Annual report. [1946]

3.0.. Education for Discovery
The Intermediate School Is a Stepping Stone
11

IN Detroit the intermediate school
was established by the Board of Education
in 1918. From the conventional study of
fundamentals, and the program of education
for understanding of the elementary schools,
the child passes to one of education for discovery in the intermediate schools. It is at
this educational level, sometimes referred
to as the junior high school, that pupils are
classified into one of three groups. They are
asked here to indicate what road they hope
to travel in future years. The intermediate
program is divided into education for (a)
pupils who are certain to leave school as
soon as the compulsory school law will permit, (b) those who are certain to continue
their studies in the high school, and (c)
those whose future in school is uncertain.
Detroit has twenty intermediate schools, a
majority of which have been built since
1925.
It is the educational needs of the early
adolescent child that are of particular concern to the intermediate schools. More
citizenship training, increased attention to
pre-vocational and vocational interests, a
better understanding of racial and religious
groups, training for wise use of leisure time,
and special attention to health education
are included in the diversified type of
education offered in these schools. It is in
the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades that
the knowledge of the behavior of young
adolescents is brought into particular use.
Teachers who are grounded in the theory
and application of this knowledge comprise
the instructional staff of these schools. The
pre-high school years represent the period

when individual differences among children
become particularly apparent. By means
of a choice of curriculums, opportunity. is
afforded for discovery, stimulation, and
development of individual differences in
each child. This does much to contribute to
the student's well being and particularly to
his growth. The work of the seventh grade
is broadening and general in scope. The
work of the eighth grade is exploratory in
nature, and the work of the ninth grade
provides the student with further opportunity for study and activity along the lines
of his individual inclinations and aptitudes.
It is in the intermediate school that the
pupil of thirteen, fourteen, and fifteen years
of age is introduced to specially trainedcounselors who give expert guidance in helping the child discover his potentialities. This
helps materially in the planning of a program of study, most profitable to the
individual student.
Membership in the intermediate schools
of Detroit has been steadily declining since
the peak enrollment of 1936. The lower
birthrate of the depression years is now
apparent in this division of the school
system. Too, these schools were built largely
in the newer neighborhoods of the 1920's
where the residents were people with growing families. Those children are now matured
and for the most part they and their families
have moved farther out, with the parents
remaining to live in the older neighborhood.
There are, however, a few intermediate
schools that are receiving pupils transported
by bus at board expense from areas where
school facilities are inadequate. Class size