Word: center
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...work project designed to add to the resources of the Thomson center provides another focus for the students' group work. The current group of 30 is terracing a site, selected by both students and instructors, in an attempt to prevent soil erosion. The hillside site they chose is extremely steep, and the students must rely heavily on each other to work safely and effectively. The black and white students, who tote humus and wood girders together, who anchor one another as they climb up the hillside, certainly provide a sharp contrast with the students who walk the halls of Southie...
...center's administrators integrate all these activities with efforts to develop basic academic skills. The environmental investigations, for instance, often require the use of mathematical skills. Students at the end of each afternoon write a review of their day's activity in their journals. The various historic sites on the island--first settled in 1627, the island served as a British encampment during the Revolutionary War--provide resources for social investigations. In homework assignments, Thomson staffers ask students to apply what they have learned on the island to investigations of their own mainland communities...
...unique school day that the Thomson Education Center provides these inner-city kids represents a clear break with the educational past of this historic island. One of the first areas settled in New England, Thomson's Island served as the site of a farm and trade school from the early 1800s until the 1950s. From 1955 to 1974, affluent kids attended Thomson Academy, a private boarding school on the island. Then during the summer of 1974, faced with financial difficulties and with the start of the busing program only a few months away, the academy's board of trustees decided...
While the merits of the environmental program might seem indisputable on the surface, segments of the South Boston community appear vehemently opposed to the work of the Thomson Education Center. One example: an item from last week's edition of the South Boston Tribune states, "Keep your eyes open for new brainwashing attempts from the high school. Winegar and his imported cronies, along with some local traitors, are making plans now. One of the places to be used is Thomson's Island." Headmaster Winegar says some South Boston residents see the Thomson Island program as a form of brainwashing "because...
...Everyday, what we're about here is making these kids feel good about themselves. If we don't do that, we're not doing our jobs," November says. "The Center has a very strong commitment to respond to the needs of Boston's inner city communities. If those needs change, the island will change...