Chora in Education; Education for Democracy. gil 








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A 


AS sd 


Le Ix 191 
ON THE mitten”. 


Standing on the hilltop you see the 
evidences of countless activities of 
mankind—the homes, the factories, the 
fields of grain, the bustling trains. 

The point of vantage enables you 
to see; and the mind puts together the 
parts and interprets the meaning of it 
all to man. 

During the past summer you have 
been away from the valley of labor, far 
enough to see in perspective the part 
you have been doing. 

Have you taken thot to measure its 
importance as work, its value to man, 
and its relation to your own highest 
ideal of teaching? 























TOOLS vs. 


RULES 


CAROLINE L. Pratt 


Ir you were to present your boy with 
a pocket knife and tell him that he could 
use it for no other purpose than to whit- 
tle pudding-sticks for kitchen use, you 
should not be surprised that he refused 
the knife—on these terms. No self-re- 
specting boy would accept it. If he wants 
a knife at all he wants it for his own 
purposes. His mind is full of the things 
he can do with it. He wants to try them 
out, 

It is quite the same way with tools. 
The boys look forward to the shopwork 
in the schools only to find when they get 
to it that it is not for them after all. It 
is to make pudding-sticks for a hypo- 
thetical kitchen. There is no more real- 
ity in it than in a spelling book. There 
are the tools; they are real, more so per- 
haps, than anything else in the school. 
And perhaps again it is this very fact that 
makes them turn with more disgust from 


the tools than from a spelling book when 


confronted with prescribed models. It 
is again their self-respect that rebels 
against making pudding-sticks when it is 
so obvious that the tools should be used 
for the boys’ own purposes. 

To go back a little, less than forty 
years, the introduction of shop work into 
the public schools was a more or less un- 
conscious recognition of industry as an 
educational factor. Besides dealing with 
the symbols of things, the children were 
to be given the opportunity to deal direct- 
ly with the things themselves. It was 
supposed that this would be an entering 
wedge into the intolerably scholastic and 
formal educational system; that it would 
give to the schools something of the 
character of the education which grown 
people receive when they enter industrial 
pursuits. In other words, the children 
were, for the first time, to get their facts 
first-hand and be allowed to apply their 
facts then and there. Unfortunately this 
has not happened. The school system 
has been too strong for the shopwork 
and it has lost its individuality in its ef- 
fort to conform to the schools’ formal 


requirements. Founded upon industry, 
whose chief recommendation to the pub- 
lic schoo! system is that it has been the 
greatest instrument in the development 
of the human race, the shop work of the 
public schools solves its problems before 
it allows the children to come in contact 
with it and it removes the industrial mo- 
tive—usefulness. 

This is the point of departure between 
the shop work as taught in the schools 
and shop work as taught in outside class. 
es such as are provided in settlements 
However, it is in the nature of an acci- 
dent that the work is different. What 
the children want has to be considered in 
the settlement as it never has to be in the 
schools. The former has no truancy off- 
cer to stand behind unwilling children. 
The teachers are obliged to make the 
work attract the children. This has been 
done pretty universally by allowing the 
children to make the things they want 
and to keep them when they are done. 
No one who has done hand work success- 
fully will regard this as a bribe; it is the 
just reward of hard labor. 

One snowy winter several of the boys 
in a neighborhood shop made sleds. The 
school method would have been to keep 
the sleds until the end of the term, sum- 
mertime, and exhibit them. The inform. 
al method permitted the boys to take the 
sleds right out into the snow and use 
them! They made snow shovels, too, as 
well as iron scrapers; and when they 
were done they were put to use. There 
were no drawings given out for these. 
Each boy solved his own problems, ex- 
plaining to the teacher his next step. 
There were no measurements dictated 
Thus the work kept the salient character- 
istics of industry—the motive, immediate 
usefulness of the object made; the op- 
portunity to grow mentally through solv- 
ing problems and inventing; the accu- 
mulation of certain definite, appreciated 
facts to be used in future. 

But work of this sort entails conditions 
which are against the usual school prac- 


98 





Mo De et ll, ell 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 99 


tice. If the boy is to get anything from 
his shop work, if he is to progress, if, 
indeed, he is to be saved from defeating 
his own purpose, his work must be close- 
ly supervised. This means that as every 
boy is on a different piece of work, the 
class must be small. It takes a good 
teacher to supervise the work of more 
than ten boys working under such a plan. 

Given a small class, no informal teach- 
er need fear the criticism of the formal 
teacher in the matter of technique; and 
in point of thotful workers his pupils will 
far outrank those of the formal classes. 

The difference in method is further il- 
lustrated by the following comparison of 
the teaching of working drawings. The 
formal teacher’s method is to give every 
child a drawing and before the material 
is touched the drawing is “explained.” 
A working drawing is abstract and the 
reading of it demands a good deal of 
imagination. Few of the children under- 
stand the drawing after it is explained. 
The time put upon it at this stage of the 
work is thrown away. 

The informal teacher's method is no 
less educational in its aim. But owing to 
the conditions named above the critic that 
the teacher is most afraid of is the pupil. 
His class of ten would dissolve into thin 
air if he attempted many explanations to 
begin with. His boys come in one or two 
at a time, and he is able to find out 
which, if any, have had shop work be- 
fore. If they are entirely new at it they 
are delighted with a suggestion of a 
simple marble board or coat rack—if it is 
not forced upon them. To a teacher of 
the informal type it is not an embarrass- 
ment but a joy if a boy comes in with a 
mind full of a project. If, after trying 
to adapt the method of working out such 
a project to his ability, the teacher still 
finds it too stiff for him, but cannot per- 
suaded him to postpone it, he will wisely 
let him set to work on it and make his 
own discoveries of inefficiency. Just be- 
fore the boy reaches the vanishing point 
the teacher will gather up the fragments 
and without admitting utter failure, will 
Suggest putting this away until he gets 
used to the tools thru making something 
simpler. 


