.¥ 


American Ceacher 


Democracy in Education ; Education for Democracy. 





VoL. III No. 7 NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER, 1914 50 CENTS A YEAR 




















i 


To Arms! 





The War is on. The Enemy is within the Gate. 
Stupid Superstition must be driven out by Reason. 


Puerile Prejudice must be dislodged from the Heart 
of Youth. 


The Pettiness of Provincialism must give way to 
catholic Sympathies. 


Shortsighted Selfishness, rending Society, must yield 
to the Spirit of Fraternity. 


Savage Instincts must be uprooted by a New 
Enlightenment. 


Ignorance, hitherto invincible, must be vanquished. 
The Fight is On, and it is Our Fight. 
But to Arms, and take Heart, for ours the Victory. 
































THE CLEVELAND SCHOOL BOARD AND 


THE TEACHERS UNION 


BENJAMIN 


SHOULD TEACHERS HAVE the right to 
form a union for the purpose of im- 
proving their conditions? Should 
teachers who insist they have the right 
to form a union, even tho the School 
Board opposes such action, on that ac- 
count lose their positions in the school? 
These are questions being fought out 
in Cleveland at present. 

It has been decided in Chicago, San 
Antonio and in a few other cities, that 
the teachers have the right to form 
unions and to affiliate with the local 
labor bodies. In Cleveland eleven wo- 
men teachers have been dismissed from 
the schools because of their activity in 
the attempt to form a union among the 
teachers and to affiliate with the Cleve- 
land Federation of Labor. The struggle 
began last May and is far from being 
finished—at least so the teachers hope. 

The salaries in Cleveland are very 
low. The initial salary of the elemen- 
tary school teachers is $500. The maxi- 
mum salary reached in I5 years, is 
$1,000. (The initial salary of a clerk 
in the U. S. Government departments 
is $900.) Last winter the agitation for 
an increase in salary came to a head with 
the formation of the Grade Teachers’ 
Club. Petitions were presented to the 
Board of Education pointing out the 
necessity for a revision of the existing 
salary schedules and protesting also 
against the excessive supervision to 
which the teachers were subjected. 

The School Board naturally answered 
that there were no funds available to 
provide for any increases and that the 
system of supervision had been “well 
worked out and might be considered 
permanent.” The attitude of the School 
Board toward the teachers and the pub- 
lic, may be illustrated by the remark 
attributed to its president, D. C. Westen- 
haver, when informed (June 30) that 
the city council had voted unanimously 
to investigate the management of the 
school system—‘“Really, it does not in- 
terest me what the council does.”’ 





Morrison 


The teachers were not discouraged by 
this refusal. They decided to form a 
union. On May 13, 900 teachers (the 
city employs a total of 1,800) voted in 
favor of forming a union and affiliating 
with the Cleveland Federation of Labor. 
The purposes of the union were declared 
to be: 

1. To better the conditions of teachers. 

2. To secure compensation commen- 
surate with their labor, learning, 
dignity and the importance of their 
profession. 


3. To advance the science and art of 
teaching. 


This action met with the immediate 
opposition of the School Board. On 
May 18 it adopted a resolution declaring 
that no one who would refuse to sign a 
contract binding him or her not to join 
the union, would be appointed, because 
the union would be bad for the spirit 
of the profession and would have harm- 
ful influences on the pupils. 

Miss Marie Claus, the president of 
the Grade Teachers’ Club, in defending 
the action of the teachers in affiliating 
with the Federation of Labor, said: 
“Teachers needed the moral support of 
the Federation in order to succeed in 
their demands. We have to think of 
money because we have so little of it.” 
The Board, however, seems to think 
that no matter how underpaid teachers 
are they should not occupy their minds 
with such low thots as money and salary. 

A mass meeting of thousands of citi- 
zens held on May 31 endorsed the action 
of the teachers and at the same time 
characterized the action of the Board 
as arbitrary, inhuman, and un-American. 
At a meeting of the Cleveland Congress 
of Mothers held on June 4, for the pur- 
pose of criticising the action of the 
Board, E. M. Williams, a Board mem- 
ber, acknowledged that he believed the 
teachers were entitled to more pay. 

K. Dorn, another member of the Board, 
expressed surprise that more attention 














a fF wm 5 ee huh hUh «(6D 























































had not been paid to the original re- 
quest of the teachers for more money. 

Meanwhile the teachers acting thru 
the Federation of Labor had applied for 
an injunction restraining the Superin- 
tendent of Schools, J. M. H. Frederick, 
from dismissing any teacher who had 
joined the union. Mr. Westenhaver, the 
Board President, opposed the motion. 
He denied the right of the court to in- 
quire into the action of the school board, 
claiming that the Board had absolute 
power. 

The decision of Judge W. B. Neff of 
the Court of Common Pleas was ren- 
dered June 9, completely sustaining all 
the contentions of the teachers. I shall 
quote parts of his decision: 

The Cleveland teachers may form, join 
and belong to a union affiliated with the 
Cleveland Federation of Labor without im- 
perilling their positions in the schools. 
Ohio laws recognize and encourage labor 
organizations and the Board of Education 
has no right to provide that future contracts 
shall not be entered into between it and 
persons afhliated with labor unions. 

In my opinion, there is no apparent reason 
why membership in the Cleveland Federation 
of Labor would in any way be detrimental 
to their work in the schools, and the Board 
of Education had violated rights of the 
teachers in declaring it would discharge or 
refuse to reappoint any teachers who 
became members of the union. 


He completely overruled the conten- 
tions of the Board of Education that the 
power to make rules for its employees 
was vested absolutely in it, and that the 
court had no right to inquire into the 
rules laid down by the Board. The 
judge continued : 

Character, education, and experience only 
are the qualifications to be considered by the 
Board of Education Acquired skill 
is a property right. It is an invasion on 
their property rights to deny them appoint- 
ment on the ground that they are allied with 
the Cleveland Federation of Labor 
The purposes avowed for the formation of 
the union, namely, for bettering the condition 
of teachers, for advancing the science and 
art of teaching, and for the benefit of the 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 99 


patrons of the schools, are laudable 

If the union fail of its purpose, no harm 
would be done, and if it succeeded, great 
benefit would result to the public 

Equality of opportunity is one of the canons 
of justice, and if the Board’s resolution was 
carried into effect the teachers would be 
denied this right. If the Board had the right 
to refuse to employ persons who are mem- 
bers of a labor union it might also refuse to 
employ those who belong to a certain race, 
color, church or lodge and such a rule would 
be unfair to a large class of people 

The right of labor to organize, to strike 
and to enforce its demands is being more 
and more widely recognized, and teachers are 
laborers of the highest type. 


