American Geacher Democracy in Education; Education for Democracy. Vout. IV No. 5 NEW YORK, MAY, 1915 50 CENTS A YEAR /OBRAB Cc 2 | ; Credo (| inay jjo 1 : $s 7 a ten, | OF epucrtt \ I believe that teaching is a human relation ‘ I believe that the teacher is an interpreter of information in the light of his own lime I believe that teaching is contributive only in so far as the teacher is vitally con- nected with the new idea of his day— in art, in literature, in science, in social relations, in economics. I believe that the teacher must hand over to the new generation the precious knowledge from all the generations be- hind in such a way that the progress of the world will be helped permanently. V TEACHERS’ UNIONS IN ENGLAND Ciara E Grant Principal, Devons Road Infants’ School, London In ENGLAND practically all certificates licensing teachers to work in the public elementary schools, i. ¢., in infants’ pri- mary and grammar grades, are issued by the national board of education sitting at Whitehall, London, and thus, tho sal- aries are paid and scales regulated by each local education committee, the teachers are, in a sense, official servants of the nation tho not included in the civil service. Thus, tho local authorities may dismiss a teacher, only the government could cancel his certificate, should such occa- sion arise. There are of course innumerable pro- fessional bodies of teachers representing the various types of schools which, in England, are more sharply differentiated than in America, but, for our immediate purpose, it will suffice to confine our consideration to the one large organiza- tion of public school teachers known as the National Union of Teachers, and chief local union the London Teachers’ Association. The former, originally known as the National Union of Elementary Teachers, dropped the term “Elementary” some years ago when secondary schools and other types of institutions for advanced education became unified under the con- trol of the public education committees, and it is now known as the N. U. T. This union aims at enrolling every fully qualified public school teacher in the country, and so strong is it in its activities and organization that, tho not affiliated with any labor organization, it has sometimes been described as the strongest trade union in England. Local branches are formed all over the country, holding their own committee and gen- eral meetings, with frequent educational lectures and conferences, whilst a strong central body sits in London, to which delegates are sent. The union runs a weekly organ, The Schoolmaster, de- 66 voted to its own interests and recognized as the chief medium fof advertisements of vacancies all over the country; it maintains a representative in Parliament, and holds a large conference annually at Easter. Unfortunately in England the public schools (the term so wrongly appropri- ated by privileged private schools such as Eton and Harrow) have never, either in inception or development, won the pride and trust shown by American citizens in their schools. Prior to 1870, practically all elementary schools were “parochial,” founded by religious denominations and only partially supported by national grants. In 1870 the “Board” (now “County Council”) schools were established, to cater for the vast number of children untouched by the parochial schools. Altho these, draw- ing from local as well as national funds, can maintain higher standards of staff- ing, buildings and equipment, yet neither these nor the parochial schools (now also aided by local funds) have reached, socially, very far above the children of the working people, resulting in an un- fortunate reaction on the personnel and ideals, and, therefore, salaries of the profession. Always in life the primary struggle is the material one, spiritual ideals following later, and it is perhaps inevitable that the early struggles of the N. U. T. have centered round the im- provement of salaries and professional status rather than round those educa- tional and spiritual ideals which alone compel the recognition demanded. The N., U. T. has, however, frequently acted as a real tower of strength to in- dividuals and groups, protecting them from injustice, tyrannical control of leisure or outside activities, sending representatives down to intervene be- tween teachers and employers or even fellow-teachers, where necessary, and it has a strong “Legal Department” for St en es rol —-F- OF S95 = oo st me. ce O Se ee em aA oe Oe et eS Ole — + 7 wr onpro oe: 2? oO<.8Ss ve ©} THE AMERICAN TEACHER 67 cases taken to court where mediation has failed, or in cases of libel, assault, acci- dent compensation cases, and so on. On the social side it offers large privileges to its members, ¢- e., a splendid- ly managed Provident Fund, providing for sickness, old age and life insurances, house-owning, etc., and it is now de- veloping a Holiday Bureau. The London Teachers’ Association is a large and active organization of all ranks of teachers in the London service, numbering nearly 20,000 members. (One curious and significant difference be- tween the English and American unions lies in the fact that the higher officials, i. €., Supervisors and inspectors or super- intendents, are not found in the English teachers’ organizations, except of course