and after school he played in the fields or stopped in at some 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 the small shops was education, and the schoolhouse simply supplemented it. Furthermore, it was this first-hand knowledge of life and this opportunity to experiment, to learn to handle tools, to invent new ways of doing things, which developed the independence and initiative, the mechanical knack and resourcefulness, that have given this nation much of its inventive genius.

But times have changed. At the present time 50 per cent of the population of the country live in cities, and the city is an extremely poor place in which to rear children, chiefly because it deprives them of the opportunity for healthful work and play. There is little work of educational value to be done about a city home. On the contrary, the whole tendency in the city is to have as much work as possible done outside the home. There is no harvesting and planting to be done, few, if any, animals to be taken care of; and it is a rare city home that has a workshop or tools or laboratory in which children may experiment.

But the city not only fails to educate children in the right direction; it educates them in the wrong direction. With the majority of children the street becomes their only playground, and the street is a most effective teacher in all the vicious and sordid side of a city's life. There is probably no greater menace to the health of the children of this country-physical, mental, and moral-than our failure to realize the vital necessity of play for children. The average adult apparently looks upon play as recreation merely, something to indulge in after the serious business of life is over for the day, something that one is a little ashamed to give much time to, until perhaps ill health forces one to give time to it. Possibly because of the stress and speed at which life is lived to-day, the fact has been forgotten that play is not merely recreation, not a luxury, but a necessity for children if they are to grow in strength and health and mental keenness.

Children in the public schools all over the country get practically no time for play until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Ten minutes' recess in the morning and a few minutes in the afternoon is not play, it is literally a "recess" from sitting in school seats. And Athens is like every other city in this respect. But Athens, at least, has the authority and inspiration of her namesake for a better custom. To the Greeks, play was of the first importance in their scheme of education. The Athenians, whose achievements in art, literature, education, and the art of living have never been surpassed, realized that play was the foundation of physical health and intellectual power. Yet in the modern Athens of Georgia there is no public playground, and there is practically no opportunity for children to play during

school hours.

It were well if the modern Athenians took to heart the words of Socrates in regard to the place of play in education, when he says in The Republic:

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Can there be anything better for a State than that it should contain the best possible men and women?

There can not.

And this result will be brought about by music and gymnastics employed as we described?

Undoubtedly.

THE CITY SCHOOL MUST PROVIDE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE WORK AND PLAY WHICH THE HOME CAN NO LONGER PROVIDE.

Since the city is doubtless here to stay, it is imperative that the school return to children the opportunity for the work and play which the home no longer supplies, and which is absolutely essential for the healthy growth of children. For these reasons it has come to be recognized that every modern school must have not only classrooms but also an auditorium, gymnasium, shops, laboratories, cooking rooms, sewing rooms, drawing and music rooms, where children may be kept wholesomely busy all day long.

What Athens needs is a building program which will not only eliminate congestion and give adequate classroom facilities, but which will also provide the special facilities for work and play.

But how is Athens to develop a building program which will not only furnish sufficient classrooms but also provide the other modern educational facilities, and do it within the financial limits of the city?

THE BALANCED LOAD PLAN VERSUS THE PEAK LOAD.

There are two chief methods of accomplishing this. One is by the traditional type of school organization, or the peak-load type; and the other is the work-study-play plan, or balanced-load type.

The traditional type of school organization attempts to solve the situation by the usual custom of providing a seat in a classroom for every pupil, which that pupil has for his exclusive use. All children are expected to be in school seats at the same time, and if provision is made for such special facilities as auditoriums, gymnasiums, laboratories, and workshops, they have to be erected in addition to a classroom for every class, and when the pupils go to the special rooms the classrooms are vacant. This means that the addition of these special facilities which are essential in a modern school plant add, under the traditional plan, fully 60 per cent to the cubical content of the building.

This is what is commonly known in business as the "peak-load type" of organization because the load is not distributed, but, on

The Republic of Plato, Book V.

the contrary, tends to concentrate at any moment in one part of the building, e. g., the classrooms, and when the children leave the classrooms to go into the special facilities the load is transferred, leaving the classrooms vacant. Obviously, if Athens has to supply not only these special modern educational facilities, but a school seat for every child, the expense will be prohibitive. The question for Athens, then, is how the school system can be rehabilitated to furnish larger educational opportunities and at the same time effect the economies which will bring the building program within the financial resources of the city?

