Adult Education in a University High School

Abstract

essary to inaugurate a special program to enable them to complete their highschool education, which had been interrupted in some cases for as much as four or more years. Being older than students of average high-school age, they were not content to be in the same classes with the younger students or to maintain the slower tempo of the regular high school. Because they wanted to complete their education in the shortest possible time consistent with thorough preparation, the regular high-school program seemed inappropriate to them. Temple University High School formulated an accelerated program that would meet the special needs of veterans as well as high-school graduates and other adults. The chief concern of the administration of Temple University High School was to design a program that would permit mature students to accelerate their work and, at the same time, maintain the standards of high school. It had to meet the requirements of the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction, and, because about 85 per cent of the students planned to go to college, the program had also to meet the rigid requirements for college entrance and to supply a broad training so that the graduates of the program would be able to compete with other students on equal terms. The program, as finally formulated, provides a schedule of four ninetyminute periods a day. The Department of Public Instruction requires 120 hours of instruction per unit. The accelerated program provides 150 hours of instruction or 30 hours above the minimum, thus assuring students adequate training. While the program was designed primarily for veterans, high-school graduates and other adults may take advantage of it. Since the beginning of the program, many nonveterans have enrolled and con-