in the more strictly educational bodies, i. e., the Child Study and Froebel So- cieties.) The aim and organization of the L. T. A. are similar to those of the N.U.T. Thru its general secretary, who is an elected member of the county coun- cil and has a seat on the education com- mittee, it watches with eagle glance the interest of its members. The doings of the educational committee, prospective and actual, are closely watched and dis- cussed, and memoranda and personal de- putations are frequently sent to the ed- ucational committee or to its chief offi- cials. The general secretary, too, gives private and personal advice to individual teachers seeking his help. Where tactfully and generously fol- lowed, such procedure offers valuable op- portunities for mutual discussion and sympathetic understanding between teachers and employers, but certain obvious dangers need to be carefully guarded against. The L. T. A. offers unusual material privileges to its members, including a mutual insurance scheme, an extraor- dinarily well-worked Holiday Bureau, and a trading scheme conferring priv- ileged terms of purchase with many business firms. Certain types of such co- operative benefits are obviously helpful and right, but there is always the danger of the temptation to remain in a union for its material advantages, when one may wish to come out for the sake of some principle. The Association publishes a newsy weekly paper, often containing the rank- est criticisms of the powers that be; and it has recently inaugurated an Educa- tional Committee for studying methods of teaching, etc., and valuable courses of technics by well known experts. Whilst the above unions represent teachers of all ranks, and therefore may well stand for a solidarity of aim and action on broad educational lines, there is a growing tendency to develop associa- tions representing sectional interests, 4. ¢. Class Teachers’ Federations, Head Teachers’ Associations, Women Teachers’ Unions, etc. Where these exist for pur- poses of social intercourse and mutual discussion of interests common to the group, they serve a useful and material purpose. Where, however, there is the slightest danger of a spirit of self-protection creeping in, of emphasizing the assumed rights of one group over another, . the sectional association becomes a_ real menace, especially in the field of educa- tional service, where there can be no real clashing of group interests. Granting the right aims, unions of teachers are worthy of generous accept- ance and encouragement. To fight, with force and dignity for proper recognition and remuneration, and for proper con- ditions for children and teachers, to edu- cate and win over the community (espe- cially in England) to strengthen the weak individual within its ranks, to secure redress of grievances within the fold be- fore coming outside, and to promote so- cial intercourse and broad educational ideals amongst its members, and above all, to inspire in all a generous attitude towards their hours of labor for the community, and a loyal relationship with their employers who represent the com- munity—by these, and by these alone, can a Teachers’ Union justify its exist- ence and become a real strength and in- spiration to education. ANOTHER ENGLISH REVOLUTION Sam SCHMALHAUSEN De Witt Clinton High School, New York SOME TRUTHS ARE so simple, they re- quire constant iteration ere we ade- quately apprehend their axiomatic signi- ficance. Is there any truth in social geometry more self-evident than this: New needs provoke new devices for their fulfillment? No observer who can think beyond his inherited prejudices but has been stirred by the amazing changes now transform- ing school and society. Of all persons moulding the youth’s education, we Eng- lish teachers ought to have responded most sensitively to the newer needs of the age. Have we thus responded? Why not? Briefly and bluntly, because we have not known how to defy the tradi- tional tyranny of haughtyculture. At heart we are egocentric evangelists, aglow with irrelevant ideals, zealous to im- pose scholastic aims upon an unscholas- tical studentbody. And we have suffered for a martyr’s follies. Not one of us but feels in his soul that his students have wilfully abandoned the refining delights of culture for the garish indulgences of yellow journalism. We deceive ourselves. The unlovely fact is that in our wrong- headed enthusiasms for impossibilist ideals, we teachers have departed from modest good sense and in lieu of under- standing modern needs we have futilely continued to preach old gospels, the ir- relevant gospels of haughtyculture. Haughtyculture is the pursuit of knowledge for the sake of prestige. To know (by rote, if necessary) the “best” that has been written in antecedent ages gives one standing! It may or may not yield insight. Unfortunately, in a strati- fied society, prestige is dearer to the hu- man heart than mere wisdom. Haughty- culture has marred the vision of mankind precisely because it has cunningly ap- pealed to the deepest of all human in- stincts: the passion for self-distinction. Haughtyculture has catered to a passion which roots deep in vanity. To know the books—if only by name—that have been traditionally approved as the great books is a distinction so profitable in a