It is evident that the solution of the problem must be found in the increased use of school accommodations and more skillful school planning. Both are possible by skillful organization and administration. Fortunately, there is a method of school organization which has demonstrated its ability to effect these results, namely, the work-study-play plan, or balanced-load type.

This plan developed in an attempt to solve the peculiar school problems created by the modern city, and it is now in operation in the public schools in some 30 or 40 cities in the country. It grew out of a recognition of the fact that, as is the case in Athens, the growth of city conditions makes the educational problem far more difficult than formerly; in fact, has created a new school problem. The plan represents an attempt to make it practicable, both administratively and financially, for school administrators to provide not only classroom accommodations, but also such modern educational facilities as gymnasiums, auditoriums, shops, and laboratories, where children may be kept wholesomely occupied in study and work and play.

THE WORK-STUDY-PLAY, OR BALANCED-LOAD, PLAN.

Under the work-study-plan the load is balanced so that half the children are in classrooms while the other half are at work and play. 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 "A school," comes to school in the morning, say, at 8.30, and goes to classrooms for academic work. While this school is in the classrooms 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,

7 For example, Detroit, Mich., has 16 public schools on the work-study-play plan, and has just adopted a program for putting all the schools in the city on the plan. Pittsburgh, Pa., has 6 schools on the plan; Passaic, N. J., has 2; Newark, N. J., has 9; Troy, N. Y., has 1; and Newcastle, Pa., has 4. Winetka, Ill., Kalamazoo, Mich., Sewickley, Pa., and Swarthmore, Pa., are running all their schools on the plan. For information regarding attitude of school superintendents in these cities toward the plan, see Appendix I.

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 classrooms. Chart I shows how the load is balanced so that half the children are in classrooms while the other half are working and playing.

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A- A SCHOOL: THESE PUPILS SPEND THE FIRST TED PERIODS IN CLASS ROOMS, THE NEXT VERZOD IN SPECIAL ACTIVITIES,
THE FOURTH PERIOD AT LECHPOS, ETC.

B- 2 SCHOOL: THESE PUPILS ALTERGATE WITH THOSE IN THE A SCHOOL, SPENDING THE FIRST TWO PERIODS IN SPECIAL ACTIVITIES,
THE THIRD AND FOURTH IN CLASS ROOM, THE FIFTH AT LUNCHEON ΣΤΟ.

CHART I.-Balanced load-plan of school organization by which half the school is in classrooms while the other half is at work and play.

The following is one type of program that may be 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.

The "A School."

In other words, the work-study-play plan applies to the public school the principle on which all other public service institutions attempt to run, i. e., the principle of multiple use of facilities. The whole tendency in modern public utilities is to eliminate the peak load by using all facilities all the time; and the utility becomes more efficient and accommodates a larger number of people at less cost to the extent to which it balances its load. For example, it is evident that our transportation system is made possible because all people do not have to ride at exactly the same time. Public parks can be maintained by the city because they are not reserved for the exclusive use of any individual or group; the larger the city, and therefore the larger the number of people supporting them, the more extensive and beautiful the parks can be made. 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.

On the contrary, our public-school system up to the present time has been run on the principle of reserving a school seat for the exclusive use of one child during the entire year. All children have to be in school seats from 9 a. m. to 12 and from 1 to 3, and at 3 o'clock all of them are dismissed and turned out to play. The result is that there are never enough seats for all the children to study in, nor enough playgrounds for them to play in; and yet large sums of money are invested in these facilities, which the children can have the use of for only a fraction of the day. For example, thousands of dollars are invested in school auditoriums, and yet the average school auditorium is used regularly only 15 minutes a day. Thousands of dollars are invested in playgrounds, and yet these playgrounds are empty of children all day until 3 o'clock in the afternoon. In fact, if a child is found on the playground before 3 o'clock he is

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