This informal method of encouraging 
the boy to choose what he shall do, makes 
it incumbent upon him that he shall be 
understood ; that is, he has to explain to 
his teacher what it is he wishes to make. 
He soon finds that their common ground 
is a working drawing which he has to 
make. This puts the whole matter into 
the teacher’s hands and instead of push- 
ing a boy to do a distasteful thing, the 
latter comes to the teacher and uses 
every method of expression at his com- 
mand in order to be understood. The 
informal teacher accepts the most crude 
illustrations of objects and works for 
better ones each time, knowing that the 
principal difficulty is that the boy’s im- 
ages are not clear. These images are 
made clear by actual work in three di- 
mension material. After a boy has made 
many pieces of a model he is in a better 
position to draw it and later he gets so 
that he can image the whole and can then 
make his working drawing before touch- 
ing his wood. With some boys this 
works out quickly, in six weeks perhaps, 
while with others it may take a year. It 
is the only psychological way to teach 
working drawings. 

If it were possible to introduce such 
work into a public school, the shop might 
serve as a clearing house for the whole 
school. That is, if children do not un- 
derstand the meaning of words, the ex- 
act meaning, or if, as so often happens, 
the arithmetic is a dead letter to them, in 
an informal shop where every piece of 
work is individual and there is no chance 
to copy, these defects come out promptly. 
I think it would be no exaggeration to 
say that the informal shop teacher of a 
neighboring school knows the weaknesses 
of that school better than any teacher in 
it; and, furthermore, such an informal 
teacher, going from one neighborhood to 
another, finds the defects pretty much the 
same in the schools of any city. There is 
a lack of understanding of simple Eng- 
lish words and practical arithmetic; and 
this in spite of the fact that two or three 
hours a day, for five days a week, are 
given up to just this. Words and fig- 
ures, these are being taught, but what 
of the meaning back of words and fig- 





100 


ures? The informal shop teacher not 
ouly finds it is not there but there is an 
actual closing of the mind against it. 
The children “let go” mentally and re- 
sort to guessing. ‘This is so well recog- 
nized as a school habit that the Binet 
tests for intelligence advises getting 
the children away from the school in- 
fluence in order to get the desired re- 
sults. Here is a fair sample of the 
guessing habit: A child of eight 
whose school teacher has grave doubts 
as to his mentality, was asked to put 
his finger on the middle of a piece of 
wood. He knew what “middle” meant 
but the form of the question threw him 
into his school attitude and he guessed 
and put his finger on the end. If he 
had been playing a game of marbles 
and one of the boys had told him to 
put a marble in the middle of a given 
space he would have done it at once. 
But the school, instead of having 
opened the childs mind had actually 
closed it. I will follow out this partic- 


ular episode, as it bears upon the 
particular point for which I am con- 
tending. 

The obvious thing was to startle the 
child out of his school attitude and 
make him think. So the question was 


put thus: “Suppose you had to break 
this piece of wood into two even pieces, 
one for you and one for Salvator, where 
would you break it?” He put his fin- 
ger on the middle. The problem was to 
get the exact middle of this piece of 
wood in order to nail another piece to 
it. It was seven inches long. I looked 
at the boy and at the piece of wood and 
thought it was hopeless. But it oc- 
curred to me that this bright faced 
youngster would hardly find it difficult 
to divide up something to eat. So I 
said “Here are seven apples”. He 
nodded appreciatively. “Now then, 
how many would you give Salvator if 
you were to give him half.” “I’d give him 
three and keep four for myself”; a 
simple and practical solution for all 
ordinary purposes. But I threw in 
another condition. I said, “Yes, but 
I am not going to give you seven 
apples unless you divide them exactly 


THE AMERICAN 


TEACHER 


and give Salvator his full share”. Like 
a flash he answered, “I’d give Salvator 
three, take three myself, cut the other 
one in two, give him half and keep half 
myself.” I had thought the boy stupid. 
He was but school stupid. It took him 
but a moment more to discover that 
one-half of seven inches is three and 
one-half and to apply the result to his 
wood. I had given him an emotional 
stimulus and shaken him out of his 
stupor and by instantly applying his 
knowledge he stands a good chance of 
retaining it. 

The exciting point in this connection 
is the paucity of intellect evident ina 
child who puts his finger on the end 
of a piece of wood when asked for the 
middle, and his native ability to grap- 
ple with a real problem when presented 
in the right way. He is not an idiot. 
He is asleep. If such a boy had been 
in informal shopwork in a school the 
shop teacher could have made his dis- 
covery known to the class teacher and 
together they might have started him 
in his inherent right to an intellectual 
career. It is here that the informal 
neighborhood teacher fails. He can do 
but half what he might do if his work 
were in codperation with the school 
teachers. 

Besides better individual training, the 
great fundamental thing which such 
work would do for a school is this: 
It would put it in the position, for the 
first time, of consciously recognizing 
that every child has a life of his own; 
that he has his own interests; that he 
has his own important social adjust- 
ments to make. It would put the child 
in possession of something with which 
he could go right out into the world 
now and solve some of his problems. 
It would recognize his play as a part 
of his life and his home as another part. 

For, after all the object of education 
is to put an individual in a position to 
better adjust his relationships. The 
schools recognize this when they give 
themselves over to supplying such in- 
formation as they suppose will be use- 
ful at some future time; useful in ad- 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


justing relationships. What they fail 
to recognize is that if the object of 
education is that there may be a better 
adjustment of relationships, its pro- 
cess must be thru such adjustment. 
The children can only become educated 


Iof 


by being useful to their several groups 
now, to learn to adjust their relation- 
ships by adjusting them. The simplest, 
most obvious point of attack for the in- 
troduction of this fundamental idea is 
thru the shop work. 


THE TEACHERS’ COUNCIL 


Henry R. 


I am not one of those who fear the nar- 
rowness of the class teacher.. If she is ever 
in any degree narrow-minded, we have par- 
ticularly ourselves to blame for keeping her 
in a system so mechanical as to limit too 
much the exercise of her initiative and in- 
vention. Truly, a sincere invitation to teach- 
ers to become regular purveyors of good to 
the entire school system, and not to be timid 
protestors in a far corner, will give us the 
benefit at first hand of the opinions of those 
who are the real educators—TuHomas W. 
CHURCHILL, President of the Board of Edu- 
cation, City of New York, in his semi- 
annual report. 





A constantly increasing number of 
teachers of New York City have looked 
forward for many years to the coming of 
an educational Messiah, who might lead 
them out of professional bondage to some 
measure of freedom and self-respect. If 
in the long years of waiting for his com- 
ing, there develops among teachers a 
clear realization of what they want for 
their own good and for the good of the 
service, the obligation on the Messiah 
must necessarily be more exacting. 

