ers cil in- ith the ted ing tic led ted 1il- ns, 1e€s m- CLFPHY “bia American — Democracy tn Education, Education for Democracy. Vout. I No. 8 NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1912 50 Cents. A YRAR do the work for which he is best fitted— and thus the work he likes best to do. For several reasons such conditions will never | )* DER ideal conditions each person would be realized—for all persons. But what is the reason that you should not be doing the work for which you are best fitted? If the tailor does not love his job, we have an unhappy tailor and perhaps some ill-fitting clothes. That is serious enough. But if the teacher does not love his job, there are fifty unhappy children and hundreds of ill-fitting men and women. That is a calamity. If you don’t fit your job, you should change. Change yourself—or change your job. VOCATIONAL TRAINING AND VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE}; SHALL TRADITION OR KNOWLEDGE DIRECT THE MOVEMENT? * Georce H. CHATFIELD, Secretary Permanent Census Board, New York. THE VOCATIONAL propaganda, pro- testing as it does against the inadequacy of current educational theory and prac- tise, is the expression of an endeavor to escape from the bond of opinion so com- mon in educational affairs, and to meet actual conditions of life with accurate adjustments. By its very nature, there- fore, this movement should seek to base its recommendations on actual facts and avoid the consequences of premature generalization. This is all the more nec- essary when it is understood that the logical interpretation of the movement is training and guidance, not for the halt and blind alone, but for all. Those to whom the terms “voca- tional training” and “vocational guid- ance” are the expression of a new edu- cational faith and hope, believe that the permanent well-being and happiness of the individual depend to as great an ex- tent upon the occupation he follows as upon any other of the factors by which his life is conditioned. And, so believing, they can perform no great- er service than to aid in the choice of an occupation suitable to the abilities and temperament of the boy or girl and to provide as far as may be the training necessary to make the pursuit of the oc- cupation successful. They also believe that the school curriculum of the present should be less general in character and more specifically adapted to these pur- poses. No doubt in the earlier stages, the supporters of vocational training and guidance would be content with prog- ress along obvious lines—provision for more trade schools, schools in which plumbing, printing, carpentering, cabinet making, pattern making, electric work, *This paper was printed in a pamphlet “Some Aspects of Vocational Guidance,” published by the Central Com- mittee on Vocational Guidance. New York. bricklaying, etc., are taught, and which thus far have not turned out such large numbers of skilled workers as seriously to depress the market rate for wages in any of these lines. But while meeting a definite demand and emphasizing a most important phase of vocational instruc- tion, schools of this sort by no means affect more than a small portion of the labor supply required. The United States census report for 1900 presents an elaborate summary of the industrial situation in New York City, and equally important statistics concerning the occupations followed. The statistics for the I910 census are not as yet sufficiently complete for com- parative purposes, but the implications of the problem may be seen equally well from the 1900 tabulations. The table be- low gives a general classification of oc- cupations followed in New York City in 1900 by persons I0 years of age and over. Males Females Agricutural employments 10,134 449 Professional service..... 60,853 22,422 Domestic and _ personal I 6 oniracargaited Adi 206,215 146,722 Trade and transportation 406,675 65,318 Manufacturing and me- chanical pursuits.... 419,594 132,535 1,103,471 367,437 Of these groups, that covering agri- cultural employments is almost negligible while professional service, with an im- portance utterly disproportionate to its numerical amount, constitutes with the three remaining groups, the field in which vocational training and guidance must be prosecuted—for it is by all the em- ployments included in these classifica- tions and not by any portion of the em- ployments of any single group, that the activities of the city are carried on. The various classifications must be studied in detail, however, to realize how 102 THE AMERICAN TEACHER complicated an undertaking is the matter of vocational training or vocational guid- ance in any comprehensive sense. Of the more than 80,000 persons engaged in professional service, there is but little evidence extant as to the pecuniary re- wards received, unless these individuals are engaged in the public service, and still less evidence of the way in which the peculiar abilities most likely to bring success manifest themselves in youth. In domestic and personal service are to be found housekeepers and stewards, boarding-housekeepers, restaurant-keep- ers and hotel-keepers, likewise bar- tenders, janitors, sextons, saloon-keepers, laborers, servants, waiters, launderers and laundresses, barbers and hairdress- ers, nurses and midwives, watchmen, policemen, firemen--in all, a vast num- ber. Clearly, entry into many of these fields through preparation or guidance afforded by the public schools will be forever impossible, since not only will public sentiment be opposed, but the im- maturity, as well as the ambition of young people will provide equally insur- mountable obstacles. Boatmen, sailors, teamsters, hackmen, hostlers, hucksters, peddlers, messengers office and errand boys, packers, shippers, porters and helpers form a fairly large proportion of those engaged in less remunerative employments of trade and transportation. Bookkeepers, account- ants, clerks and copyists, salesmen and saleswomen, telephone and _ telegraph operators, stenographers and typewrit- ers comprise the less laborious as well as the better paid employments; while agents, commercial travelers, merchants and dealers, bankers, brokers, and offi- cials occupy the positions of prominence and large pecuniary reward. It will probably be agreed that those in the high- est class can hardly be subject to the vo- cational expert, and that the great field for his activity among the occupations of the main group—to which these be- long—will be found, in all likelihood, in the well-known clerical and allied em- ployments. The statistics of manufacturing and 103 mechanical pursuits point to similar conclusions. Factory work, save as speed and dexterity are required for the mani- pulation of machines, is performed large- ly by unskilled labor. Textile workers in large numbers may be thus classified, al- tho in the manufacture of clothing, as in other lines, the highest degree of skill may be required from the few. Where the lines of division between skilled, partly skilled, and unskilled work should be drawn in the manufacture of cloth- ing, and of other articles as well, cannot be determined from a general classifica- tion of workers or even from detailed and apparently exhaustive classifications. To these must be added specific descrip- tion of the work performed; otherwise the most misleading conclusions may be reached. In the building trades