In Our Care: Eldora Training School for Boys (1952)

It's hard to tell the difference between dreams and reality when the dreams are vivid. This nightmare is entirely too vivid. Even half awake you can't shake it. Davey is in trouble. [phone rings] The sharp stab of the telephone ring snaps you back to reality. The phone's insistent tone is disturbing. The dream hangs over you like a premonition. You reach for the phone. You hesitate. Is Davey in trouble? He's been running around with bad company. You feel this call is going to be bad news. You brace yourself. You'll just have to take what comes. Yes, whatever comes you will just have to take it. But you're not the only one. What about the boy? If he's in trouble he will just have to take what comes, too. The training school for boys in Eldora is filled with boys who have been in trouble. You will find the Iowa Training School for Boys in Hardin County a mile west of Eldora on Highway 57. The administration building, built in 1874, still stands like a gothic sentinel on the campus. These buildings and these grounds are quiet now but they have seen more than 13,000 Iowa boys. Thirteen thousand troubled boys who have tried to find better futures on this campus. Since 1874, some of the buildings haven't changed. The troubled boys haven't changed. But our way of treating these boys has changed. The new cottage and the new ways of rehabilitation are coming in, but the old cottages and the old methods are going out. Yes, the methods have changed, but the boys have not changed. The boys of Eldora are just like the boys in Iowa City, in Osage, or in Grundy Center. Well, you can see for yourself because Walter is here tonight and Walter is one of the 233 boys in the Iowa Training School for Boys. Uhm, Walter I think the people are watching this program would be interested in knowing how the boys came to be in Eldora Training School, could you tell us that? [Walter]I think the biggest thing is that most of 'em hang around in a bad atmosphere and they hang around bad company. Bar rooms, pool rooms and they might pick up, oh maybe a pen here a pencil maybe a dollar something like that. It gets bigger and bigger, maybe run away from home and it just leads up to bigger and bigger things right along. I see, then there is no one thing that causes it, it just builds up over a period of time. Walter, how long have you been there? [Walter] I’ve been there nine months and two weeks. Nine months and two weeks, well you are just about ready to get out then aren't you? [Walter] Just about. Well, how've you spent your time since you've been there? [Walter] Well, i entered the school just about the time school year started and I went to school all year, and finished my junior year. I played basketball, football and participated in most of the activities around the school. [interviewer] Well let's talk about your leaving here again, what determines the length of time you stay there? [Walter] Your behavior, your improvement and many other things. [interviewer] I see, are you, i mean, are you giving ten months to be there or a year how do they work? [Walter] The um, the uh least time you can be there would be ten months and if you happen to get bad reports or something like that and get a set back that means a month longer two months longer just depends on what you do, and what happens. [interviewer] You talk about getting 'set back,' what did you mean by that? [Walter] Well, if you... maybe you get caught smoking, it's a 30 day set back. Or if you run away you might spend twelve months, you might spend sixteen months, its just whatever the case is. [interviewer] Now, what is your status right now ... what is your classification? [Walter] I’m in "A" class might go for "double-A" this coming Wednesday the 11th. That is parole consideration. Anytime after that in two weeks I can go home. [interviewer] I see then you're next to the last classification to go out. How many classifications are there? [Walter] There are five: there is D class, C class, B class, A class, and double-A. [interviewer] Now, when do you go out if you go out according to your present plans and you are getting out in the minimum time apparently, at this point at least. What are your future plans, Walter? [Walter] Well, I'd like to finish high school and go on to college. I'd like to be a coach. [interviewer] I see, you are interested in athletics, seriously interested to that point. Well, thank you very much, Walter, and I hope that you have much success in the future, will be able to go to college as you hope and that everything will turn out well for you. I'd like you to think, for a moment, just what is it like to be in a training school for boys. What would it be like to be walking across the campus for the first time? Well, at first you wouldn't know what to expect. This is a new experience. You're not at all sure what's going to take place or whether that experience is going to be a pleasant one. This is another beginning, but the beginning of what? What will it lead to? What's going to happen to you? Will they ask you a lot of questions? You can answer those...your name and your age and so forth. That's simple, but what's next? you can do this to this isn't going to hurt anybody but what's next? Well you go across the road to the orientation