The quotation given above is but one 
of several indications given by the Presi- 
dent of the Board of Education of New 
York City that he means to do what he 
can to encourage teachers “to become 
regular purveyors of good to the entire 
school system.” We should be as ready 
to accept these statements of the Presi- 
dent as sincere, as we shall doubtless be 
to examine his acts and those of the ma- 
jority which he represents for definite 
and tangible progress toward the realiza- 
tion of the end which they are seeking. 

The most important movement now 


LINVILLE 


under consideration tending toward the 
inauguration of a system of co-operation 
between authorities and teachers in New 
York City is set forth in Document 6, 
1913, recently issued by the Department 
of Education and entitled “A Plan for 
the Organization of a Proposed Council 
of Teachers.” This document is a report 
of the Committee on By-Laws and Legis- 
lation presented to the Board of Educa- 
tion June II, 1913. 

Early in the year 1913 President 
Churchill extended to the presidents of 
the several teachers’ organizations an in- 
vitation to consider and recommend to 
the Department of Education plans for 
an advisory council to the Board of Edu- 
cation. The presidents accepted the invi- 
tation and began a series of conferences 
which resulted in the report which was 
forwarded to the President on May 22, 
1913. 

In June a public hearing was given, 
and the criticism of all teachers was re- 
quested. A few teachers attended the 
hearing, but the great body of teachers 
knew little and probably cared little about 
the plan. The report is now in the hands 
of the special committee that is studying 
the report of Professor E. C. Elliott, on 
“The System of General Supervision.” 

The following extract from the report 
contains all the important features of the 
new plan: 


I. The organization shall be known as The 
Teachers’ Council. 

II. The Teachers’ Council shall have a two- 
fold function: 

1. The furnishing of information and the 
opinions of the teaching staff (principals and 
teachers) upon questions submitted by the 





102 


Board of Education or by the Board of Super- 
intendents. 

2. The introduction of recommendations 
concerning any of the problems affecting the 
welfare of the schools and the teaching staff. 

All final decisions shall be left to the Board 
of Education or the Board of Superintendents. 

III. The Teachers’ Council shall be allowed 
absolute freedom in its debates and delibera- 
tions. 

IV. The Teachers’ Council shall be com- 
posed of forty-five (45) representatives from 
such voluntary teachers’ organizations as were 
in existence March 1, 1913, and of such other 
teachers’ organizations as may thereafter be 
recognized by the Board of Education. 

V. ‘Representation in The Teachers’ Coun- 
cil shall be distributed among the various ele- 
ments of the teaching staff as follows: 


1. Secondary schools (high and training) : 
a. Principal 
b. First assistant 
c. Men teachers 
d. Women teachers 
e. Teachers in training schools 


Elementary schools: 

a. Principals— 
Manhattan, 1 man, I woman 2 
Brooklyn, I man, 1 woman.. 2 


. Assistants to principals or 
heads of department 

. Teachers of the 7th and 8th 
years, 2 men, 2 women 4 
Teachers of the Ist to 6th 
years, inclusive, Manhattan 
3, Brooklyn 3, Bronx 2, 
Queens 2, Richmond 1 
Kindergarten teachers 
Shopwork teachers 
Domestic science (cooking) 
teachers 


3. Other public school activities: 
Evening schools, disciplinary 
and probationary, vocational, 
trade-and continuation, recre- 
ation, sewing, drawing, mu- 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


sic, physical training, etc. 


4. Representatives at large, elected 
by The Teachers’ Council, total 


VI. The members of The Teachers’ Coun- 
cil shall be elected by the method described 
below: 

1. Each secondary school teachers’ organi- 
zation which includes principals in its mem- 
bership shall elect two secondary school prin- 
cipals as delegates to a conference. The mem- 
bers of this conference shall meet on a speci- 
fied date, at a specified place, and shall elect 
one secondary (high or training) principal as 
a member of The Teachers’ Council. 

2. Each teachers’ organization which in- 
cludes elementary school principals in_ its 
membership shall elect two elementary school 
principals as delegates to a conference. The 
members of this conference shall meet on a 


specified date, at a specified place, and shall 
elect seven elementary school principals (dis- 
tributed among the Boroughs as provided for 
in Article V, Section 2a) as members of The 
Teachers’ Council. 

3. Each teachers’ organization which in- 
cludes teachers of the first to the sixth year 
classes, inclusive, shall elect three delegates to 
a conference. The members of this confer- 
ence shall meet on a specified date, at a speci- 
fied place, and shall elect (11- teachers, dis- 
tributed among the Boroughs as provided for 
in Article 5, Section 2). 

4. In like manner the teachers’ organiza- 
tions concerned shall send two delegates to 
each appropriate conference for the election 
of representatives of all the other groups pro- 
vided for in Article V, except for the elec- 
tion of representatives at large. 

5. All the conferences shall be held on the 
same date. 

6. A candidate for The Teachers’ Council 
need not be a delegate to a conference, nor a 
member of a voluntary teachers’ organization, 
but must be of the rank or grade assigned to 
the conference. 





Since Mr. Churchill and the “Pro- 
gressive” party in the Board of Educa- 
tion are pfimarily responsible for the 
idea of the Teachers’ Council in the 
educational system of New York City, 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


they should be held at least jointly 
accountable with the presidents of the 
organizations for the construction of 
a council that will serve a useful pur- 
pose, and have some chance of being 
workable. Moreover, it is but fair to 
hold them jointly accountable for out- 
lining a plan that will really “give us 
the benefit at first hand of the opinions 
of those who are the real educators.” 

Those who are familiar with current 
discussion on the relation of the 
teacher to the democratic movement 
in education can easily see flaws in the 
fundamentals of this plan. Teachers 
who are interested chiefly in the prac- 
tical working of a plan will be able to 
detect features that mean the ultimate 
control of The Teachers Council by a 
relatively few energetic persons. 

Take for example the provision for 
the election of secondary school prin- 
cipals incorporated in Section VI, para- 
graph 1. “Each secondary school 
teachers’ organization which includes 


principals in its membership shall elect 
two secondary school principals as 


delegates to a conference.” There are 
at least three organizations of second- 
ary school teachers that have some 
high school principals as members, the 
conference would be made up of six 
or eight members, only two of whom 
would come from a principal’s organi- 
zation. 

