The American 
TEACH ER 


DECEMBER, 1918 


ZENUUN ETS ONUDNOE UENO USN UNUSUAL 


Another Autocracy to Conquer 





Teachers of the World 





Get Together 





The Conference of Trade 
Union Women 


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WPEUENVNUAAIATROLASU TEU LALEONGUUESE LASALLE 


Democracy in Education 
Education for Democracy 





4 The American Teacher 


SSSSNSNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSVSVVSSVVVpsVyyyyyys SS 


The Demands 


EMOCRACY demands a citizenry 

D that excels in initiative, self- 

control and self-direction. It 

must have free men and free women, 

who respect the rights of others while 

jealous of their own; who perform their 

duties not thru conipulsion, but because 
of an inner urge. 

It is probably the most important duty 
of thé schools to prepare the future citi- 
zens of our Republic for such a life. 
Obviously, for 


of Democracy 


ordinate. Of such is the training ground 
for democracy! 

It is well known that standards of con- 
duct are generally transmitted down- 
ward. This is undoubtedly true of the 
classroom, where teachers as a rule re- 
produce methods employed by their su- 
periors. As a result, children live in an 
atmosphere of repression and restraint, 
precisely like that which envelops the 
professional life of the teacher. 

Is there any 
doubt that such 








this purpose we 
must employ only 
such as have had 
actual experience 
in democracy. 
But existing con- 
ditions are just 
the opposite. Al- 
most universally, 
teachers, who 
more than others 
come into im- 
mediate and pro- The Conference 
longed contact 
with the children, 
are mere cogs in 
the educational 
machine. Courses 


Editorials 


Get Together 


What They Say 





CONTENTS 


Teachers of the World 


of Trade Union 


The Question of Discipline, II 


training is not 
conducive to the 
best interests of 
democracy ? 
There must be a 
radical change in 
current school ad- 
ministration. The 
school itself 
should be a demo- 
cratic organiza- 
tion. Teachers 
must be entrusted 
with a large part, 
if not all of the 
responsibility for 
the curriculum, 
methods and 

















of study and 
methods of teach- 
ing are generally prescribed by the au- 
thorities. Their own personal experi- 
ence and judgment are usually ignored. 
In the administration of the school, they 
are consulted by the superiors only when 
it pleases them to do so. On the whole, 
the teacher has but little opportunity to 
exercise initiative. The school is a petty 
autocracy, with the principal or superin- 


tendent exercising almost despotic con- 


trol, and the teacher an obedient sub- 


management of 
the school. This is necessary not only be- 
cause teachers should be skilled in the 
art of self-government, but also because 
society cannot afford to ignore the ex- 
perience, judgment and enthusiasm of 
the thousands who make teaching their 
life work. 


—From “New Schools for Old,” Dr. 
Alexander Fichandler, Prin. P.S. 
165, Brooklyn, N. Y., in “The Ar- 
bitrator for September, 1918. 





Vol. VII., No. 10 


LLASAAAAVAVAVAAAAAVAAVAAVAV IN 


The American Teacher 


Entered as second-class matter, February 21, 1912, at the Post Office at New mes N. Y.; 


under the Act of March 3, 1879. 


Published at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York, 


Vol. ‘VIL, No. : a 


"DECEMBER, 1918 


: One Dollar a Year 





Alia Thru the the World 


To war has done at least two things 





for us that have been of great value 

in education. It has shattered the 
mentals casts of educational leaders, setting 
free their minds for expansion. And it has 
shown up the weaknesses in the educational 
systems of every nation, both those of the 
Teutonic nations and those of the Allies. To- 
day every nation is looking to education to 
give it the method for the salvage and the 
development of the most precious of posses- 
sions—the minds of the children. 

So genuine and intense is the desire to 
make of education, the means for fundamen- 
tal national reconstruction that the import- 
ant movement described by Dr Hurt in this 
number finds the necessary avenues ready to 
open. May we not hope that our own union 
movement will be active in demonstrating 
the importance of democracy in education as 
a contribution from America to the nations 
of the earth? 


