4 ryDemocracy in Education; Education for Democracy OFFICIAL ORGAN, THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS Vor YT. No. 5 NEW YORK, MAY, 1917 One Dorrarn a Yaar ot Ss ACES Prod \c vat $099 From you too we have learned But your Militarism is obnoxious to us— well none of it, nor of any other brand. We must have Freedom of Thought— and mean to have it. We must have Freedom of Speech— and will insist upon it. We cannot thrive on Compulsion— we will resist it. We cannot tolerate Autocracy— and we will overthrow it. We love Liberty—and mean to fight for it. SCHOOL CHILDREN IN WAR TIME WINTHRopP D. LANE Editorial Staff, The Survey ArTHuR J. BALFour, former Premier Viviani, General Joffre and other in- fluential men of England and France have just arrived in this country. One of their objects in coming, we are told, is to “help the United States avoid the mistakes made by the Allies when they entered the war.” Let us hope that they will do that. Let us hope that among the mistakes that they will tell us how to avoid will be some of those early and disastrous inroads that England and France (and Germany and Austria, too) made upon domestic institutions during the first few months of the war. Let us hope that they will tell us how to avoid such inroads upon education and industry, the welfare of children, the health of workers, the morale of home life, and other social and economic protections that for decades this country, like England, has been trying to build up as conservers of national strength and national security. The United States should ask these gentlemen some very specific ques- tions. It should ask them whether it is not true that England indulged in a wholesale attack, under guise of a sin- cere desire for “economy,” upon her elementary schools and her whole edu- cational machinery; whether she did not strip the schools of men teachers in the prime of life, stop all new build- ing on schools, give schools over to the military needlessly as barracks and thereby create large difficulties of overcrowding and even force many children to go without instruction for long periods of time; whether she did not so cut down on supplies and all the apparatus of education that the very life blood of the schools was in danger of being sucked away; and whether she does not now regret all or many of these things. It should ask whether England did not further permit such a wholesale suspension of school attendance laws that hundreds of thousands of children of eleven, twelve and thirteen years of age were sent to work upon farms and in munition factories as a supposed necessity of warcraft. It should ask whether it is not true that England relaxed her labor laws, let her workers toil twelve and four- teen hours a day, permitted a seven- day week, made her women and chil- dren work at night, and endangered the labor force of the nation by fail- ure to maintain proper safeguards against fatigue, industrial disease and accident. It should ask what about the report of the government’s own Committee on the Health of Munition Workers, which was appointed by Lloyd George in September, 1915, and of which Sir George Newman was chairman. This committee was created for the highly practical purpose of finding out how maximum output could be most effec- tively maintained, and it discovered that it could not be maintained by ex- cessive overtime work, by night em- ployment of women, by poor feeding and housing of employees, by break- ing down standards everywhere. As a consequence, it put back those stand- ards, or many of them, and others are in process of being put back. The United States should ask England if avoidance of those early errors would not have produced more munitions and have saved much waste of human life and effort. It should also ask whether there was not the same haste of action, the same ill-advised “economy,” the same ultimate waste in lowering the educa- tional standards. Before the children were taken from the school and sent to the farms, were other expedients tried? Was the labor of able-bodied 66 — 85 ee weet nee =—-£ 8 mht wf THE AMERICAN TEACHER 67 women used as effectively as it could be before the backs of little children were bent to long tasks for little or no pay? Was the last vestige of adult male labor used? Were farmers of- fered extra pay for overtime, or was it true (as is commonly believed) that in Norfolk, where an agreement was reached compelling overtime to be paid for at the rate of 6d per hour, farmers refused to employ men over- time as soon as they discovered that they could get an unlimited supply of boy labor? Finally, this country should ask why, if juvenile labor was really necessary, older boys were not taken from the great public secondary schools of England, instead of all the stress being laid upon the employment of children of the poor, who were not so well equipped in years, in physique and in the training that they will need in later life. “A boy,” said a well-known English agriculturalist at a meeting of farmers in East Sussex shortly after the war began, “ought to learn all he wants to by the time he is twelve years old, and during the next two years he will learn more under a farmer than he will under a schoolmaster.” Perhaps our visitors from England can tell us whether this represents the real influ- ence that broke down the compulsory attendance laws of that country and put upon the next generation of Eng- land a war burden not contemplated in the taxing measures of her finan- ciers. We are in danger of following in the footsteps of England. We are about to ape her disastrous policy. Our state legislatures are already showing a desire to let down the bars of compulsory school attendance in order to mobilize “an army of farming boys.” The Commissioner of Educa- tion of New York, John H. Finley, is on record as favoring a suspension of such laws “under the direction and control of the State Department of Education.” He has already called meetings of village and district super- intendents in each county of the state to consider the part the schools may play in the emergency now confront- ing the nation. Morevore, a measure known as the Carson-Johnson bill has already been presented to the legislature at Albany, authorizing the Industrial Commission “to modify or suspend temporarily in times of national crisis the operation of any and all provisions of the labor law relating to hours of labor, the employment of women and children, the one day of rest in seven, or prohibited occupations,” with refer- ence to all persons engaged in the manufacture of military and naval supplies. Nor is this all. The president has already suspended by executive order the eight-hour day for workers on gov- ernment naval contracts. Pressure is already being brought to bear upon state legislatures everywhere, to relax