QUARTERLY CONFERENCE OF THE Board of Control of State Institutions January, 1923. PROCEEDINGS The conference was held in the rooms of the Board of Con trol of State Institutions, beginning December 5, 1922, at nine o'clock, Chairman Strief presiding. Roll call showed the following present: J. N. Baumel, Warden, Men's Reformatory, Anamosa. O. S. Von Krog, Superintendent, Training School for Boys, T. P. Hollowell, Warden, State Penitentiary, Fort Madison, George Mogridge, Superintendent, Institution for Feebleminded Children, Glenwood. R. A. Stewart, Superintendent, Independence State Hospital. B. C. Whitehill, Commandant, Soldiers' Home, Marshalltown. Lucy M. Sickels, Superintendent, Training School for Girls, H. V. Scarborough, Superintendent, State Sanatorium, Lena A. Beach, Superintendent, Women's Reformatory, A. E. Kepford, Superintendent, Juvenile Home, Toledo. Charlotta Goff, State Agent, Soldiers' Orphans' Home. Henrietta Webber, State Agent, Soldiers' Orphans' Home. S. V. Culp, State Agent, Training School for Boys. The following were absent: M. C. Mackin, Superintendent, Mount Pleasant State Hospital. EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM AT THE MEN'S REFORMATORY. Chairman Strief: The subject of the first paper on our program is not an unusual one though it has not been discussed for some years. Professor H. M. Stiles, superintendent of schools at the Men's Reformatory, will read a paper on "The Educational System of the Men's Reformatory. Professor Stiles: In discussing the educational system at the Men's Reformatory, I have attempted two things: first, to give you a survey of our school-its aims, its organization, its content, and its pupils; and to emphasize the need of such an institution. The Men's Reformatory is essentially an institution for young men. The majority of these men are between eighteen and twenty-one years of age and have not completed a sixth grade education. In affording school advantages to them the Board of Control is aiding in the conservation of Iowa citizenship, and is making more effective every dollar that the state spends for public school education. This paper will be found on page 46. Chairman Strief: Warden Hollowell and Superintendent Von Krog are to open the discussion of this paper. Warden Hollowell: All I have to say is that it was mighty interesting paper. This work to me, as to Mr. Superintendent Von Krog: Stiles is comparatively new but it is a continuation of the work we have been trying to do for the last number of years. I was interested especially in what he mentioned in the beginning about the expenses of our educational system. In 1918 the average expense for the 20,000,000 school children in the United States was $32.00 per year; the average expense for 225,000 young men and women in the colleges and universities was $610.00 per year, to say nothing of the expenses that the parents were contributing over and above that contributed by the general public. It looks to me as though somebody has failed somewhere along the line, when we have this large number of men and women, boys and girls, who have only attained to the fifth or sixth grades in school, when they should have finished at least the first eight years in our public schools, I conclude from this paper that the thing for us to do is to get this information as to the boys and young men who come to us-and get it in such shape that it can be put before the public and make them realize that somebody is failing to do his duty. It is not a matter of spending more money but a matter of doing what we can with the material, the laws, and the equipment that we already have. I was very much interested in the new things he brought out about what they are doing at Anamosa. Everything is outlined for complete and permanent development of the individual. I believe in this work at Anamosa, if we should get a bulletin before the public pointing out the cause for delinquency of these inmates, as well as those at Eldora, we could do a great deal to overcome some of those conditions and lessen the need for these institutions. Regarding the tests, we give tests at Eldora, the same as Mr. Stiles makes at Anamosa, and we find a number of the boys who come to us with a chronological age of 15 to 18 years, and a mental age of from two, to seven or eight years. Maybe our tests are not as thorough as they should be. Maybe they are not accurate enough to determine anything. I believe the testing done on the outside as it is done, is looked upon by the general public as merely a comedy, which is a tragedy when we |