In paragraph 2 of the same Section 
opportunity is given for still greater 
power to be held by those elementary 
school principals who, tho few in num- 
ber in particular organizations, have 
the same voting strength as those dele- 
gates who represent the organizations 
wherein elementary school principals 
predominate or have large influence. 
One would be safe in saying that prac- 
tically all the teachers organizations 
in the city have elementary school prin- 
cipals in their membership. Even in 
the High School Teachers Associa- 
tion there are elementary school prin- 
cipals. The High School Teachers As- 
sociation therefore would be obliged 
to send two elementary school princi- 
pals as delegates. 


103 


In carrying out the provisions of 
Paragraph 3 of Section VI worse con- 
fusion would result from unequal rep- 
resentation as well as from the diffi- 
culty of electing delegates to all the 
required conferences. As an indica- 
tion of the complexity of the plan, it 
is illuminating to note that The Teach- 
ers League would have to elect twenty- 
eight delegates, since the membership 
includes men and women in all 
branches of the service, and from all 
parts of the City. It does not require 
much imagination to see that the bur- 
den of selecting proper delegates would 
be so great as to discourage the effort 
altogether. 

Then would arise the opportunity of 
the few energetic persons who for rea- 
sons of interest in educational politics 
would make the necessary arrange- 
ments with indifferent organizations 
to have friendly delegates sent to the 
conferences. Friendly delegates would 
of course be more or less indifferent 
also to the high purpose of The 
Teachers Council. In this connection 
it is inconceivable that paragraph 6 
would ever be thot of. No one but an 
active person would ever be elected by 
the delegates, and that active person 
would be a member of an organization. 

The mechanical faults here pointed 
out are serious enough to condemn even 
a good plan with a great idea behind it. 
But the plan for the Teachers Council 
that is now in a fair way to be adopted 
by the Board of Education is an indica- 
tion of blind groping for relief from the 
prevailing condition of educational thral- 
dom; but there is nothing vital that is 
grasped. To use a term employed by 
Prof. Dewey in a recent address given 
before The Teachers’ League, there 
is no “motive” for the existence of 
this Council. It may make a thousand 
suggestions, but it has no power to carry 
out a single one of them. The Board of 
Education may submit to the Council all 
the questions upon which the teachers 
could be supposed to have an opinion, 
but all the Council can do is to talk, and 
give opinions which the Board of Educa- 

tion is under no obligation to consider. 





104 


A remark made in the hearing of the 
writer by one of the presidents while 
the plan of the Council was under con- 
sideration in conference indicates the 
source of our greatest difficulty. He 
said: “We don’t want power, because 
we would have to assume _ responsi- 
bility.” How far we have fallen away 
from the ideals of teaching as applied to 
children, that we can best develop char- 
acter thru responsibility ! 

In the May number of THE AMERICAN 
TeacHER Professor E. C, Elliott in his 
article on “The Proposed Supervisory 
Council for the New York Schools” said: 


“My own conception of the Supervisory 
Council is not that of the ‘advisory council’ 
now being advocated for the New York City 
School system. A properly constituted Super- 
visory Council would consist of a permanent 
representative body of teachers and educa- 
tional directors with legalized powers and 
functions; not subject to political interference 
under the guise of retaining to the people or 
person vested rights and privileges; nor de- 
pendent in the scope and character of its 
activities upon the benevolent paternalism of 
the Board of Education. President Churchill’s 
aim to create an organization of representa- 
tives of the teaching staff for advisory pur- 
poses is in the right direction. But his shot is 
bound to fall short, because his advisory 
council will have only those powers and re- 
sponsibilities that the Board may see fit to 
give it. Without permanent authority it will 
have no real responsibility. Without responsi- 
bility it becomes merely an ornament, and not 
an element of strength to the structure of the 
government of the schools.” 


Considered from the point of view of 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


the need to the school system of a desir 
for responsibility among its teachers, the 
problem becomes one of the successfy! 
administration of a plan that contains the 
elements of democracy in its very be. 
ginning. A teacher who might not car 
to assume responsibility in the gover. 
ment of an educational system might 
conceivably be glad of the opportunity to 
take his share of responsibility in the 
management of his own school, if select. 
ed by his peers as a member of the 
Teachers’ Council of the school. If mem. 
bers of this small type of council wer 
given legalized powers, the school system 
could reasonably expect the members to 
meet the responsibilities and incidentally 
to prepare themselves for responsibilities 
in larger councils. 

Instead of the confusing system oj 
electing delegates who in turn would 
elect members of the Teachers Council, 
a far simpler arrangement would be for 
the members of each grade in the service 
to vote by districts or boroughs for can- 
didates who are put in nomination by a 
primary system. The carrying out of 
the details of the plan should be entirely 
free from connection with any organiz- 
tion. 

The movement should not be so much 
a heart-felt longing for the coming of a 
Messiah as it should be the realization 
of the need of a motive for more aggres- 
sive participation in our common work o/ 
training the children of the race. 





Speaking of greater freedom of initiative 
for pupils, and pupil self-government, Her- 
mann Weimer, in his “The Way to the 
Heart of the Pupil,” says: 

“The only dangerous opponent of the 


movement is the love of ease. He who 
tries to give his pupils liberty must work, 
must work harder and in strange ways. 
Pupils who voluntarily co-operate in the 
study of a favorite subject will ask their 
teacher many questions with which he 
has not busied himself for a long time, 
and with which he would never trouble 
himself if everything were going in the 
old well trodden paths and the strict fol- 
lowing of the course of instruction.” 


The teacher who can enforce obedience 
only thru punishment does not belong in 
any school. He possesses as little control 
over the minds of his pupils as the man who 
does not know at all how to exercise his 
will power. For the power he uses does 
not come from himself; he does not owe it 
to his personal superiority, but to the su- 
preme power of the state, which invests 
him with it. He practises usury with others’ 
capital and, if his borrowed power wert 
taken away from him tomorrow, he would 
stand entirely destitute and powerless be- 
fore his pupils HERMANN WEIMER, in 
“The Way to the Heart of the Pupil.” 





The 


American Cearher 


Published monthly, except July and August, by 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 
129 Lafayette Street, New York. 
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Copyright, 1913, by THe Amerrcan TEACHER. 


Entered at the Post Office of New York 
as second-class matter. 




