the labor laws. Even the New York State Federation of Labor has felt such a patriotic thrill that it has de- clared in favor of relaxing laws that restrict hours of work. Not all of these things come equally close home to teachers. But they all show which way the wind is blowing and in what direction hysteria and an ill-controlled desire to be of great service will lead. Having made a beginning, is the United States to follow England thru- out the whole of her disastrous policy? Are we, too, to turn our school houses needlessly into military barracks, to say that no money shall be spent on new building, to increase the size of classes and lower the standards of teaching, to exclude the youngest chil- dren from school on the ground that any “formal intellectual training” they get doesn’t amount to much anyhow? Is medical inspection to go by the board, school feeding to be decreased, vocational instruction to be sacrificed THE AMERICAN TEACHER and all kinds of “extra” classes to be lopped from the curriculum? It may seem extravagant to entertain fears of this nature. But already, tho we have been in the war but a few weeks, we are proposing one of the most drastic and ruinous measures adopted abroad —the relaxation of school attendance laws—and he would be a bold man who would predict that the movement will stop there. England was not long in seeing one bad effect of her educational policy. Early last year an investigation con- ducted by the police showed that ju- venile delinquency had increased 34 per cent since pre-war times. This was the average increase in seventeen towns and cities. In Manchester it increased 56 per cent, in Edinburgh 46. The offenses that thus became more popular were of all sorts, but the chief increase was in petty thieving and stealing. The increase was greatest, moreover, among those age groups in which the greatest number of children were released from school. If we are now to do these things, or any of them, we ought to see clearly what is the necessity for them. We ought to be told why it is not expedi- ent, as the National Committee on Child Labor has suggested, to confine our sending of children to farms to those over fourteen, or even sixteen. This committee has drafted a set of regulations to meet the need and at the same time to protect children. It proposes that only children of four- teen or over be permitted to work on farms for others than their parents, and that they be excused from school for this purpose from June 1 to Oc- tober 1; that children thus excused be not permitted to work more than eight hours a day or more than six days a week; that special work per- mits be issued showing that the child has been examined by a physician and is physically fit; that they be allowed to work only on farms known to be well-managed ; that the feeding and hous- ing of the children be suitable, and that the transportation be supervised. For younger children, the commit- tee suggests that they be allowed to aid during the summer months in till- ing vacant village, city and suburban properties, but that no general school exemption be permitted that will turn children out of school without providing both occupation and supervision. Why should we not put our heads as well as our hearts into this crisis? President Wilson has challenged us “to conduct ourselves as belligerents in a high spirit of right and fairness because we act without animus.” Why should our right and fairness be evinced only toward the enemy? We would not think of wasting our strength by sending untrained men to the trenches. Why should we waste our strength by breaking down safe- guards here at home? Whether the war will be a long and tedious one, whether the United States, like the na- tions of Europe, will be compelled to go forward on the feet of little chil- dren when the war is over, it may now be too early to tell; but surely it is the part of wisdom and sound policy to do as little as possible that we may regret, tq conserve everything that we can conserve, and to touch -last those very ones among us who may have to gather up the shattered remains left by the war and build anew the Amer- ica that we are fighting to protect. PROMOTIONS FOR EFFICIENCY A. LEFKowITz, DeWitt Clinton High School, New York. One of the worst tendencies in our present educational system, is the drift of many of the ablest elementary school teachers to the high schools. As a re- sult, hundreds of teachers who have developed along certain lines and have therefore become almost indispensable ee ee ell a ian fs —_— << — a iwrv Ooo~«x Ss Ww THE AMERICAN TEACHER 69 in the schools where they happen to be teaching, soon find themselves in a vast high school, wherein their personality is overlooked, their particular ability ig- nored or undiscovered, and their useful- ness largely nullified. The effect upon the teacher is disastrous. From a per- son of importance he degenerates into a mere cog in a huge educational factory, where he finds no opportunity to employ his special ability which cost the city so much to develop. As a result, his ability begins to atrophy because of disuse, he becomes discouraged and disgusted, drifts with the tide, and becomes another log of driftwood which dams our educa- tional stream. Similarly, hundreds of teachers, who, because of temperament, training or both, are ideally fitted to teach younger children, seek appointment to the 6B-8B grades, not because they are qualified nor because they prefer them, but like the drifts to the high schools, because of the increase remuneration offered. How often have we seen an excellent 1A teacher transformed into a mediocre 8A teacher. How many poor high school teachers would make splendid elemen- tary school teachers. The system trains a teacher for a par- ticular position, permits him to attain maximum efficiency, and when he is in a position to render service commensurate with the salary he receives, it induces him to desert his position to the detri- ment of the service and to his own de- moralization! How long will the educa- tional experts of our city tolerate a sys- tem that is detrimental to the child, sui- cidal to the teacher and subversive of sound business policy? How long will it take our educational experts to realize that the best service is entitled to the best reward; that inteliectual attainments aré as valuable in the 1A teachers as in the high school teachers ; and that so long as their professional attainments are the same, their rewards ought to be the same? The city is morally bound to give every child in every grade the best instruction that is obtainable. A teacher of the 1B grade ought to be as cultured and as well equipped for her work as the best equipped high school specialist; in fact, even better equipped, because few of our pupils reach the high schools, but all at- tend the