The End of the Seventh 
Year 


ITH this number THE AMERICAN 
TEACHER closes the seventh year 


of its existence. It has been the 
custom of the managers of this experiment 
in democracy to bring to mind at this period 
of the year the accomplishments indicated 
in the previous ten numbers, and thus to 
set a stake for future readings. 
The most significant event in the history 
of the periodical took place this year. It be- 


came in fact the organ of The American 
Federation of Teachers. For the first time 
every member of that organization receives 
the magazine, as part of the return for the 
payment of dues. Altho this is only the 
fourth number published under the new ar- 
rangement, there should be by this time a 
definite impression in the minds of the new 
readers concerning the worth of this portion 
of “value received.” On the nature of this 
impression depends the future importance of 
THE AMERICAN TEACHER in the movement 
for democracy in education in this country. 
It is for the readers, the members of the 
entire national, rather than for the officers 
alone, to settle the question of whether a 
periodical which endeavors to interpret the 
union movement to teachers and to give that 
movement vitality and power can be a suc- 
cess. Since this undertaking has never been 
made in the world before, it is necessarily 
an experiment. And like all experiments 
it has to be carried out by the method of 
“trial and error.” With the help of sugges- 
tions from all over the country, it is hoped 
that our “trials” and our “errors” may be 
reduced to the lowest possible number. 
Within the time of this experiment as thus 
far carried out the greatest war of history 
has been decided in favor of the allies of our 
country. Already the thoughts of men are 
on the problems of reconstruction. The old 
order is no longer satisfactory. For some 
the task of devising proposals for reconstruc- 
tion will come with embarrassing difficulties, 
but for teachers in the union movement there 
should be only the joyful anticipation of the 
opportunity to put into shape for actual use 
ideas that have been expressed from time 
to time in these columns, in the resolutions 


207 








208 


of the national and in the proposals which 
we have worked out in cooperation with 
labor. 

Whatever may be said of the old line organ- 
izations of teachers, it should not be pos- 
sible to say of locals in the American Fed- 
eration of Teachers that they are neglecting 
these inspiring opportunities to join in the 
actual work of rebuilding the frame work 
of our national] existence. If the union move- 
ment among teachers actually expresses it- 
self in demanding the elimination of auto- 
cracy in education, and the adoption of de- 
mocracy, in every town and city where locals 
exist, the vitality of the movement will there- 
by be guaranteed. : 

Let the coming year see the fulfillment of 
this desire. 


Another Autocracy 


to Conquer 
* ge mightiest and haughtiest of auto- 


crats is overthrown! Such were the 

glad words that were flashed before 
the world on November eleventh. The news 
meant peace, the ushering in of democracy, 
and the death knell of imperialism and mil- 
itarism, the twin brothers of autocracy. 
Despite this remarkable victory of the Allies, 
the war against autocracy is not yet over. 

While the greatest military autocrat is 
powerless, the educational autocrats stili oc- 
cupy the seats of the mighty, striking terror 
into the hearts of their subjects. 

In important centers of population in 
America the thoughts of teachers are as ef- 
fectively stifled by the educational autocrats 
as they have been in Austria and Germany 
by the Carlsbad Resolutions and the other 
reactionary deeds of the disciples of Met- 
ternich. In New York City three high school 
teachers were dismissed in December, 1917, 
not for doing anything, not for thinking any 
thing, but because they had criticised their 
educational autocrats who thereupon charged 
them with thinking certain thoughts which 
the autocrats regarded as detrimental to 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VII., No. 10 


their administration of the schools. Their 
autocratic conduct, much to the surprise o! 
enlightened educators has been upheld by a 
recent decision of Thomas E Finegan, Act- 
ing Commissioner of Education, of the State 
of New: York, in a decision full of misinter- 
pretations which stamp Dr Finegan as an 
official unsafe to trust with the all-inclusive 
“For Cause,” the technical form under which 
teachers may be dismissed from service in 
the State of New York. 

The Teachers Union of the City of New 
York, nothing daunted by this unexpected 
decision, will continue its fight against ed- 
ucational autocracy until victory crowns its 
efforts. If, perchance, the forces of reaction 
and autocracy, supported by an unenlight- 
ened or indifferent public opinion, are still 
too strong to be overcome by nascent union- 
ism, then it will have the satisfaction of 
having gone down to defeat in the noblest of 
causes—freedom of thought in educational 
institutions. 