Vot. Il. SEPTEMBER, 1913 No.7 








This paper seeks to advance the status 
of the teacher to the dignity and the in- 
fluence of a profession, by advocating 
high standards of admission to the call- 
ing; by urging an extension of the op- 
portunities for the participation of teach- 
ers in the direction of educational affairs : 
and by supporting the organization of 
teachers for all legitimate professional 
furposes. 





WHAT’S THE USE? 


So oFTEN do we hear weary, discour- 


aged teachers asking the question 
“What’s the use?” as an implied reason 
for their taking no interest in militant 
educational reform, that we are inspired 
to respond, “What’s the use of living?” 
We might go further into the matter and 
inquire, “What can be the use to educa- 
tion of a teacher who has given up 
hope ?”” 

Take our word for it, there is much 
and great use in siding with the right. A 
good strong fight for a great idea makes 
the red blood surge joyously thru the 


105 


body, clears the mind and exalts ‘the 
spirit. 

Let us not fear the strength of the en- 
trenched reactionary. He has the battle- 
ments, the moats, the drawbridges in 
plenty, but his position is weak. Part of 
his weakness consists in the very fact 
that he is depending on those antique 
means of defense, that have assumed the 
form of good old educational doctrine. 
Another weakness is his fear of the kind 
of ammunition that the militant move- 
ment is using. He stands in terror of 
the penetrating power of great, radical 
ideas. That is where we have the ad- 
vantage. We have nothing to fear. 

The reactionary’s chief support comes 
from the indolence and indifference of 
those who have power but ask hopelessly 
“What’s the use?” 





CREDIMUS III 


“We believe that with an intelligent 
outlook upon life, teachers will be able 
to contribute from their experience in 
teaching the best ideas for the adjust- 
ment of education to the needs of human 
living.” From “Credimus” in Decem- 
ber (1912) number. 

There has never been a scarcity of peo- 
ple who are sure they know life as it 
really is. All of us have been advised 
by some of them from college commence- 
ment platforms, and solemnly warned at 
critical stages of our careers; and we in 
turn have passed the wisdom along. But 
when we analyze the experience of those 
who are wise in advice, it becomes ap- 
parent that most of them have learned 
life thru the exigencies of their own per- 
sonal business. This experience is com- 
monly moulded into a primitive “philoso- 
phy” by the interpretation given to life 
in general by a religious creed, or a lodge, 
or an educational prophet, or by a dis- 
trict leader. 

We that are young, inexperienced, or 
misguided should have a ready test for 
life-guides, that is, if we want a life- 
guide at all. Anyway, we do want to 
have an intelligent outlook upon life. For 
a preliminary test we may obtain a valu- 
able hint from the fact that there are so 
many kinds of advice. Advice has not 
been reduced to a science. Besides, we 





106 


actually know that life is complex, and 
practically beyond the capacity of one 
mind to interpret for another. 

There may be other tests. Whatever 
they are, it ought to be clear that the 
spirit of the little child who says, “Let 
me do it?” would be a pretty good one 
for us to manifest in the process of be- 
coming teachers. Let us try the experi- 
ment of developing our own outlook upon 
life. Starting from where we are with 
all the advice that has been given us, we 
may combine with it a little observation 
of our own. The observation may veri- 
fy what we have heard, or it may not. 
The only thing is to save what is true. 

Then there are books that bring to us 
the thots of other minds of other times, 
and of our own times. There is wonder- 
ful stimulus in meeting in a book some 
great mind with eyes that see to the bot- 
tom of human souls, a mind that inter- 
prets what it sees in terms of univ ~*1 
human experience. Every time we meet 
a mind of that kind our own horizon 
widens and our understanding deepens. 
A good book enlarges our “apperceptive 
mass” mightily. 

Out of the apperceptive mass come our 
standards slowly but definitely taking 
shape, the good one growing into the 
light, the bad ones or the narrow ones 
seeking the shadows, or happily disap- 
pearing altogether. But with all the new 
experiences we have in the practise of our 
profession of teaching, in books that we 
read, in our scholastic life, in travel, and 
in other forms of social intercourse with 
our fellowmen, we get that increasingly 
accurate and truthful and intelligent out- 
look upon human life. 

With developing standards and with 
some ability to see and understand the 
true bearing of human experience in gen- 
eral, we are measurably equipped to de- 
termine more accurately than ever the 
meaning and value of our own experi- 
ence in teaching. 

There are many reasons why teachers 
have not taken a more active part in “con- 
tributing from their experience in teach- 
ing the best ideas for the adjustment of 
education to the needs of human living.” 
But one of them is their neglect to dis- 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


cover standards for themselves. An- 


other is that they are afraid to do any- 
thing; afraid even to do a good thing. 





THE GARY SYSTEM 


McCcure’s Macazine for September 
contains an intelligently written article 
on the school system of Gary, Indiana. 

This school system consists of one 
large school which is constructed to ac- 
commodate all the children of the for- 
eign-born workers in the mills of the 
United States Steel Corporation at Gary. 
The organization of the work of the 
school is similar to that known as the 
cosmopolitan high school, except that at 
Gary the curriculum starts with the kin- 
dergarten, carries the pupils thru the 
grades, thru the high school, and com- 
pletes the first two years of college sub- 
jects. 

Side by side with the textbook sub- 
jects—and they teach Latin and German 
at Gary—shopwork is carried on in many 
branches. There is free opportunity for 
each pupil to try himself at different 
kinds of manual work, until he finds the 
kind he likes and can do. 

Each shop in the school is a real one. 
The teaching is done by a trade-union 
man skilled in the production of real 
things for definite uses. The common 
fault of manual training work appears to 
be avoided at Gary, for all the work done 
there is applied to the needs of the school. 
In the cabinet shop, furniture is made for 
the school; in the plumbing department, 
repairs are made in the school where they 
are needed ; the boys who are learning to 
paint practise on the school building. It 
is claimed that enough is saved to the 
school in this way to equal the entire cost 
of conducting the school departments, in- 
cluding the salaries of the instructors. 

The lunch room is managed by the 
girls of the cooking class, and sells 
enough to pay the cost of maintenance, 
including the salary of a housekeeper. 

The school building is open practically 
all the time. The regular day classes 
are in session from nine until four, but 
children may remain until half-past five. 





THE AMERICAN 


About half the scholars remain voluntar- 
ily. On Saturday also the school build- 
ing and grounds are open, and about half 
attend voluntarily. 

