13.9 per cent of all 
 the children in the country ever complete high school. Consequently, 
 the majority of children never get any training in the subject which is 
 the foundation of all our social and industrial life, and which is richer 
 in educational content than any other subject in the curriculum. 
 
 But science can not be taught in a classroom with school seats and 
 no equipment, and it can not be carried on effectively under a pro¬ 
 gram which permits such work only tvdce a week. Under the work- 
 study-play plan, it is financially possible to provide well-equipped 
 science laboratories and it is administratively possible for every child 
 to get 40 or 50 or 60 minutes a day of science work every day in the 
 week for a third of each year or more. 
 
 THE VALUE OP THE AUDITORIUM. 
 
 In the traditional school the auditorium is used regularly for audi¬ 
 torium purposes only 15 or 20 minutes a day for opening exercises. 
 In Washington it is not used so often as that. By failing to utilize 
 an auditorium, the school for years has left unused a feature of school 
 work which is of the greatest educational value. 
 
 Under the work-study-play plan the auditorium is used every 
 period of the day by different groups of children, since one-sixth of 
 the school is alwa 3 ^s in the auditorium and one-sixth on the 
 pla^^ground. 
 
 Since a description of what has already been accomplished in a new 
 line of work is always more convincing than a statement of what may 
 be accomplished, we shall quote that part of the annual report of the 
 board of education of Detroit which deals with the auditorium. 
 Detroit already has 42 schools operating on the platoon or work- 
 study-play plan. 
 
 The auditorium of the platoon school adds to the elementary school an entirely new 
 and important socializing unit which the traditional school did not have. The 
 possibilities of this unit are almost unlimited. When its possibilities are finally worked 
 out and realized, it will probably be found to be the most effective educational force 
 in the entire organization. 
 
 The auditorium does not have the atmosphere or the paraphernalia of the school¬ 
 room. It has rather the general spirit of freedom from restraint found in an ordinary 
 ^ * * * The platoon school provides 30 minutes dailj' in the 
 
 auditorium for every pupil. * * * The auditorium accommodates 9G0 pupils at 
 least every day. * * * 
 
 The auditorium as an integral part of the elementary school has two distinct 
 functions: 
 
 1. As a socializing unit. 
 
 2. As an integrating and correlating unit. * * * 
 
 All auditorium activities have behind them the social motive. Thus in this unit of 
 the school our best-equipped teachers consciously and definitely attempt to tram 
 children for social life and for citizenship. The development of auditorium possi¬ 
 bilities is still in an experimental stage, but enough has been done to convince the 
 most skeptical that this is an educational factor which is destined to be recognized in 
 
14 SCHOOL BUILDING PEOGEAM FOE WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 the future not only in elementary education but in intermediate and secondary schools 
 as well. * * * 
 
 Auditoriums are equipped with apparatus for the projection of slides and moving 
 pictures. The board of education has a collection of 8,000 educational slides that are 
 available at all times so that some stereopticon work may be done daily. One day 
 each week the entire time of the auditorium is given over to moving pictures. Advance 
 notices of the films to be shown are sent to schools, and films adapted to both primary 
 and grammar grades are selected. 
 
 Auditoriums are supplied with phonographs, and a library of records is owned by 
 the board of education. Pupils constantly hear good vocal and instrumental music, 
 and one day a month a special teacher of music visits each auditorium to conduct 
 auditorium classes especially intended to develop musical appreciation. * * * 
 
 The platoon school has in the auditorium that which the traditional school does not 
 have, an integrating, correlating force. * * * Of what value is the training in 
 arithmetic, grammar, and geography if the pupil goes forth into life socially unfit? 
 It is highly desirable that the experiences which the pupil has in the home room, the 
 gymnasium, the playground, the music room, the literature room, or the studio shall 
 be revived again in the auditorium, where they may be reinterpreted for him in terms 
 of their social value. * * * The pupils easily come to realize the relationship 
 between the physical exercises of the gymnasium and the health talks of the audi¬ 
 torium; between the geography lessons of the home room or science room and the 
 stereopticon pictures and moving pictures of the auditorium; and between the story¬ 
 telling in the literature room, the music and singing in the music room, and the Mother 
 Goose operetta in the auditorium.^ 
 
 THE SCHOOL TAKES OVER THE STREET TIME OF THE CHILD. 
 