elementary schools. How then can teachers be encouraged to develop their ability to the utmost? How can we discourage teachers from deserting positions in which they are fully qualified to do the best work, for positions wherein their work is but mediocre at its best? How can we elim- inate all petty school jealousies and class distinctions that divide the teachers and interfere with the efficient working of the schools? How can we make our sys- tem elastic? Only by paying every teacher for the license held and not for the grade taught. When salary is made to depend upon intellectual and profes- sional attainment and not upon the grade taught, or upon promotion which in turn depends upon the death, resignation, dis- missal or retirement or promotion of those now in the system, teachers will seek to develop their particular abilities and they will seek appointment to the grades in which their ability will have the greatest opportunity to manifest it- self thereby benefitting the child, the teacher and the educational system. If our educational experts see the light, then the teachers, the children and the public will behold the dawn of a new era. OFFICIAL BULLDOZING For the past two years, financial in- terests and politicians by the score have been preaching war on the ground that America was in great danger of losing her soul; that America, wallowing in a sea of luxury, would find her blood turning to water, unless she purged her- self with blood and iron. The great mass of workers suffering untold hard- ships from the unprecedented increase in the cost of living, (the only blessing that the reign of prosperity had brought 70 to them) could not help but look with distrust and bitterness at these self-ap- pointed prophets of morality. As a re- sult, these vociferous shouters have greatly dulled the edge of the Govern- ment’s motives for entering the war. In New York City, a group of self- constituted guardians of loyalty have in their way helped to prevent their fellow- citizens from appreciating to the fullest that the present is a war for Democracy. Even before the war began, many felt a taste of their guardianship. A pledge of loyalty drawn up by the Mayor’s Committee on National Defense was cir- culated by the Board of Education among the teachers of the city, with the distinct understanding that those who wished might sign. The Committee in its letter to principals, however, said very curtly, “Have your teachers sign the enclosed pledge of loyalty.” War at this time had not yet been declared, and every citizen presumably might still decide for himself whether he agreed with the sentiments of the pledge, which were to all intents and purposes a decla- ration in favor of war. Many refused to sign it on this ground; while others felt that it was silly to question their loyalty to that government that they loved more than any other. Among these were members of the Board of Ed- ucation and principals of elementary and high schools. In the majority of the schools of the city, however, the greatest possible pres- sure was brought to bear upon those teachers who did not feel that they could or cared to sign the pledge. One hun- dred percent was demanded, and what a principal demands he usually gets. This was the first step to impress upon the teachers the essentially democratic purpose of this war. Sign or get out! was the slogan of the metropolitan press, which has so often and so unmercifully condemned our President when he re- fused to do their bidding. Some details will not be amiss. Boys’ High School, Brooklyn, In the four THE AMERICAN TEACHER teachers refused to sign, one of them being a Quaker. At a school assembly, the principal, Mr. Janes, in addressing the boys told them that there were four teachers in his school who were a dis- gtace to the school. In the Girls’ High School, Dr. Felter, in an excess of zeal forced every girl to sign, disregarding the order that only those above eighteen, be asked to sign. When several girls re- fused, he ordered them to resign from the Arista, the most important school so- ciety. Many of the girls, of course, re- fused. The president of the Board of Education was informed of this high- handed proceeding. His secretary was astounded when told that many of the signatures had been secured under com- pulsion. He immediately ordered the principal to revoke his demand, inform- ing him that he had overstepped his au- thority. In the Commercial High School, Brooklyn, Dr. Fairley took it upon himself to decide that only disloyal teachers would refuse to sign, by send- ing around an order which read: “All loyal teachers will sign the pledge.” In the De Witt Clinton High School the word was passed around that the names of all those who refused to sign would be presented to the principal. More than twenty teachers publicly pro- tested against this Prussian proceeding. Dr. Paul was slightly taken aback, and in some trepidation, he posted a notice informing the teachers that anyone de- siring to withdraw his name from the pledge, or to add his name, might do so. If teachers were to be compelled to sign the pledge, one might inquire why the Mayor’s Committee should have taken the trouble to call the document in question “a pledge.” A pledge con- notes agreement and willingness. If doubt and unwillingness to sign are to be brushed aside as being unworthy of con- sideration, then let us frankly call the Mayor’s document, an article of compul- sion—indeed, a draft of the teachers’ conscience. A CONSCIENTIOUS PATRIOT. THE AMERICAN TEACHER 71 IN RE TEACHERS RIGHTS Hy ScHoor Suppose: That your Principal, in his praiseworthy zeal, determined one day on the holding of a Parents’ Meet- ing in his and your school; Suppose: That he came to the proper conclusion that the best time to hold such a meeting is the evening; Suppose: That he thereupon in- formed you and your colleagues that your presence at that meeting on that evening was by him expected ; Suppose: That, furthermore, he de- clared your presence obligatory, and that no reason for absence, not even previous obligations, such as night- school service, would be considered valid ; Suppose, now, that all these things took place, Would you then consider it your duty to sign the following letter to your Principal? Dear Mister Principal: Certain circumstances connected with the Parents’ Meeting, held on a recent evening in our school, have given rise among us, teachers of the school, to certain views and feelings which we consider it our duty re- spectfully to communicate to you. We trust you will agree with us that the best inter- ests of our school require that all issues which may arise in the teaching and super- vising staff should be discussed and settled with cordiality, freedom and frankness. Any other course must engender a spirit of dissatisfaction and constraint which is