Muscogee County GaArchives Photo Place.....Academic Trade School (Jordan) ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Christine Thacker http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00033.html#0008100 April 23, 2007, 11:04 pm Source: Special Sesquicentennial Supplement II Columber Ledger -Enquirer Photo can be seen at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/academic12651gph.jpg Image file size: 86.2 Kb Vocational Training Began Here By Ken E1ldns Ledger Staff Writer It's taking state schoof offtcials almost a century to realize what Columbus pUblic school fathers knew back in 1906: School children need to be trained in a vocation. A thriving textile town at the turn of the century, Columbus needed a school to train its youngsters in the arts of weaving, spining and dyeing. At a time that when cotton, in the form of fabric, was still king, "on the job" training Was becoming scarce and expensive. The mills that ruled over the eastern bank of the Chattahoochee River needed trained artisans. Columbus Industrial School, "an academic trade school of high school rank," produced those skilled workmen and women 70 years ago. Now Jordan Vocational High, the school was the first public school in the world to offer vocational education. Today, after state officials discovered the importance of a vocationally trained graduate, guidelines mandate every high school should include facilities for such training - an idea pioneered right here in Columbus, Ga. The 28-student premiere class at Columbus Industrial took part in a "great educational experiment," lauded one of 1906's education leaders. Dr. James E. Russell, dean of Teacher's College in New York, dubbed the school "the first of its kind in all our history dedicated to the proposition that the common man, as well as his more fortunate brother, is entitled to a vocational education. " But the school wasn't for "feeble-minded or indolent students," a newspaper article proclaimed. Instead, it was to be used in "fitting boys and girls for useful occupations." So, for decades, crop after crop of teen-agers were drilled in the fine arts of textiles, woodworking, metalurgy, home economics and office skills. Eight hours a day, six days a week, 11 months of the year, the students mixed a liberal dose of vocational training with the usual dose of academics. There, youngsters over 14 years old with at least a fifth grade education could get the "hands on" experience needed to find a job in the city's textile plants. Noted philanthropist George Foster Peabody acknowledged the value of the experiment with a $10,000 donation that helped build the school - then located off Hamilton Road on Rose Hill. After a morning of academics, the students would switch to training in industrial skills. Today, Jordan Vocational High School, in newer quarters on Howard Avenue, retains that principle. And the city's remaining five high schools, plus the two new ones that'll open this fall, will soon include courses in the vocations - academics mixed with the fundamentals of woodworking, mechanics and other skills Special Sesquicentennial Supplement II Ledger- Enquirer, Sunday, April 23, 1978. S-24. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/muscogee/photos/academic12651gph.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 3.6 Kb