Reply #12: Found this article from 1915 NYT...pdf format

[madfloridian]

Through the over 30 years I taught they changed the names of the methods, switched back and forth among methods. I have forgotten all the names of the styles.

At the heart of it all is the ability and desire of the teacher to teach and the ability and desire of the student to learn....and in the background the support of the parents.

Now the parents and students are left out of the picture, and they blame only the teachers.

Interesting headline.

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THE GARY PLAN: A BACKWARD STEP?; Its Tendency to Centre the Attention of Educators on the Group Rather Than on the Individual.

http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9E00E5D61239E333A25755C0A9649D946496D6CF

And more from another link:

The Gary Plan, Work-Study-Play, or Platoon School Plan, as it was variously known, focused on establishing two central characteristics in the elementary grades. First, because of a concern for efficiency, Wirt believed in maximizing school facilities by constant use of all classrooms, including nights (for adults), weekends, and summers. Second, he expanded the curriculum to include manual training (numerous shops for the boys and cooking for the girls, for example), recreation, nature study, daily auditorium activities (including public speaking, music lessons, and movies), and other subjects beyond traditional academic concerns. The plan theoretically organized students into two platoons. During the morning, Platoon A students occupied the specialized academic classrooms (mathematics, science, English, history, etc.), while Platoon B students were in the auditorium, shops, gardens, swimming pools, gym, or playground. They switched facilities during the afternoon. The students, busy every day, were supposed to develop their mental, social, cultural, and physical abilities. Gary's large schools, first Emerson, then Froebel, and a few others built in the 1920s and 1930s, were unique because they were unit schools including all grades, K–12, which allowed for a more efficient use of space and building funds. By the late 1920s about half of the system's 22,000 students were attending such schools, with the remainder in the smaller elementary buildings.

Read more: Gary Schools http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/2002/Gary-Schools.html#ixzz0leWLVy9e