bound to have a prejudicial effect on the work of the school. We desire, first of all, to express our be- lief in the usefulness and value of Parents’ Meetings. The closer co-operation between parents and teachers which such meetings encourage is bound to make the teacher’s work more fruitful and grateful. We be- lieve, therefore, that the teacher should con- sider it his duty to contribute to the suc- cess of those meetings to the extent of his powers. We believe, furthermore, that the interests and dignity of the teaching pro- fession require a broad and unselfish atti- tude towards his work on the part of the individual teacher, an attitude which will not limit his services to the official school hours, an attitude which will even prompt him to the cheerful sacrifice of an evening for such a worthy object as, for example, a Parents’ Meeting. Such a sacrifice, however, if it is to have any worthy significance, must be absolutely free and uncoerced. We will pass over the question as to whether or not the use of coercion in forcing teachers to report for duty in the evening is legal. We have been informed that a judicial decision is in ex- istence which makes civil service employees subject to call during and for twenty-four hours a day! Whether or not such a de- cision exist, however, it is evident to us that the use of coercion in forcing teachers to report for duty in the evening is morally unjustifiable. To order them to break all obligations which may bind them for that evening savors—we must be frank—of the tyrannical. To assume so lightly the power to dispose of the teacher’s free time and obligations is an act which reduces him to the category of a minor and a slave. It is an act against which we must solemnly pro- test. It should be unnecessary for us to add that this statement is not evoked by any disinclination to contribute of our free time to the needs of our profession. The in- terests and dignity of our profession, how- ever, are bound to suffer if we permit an arbitrary disposition of our free time. The standing of our profession will be enhanced thru the development of freedom and re- sponsibility in the individual teacher, for without freedom there can be no responsi- bility. The standing of our profession will be compromised if for freedom and respon- sibility there is substituted slavish acquies- cence or murmuring compliance. Respect for mutual rights is the first condition of successful co-operation. The readiness to defend one’s rights is the first condition of manhood. THE AMERICAN TEACHER We hope that this statement will be re- ceived as an earnest of our sincere solici- tude for the best interests of our profes- sion, and that it will contribute to the spirit of co-operation in the work of our own school. Sincerely and respectfully yours, The above suppositions, as we know on competent authority, are not hypothe- tical. But we do not know that the above letter, or any letter like it, was ever sent to the addressee. THE CHICAGO DECISION The Supreme Court of the State of Illinois has given its decision on the is- sue of whether the Chicago Board of Education may adopt a rule which pro- hibits teachers from belonging to organ- izations that are affiliated with trade unions. The Court says the Board may do as it pleases, and no one may object under the laws of the State of Illinois. The history of the case has been told and referred to many times in these columns, ‘but the decision of the Court on the rule is worth printing and reading as a rare example of judicial manners and judi- cial psychology. In this connection per- haps we ought to say that we are ignor- ant of whether an organ published in the State of New York may or may not be liable to the charge of “insubordination,” or whatever it may be called, if we tell our reaction to the decision of the IIli- nois court. And being ignorant, as well as without money or time to go to jail, we shall probably “get away with it.” The rule of the Chicago Board of Education on which the decision was made is in part as follows: 1. Membership by teachers in labor unions, or in organizations of teachers affiliated with a trade union or a federation or association of trade unions, is inimical to proper dis- cipline, prejudicial to the efficiency of the teaching force and detrimental to the welfare of the public school system, therefore such membership or affiliation is hereby prohib- om. °° © 2. All members of the education depart- ment who are now members of any such pro- hibited organizations shall forthwith discon- tinue their membership therein, and shall within three (3) months from the date of the adoption of this rule furnish satisfactory evi- dence that such membership has been discon- tinued. * * * The teachers unions of Chicago se- cured an injunction prohibiting the en- forcement of the rule. In the suit de- cided by the superior court of Cook County, Illinois, the Board of Education was perpetually enjoined from enforcing or attempting to enforce the rule. The Board appealed to the Supreme Court. And now comes the august April Court, and decides: The board has the absolute right to de- cline to employ or to re-employ any ap- plicant for any reason whatever or for no reason at all. The board is responsible for its action only to the people of the city, from whom, thru the mayor, the members have received their appointments. It is no infringement upon the constitutional rights of anyone for the board to decline to em- ploy him as a teacher in the schools, and it is immaterial whether the reason for the refusal to employ him is because the ap- plicant is married or unmarried, is of fair complexion or dark [italics ours], is or is not a member of a trades union, or whether no reason is given for such refusal. The board is not bound to give any reason for its action. It is free to contract with whom- soever it chooses. Neither the constitution nor the statute places any restriction upon this right of the board to contract, and no one has any grievance which the courts will recognize simply because the board of edu- cation refuses to contract with him or her. Questions of policy are solely for the de- termination of the board, and when they have once been determined by it the courts will not inquire into their propriety. - And the worst of it is, the Court ap- pears to be right, at least for the State of Illinois. But how horrible is justice! It has not been decided yet what the (Continued on page 77) The American Teacher Democrasy in Education: Education for Democracy except July and August, by MPANY, INC., City HENRY R. LINVILLE Editor-in-Chief BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, ONE DOLLAR FOR THE YEAR—FOREIGN, $1.10. Beans as second-class matter, February $1, 1918, at the Post Office, at New York, N. Y.; under the het of March 8, 1879. VOL. VI MAY, 1917 