carpenters, masons, painters, plasterers, plumbers, electricians, obviously belong to the ranks of skilled workers, as do such workers as bakers, blacksmiths, harness-makers, steam engineers, machinists, boot and shoemakers, bookbinders, and printers. Other occupations will come to mind as obviously skilled; yet, when all such are included, there remain vast numbers of people engaged in manufacturing and mechanical pursuits, the classification of whose work as skilled, partly skilled or unskilled, is wholly impossible with our present knowledge. Neither guidance nor training is possible, save on perfectly ob- vious lines, with the informaton at pres- ent available. The statistics concerning workers 14- 18 years of age gathered by the Perma- nent Census Bureau likewise emphasize the necessity for more complete and de- tailed information if the vocational prob- lem is to be attacked in any comprehen- sive way. It is true that these statistics do not include the whole body of work- ers between these ages. Many parents, fearing that information given concern- ing working children would be used to their detriment, withheld the facts de- sired concerning such children. In the various classifications represented, how- ever, 131,972 children are employed and there is no reason to suppose that the 104 THE AMERICAN TEACHER character or proportions of these classi- fications would be greatly changed by the addition of the number not enumerated. The 131,972 workers are almost equal- ly divided as to sex and age—66,620 be- ing boys and 65,252 girls. Between 14 and 16 years of age, there are 23,864 boys and 24,215 girls; between 16 and 18 years, 42,756 are boys and 41,057 are girls, this last group being nearly twice as numerous as that made up of the most mature pupils. The occupations most numerously represented are shown in the table: 14—16 16—18 Total Grand Boys | Girls || Boys | Girls | Boys | Girls || Total ae 1 | 8693 1 | 9583 || 2 | 18276 || 18278 Errand Boys and Girls _____- 6366 661 || 6163 561 12529 1222 || 13751 i a i 2122 | 795 || 7023 | 2191 || 9145 | 2986 12131 Office Boys and Girls __.___- 3551 667 || 4442 | 1109 7993 1776 9769 ENE EPR EP ES SEAS mea 1807 577 || 3144 793 4951 1370 6321 Machine Operators __________ 367 | 1236 859 | 2380 1226 | 3616 4842 Packers and Wrappers _-_-_-_-_- 331 | 1453 727 | 2106 2058 | 3559 4617 Rl Re 1793 34 || 2053 73 3846 107 3953 Stenos. and Typists _________ 115 | 563 471 | 2681 586 | 3244 3830 Salesmen and Saleswomen___| 201 | 605 || 1088 | 1823 1289 | 2428 3717 SE CIID . ccaicumerasiiuiukn astneaiad 877 471 || 1440 898 2317 1369 3616 Messengers _____- SERIE 1117 | 156 || 1358 79 || 2475 235 2780 Stock Boys and Girls _______ 364 | 388 || 1003 | 863 |} 1367} 1251 2618 Bookkeepers ................ 107 222 717 | 1142 | 824 1364 2188 Deossmakers ................ — | 605 || 2 | 1384 | 2 1989 1991 Seamstresses________--_____- — | 587 || 1105 || ——| 1692 || 1692 Feather Workers ________---- 13 | Sal |) 32 | 1050 45| 1601 || 1646 Shirt and Waist Workers____ 33 | 421 || 90) 919 | 123 1340 1463 EE Ee: 6 | 436 11 984 17 1420 1437 Wagon Boys________________ 433 | | 920| —— || 1353| —— || 1853 Telephone Operators _______- AQ | 223 |) 161 | 844 || 220} 1067 |} 1287 Outer Clothing Workers____- 57 | 228 | 204| 645 || 261 873 1134 Paper Boxmakers___________ 73| 354 || 192| 495 || 265| 849 |] 1114 ie ae a aac 251 |} 853] —— || 1103] ——]} 1103 sere 9 || 751 36 || 1029 45 1074 isin nies EC REACT ae 159 | 88% ! 613 178 || 772 266 || 1038 108,744 While it would no doubt be difficult positions of greater responsibility, to classify these occupations strictly as skilled, partly skilled, or unskilled, it is plainly evident that with a few notable exceptions no highly remunerative occu- pations are represented and very few in- deed which would provide a competence in the future, or the skill and experience that make the taking up of more skilled work natural and easy. Rather will be noticed the prevalence of “blind alley” occupations, such as errand boys and girls, wagon boys, telephone operators, paper box makers, drivers and, without doubt, a large proportion of those in- cluded in such occupations as housework, clerks, salesmen and saleswomen and others. It is undoubtedly true that many in- dividuals now represented in the fore- going groups will in the future rise to greater pay, and even of independence, but thus far no body of facts based on the records of commercial and manufac- turing houses concerning the advance- ment of young people whose employ- ments would fall within the above classi- fications, has been gathered, so that any conclusions drawn as to the future are, it is admitted, partly conjecture. It should not be forgotten, however, that the occupations under discussion represent a definite economic need of the present at least, and that if they offer lit- tle opportunity for the acquisition of skill, they likewise require only a mini- mum equipment of skill or intelligence. Worker and employer are selling and buying an inferior article, but one for which the demand is great, and it is in such lines of activity alone that immature we f+) monn —" Q wes s* a CO 7a tl co ms meood'd 1 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 105 and untrained youth can be used. The problem of disassociating such numbers of young people from unremunerative but existing employment and training them for and attaching them to other and better employment now existing, is one that can be dismissed by no superficial solution—for as we pass from the em- ployments of the immature to the occupa- tions of adults, while there are numerous trades and vocations demanding skill, the employments are not less in number in which skill is a subordinate factor and the monetary return as correspondingly small as that paid to the unskilled of younger age. From which it would appear that any vital solution of the problem of voca- tional training and vocational guidance will involve not merely extensive investi- gation into the character, opportunities, and conditions of labor for youth and maturity, as well as the best of judgment in advising the individual boy or girl, but also a readjustment, gradual to be sure, of the methods of trade and industry. Whatever is done must be done slowly, upon a broad and sure basis of fact and with the exercise of ripe and far-seeing judgment. TEACHING, except as limited to colleges and universities, is not yet even a real profession. The ordinary schoolmaster has little of the personal weight, of the sense of professional responsibility, of what may be called the corporate self-respect, of the law- yer, the physician, or the engineer. The traditions of the teaching guild do not yet demand a wide education, a slow and laborious preparation, a careful and humble apprenticeship, such as is required for entrance into a really learned profession. A broad education and the poise of mind which follows it are the vital needs of a great majority of the public school teachers of to-day. They are ceaselessly complaining of a condition of things which is indeed grievous, but which is largely of their - own creation. They demand high place without qualifying themselves to hold high place; they rebel at a not uncom- mon attitude of contempt or of con- temptuous toleration on the part of the public, but do not purge themselves of the elements which excite that con- tempt; they accuse the parents and the public of indifference toward their work, but do little to render that work of such quality as to forbid indiffer- ence.