building. You will stay there for three weeks what's going to happen here? You're shown to your room. The walk down this corridor is a long long walk. You begin to wish you were home.You think of a lot of things in moments like this. There is nothing more terrifying than facing the unknown. You wonder if this is going to be like a prison and you wonder what's going to happen next. Well the doctor gives you a medical examination. So far so good. Then, you are in the barbershop. Every boy begins this way by getting cleaned up. You feel better with your hair cut, and you look better too. Other boys are the barbers. A councilor talks with you. You are told to write a letter home and let the folks know how you are, and then you attend orientation lectures. The staff members explain the rules of the school, rules? You haven't obeyed rules before. And here they talked about opportunity, that's something new. Well they explain the routine, they tell you what's going to be expected out of you. Well there is always work to be done and boys around the home around the campus are expected to help with those chores and with the duties around the place. Many of these boys haven't had regular work regular responsibility and so they while that has been part of their trouble. Here they are given regular duties, regular responsibility they are given an opportunity to learn a trade to to learn do something that will- in which they might excel A program is set up to acquaint the boy with what he will be what his opportunities will be there. He has a chance to request work detail that he prefers. So when you are a new student training school you take the tour of the grounds. You see the kind of work that is done and what the opportunities are. There is plenty of work to be done in the kitchen you take a look around things so you might like this work in the kitchen could be interesting you might want to be as chef someday. Bakery has possibilities too there's more here than cakes and cookies. There's more here than fresh loaves of bread. Here is an opportunity to learn a trade. You visit the dairy. This can help you if you want to be a farmer, good healthy work maybe this is where you'll fit in. Fitting in is important. Then there's the tailor shop this would mean you might work part of each day making clothes for the boys helping to cut out patterns in stacks of cloth. Helping to sew. Again this is an opportunity to learn a trade. A good tailor is a man to be respected. A good tailor are in demand. You stop here to be measured for a suit of clothes. A good fit is necessary, as you have your own clothes here. Then you visit the print shop and here you consider the linotype. This is a machine that sets newspaper type. In this job you could help print the echo; that's the school newspaper. It tells the goings and comings of people and all about what's going on around the campus. As a printer's apprentice you could learn how to print forms and bulletins. you can learn how to operate presses and other printing equipment and how to watch your finger and keep them out of places they don't belong. This could mean a future of security and happiness for you Many boys like to work in the print shop but you're not sure, not yet. Then there's the laundry, this is good clean work and plenty of it, with hundreds of shirts to be washed and ironed. Good equipment here all the latest washing and ironing equipment, Doing things the modern way. Here is another prospect for the future. At last you meet with the staff, you feel more at home now; you answer more questions. What kind of work can you do? What do you like to do? You look into the face of Mr.Pucket the assistant superintendent, Mr Schaffer the dean of men. There is also the chaplain reverend Blando, they suggest a work detail your life and so you end up in a position of trust and responsibility at the office switchboard. We have another boy here tonight who was newer to the home, the school, than Walter was. Arvis how long have you been at the training school? [Arvis] Ive been their five months. Then you're just about halfway through Then aren't you? What detail do you have? We've just been looking and talking about details. [Arvis] Well, i'm in the machine shop. [interviewer] What do you do there? [Arvis] I do mostly turning on a lathe. [interviewer] I see, if i brought in something to you, like a cogged wheel or something,could you do that? [Arvis] Well I could do a good deal of it and I have supervision, by mister (indistinguishable) [interviewer] You get good training supervision then, do you. [Arvis] Yes. [interviewer] Is he able to help you anytime you need it? And you really get to know the equiptment do you . [Arvis]-yes. [interviewer] How long have you been in the machine shop? [Arvis] Ive been their about three months. [interviewer] And you feel that you're really learning with this machine ? [Arvis] I am learning a lot about it. [interviewer] Well, what biss- How did you come to send you here to the machine shop? [Arvis] Well it was mostly by my adap- aptitutde tests. [interviewer] Oh i see, they gave you psychological tests when you went in , did they tell you that you had a good it made a good showing on that? Well, they told me before the test was over that i was made for the machine shop. So they really fit you