In spite of the clear-cut decision of 
Judge Neff, rumors (according to the 
Cleveland Plain Dealer of June 11) be- 
gan immediately to emanate from the 
office of Superintendent Frederick that 
the leader of the Grade Teachers’ Club 
would not be reappointed. Further, that 
no reason was to be given, thereby tech- 
nically not violating the injunction. 

On June 18, when the list of those 
who were reappointed was given out the 
names of those active in the fight did not 
appear. This list was modified on June 
23. Thirteen members of the Grade 
Teachers’ Club, including the president, 
secretary, and the chairman of the press 
committee and four other members of 
the executive committee, were dropped. 
They were charged in a general way 
with insubordination, disturbing the 
school system and exerting influences 
detrimental to the schools. On July 21, 
two of the thirteen were reappointed 
leaving eleven horrible examples. Among 
these eleven are teachers with long ex- 
perience in the Cleveland schools. Miss 
Clara Singer has served the city for 
twenty-four years, teaching every grade 
from the first to the seventh. Miss Isa- 
belle Campbell as Assistant to Principal 
has likewise served twenty-four years. 
Miss Mabel Dreher, another of those 
dropped, has often had visitors sent to 
her room by the superintendent to ob- 
serve her good work. 

Mr. Frederick has consistently refused 


































100 


to tell the public the real reasons for 
dropping the eleven teachers. He does 
not believe the public in general wants 
to know. “I cannot discuss with the 
public my reasons for non-appointment 
of teachers. Such a course would dis- 
rupt the administrative functions of my 
office.” 

The sworn testimony of Miss Dreher 
concerning her interview with Superin- 
tendent Frederick and Assistant Super- 
intendent Rannells, in an attempt to find 
out exactly why she had not been reap- 
pointed, furnishes a rather clear idea of 
the attitude of school officials toward 
teachers in Cleveland. 

The interview is printed in the Cleve- 
land Press of July 13. After being 
charged by Mr. Rannells that she had 
been dropped because she had called 
another teacher a coward and she had 
denied that she had done so, the follow- 
ing conversation took place: 

Mr. RANNELLS: Well, Miss Mabel, I must 
speak very plainly to you. You are an of- 
ficer of an organization that has dared to 
criticise the Board of Education and the su- 
perintendent who are trying so hard to help 
the teachers. We are protecting and shield- 
ing you teachers all the time. 


Miss DreHER: You have no right, Mr. Ran- 
nels, to take from me my means of earning 
a living because I am a member of a club. 
There are 1300 other members in the schools. 
May I see Mr. Frederick? 

Miss Dreher then saw Mr. Frederick. 

“You are an active member of a club 

that has criticized us and our efforts,” 


he began. “Of course this union busi- 
ness—that is settled. We have settled 
that.” 


Miss DreHer: Then I am to understand that 
someone is. to have my place at Bolton 
school ? 

Mr. FrepericK: Your place? That is not your 
place. 

I have a right to my place. 


Thruout this 


Miss DREHER: 


Mr. FrepericK (vehemently) : 


conversation I have noticed that you are 
continually referring to your rights. 
have no rights. 


You 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


Miss DREHER: 
efficiency ? 


Have you any criticism of my 


Mr. FrepericK: I have been in your room and 
your work was fine. You do not know, 
Miss Dreher, how it grieved me, when I 
learned that stand you had taken. 

Miss DreHer: I cannot help it, Mr. Frederick, 
if all my opinions do not agree with yours. 
But doesn’t my work mean anything? What 
about my efficiency ? 

Mr. Freperick: Efficiency does not count. 

Miss DreHerR: Why, then, am I dismissed? 

Mr. RANNELLS: My dear Miss Mabel, you see 
your principal does not want you. Yon 
are out of harmony with the rest of the 
teachers. 

Miss DreHeR: Suppose I should see Miss 
Beers, my principal, and come to an under- 
standing with her, would I then receive my 
reappointment? 

Mr. Freperick: Oh, no, there must be a com- 
plete change of 

Change of what? 





Miss DREHER: 

Mr. FrepericK: You had better go home and 
think this over, Miss Mabel. Then come 
down and tell us what you decide to do 
about it. 

Miss Mase_: Will I receive any further com- 
munication from you? 

Mr. RANNELS: No. 
us. 

I might mention here that on July 29, 
Assistant Superintendent Rannells was 
himself discharged by the Board of Edu- 
cation. Mrs. Virginia Green who has 
taken the side of the teachers in this 
controversy, gave as her reason for vot- 
ing against him the fact that Rannells 
when a member of the Board of Educa- 
tion had worked for the election of 
Frederick for superintendent. Shortly 
after, Rannells resigned from the Board 
and was appointed assistant superinten- 
dent by Frederick. At the same time the 
Board also decided to begin an investiga- 
tion to determine whether the schools 
could operate with less supervision, orig- 


You, will come down to 


-inally when the teachers complained 


against the existing over-supervision they 
were told it was perfect and could not 
be changed. 











nd 
ne 
do 


it- 











THE AMERICAN TEACHER 101 


It is interesting to note the efficiency 
of this School Board, at least as it ap- 
pears in the judgment of the Cleveland 
Press (June 29): 

The per capita cost of running the Cleve- 
land schools is higher than in other cities 
where teachers are paid better wages and 
free text books are supplied the children. 
Instead of comfortable buildings and seats 
for all, 74 portable buildings were used last 
winter. Rented store rooms were also used. 
Many of the schools were too cold for use. 
A committee of the Chamber of Commerce 
found that in many of the buildings the 
pupils were in peril of their lives from fire. 
They have refused to consider the great 
modern school plan devised at Gary, Indiana. 
They have preferred to terrorize the teach- 
ing force and to maintain the moss-backed 
educational methods of fifty years ago. 

The citizens of Cleveland have not 
been slow in taking up the cudgels in be- 
half of the eleven discharged teachers. 
Numerous meetings have been held. 
The following organizations have gone 
on record as favoring a change in the 
school administration because of the 
dropping of teachers for voting for a 
teachers’ union: 

The Public School Association, 60,- 
000 members. 

The German-American Alliance, 50,- 
000 members. 

The Cleveland Federation of Labor, 
55,000 members. 

The Women’s. Civic Association. 

The Municipal School League, and 
others. 

I mentioned above that on July 29 the 
School Board voted to investigate the 
system of supervision. On August 21, 
as a result of the new school tax levy 
fixed by the county budget commis- 
sioners, the school revenues were in- 
creased by $450,000. Mr. Westenhaver 
then remarked “This will enable us to 
raise the $500 minimum grade teachers’ 
salary to $550, permitting teachers to 
get the maximum at the end of their 
ninth instead of their fifteenth year. 
Even then the Cleveland teachers’ sala- 
ries will average far below those of other 
cities.” 