darkling world of unholy ignoramuses, one won- ders how the gentleman’s ideal of culture for culture’s sake has ever been liable to the assaults of modernity. But “The old order changeth, giving place to new.” Tho classicists make sad moan over the bankruptcy of haughtyculture, the younger generation of spirited mentors teasingly rejoice over the magnificent ruin. Old follies endure not forever. The mock-heroic attempt to “elevate” our lowly students by teaching them to ad- mire thru apish reverence, the achieve- ments of a caste-culture has failed most dismally. The élitizing passion has spent its pristine force. Incorrigible sentimen- talists will lament over the inevitable— possibly the irrevocable. More robust souls will wisely accept incontrovertible facts and strive to bend it to our more realizable purposes. We have been dis- illusioned. We reluctantly admit that scholarship is an impossible ideal for the masses. Education is no longer a bookish discipline but an interesting study in hu- man passions and prejudices and grop- ing experiments in team work. In short, education, as he who thinks may perceive, is rapidly becoming a congeries of prob- lems in Sociology. Education has be- come sociological. A sociological education shifts the cul- tural emphasis from scholarship to sheer interest. Not bookishness but intellectual alertness is the touchstone of achievement in our democracy. In an age so chaotic and heavy-laden as this, he must be a simpleton indeed who would pin his faith to the outworn ideals of earlier centuries when life was a reliable routine, fixed by habit and tradition, sanctified by provin- cialism and approved by superior folk as the order of nature. The bewildering changes of yesterday have sent our faiths scurrying for some secure anchorage. 68 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Some of us modestly believe we have espied safe harbors. To these ports of refuge we invite pilgrims who wearily seek a pedagogical haven for their op- pressed souls. How can we cope with the complex demands of this marvelous age of chaos, so new and so beautiful to lovers of change? A thousand intelligent answers might be given. Let us try a pertinent few. Mathematically stated, our problem reads: (1) Given a mixed population of commonplace students; (2) Given the psychological law which postulates that all abiding interest flows from live ex- periences and graphic associations; Re- quired; To find a method of enlighten- ment for high school English work. CONSTRUCTION. (1) Draw a sharp line thru all haughty- culture prejudices. (2) Connect the class room work with the pupil’s own environmental ex- periences. (3) Connect the teacher’s sympathies with the strivings of the plodding masses. PROOF (A) The age in which we live is most worthy of our study (Axiom). (B) All idealism is bound up with mass movements (See History). (C) The study of English is the cultivation of Idealisms (Plain Geometry). (D) The English Room is the Place “par excellence” for the sym- pathetic study of current social movements (By intuition and con- sent). Hence, all questions, all books, all suggestions that dramatize and illuminate the aspirations of the masses are the true and exalted con- tent of the English Curriculum. “Which Was to be Expected.” There are three vital interests which characterize this age as the most human of all the weary ages: the rights of chil- dren, the needs of women, the responsi- bilities of men. No person can conscien- tiously call himself educated whose sym- 6&9 pathies have been left unquickened by these tremendous issues. No school edu- cation can honorably pride itself upon its cultural “éclaircissement” unless every young man and young woman under its tutelage has been touched deeply and imaginatively by the immensity of these humanities. For the only “humanities” are the vexing problems of everyday life. One can understand why the brilliant sociologist, Edward A Ross, in his Changing America, confesses that after years of abstractionist thinking, (scholas- ticism caught in its own trap) he was finally succumbed to the sentiment that the deepest concern of life is “Men, wo- men, and children.” (In tune with our spirited age of emancipation, we should invert the series in the order of affec- tionate concern and write “children, wo- men and men.”) Children, Women, Men—if not a holy trinity, at least a beautiful cluster of deep- est idealism is garlanded about these eternal three. Is there any valid reason why the Eng- lish class room—the most spiritualizing influence in the student’s life—should evade its fine responsibility of analyzing, sifting, weighing, refining and evaluating the “raw” materials that collectively con- stitute the affectionate interests of human beings? Is there any compelling reason why the English class cannot be a spirit- ual clearing house wherein the oppressive doubts and untamed dreams and jarring idealisms of youth may be composed and collectively resolved? What the English work might be and is not, makes the best teachers falter and fail and lose faith. The inspiring potentialities of youth, largely untapped and unexploited, chal- lenge the courage of the younger teachers, light-bearers still unexhausted by sapless routine. Some of us have made the actual ex- periments in class