 As has been pointed out, one of the most undesij;able elements 
 in the life of city children is the street life in which they have hitherto 
 spent so large a part of their time. Obviously, because of the con¬ 
 ditions of modern city life, it is necessary that the school take over 
 some of the time now spent by the child on the city streets. The 
 work-study-play plan does this by lengthening the school day an 
 hour or two as each community may desire, and by offering to the 
 children the wholesome activity in shops and laboratories and on 
 the playgrounds which is so essential for them. 
 
 THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN NOT AN UNTRIED METHOD OF SCHOOL ORGANIZATION. 
 
 The work-study-play plan is not an untried method of school 
 organization. It has been in operation for the past 12 or 15 years, 
 and it has been worked out in communities of widely different char¬ 
 acter—large industrial centers like Detroit, Mich., small towns 
 like Stuttgart, Ark., and residential suburbs like Winnetka, Ill., 
 and Sewickley, Pa. The Bureau of Education has at present 
 information that the plan is in operation in 53 cities in 21 States. 
 The cities are as follows: 
 
 Akron, Ohio; Baltimore, Md.; Birmingham, Ala.; Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio; Dallas, 
 Tex.; Denver, Colo.; Detroit, Mich.; Dormont, Pa.; Duluth, Minn.; East Chicago, 
 
 * The platoon school in Detroit, Detroit Educational Bulletin No. 2, pp. 30-37. 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PKOGKAM FOB WASHINGTON, N. C. 15 
 
 Ind.; Elizabeth, N. J.; Ellsworth, Pa.; Carson College, Floiirtown, Montgomery 
 County, Pa.; Fort Smith, Ark.; Franklin, N. J.; Gary, Ind.; Greenwich, Conn.; 
 Hazleton, Pa.; Ithaca, N. Y.; Kalamazoo, Mich.; Kansas City, Mo.; Memphis, Tenn.; 
 Monessen, Pa.; Montclair, N. J.; Mount Vernon, N. Y.; New Castle, Pa.; Newark, 
 N, J.; Oakmont, Pa.; Passaic, N. J.; Philadelphia, Pa.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Rochester, 
 N. Y.; Rockford, Ill.; Sacramento, Calif.; Saginaw, W. S., Mich.; Seattle, Wash.; 
 Sewickley, Pa.; South Bend, Ind.; St. Paul, Minn.; Stuttgart, Ark.; Troy, N. Y.; 
 Warren, Ohio., Washington, D. C.; Wilmington, Del.; Winnetka, Ill.; Youngstown, 
 Ohio; Durham, N. C.; Asbury Park, N, J.; Braddock and Portage, Pa.; Long Beach, 
 Calif.; New Britain, Conn.; and Port Arthur, Tex. 
 
 SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENTS TESTIFY THAT WORK-STUDY-PLAY PLAN IMPROVES ACA¬ 
 DEMIC WORK, GIVES ENRICHED EDUCATION, IMPROVES HEALTH OF PUPILS. 
 
 School superintendents from 46 cities, in which it has been in opera¬ 
 tion, have reported upon it, and have stated that it improves the 
 academic work, offers superior training in special activities, improves 
 the physical condition of pupils, and represents a great saving in class¬ 
 room space and in cost of building. 
 
 The recommendations in regard to the building program, which 
 will now be submitted, have been worked out on the basis of the 
 traditional plan of school organization and also of the work-study- 
 play plan of school organization which has just been described. 
 
 AIM OF THE BUILDING PROGRAM SUBMITTED IN THIS REPORT. 
 
 In making out the building program for the schools of Washington, 
 N. C., the aim has been to accomplish the following things: 
 
 First, to relieve present congestion and provide for an increase in 
 growth for at least 10 years. 
 
 It would be most unfortunate if Washington should plan its build¬ 
 ing program without providing for growth of school population for at 
 least 10 years. If, for example, the city should plan for an increase 
 for only 5 years, then by the time the buildings were up the schools 
 would be congested again, and it would be necessary within a year or 
 two to ask for another bond issue. 
 