—J ames P. Munroe, in “New Demands in Education.” THE TEACHING of agriculture in rural or village schools is compulsory in fourteen states of the Union. In Kansas such instruction is now offered in 7,000 rural schools and 400 high schools. In New York State there are seventeen agricultural high schools. WHETHER OR NOT you believe in a democratic administration of our schools depends on your life-philo- sophy, consciously or unconsciously expressed. If you have faith in human nature, or in the possible development of human nature, when charged with initiative and responsibility, then you will be a firm advocate of democracy in education. If, on the other hand, you have no faith or trust in other human beings, if you think the mass « £ teachers can be best governed by ho!.'- ing them in subjection and servility, then your answer will be unqualifiedly against democracy. Where do you stand on this question? “IT WOULD BE an appalling and pathetic mistake for a people to think that subtlety and greed can become the basis of either personal or national prosperity.”— Dr. Andrew 5S. Draper, State Commissioner of Ed- ucation, N. Y. Teaching is, however, changing toward the status of a profession de- liberately chosen, requiring prepara- tion, and holding its members thru- out their working lives—From Ed- ward L. Thorndike’s “Educa- tion.” HOW WILL SCHOOL INQUIRY REPORTS BE RECEIVED BY THE AMERICAN TEACHER P WitttAM H. ALLEN Director Bureau of Municipal Research, New York. AN INTER-COLLEGIATE debate was once won by the question: “If the looking glass says your face is dirty, do you smash the looking glass or wash your face?” To bring the metaphor up to date we might ask: If the school inquiry reports that 2 x 2 = 4 shall the American teacher note “Q. E. D.” or shout “personal at- tacks”? Upon the answer depends very largely whether American teaching loses or doubly fastens many of its more galling and restricting shackles. The question is important to every teacher under the stars and stripes. New York City is only one of many places whose schools are being critically studied. It differs from other places chiefly in the fact that the influence for progress or for obstruction is greater than that of any other group of American teachers and American taught. As you in New York receive the reports of the New York school inquiry, will you vindicate or repudiate the halo of your profession? Never before did the individual teacher -— or the teachers’ organization — have so inspiring an opportunity to be what he tries to make of his pupil —, an efficient, straight-thinking, open-minded citizen and steward of education. The greatest single need of our city to-day is for school men and _ school women who will walk out into the open and serve notice than an impersonal, crit- ical, constructive reception shall be given to school inquiry reports. And no one needs to have this done more than the teacher, the not-yet supervisor, except the school child, who is always the premier victim of refusal to base school policy on school fact. Our local inquiry has cost about $70,000, not including school ‘men’s time or that of fiscal officers and private agencies. A score of important school problems have been studied. The in- quirers differed in their nationality, their 106 «~~ training, their previous familiarity with the personnel and methods of our schools. Their reports will differ in directness, rhetoric, fact-support for gen- eralization, conclusiveness, etc. Much that is reported should be of great help. Much will help chiefly by advertising an ineffective method of inquiry. Men of similar and equal experience and public spirit will value the same report differ- ently. There will be much to discuss, to favor, to oppose, to reinvestigate, to try out in one’s own class, or school, or dis- trict. Only benefit will result from sift- ing fact from fancy, supported from un- supported conclusion or recommenda- tion. Shall we save or lose twenty-five years in the next twenty-five days? Lose we certainly shall, if we allow ourselves to smash the mirror, or allow others to concentrate school opinion upon mirror-smashing personalities. But un- less drastic steps are taken by teachers and principals whose interests are most intimately concerned, we and the country shall be denied an impersonal reception of these inquiry reports. Will New York’s teachers and principals have the courage and the intellectual integrity to keep personalities out of discussions about method and results? Will they say as one school man recently said to me: “My idea of loyalty is, to refuse to be- lieve even what I know to be true, if it reflects upon my superior officer” ? Take the Bachman report on over-age children for example: This had to do with different methods of finding out whether 800,000 Johnnie Joneses and Mary Smiths have lost time, gained time, kept up, entered school over-age, under- age, etc. It showed how much difference it makes— 1. Whether ages and grades are taken for the same day or for different days many months apart ; THE AMERICAN TEACHER 2. Whether taken after or before pro- motion ; 3. Whether children in over-age classes are included or excluded; 4. Whether children who drop out be- fore the last day are counted or omitted. Many thousands of original age cards are “shuffled” in different ways and iaboriously counted for each way. Every step is as impersonal as an adding ma- chine or camera. So are the totals and the percentages. Not a figure is sus- ceptible of two interpretations: 2 x 2 = 4. Method X compared with the method used in New York from 1904 thru 1911 shows many thousands more children over-age each year than have been reported. Method Y shows a greater discrepancy, method Z a lesser discrepancy, etc. Concede for sake of argument that Bachman’s own suggested method is not the best; or that the New York method was used in absolute good faith and was the best of all discussed, neither fact has anything to do with the actual arith- metical results of sorting cards by the va- rious methods compared. Obviously the only relevant question is: Has Bachman sorted and counted and computed and reported correctly? Instead, how has New York, with its $30,000,000 a year spent on American teachers’ brains, received this impersonal report? One associate superintendent declares that it is “not for anyone to de- nominate how the city superintendents’ reports shall be made.” Another asks: “How much supervising experience had Bachman?” A _ high school principal says: “Bachman came from only a small town anyway and was only assistant superintendent there.” The city superin- tendent admits that he has read the at- tack, and regrets the discourtesy which had been shown him in not sending the report to him before its publication. The president of the board avows the utmost confidence in the superintendent. A com- missioner in open board deprecates the official “indecency” in giving out the at- tack to the newspapers first. The Public Education Association’s secretary re- 107 grets the attacks on the personnel of the school system. An elementary school principal rushes to the “defense” as does an anonymous “authority”. Newspapers censure the acrimonious debate on per- sonalities and print solemnly excerpts from Superintendent Greenwood’s ar- ticle in the May Educational Review cited by the city superintendent as a “sufficient