room and we con- fidently and heartedly assert that Eng- lish can release its mighty promise for democratic uplift by identifying its ideal- ism with a human philosophy of every- day life; a philosophy of amelioration. The interpretation of social aspirations, 70 THE AMERICAN TEACHER celebrated in the subject called English, will never attain to its democratic emi- nence in our high schools so long as a traditional curriculum, unrelated, scho- lastical, high-brow, ‘continues to parade as useful culture. The ideals hitherto emphasized by the study of English truly embody a pathology of culture; a sort of corrective discipline for arriving “gentle- men and ladies.” Something more posi- tive, more wholesome, more electrifying is needed to stimulate the finer energies of ultra-modern adolescents. To the dis- covery of that more positive philosophy of everyday life, we Teachers of English must address our ingenuities. Perhaps the most adequate approach to our problem lies thru the “Critical Question.” It is amazing to observe how indifferent teachers are to the value of critical questions (not found ready to hand in copiously annotated text-books). Yet no type of query more effectually re- leases the personal, intimate experiences and observations of students. For ex- ample, consider the following questions as types of challenges we have been hurl- ing at our pupils: 1—Why do you behave better in a stranger’s home than in your own? 2—How does conceit help to stimulate faith in one’s possibilities ? 3—Why is it so difficult to be truthful in a personal crisis? 4—Why are we less ashamed of our wrong-doing privately than publicly? 5—Suppose you could do as you pleased; what then? 6—Why do we cling so passionately to our prejudices? 7—Why do we all argue so much with- out changing our beliefs? 8—Under what conditions may diso- bedience be a virtue? g—Why is your attitude toward a ser- vant girl so different from your con- duct toward, let us say, a college pro- fessor? 10—Why do we admire the Revolution- ary Heroes of the Past while condemn- ing those of the Present? 11—Why have women played so small a part in the intellectual development of the race? 12—What prevents us from listening with comfort to hostile ideas? 13—Why do men find it easier to be char- itable than to be just? 14—What cruelties are children guilty of in the pursuit of pleasure? These challenging interrogations can set off a battery of startlingly interesting ideas and experiences, such as an ap- proved list of “classics” could at best only feebly ignite. Youth simply loves to dis- cuss the discords and contradictions of life even as sophisticated adults do. The philosophic temperament—Andrew Lang has immortalized “Why Why” as the first radical cannot be evoked too soon. Critical questions should motivate and surround every recitation. Book work is relegated to its proper historic function of supplementing and clarifying familiar experiences. These familiar experiences must represent the student’s daily ob- servations and verifiable insights. The books usually recommended by post- graduated pedagogs are alien to the pupil’s familiar interests. He may learn thru cultural coercion to respect what is beyond him: he will not learn to weave haughtyculture into his mental fibre. The process of osmosis operates as infallibly in the mental flow as in the physical transfusion. Teachers are forever violat- ing the psychological law of osmosis: bravely but futilely essaying to persuade unharmonious things to co-mingle. Critical questions are fundamentally important and transforming. Dryness, weariness, repetition, plagiarized appre- ciation, parrot memorization, aimlessness, fade like so many nightmares when sheer interest, spontaneous and vital, irradiates the collective recitation. However, books, tho a by-product (rather than the main product), may be a brilliant supplement to the English work. Accepting the truism that interest derives from familiar experience, we may supply ambitious stu- dents with stimulating books of a soci- ological nature. For example: the fol- lowing “human studies” have been used nono o& o eal 4 hw 2 6 He oe 744 cw Bieta oes, ee le oe) "i “ fA ee he ee ee oe ee Cl ClO Casa vaogdtaoroocwue7 woe g ie he nd b- nd als ut ild Se ey the THE AMERICAN TEACHER ve!) system must be administered by human beings and that the system itself can never be dissocic*ed from those human beings. Yet it cannot be too often re- peated, for day after day we forget it. Finally, despite the fact that these words have been inspired by unpleasant per- sonal experiences, they are words of earnest sincerity; they come from one who is himself shortly to supervise and whose daily prayer is, “Lord, keep me human.” The Harrisburg, Pa, school board has adopted the recommendation of the superin- tendent and high-school principal that an ex- perienced and competent female teacher ad- viser be employed to have general out-of-door oversight of high school girls. The duties of such teacher include personal conferences with mothers in the homes, and with the stu- dents themselves, the determining of causes for failure in studies, for dropping out of school, advising on personal matters, securing safe and proper emplcyment for those forced to leave school, conferring with employers, and, in