The reforms the teachers have been 
fighting for are thus assured. Mean- 
while the eleven discharred teachers are 
without jobs. Public opinion is on their 
side tho, and there is a possibility of a 
radical change being made in the man- 
agement of the schools which may lead 
to the reinstatement of the eleven brave 
women. At any rate they are hopeful. 
“When the smoke of battle has cleared 
away” as one of them has said, “we 
hope to show that we have fought a 
good fight and kept the faith.” 


BOARD OF EDUCATION 


Educational Department 
CLEVELAND, OHIO 


To the Editors, 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 
August 26, 1914. 

Your letter of the 13th inst. has not 
been answered before because I have 
been away from my office much of the 
time since it arrived. 

1. You ask what led to the failure of 
thirteen of the Cleveland teachers to se- 
cure reappointment. I do not know what 
you mean by the “thirteen teachers,” as 
I have no such definite number in mind. 
It will perhaps answer the purpose, how- 
ever, to say that a number of teachers 
have not been appointed and will not be 
appointed, for a variety of reasons—some 
because of their inefficiency in the class- 
room, some because of their persistency 
in creating discord in their buildings and 
in the teaching system with which they 
were connected, and still others because 
of conduct unbecoming teachers. 

2. Membership in the Grade Teachers’ 
Club had nothing whatever to do with the 
nonappointment of any of these teachers. 

3. I have no definite knowledge as to 
what the purpose of the Grade Teachers’ 
Club is. 

4. The Board of Education has as- 
sumed no attitude toward the Grade 
Teachers’ Club. 

Very truly yours, 
J. M. H. FREDERICK. 


(Signed) 
Superintendent of Schools. 











ARE TEACHERS HUMAN? 


ELizABEtTH HopcGson 
Wichita (Kan.) High School 


EVER SINCE ' owned my first slate rag 
I have known that teachers are considered 
queer, They are supposed to be typically 
old maids, both male and female. Of 
course they have a good deal of “book- 
learning,” but nobody would trust them 
to do anything real and practical. Peo- 
ple praise them because they work hard 
for small salaries, but down at the bot- 
tom of their hearts they believe that 
nearly all of the teachers stay in that 
profession simply because they haven’t 
enough energy and ability to make good 
at anything else. Pedagogs are not sup- 
posed to know anything about business 
or politics, or to have any real connec- 
tion with the community life. They are 
a higher kind of domestic servant, and 
do the teaching drudgery so that parents 
may be freed from taking care of their 
children properly, and so that people of 
real brains and enterprise may be left 
free for other occupations. Most of them 
haven’t enough common sense to manage 
a peanut stand, but all of them feel 
qualified to offer advice on every subject 
under the sun, no matter how little prac- 
tical knowledge they have about it. <A 
new idea would give them a brain storm, 
but they are always spouting platitudes 
as if they had just discovered them. 
Some of them have spent so many years 
avoiding trouble with principals, superin- 
tendents, pupils, and parents that their 
own personalities have faded beyond 
recognition; and a few others have 
“bossed” and lectured those that dared 
not answer back, until they really think 
themselves the propeller screws of the 
universe. Hardly any of them are human 
and normal. 

The above paragraph should all be in 
quotation marks, I suppose, for in it I 
have attempted to summarize what the 
world says about us teachers. And since 
we believe in the blessedness of the poor 
in spirit, we have borne it all meekly, 
searching our consciences for our sins 
and shortcomings, and trying to take 
all the advice that critics of every sort 


For there 
is no one who thinks he knows too little 
to say what ails the schools or the 


are poking down our throats. 


teachers. When the public declares that 
the schools accomplish too little, we 
humbly set about working harder, form- 
ing study clubs and associations, read- 
ing pedagogical quick-cure articles, taking 
university extension courses, and even 
spending our vacations in summer school 
work! This naturally results in accentu- 
ating the very traits and habits for which 
the world despises us. 

To be sure, there really is something 
abnormal about teachers,—not about 
those who stay at the work only long 
enough to earn a trousseau or tuition at 
some university, but about the confirmed, 
dyed-in-the-wool ones. If a keen and un- 
prejudiced observer analyzes a group of 
teachers, what are his conclusions? They 
are undervitalized, flabby muscled, awk- 
ward and stiff, while their sense of humor 
and their individuality have atrophied, 
they have developed strained nerves and 
ingrowing consciences. Stiffly unrespon- 
sive to new ideas, to esthetic considera- 
tions, to adventurous playfulness, they 
embrace platitudes as old friends. They 
are less alert, well dressed, and generally 
attractive than a group of business men 
and women from the same community 
would be, or even than a group of clerks. 
sAnd they have the air of being swept 
aside from the main currents of busy 
present-day activity. 

Now why shouldn’t we teachers sensi- 
bly face the facts and then set about 
remaking them? The very first thing 
we need to do in most cases is to im- 
prove, not our minds, but our bodies. 
Superabundant vitality is the one thing 
most rare and most appreciated in the 
school room. Young people normally live 
in a physical world: the very best pass- 
port to their admiration is a splendid 
body. Plenty of sunshine and muscular 
exercise will improve us as teachers far 
more than study circles, educational lec- 
tures and summer schools. We live con- 


102 


ne nena - 








— Fe weeks Pew A. 


as ”* 


ee, ee a le ae, ee ee 


A hah 2 4 eee a OO 





Oo oun 


— -t te 


AAA ee 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


continually under the Argus eyes of stu- 
dents and principals and superintendents. 
Not one in a hundred is qualified to 
judge of our scholarship and our teach- 
ing skill, but every single one can and 
does judge of our physical attractive- 
ness. 

If we teachers would devote to exer- 
cise, to outdoor sports, to careful dress, 
and to study of the social graces, one 
quarter of the time and effort and money 
that we freely give to “educating” our- 
selves, how we could revolutionize the 
profession! John will learn twice as 
much geometry from Mr. A, an ex-foot- 
ball star, as from the pale and scholarly 
Mr. B; Helen will fairly “eat up” Eng- 
lish literature under Miss X, provided 
Miss X looks as if she would adorn the 
social circle of which Helen yearns to 
form an arc! Oh, yes, we can curl our 
lips cynically over it, if we like, and rail 
at the snobbery and superficiality of 
teachers who try to be admirable instead 
of demanding that pupils admire and 
imitate out of a pure sense of duty. Or 
we may regard it as a duty to ourselves 
to look as well as Providence will let 
us, and to be healthy and energetic and 
buoyant of spirit. How much some of 
us might gain in breadth of mind and 
soul by being full of physical vitality, 
nobody can guess. We need more fun, 
more nonsense, more jolly independence, 
and above all, more sunshine and more 
muscle. 