Those children who are subnormal 
physically play outdoors or in the gym- 
nasium under supervision. Those who 
are subnormal mentally are allowed to 
work in the shops until they find their 
bent. 

In the evening men and women attend 
classes, or go to the gymnasium or to 
the swimming pools. There are large 
rooms for plays, lectures and dancing. 

Thus the Hungarians and Poles at 
Gary, on the shore of Lake Michigan, are 
given a start in American life thru the 
efficient management of the Steel Trust. 
The Trust was obliged to support some 


TEACHER 107 
kind of a school-system. They began by 
establishing one on conventional lines, 
and abandoned it for one that was bet- 
ter because it was cheaper. 

Many would deny to the Steel Trust 
any credit for creating an institution that 
is a long step toward the ideal. And it 
may be that this corporation is not funda- 
mentally interested in what the boys and 
girls do later as citizens. The main point 
is that a private corporation has demon- 
strated the feasibility of operating schools 
that children like—and that for less 
money than the conventional educators 
spend upon schools that children hate. 

It lies with us to apply the results of 
these experiments to the schools of the 
public, that a more democratic system 
may be evolved. 


THE TWO WAYS 


It’s A MISTAKE to think that for every 
difficulty there is an “only way” out. 
There are usually two ways, at least. 
There is the short and easy way of the 
practical person, the man of action. 
There is also the long and tedious way 
of the theoretical person. It is impos- 
sible to say off-hand which is the better 
way. Perhaps neither is the better way 
—they are just different. They are mere- 
ly different expressions of different tem- 
peraments. Some people instinctively 
turn to the right, and some instinctively 


turn to the left. In like manner, some 
instinctively choose the method of cut- 
ting a knot, whereas others laboriously 
seek to untie it. 

If you are in doubt—as some people 
are—as to the right answer to various 
school problems, you may take your 
choice from among those already offered 
by people of these two different types. 
On the left side is given the answer of the 
“practical” person; on the right, that of 
the “theoretical” person: 


A little knowledge is a dangerous thing. 


Let’s not give them any knowledge. 


Let’s give them as much knowledge as 
possible. 


It is impossible ever to realize our ideals. 


Let us have no ideals. 


Let us try harder to approach them. 


No prescribed methods can fit all cases. 


Then we do not need to study meth- 
ods. 


Then we must learn to adapt general 
principles to special situations, 


Some pupils are incapable of profiting from the education of the schools. 


Let’s send them to work. 


Let’s reorganize the school so that they 
will be worth while for all the children. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


The only way to get to the inside of some children is by whipping them. 


Let’s whip ’em. 


ee le ee 


Let us open up new avenues to their 
interiors, 


There are many children in school thet you can’t trust out of your sight for a 
minute. 


Let's watch ’em closer. 


Let’s teach them responsibility and 
give them training in self-control. 


If it weren’t for the examinations, some children would never study at ail. 


Let’s give ’em a stiff examination. 


Let’s find a way to make our lessons 
interesting and impressive. 


Some children come to school so tired and sleepy that it’s a waste of time to try to 
do anything with them. 


Let’s do nothing with them. 


Let’s feed ’em up. 


Vocational guidance? Nonsense! Some people never know what they want. 


Oh, very well; let’s give them noth- 
ing. 


Oh, very well. Let’s give ’em a chance 
to find out what there is to want, and 
teach them to want the best. 


Teachers are rated according to the resultsthey get; no one inquires as to their meth- 
ods, their kindliness of disposition, the human by-products of their teaching. 


Let us get promotions; let everything 


else slide. 


Let us get results as well as human by- 
products. 


Some children have naturally more ability than others. 


Let’s teach them to exploit the weaker 
ones. 


Let’s teach them to give greater serv- 
ice. 


The teachers don’t know enough to manage their own schools or to select their own 
text-books or subject matter. 


Let’s do the managing and selecting 
for them. 


Let’s train up a generation of teachers 
that do know enough. 





OPEN COURT 
UNIFORMITY V8. EFFICIENCY 
To the Editors, THz AMERICAN TEACHER: 


There is’ one thing encouraging about the 
present educational tangle—some unreasonable 
notions of the public concerning the perfec- 
tion and efficiency of-our public schools have 
-been exploded. The;public has begun to sus- 


pect weaknesses and backwardnesses in this 
most boasted institution. Not that these were 
of recent development or have long escaped 
detection. The teachers, armed with the un- 
welcome facts, had long sought the public ear. 
But how? Consider the obstacles: 

1. ‘There were no magazines (such as this) 
to carry the facts abroad. 

2. There was that most stubborn American 
self-complacency. 

















ce 
id 








3. There were no official channels thru 
which the practical experiences and findings 
of the class-room could flow either to the 
public or to educational authorities. 

Yet these obstacles have been circumvented. 
Even laymen have become dimly conscious of 
problems long neglected and now bulking 
large. 

They are prodding officials into activity. 
This vague disquiet is what underlies the dis- 
turbances of the board of education, the 
“progressive” movement, the investigations, 
and the hasty expedients thrown out by the 
superintendents. 

To justify the epithet “hasty” let us exam- 
ine one of these experiments: 

A year ago “rapid advancement” classes 
were started in many schools. The plan was 
to select the brightest pupils of one grade, and 
to hurry them through the work of three 
terms in the space of two terms. The plan 
held out promise of relief from a system that 
makes a fetich of uniformity and inflexibility; 
that undertakes to feed 700,000 children equal 
chunks of knowledge, to be consumed in ryth- 
mically uniform bites. 

These rapid advancement classes were at 
least an admission that all children are not 
created equal. They were a modification of 
the lock-step idea. As such they were wel- 
come—and useful, until heavy-handed Uni- 
formity interfered. 

First—The size of the classes was ill-con- 
sidered. For such a rapid pace only the ex- 
ceptional, the very alert child could be ex- 
pected to qualify. The supply of such pupils 
is naturally very limited, and, correspondingly, 
such classes should have been very small ones. 

But there seems to exist some tradition 
among New York Superintendents that a 
teacher who is not handling 40 to 80 pupils is 
not fully earning his salary. Therefore class- 
es, even of carefully selected, exceptionally 
bright pupils, must not be small. If not 
enough bright pupils were at hand, they must 
be “made.” They were made, wholesale. 

Any who boasted a couple of A’s on their 
report cards, or on whose cards B’s predomi- 
nated with a sprinkling of C’s were declared 
eligible. 