 Second, to plan a building of the expansible type so that it may be 
 added to without great expense. The E-shaped building is probably 
 the best for this purpose since it is possible to add classrooms with 
 little expense without changing the character of the building. 
 
 Third, the cost of the program has been worked out after a careful 
 study of building costs in the country as a w^hole and with the best 
 available information as to building costs in Washington, N. C. The 
 cost of school buildings is now down to 25 cents per cubic foot in 
 many parts of the country and authorities in Washington estimate 
 that the school buildings can be erected in that city for the same 
 amount. This makes the cost of the building $10,000 per classroom 
 unit. ‘^Classroom unit cost’’ includes the cost of corridors, stair, 
 principal’s office, teachers’ rest room, toilets, etc. 
 
16 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGEAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 Fourth, the cost of equipment has been included in the amount 
 necessary for the buildings. The importance of providing modern 
 equipment can not be too strongly emphasized. Too often com¬ 
 munities make the mistake of providing only enough funds for the 
 shell of the building, and almost no funds for the equipment. This 
 is comparable to erecting a factory for turning out automobiles and 
 providing no funds for macliines or tools. It is futile to provide 
 workshops for children withoift providing tools for them to use in 
 the workshop; furthermore, an inadequate supply of tools is only a 
 handicap and an exasperation. 
 
 Fifth, the buildings should be of fireproof construction. The 
 estimate of cost of buildings will probably come as a surprise and shock 
 to many a citizen. This is because, up to the present time, Wash¬ 
 ington-has not had the habit of erecting modern fireproof buildings 
 for its children. It can not afford, however, not to change that 
 policy. Great care is taken nowadays that modern office buildings, 
 in which adults work, should be of fireproof construction. 
 
 For example, one of the most recent buildings erected in Washing¬ 
 ton is the National Bank Building, which is of the most modern 
 type, and cost $133,000. And yet, up to the present time, the total 
 amount of money spent for school buildings in Washington is $37,000, 
 and no school building is of fireproof construction. Is not the safety 
 of 1,600 children as important as the safety of adults who work in 
 banks? Again, all modern factories are fireproof, and all hospitals 
 are fireproof. Is not preservation of the lives of school children of 
 a cit}" as important as the preservation of its material products? 
 Is it not as important to protect children before they have to be sent 
 to hospitals as after they arrive there? 
 
 Sixth, the aim has been to work out a building program which will 
 give modern school facilities to all the children in the public-school 
 system of Washington. Too often there is a tendency to invest all 
 the available funds in one building which can only he used by a 
 minority of the children. This is neither democratic nor fair to the 
 children of the city. The city^s funds should be so spent that all 
 children would receive the opportunity for a modern, all-round 
 education. 
 
 Seventh, the building program has been worked out on the basis 
 both of the traditional type of school organization and of the work- 
 study-play type of organization. It is not urged that Washington 
 adopt the newer type organization, but, in view of the fact that many 
 cities are now organizing their schools on the work-study-play basis, 
 it is recommended that a careful study be made of this plan and that, 
 to this end, the board of education authorize the superintendent of 
 schools to visit cities in which the plan is in operation, in order to 
 make a thorough study of it and see how it can be adapted to Wash- 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 17 
 
 ington. It is further'suggested that it would he desirable for the 
 members of the board of education themselves to visit cities in which 
 schools are organized on the basis of this modern type of organization. 
 
 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR A BUILDING PROGRAM. 
 
 WHITE SCHOOLS. 
 
 It is recommended that the high school, consisting of the seventh, 
 eighth, ninth, tenth, and eleventh grades, remain in the present 
 white-school building, and that a new elementary-school building be 
 erected for the first six grades on the site already purchased on 
 —--—--— Street between Fourth and Fifth Streets. Ulti¬ 
 
 mately, the present building should be abandoned, and all the pupils 
 from grade 1 to 12 housed in one building. 
 
 A NEW ELEMENTAnY-SCHOOL BUILDING FOR THE FIRST SIX GRADES. 
 