If I were asked to lay down a set of 
good rules for the average conscientious 
teacher, they would run something like 
these : 


1. Make yourself an expert in at least 
one athletic game, and play it often. 


2. Adopt some out-door hobby. Raise 
flowers, fruit, bees, chickens,—anything 
that grows in the sunshine and makes 
you work with your hands. 

3. By all means do not study or spend 
your vacations in tutoring or going to 
summer school. At least, don’t do it 
until you have first won your physical 
salvation. Choose work, recreations, and 
associates that take you as far as pos- 


103 


sible from your usual sphere. You need 
not feel that you are slighting your pro- 
fession in doing this; all that you really 
have to give your pupils is yourself ; 
the information you offer can all be 
found in books. Unless you make them 
admire you as a human being, your use- 
fulness will be decidedly limited. It 
would do some of you good to get a job 
(you are used to positions, you know) 
and go right out among the sweaty shirt- 
sleeve people. You would come back to 
the school room with red blood in your 
veins instead of the grape juice or 
malted milk with which you are pop- 
ularly credited. 

4. Make as many friends as possible 
among people unlike yourself. News- 
boys, business men, washerwomen, police- 
men, society folks, and reporters will 
broaden your views of life and humanize 
you. 

5. Observe yourself scientifically to 
see what mental slant your particular 
subject is giving your mind, and then 
read and do the things best fitted to 
overcome that tendency. For instance, 
teachers of the classics are apt to see 
the Past in a halo and not to see the 
Present at all. No mental attitude is 
less attractive and helpful to young peo- 
ple than this. Literature teachers might 
well devote a great deal of time to popu- 
lar science and current events, as healthy 
antidotes to classicism. Why let yourself 
become mentally warped when it would 
be so easy to counteract superfluities and 
supply deficiencies? Teachers certainly 
ought to know how to plan a balanced 
ration for a given type of mind. 

* * * 


If some other teacher had written this 
article, it would decidedly ruffle my tem- 
per. No doubt I should wonder if the 
arrogant scribbler really had any pro- 
fessional ideals at all, any sense of the 
fineness and beauty of scholarship. 
Now the fact is that I can hardly pry 
myself out of my books. But I know 
that it would improve many of us in- 
tellectually and spiritually not to pose as 
teachers all the time, to make a little 




















104 





mark for ourselves by practical physical 
achievements, to do some things instead 
of just telling other people what to do 
and how to do it. No work under the 
sun, except parenthood, demands such 
vitality, such broad minded, farsighted 
humanity, such wide knowledge of the 
physical world as teaching does. To live 
richer, fuller lives on the physical side 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 





would stiffen our self respect, give us 
more sanity and good temper, and won- 
derfully increase our zest in teaching and 
our influence over our pupils. Then on 
some day of revelation the world would 
actually begin to regard us as full-orbed 
men and women, whereas they now con- 
sider us a race of thin-blooded book- 
worms. 


A GOOD BEGINNING 


The Teachers’ Club in Grand Rapids 
Has Secured: 


1. The data which greatly helped the 
superintendent to get the school for de- 
fective children established. 

2. The recovery of the hospital fund 
whereby any teacher may procure money 
to apply on her expenses at the U. B. A. 
hospital. 

3. The beginning of correct seating of 
children through the introduction of ad- 
justable desks in the first grade. 

4. The increase in the amount of 
money teachers receive when they are 
sick. Before the Teachers’ Club took it 
up, teachers received 10% of their sala- 
ries ; now they receive 50% for ten days. 

5. The increase in the maximum 
salary of grade teachers from $750 to 


The following facts are also worthy of 
serious consideration : 

6. The Teachers’ Club originated the 
idea of the State Federation of Teachers’ 
Clubs and thus is indirectly responsible 
for the fact that there is a retirement 
salary bill. This bill has not yet been 
passed by the legislature, but it will be 


Why should I subscribe to The 
American Teacher? Our principal is 
all right. She lets us alone. (Re- 
ported an indecent number of time.) 

You ought to get Miss . She 
will be interested. She has had trouble 
with her principal. (Heard every 
little while.) 





in the very near future, and when it is, 
much of the credit will belong to the 
Grand Rapids Teachers’ Club. All of the 
teachers in the city will benefit from it. 


7. Every year a lecture course is given 
by the Teachers’ Club, the educational 
value of which cannot be over-estimated. 


8. The potent influence of such an 
organization when dealing with boards of 
education and state legislatures is very 
great. The fact that there is a strong or- 
ganization of 500 teachers is an impor- 
tant feature in securing results. 

9. The good fellowship developed by 
this organization is one of the most im- 
portant reasons why a teacher should be- 
long. It furnishes a broadening experi- 
ence too often absent in the lives of 
teachers. 

10. Perhaps the most important rea- 
son, however, that a teacher should be- 
long to the club is the fact that is arouses 
and fosters professional pride as does 
no other one thing. In other words, the 
Teachers’ Club is the clearing house for 
the best in the social, mental and profes- 
sional lives of the teachers. 


Every new subscription means added 
strength to our movement. 

How many new subscriptions have 
you sent in. 

Have you enthusiasm? 
your cooperation. 

Get a new subscriber today. Others 


We want 


are doing it, 














_ SE LS FS 6h 








The 


Ampvrican Crarher 


Democracy in Education ; 





Education for Democracy 





Published monthly, except July and August, by 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER COMPANY, INC., 
129 Lafayette Street, New York. 








AmMEMG PATB. oc cccccccesccecscces President 

BENJAMIN GLASSBERG...........+++ Secretary 

Louise M. DITHRIDGE...........- Treasurer 
EDITED BY 

Henry R. LINvVILLE.......... Editor-in-Chief 


BenyaMin C. GRUENBERG.. 
Jutiu H. Dove 
Mark HoFrrMan JoserH Leow 
CuartoTte E. Lee Gasriet R. Mason 
J. Epwarp MayMan....... Business Manager 


-Managing Editor 
Jay D. Lester 











This Magazine will be sent to subscribers 
ontil an order to discontinue, tegether with all 
arrearages, is received. At the time of expira- 
tion, a bill will be found in the copy. 





Remittances should be made in postal money- 
order, express order, draft, stamps or check (New 
York exchange). 





Subscription price, 50 cents for the year. 
(Foreign, 60 cents) 





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


Bs 


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




















VOL. III SEPTEMBER, 1914 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 
purposes. 