No. 5 Officers of the American Federation of Teachers (Affiliated with American Federation of Labor) Cuas B Srmiman, President 1620 Lake Ave., Wilmette, II. Ina L M Forsman, Vice-President 4465 N. Kildare Ave., Chicago. Mary F Dwyer, Rec. Secretary 2817 Cambridge Ave., Chicago Marcaret Snopcrass, Corr. Sec. 1061 Dakin St., Chicago F G Srecxer, Financial Sec. 1618 Lake Ave., Wilmette, Ill. James A Means, Treasurer 2628 Sayre Ave., Chicago Mazcaret A Hatsy, Nat'l Organizer 1331 Unity Building, Chicago Nora i O'Connor Prendergast WASTE THERE is probably no greater waste in our whole educational system than that pointed out by Mr. Lefkowitz on an- other page of this issue. There is no incentive—except the desire of the teach- er to do effective work—to perfect one- self in a certain position; nor is there any reward for such—except the assur- ance of no further advancement in pay. The kindergartner can hope for no high- er salary than $1,500, while by prepar- ing for the high schools she might hope to get as high as $2,650 or even $3,150. The teacher of the 1A to 6B group may reach to $1,500, but by neglecting her present grade in studying for promotion to a higher grade she may be “promot- ed” to the 7A to 8B group and reach a salary of $1,800. If there were some practical incentive and some real reward offered for espe- cially effective teaching in each grade we should then have the elemental struc- ture for an improved educational system. A PISTOL AT YOUR HEAD THE Board of Education of New York City has exacted a pledge of loyalty of the twenty-two thousand teachers in the service. The purpose of exacting the pledge of loyalty, as stated by the pro- ponents of the resolution, was to ascer- tain the names of teachers who were not loyal—it being assumed that these would not sign the pledge—and then to punish them for being disloyal. Owing to some perverseness in the minds of the teachers it is said the dis- loyal all signed, and only the loyal, or a few of them, who had never known any country but this refused on the ground that it was a gratuitous insult to ques- tion their loyalty, by implication. The question now is, Shall the Board punish the loyal teachers for insubordination, or the disloyal ones for laughing in their sleeves?—or both? At any rate, exact- ing a loyalty pledge is a silly perform- ance for a great civic body of responsi- ble citizens to give itself up to. The pledge as proposed has some 73 74 THE AMERICAN TEACHER points of interest, albeit narrow and primitive in its idealism. It reads, We, the undersigned, teachers in the pub- lic schools of the City of New York, declare our unqualified allegiance to the Government of the United States of America, and pledge ourselves by word and example to teach and impress upon our pupils the duty of loyal obedience and patriotic service as the high- est ideal of American citizenship. It would not be difficult to find some unscrupulous interests in our land who would be delighted to obtain the uncon- ditional promises of citizens to yield “loyal obedience” to a government which the “interests” might succeed in getting control of. Ideals of governments have changed before now when they were passing thru the throes of war. At one time a government started a war for lib- erty of Frenchmen and ended in defeat after trying to fasten political slavery upon the rest of Europe. At another time a government started a war to lib- erate Cuba, and ended in capturing the Philippines and entering upon a career of imperialism. What may happen to our ideals and our government in the present war for “democracy and human- ity” we do not know, but it may be well not to be overanxious about yielding or teaching “loyal obedience” yet awhile. Furthermore, it is not necessary. We have our national ideals which the best of us will stick to, pledge or no pledge. Any- way, we shall be free to assist in shaping our ideals as the war progresses. For a limited social vision and gener- ally submissive nature which teachers are supposed to have, it may seem that loyal obedience really is the highest ideal of American citizenship. It may be that the author of the pledge did not put in anything about “faithfulness to the in- terests and the welfare of humanity,” because teachers have seen very little of humanity, and would not understand. Finally, if a pledge is worth anything at all, it must come as a voluntary act. If a pistol is held at your head while you are getting out your fountain pen for its patriotic duty, you will respect the pledge about as much as you do the brigand who held you up. THE ILLINOIS EDUCATION LAW THE Legislature of the State of IIli- nois has passed an education bill to which the Governor has affixed his signature. The Chicago Board of Education is re- duced from 21 to 11, tho the appoint- ment is still left to the Mayor with the concurrence of the City Council. There is a new three-headed administration for Chicago, a superintendent, a business manager, and an attorney, all codrdinate, with four-year contracts and $10,000 salaries. For teachers there is perma- nent tenure after a three-years’ proba- tionary period. However, after perma- nent tenure is granted a teacher may still be dropped after thirty days’ notice and a trial, the decision of the Board being final. In view of the sinister influences pre- vailing in Chicago there is still no se- curity of tenure there. A THIRD WAY OUT A FAVORITE game in educational poli- tics is to create a situation in which pres- sure may be exerted in either of two ways, both unwelcome. Then in all politeness you will be asked which of the two alternatves you prefer, whether hari kari or being shot at by a squad. If you are a teacher by profession, and not an Irishman, you are liable to sub- mit meekly, and hope only that the squad may overlook you, or be using non-ex- plosive powder. The principals of the high schools of New York City have been told that there are two possible ways of meeting the problem of overcrowding. Either we may have the principle of duplicate schools (the Gary plan), or we may have an hour added to the school day, making the day last from 8:45 A. M. to 3:30 P. M. Like true teachers to abject sub- missiveness a prey the principals are said to be seriously considering accepting the an oan toaans to me THE AMERICAN TEACHER additional hour, on the principle that they will under no circumstances ac- cept the Gary plan. If we were printers, painters, team- sters, or hod carriers, the bosses would see what we, the teachers, thought about it. Some fine day we may wake up and say what we think about all such mat- ters, as well as sharp tricks which make you choose one of two evils. ADMINISTRATION AND PEOPLE THE Postmaster General, in reporting a surplus for the fiscal year 1915-1916, suggests the possibility of reducing the rates of postage, or