Purpose of Lab School
The PURPOSE OF THE SCHOOL was threefold:.
​
1. To illustrate to teachers and prospective teachers what can be done in the education and training of children under careful organization, specially trained teachers, uncrowded conditions, and close personal and individual supervision and instruction.
2. To give opportunity for the graduates of the college to teach under favorable conditions and critical oversight of what they do and how they do it, before they go out into the world to engage in their profession, as about two-thirds of the graduates of the college teach more or less after finishing their courses here.
3. To illustrate to the intelligent and critical public what children can do in a school where their enviornments and opportunities are hampered as little as possible with the chief drawbacks of child education the world over, namely: 1. Crowded condition of rooms. 2. Lack of individual and personal touch, sympathy, and instruction on the part of teacher and supervisor. 3. Lack of attention to moral and hygienic conditions and instruction so common in crowded rooms. 4. The mixing in the same room and same classes of the unfortunately coarse, rude, vulgar, and unclean of body and mind, with the refined, the clean, and the pure-minded children.
Requirements for Students
To MEET THESE REQUIREMENTS of the Marshall College Model School has been surrounded with the following safeguards and advantages:
1. Children of coarse, rude, vulgar, unclean or obscene habits of body or of mind are not admitted to the school if known to be such, or are dropped when discovered to be such.
2. Children given to lying, thieving, profanity, obscene writing in public or in private places are denied admittance or dropped if found out to be incurable of those demoralizing tendencies. The school reserves the right to deny admission to any child for any reason deemed detrimental to the interests of the Model School pupils, and to drop summarily and child found to be such.
3. Not more than 25 children are admitted to the same grade, seldom more that 20.
4. Very short recesses are given, and these are supervised by the teacher, since the recess periods of a child's school life are the most dangerous for baleful influences from other children.
5. The school day is short and children are kept busy. A few hours work well supervised and well done is worth much more than longer hours with chances for idleness and evil practices.
6. Rooms, closets, and other environments are kept especially clean and inviting.
7. In addition to their regular work the boys have opportunity a few hours each week, afternoons, to return to the school and receive instruction and practical exercise in manual training, and the girls for instruction and practice in cutting, sewing, etc. Those features are optional with the parent.
8. All children advanced far enough to receive it intelligently are given a few hours instruction each week, along with their regular class work, in German or French conversation. The more advanced grades may begin their Latin also if desired.