NEEDED: A LITTLE SPICE FOR 
LIFE 


THE ARTICLE in this number by Miss 
Hodgson touches a phase of the lives of 
teachers which must receive greater and 
greater attention. It must do so for the 
sake of the work, no less than for the 
comfort and personal satisfaction of the 
teachers. Our lives are narrowing, but 
we let them become narrower. 





105 


In order properly to interpret life to 
the children, we must get out of the ruts, 
try the unconventional paths, knock 
about on the trails that lead in the direc- 
tion of the unexplored country, and in all 
enlightening ways get acquainted with 
ourselves and with our environment. 
With all the physical prowess we gain 
in the process, and the mental dash as 
well, we can swing into the regular job 
again with the sure and easy skill that 
marks the master. 


We shall have a lot of fun thruout, 
and we needn’t worry about the people's 
further regard for us. 


A GOOD FIGHT TO WIN 


Ir MAY COME as a surprise to our 
readers to learn that in Cleveland, Ohio, 
is an educational system, far-famed for 
many a year, that in reality is dominated 
by officials who exhibit signs of marked 
stupidity. How the system should have 
won its great repute may pass the under- 
standing of most persons. But now we 
know that the reputation was based, not 
on the spirit of friendly codperation be- 
tween supervisors and teachers, not on 
a comprehensive plan of the officials to 
develop power and independence among 
the teachers, and certainly not on a pro- 
found understanding of the social fac- 
tors operating to make the schools effec- 
tive agents in a democracy. The reputa- 
tion of the Cleveland schools must have 
been made on the perfection of the ma- 
chinery of the system. 

The article written by Mr. Morrison 
in this number exhibits with simple and 
effective directness the futility of the 
attempts of socially uninformed school 
officials to deal in a convincing way with 
teachers who in a moment of great in- 
spiration have taken a stand on a sound 
platform of social justice. The defense 
of the Superintendent of the Cleveland 
schools in the interview and in the letter 
written to THE AMERICAN TEACHER 
(printed in this issue) plainly indicate 
the typical weakness of an official bully 
who has no honest ground to stand on. 


When the courts and the people of 
























































106 


Cleveland settle the injustice to the 
eleven teachers, it would be well for them 
to give deep thot to the matter of superin- 
tendents, not forgetting their more im- 
mediate representatives, the members of 
the Board of Education. 


LET US TALK ABOUT THE WAR 


WHAT SHALL teachers say about the 
war? 

One answer is, “Nothing.” Such an 
answer ought to keep us from being 
criticised unfavorably by the racial 
sympathizers of the warring powers. 
We have had much practise in avoiding 
criticism by keeping our mouths closed 
while things were being done in the 
world about us, and it would not be hard 
to do it now. Philadelphia proposes to 
solve a portion of the problem by not 
permitting the teachers to speak of their 
experiences abroad to their classes. Ac- 
cording to the press reports, 

William C. Jacobs, Acting Superin- 
tendent of Schools in that city, placed 
a ban on all discussion of war 
topics by teachers or pupils during 
school hours. History and geography of 
European nations involved in the conflict 
is to be passed over, and the hundreds of 
teachers returning from vacations abroad 
will not be permitted to relate their expe- 
riences to the children. 

“It was decided,” said the acting Super- 
intendent, “that if the war were discussed 
in the classrooms, there would be danger 
of extending the conflict to every corner 
of the school-yards between the partisans 
of the Allies and those of Germany and 
Austria. It would also be useless to fill 
the children’s minds with names and maps 
of countries which soon may not be on the 
maps.” 


In other words, the Acting Superin- 
tendent of the Philadelphia schools in- 
sists that the teaching profession should 
continue to maintain its monastic in- 
difference to the world in action. It mat- 
ters not that the war involves the death 
of hundreds of thousands of fellowmen, 
or the grief and poverty of millions of 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


helpless women and children, or the 
domination or the fall of the military 
ideal of power. Philadelphia wants 
nothing said alout the whole unpleasant- 
ness, because it might hurt the feelings 
of the partisans of the warring nations. 

Hundreds of other superintendents of 
schools thruout our country may give 
orders similar to these given in Phila- 
delphia. If they do, it will only be one 
additional bit of evidence that the schools 
do not train people to think. There are 
people in Polynesia and even in America 
who sincerely are not interested in the 
war, but millions of others in all the 
neutral nations are intensely interested 
in its progress, and have deep emotions 
which tend to color their reception of 
the facts of the responsibility for the 
war itself, and also the facts of the war’s 
development. The outcome of the titanic 
struggle is unquestionably fraught with 
immense possibilities for rulers and for 
people. Who that thinks can fairly say 
he does not care, or that the subject 
should not be talked about 

Let the children talk about the war. 
They may reproduce the emotions and 
the convictions of their elders, but the 
truth is somewhere. They may help to 
clear minds, and develop their own think- 
ing. To fear quarrels from this source 
is itself a childish obsession. 

Let us all talk about the war! The 
schools have a magnificent opportunity. 
Let us talk to the children in language 
they can understand. The dominant 
forces of the great nations have main- 
tained that the burdens which the people 
have been obliged to bear in the form 
of dreadnoughts and other gigantic para- 
phernalia of war, were the best security 
for peace. In a single day the colossal 
folly of that argument has been shown 
up. Let the children see it. Nobody 
knows better than a boy that if he has 
a gun he must shoot it off. The logical 
purpose of a gun is to kill, and the more 
sacred the mark the more glorious the 
deed in war. 

Let us talk about the war, and show 
the children that the world is growing 
tired of all its long history of killing. 




















we | WN CF 


‘y 

















You may destroy a building and get a bet- 
ter one. But in war we kill our best, and 
there are none to take their places. We 
destroy the wealth of a conquered na- 
tion in humbling its pride, and we waste 
our own substance in doing it. 

Let us talk about the war, and tell 
the children that in all the lands of the 
earth there is growing up the feeling 
that the ancient bars of language, tradi- 
tions, and prejudices should no longer 
interfere with fellowmen in their busi- 
ness and social relations any more than 
they interfere with one province and an- 
other in the same country. When men 
meet and discuss their differences calmly, 
the differences tend to disappear. No 
one fights without a misunderstanding. 

Let the children see that the people 
themselves have been getting these ideas 
from their own experience. Civilization 
is now having one of its bitterest, cruel- 
est experiences, and the full portent of it 
all should not be overlooked or interfered 
with by school officials who happen to be 
worried about non-essentials. 