 The enrollment to be provided for would be as follows: 
 
 Enrollment (1920-21). 720 
 
 33 per cent increase for 10 years. 237 
 
 Total. 957 
 
 Or 24 classes.^ 
 
 Under the work-study-play plan, in a 24-class school 12 classrooms 
 would be needed. There should also be an auditorium, and a gymna¬ 
 sium, and at least 6 special facility rooms—for example, 2 shops for 
 boys, 1 cooking room for girls, 1 sewing room, 1 drawing room, and 1 
 nature-study room. This would make 18 units in all. The class¬ 
 room unit cost is $10,000. Therefore, the cost of the building would 
 be $180,000, plus $50,000 for an auditorium and gymnasium. The 
 cost of the equipment would be $18,000. The total cost for building 
 and equipment would be $248,000. 
 
 Under the traditional plan, it would be necessary to have 12 addi¬ 
 tional classrooms at a cost of $10,000 each, or a cost of $120,000, 
 with additional equipment $6,000. This would make a total cost 
 under the traditional plan of $374,000. 
 
 ADDITION AND EQUIPMENT FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL. 
 
 The enrollment to be provided for in grades 7-11 is as follows: 
 
 Enrollment (November 1, 1921) 
 33 per cent increase for 10 years 
 
 Total. 
 
 Or 14 classes.^ 
 
 309 
 
 101 
 
 410 
 
 There are 16 classrooms in the present white school building. 
 Seven of these could be used for academic work and the other nine 
 
 3 Forty pupils to a class. 
 
 * Thirty pupils to a class. 
 
18 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 rooms for special activities, plus two rooms in the basement for cook¬ 
 ing and shop work. 
 
 There is practically no modern equipment in this building. In 
 order to do high-school work nine rooms should be set aside for 
 special activities. The list of special activities and cost of equipment 
 
 for each activity is given as follows: 
 
 EQUIPMENT. 
 
 1 chemistry laboratory. $1, 500 
 
 1 physics laboratory. 1, 500 
 
 1 print shop. 2, 000 
 
 1 woodworking shop. 2, 000 
 
 1 cooking room. 2 , 000 
 
 1 sewing room. 1, 000 
 
 1 commercial room. 1, 000 
 
 1 mechanical-drawing room. 500 
 
 1 music room. 500 
 
 Total.. 12,000 
 
 The present high school has no gymnasium; therefore, one should 
 be constructed, probably at the rear of the auditorium, and it should 
 be so built that the auditorium could be enlarged sufficiently so that 
 real plays could be given on the stage. The cost would be approxi¬ 
 mately $25,000; equipment, $2,000. 
 
 Under the traditional plan, the cost would be the same for the 
 high school as under the study-work-play plan. 
 
 The total cost for the new elementary school and the high school 
 under the work-study-play plan would be as follows: 
 
 One new elementary-school building for grades 1-6. $248,000 
 
 Gymnasium and equipment for present high-school building. 39, 000 
 
 Total. 287,000 
 
 Under the traditional plan, the cost for both of these schools would 
 be $413,000, or $126,000 more than under the work-study-play plan. 
 
 NEGRO SCHOOLS. 
 
 Total enrollment of the negro schools in 1920-21 was 711, or 18 
 classes. There has been a 68.4 per cent increase in enrollment in the 
 10 years since 1910-11. A new building should be erected on a new 
 site to accommodate the following enrollment: 
 
 Enrollment (1920-21) . 711 
 
 25 per cent increase ®. 177 
 
 Total. 888 
 
 (Or 22 classes.) 
 
 5 The increase provided for is only one-half the increase which has taken place in the past 10 years, 
 but the lower figure has been used because it is contended by the school authorities that the large increase 
 in the past 10 years was due to the stricter enforcement of the compulsory education law, and that the 
 increase in the negro population, in the last 10 years, has not been proportionately as great as for the white 
 population. 
 
SCHOOL BUILDING PROGRAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 19 
 
 Under the work-study-play plan; 11 classrooms would be needed 
 and at least 4 special rooms—1 shop, 1 cooking room, 1 nature- 
 study room, 1 drawing room. This would make 15 units. 
 