answer” to Bachman, and as commending the New York method of counting retardation, altho the article specifically said the New York method was misleading. What a record! And if this is the way we receive Bachman’s report on over- ageness what vitriol and personal be- littlement are left for McMurray or Da- vis or Elliot on supervising efficiency, curriculum, etc. Why anybody should want to misstate the number of retarded children, I can’t for the life of me see. How anybody can want to keep a wrong method one day after the wrongness is pointed out I can- not see. No personal attack by another can hurt any of us so much as standing in our own light or persisting in discover- ed error. Once in a Berlin pension I discovered, too late, that I had taken cho- colate drops made of soap. I did not want to confess myself caught, so I talked and chewed and joked as if I really enjoyed the candy, but in a min- ute I was unable to open or move my jaws. Something similar will happen to educators who try to discredit or ac- credit facts according to the personal equations evolved rather than according to the impersonal value of the facts re- ported. The New York reports of over-age have been heralded far and wide as the oldest inhabitant, the first of the kind, the model for the world. (See the em- phatic claims of 1908, 1910, I9II re- ports.) Yet these claims do not wipe out the fact that in t900 the United States Bureau of Education spread broad- cast a summary of over-age studies re- ported by St. Louis five years before New York “originated” the practice. Obviously the fact that 100 cities are following New York’s example will not 108 THE AMERICAN TEACHER make New York’s example right. Bach- man says it’s wrong. The ultimate ver- dict goes with the facts, without regard to who or what Bachman is, or the per- son responsible for a method criticised. Shall we stick to facts at the outset, or postpone for several years a study of re- tardation—special need—and of normal progress for each pupil according to his own power, which will start with the pu- pil before us rather than with a statistical normal for a statistical average pupil! Is it too extreme to say, that every American teacher who proves unable or unwilling to receive and weigh school in- quiry reports judicially and impersonally in a greater social and school handicap than the mentally deficient, or other seri- ously backward child whose presence in the grades clogs and discourages! EFFICIENT CITIZENSHIP, NUMBER 571 (The following circular sent to public school principals is one of many post card circulars sent out by the Bureau of Municipal Research of New York City. Readers will note the principle of democracy involved in soliciting the co-operation of persons, even little ones, in movements for their ewn welfare.) Ir you HAVE not already established medical inspection and have no funds available for its establishment, will you say “Kismet,” or will you adopt the Min- nesota idea? Dr. Ernest Bryant Hoag, Special Director of School Hygiene, Minnesota State Board of Health, St. Paul, believes that a health survey or auto-health in- quiry conducted by teachers and pupils will often elicit more facts than would be brought forth by any medical inspec- tion possible under certain circumstances. Write to Dr. Hoag and you will not be disappointed. If you already have medical inspection would not a preliminary auto-health- inquiry in which pupils and teachers co- operated awaken such interest as to greatly increase the value of the results of your regular medical inspection? People, especially children, are most in- terested in movements of which they form a part. People value most those things for which they have made most sacrifices in time, thought, energy or money. First an auto-inquiry, then medical inspection. Why not next a medical clinic and medical treatment at the school ? Some Questions Answered in the Minne- sota Auto Health-Inquiry. A—By Pupils: Have you ever had much sickness ? Are you well now? Do you eat breakfast every day? Do you eat lunch every day? Do you drink coffee or tea or both? Do you sleep in a room with the windows open? Have you ever been to a dentist? Do you own a tooth brush? Do you use a tooth brush? Do you have headache often? Do your ears run? Is it hard for you to breathe through your nose? Do you have sore throat often? Own pW DN + — br OO ON ~ w B—By Teachers: Has he a good standing posture? Has he a good sitting posture? Does he play normally? Is the child good-tempered ? Does he stammer, bite his nails, or make spasmodic movements? Is he apparently free from bad sexual habits? Has he “bladder trouble”? Do his teeth look clean and sound? Is his hearing good? NO mMAWN He OO ON ing a question? 11 Is he fairly attentive? 12 Is he free from squinting or frown- ing? 13 Is the head free from signs of disease ? Does he say “what” before answer- | ~~, >» i mh! . The American Ceacher Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy Published monthly, except July and August, by THE Moops PUBLISHING COMPANY, 134 West 29th Street, New York. GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK, - President Max R. HIne, . - . . Treasurer Henry R. LINVILLE, - - Editor-in-Chief. BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG, - Managing Editor. Address all manuscripts and other communica- tions to THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 134 West 29th Street, New York. Subscription price, 50 cents for the year. Copyright, 1912, by THE Moops PUBLISHING COMPANY. Co Entered at the Post Office of New York as second-class matter. VoL. I. OCTOBER, 1912. No. 8. It is the aim of this paper to better the working conditions of the teacher, thru sober criticisms of present edu- cational administration, and thru dis- cussions tending toward a general reali- zation of the democratic ideal in all maiters affecting the schools. OUR POLICY—WHAT iS ITP IN THE ANNALS of the College of Phy- sicians and Surgeons, New York City, there is a story to the effect that in the early days of the institution a consider- able number of students who were filled to overflowing with the business aspect of the study of medicine, found serious fault with a certain member of the faculty who happened to be a specialist in the study of fevers. The professor was a crank on diagnosis, and probably gave much time to the consideration of the importance of recognizing the vari- ous forms of the different types of fevers. The splitting of medicinal hairs and the endless scientific analyses finally got on the nerves of the young business doc- tors, and they let the professor know po- litely but firmly that they were not spend- ing their time and money to hear all there was to say about the frills of med- icine. What they wanted was to know in the quickest possible time the cure for typhoid fever and all the rest on the list. THE AMERICAN TEACHER is engaged in the consideration of certain basic facts in the field of education, and it is confronted with criticism of a similar nature. Everybody knows that the edu- cational body politic is afflicted with fevers, not one but many. And yet, this paper is informed by many impatient young doctors of education that it does not have a ready remedy; in other words, it has no policy. Specifically, they say we should stand for the principal of “equal pay for equal work,” or against it. If not for either of those ideas, then we should be for the “six and