Our Childish Minds 


NE manifestation of war excitement 
() which everyone of us has noticed 
in the play of children, as well as in 

the sober talk of adults, has been the fre- 
quent use of expressions such as “Kan the 
Kaiser,” and “Kill the Kaiser.” Even a uni- 
versity professor sent to THE AMERICAN 
TEACHER with words of praise a versified 
effusion written by a friend of his, entitled, 
“Kan the Kaiser,” which was to be sung 
to the tune of “A Hot Time,” or some such 
ditty. Another person of generally fine in- 
telligence proposes to exhibit the Kaiser at 
$1 a look to obtain money for reconstruction. 
Aside from the matter of propriety in the 
conduct of a real professor in circulating 
music-hall verse, there comes the more ini- 
portant consideration of the degree of inte!- 
ligence manifested by those childish minds 
that put so much of their reaction against the 
greatest crime of history into ineffectua! 
emotion. Every thought given to Kanning. 
Killing or Exhibiting, the Kaiser is by that 





December, 1918 


amount drawn away from the realization 
that military craft and commercial idealism 
had much to do with starting this particular 
war, and will determine the continuance of 
wars if we are not on our guard. It is quite 
conceivable that those who stand for uni- 
versal military service, and thereby for the 
continuance of war, will contemplate with 


equanimity the widespread insistence upon ~ 


dire destruction for the Kaiser, so long as 
he is not disposed of too quickly. 


Not Even the Labor Unions 
W ant Us to Strike 


HE suggestion has been made that a 
T section of the article, “Why Join the 
Teachers Union?” printed in the 
November number, seemed to indicate that 
the Teachers Union of the City of New York 
has a provision in its Constitution making 
the strike possible. No such provision ex- 
ists there, or probably in the Constitution 
of any teachers’ local in the country. Like 
the National Union of Teachers of Eng- 
land the American Federation of Teachers 
can be said to hold that the ready appeal 
we are able to make to the public conscience, 
especially when backed by labor, bids fair 
to give us immunity from the necessity of 
striking. Furthermore, it is well known that 
a resolution has been passed relative to the 
Federal Employees Union by the Executive 
Council of the American Federation of La- 
bor to the effect that the strike by civil serv- 
ice employees is disapproved. 

Hence, a sympathetic strike by teachers 
would also seem to be a highly improbable 
event. 

Favor Labor Party 

Chicago, November 23.—The Chicago Federation 
of Labor has submitted to its affiliates a plan to or- 
ganize a labor party. The platform presented in- 
cludes full recognition of trade unions, govern- 
ment ownership of natural resources, tax on land 
values, the eight-hour day, equal pay regardless of 
sex, league of nations, labor representation at the 
peace conference, opposition to child labor, represen- 
tation of labor in proportion to its voting strength 
in all government departments and upon all gov- 
ernment boards of demobilization. 


The American Teacher 


Christmas Eve —1918 


BY JEANNE JUDSON 


Christmas Eve and the snow so white, 
Laid like a cloak on the earth below; 

Christmas chimes, and the sunset light 
Bathing the cross in a blood-red glow. 


Red cross above and white clad earth, 
Promise renewed in earth and sky, 
Chimes for the Peace Lord’s glad rebirth, 

Mercy endures — He did not die. 





THE AMERICAN’S CREED FREE 
An artistic, illustrated color print of the Amer- 
ican’s Creed, as approved in Congress, April 13, 1918, 
with the story of the origin of the Creed and the 
doctrinal authorities upon which it rests, will be 
furnished free to teachers who apply through their 
Principals to Matthew Page Andrew, Chairman, 
Publicity Committee of the Executive Council for 
the American’s Creed, 849 Park Avenue, Baltimore, 
Maryland. The Creed with its history was published 

in The American Teacher for May-June, 1918. 





TO MEMBERS OF THE A F OF T 


Every member of the Amrican Federation of 
Teachers in good standing receives the American 
Teacher free of charge. In return for this, for the 
benefit of being protected, and of having a fearless 
organization to help fight for the professional rights 
of the members, the Federation maintains that each 
member should feel it a deep obligation, as well as 
a privilege, to be faithful in those matters that enable 
the officers to carry out their duties with satisfac- 
tion and efficiency. The regular payment of dues 
to the locals, the regular attendance at meetings, 
and the generous grant of personal service, all help 
to make the movement “carry on.” 








Ge American Teacher 





Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 
Published monthly, except July and August by 


THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
at 70 Fifth Avenue, New York City 
HENRY R LINVILLE, Editor 
ABRAHAM LEFKOWITZ, Business Manager. 








At the time of expiration, a bill will be found in the copy. 
Subscribers are requested to give prompt notice of changes 
in address. } 





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





SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, ONE DOLLAR FOR THE YEAR— 
FOREIGN, $1.10. 