Tradition was vindicated, efficiency spiked. 
The pace soon proved too hard for those 
whose “rapid advancement” was being forced. 
They dropped to the rear. Their presence in 


THE AMERICAN 








TEACHER 109 





the class was an annoyance to the teacher and 
a considerable hindrance to the rapid advance- 
ment of their classmates. 

Second—This indiscriminate recruiting of 
special classes created a new condition in the 
regular classes. They were like milk thrice 
skimmed. 

Stripped of their customary proportion of 
intelligent boys, even the normal proportion 
of mediocre boys reduced, the caliber of the 
regular classes sank appreciably. The inertia 
of this slow, indifferent, deficient, disorderly 
residue was distressing. 

The ordinary problems of the classroom 
were intensified. The class progress, ordinari- 
ly slow enough, dropped to a crawl. Teach- 
ers chafed and wondered at the sterility of 
their little domains. It is the teacher to whom 
the load is finally shifted, who must wage the 
disheartening, fruitless, nerve-wearing fight, 
who must atone with health for the blunders 
of others. 

Against the idea itself nothing can be said. 
It is an extension of the principle underlying 
our “Special Deficient” classes and our “E” 
classes. We criticize only its mis-application. 
It is capable of vast extension. 

In several German cities, whole schools are 
organized on this principle. The exceptionally 
dull child, as well as the exceptionally bright 
ene, is provided for. Three courses are of- 
fered, one in which the apt pupils may cover 
the work in four years, while the average and 
the sluggish ones take 5 to 6 years respectively. 
Transferring from one course to another is 
permissible. The teachers, in conference, pass 
upon the candidate’s fitness for such trans- 
fers. 

This is the goal towards which the logic of 
the advancement classes points. We have so 
far adopted only the first timid installment of 
the whole plan. We have yet to make that 
first step useful and effective. 

We must recognize how limited is the num- 
ber of pupils who can measure up to the 
standards of such classes, and become resigned 
to small select classes. 

We must also be prepared to entrust the 
selection, to those who have the most intimate 
knowledge of the pupil’s capabilities—the 
teachers. 

A. Kay. 

New York City. 




















































Ito 


BOOK NOTES 








All books may be ordered from 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


THE EDUCATION OF TOMORROW: The 
Adaptation of School Curricula to an 
Economic Democracy. By Arranp D. 
Weeks, Professor of Education, North Da- 
kota Agricultural College. With an Intro- 
duction by M. V. O’SHea, Professor of Ed- 
ucation, University of Wisconsin. 12mo. 
pp. xi+231. New York: Sturgis & Walton 
Co. 1913. $1.25 net. 


The current discussions between the advo- 
cates of “practical” education and the de- 
fenders of “cultural” education fail to con- 
vince largely because they present incompat- 
ible social ideals, and ideals, moreover, that 
are both out of harmony with our actual so- 
cial life. On the one hand is the demand for 
economic efficiency presented in terms which 
suggest merely a more profitable exploitation 
on the part of the dominant economic class; 
on the other hand is a wailing lest the peo- 
ple be deprived of a preparation for leisure 
which most of them will never enjoy. In the 
terms of Professor Weeks’ new analysis, we 
are asked to choose between productional 
knowledge and consumptional knowledge, 
whereas every single one of us is in need of 
a large amount of both kinds. More than 
that, current discussions leave out of con- 
sideration, for the most part, the important 
fact that the schools are doing practically 
nothing to train the individual in “distribu- 
tional” knowledge—that kind of knowledge, 
namely, which aids one to get his just share 
of the social wealth. 

The distinctive contribution of this book is 
this analysis of knowledge into three classes 
corresponding to the three phases of the 
é€conomic life, and the correlating of these 
three phases with the needs of the individual 
for education. We know that formal school- 
ing was for generations provided only for 
those who needed highly trained skill in con- 
sumption—the owners of wealth and the users 
of leisure. The extension of the privileges of 
education has meant too generally the mere 
vulgarization of some of these fragments of 
consumptional knowledge. Productional 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


knowledge was for ages transmitted empiric- 
ally in the home or thru apprenticeship; and 
the professiona! classes were the first to or- 
ganize this into systematic instruction. The 
demand for industrial education arises in part 
from the felt need for more efficient workers. 
The knowledge of distribution has been for 
ages the esoteric possession of governing and 
master classes. Democracy demands that this 
knowledge, like the knowledge of wealth-mak- 
ing and wealth-using, be diffused for the bene- 
fit of all, without regard to race, color, creed or 
previous economic status. If necessary, the 
child’s attendance in school must be subsi- 
dized, but none should be deprived of the op- 
portunity to acquire those classes of knowl- 
edge that are essential for wealth production, 
for wealth distribution and the worthy utili- 
zation of the opportunities of civilized living. 

While the emphasis is placed on the kinds of 
knowledge that are of greatest value, upon the 
need for a revaluation of school knowledge 
and upon a democratic diffusion of valuable 
knowledge, there is an evident understanding 
of the importance of something besides knowl- 
edge. Professor Weeks expects more from 
the teacher than the average teacher of to- 
day is prepared to give; if knowledge trans- 
mission were the end of all schooling, most 
teachers could no doubt qualify. The sugges- 
tion that we make a survey of all causes of hu- 
man failure, for the purpose of finding what 
knowledge is really needed in life, should 
make us do some thinking. The relation of 
history. teaching to progress is hinted at by 
two pregnant illustrations: The State of Wis- 
consin uses its school machinery for gather- 
ing out of history whatever may be used to- 
day; the commonwealths of New Zealand and 
Australia, thrown out of touch with historical 
precedents, carve their way into the future 
on the basis of common sense and live energy. 
The older communities teach their children 
about Henry the Eighth and George Washing- 
ton—and mark time. Another good point in 
the book is the showing up of the connection 
between educational inefficiency and the preva- 
lence of the bargain principle in the admin- 
istration of public affairs. The effort to get 
the cheapest has resulted in cheap teachers 
and cheap curriculum and cheap supervision. 
It is evidently incumbent upon the teachers of 
today to teach their pupils to be dissatisfied 
with the present kind of education when it 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


comes to making provision for their children 
in the education of tomorrow. 