six” plan, for the physiological- age method of grouping pupils in classes, or for the improvement of school sanita- tion, and so forth. A few years ago the same doctors might have urged the dis- cussion of promotion by subject in place of the old system of promotion by grade, or the teaching of nature-study to children, or more remotely still, the es- tablishment of free high schools in small towns. A mild objection we might urge to giving our strength to a single idea is that an organ started on a basis of that kind logically stops publication when that idea has been generally adopted. THE AMERICAN TEACHER wants to live on and on. No one could reasonably criticize the wisdom of establishing an organ of one idea (except those opposed to the idea). But THE AMERICAN TEACHER was not meant to be an organ of that kind. Let those who are inspired to do so attack the single evils of our educational sys- tems. Their efforts will surely help in the general betterment we all hope to see come about. THE AMERICAN TEACHER was born of a desire to call to the attention of the teachers and the public a// the symptoms of the complicated disease that afflicts education not only in our own city of New York, but elsewhere as well. Much direct observation and thot has con- vinced the editors that there is no single, 109 110 THE AMERICAN TEACHER solitary defect in the gigantic social or- gan which we call education. If that is the truth, it is short-sighted and unscien- tific to treat one trouble, and expect thereby to correct all. Our general outlook on the work of the schools and our participation in it enable us to realize that the common lot of teachers is a treadmill existence. Even the most casual examination of the subject matter of the course of study and the methods of carrying out the course will enable any teacher who lifts his eyes to look beyond the halter to see that our teaching has pitiably small effect upon the lives of pupils while they are with us, and practically no relation to their destined work in adult careers. Supt. Young of Chicago admits frankly that the schools are fifty years behind the times. That is equivalent to saying that they are entirely out of touch with Am- erican life as it has developed since the Civil War. A new America has been born since then, vast beyond the ability of one mind fully to comprehend. And yet, the great systems of education thru- out the country are living back in the past, playing at thinking the thots of ancient peoples, while the great, surging life of the present is working out its own salvation, unaided by but supporting that system supposed primarily to develop the powers of the young for the generations to come. Indeed, it should be considered work enough for one small publication to break out new paths thru the educational wilderness. It would not be worth the while if the task were hopeless. It is not that. Modern life is full of cheer for mankind. That is the light we think we see thru the wilderness. In the great work of bringing educa- tion into effective relation with all other forces tending toward the growth of the race, “equal pay” and the “six and six” plan do seem a trifle insignificant. When they are settled the great problem of how to make education useful and effective still goes on for each generation to solve for itself. The policy of THE AMERICAN TEACHER is to give its service toward helping in the solution of this great prob- lem for the present generation. VOCATIONAL GUIDANCE The movement for “vocational guid- ance” meets with opposition from two types of minds. On the one hand are those who fear and oppose every exten- sion of public activity, whether in gov- ernment or in education, on the theory that some vague “nature” can best be served by letting things take their course. On the other hand are those who, while not opposed to the extension of public activities as such, nevertheless fear the extension of educational activities in certain recently developed directions on the ground that these activities may somehow endanger the rights afd re- strict the opportunities of the individual. It is curious that the opposition is in both cases based on faith in “democracy.” If we undertake, therefore, to advo- cate both democracy and _ vocational guidance, we need to show that these two principles are not essentially in con- flict. It would seem to depend, after all, on what one conceives to be the es- sentials of democracy. As long as de- mocracy meant “equality” of some kind or other, we allowed our public schools to treat “all the children of all the people” in exactly the same way. We considered all discrimination as unjust, and we resented discrimination as such. The havoc that this identical treatment of all children has wrought in our edu- cational system has been so much ex- ploited of late that we hardly need to be reminded of it. To give different children identical treatment is not to give them equal op- portunities. There is no reason in com- mon sense why all children should be treated with the same music, the same pictures, the same literature, the same science; nor need all study Latin be- cause a few can profit from it. It is not invidious to observe that some chil- dren are tone-deaf, or that others lack muscular correlation; we should learn to accept these facts just as we accept the hair-color and the stature—abso- lutely without prejudice, despite our per- sonal preferences, The fundamental assumptions of voca- ee —— Aa ff. ew of me ee em a Oe oe 0 O%d =s THE AMERICAN TEACHER tional guidance are in harmony with the teachings of modern science, and are easily understood. There is first the biological datum that no two individuals are identical in their constitutions, in their capacities, in their plasticity or adaptability. There is then the psyco- logical datum that efficiency and happi- ness are related to the exercise of native impulses or instincts, the satisfaction of native desires or tastes, There is the social fact that the mass of children have not selected parents who can free them from the necessity for earning a living through some form of “work.” There is the economic fact that our industrial processes are so differentiated and sub- divided that a child may enter upon an apparently remunerative occupation only to find in a few short years that its learn- ing days are over, while its earning ca- pacity has become fixed at a pitifully low level. If the individual can find the work to which he is best adapted, if he can pre- pare himself for that work, if he can have an opportunity to do that work, his choice of impecunious parents will not much matter. But how without guidance is he to find himself, how is he to find the various kinds of work that need to be done, how is he to get into the avenue that leads to that work? Vocational guidance, though still in its infancy, has been with us long enough to need to explain what it is not. It is not a scheme for picking out which un- fortunate children are to be sent to the cigar factory and which are to be sent to the cotton mills. It involves first of all an intent to save children, as the most valuable asset of the state. We have spent millions in a campaign to save babies from death; we have yet to make a beginning with the problem of what to do with the saved children. Vocational guidance is an attempt in this direction. Certainly babies are not worth saving for the purposes of the mills. If they can- not be directed into occupations that will, in addition to yielding them a livelihood, yield them also an opportunity to work efficiently and to live happily and de- cently, they had better never exist. 