merican Geacher 


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Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy. 








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NEW YORK, JUNE, 1914 50 CenTs A YEAR 














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CIBRA 
Teach Loyalty 














Teach the Children to be Loyal 
To the School and its Aspirations ; 
Not merely to the Teachers or to the Principal 


Teach the Children to be Loyal 
To the City and to its Weal; 
Not to the Police or to the Party Boss 


Teach the Children to be Loyal 
To the Nation and its Humanity; 
Not merely to the Men who hold the Power 


Teach the Children to be Loyal 
To the Truth they can understand; 
Not to the Dogmas they can memorize 


Teach the Children to be Loyal 
To Principles and to Ideals; 
Not merely to Badges and to Empty Names 


Teach the Children to be Loyal. 


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Ay Or epucat\®™ 














SUPERVISION AND THE TEACHING PROFESSION 


BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG 


AT A RECENT convention of medical 
men, a prominent physician is reported 
to have made these remarks: 

A professional man has no commodity 
to sell; his only assets are his scientific 
knowledge and his personal ability; and -he 
who claims to possess a greater knowledge 
or greater skill than his professional asso- 
ciates—whether physicians, preachers or 
lawyers—is an egotist, or worse, and for- 
feits the respect of his professional breth- 
ren and his fellow-citizens. 


Which suggests a number of ques- 
tions. 


In the first place, is the principle enun- 
ciated by the doctor a sound principle? 
And is it just as true for the teaching 
profession as it is for the others men- 
tioned? And does it make any differ- 
ence whether the claim to superiority 
is made by the teacher himself, or is 
made for him by a supervisory officer ? 

The truth of the idea must be detached 
from the question of individual varia- 
tion. Probably no one knows better than 
the physician that no two individuals are 
exactly alike. We differ in scientific 
knowledge, in ability to use that knowl- 
edge, in personal skill and so on. But 
every member of the calling must possess 
a certain minimum attainment without 
which he can have no standing whatever. 
Above this irreducible minimum the supe- 
riority of one worker over his fellow 
workers must be judged by the public in 
whose service alone the ability has any 
meaning; and by his peers, who alone 
have the standards for judging him on 
the technical side. 

How does this apply to teaching? The 
professional teacher makes no claim to 
greater knowledge or ability than his 
peers. The better he is, the more con- 
scious is he of his own shortcomings, 
the more remote is his ideal from his 
achievement. The value of the teachers 
service is to be judged primarily by his 
pupils; but that is too slow a process to 
be of value in the administration of 


schools. We have accordingly developed 
a system of inspection and rating of 
teachers that has all the outward appear- 
ance of a good machine, but all the inner 
workings for defeating its own ends. 


Work of Supervisory Teachers 


There are three important functions 
that are performed by supervisory offi- 
cers in relation to their official subordin- 
ates in a school system. These are in- 
spection, rating and “supervising.” The 
intent of inspection is akin to that of spy- 
ing in. It is often, to be sure, frank 
enough; not all inspectors are of the 
“gum-shoe” variety. But the process is 
of a kind that tends to make men and 
women assume the attitude of looking 
for evil, watching out for infractions of 
rules, breaches of discipline, defects in 
method or in scholarship—looking for 
trouble generally. With the purpose of 
maintaining standards, the inspector be- 
comes a searcher for defects, naturally 
enough. 

Aside from the effect of this perform- 
ance upon the inspector, it is well to con- 
sider the effect upon the teacher. In- 
stead of cordiality, there is apt to be sus- 
picion. Instead of doing your best with- 
out regard to the presence of the inspec- 
tor, you lose your nerve and do several 
grades worse than usual. Instead of 
looking to the inspector’s periodical visits 
as opportunities for getting new sugges- 
tions, helpful hints for your work and 
for your development, you look upon 
them with cynical indifference at the best, 
or with paralyzing fear at the worst. 

Closely connected with the inspection 
is the record of the inspection, which in 
many systems takes the form of a rating. 
A teacher is rated as of grade A, B or C, 
with or without +’s. The object of this 
rating is presumably to furnish a basis 
for eliminating the undesirable teachers 
and for advancing the best. The fixing 
of, these grades, however, results in so 


82 








“8 Oh ee 





much ill-feeling, that it is doubtful 
whether the harm done does not more 
than neutralize whatever benefits may 
lie in the system. All this, too, is beside 
the question of the adequacy of the in- 
spection as a basis for rating. 

For where the rating is made by prin- 
cipals, who are generally in a better posi- 
tion to judge of the qualifications of a 
teacher than are inspecting superintend- 
ents, the rating produces the same unde- 
sirable reaction upon the feeling of the 
teacher. It is generally recognized that 
there are too many irrelevant factors that 
influence the rating more or less pro- 
foundly. There are first of all the vary- 
ing standards—one inspector is on the 
lookout for ventilation and a tidy desk; 
another is sensitive to inharmonious color 
combinations in the teacher’s dress and 
the posture of the children; a third is 
keen on the voice quality and the decora- 
tions of the room. Standards that allow 
of the classification of teachers into three 
or four grades must of necessity be rig- 
id and arbitrary, permitting no recogni- 
tion of a dozen qualities that go to make 
a good teacher, but that do not, can not, 
enter into such a scheme of rating. 
Every good teacher has something dis- 
tinctive about his personality. The A’s 
and B’s will not show this; and with 
many supervisors these very qualities will 
lead to low ratings. And finally, such 
ratings do not sufficiently recognize the 
improvements that a teacher undergoes 
from time to time. 


What Supervision May Mean 


In the way of supervision there are 
several distinct activities. There may be 
for example, the issuing of orders. You 
are given a syllabus and told to teach that. 
Or you are given an examination paper 
and asked to show what your pupils can 
do with that. Or you are reminded that 
certain reports must be in on such and 
such dates. Or you are instructed what 
to do with your class when the fire-drill 
signal is given. 

_All these things constitute “super- 
vision.” But they are not all. You may 
be called into a conference and have a 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 





83 





sermion read to you. That is supervision, 
also. Or you may have a series of direc- 
tions for the week’s or the month’s work 
read to you. Or you may be invited to 
criticize the plan of work as laid out by 
a fellow teacher ; or to reply to criticisms 
made of the plan you had submitted. 
You may be invited to make suggestions 
for improving the work for the following 
year—to show how another year’s expe- 
rience has changed your point of view. 
There are scores of things that you might 
be invited to do by the principal, in his 
supervisory capacity. And there are a 
hundred things that you might be directed 
to do, by the same principal, still in his 
supervisory capacity. There is a great 
deal of this “supervision” that can be just 
as well done by an executive secretary as 
by the ordinary principal; and there is a 
great deal that is never done at all, be- 
cause the principal remains a mechanical 
receiver and transmitter of orders and 
directions. 