OUR OWN JOB 


THERE IS NO quick and effective way 
of getting rid of male teachers who de- 
grade themselves and their profession by 
engaging in cheap and vulgar flirtations 
with girl pupils. The chief reason for 
this defect in our system of professional 
standards is the fact that in general, 
women whom the offensive practise most 
intimately concerns have not yet thrown 
off the yoke of sex-subjection. That a 
school system should be so indifferent to 
the humiliation of young girls that it 
solves specific problems of this kind by 
sending guilty men to other schools, or 
by fining them, or by doing nothing at 
all, shows the weakness of the system, of 
course. But the system would not be that 
weak, if women could be relied upon to 
fight for decent treatment for themselves 
and for other women. 

An appeal to the sex-pride of women 
is an easy one, and quite obvious; but 
after all it would be finer still if a con- 

























































THE AMERICAN TEACHER 107 


siderable number of men and women 
alike could be relied upon to have so 
high a regard for the persons and per- 
sonalities of other human beings that 
offenses of the kind referred to would 
be penalized by dire punishment and dis- 
grace. The public school systems have 
men of this sort, who have been called 
to partial account but with sharpened wits 
and greater concealment, or open lying, 
they hold on and defy those at whom they 
scoff as puritanical. 

Why should not the men and women 
teachers together regard this matter as 
being worth their professional attention? 
A little sacrifice to unpleasant labor might 
help to clear the stables. 


ROOM FOR ALL 


What is needed most of all is a strong 
and capable teaching staff. Over-inspection 
will not lead to this; but better status and 
better prospects will bring better teachers 
into the profession, and better education and 
training and more encouragement from the 
public will lead to the schools containing 
men and women whose influence on the char- 
acter of their pupils will put England in the 
forefront of progress and civilization. 


Thus speaks Mr. Cyril Jackson, a 
prominent member of the London County 
Council, in his book Outlines of Educa- 
tion im England. We believe that what 
he says is true of England. We believe 
that it is also true of this country. If 
both nations should heed his advice and 
attain to the forefront of progress and 
civilization, that would not involve us in 
a war. Do not fear. That would only 
help to broaden the forefront of progress 
and civilization! What a pity that the 
combatants cannot see that there is room 
enough for all before they begin to ex- 
terminate each other. 


Have you renewed your subscrip- 
tion? If not, DO IT NOW. 


Send us names and addresses of pros- 
pective subscribers. 





STANDARDIZATION VS. 
EFFICIENCY 


IN HIS COMMENCEMENT address before 
Manhattan College, President Thomas 
W. Churchill of the New York Board 
of Education expressed himself rather 
forcibly on the functions of the Carnegie 
Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching. Comments on this address 
have been varied as well as numerous; 
and in some quarters Mr. Churchill’s mo- 
tives in his opposition to the Foundation 
have been attacked, on the assumption 
that he resented the Foundation’s with- 
holding of funds from sectarian institu- 
tions. Without inquiring into Mr. 
Churchill’s motives, indeed, without as- 
suming that he has any ulterior motives, 
we are glad to quote from his address a 
portion with which we are in hearty ac- 
cord. 

Among other things, Mr. Churchill is 


reported to have said: 
The attempt to secure uniformity was 


the inevitable result of power in the wrong 
hands. For easier comparison, for greater 
strength of the governing body, the tendency 
of managers is to standardize processes, and 
to standardize men. For work other than 
the fighting of battles, done in masses, ex- 
perience has proved that uniformity, stand- 
ardization, leads inevitably into formalism, 
into lack of adaptability, into intellectual and 
moral death. Needing as it does the daily 
and intimate correction of the great mass of 
the people, the saving common sense of the 
laymen, education—real progressive, adjust- 
able and serviceable education—can find in 
the unifying and uniforming mania of the 
Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement 
of Teaching only a menace, a threat, a dam- 
age, a peril, a jeopardy. With education, 
and especially with college education, by the 
testimony of the outside critics and the 
confession of its outside friends so far from 
having solved the problems of its own per- 
fection; with education so professedly a 
search and trial for the true but unfound 
path; with education unproved, the prop- 
osition of the Carnegie Foundation to stand- 
ardize it and to uniform it is the extreme of 
fatuity. 
We have consistently opposed the at- 
tempt to transfer to the business of teach- 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


ing the methods and standards that pre- 
vail in the business of manufacturing 
pianos for profit. We have maintained 
that children and teachers cannot be 
treated as uniform units, however it may 
be with desks and books. We are there- 
fore pleased to have President Churchill 
adopt the same attitude toward “stand- 
ardization” that may really interfere with 
the higher efficiency of education. We 
shall expect President Churchill to use 
his eloquence and his authority to com- 
bat the fatuous attempts to convert our 
schools into education factories with ar- 
bitrarily standardized units in just those 
spheres where such standardizing is either 
impossible or pernicious. For example, 
the effort to show a saving of taxpayers’ 
money by using schools in such a way as 
to deprive the pupils of part of their 
education while appearing to increase the 
“units of use” of the school plant, is a 
deception of this kind. It is possible, 
as we have pointed out on previous oc- 
casions, to increase the use of the school 
plant without causing any loss to the 
pupil; but the standardization of hours 
and services on the assumption that an 
hour is an hour, no matter where it comes 
in the course of the day, is a delusion 
and a snare. And we are glad that Presi- 
dent Churchill sees it. 

We accept this statement without prej- 
udice to the services of the Carnegie 
Foundation, and without prejudice to the 
question of what kinds of units and ser- 
vices in education may be standardized. 
Education is indeed a seeking; but some 
of the things sought have already been 
found. 


The ideal school board is one whose 
powers are strictly limited, in whose mem- 
bership there is no representation of special 
groups or interests, and whose numbers are 
not too large to permit of all being seated 
around a small table and carrying on their 
discussions in a conversational tone. It is 
the indulgence in oratory that plays the 
mischief in board meetings, and makes real 
deliberation impossible—The Dial, July, 
1914. 

Have you an ideal School Board in 
your town? 

















At the St. Paul meeting of the N. 
E. A. the following resolutions were 
adopted : 


A most cordial invitation is extended to 
all interested in the cause of education to in- 
vestigate the work of the schools, and to pre- 
sent constructive criticism, both of methods 
and results. A destructive criticism from 
irresp)nsible sources can never build a sys- 
tem of education. The association believes 
it represents the common judgment of the 
teachers of the country in declaring that all 
official investigations of public education 
should be made through the properly consti- 
tuted authorities responsible to the people, 
and that the United States Bureau of Edu- 
cation is the logical and natural agency 
through which the people should provide 
such investigation. Where private agencies 
or foundations are utilized for such pur- 
poses they should be held directly respon- 
sible to the regularly established authorities 
in charge of public education for their 
methods of procedure and reports. 


Three things are suggested by these 
resolutions. 