111 ON PURBLINDNESS THE AFFLICTION of mental purblind- ness makes sad visitation on two classes of people, those who are badly educated, and those who are dishonest-minded. In aggravated cases it has been discovered that education when present is of such character as to harden the cells of the brain and thus to set up before the mind a screen that is almost impervious to the natural treatment of light. Everybody who wants to know the truth and to see it triumphant, has his troubles with people and organizations who either cannot or will not see it. For a long time there has been trouble on ac- count of the purblindness of the New York City Department of Education. The people have suspected the existence of some chronic defect, the teachers have known of it, and the children have suf- fered because of it. Now and then spas- modic attempts to point out the symp- toms have been made by more or less qualified individuals. Invariably the De- partment has resisted, even resented, in- terference with its contitutional state and privileges. If attention is called to the large num- bers of pupils leaving the schools, the reply is made that the course of study is the best in the country. If fault is found with the large number of children in part time classes, the rejoinder fol- lows that the number of kindergarten classes established under “our” adminis- tration has increased tenfold. If com- plaint is brought that the schools do not train for citizenship, the defense is made that politics is banished forever from the school system. If teachers complain of the exercise of unjust autocratic power by higher school officials, the officials say nothing but transfer the teachers to other schools “for the good of the service.” It appears to be the deep-set characteristic of the Department never to meet the issues raised by the repre- sentatives of the people. “None are so blind as those who will not see.” Long years of complaint resulted about a year ago in decided measures be- ing taken by the New York City Board 112 THE AMERICAN TEACHER of Estimate and Apportionment. They employed a highly skilled Committee on School Inquiry to make an exhaustive study of the conduct and the work of the Department of Education of the city. Parts of the report of the committee have been made public by preliminary an- nouncements thru the newspapers. An enormous field has been covered by the studies. The Committee has noted the inflexible character of the course of study, the absense of carefully planned experiments in teaching and in varying the course of study, and the lack of pro- gressiveness and of educational intelli- gence on the part of the superintendents. The charge is made that the Board of Education has stocked up the city with a large amount of expensive real estate in the form of school sites for which there is no immediate need. One section of the report most discussed at this time is one that makes the charge that mis- leading reports have issued from the of- fice of the City Superintendent as to the number of over-age pupils in the schools. Enough of public interest in the report has developed to make one hopeful that careful attention will be given to the way in which issues are met by the educa- tional authorities. It is putting it mildly to say that they have begun badly. The grip of the old disease of mental pur- blindness is still upon them. Among other evidence that they cannot or will not meet issucs are these statements of representatives of the Department made public thru the newspapers. The De- partment of Education of New York is a State department, and the City of New York has no authority to inquire into the conduct of a State department. The School Inquiry Committee has been guilty of gross lack of politeness in giv- ing to the public certain parts of its re- ports before a copy had reached the De- partment of Education. In answer to the criticism of the Committee that much of the time of high educational officials is given to writing letters that might be written by clerks, we get the reply that the lowliest citizen is treated with re- spect when he writes to headquarters for information. The first defense offered to the charge that misleading reports on over-age pupils were issued from the of- fice of the City Superintendent was that a superintendent from another city had approved those reports. Since that de- fense was made, however, the City Superintendent has shown good judg- ment in issuing a dignified reply to the criticism made on his over-age report. In this fact we discern hope. If the treatment now being adminis- tered by the doctors of the School In- quiry Committee proves fully effective, a gigantic agent for constructive social progress will be made whole. Where it was blind, it will be made to see. Where it was blundering about in a maze of of- ficial pettiness, it will see a distant goal clearly. THE MANUFACTURING TOWN of Man- chester, Conn., established a trade school last spring. That is good. A manufac- turing community should teach its youth the arts by which it lives. The school is controlled, supervised and disciplined by the school committee. That is good, too, for the welfare of the community and the destiny of its youth should be under the control of a public agency. We learn further that the owners of the lead- ing factories in the town have furnished the building, equipment, heat and light. That is splendid! For after all the mill owners are the chief beneficiaries of the industry, in a material sense, and it is fine to see public spirit show itself in these benefactions to the public. But what is this? The mill owners reimburse the school committee for instructors’ salaries, provided the instructors are ap- proved by the firm! Has a prosperous American community descended so low as to let a private interest dictate the character of the instructors—and the in- struction—that its youth is to receive, in return for a few paltry dollars? Must we sell our birthright for mere pottage? HOW MANY of our principals help the teachers to overcome those defects enumerated in the teachers’ official records? QO PP eee OM ae em (Oe ue CO Ce lm st _ ce - west OM st & we THE AMERICAN TEACHER DOWN ON YOUR MARK! THE TIME MAY never come when reci- tations will start off at the shot of a pistol. But the temptation to suggest the idea is very strong, as one observes the frantic haste of teachers or principals who have received an impression that efficiency means strenuousness. Far be it from the purpose of THE AMERICAN TEACHER to approve the casual attitude toward life and the pro- fession that is maintained by the teacher who remembers the class only when the entertaining next door neighbor has re- membered hers. Of all the people who have heard of the modern movement for efficiency (and who has not?), none would be less impressed than these two. But may there not be a worthy point of view somewhere between the philosophy of indifference and the ideas of the “hustling” teacher who exists in a state of tension? There must be. Otherwise, we should degenerate from inaction or wear out from strain, besides giving the curse of nervous prostration to the pres- ent generation of school children. Nothing could be more obvious than the fact that