Improving the Teacher 


To make the work of the supervising 
principal of value in its relation to the 
teachers, it is necessary that he either 
undertake to improve the work of each 
individual teacher, by means of close in- 
spection, followed by personal interviews 
for the purpose of discussing weak and 
strong points in the teacher’s work, by 
means of suggestions for study and for 
thinking, by means of encouragement and 
inspiration. Or it is necessary that he 
undertake the improvement of the work 
of all the teachers by means of group con- 
ferences in which school and class-room 
problems are freely and frankly dis- 
cussed by all, in which the position of 
the principal is simply that of an older 
and more experienced—and therefore 
more expert—fellow-worker, in which 
there is a spirit of mutual helpfulness 
and the inspiration that comes from feel- 
ing that others are heartily with you in 
a worthy cause. 

One of the distressing and discourag- 
ing features in our calling lies in this, 
that the workers who more than any 
others represent society’s conscious pur- 
















































5 ARAM P80 ae ce 


ee Ys 












84 


pose are still possessed with the senti- 
ments and outlook of extreme individu- 
alism. This shows itself in the wide pre- 
valence of mutual distrust between dif- 
ferent ranks of the teaching profession. 
Whatever may be the reasons for this 
lack of cordiality—and they are easily 
traced—we should make a vigorous effort 
to eliminate it from our school atmos- 
phere. And one of the best ways for 
doing this is to remove the causes. These 
seem to lie in our systems of rating, in- 
spection and supervision. 




































The Personal Equation 


The President’s Commission on Effi- 
ciency showed that the rating of Govern- 
ment employes was so defective that 
clerks, for example, who were rated low 
in one bureau would be rated high by a 
different chief, and vice versa. The ele- 
ment of “personality” plays so decided 
a role in this matter, that both for the 
good of the service and for the interests 
of the individual worker, transfers 
should be made with a view to bringing 
each worker under a chief with whom he 
or she can work harmoniously. The de- 
fects in ratings are just as serious in the 
teaching business as they are in the cleri- 
cal work of government bureaus, and the 
need for readjustment is recognized by 
all who have given the matter any thot. 


These defects are emphasized where 
the promotion of the teacher, or his sal- 
ary, depends upon the ratings. This has 
been the case in many school systems; 
but there is a reaction against the plan, 
originally installed in the interests of 
“efficiency.” It has been found to defeat 
its own purpose, for instead of automat- 
ically separating the teachers of “supe- 
rior merit” and assigning them the high- 
er salaries, and instead of discovering the 
poorer teachers and eliminating them, the 
plan has served to concentrate the atten- 
tion of teachers on the best way of getting 
an increase in salary, it has aroused re- 
sentment and bitterness on the part of 
those who failed to get the approval of 
the superior officers, and has shifted the 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


standard from that of doing the best 
work within one’s powers, to doing that 
which is most likely to be approved. 





Economic Considerations 


Another difficulty that might have been 
anticipated by a little closer attention to 
the psychology of our economic relations 
is the embarassment imposed upon the 
principals who were called upon to make 
ratings that were not merely invidious, 
but also involved economic consequences 
for the teachers concerned. These points 
are brot out in a statement made by 
Associate Superintendent Clarence E. 
Meleney, of New York, from which the 
following is quoted: 

Since the higher schedules have been in 
force (1 January 1912) and approval has 
been required for every period of three 
years, there have been more contentions by 
teachers for salary increase and more ap- 
peals from the ratings of principals and 
district superintendents than ever before. 
It is my opinion, tho I have no statistics to 
confirm it, that teachers have been rated 
more leniently than formerly, because their 
records have had a greater effect upon ap- 
proval. Principals do not wish to cause 
their teachers loss of salary. If this should 
prove on investigation to be true, it would 
indicate that the higher salaries have not 
contributed to greater efficiency, and also 
that principals have been less free to exer- 
cise an unbiased judgment of the teacher’s 
work, and to make a critical examination 
and accurate approval of results. 

The thot and energy of the teachers 
should be directed to efficient instructing 
and training of the pupils and not to rating 
and salary. They should be freed from 
anxiety as to themselves and be absorbed in 
the progress and growth of the children. 
The principals should not be embarrassed by 
the material consequences to the teachers of 
their ratings, but should exercise their 
judgment in estimating and measuring the 
efficiency of classroom work. When salary 

. is the thot uppermost in the minds of teach- 
ers and principals, no accurate valuation of 
instruction can be made; and _ efficient, 








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THE AMERICAN TEACHER | 85 


conscientious, and progressive work is al- 
most impossible. 





Remedies Suggested 


Several sets of suggestions have been 
made for remedying a situation that all 
admit to be serious. But none of the 
suggestions so far noted go to the root 
of the matter. 

Superintendent Meleney would save 
the heart of the principal by placing upon 
the superintendents the disagreeable 
task of declaring a teacher not sufficiently 
meritorious to deserve the highest sala- 
ries. The temptation to use this power 
as a club would by this plan also be 
taken from the principal—and imposed 
upon the superintendents. The teachers 
will still be left in the position of seeking 
approval of superiors. 

As Miss F. I. Davenport, of the 
N. Y. Training School for Teachers, 
says: 

The final effect of twelve or fifteen years 
of effort to secure approval must mean 
death to the best powers of the really, and 
of the potentially, efficient teacher. It is 
only the morally weak person, the one so 
hopelessly lacking in social and individual 
ideals as not to be susceptible to normal 
incentives, who can do actually more eff- 
cient work under such conditions. 

When their maximum salary is finally 
reached, such persons revert to type, and 
the system suffers accordingly. In the mean 
time the highly efficient and potentially effi- 
cient teachers are having their best ener- 
gies misdirected and their professional de- 
velopment arrested by the moral pressure 
to secure good marks, and make a favor- 
able impression with those upon whom their 
financial and professional welfare depends. 
No person can entirely withstand the de- 
moralizing influence of such an incentive 
for twelve or fifteen years. Of the so- 
called average teachers it will make retain- 
ers, and of the exceptionally endowed it will 
breed politicians and diplomats, but it can- 
not develop consecrated, highly efficient and 
independent teachers and educators. 


The Association of Women Principals 


adopted resolutions approving a system 
of rating teachers described below : 

1. The teachers shall be rated as satis- 
factory and unsatisfactory. When the ra- 
ting, unsatisfactory, is given, explicit state- 
ment of reasons shall be given. In addition 
to the mark, satisfactory, mention may be 
made of the teachers who have done ex- 
ceptionally good work, under the heading, 
“distinguished for,” explicit statement of 
the point in which the distinction consists 
being required. 

2. Ratings shall be given annually only. 

3. A principal newly appointed or newly 
transferred to a school shall not be re- 
quired to give either annual or semi-annual 
ratings to teachers until he or she shall have 
been a year in the new school. If in the 
mean time special conditions arise regard- 
ing any individual teacher, requiring the 
giving of a rating before the expiration of 
the first year, the principal shall give imme- 
diate and careful attention to this individ- 
ual teacher’s work. 


