Industrial Schools: A Way to Provide For and Educate Needy Children

Many times while I am reading biographies about remarkable teachers I come across a description of a type of school that I am unfamiliar with. I enjoy learning about various types of schools and I am eager to share my new knowledge with you. One school I have been learning about is the industrial school, an institution commonly established around the turn of the twentieth century, but not unheard of today.  

An industrial school is a boarding school that provided for the children’s basic needs for housing, food, and medical care. Often these schools were established to provide a means for caring for children who had been orphaned, neglected, or abandoned, and sometimes for those youngsters who were deemed incorrigible. Today, these children are typically cared for through adoption or placement in foster homes, and they are educated in regular public schools, but in the past century, industrial schools served a valuable service for these needy kids.

In the industrial school, students were taught vocational skills that would allow them to seek gainful employment once they came of age. Girls typically received training in the domestic arts or needle trades, and boys were taught vocational skills such as carpentry, shoe-making, or box-making. In addition, the young people were taught fundamental literacy skills in such subjects as reading, writing, and mathematics.

You can read more about various industrial schools in my book, Chalkboard Champions, available from amazon.