general, acting as helper and adviser on all matters pertaining to the educational and personal welfare of high school girls. LET US NOT worry over the attitude of reactionaries. It seems to be a law of progress that no new idea can succeed unless it meets opposition. Those who oppose an idea perform a useful func- tion. By opposing, they advertise it and thus it is brot to the attention of persons who would not hear of it otherwise. Reac- tionaries are therefore almost as necces- sary to the progress of an idea as those who work for it. Hence they deserve our thinks, for they halve our work. What would the tired business man and the contractor say if the city officials should Suggest a reduction of ten per cent in the contract prices of supplies for the city de- partments, or in the contract prices of build- ings in course of erection? BOOK NOTES THE SOCIAL responsibility for the health of the school child is entering more and more into the public consciousness. A good analy- sis of this responsibility, together with an account of the various methods thru which it finds expression is given by Dr Hoag and Pro- fessor Terman in their Health Work in the Schools. This is not only an excellent manual for administrative officers, but a very instruc- tive book for the class room teacher. All of us come in contact with the health problems of children, and even when we do not have to teach hygiene formally, we shall be able to get much of help from this book. There are extensive references, good illustrations, many useful charts and tables, an analytical table of contents and a good index. (Hough- ton Mifflin Co. $1.60 net.) LOOKING FORWARD But OF EDUCATIONISTS there are dif- ferent kinds. Between the schoolmaster of yesterday, with his paymaster and so- cial complement, the politician, and the evolutionary psychologist, there is a world of difference. The transformation of the former pair of educationists into the latter is plainly incipient, proceeding for the most part with well nigh imper- ceptible steps, yet at times also by obvious new departures. It is, perhaps, of all the phases of the contemporary transition, the one most fraught with significance, most charged with promise for the future. Beyond and beneath the needed process of political conversion, educational con- versions are also needed. And these are in progress, and at many points. VIcToR BRANFORD, in Interpretations and Fore- casts. It is strange indeed that a system in which the teacher is the vital educator, the only real agent in the application of the course of study to the children, not only gives that teacher no “definite and authori- tative position in shaping” the curriculum, but usually does not even consult him in its formation—PAUL KLAPPER, in Principles of Educational Practice MORE PRODUCTS OF THE SPIRIT OF DEMOCRACY (From the Bulletin of the St Paul Grade Teachers’ Association) I On April 14, 1915, the Teachers’ Advisory Board of St. Paul met in the office of the Superintendent to consider the revision of the Course of Study. II In a discussion of the work of the Chicago Teachers’ Councils, the St. Paul Bulletin says, “It would be interesting to ask why Boards of Education have reasoned that all the wit, wisdom and intelligence of the teaching force has been possessed by the superintendent, or by a small group com- posed of the superintendent and his assistants, or why they have ignored the presence of teachers in the ranks who must have intelligence, whose years of experience give them an understanding of educational problems, whose daily work in the classroom authorizes them to speak on the needs of the children.” III Ella Flagg Young organized the teachers of Chicago into councils, whose dele- gates bring questions directly to her attention without the intervention of her assistants. IV Chicago teachers discuss with the superintendent propositions like these: 1 The excessive number of examinations in schools. 2 The exemption from examination of pupils who do work of high quality. 3 The amount of teaching supervisors should do. 4 The establishment of junior high schools. 5 The moistening as well as the heating of the air in school rooms. 6 The opening of school room windows at the discretion of teachers. 7 The more frequent cleaning of schools. 8 That all basement school rooms should be closed. 9 That a less dangerous floor covering than oil should be used. 10 That the salaries of engineers and janitors, and the expense of lighting and heating, should be paid out of the building fund, instead of from the educational fund. 11 THAT TEACHERS SHOULD HAVE A VOTE IN THE SELEC- TION OF THE PRINCIPALS WHO ARE TO BE PLACED OVER THEM! CHOOSING THE FIT; BIRCHMONT CAMP What the public wants it can have, and For Women it can have its work done efficiently, pro- vided it will support the reorganization esata agi ecpitaeaion of school a A time a say in Ninth season. Ideal for rest or rec- the City of New York—along the line of fea $8 BL pee — Ne encouraging the leadership of teachers ing, etc. Excellent service. Illustrated who have social ideals and ability, thru booklet. official recognition and appointment to MR. and MRS. FIELD. Directors. those positions that are now held by a : “friend,” or by a “friend of a friend.” We Need Your Co-operation. Get another Subscriber. 80