The Teachers’ Advisory Council adopt- 
ed a set of recommendations submitted 
by its committee on teachers’ interests. 
The recommendations are as follows: 

“1, Service of the teacher should result 
in annual increases in salary, which should 
be continuous until the maximum of that 
schedule under which the teacher is paid 
is reached, unless the service of the teacher 
is declared to be unsatisfactory. 

“2. Ratings should be given by those who 
are most closely associated with the work 
of the teacher. 

“3. For every unsatisfactory rating mate- 
rial reasons should be given. 

“4. In cases of appeals the final commit- 
tee should be composed of persons whose 
official positions are separate and distinct 
from the positions of those persons who 
have perviously rated the teacher. 

“5. Ratings for salary increases should 
not be confused with ratings given for pro- 
motions.” 





Fundamental Assumptions 


In all of these plans two assumptions 
stand out as fundamental; but these as- 
sumptions may well be challenged. 














86 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


The first one is that a teacher is either 
“satisfactory” or “unsatisfactory.” In 
view of what may be observed any day as 
to the manner in which men and women 
form judgments about each other, this 
assumption is seen to be a traditional 
thot-form that has no validity whatever 
as a basis for the practical administration 
of an important public function. The 
subjective element plays so large a part 
in our judgments, and our judgments are 
always so closely related to special cir- 
cumstances, that the rating of a teacher 
as satisfactory or unsatisfactory is hard- 
ly any more useful than the rating into 
three or four grades. 

This form of rating has the advantage 
that it leaves no doubt as to where a 
teacher is placed—in or out. But it 
leaves out of account the fact that a 
teacher may be considered “unsatisfac- 
tory” by one or by several superiors, and 
yet be a valuable member of a teaching 
corps. The plan recommended by the 
Women Principal’s Association brings 
out the importance of recognizing special 
ability or service, such as personal influ- 
ence, care of assemblies, service with 
clubs, etc., social and philanthropic ser- 
vice among the children in their homes, 
and so on. It also recognizes the need 
for specifying causes for adverse ratings, 
as do other plans. 

The second fundamental assumption is 
that the work of a teacher can best be 
judged by the “superior officer.” This is 
certainly a relic of the time when the 
superiors made all the rules for govern- 
ing everything. In the recommendations 
of the Teachers’ Council, it is explicitly 
stated that ratings should be given by 
those “who are most closely associated 
with the work of the teacher,” and of 
course that is taken to mean the principal. 
I wonder how long the public would 
endure it to have the relative merits of 
physicians and lawyers and ministers de- 
termined for them by inspectors and su- 
pervisors of the respective groups of 
workers. We should probably be inclined 
to assume the right to judge physicians, 
say, by the satisfaction they yielded to 
the sick people and to their relatives, 
rather than by the esteem in which they 


were held by the professors of the medi- 
cal college. At the same time, the esteem 
in which physicians hold each other is a 
fair index of their relative merits. On 
the one hand there is needed a check 
against the imposition of purely academic 
standards by the members of the profes- 
sion; on the other hand there is needed 
the protection of the public against the 
plausible quack. 





Evaluating Teachers 


Are not these principles equally true 
of the teaching profession? Is it not the 
public that is served—in this case the 
children—and the manner of service as 
adjudged by one’s peers that are the most 
important factors in determining the 
worker’s relative merit? 

We have no means of discovering 
promptly enough the effect of a teacher’s 
service upon the pupils. The inspection 
and supervision of superiors do not, in 
most cases, either develop the teacher’s 
powers or discover the teacher’s true mer- 
its—or defects, unless these be glaring. 
What is needed is a system of rating and 
supervision that will give us the benefits 
of supervision and inspection, with none 
of the depressing and demoralizing by- 
products. 

Such a system will have to be worked 
out by a radical application of scientific 
principles of management, under demo- 
cratic ideals. 
every person is to be taken at his own 
valuation; nor does it mean that every- 
body will somehow get along without 
supervision, minding his own business. 

Generally speaking, the principal of a 
school has had more experience than the 
other teachers, and has more mature 
judgment. He is not necessarily more 
able technically, he has not necessarily 
more intelligence than most of the other 
teachers, nor higher sincerity of purpose. 
Unless he is an exceptional person, how- 
ever, he does not habitually make the 
younger teacher feel perfectly at ease, he 
does not uniformly inspire the confidence 
of the teacher in his friendliness and 
sense of justice, he does not always dis- 


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THE AMERICAN TEACHER 87 


arm suspicion as to his fairness and 
frankness. On the other hand, with the 
best intention the ordinary principal is 
embarassed by the traditional relation- 
ship between workers and the chief, he 
must overcome the traditional suspicions 
and timidity of the teacher, he must elim- 
inate the idea that he something to hide. 
This strained and wasteful relation be- 
tween the teacher and the supervisor can 
be removed only by placing both in the 
position of fellow workers. By taking 
from the principal the responsibility and 
the power to rate the teacher, the basis 
for their mutual intercourse is at once 
changed. 


The Principal's Place 


Two questions then suggest them- 
selves: What will there be for the princi- 
pal to do? and How will the standing 
of teachers be determined? 

The latter question may be attacked 
first. In all schools except those of one 
or a very few rooms the teaching body 
can inspect itself and rate itself. Teach- 
ers can visit one another’s classes, confer 
on the visits, suggest improvements and 
agree on ratings. A teacher who is ad- 
versely criticized by a “superior” is chal- 
lenged to defend herself, to justify her 
practise, and to resent the adverse judg- 
ment. We are all more likely to be 
frank in criticizing our equals, and more 
amenable to criticism from our equals. 
A criticism that comes from a fellow 
teacher who has not the responsibility or 
the authority to advance or to reduce my 
standing is more likely to be accepted in 
good faith; it is more likely to lead to a 
sincere attempt at self-improvement, and 
it is less likely to arouse ill-feeling or 
jealousies. Moreover, whatever im- 
provement may come from this will be 
directed toward approaching certain ob- 
jective and professional standards, and 
not toward gaining the approval of a par- 
ticular person. 


Professional Advancement 
To this plan the objection may be in- 
terposed that it is like trying to lift our- 
selves by our boot-straps; that the group 


that proceeds by its own standards has 
in reality no standards. This objection, 
however, is sound only in a formal sense. 
In the first place, if every teacher in the 
school could improve her skill in question- 
ing so that it was equal to that of the 
best questioner; if every teacher could 
closely approach the best in the school in 
the matter of earnest enthusiasm; if 
every teacher could improve her methods 
of presentation, etc., to match those of 
the best teacher, there would be a tremen- 
dous gain. In the second place, a body 
of teachers entrusted with the responsi- 
bility of maintaining their own standards 
may not be presumed to become static. 
There must necessarily be study on the 
part of the individual; and whatever is 
gained by study is at once placed in the 
common fund of the school’s resources. 
Besides—and that answers the second 
question raised above—it should be the 
principal’s chief business, as professional 
supevisor, to stimulate and inspire the 
group of teachers to seek higher stand- 
ards and to seek more diligently to reach 
in practise their best knowledge. 

