Abstract
SCHOOL building problems in the United States have assumed such importance that a National Advisory Council has been organized under the auspices of the Office of Education, Washington, at the request of State superintendents and commissioners of education. At the Council's first conference it was determined to begin with a study of the “functional planning of elementary school buildings”, and a report on this subject has been published by the United States Government Printing Office (pp. 84, 25 cents). The report, which is illustrated with numerous photographs, floor plans and charts, shows, among other things, that the elementary school curriculum is changing in ways which radically affect the planning of buildings, and that costs depend largely on the extent to which school work is organized so as to get a simultaneous, balanced use of all facilities. Taxpayers often protest against the excessive cost of providing for the numerous additions to the traditional “three Rs” demanded by the modern elementary school curriculum: music, art, science, crafts, training for leisure, physical culture, play, etc. The report claims that, by the adoption of the so-called ‘platoon’ system, accommodation for all these activities can be provided without extra cost. Under this system, the classes are all duplicated, and while one set occupies the ‘home rooms’ the other set uses the rooms set apart for special activities, and vice versa.
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American School Buildings. Nature 141, 868 (1938). https://doi.org/10.1038/141868a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/141868a0