of improving the service—or of increasing the compen- sation to the railways. The Government’s contract with a large paper company has been tem- porarily suspended because of the high cost of raw material. The Supply Department of the Board of Education of New York City has permitted modification of contracts for similar reasons. The men of “business,” the people in charge of administration, can readily understand that a contract which does not yield a profit represents “bad busi- ness”—and bad business is bad for the country; whether it is a railroad, or a manufacturer or a merchant that is in- volved, profits must be protected. But these same minds, with relatively few exceptions, find it impossible to see that low levels of human existence represent even worse “business.” It does not seem to occur to these re- sponsible administrators, except in very rare instances, that cost of mate- rials has meaning in the lives of the workers quite as much as in the profits of a business enterprise. In the case of the latter the administrators normal- ly react for the protection of profits; in the case of the former they normal- ly react by casting about for means of “economizing.” Teachers, in common with other 75 public servants, and in common with those other workers who serve the public thru privately controlled agen- cies, should be sufficiently informed and sufficiently intelligent (as well as sufficiently powerful, of course) to make administrative authorities give adequate consideration to the vital, the human side of administration—or take the management into their own hands. EDUCATION AND SOCIAL SERVICE The educational bearings of modern social service are shown strikingly in the discussions scheduled for the forty-fourth annual National Conference of Charities and Correction to be held at Pittsburgh, June 6-13. In every one of the nine major divisions of the conference the dependence of humanitarian efforts upon education emerges. The requirements of modern state pro- grams for child welfare and the organiza- tion of juvenile courts are leading features of this year’s session. The significance to the city of its local community life has been made the topic for one of the main evening sessions. The psychological trend of many of the discus- sions lately in social work will be fur- thered by the program. One meeting will be devoted to the subject of diagnosis of crime. Avocational guidance will be discussed as a new principle in respect to volunteer social service. A development of no little interest to teachers is the continuance of a separate organization meeting at the time of the conference devoted to the subject of diagnosis of crime. The conference at Pittsburgh will con- tinue for one week. Thirty-five hundred delegates are expected to attend. The president is Frederic Almy, secretary of the Charity Organization Society of Buffalo. The prevention of human distress through the operation of all sorts of agencies has been adopted as the main topic of the meet- ing. 76 THE AMERICAN TEACHER ADVICE TO THE MORBIDLY CONSCI- ENTIOUS PEDAGOG Don’t correct too many papers after school. The pupils gain little or nothing from your misguided labors. When in doubt, put off for to-mor- row the papers you are too tired to correct to-day. Don’t make Regents’ exams or any other exams your Deus ex Machina. This is the age of scepticism. Deny the old gods. Your good students will pass in spite of your “poor” teaching ; your poor students will fail in spite of your good teaching. Be reasonable. Don’t overstimulate blockheads. In later life they may aspire to be teachers. Don’t take the orders and suggestions of any superior officer too seriously, —that is, too literally. They’ll abuse you for being a fool. Show your sense of humor by creating for yourself (and pupils) that kind of habitable universe most congenial to your local needs and talents. More often than not, do as you please (please to do what is intelligent). If your superiors don’t like your intel- lectual honesty, let them lump it. Remember, you live (for a very short and uneventful period) but once. Let the minutes count for something. You want to be known as more than a machine, don’t you? Don’t convert simple questions of fa- miliar wrong-doing into complex questions of morality. ’Tis a strange and lenient universe. God’s plane- tary system does not go to smash be- cause from the vaste starry spaces strangely at night some restless me- teors like rebellious Anarchists tear their flaming way toward earth, loosed from the celestial system, derelict and eccentric. Believe me, rigid moralist, this blood-soaked earth can endure and heroically sur- vive wrong-doings such as your sim- ple mind has never yet dared to vis- ualize. Give the pupils (and teach- ers) a chance to be more or less im- perfect. You'll feel happier so. A sense of proportion is the noblest work of man and woman, FOUNTAINPEN PATRIOTISM TeacHers in the high schools and the ele- mentary schools who are protesting to the Board of Education against the compulsory signing of a “loyalty pledge” are justified in their statement that “the humiliation of being coerced into signing a document which impli- edly questions the loyalty of every one is un- warranted and unjust.” No utterances or actions by members of the teaching force have, since the declaration of war, supplied even an excuse for this general imputation of disloyalty. And even if such instances oc- curred here or there, it is senseless to forget that we are a community of five million peo- ple, and to attach greater importance to an incident in New York than to similar occur- rences here or there in the entire State of Illinois. The procedure arouses irritation and creates abroad a false impression of public sentiment. If we heard that the school teach- ers of Berlin were being compelled to sign a loyalty pledge, how speedily we should jump to the conclusion that the Berlin public schools are permeated with sedition. It is a serious question whether the city Administration has ‘not been expending energies that might be more usefully employed in the national cause on this fussy patriotism of the fountain-pen. The signing of petitions and pledges means nothing. The West and South have chosen to show their loyalty by rallying to the re- cruiting offices at a rate that the voluble East might well take to heart—The New York Evening Post, April 23, 1917. Do you want Russia to adopt, along with other institutions, our system of child labor?