A group of teachers entrusted with the 
responsibility of improving themselves by 
cooperating with each other, will not long 
tolerate in their midst a drone or a repro- 
bate or a moral deliquent. They will be 
quicker to discover the unfit teacher ; and 
by the same methods they will be quick 
to discover special superiority. 


New Means for New Needs 


A democratic organization of the school 
should bring to the front whatever usable 
talents now lie hidden in the modest and 
the timid and the gentle teachers. It 
should reduce to their proper places the 
blustering and the aggressive, the evaders 
and the intriguers. It should make im- 


‘possible the management of a school by 


a “kitchen cabinet.” And it should free 
the principal for the necessary construc- 
tive work of readjusting an institution 
inherited from the middle ages to the 
actual conditions in modern society. 


The new wine calls for new bottles. 








A NEW TYPE of CITY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 


FLORENCE Roop 
Secretary Grade Teachers’ Federation, St. Paul 


St. Paut, Mrnnesota, adopted in 
1912, a commission charter plan of city 
government to become fully effective 
June 1, 1914, which contains at least one 
unusual feature. 

Other cities operating under similar 
charters have retained their Boards of 
Education whereas St. Paul elected to 
put its schools into the hands of one man 
designated as Commissioner of Educa- 
tion, a situation which creates possibili- 
ties of interesting development. 

The chapter governing the schools in- 
cludes another interesting feature, in the 
form of a Board of Teachers. The sec- 
tion reads as follows: 

Boarp oF TEACHERS.—Sec. 399. It shall be 
the duty of the council to provide, by ordi- 
nance for the election of a board of teachers 
of the public schools to consist of not more 
than twelve, nor less than eight members, 
elected by secret ballot by the teachers and 
principals of the public schools. This board 
of teachers shall be called together by the 
superintendent of schools from time to time, 
not less than once a month, to advise with 
said superintendent and said commissioner 
upon problems relating to the designation of 
proper text books, the adoption of course of 
study and the methods of teaching in the 
schools of St. Paul. Said meetings shall be 
public and records thereof kept as public rec- 
ords. Said board of teachers shall have pow- 
er to pass resolutions and make recommenda- 
tions upon subjects designated in this para- 
graph, but it is hereby declared that the adop- 
tion of such recommendations shall lie in the 
discretion of the superintendent of schools 
and the commissioner of education subject to 
the action of the council. 

There is no overestimation of the value 
of the Board on the part of the teachers. 
They recognize its character and its rela- 
tion to school officials. There appears to 
be nothing on the charter however, that 
precludes the right of the Board to 
carry its recommendations to the Coun- 
cil, since with that body lies the final de- 
cision, if the Superintendent and Com- 
missioner refuse them fair consideration. 

The charter has established the Board; 
the success of the plan is in the hands 
of the teachers. The standing of 
the Board in the community rests 


largely upon the intelligence shown 
in the choice of the first mem- 
bers. Teachers of initiative, constructive 
ability, known professional standards, 
tact, and discretion will be able to outline 
a course, and establish a policy which 
should make the Board a factor in the 
administration of school affairs, and it 
has been intimated, lead to an extension 
of its powers, and make its findings man- 
datory. 

The teachers were invited to indicate 
the form on which they desired the ordi- 
nance drawn, and a committee of nine, 
with a representation of three from each 
of the departmental clubs: the Grade 
Teachers’ Federation, the High School 
Teachers’ Club, and the Principals’ Club, 
agreed upon the following points: 

1. All teachers of the city shall be 
classified as follows: 

Teachers in grade work. 

Teachers in high school work. 

Principals and supervisors. 

2. The Advisory Board of Teachers 
shall be elected from the whole body 
of teachers, as defined above, but no 
one class shall have a representation of 
a majority of the whole. 

3. Nominations shall be made by 
petition. 

4. The election shall be by ballot at 
a central voting place. 

5. There shall be an election com- 
mittee of six, two to be selected by each 
of the three classes of teachers that 
are to be represented on the Advisory 
Board, and these six persons shall have 
charge of all matters pertaining to the 

6. The election committee shall can- 
vass the vote and deposit the sealed 
ballots and statement of the result with 
the Commissioner of Education, and 
file a similar statement with the city 
clerk. 

7. Vacancies shall be filled by the 
candidates having the next highest 
number of votes in the class where said 
vacancies occur. 


88 

















She 


Amperiran Cearher 


Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy 


— 








Published a¥onthly, except July and August, by 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER COMPANY, INC., 
129 Lafayette Street, New York. 


BR TOR. ccccccccceseceseces President 
BENJAMIN GLASSBERG...........+++ Secretary 
Louise M. DitTHripce............ Treasurer 








Hewey R. Linvitie Editor-in-Chief 
Benjamin C. Gruenserc, Managing Editer 








GasrigeL R. Mason 
1, Epwarp MayMAN 


...-Associate Editors 
ARK HoFrFrMAN 








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(Foreign, 60 cents) 





Copyright, 1914, Taz AMERICAN TEACHER Co., INC. 


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


JUNE, 1914 




















VOL. III No. 6 








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 
purposes. 





THE POINT PUSHED A LITTLE 
FURTHER 


In THE May number of THE AMERI- 
CAN TEACHER there appeared a signed 
article on the character of the adminis- 
tration of the high and training schools 
of New York City. The writer of the 
article, a member of the editorial staff of 
this periodical, has received a consider- 
able number of messages of approval 


89 


from teachers in those schools, and no 
messages of doubt or disapproval, altho 
some of the latter sort must have been 
expressed by readers. 

There is no mistaking the conviction of 
thinking teachers thruout the New York 
educational system that the administra- 
tion of the schools is largely in the hands 
of persons who are selected because of 
their real or implied fealty to individuals 
in charge of the system, rather than be- 
cause of their originality, their construc- 
tive ability, their social understanding, or 
their fealty to the large purposes of edu- 
cation themselves. At the same time, the 
writer of the article has found upon the 
numerous occasions when he has called 
public attention to the shortcomings of 
local or general educational practise, and 
suggested constructive reforms, that the 
majority of teachers who really and sin- 
cerely want to see the regeneration of 
education effected, are primarily con- 
cerned, and not a little worried, about 
what may happen to their friends or to 
themselves while engaged in promoting 
the cause of educational reform. 

If the failure of high educational ad- 
ministrators to apply sound principles of 
efficiency is responsible for the appoint- 
ment of many unfit high school princi- 
pals, then the timidity of teachers may be 
charged with at least a share in the re- 
sponsibility for the continuance of a 
vicious system of selection. If high 
school teachers who can easily think bet- 
ter ideals than those that are now being 
applied do not stand by their colors, they 
will continue to be the laughing stock of 
the “practical” men who know how to get 
the $5,000 jobs—and get them. And 
what is more to the point, there will exist 
no immediately practical reason why the 
current system of selection on personal 
grounds should fall. 