The first is that the many surveys 
and enquiries of recent years are be- 
ginning to “get on the nerves” of the 
educators. Otherwise we cannot quite 
understand why educators, of all people, 
should take the pains to resent “destruc- 
tive criticism” while writing “construc- 
tive criticism.” Educators, of all people, 
ought to know that while destructive 
criticism is not sufficient, it may never- 
theless be wholesome, and even essential 
However, this is not very important. 
It may represent merely the conventional 
mode of speech with respect to criticism 
in general. 

The significant things in these resolu- 
tions come later. There is the emphasis 
on responsibility. That sounds a new 
note in American thot. Heretofore we 
have been content, in this country to 
conduct our affairs on the assumption 
that the public can best be served on 
the initiative of private individuals and 
corporations actuated by the prospect of 
profit. It is for this reason that 
we did not build our own roads, or 
develop our natural resources, or put in 


PATERNALISM AND PATRONAGE 


our water-supplies for the cities, or es- 
tablish our gas or electricity plants. We 
let the captains of industry do all these 
things for us and then paid them a hand- 
some profit on the work and the risk 
and the investment and the monopoly, 
and then some. We thot it would be im- 
proper to do these things for ourselves 
—we thot it would be “un-American.” 
So much did we liberty-loving Americans 
hate paternalism that we let Carnegie 
build our libraries for us, and other pub- 
lic-spirited citizens were permitted to 
build up our colleges and universities, 
and institutions for scientific research. 
We let them put up our museums and 
art galleries, endow lectureships and pro- 
vide in other ways for that advancement 
of learning and understanding that are 
so essential to the welfare and progress 
of a people. All these things we per- 
mitted during a period when our pride 
would not permit us to submit to 
paternalism. 

But we never blushed in accepting the 
patronage of the rich and powerful. It 
never occurred to us that our patrons 
were irresponsible, the while we scoffed 
at the responsibility of our own govern- 
ment. It never occurred to us that our 
patronage was demoralizing us, the while 
we refused to help ourselves. 

The fact is that as Americans we have 
never thot out a philosophy of life that 
would help us decide great issues. As 
a people we have been content to follow 
as sheep the suggestions of the master- 
ful men. The men with strong acquisi- 
tive instincts who were at the same time 
capable of domineering others, gave us 
the assurance that business and prosper- 
ity could thrive best when “let alone,” 
and they got the rest of us to run our 
governments so that business was thor- 
oly let alone. That is all. Business did 
not find it sufficiently profitable to run 
schools of a kind and at a price that 
would satisfy the public, and we did that 
ourselves, without fear of paternalism. 
Business did not find it sufficiently profit- 
able to carry on intensive and compre- 
hensive experiments in the rearing and 
breeding of cotton and corn, so we had, 


109 

































































IIo 


to do that for ourselves, and no one 
complains of the paternalism. Business 
did not find it sufficiently profitable to 
carry on public health works, so we are 
doing that ourselves, and so on. It is 
only where business scents a profit that 
it tries to scare us away from a public 
function by placing upon it the danger 
signal “Paternalism.” 

Gradually we are coming to realize 
that a people’s co-operative enterprise, 
thru government, for the public good is 
in no way demoralizing, whereas the de- 
pendence of a people upon the patron- 
age of irresponsible but powerful in- 
dividuals is not only demoralizing, but a 
menace to their liberties. It is thus that 
we would explain the growing distaste 
of enlightened communities for Carnegie 
Libraries, and it is thus that we would 
explain the resolutions adopted by the 
N. E. A. at the St. Paui meeting, with 
regard to private foundations that under- 
take to criticize and to standardize edu- 
cation. We are coming to feel that edu- 
cation is preeminently our business, that 
it concerns all the people, not merely the 
teachers and the pupils. We are com- 
ing to realize that our business can not be 
entrusted to hands that are stretched out 
for profit, nor to hands that give and 
take as suits their owners, rather than 
our needs. It is a hopeful sign of the 
times that we are learning to distinguish 
clearly between the paternalism of pri- 
vate patrons and the fraternalism of co- 
operative effort. 

In this country, when we want a thing 
done, let us do it ourselves, or thru our 
own agents. Let us not wait for kings 
and lords and other patrons. 


Superintendent Chadsey of the Detroit 
schools proposes to select yearly a few 
successful experienced teachers and to 
assign them to “detached duty” on a sal- 
ary of $50 per month. At the end of 
the year they return to regular duties 
and pay. He believes that this plan of 
a year’s absence for travel, observation 
and culture will raise the teaching ef- 
ficiency and will give the city full value 
for the outlay.—Boston Teachers’ News 
Letter. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


BOOK NOTES 


All books may be ordered from 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER 








To THE EDUCATOR, The Job, The Man, The 
Boss, by Dr. Katherine M. H. Blackford and 
Arthur Newcomb (Doubleday Page, $1.50 
net) has a double interest. First of all it is 
one of the few books that attempts to classify 
human beings in relation to occupations on 
the basis of actual industrial experience as 
well as on scientific theory, and is therefore 
significant to all who are concerned with the 
subject of vocational guidance. In the sec- 
ond place, it seeks to develop scientific prin- 
ciples on “hiring and firing” workers, and 
must therefore be of interest to teachers as 
workers and to supervisors and administrators 
in the role of the “boss.” Beside pointing out 
the importance of specialized functions in ef- 
ficient management, with special emphasis on 
the function of selecting, handling and dis- 
charging workers, the book gives helpful sug- 
gestions on the analysis of human qualities 
related to occupational demands. Dr. Black- 
ford’s theory of the correlation between cer- 
tain physical qualities and certain mental 
qualities has general empirical support; but 
it is doubtful whether the correlation is suffi- 
ciently high to warrant the use of the methods 
described as standard methods. There is 
needed a larger body of data on the correla- 
tion between the adjustments made on the 
basis of this method, and the experience of 
the workers in various industries. 


It takes vastly more than academic 
mastery of the subjects presented to 
teach in any grade, from the kindergar- 
ten to the university. This axiom of 
education, however, will come as a sort 
of revelation to a vast number of people, 
both inside and outside the ranks of 
those who administer our schools. This 
ignorance is one great reason why so 
many children quit school before com- 
pleting their course—The Pittsburgh 
Post. 


a 
























THE CARNAGIE FOUNDATION 


If inquiry be made as to the actual 
changes that have occurred in administra- 
tion and teaching in consequence of the 
stipulations of the Carnegie Foundation 
for the Advancement of Teaching, an 
astonishing record may be studied. Care- 
less accounting has been simplified and 
made businesslike. Loose investments 
have been converted into prudent ones, 
which are carefully watched. Foolish 
building operations have been stopped. 
Reckless accumulation of indebtedness 
has come to an end. Bills receivable 
from the student body and other sources 
have been collected. The giving of de- 
grees, honorary and in course, not 
earned by the completion of adequate 
studies, or by distinguished service, or 
intellectual achievement, has been greatly 
diminished. The teaching body has been 
more carefully selected, it has been made 
more energetic, its work has been brought 
up to date to an extent that only those 
who have inside knowledge of the facts 
can believe. Institutions really weak and 
unable to draw new strength from any 
source, have gone out of business as 
purveyors of what was essentially a fake 
education. 