the recitation is an occasion for starting the process of thinking. Men have thot with power presses clank- ing and dynamos burring all about them, and some thot to great purpose. But they did not learn how to do it there. Al- ways and everywhere thought comes best with quiet and repose. The smallest child is thinking hardest when it is quiet- ly trying to solve a new problem in its puzzling environment. Some children doubtless need to be stimulated to think- ing, but that supreme response of the brain does not necessarily come thru the slam-bang methods of the teacher who “gets more work out of his children than anyone else does.” It is one thing to hustle everybody to the blackboard be- fore they have had a chance to come to attention in their seats, and it is another to get from them when they are there an idea that they haven’t borrowed from some book or from their own dear teacher. It is one thing to make a class produce a high stack of maps all blue 118 and red, and quite, quite another to have brought the class to realize some of the natural forces and the movements of men that gave significance to the blue and the red lines. Indeed, the board work, the map drawing, the experiment doing and the composition writing may all be clumsy busy work that serves the stupid purpose of stifling the divine fire. After all, the busy work with its near- efficiency may be a lazy man’s job. It is easy to hustle. It is sometimes difficult to think clearly and deeply, and more diffi- cult to develop the power in others. But thinking is by far the finest part of life. THE COURAGE of the battlefield is glorious, but it is paid for in the dearest coin that the world possesses. And there is an equal courage: the doing for a lifetime of a man’s whole duty in every possible direc- tion. Moreover, this latter courage, far from costing the country anything, brings in a wonderful revenue of increasing civiliza- tion, of high achievements and ever higher ideals, of, in the broadest sense, Chris- tianity. We Americans do indeed need iron in our blood, but it is iron that shall make us do our dull, plodding, tiresome, patriotic duties day after day. This alone is the patriotism to be taught in the schools; and unless these ideals of duty toward one’s country are made vital in the school-life, the flag salutes, the singing, the national self-glorification will result in a nation of swashbucklers, not one of patriots.— James Phinney Munroe, in “New Demands in Education.” UNTIL WE CAN teach patriotism that can enthuse without brass buttons and glistening steel, without fireworks and bunting even, ourschools will fail of their purpose. In the meanwhile “our’’ fleets are parading about to lure some mothers’ sons into the navy, and the handsomest fellow in the square is the sergeant set to guard Uncle Sam’s posters soliciting recruits for the army. In the meanwhile Congress seeks to help out by offering every high school a lot of shooting irons, with the use of an instructor in the art of shooting straight. What avail all the sharpshooters in war, if we have no clear vision or sure aim in peace? And what are we doing to clarify vision and to de- fine aims? 114 THE AMERICAN TEACHER BOOK REVIEWS NEW DEMANDS IN EDUCATION, by JAMES PHINNEY Munroe. 12mo, pp. x + 312. New York, Doubleday, Page & Co. 1912. $1.25 net. There are many reasons why I like this book—there is one on nearly every page; two or three on some pages. And there are several kinds of reasons. In the first place, the author says neatly and charmingly what I have been myself trying for a long time to say: and he succeeds, where I only stum- Lied along awkwardly. In the second place, the author comes to his conclusions from an entirely different point of view, from a different approach—which is very en- couraging. For if many teachers agree that there are sore grievances in their daily work, a detached philosopher may discover that they are all suffering from a peculiar trade disease. If we complain about the way the business men who are entrusted with the conduct of school affairs conduct those affairs, the psychologist may discover that we don’t understand the business prob- lems anyhow; or a shrewd sociologist may discover that we are simply giving voice to our class consciousness. If teachers com- plain that the funds devoted to educational purposes are sadly inadequate, the semi- sophisticated tax-payer, posing as econ- omist, may class us with his other ungrate- ful employes as grafters, or at least as grabbers. But Mr. Munroe is not a teacher, he is rot even a “professional” man. He is a “hard-headed”—tho not hard-hearted—busi- ness man; indeed, he is not even a success- ful business man, not one of your theorizing kind, who are always complaining because the other fellow is more prosperous. And what Mr. Munroe has to say about educa- tion may well receive the respectful atten- tion of other business men—and of teachers. Those who are engaged in the trying task cof converting the mass of casual school ivasters and school mistresses into delib- erate, purposeful, professional artists in ed- ucation sometimes feel doubt creeping in upon them, sometimes question whether the effort is worth while, sometimes suspec that they delude themselves as to the sig- nificance of the whole thing. When you doubt, when you question, when you sus- pect—read this book: here you will find comfort, here your spirit will be strength- ened, here you will feel your hands held up. And all this not from a fellow teacher, who may perchance be a victim of the same grand delusions, but from a business man! just think of it: a business man who under- stands! A dozen such business -men for every community in the land would revolu- tionize our business in ten years. In the twenty chapters of the book there are discussed, in a style that suggests a dis- tinct personality, some of our most urgent current problems: the need for professional training for teaching, efficient administra- tion, the relation of education to the needs cf the community, in citizenship, in eco- nomic efficiency, in healthy manhood and womanhood; the aims of education from the personal and from the academic point of view, the relation of colleges to the high schools, and of these to the grammar schools; education as prevention, and edu- cation as discipline. Some of the con- crete demands well presented and well de- fended in this book are: the individuation ct education thru reduction of the size of classes and the adaptation of the work to the special needs of each child; the training of the child in habits of health, thru special ettention to his sense-organs and to the body machine as a whole, thru the provision of playgrounds and the direction of games and plays; the shifting of the emphasis irom formal, uninteresting, “disciplinary” school work to interesting and stimulating work; the development of character and the social side; the guidance of each child into the work and studies that will enable him to make of himself the “most intelligent, the niost efficient, and therefore the happiest citizen that it is possible for him to be.” Each of the twenty chapters has in it something to make you think, even if you have thot on the topics before. You feel, «as you read the book, that the author has had an academic education, but you feel also that his opinions are not academic in any sense, but are the direct results of thinking about immediate practical