COOPERATING WITH THE 
PUBLIC 


ONE OF THE most encouraging facts in 
current educational development is the 
readiness with which educators enter into 
codéperation with individuals and associa- 








se aieaiie aneeentincee cs taiee tea Lael 












go 







































tions, in the furtherance of the common 
purpose of the schools. This codpera- 
tion is well shown in Miss Denison’s 
book, Helping School Children (reviewed 
in THE AMERICAN TEACHER, February, 
1913). A phase of this codperation that 
is developing very rapidly is that of con- 
tinuation classes in shops, stores or fac- 
tories. 

In New York City this form of edu- 
cational extension has been especially 
prominent during the past year. One 
department store after another has es- 
tablished classes for its younger work- 
ers, in codperation with the Department 
of Education, under the provision of the 
Compulsory Education Law. The chief 
criticism of these undertakings has so 
far come from the organized retail store 
clerks. A union of these workers sent to 
the Board of Education a protest against 
the establishment of these classes on the 
ground that thru them the Board of Edu- 
cation gives its quasi sanction to the con- 
ditions of employment that obtain in the 
department stores, and that thru the 
classes the young workers would only be- 
come confirmed in a complacent indif- 
ference to these objectionable conditions. 

It seems strange that the public schools, 
which are ostensibly the agents of society 
as a whole, not of any special class, 
should be used in a way that can arouse 
in any one’s mind the suspicion that they 
are being used to further the interests or 
to injure the interests of a special portion 
of the population. Undoubtedly some 
portions of the population are more in- 
clined to be suspicious than are others; 
and undoubtedly there are many suspi- 
cions abroad that are quite unwarranted. 
At the same time, it is a recognized prin- 
cipal in public administration that where 
an activity directly affects the interests 
of distinct groups of people, these should 
have an opportunity to be heard before 
policies are decided upon. It is for this 
reason that public hearings are constantly 
being held by legislative and executive 
bodies, on all sorts of subjects. And it 
is therefore not unreasonable that in the 
organization of industrial education the 
views and interests of the workers should 
receive the same consideration as is ac- 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


corded to the demands and interests of 
the employers. However public spirited 
the officials may be, and however much 
the employers may love their workers, 
these two classes cannot be entrusted with 
the responsibility and the authority for 
looking after the interests of ail classes. 





STANDARDS FOR SUPERIN- 
TENDENTS 


THE COMMITTEE ON Nominations of 
the Board of Education of New York 
City recently sent to candidates for a va- 
cant seat in the Board of Superintendents 
a list of questions, which is designed to 
give a basis for wise and satisfactory se- 
lection. 

There are seven of these questions. 
Number 1 is designed to bring out the 
education of the candidate, number 2, his 
experience in teaching, and number 3, his 
experience in administration. These 
questions could of course be answered 
correctly and fully without yielding much 
valuable information. But questions 4, 
5, and 7 are really inportant, and in some 
respects new. We gladly give space to 
them, with comments. 


4. (a) State what contributions you have 
made, whether by direction, recommenda- 
tion, actual application or otherwise, con- 
cerning the following problems: 

(Note—Your answers should include all 
specific related data, and should be accom- 
panied by any evidence to which you can 
refer, showing the value of such contribu- 
tions. 

1. Care and instruction of special types of 
children. 2. Congestion of school popula- 
tion and methods of dealing therewith. 3. 
Elementary school course of study and its 
adjustment to pupils. 4. The high school 
course of study and its adjustment to pu- 
pils. 5. The health of pupils. 6. Methods 
of citizen co-operation (social centres, 
neighborhood associations, etc.). 7. Stand- 
ardization (of any phase of administration, 
supervision, inspection, or instruction). 
Truancy. 9. Vocational guidance and place- 
ment. 10. Vocational education. 

(b) State what contributions, if any, you 
have made, other than those included under 
(a), which have tended materially toward 
the improvement of any parts of school ad- 
ministration, supervision, inspection, or in- 
struction. 

(Note—Your answers should contain spe- 
cific related data, and should be accompan- 
































THE AMERICAN TEACHER gI 


ied by any evidence you can submit, show- 
ing the value of such contributions.) 

(c) What, in your opinion are the five 
most important educational problems to- 
day? Give any suggestions other than 
those you may have enumerated under (a) 
or (b) which you believe would help in 
their solution. 


(Note—Suggestions given shold be defi- 
nate and concrete, and should be suscepti- 
ble of application in a large city like New 
York.) 

Perhaps for the first time in the history 
of the Department of Education of New 
York we have in the sections of Question 
4 the evidence of an effort to get at the 
ideas of school management of candi- 
dates for high educational office. As an 
effort it is entirely satisfactory, but a 
candidate might answer this question with 
satisfaction to himself and to those who 
may have the duty of judging the an- 
swers, and that without giving proof of 
superior ability or of fine comprehension 
of any particular school problem. The 
test of the usefulness of the question, and 
of the quality of return for the labor in- 
volved in its preparation, lies in the faith- 
fulness with which its implied guarantee 
to the public is carried out. 


In Question 4, and in other questions, 
there is an absence of thot concerning 
the need of superintendents whose minds 
are capable of handling complicated and 
entirely new situations, with ability to 
analyze them, to formulate problems out 
of them, and to set agencies to work for 
the effective solution of the problems. 
The teachers are tired, and the public 
should be tired, of superintendents who 
perfunctorily meet static requirements. 
A dynamic age demands dynamic men. 

5. What is your conception of the func- 
tion of a member of the board of superin- 
tendents and of the work upon which such 
member, individually and as a member of 
the board, ought to be engaged? Please 
make your statement definite and specific. 

This question ought to bring out some 
valuable notions of the function of any 
educational official. There is always the 
danger that ideals may not seem so valu- 
able to those who decide on the value as 
they may really be. At the same time 
there is an even chance that several can- 
didates may agree on a particular con- 





ception. This would always be impres- 
sive. Once a valuable conception is ac- 
cepted, the way is open for its inaugura- 
tion into actual practise. 

6. (a) Outline some of the strong feat- 
ures of your work and any other features 
which you believe have distinguished it. 

(b) Give any other information concern- 
ing your work which you believe ought to 
be considered by the committee in making 
a decision as to the person best fitted to 
fill the position of an associate city super- 
intendent of schools in New York City. 
This question is covered by number 4, 

and would have been omitted in more 
careful editing. 

7. Please submit the following informa- 
tion, giving your answers on this sheet: 
(a) Name. (b) Address. (c) Present po- 
sition and salary. (d) Date of birth. (e) 
Have you ever had any controversy with 
the school authorities? If so, state the par- 
ticulars of such controversy. (f) Have you 
ever failed of reappointment? (g) Have 
you ever been requested to resign. (h) 
Have you ever been dismissed from any 
educational position. (i) Submit the names 
and addresses of five references and letters 
from not more than three persons who have 
been in a position to have professional 
knowledge of the work upon which you 
have been engaged. 

The sections e, f, g, and h, of this 
question, while proper enough in them- 
selves, are almost sure if answered in cer- 
tain ways to work injustice to the candi- 
dates. The attitude of the New York 
City educational system toward those who 
have had “trouble” with it, or with its 
agents, is harsh and unyielding. Local 
candidates all know this, and have known 
it for many years. 