Teachers of the World 


H W HURT, PHD 


Chief .Educational Division, Foreign Press 
Bureau, Committee on Public Information 


United States, one hundred seventy- 

five thousand in Great Britain, one 
hundred fifty thousand in France, two hun- 
dred ten thousand in Germany, two hundred 
fifty thousand in Russia, one hundred thous- 
and in Italy, one hundred thousand in China, 
one hundred seventy thousand in Japan (and 
so on thru the list of nations). Such are 
these great standing armies of teachers— 
guardians of tomorrow. ’ 

It has been an objective of the Educational 
Division of the Foreign Press Bureau to try 
to reach these teachers thru the press and 
to bind them together more closely in friend- 
ship and goodwill. They represent a great 
International force hitherto quite unmobil- 
ized but united by multiple bonds of learned 
societies, of languages and literatures, and 
of more or less common methodology. Thru- 
out the neutral and allied world enemy pro- 
pagandists had circulated every conceivable 
distortion of our education and life and 
ideals. These needed to be counteracted by 
modest but accurate interpretations of our 
life, which however sought to avoid our ten- 
dencies toward superlatives and to allow 
facts to carry their own story. To effect this 
in the educational field, the program of an 
Educational Exchange was developed. 

Each week there has gone abroad during 
the past year some articles on education, and 
since July or August there have been a half 
dozen such interpretations each week, as 
about one-tenth of the total material cover- 
ing agriculture, labor, medicine, news, etc. 
These have been forwarded in the diplomatic 
pouch to some thirty-five foreign countries 
where our representatives, generally at- 
tachés of the Embassies, have received, 
translated and passed them on to the press 
of the country in question. Here they have 


kK IGHT HUNDRED THOUSAND in the 


either appeared in the public, the literary or 
the technical educational press. 

These articles have been written on re- 
quest by leading educators all over the United 
States who have, with loyalty and great per- 
sonal sacrifice of time, donated them to the 
cause of International goodwill. These au- 
thors cover the best known names among 
our educators. 

Further, the educational press of the U. S. 
has generously given permission to use their 
current articles and has further signified a 
readiness to accept the Exchange Service. 
This Exchange program was based on the 
idea that only as people have things in com- 
mon can they cooperate. Basic among those 
things is knowledge about each other: Un- 
fortunately, the teachers of the world know 
little about each other. The great mass of 
the graded school teachers do not receive an 
adequate living wage—and they have had 
little chance for travel or study about other 
peoples. (In higher education conditions 
are not so bad internationally.) So while 
we asked our educators to interpret our ed- 
ucational system, and ideals and progress to 
others, we also asked foreign nations to in- 
terpret their country to us—feeling that we 
had much to learn from these older cultures. 
In England,-in Spain and elsewhere, the 
Government has authorized a native educator 
to mobilize the writings of his people for us. 

For the purpose of translating such art- 
icles, a large staff of volunteer translators 
have offered their services to the government 
without compensation. 

Special requests cabled from certain coun- 
tries have been met, and the articles, often 
illustrated with pictures of American school 
equipment and life, have gone by the next 
transport. 

There is a great interest abroad in this 


210 





December, 1918 


sort of International Educational Entente, 
as evinced by correspondence conducted with 
the various embassies and legations and their 
governments. It is one of the educationally 
and internationally important discoveries of 
war effort that this sort of thing is basic— 
that in time of peace it has an even more 
vital réle than in war. Conference with for- 
eign leaders in various educational missions, 
which are coming hither frequently, have re- 
vealed their conviction that the governments 
of the world should, on the fallen ruins of 
secret diplomacy, initiate a type of diplomacy 
of brotherhood, with educational and scien- 
tific representatives in every nation, seeking 
ways thru the exchange of ideas to further 
the good of each and all. 

Foreign countries, and especially Latin 
America, are earnestly interested in our op- 
portunities for professional study, and the 
opportunities that thus open to our graduate 
schools, thru the spread of information about 
our institutions, will be most significant in 
the intellectual leadership of the next one or 
two decades. 

Foreign representatives have urged that 
we undertake an international educational 
magazine—an international Bureau of Ed- 
ucational Information—a world Congress of 
Teachers, and many other challenging 
thoughts. But here are the teachers of the 
world—millions strong; they influence the 
ideas of tomorrow’s citizens and leaders the 
world over; in their hands is the growth of 
liberal democracy and of international good- 
will. It is to be hoped that the warm re- 
ception accorded this work in thirty-five 
countries will point the way to the larger and 
permanent organization of this work, which 
will join the ideas and ideals and hearts 
and hands of the Teachers of the World. 


Shall Teachers Organize? 