Let us do what we can to the end that we 
be superseded by a better generation of teach- 
ers. One thing you can do is to read this 
book and adopt a point of view that looks 
toward the morrow and the children instead 
of toward yesterday and the payroll. 





THE WAY TO THE HEART OF THE PU- 
PIL. By Dr. Hermann Wermer, Rector 
of Schools, Biebrich on Rhine. Authorized 
translation by J. Remsen Bisnop, Principal, 
and ApotpH NIEpERPRUEM, Head of Ger- 
man Department, Eastern High School, De- 
troit. I2mo. pp. xiii+178. New York: The 
Macmillan Co. 1913. $1. 

While the clamor for “efficiency” frequent- 
ly gives off the sound of clinking coin, we are 
in danger of forgetting that there are forms 
of efficiency that are not to be measured in 
terms borrowed from the market place. This 
little book bespeaks a human relationship be- 
tween teacher and pupil that must appeal to 
all who are dissatisfied with the arbitrary and 
mechanical results of systems and regimenta- 
tion. On the other hand, those who can un- 
derstand only mechanical measures and formal 
systems will think the author inclined to the 
sentimental. But the author speaks not only 
from his own sentiments, or from his rev- 
erence for Pestalozzi; he gives form to the 
heart of his long experience as a successful 
teacher and supervisor of teachers. Dr. Wei- 
mér goes so far as to say that the teacher of 
the right fiber, with the true love in his heart, 
can overcome all the obstacles of system and 
authority and the indifference of the home. 
Pestalozzi is his master and the individual pu- 
pil is the object of his solicitude. Some of 
the topics discussed, with an abundance of 
concrete illustration and subtle suggestiveness, 
are the needs of the teacher and the pupil, the 
influence of personality, the punishing power 
of the teacher, uniformity and individuality, 
the school and home, responsibility for re- 
form. This is a good book to take off by 
yourself when you feel the need for detach- 
ment from the thousand trifles, without the 
desire to escape the problems of the teacher's 
life. 





Fifty cents will pay for a year’s sub- 
scription to THE AMERICAN 
TEACHER for your friend. 


II! 


VOCATIONS FOR GIRLS. By Mary A. 
LasELLe and KatHerine Wrtey, Instructors 
in the Technical High School, Newton, 
Mass. With an Introduction by Merver 
BLooMFIELp, Director of the Vocation Bu- 
reau, Boston. t2mo. x+139. Boston: 
Houghton Mifflin Co. 1913. 85 cents net. 

In one of his novels Gustav Frenssen tells 
of a man whose native talents and ambitions 
fitted him for the vocation of grave-digger. 
It is hard to believe, however, that there are 
in this country a third of a million girls each 
of whose heart’s desire is to become a laun- 
dress, or that over a million of them can find 
the limit of development and satisfaction in 
the routine work of a factory. The authors 
of this little book have been at great pains to 
describe a number of occupations for girls in 
the most roseate possible way. The best that 
they can say about half of the occupations 
described is in the nature of mitigation. This 
is not a criticism of the authors; it is simply 
characteristic of the occupations into which 
our girls are sent—as well as the boys. If the 
public schools are to take part in the very im- 
portant work of assisting in the distribution 
of individuals among the various occupations, 
society will have to make demands upon the 
managers of our industries far beyond what 
we have been accustomed to expect as our 
“rights”—by the orthodox professors of 
economics. A book like this only serves to 
emphasize how far behind our “occupations” 
are, compared to our sciences and arts, from 
a simple human point of view. The authors 
have made a good beginning in an important 
department of school activity, and the book 
should be of help to those who have to do 
with girls in school or in social service. 





N. W. Shepard & Co., tx. 


Manufacturing Jewelers 





Badges, Class Pins, 
Medals 


102-104 Fulton Street, New York City 
Telephone 391 John 





THE AMERICAN -TEACHER 


QUESTIONS ON THE TEACHEER’S ATTITUDE. 


Is the smile on«my face frozen on,’ or 
does it show: because I am cheerful?’ 
Do I paralyze ‘my pupils’ minds by filling 
them’ with fear? 

Do I consider the pupil’s weaknéss, or do 
I indulge him to save niyself trouble? 

Do I class the slow response with wan- 
ton reticence? 
Or with stupidity? 

Do I think a pupil stupid because he 
cannot meet the school tasks? 

Do I encourage selfishness -and egotism 
by constant censure? 


Or do I merely alienate the pupils from 
me? 

Do I abase my -pupils«to improve their 
characters ? 

Or just to relieve my feelings? 

Do I use sarcasm and ridicule for cheer- 
ing my pupils? 

Or what do I use them for? 

Do J successfully use suspicion and cyn- 
icism to arouse the confidence of my 
pupils—in me? 

Or in themselves? 
Or in human nature? 








THE ELEMENTARY TEACHER 


Devoted to the .im- 
provement. of the 


economic . conditions ® 
of the grade teachers. 


)_of the United States. 


Organ of the National 
Grade Teachers 
Association 


Published monthly 
at Baltimore 


Fifty cents a year 


Where excessive severity rules in a 
school, there falsehood flourishes lux- 
uriantly. There lie is piled on lie, there 
dissimulation becomes second nature.— 
HERMANN WEIMAR, in “The Way 
to the Heart of the Pupil.” 





The welfare of the school does not 
depend upon the influences or reforms 
from without, but upon powers that 
reside in the human  breast.—HER- 
MANN WEIMER, in “The Way to 
the Heart of the Pupil.” 





It is true that teachers will make mistakes 
—even the best of them. But no mistake 
can be greater than that of the higher edu- 
cational officials when ‘they refuse teachers 
the opportunity to make mistakes by put- 
ting them. in..a strait. jacket... Mistakes 
necessarily go with freedom; and educa- 
tional systems have got to be founded ‘on 
trust of teachers, not on suspicion. Want 
of trust in employes is bad ‘en in a 
factory; hardly défensible even theré, where 
a mechanical product is the aim. But 
schools are not aiming at mechanicak prod- 
ucts; they are aiming at devotion to ideals, 
right mental habits, assimilated knowledge 
and independence; and we'll never get = 
pils to show these -qualities until 
are showing them abundantly in “their 
consciousness of freedom.—PROF. FRANK 
M. McMURRY, in Address on “The Uni- 
’ form Minimum ‘Curriculum with Uniform 
Examinations,” before the Department of 
Superintendents, Philadelphia, 1913. 





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