There would be no practical use of a 
candidate presenting himself for this of- 
fice with a record involving some conten- 
tion, unless he had powerful political sup- 
port. Even then his supporters would be 
at a serious disadvantage. Outside can- 
didates also would have difficulty in con- 
vincing the Committee on Nominations 
of the importance of their attainments, 
in case they have not on all occasions 
given proof of possessing “tactfulness.” 
Moreover, there is no question that the 
clear implication of these sections of the 
question is that the Department of Edu- 
cation disapproves of controversies, and 
that a person who has failed of reap- 










































92 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


pointment, or has been requested to re- 
sign, is thereby disqualified for consid- 
eration in connection with the coming 
appointment of an associate superinten- 
dent. 

If this is the attitude of the Commit- 
tee on Nominations, there will be further 
reason for waiting for developments be- 
fore we approve the questionaire as an 
effort toward increasing the efficiency of 
educational officers. 

The attention of the Committee is di- 
rected to the study of social changes, and 
to the frequent upheavals in political and 
economic life, that are incident to the very 
growth of civilization. Does the Commit- 
tee imagine that the schools will ever be 
able to interpret human life as it must be 
interpreted to children, while officered by 
spineless impersonations of men who 
never take issue with any man having 
authority over them? 





.. NOT A PROFESSION—III 


COMMERCIAL TEACHERS 


IN EVERY CiTy it is possible to find 
“contractors and builders” who will un- 
dertake to erect buildings according to 
“standard” plans or according to the 
whims or tastes of the person willing to 
hire them. These men are not profes- 
sional architects, altho they claim to do 
the work of architects. They have no 
standards and no ideals; their sole am- 
bition is to increase so far as possible 
the ratio of their incomes to their ex- 
penditures. The work in which they are 
engaged is no doubt legitimate enough, 
but it is not professional work. 

In every city there are many gradu- 
ates of law-schools, men admitted to the 
bar, who are nevertheless not profes- 
sional lawyers, altho they claim to do the 
work of lawyers. These men not only 
“fish in troubled waters”—they are not 
even averse to stirring up the waters. 
They “fix up” cases and hire “detec- 
tives” to help manufacture evidence; 
they counsel litigation for the sake of 
the fees, or they counsel compromise 
when that promises a larger fee. Their 
interests are not identified with the se- 
curing of justice, altho they are not op- 
posed to justice; they are not even con- 


cerned with protecting the rights and 
interests of their clients. They have no 
standards and no ideals. Their sole am- 
bition is to get a fee—honestly, if easily, 
but in any event, a fee. One may sup- 
pose that the work of these shysters is 
legitimate, since they find people to em- 
ploy them: and according to widely 
prevalent notions, one must do what he 
is hired to do. Moreover, many of them 
“make” a great deal of money, and sel- 
dom are indicted for violation of the 
statutes ; so that, according to many em- 
inent economists, their services have 
social value in proportion to their in- 
comes. Yet you and I know that these 
men are not professional lawyers; they 
are shysters. 

There are many men—and women, too 
—in this country, who make a living sell- 
ing “medical” services to all who will 
pay. These doctors have, in many cases, 
certificates of graduation from reputable 
colleges, and even certificates of admis- 
sion to practise under the law. They 
will perform forbidden operations, and 
they will prescribe and sell forbidden 
drugs—for a fee. These doctors have 
no standards and no ideals. Their sole 
ambition is to make money, and many 
of them make a great deal of it. Like 
shyster lawyers and commercial near- 
architects, they supply a certain demand 
and ask no questions. They have no 
professional spirit: they are not in busi- 
ness for their health, nor for the health 
of anyone else. To those who have no 
standards, they are just doctors; to those 
who have, they are quacks. 

There are many men and women in 
this country—half a million of them, all 
together—engaged in the business of 
teaching. Many of these are seriously 
interested in guiding growing humanity 
into a better life. But many are teach- 
ers just because that’s the easiest thing 
to be without being found out. They 
comply with the regulations and “pre- 
sent” the course of study according to 
the syllabus, and ask no questions. They 
do what they are told, as well as may be; 
and. in return they collect the stipend 
agreed upon. It must be admitted that 
most of them do not become teachers 
thru inordinate cupidity. On the con- 





ae an a oe ce 














trary, many of them become teachers in 
spite of the certainty that doing so will 
preclude them forever from the enjoy- 
ment of many of the comforts of life. 
But as to the many who have no stan- 
dards and no ideals, the situation is real- 
ly serious. 

It is really a serious situation that 
thousands and thousands of teachers in 
this country have no standards and no 
ideals. That thousands and thousands 
of them are content to do what they are 
told and ask no questions. That they are 
content to go thru the prescribed mo- 
tions, even for the little pay, a few bare 
years, and then leave the calling forever. 
That they are, in short, not professional 
teachers. That they are, alas, like the 
quack and the shyster and the jerry. 
That they are teachers for the money 
only, little as that is. 

And this is serious for reasons that 
you can figure out for yourself. The 
point is that those are the facts. When 
a teacher can say that he will teach in 
his school whatever subjects are wanted, 
in complete indifference to the selection 
of those subjects, he is a commercial 
teacher. When a teacher can say that he 
will teach whatever the “employer” 
wants taught, without expressing a vig- 
Orous opinion as to what he himself 
wants taught, he is a commercial teacher. 
When a teacher can say that he will dis- 
cipline according to the wishes of the 
patrons, without regard to his own views 
on discipline, he is a commercial teacher. 
When a teacher can say that, so far as 
his teaching is concerned, the man who 
pays the piper mav call the tune, he is a 
commercial teacher. He has not his own 
standards and ideals; his sole ambition is 
to please the one who pays, and so get 
some of the pay. He is not a profes- 
sional. We have no name for him—yet. 

Until the teachers of this country, or 
most of them, are in a position to tell 
the employer what and how the work 
of teaching shall be done, how the work 
shall be managed and who shall con- 
tinue it, teaching will not be a profes- 
sion. 


SEX AND SCHOOL STANDARDS 


EveRY FAIRLY SANE person probably 
takes it for granted that for all practical 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 93 


purposes the human population of civil- 
ized countries will continue for many 
years to be made up of men and women, 
as well as of children. Why sane people, 
under circumstances, should seek to stir 
up sex antagonisms, is beyond ov~- com- 
prehension. We thus acknowledge our 
limitations, or question the sanity of those 
who seem to believe that there must be 
an eternal conflict between the interests 
of men and the interests of women. 

We acknowledge, as we deplore, the 
fact that man as master has in the past 
abused his powers, that he has imposed 
unjust conditions upon woman and has 
unduly restricted her opportunities for 
development. We do not know just what 
man or group of men was responsible 
for the injustices of the past, and we 
try to make our fellow men of today treat 
the women folks with more consideration 
for the principles of justice. We believe 
that women should be treated as human 
beings, without regard to color, race, age 
or previous conditions of bondage or un- 
enlightenment. We wish to have them 
included in the distribution of the benefits 
of the Square Deal and the Golden Rule, 
and we extend to them both hands of fel- 
lowship. 