The teacher’s work has become recognized as one 
of the most worthy and important of the professions. 
Wherein does the work of a teacher differ from 
that of the master of a trade? Should teachers or- 
ganize and form unions similar to the numerous 
trade unions found in all parts of the land? If the 
members of a trade union can through organization 
demand and obtain better working conditions and 





The American Teacher 


211 


increased wages, why should not teachers similarly 
organize and thus secure adequate returns for their 
labor? These are questions which frequently arise 
and are worthy of due consideration. 

We distinguish between a profession and a trade. 
A profession places service above compensation. The 
doctor, lawyer, minister and teacher are frequently 
called upon to serve those who may not be in position 
to compensate them even partially for services ren- 
dered. In a trade, however, the personnel stands 
on the basis that each man should be adequately paid 
for the kind and amount of work done. The skilled 
mechanic receives better pay than the unskilled 
workman, and the master of a trade may receive 
twice the compensation that an apprentice can ob- 
tain. The degree of skill an artisan possesses and 
the amount of work that he performs are the prin- 
cipal factors which determine his compensation. 
Workers in different trades form unions to secure 
better working conditions, reasonable hours and fair 
compensation for the work rendered. In case wages 
are low and the hours long the trade union through 
its organization may compel an employer to comply 
with demands made by the union. 

In the teaching profession we find the need for 
a betterment of conditions. The average salary paid 
to our teachers is admittedly low. Living conditions 
today make the purchasing power of the salary 
scarcely half that of three years ago. Teachers are 
to-day demanding, and in many places getting, an 
increase of salaries. Associations have been formed 
and representatives chosen to present the claims of 
those interested and the reasons why salaries should 
be increased. The time has not yet come when teach- 
ers’ organizations resort to the drastic methods fre- 
quently used by trade unions. Because of the pro- 
fessional character of their work the teachers as a 
class have deemed it neither right, reasonable nor 
dignified to use methods other than those of argu- 
ment and persuasion in order to accomplish the 
ends in view. 


It is extremely unfortunate that money matters 
should at all engage the attention of those follow- 
ing the teaching profession. Teachers’ organiza- 
tions have had larger and more worthy aims in view. 
High ethical standards have as a rule prevailed 
among them. Better preparation, increased efficiency 
and larger professional service—these and similar 
ideals have in the main guided teachers in both their 
personal and group activities. 


To remove the apparent need of teachers’ unions, 
school and city officials would do well to recognize 
the principle that the workman is worthy of his 
hire, and that if the standards of the teaching pro- 
fession are to be maintained a reasonable and ad- 
equate salary schedule must be speedily established. 
—From American Education (Albany, N. Y.) for 
November, 1918. 








Get Together’ 


JAMES J BAGLEY 
President Franklin Union, No. 23 (The 
Pressmen’s Union), New York 


HERE are some of you who do not 
belong here unless you have signed 
the application blank to become 

members of the Union. I am here to tell 
some of the teachers what I think of them. 
I recollect that down in the First Street 
School in 1898, a boy had a teacher, and he 
was fond of the teacher, and she was fond 
of him. She was getting some $800 a year. 
The little boy was getting the best she had 
to give. Today that teacher is getting about 
$1,600. The boy that teacher taught is get- 
ting $10,000 a year. It is atrue story. The 
teacher has not been able to raise her salary 
for the simple reason that she lost sight of 
the one way to do it—by organization. The 
teacher should be in a labor union. 


I do not know where the teachers get the 
idea of “profession.” Teaching is not a pro- 
fession, it is work, absolutely; and as soon 
as they get wise to this, the sooner they will 
free themselves from living on somebody 
else. I know teachers who do live on some- 
body else. Teachers can’t live, eat and dress 
right on the salary they get from New York 
City. They have got to be supported by re- 
latives. 

Your chairman touched on the Franklin 
Union and the trouble caused the union. He 
seemed to infer success was due to leader- 
ship. Unions succeed because they have an 
active rank and file who insist that leaders 
do something. For seventeen years the 
Franklin Union had an inactive file. In those 
years they got only a four-dollar a week in- 
crease. Perhaps the teachers got as much 
or less in that time. 

Finally our men decided to attend the 
union meetings and to get rid of the dead 
wood, and they did it. 


* Address before The Teachers Union in New York, Novem- 
ber 8, 1918. 