—Fertx Apzier, before National Child Labor Conference, Baltimore, March, 1917. THE AMERICAN TEACHER 77 THE CHICAGO DECISION (Continued from page 72) Chicago unions will do. A radical change of policy by the new Board of Education would mean that the unions would not be disturbed, and that the teachers who were dismissed in June, 1916, would be restored to their positions. Whatever happens we shall keep our readers in- formed. The Chicago teachers belong to us and we belong to them. Nothing can shake our faith in the invincible character of their mettle and the justice of their cause. If the public does not know, may it soon learn that nowhere else on the educational horizon is there any hope for educational regeneration. In the teachers’ union movement in America, and there alone, is the intelligence, the devotion, the courage, and the social vision necessary to bring the teachers of the land to a realization of their great power over life thru education. FIGHTING POLITICS IN NEW JERSEY In a vigorous letter that has received wide publicity, Albert Moncrief, Presi- dent of the New Jersey State Teachers Association, enters a protest against the purposes and the methods of the “federation of Boards of Education, in its efforts to secure legislation that will expose teachers throughout the state to serious injustice and abuse. The tenure during satisfactory service and good be- havior is threatened directly by one of the bills before the legislature (which would extend the probationary period to five years), and indirectly by another (which places upon the teacher the burden of insuring renewal of appoint- ment, and enables the Board of Educa- tion to shift various responsibilities). An- other bill undertakes to merge the Re- tirement Fund, maintained solely by the teachers’ contributions, with the State Pension Fund, virtually depriving those who have contributed to the Retirement fund of their equities. In his letter Mr. Moncrief says: I protest against this regular, system- atic and persistent persecution of the pub- lic school teachers. They are kept in a constant state of unrest which is not good for the schools. The most amazing fea- ture of the whole matter is that this con- dition of affairs is brought about year after year by a body of men, working under the sanction of a State Law, ostensibly organized to improve the schools, but who spend the taxpayers’ money to further their personal propa- ganda of annoyance and destruction. The proposed legislation involves fundamental principles of school ad- ministration, and it is to be hoped that the issues will be squarely met by all concerned. THE LIBRARY (THe AMERICAN TEACHER is prepared to fill your order for books and maga- zines at the usual publishers’ prices. Send your order to us and save time and trouble. ) How to Teacu, George D. Strayer and Naomi Norsworthy, Teachers College, Colum- bia University; Pp. 297 + vii. Macmillan, $1.30. If you are looking for detailed directions and cut and dried dogma on how to teach, don’t read this book. But if you want under- lying principles backed up by the most author- itative researches in psychology you will find this latest product of the Columbia school of education very interesting and profitable. The book is not exhaustive in its treatment of a big subject, yet its well written material is sufficient to give the young teacher a com- prehensive view. Besides the traditional chapters on Attention, Habit, Play, etc., it contains such valuable ones as: The Work of the Teacher, How Thinking May Be Stim- ulated, The Significance of the Individual, and Measuring the Achievements of Chil- dren. The questions at the end of each chap- ter are searching and to the point. The 78 THE AMERICAN TEACHER authors seem to have deliberately avoided the use of so-called educational nomenclature—a vice or a virtue, depending entirely upon your point of view toward recent movements in educational measurement and experimenta- tion. There is no bibliography, or abundance of reference to other works. A chapter on Experimental Pedagogy might have rounded out and strengthened the book materially. REVERIES OF A SCHOOLMASTER, Francis B. Pearson, State Superintendent of Public In- struction for Ohio; Pp. 203. Scribner’s, $1.00. “Reveries” is as far from day-dreaming as vocational guidance is from industrial ex- ploitation. Reveries is thought-provoking, stimulating, readable, interesting, enjoyable. It is written not only by a master of school, but also a master of ease and style. Into this little book are crammed thirty-one chapters full of common horse-sense, delightful satire, and masterful criticism. It is very catholic in its taste. Every phase of education is sub- jected to careful scrutiny. Each chapter is a little gem of delightful and constructive criticism written with inimitable charm and ease. To quote from this book would be to copy 203 pages of solid matter, so we will simply name a few chapter headings. And remember they are all triple X and Ar edu- cational too: In medias res, Lanterns, Beef- steak, Targets, Sinners, Picnics, Forefingers, Grandmother, Four-leaf-clover, etc. Have you ever been tempted to lose your meal or a joy-ride because of an educational treatise? Try this one. TaLxs To Younc Peroprte on Eruics. By Clarence Hall Wilson. Principles of right conduct stated in terms of strength and cour- age. Scribner’s, $—. Supervisep Stupy. By Alfred L. Hall- Quest. A discussion of the study lesson in the high school. Macmillan, $1.25. Francis B. Tue Vitatizep ScHoor. By Pearson, Superintendent of Public Instruc- tion of Ohio. An interpretation of some of the school processes in terms of life processes. Macmillan, $1.25. Cagsar’s Gattic War. By John C. Rolfe and Arthur W. Roberts. Scribner’s, $—. Story-TELLING, QUESTIONING AND STUDYINc. By Herman Harrell Horne, Professor of the History of Education and the History of Phil- osophy in New York University. Macmillan, $1.10. Notable Articles New Republic (Apr. 28)—Autocracy in America, Ed.; Leadership in Congress, Ed.; Our Duty in the Air, William Hard. Physical Culture (May)—Several articles on reducing weight by Nathan Shatz, C. E. Williams, Milo Hastings, Mrs. Ida M. Stein- hilber; What’s Wrong with Marriage? G. Bernard Shaw. The Public (April 27)—Germany’s Worst Enemy, by Victor S. Yarros; Some true pa- triotism in Wall Street, Ed. Popular Science Monthly (May)—What’s Inside of a “Tank?”