Platoon system
The platoon system and the gary system describe a room distribution and related teaching system . It dates from 1907 and was the first to use specialist rooms.
development
William Albert Wirt (1874–1938), headmaster of the schools in Gary (Indiana) developed a school model in 1907 that was based on the progressive educational philosophy. Gary was a working-class town and needed many skilled workers due to increasing industrialization . The old schools were completely overwhelmed with the new situation, both educationally and organizationally. He named Wirt's first model after a basic feature of the system: the platoon system (from platoon = train, in the sense of "alignment").
School life and the associated room allocation was then divided into two parts:
- Lessons in basic subjects, e.g. B. math or history , are performed in the classroom,
- the children can in the specialist room, z. B. Works or textile work, be active freely.
This system should address the cultural side of childish nature and stimulate the imagination. In an archive article on W. Wirt at Indiana University, it says: The platoon system gained acceptance in Gary and received national attention in the first decades of the 20th century. In 1914, New York hired Superintendent Wirt as a consultant to introduce the "work-learn-play" system in the schools there. (The platoon system gained acceptance in Gary and received national attention during the early decades of the twentieth century. In 1914, the city of New York hired Superintendent Wirt as a consultant to introduce the work-study-play system in the New York schools) A few years later, in the course of New York election campaigns, Wirts system was criticized and questioned under the aspect that he only wanted to train more children for working life in the factories.
Continuation
The second model named host after the place of origin: the Gary system . This system was a further development of the platoon system. In addition to the use of the classrooms , rooms such as laboratories , group rooms, gyms and sports fields are also included. Wirt referred to this as a "duplicate organization" , an organization connected in parallel. The purpose of this model was to use the various facilities effectively. It is also known under the name "work, study and play-school" .
As the demand for more and better educated workers increased, over 200 cities in 41 states experimented with the platoon and Gary systems. This system increased the capacity of the school buildings not only through better utilization of the rooms, but also through longer teaching times. In 1925 the National Association for the Study of the Platoon or Work-Study-Play School Organization published the benefits of this system. This made the founder of this system, William Wirt, known beyond the borders of the USA.