But when, in the course of events, a 
vacancy occurs in an important educa- 
tional office, we protest against the peti- 
tioning of the appointing powers by clubs 
of women, mothers, spinsters, federa- 
tionists, suffragists and anti-suffragists, 
who are moved to ask that a certain per- 
son be appointed because, forsooth, the 
favored candidate is a woman! We 
should ask that the appointers consider 
the merits and the qualifications of the 
candidates first of all, and then appoint 
the one best suited, man or woman, as the 
needs in the case may require, and not 
as the sentimentalists or the politicians 
may request. 

If it is insolent for teachers to recom- 
mend to the mayor the names of men 
and women as suitable for members of 
the Board of Education, what is it for 
heterogeneous groups of citizens, who 
have nothing in common but their sex, 
to recommend to the Board of Educa- 
tion the appointment of a supervisor on 
the ground that the candidate is of the 
same sex as themselves? 
















































94 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


BOOK NOTES 


All books may be ordered from 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER 





WITH THE PREJUDICE for democracy derived 
from many years of association with things 
American, one turns to Chamberlain’s Ideals 
and Democracy (Rand McNally & Co., 75 
cents) with a distinct feeling of gratitude that 
there is still some of the native stock on the 
soil interested in the ideals of human justice, 
liberty and opportunity. The book is made 
up of nine essays, some of which were first 
used as addresses before educational and 
other gatherings. 

Mr. Chamberlain has kept in touch with the 
development of education, and recognizes that 
changing times call for changing schools. He 
recognizes also the danger of tying up to a 
fad, but is not afraid of an idea because it is 
new. In reading this book one is not so much 
impressed with the opinions of the author on 
current educational problems, as with the 
fine sentiment of humanism that pervades his 
outlook. 





THE RELATION OF education—especiaily high- 
er education—to democracy is a central thot 
in a series of addresses by President James 
H. Baker, of the University of Colorado. 
(Educational Aims and Civic Needs, Long- 
mans, 90 cents net.) While Dr. Baker’s view 
is developed out of the older philosophies and 
cultural ideals, he is alive to the newer prob- 
lems that society has to face, and to the 
evolving resources in science and democracy 
for the solution of these problems. To train 
students into the attitude that looks upon 
labor as service, to make conscious in him 
the solidarity of society, to make dominant in 
his conduct his loyalty to ideals, are high 
aims. No teacher can repudiate these and 
justify his place in the profession. To stand 
on the past and look to the future seem to 
be the guiding principles of this philosopher 
and friend of the college student. These 
essays are especially opportune at this time, 
when we hear so much of the place of the 
scholar in public life, the relation of the 
school to the affairs of the city and the state, 
and so on. 


It 1s A WELL known fact that the reading of 
descriptions of symptoms of diseases will 


bring about in many people a state of mind 
predisposed to recognizing the symptoms eith- 
er in the self or in those about them. It is 
one of the merits of Barbara Spofford Mor- 
gan’s The Backward Child (Putnam, $1.25 
net) that you can get from it helpful ideas 
about backward children without being made 
to look upon every child as backward. In an 
introduction by Miss Elizabeth E. Farrell, 
Supervisor of Ungraded Classes in New York 
City. the importance of recognizing individual 
differences in the work of the school is prop- 
erly emphasized. The author’s main purpose 
is to enable the teacher to diagnose special 
types of backwardness, and to suggest special 
methods of treatment. When we realize that 
a child may be extremely backward in one or 
two functions (Miss Morgan still speaks of 
the “faculties”) and fairly normal in others, 
we shall do what the new psychology de- 
mands of us—namely, deal with units that 
are smaller even than the individual child. 
We shall stop in the vain attempt to produce 
uniform results with uniform methods ap- 
plied to diverse material. The book is full of 
concrete illustrations for every point made, 
and must be of great help to all teachers— 
except those who have to do with children 
that have been specially selected for being 
normal, or supernomal in every respect. Such 
teachers are probably very few. 


Fork THE EXAMINATION of groups of chil- 
dren that are not sufficiently atypical to be 
classed as “backward” but are yet not strictly 
true to “type,” the little manual The Examina- 
tion of School Children by Dr. William Henry 
Pyle of the University of Missouri (Mac- 
millan, 50 cents net) will be found useful. 
These tests are the ones described in such 
books as Whipple’s Mental and Physical Tests 
(the first volume of a new edition of which 
has just been publisht by Warwick & York) 
but are presented in simple form, with sug- 
gestions for additional material, and tables of 
“norms.” To the inexperienced teacher these 
will give the greatest difficulty. After you 
have found out that the children of your 
class make a record in the test on “rote mem- 
ory” ranging from 26 to 53, you have no way 
of telling whether this is a “fair average,” 
or high or low; you wish to know what is 
“right” for each age represented in the class, 
and whether it “should be” the same for girls 








eementcknwddaw 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER - 95 


as for boys. Pyle’s manual gives you tables 
of results obtained with these tests applied 
to large numbers of children and adults, but 
does not explain the meaning of “ * 


norm, 
“Ay. dev.” and of the curves. With a little 


study, however, one can get the nack of ap- 
plying the tests, and can put them to great 
practical use. 


THE TRAINING of children and the training 
of parents are one. For this reason “The 
Uplift Book of Child Culture” is addressed to 
the education of the parents for the sake of 
the children. It is difficult to see just what 
class of parents the book is meant to reach; 
but doubtless there are people who are able 
to read good magazine-stuff, but who are 
quite ignorant of everything that ordinary 
adults ought to know, and of a great deal 
besides. This book contains both kinds of 
matter, so it may be intended for all kinds 
of people. But we know a number of people 
who would have no use for it. Part I, on 
character building, is by Orison Swett Mar- 
den. Part II, on the care and culture of 
children, is by Dr. Jenny B. Merrill; Part III, 
n “bad boys and girls,” by Judge Ben. B. 
Lindsey, has only eight pages of text. There 
is a part on the child’s body and mind, one 
on the boy scouts and the camp-fire girls, and 
one on “the child and the nation.” These 
three are anonymous. There is a long series 
of chapters on “Nature and the Child” by 
Alice R. Northrop, and finally some chapters 
on vocational guidance by Gustave Blumen- 
thal and E. W. Weaver. The book is well 
printed and has many good pictures. But it 
is not clear just why so many of those 69 
chapters should go into the same book. (The 
Uplift Publishing Co., Philadelphia, $3 net.) 