All this may be described as standard- 
izing, but it is the kind of standardizing 
that balks no initiative, destroys no in- 
dependence. On the contrary, it dis- 
tinctly heartens the men who have ideals, 
who know what educational effort ought 
to be, and what results are worthy of 
praise. Nothing is more discouraging, 
nothing more humiliating to the professor 
who aims to keep abreast of knowledge 
in his own field, than to realize that the 
institution which he serves is satisfied 
with the commonplace, the Philistine, the 
insincere, the meretricious. American 
productiveness in science and scholarship 
has been discouraged by this specific 
cause in the past to an extent beyond 
calculation, and as scandalous as waste- 
ful—The Independent, July 6, 1914. 





Education is a better safeguard of 
liberty than a standing army. 
EDWARD EVERETT. 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


LAUGH, GOD BLESS YOU 


LAUGH! 

From “The Man, the System and _ the 
Machine.” 

It is whispered that in the later 


methods of teaching a little real cheer- 
fulness is permitted—nay, even en- 
couraged ; but is it not possible that the 
same old solemn, surly and dreadful ap- 
prehension swims through the minds and 
bodies of the young when that Olympian, 
the school inspector, appears upon the 
scene? Is it not still so, that all parties 
in the educational system take them- 
selves too seriously—from the legislators 
who make the education acts, with views 
prejudiced and a too-awful sense of re- 
sponsibility upon their minds; the min- 
ister or superintendent of education who, 
it might almost seem, carries the book 
of Job and Deuteronomy in his pocket, 
and forgets that there is a book of 
Revelation ; to the teacher who, recogniz- 
ing that duty is, in the words of the 
Prayer-book “an awful” thing, produces 
such awe in his beholders that the whole 
gamut of grim conscience is run? It is 
so often forgotten that wit as well as 
wisdom is a gift to be nourished—and 
I would have the teacher laugh outright 
once a day at least, a full-throated, big- 
hearted, long-winded laugh, if you like.— 
GiLBert Parker, in Munsey’s Magazine, 
September, 1914. 





“THe BUSINESS of the principal is to 
form the policy of the school, and to 
make the teachers do as they should.” 

No one has yet suggested the recall of 
the principal who recently made the 
quoted remark in a meeting of high 
school principals. Deep regret should be 
felt that by-laws prevent our doing more 
than merely suggesting this form of re- 
proof. But we feel obliged to do that 
much for a public that does not know, 
and probably does not care, about what 
kind of high school principals it pos- 
sesses, since it has set up no standards of 
worth or understanding for them. 































































































112 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 





THE OPEN COURT 


To the Editors, 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 

Please renew my subscription for THE 
AMERICAN TEACHER. I look forward toward 
every new copy with a great deal of pleasure. 
I am of the opinion that the recent awakening 
of the teacher to demand a voice in school 
management, has come about thru the thots 
expressed in your worthy paper. May you 
continue your noble work and spread light 
wherever possible! 

Son1a ETTELSON. 

Brooklyn, N. Y. 

To the Editors, THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 

I think the magazine is splendid and 
doing a fine work. I hope that this 
year will bring you greater success. 

Cora R. HuTCHISON. 

Philadelphia. 





THE PRINCIPAL of one of the largest 
high schools in the country, who is too 
modest to have his name printed, writes 
as follows: 

I must tell you that the magazine gets 
better and better. The “side talks” are re- 
markably bright and sensible, really rich. 
Don’t print this. I don’t want to be ad- 
vertised. 


THE SECRET OF THIS SUCCESS 

The people increased their vote for teach- 
ers’ salaries and other current expenses of 
the schools by the enormous sum of $106,- 
488.42. This is strong evidence of the good 
will of the public to the teaching profession 
when so generous a response is made by the 
great majority to the appeal for better sal- 
aries. It explains why the progressive an- 
nual diminution of the number of the higher 
class of male teachers has for the first time 
for many years been reversed.—P. xv, An- 
nual Report of the Superintendent of Edu- 
cation of Nova Scotia, for the year ending 
July 31, 1913. 


The parent and the attendance officer, 
reinforced by the police power of the 
State, can guarantee only one thing—the 
physical presence of the child at school. 





It is left to the teacher to insure his men- 
tal attendance by a sound appeal to his 


active interests. A child’s character, 
knowledge, and skill are not reconstructed 
by sitting in a room where events happen. 
Events must happen to him, in a way to 
bring a full and interested response— 
Henry Suzzallo, in Introduction to 
Dewey’s Interest and Effort in Education. 


Until the time comes when the people will 
trust the teachers and their chosen represen- 
tatives with managing educational systems, 
let us have boards of education whose mem- 
bers have trained intelligence. 








HERBART HALL 


) INSTITUTE for ATYPICAL CHILDREN 
FOUNDED APRIL |, 1600, sy 
MAXIMILIAN P. E. GROSZMANN 


MAINTAINED BY THE 

National Association for the and 

Ed ti of E ti I Chil 
This institution is one of the activities of the 
N. A. S. BE. E. C. and is intended solely for the 
“different” child, the difficult child. the handi- 
capped normal child, whether boy or girl. No 
feeble-minded, d merate or ot 
low cases are cons The object of this 

Institution is to train the 


EXCEPTIONAL CHILD 


Whether overbright or somewhat backward, to 
be able later to compete with the average nor. 
mal child. In addition tothe ordinary branches 
the course of study includes geyeice train- 
ing, nature study, manual and constructive 
work.etc. Methods and Equipment are based 
upon the most modern pedagogic principles. 
edical care is a prominent feature of the work. 
HERBART HALL is the pioneer institution in 
this line of education. The Association main- 
taining it lays emphasis upon the neéds of the 
misunderstood normal child in contrast to the 
overstimu'ated interest inthe feeble minded 
and abnormal. “Watchung Crest,” the home of 
HERBART comprises over twenty-five 
acres of land and is situated on Watchung 
| yy = eons of Se pie Ridge, five bun- 
red feet above sea-leve our hund 
above Plainfield) ae wave 
For terms. catalog and information address 


WALDERMAR H. GROSZMANN, Principal 


“Wachung Crest.”. PLAINFIELD, N. J. 

















The Public 


A National Journal of Fundamental Demo- 
cracy, 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 - 


Chicago 





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