in where it seemed best? What about your schooling before that? How far did you go and so forth? [Arvis] Well, i went to 10th grade in a juvenile home. [interviewer] You mean the juvenile home in Toledo? [Arvis]-yes. How long were you there? [Arvis] I was there five years. [interviewer] Uh, how did, well, you were in one state institution, i don't understand how you get from one to the other? [Arvis] Well at the juvenile Home, i was there there so long that i got kind of restless, and i started running away. Getting in trouble and they got tired of me messing around, so they sent me to Eldora, transferred me from. [Interviewer] Oh i see, you were transferred from one to the other? Well how are you getting along at Eldora? [Arvis] I am getting along swell. [interviewer] Do yo feel that you've been straightened out? [Arvis] Yes Sir, a line. [interviewer] You say you were five years at Toledo, -yes and the thing that interests me is how in five years you would have developed the way you did , and then in five months you seem to do very well nicely straightened out, now can you shed any light on [Arvis] Well, at Eldora we have a goal, to reach, we have a goal and we have training there where we can take up a trade, and learn something we're going to get out in ten months. [interviewer] Without going into definite comparison between places and dealing, strictly with dealing strictly with you, You felt that you had no goal, then, before? [Arvis] Well, at toledo all i did was sit there and hope for a placement. And now, you have something to work for, are you getting what you want? [Arvis] Yes, very much so. [interviewer] Then the most important thing to you is to feel that you're working towards something. and you are getting that here? You feel that when you get out in five months you will be straightened out And do something with this training? [Arvis] I am sure of it. [interviewer] And you are feeling, feeling very confident, then? [Arvis]-yes. [interviewer] Well thank you very much, Arvis, And training takes on many aspects psychological tests show many things sometimes at the training school the entrance test reveal that the boy doesn't know how to read very well. in other directions has fallen down in his education. So they are able to place him in the school where he will fit best. If he can't read he is put in a class where others like him are learning to read. He won't be forced into painful competition that may make him antisocial. So the young boy spends part of his time, part of his day, in the classroom. Then here in the shops he gets training in the manual arts. He learns to work with useful tools, and he acquires new skills. In class, the boys learn different kinds of handywork, that may replace the kinds of pastimes that once got them into trouble. creative handwork has always been a good activity. Good occasional agriculture is a new subject in the school. how to be a good farmer may also mean how to be a good citizen. This case the student gets accredited training in sound farming method. He has his own project, It belongs to him, something of his own. Responsibility. Opportunities waiting for these boys and come out of the vocational agriculture program as you can see looking at this pictures this is really a dream school. Boys giving it is given a chance to learn how to make a respectable living here is targeted trade so that he won't have to resort to illegal methods of making a name for himself. Today there are two hundred and thirty three boys in the Iowa training school boys from 10 to 18 most of them teenagers. Many of these boys haven't found the answers to many questions they both failed to adjust to society or they have placed their emphasis upon false values and wrong decisions. Special work details such as they get here may help them straighten themselves out and sometimes work out those excess energy. On Sunday, these boys go to church where they learn the Christian rules for a happy life. But all of the training isn't in the work detail or in the church. Play is important, it is as natural as sleeping and eating. Games too fulfill a need but they do something else. Games mean teamwork. Games mean following the rules you learn to win or lose when you participate in sports. All of this is above board. There's a right way here too and the boys learn it. This is good clean competition for everyone. Two or three times a week is plenty of practice. Then they're relaxing moments in the cottages late afternoon or Evening. games again, all apart of the rehabilitation plan. Checkers and other group games, studying and so forth in the cottage. Boy learn regular eating habits here too, all apart of a new pattern of living. Food is served Cafeteria style, in the campus dining room. Meals are planned by a dietitian who looks out for the provision of necessary vitamins. It’s an important thing too to know that healthy, well nourished boys have a different slant on life. There is a certain physiology that says, always encourage. This is a good habit for the future too. Early bedtime is a part of the routine. Active teenagers need plenty of rest. They probably get ready for bed much earlier than they did back home. lights are out by 9 in the evening and there is prayer. After a full day of work, school and games, these boys are ready to turn in. The night supervisor gets ready for his all night watch. In each cottage, the house parents help with the process of getting the boys to bed and seeing that everything is in order. The key man in the organization that you have just seen, is the superintendent. The present superintendent at the elder training school for boys is mr HL Miles. and he is here with me now. Mr Miles, how long have you been at the training school. [Miles] Ive been connected with the school for the last twenty three years. 