 Cost of 15 units. $150, 000 
 
 Auditorium and gymnasium. 50, 000 
 
 Equipment. 11, 000 
 
 Total. 211,000 
 
 Under the traditional plan, 11 more classrooms would he needed 
 at a cost of ^110,000, plus $5,500 for equipment, making a total 
 of $326,500. 
 
 Summary of cost of building program. 
 
 School. 
 
 Under work-study-play plan. 
 Cost of— 
 
 Under traditional plan. 
 
 Cost of— 
 
 Building. 
 
 Equip¬ 
 
 ment. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Building. 
 
 Equip¬ 
 
 ment 
 
 Total. 
 
 White: 
 
 Nev/ elementary school for grades 1-G.. 
 Gymnasium aiid equipment for high 
 school. 
 
 Total. 
 
 Negro: 
 
 One new building lor grades 1-9. 
 
 Total cost for white and negro schools. 
 
 $230,000 
 
 25,000 
 
 $18,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 $248,000 
 
 39,000 
 
 $350,000 
 
 25,000 
 
 $24,000 
 
 14,000 
 
 $374,000 
 
 39,000 
 
 255,000 
 
 32,000 
 
 287,000 
 
 375,000 
 
 38,000 
 
 413,000 
 
 200,000 
 
 11,000 
 
 211,000 
 
 310,000 
 
 16,500 
 
 326,500 
 
 455,000 
 
 43,000 
 
 498,000 
 
 685,000 
 
 54,500 
 
 739,500 
 
 WASHINGTON CAN NOT AFFORD NOT TO GIVE A MODERN SCHOOL 
 
 PLANT TO ITS CHILDREN. 
 
 In view of the small amount of money which has been expended up 
 to the present time upon public-school buildings in Washington, a 
 bond issue of $500,000 will probably seem a large amount to the 
 average citizen. It should be remembered, however, that this 
 $500,000 is really taking care of school needs for 20 years, i. e., for 
 the 10 years since 1910, when Washington completely failed to supply 
 adequate housing facilities for its children, and also for the 10 years 
 from 1921 to 1931. In other words, by issuing bonds for $500,000, 
 Washington will have spent only $25,000 a year on school buildings 
 for 20 years, or only $14 a year per child. This is certainly not an 
 exorbitant amount for a city to spend on its children. Further¬ 
 more, it is less than Washington is under the obligation to spend lor 
 schools, inasmuch as it has been spending far less than tlie average 
 city of its size on public schools. 
 
 For example, in 1918, Washington’s tax rate in mills on the basis 
 of its true property valuation was 2.53. Compared with 442 other 
 cities of the same population group, Washington was thirty-fourth 
 
20 SCHOOL BUILDING PROGEAM FOR WASHINGTON, N. C. 
 
 from the bottom of the list in its tax rate for schools, and the propor¬ 
 tion, in 1920, was not materially different.® 
 
 Again, Washington’s per capita expenditure, in 1918, was $22.50. 
 The average for 45 cities for the same population group was $47.51. 
 In other words, Washington’s per capita expenditure for schools was 
 less than half that of the average for cities of the same population 
 group. And, although the per capita expenditure, in 1921, rose to 
 $32.71, yet the average increase for other cities was also $10, so that 
 her relation to them was the same as in 1918.® 
 
 The truth is that for years Washington has been behind in its 
 expenditure for school purposes and in its appropriations for school 
 buildings, until now the children are housed under conditions which 
 are a menace to their health and strength and moral and intellectual 
 development. This means that Washington now has to pay for its 
 past neglect. 
 
 It is understood that because of the issuance of bonds for street 
 improvements, etc., the expenditure of an additional $500,000 for 
 school buildings may be considered more than the city can afford 
 at present. It is suggested that any citizen who is inclined to that 
 point of view visit the dilapidated old dwelling houses into which ’ 
 little children of 7 and 8 years of age are crowded in badly venti¬ 
 lated, badly heated, badly lighted rooms, and then decide whether 
 Washington can afford not to issue school bonds for $500,000 to save 
 the health and strength of its own children. 
 
 6 See Statistics of public-school systems, by 11. R. Bonner, U. S. Bu. of Educ., Bui. 1920, No. 24, p. 161. 
 
 O 
 
FOR USE ONLY IN 
 
 THE NORTH CAROLINA COLLECTION