prob- lems that meet the man of affairs every day. If you can manage to associate yourself with a copy of this book, consider yourself urged to read it. THE AMERICAN TEACHER IF YOU IMAGINE you are familiar with every really first-class magazine, you're mistaken. Among those whose names have appeared in symposia published in THE INTERNATIONAL are the following Booker T. Washingten Elbert Hubbard Hon. Champ Clark Upton Sinclair Ex-Pres. Charlies W. Biliot W. B. Y ane Dubois Prof. John Dewey John S; pore Edith Wynne Matthison Hatchins Hapgood Jack Londvun Reginald Wright Kauffman Robert Herrick Rheta Childe Dorr Charlotte Perkins Gilman THE INTERNATIONAL is remarkable for the lays and stories which it prints in every number, or the exceptionally high standard of its poetry, criticism and political and literary essays. EDITED BY B. RUSSELL HERTS RICHARD LE GALLIENNE AND GEORGE SYLVESTER VIERECK oO oe hosts Lz te foi | rom subscribers that have been ig are a fair selection: _P. rat Duffy writes: ‘I think THe INTERNATIONAL has set up a distinct standard which reflects credit, not merely on those directly responsible for it, but on American effort and literary capability. I am glad that we have such a publication—it was needed.’ Charles Ferguson, editorial writer, Hearst Morning Papers, says: “No better editorials are appearing at this moment than those in THE INTERNATIONAL. You should be happy by. the R. L. S. test for you ‘have done good work’. The International, $1. #}5 jal Price for The American Teacher, .50 th $1.15 THE MOODS PUBLISHING CO. 134-140 West 29th Street, New York BAY VIEW READING COURSE. These short courses, in their 20th year, appeal to progressive teachers. ine courses ready. Why not look into them and resolve to make your reading count for better results? They combine delightful travel features and specialize in history, literature, art, and contemporary life of lands studied. Why not start a club? Send to J. M. HALL, BOSTON R’D, DETROIT, MICH., for circular. 115 UNITED WE STAND AT A MEETING of the Central Labor Union of Concord, New Hampshire, a few months ago, resolutions were adopt- ed endorsing an increase of salaries of the public school teachers. When did your teachers’ association adopt resolu- tions endorsing increased wages or de- cent living conditions for the wage- earners in your town? IS THE MATTER of promotion of chil- dren in your school dependent wholly on the teacher’s judgment? THE TEACHER should feel as free and unfettered as the captain of a ves- sel. Spiritual shipwreck may overtake human souls in charge of a teacher who is merely an instrument for registering the will of those higher in authority. “The Editor Company” of Ridgewood, New Jersey, publishes a fresh and extreme- ly interesting study of “The American Short Story” with relation to the influence of locality in its development. The author, Dr. Elias Lieberman, has spared no pains in the collation and analysis of his material; and after setting forth some general con- siderations of the forces which determine localities and types of men and women, and of the point of contact between the short story and locality, examines the most note- worthy short stories of to-day and yester- day,—of old New England and modern New England, of the Middle West and the Far West, of the South, of the Far North, and of New York City, with its shifting and varied population,—analyzing in each case the best known and most typical short stories of the several localities. This is an essay in a new field, and it will be read with keen interest by lovers of short stories who care at all to go below the surface of things.",—-THE LIVING AGE. Price: One dollar, postpaid. Order from Mr. ee M. Rosenberg, 1225 Boston Road, The Bronx, New York. NEW YORK CITY ADOPTIONS Requisition Grades Number Price 4A—4B ..1761....DODGE’S GEOGRAPHY BY GRADES, Book One.......... $0 29 5A— 5B—6A.. .1762.... DODGE’S GEOGRAPHY BY GRADES, Book Two.......... 0.42 7A—8A .. 1765. ... DODGE’S GEOGRAPHY BY GRADES, Book Three......... 0.63 6B—7B ....1763.... DODGE’S GEOGRAPHY BY GRADES, Book Four......... 0.58 8B ee rer i BW Oe et OB SE aa 1.00 5A to 6B .-1812....MACB’S PRIMARY HISTORY; STORIES OF HEROISM... 0.54 8A—8B .-1811.... MACE’S SCHOOL HISTORY OF UNITED STATBS........ 0.83 All necessary maps to assist in teaching these subjects. RAND McNALLY & COMPANY, Publishers CHICAGO 40-42 East 22nd Street, NEW YORE When answering advertisers, please mention THE AMERICAN TEACHER 116 THE AMERICAN TEACHER SPECIAL OFFER We have on hand a small number of bound copies of Volume I of The Progessive Journal ef Education, containing articles by such well- known educators as Prof. John Dewey, Katherine Dopp, Prof. Wm. Noyes, Prof. rrank T. Carlton, Dr. Frank A. Manny, Prof. J. Paul Goode and otbers. The price of this book was one dollar. We will send this book and The American Teacher one year for one dollar. Or we will send the book free for ten new subscribers at fifty cents. We have also many unbound copies of The Progessive Journal of Education, which we offer at five cents each. A list of contents will be sent on request. THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 134 W. 29th St., New York. QUESTIONS FOR TEACHERS Am I teaching for the principal’s ap- proval, or for the pupil’s improve- ment ? Am I trying to put spirit into a child that lacks matter? Is there any connection between what I try to teach my pupils and what they do outside? Am I giving my pupils power to learn, or inducements to finish learning? Does my teaching suppress the pupil’s imagination? Or his curiosity? Or his initiative? Or his originality? Does my teaching arouse the pupil’s confidence in their own ability, or does it discourage them? Do I direct my pupils to “think” without giving them anything to think about? Or before they have anything to think with? Do I make my pupils work thru fear of my authority ? Or thru love of the work? Or thru ambition for achievement ? Or for high marks? Do I have to rap the desk or tap the bell too often? Will my pupils miss me when I am gone? And if so, why? MAKE YOUR READING COUNT Read This Course (Thirty-fifth C. lL. S.C. Year) Social Progress in Contemporary Europe. Fiederic Austin Ogg, A. M., Ph. D., Assistant Professor of History, Sim- mons College, Boston, author * Saxon Gwe SE. 2 2 6 0 ene ee ue $1.50 Mornings with Masters of Art. H. H. Powers, Ph. D., President Bureau of University Travel, Boston. 125 illus- PST Tee ee 2.00 The Spirit of French Letters. Mabell S. C. smith, A.M, Assistant Editor THR CHAU TAUQUAN’ Author “A Tarheel Baron"’ and “Studies in Dickens" .. 1.50 Home Life in Germany. Mrs. Alfred SE. ns 5 6% 6 OO 6's 4 oe 1.50 THE CHAUTAUQUAN MAGAZINE. (Monthly — Illustrated —C. L. S. S. membership included if desired). Con- taining: European Rulers: Their Modern Sig- nificance. (Arthur E. Bestor, A. B., Director Chautauqua Institution); Reading Journey in Paris. (Mabel! S. Cc. Smith,) The monthly magazine also serves in many interesting ways as a “don't read at random’ teacher for the reading course ........ 2.00 a $8.50 All Four Books (cloth bound) and the eee “Pees ee ee $5.00° * Remit joc. extra for postage or prepaid express. ‘Collect’ charges are more. “EASY FOR ANYBODY, WORTH WHILE FOR EVERYBODY” If in doubt, send stamp for handbook of testimonials Address, Chautauqua /nstitution, Chautauqua,N.Y. DON’T READ AT RANDOM When answering advertisers, please mention THE AMERICAN TEACHER