Ir IS REFRESHING to find a teacher frankly 
recognizing the existence of different social 
and economic classes, and addressing himself 


as frankly to the “socially superior and di- 
recting classes” in an appeal for patronage. 
In Young Boys and Boarding-school Horace 
Holden enumerates the various advantages 
that can possibly accrue to the young boys 
from the processes vaguely included under 
the term “education,” and then he shows that 
all the conditions for obtaining these advan- 
tages—for boys of the superior classes—are 
to be found in their highest development in 
private boarding schools. Here there is no 
danger that the “inherited cultural polish” 
will be rubbed off by “premature association 
with those outside his own social position ;” 
and here he can get the uniform discipline 
that his fond mother is likely to spoil by over 
indulgence, and the father by neglect. What- 
ever we may think of class schools and the 


perpetuation of classes thru special school 
processes, we cannot fail to find this presenta- 
tion of the class view interesting. Many Am- 
ericans may 1esent the argument of the auth- 
or as catering too much to the sentiment of 
snobbery, or as aping too much the aris- 
tocracy of England; but we ought to know the 
other fellow’s point of view before we un- 
dertake to criticise it. (Richard G. Badger, 
$1 net.) 


Ir 1s TRULY remarkable that some of the 
best minds of the nineteenth century devel- 
oped their powers either without the help of 
the school, or in spite of the school. Promi- 
nent examples of the home made minds are 
Herbert Spencer, John Stuart Mill, Lord Kel- 
vin and his brother James Thomson, and 
Karl Witte. Altho the last named had all 
the benefits of schools and colleges, it was 
the devoted training imparted by his father 
that was no doubt responsible for his re- 
markably rapid and advanced mental devel- 
opment. The father’s methods were written 
down—at the request of many friends, and 
especially at the solicitation of Pestalozzi— 
and an abridgment of the story has been 
translated by Professor Leo Wiener of Har- 
vard University (The Education of Karl 
Witte, or The Training of the Child. Crowell, 
$1.50 net.) and provided with an introduction 
by H. Addington Bruce. While the book is 
addressed primarily to parents, with a view 





to getting them interested in the child’s train- 
ing at an early age, there is much in it that 
will be of value to the teacher of all grades 
of children. 

STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGE- 

MI_NT, CIRCULATION, ETC., 

of THE AMERICAN TEACHER, published 

mens | (except July and August), at New York, 

N. quired by the Act of August 24, 1912. 

Baitort = Chief—HENRY R. LINVILLE, Ja- 
maica High School, Jamaica, N. 

Managin Editor—BENJ. Cc. y GRUENBERG, 
Cogaastelal High School, Brooklyn. N. Y. 

Business Manager—J. EDWARD MAYMAN, 

, Brooklyn, N. Y. 

‘Publisher—THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 120 
Lafayette Street, New York. 

Owners—BENJ. C. GR UENBERG, Commercial 
High School, Brooklyn, N. Y.: MARK HOFF- 
MAN, Man. Tr. High School, brooklyn, N. Y¥.3 
HENRY R. LINVILLE, Jamaica High School, 
Jamaica, N. Y.; GABRIEL R. MASON, P. 8. 62, 
Manhattan, N. Y.; J. EDWARD MAYMAN, P 
84, Brooklyn, N ¥. 

Known bondholders, mortgagees, and other 
security holders, holding 1 per cent. or more of 
total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other se- 
curities—None. 

J. EDWARD MAYMAN, Business Manager. 

Sworn to and subscribed before me this 25th 
day of March, 1914. 

LOUIS M. ae. 
Notary Public. 
(My commission expires March 30, 1915.) 





96 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


THE NEPTUNE FOR GIBLEY 


The next time your “city fathers” 
threaten to lop off a generous chunk 
from the appropriation for teachers’ sal- 
aries read the following to them very 
good naturedly : 

We are spending, it is stated, nearly 
30,000,000 pounds sterling of public 
money on education; and there is talk 
of spending more. Is more money 
needed, except for one purpose, viz., 
better salaries for teachers? Our 
usual British impulse, when anything 
is to be done, is to assume that money 
will do it, and to demand money ac- 
cordingly. But thinking is more im- 
portant than money. Before money is 
granted, let us, at any rate, take thot 
of where, and for what, money is 
needed, let us take stock of the whole 
situation, and make sure that the pres- 
ent expenditure is being wisely and 
economically applied, and is yielding 
a due educational return. Is there not 
still a good deal of overlapping? 

The salaries of teachers of every 
grade are inadequate. The cost of 
living has risen and is still rising. The 
conception of what a teacher should 
know and should be is also rising. If 
the profession is to attract sufficient 
talent and hold the place which the 
friends of education desire, it must be 
better paid. 

—Lorp Brice, in his inaugural address 
to the Conference of Educational Asso- 
ciation at London University. 





The Chicago Normal College is maintained 
by the Board of Education for the purpose of 
affording the teachers in the Chicago schools 
an opportunity of obtaining the promotional 
credits required for advancement in that sys- 
tem. This summer school is open, free of 
charge, to all the teachers in Chicago, whether 
they be instructors in public, private, or paro- 


chial schools. 


FROM GOTHAM or GOPHER RUN 

ONE OF THE most discrediting things 
that can be said about an educational sys- 
tem is that it has no effective way of dis- 
covering the best ability in its own ranks. 





This can be said, and said truthfully, of 
the New York City system. 

After many years of trying to get along 
with an arrangement for appointing those 
who are personally (and politically) fa- 
vored for the high offices, the system is 
endeavoring to meet insistent public crit- 
icism by talking of “getting the best man 
wherever he may be found.” This is a 
commendable attitude, if it does not mean 
that the best man will be overlooked if 
he happens to live in our own midst. 

A great deal depends on what is the 
standard of measurement for determin- 
ing the best man, and not a little de- 
pends on the sincerity of the officials who 
apply the standard. 











HERBART HALL 


* INSTITUTE for ATYPICAL CHILDREN 
FOUNDED APRIL |, 1900, sy 
P. E. GROSZMANN 
MAINTAINED BY THE 
for the 
“eats of Exceptional Chil 
zute institution is one of the activities of the 
N.A and is intended solely for the 
“different” child, the peace Se qune. the handi. 
normal c whe rl. 
: 7 4 or No 


are cons’ ob ect of thi: 
Institution is to eae the P _ 


EXCEPTIONAL CHILD 


Whether overbright or somewhat backward, t 
be able later to compete with the average nor. 
mal child. In addition tothe ordinary branches 
the course study includes al train. 
ing, nature study. manual and constructive 
work, oe. La and ae ere based 


won modern 
edical care ry A rominent feature oS See 
this line of education. Me ae rt inet{tution ts in 


pe LT normal ewite t in rae to the 
overstimu'ated interest inthe feeble minded 
and abnormal. enna Crest,” the home of 
ses 
acres of land and is comprise pver "Wptbane 
dred eet ahove sce-level Uisur eeedrea ies 
Vi 
above Plainfield) — a oe 
For terms, catalog and information address 


WALDERMAR H. GROSZMANN, Principal 


“Wachung Crest.” PLAINFIELD, N. J. 


The Public 


A National Journal of Fundamental Demo- 
—, and a Weekly Narrative of History in 
the Making. 
For alert and progressive men and women. 
Weekly, One Dollar per year. 
537 South Dearborn Street - 


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