—an account of the con- struction of the famous revolutionary dread- nought—by Joseph Brinker. Scribner's (May)—Our Immigration Policy After the War, by Frederic C. Howe, Com- missioner of Immigration at Ellis Island. Current Opinion (May)—Getting a Demo- cratic Nation Ready for War. The Conflict Within the New Government of Russia. School and Society (Apr. 28)—Definiteness in Educational Terminology, by A. Duncan Yocum. WHAT CAN WE AFFORD? The experience of several agencies in following up juvenile workers should be capitalized in a reaction upon legis- lation and administration. The Henry Street Settlement, for example, has found that a few hundred dollars spent in keeping a child away from “work” for a year or two will come back like the celebrated bread cast upon the waters, compounded at usurious rates. In view of these experiences it is fu- tile to speak further of the inability of parents to afford the children more and better schooling. It should become obvious to all that the community can- not afford to forego the extravagant re- turn on investments. THE AMERICAN TEACHER 79 WHAT THEY SAY ACADEMIC FREEDOM Have the groves of Academe room for ani- mated rubber stamps? Must the Professor think as his President wills? Must the High School instructor bow down to the Head Master? Must the humble elementary school teacher become as elementary in thought as her principal dictates? And must all of these Poo Bahs bend the knee in turn to Boards of Trustees, Superintendents, Boards of Edu- cation and supervisors of still higher author- ity and greater pomposity? The attempt to form a Teachers’ Union in New York and to establish a fair pension system for all in the public school system has revealed the fact that many faculties are un- duly coerced by their superior officers. The teacher in the ranks dare not differ with the Grand Mogul. And where this imperious functionary is opposed to his teaching staff on these issues literature has to be distributed surreptitiously, meetings called by passing the mystic wink and a general air of conspiracy maintained. Are teachers greater cowards than other people? Such a conclusion is unwarranted. But where the principal has the right to rate a teacher as he has in New York, what pro- tection has the underling against a deficient mark which may hold up his salary increase or even deprive him of the license to teach? It ought to be made an offense, punishable in serious cases with dismissal, for a principal or any supervising authority in schools sup- ported by the general public to choke off free- dom of speech and action among the teachers in his school. The intellectual calibre of the coming generation is influenced by the mental attitude of its teachers. And what may we expect in the way of inspiration from a poor pedagog whose license to teach is a pawn ticket for his soul? z. i. STATEMENT OF THE OWNERSHIP, MANAGE- MENT, CIRCULATION, ETC., REQUIRED BY THE ACT OF CONGRESS OF AUGUST 24, 1912, of Tue Ameican Teacuer, published monthly, except July and August, at New York, N. Y., for April 1, 1917. State of New York, County of New York, ss. Before me, a Notary Public, in and for the State and county aforesaid, personally appeared J. Edward Mayman, who, having been duly sworn according to law, deposes and says that he is the Business n- ager of THe American TEAcHeER, and that the follow- ing is, to the best of his knowledge and belief, a true statement of the ownership, management (and if a daily paper, the circulation), etc., of the afore- said publication for the date shown in the above caption, required by the Act of August 24, 1912, embodied in section 448, Postal Laws and Regulations, printed on the reverse of this form, to wit: 1. That the names and addresses of the publisher, editor, managing editor, and business managers are: Pub- lisher, e American Teacher Co., Inc., 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Editor-in-Chief, Henry R Linville, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Managing Editor, Benj. C. Gruenberg, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Business Manager, J. Edward Mayman, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. 2. That the owners are: The American Teacher Co., Inc., 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Mark Hoffman, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Benj. C. Gruen- berg, 70 Fifth Ave., New York Henry R. Linville, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. Gabriel R. Mason, 70 Fifth Ave., New York. 8. That the known bond- holders, mortgagees, and other security holders own- ing or holding 1 per cent or more of total amount of bonds, mortgages, or other securities are: None. 4. That the two paragraphs next above, giving the names of the owners, stockholders, and security hold- ers, if any, contain not only the list of stockholders and security holders as they appear upon the books of the company but also, in cases where the stock- holder or security holder appears upon the books of the company as trustees or in any other fiduciary relation, the name of the person or corporation for whom such trustee is acting, is given; also that the said two pemsra: hs contain statements embracing affant’s full knowledge and belief as to the circum- stances and conditions under which stockholders and security holders who do not appear upon the books of the company as trustees, hold stock and securities in a capacity other than that of a bona fide owner; and this afhant has no reason to believe that any other person, association, or corporation has any in- terest direct or indirect in the said stock, bonds, or other securities than as so stated by him. [Signed] J. E. MAYMAN, ' Business Manager. Sworn to and subscribed before me this 20th day of March, 1917. Mary Utley, [sear.] (My commission expires March, 1918.) PENSIONS The articles on sound principles of pen- sion legislation, by Mr. Paul Studensky, have been reprinted in a neat pamphlet, with a special introduction, a bibliography and a comparative table. Copies may be obtained from THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 70 Fifth avenue, New York, in lots of twelve or more, ten cents each, post- age prepaid. In lots of fifty or more, eight cents. To each his part: to the armies the pro- tection of the soil of their native land; to the thinkers the defense of its thought. If they subordinate that thought to the pas- sions of their people they may well be use- ful instruments of passion; but they are in danger of betraying the spirit, which is not theleast part of a people’s patrimony.— Romain Rolland. Why We Fight T is a fearful thing to lead this great peace- ful people into war, into the most terrible and disastrous of all wars, civilization itself seeming to be in the balance. But the right is more precious than peace, and we shall fight for the things which we have always carried nearest our hearts—for democracy, for the right of those who submit to authority to have a voice in their own governments, for the rights and liberties of small nations, for a universal dominion of right by such a concert of free peoples as shall bring peace and safety to all nations and make the world itself at last free. To such a task we can dedicate our lives and our fortunes, everything that we are and every- thing that we have, with the pride of those who know that the day has come when America is privileged to spend her blood and her might for the principles that gave her birth and happiness and the peace which she has treasured. God helping her, she can do no other. President Wooprow Watson, to Congress, April 2, 1917.