20 years as a parol agent as a part of the state, and three years as superintendent. [Interviewer] Then you really have a long range of connection with this institution. -ive been at it quite a while, yes- have you seen any changes, -in general.. ?- in the atmosphere, thats right. -oh yes, i have [Miles] I, in that number of years it would be natural to expect change, as we have shortened the length of time, as the rule, that a boy stays here. our philosoply doesn't include the thought that long continuous staying is the thing that is going to meet a boy's problem. When he shows he can meet his problems, we are glad and anxious to release him o a more normal environment. give him a change again to see if he can't make a good adjustment. [Interviwer] well, if you shorten your time, do you consider that just the shorting of time in making the boy feel he isn't going to be there a long time, has solved your problem? [Miles]- oh no, no, there is many other factors that enter the problem, the general philosophy of the school, the mater of more, for example, matter of fact that he is not there to be punished, he is there to learn, as i said a moment ago, meet his problems, and encouragement on our part. and methods of giving him this, building this feeling, he conforms more natural. [Interviewer] Well, you mean then that you are not punishing these boys? [Miles] no, no thats right, we are not interested in punishing any youngster. [Interviewer] Then what is, what is the objective of the school, you must have some disciplin?You just let them run loose? [Miles] No, discipline we certainly have. Thats right. Without discipline we wouldn't have a training school, we would have no program. a boy's situation must be controlled, but it isn't from a punishment point of view. we attempt to get the boy in the spirit of cooperation. we try to show him by example, and the methods we use a better way of life. understanding the program they are far more willing to adjust and make more effort at it. [Interviewer] we’ve shown a wide training program here, we've shown all those things, are we to get the idea that this is some sort of picnic for these boys? [Miles] Well, no you couldn't call it a bed of roses, its still a training school, and as much as we want to develop the idea that it isn't a repeat for a punishment Discipline is important, without it we wouldn't have a program. The boy must learn that for violation of rules and regulations that for violation of laws Society there are penalties to be paid. [Interviewer] If you are disciplining one of these boys, how do you go about it? Is he sent in to you, and you just arbitrarily say 'we will send you across the road’? [Miles] No, no, no, that would be a nice easy way in a sense. The discipline is graduated, according to the offense, according to the sprit in which it was committed and according tot the number of times an offense is committed. [Interviewer] how do you determine those things? [Miles] A boy is always under supervision of a an employee and if that employees sees or knows that the boys is not adjusting and needs some extra attention he is referred to the dean of boys who, in a consoling atmosphere within the difficulty with him to explain what is his difficulty is and showed him a way of overcoming it and if that doesn't do it, then the penalties are increased. Your discipline then is handled largely by the dean of boys. the next step in from the classification group consisting of six members who go into his problem more more intensively with the boy himself as a group. [Interviewer] Tremendous responsibility then lies upon the dean of boys and upon these staff members that we saw here today. [Miles] Yes, the secret of the success of this school depends largely to the discipline approach to the boy. Are you able to get qualified people for this? [Miles]- not entirely no. sure we have some very good employees we have some that are unfortunately, by temperament, or experience, or education art not qualified. [Interviewer] Thank you mr Miles I think you will help us to understand a little bit about training school for boys and the problems of the operation of that. Now tonight we have eight boys here that will show you the lighter side of life at the institution as they sing and play a number [music begins slowly, building to a lively little tune] [words read aloud] In Our Care produced in the studios of WOI TV Ames by Stewart. [music softly in background] The program was directed by Lamar Smith Script for In Our Care was prepared by Hazel Dell With production research by Ferne Bonami The technical Director was Charles Hawley, Portions of the production were on film. Next week we will present the story of the Glenwood state school for the feeble-minded. Your announcer has been bob Heskit. /endFilm