I came in on the 


rise and became a labor leader. They put 
me there to go out and get some money and 
I decided to get the rank and file to insist 
on getting more money, and the moment the 
presses shut down they got more money. 
They got $6 a week increase, and then $6 
more, in about seventeen or eighteen months. 
One law we follow, and that is to have the 
entire body of employees of the printing 
trades in one organization. If teachers want 
anything they have to go out and get it. If 
teachers were to do a little thinking on their 
own account this hall would not be able to 
hold the crowd. 

I noticed in today’s paper something Mayor 
Hylan has said. I don’t like to talk against 
anybody, especially the mayor, but the mayor 
is supposed to hold a union card. But there 
is no greater contempt one union man has for 
another than when he does not act like a 
union man. Let us see what Mayor Hylan 
says when the teachers asked for more 
money. “This sort of thing will have to be 
cut out. When I was a boy and asked a 
farmer for more pay the farmer said that if 
I wanted more money I could go out and work 
for some one else.” 

Of the membership of Franklin Union of 
twenty-six hundred, five hundred went to 
high school, but I am safe in saying not 100 
graduated from high school. Working as 
apprentices for six months our men get $17 
a week; one dollar increase each year and 
at the end of three years, $24 a week. A 
teacher gets $800 a year or $15.50 per week 
for three years, and if she is progressive, 
after a good many years she takes a promo- 
tion examination and gets $1,820, and she 
stays at that if she is satisfied. 

I say there is only one way teachers can 
do anything, that is by getting together and 
organizing, and they can do it. We have 
been fighting the Butterick Publishing Com- 


212 





December, 1918 


pany for twelve years. Today six hundred 
and ninety people in the company are on the 
street and tomorrow Buttericks will sign a 
contract, and the people will go back to work. 

The labor movement is waiting for the 
teachers. We want everybody whether they 
work with their hands or their brains in 
one organized labor union movement. The 
labor union movement is not established for 
only one thing; it is established for the en- 
lightenment of the people, and to drive evil 
out of the world. They talk about democracy, 
but the labor movement has been fighting 
the real battle of democracy. It has been 
fighting continuously. It is fighting for 
the democracy of the common people. The 
teacher is not getting enough to live on. Au- 
thorities tell us we can’t live if we have some- 
body else at home on less than $1,682 a year. 

Some of the teachers have decided that 
they will not think of getting married. Their 
folks have died off one by one, and they are 
left to support themselves, and they cannot 
do it. I happen to know a couple of teach- 
ers. They live in some little furnished room 
if they are lucky, and live on a bottle of 
milk and a box of biscuits. It is their own 
fault. That is how organized labor looks 
at it. 

The policy of our organization from the 
day that women came into it has been that 
women get as much as the men. The mo- 
ment a woman competes against a man, that 
moment the man’s salary is going down. 
You have 22,000 teachers and we figure that 
for every active worker there are 10 votes. 
Figure out what 22,000 teachers at five votes 
each amount to in a city of this size. Figure 
out what 22,000 teachers organized into one 
body can do. 

The other day I spoke to Taft. I wanted 
to know what the War Labor Board could 
do, and he went into a lengthy statement 
about the Board—that the War Board would 
try to smoothe out the wrinkles between 
capital and labor. And he is the man who, 
when asked, “What is a man to do if he can- 
not get a job?” answered, “God knows!” 

If there are any city officials who can tell 
a teacher to get out, we will take her into our 


The American Teacher 


213 


union. But she must work with the person 
next to her, not against her. And if there 
are twenty-one teachers in a school and only 
two are members of the union, they must get 
four more, and these then must get eight, 
etc., until all belong. You have the addresses 
of the teachers as soon as they are appointed. 
If you have an efficient organization, the 
moment a teacher enters the service, mem- 
bers should call upon her and make her join 
the union. You will never get union unless 
you get that 100-per-cent membership. The 
labor union needs you and you need the la- 
bor union. You have to help yourself. I 
hope you will wake up to the fact that no 
trade union can come in and make things 
better. You must have spirit in your hearts. 
Get together, and the moment you get to- 
gether, the dollars will take care of them- 
selves. 





Teachers as Scabs 

School teachers who have remained at their posts 
in spite of rising prices and stationary pay may well 
resent the manner of the appeal that has been made 
for persons who have left the profession to return 
now to fill the 50,000 vacancies, and replace the 
120,000 who have had no training for the work. The 
shortage of teachers is due to no sudden turn of 
fortune, nor to any phase of the war. It is due 
to the fact that school boards have kept salaries at 
such a low level that persons with the qualifications 
for teaching have gone into other work. The disease 
carries its own cure. When the boards find the old 
salaries will not secure teachers they will pay more. 
But if as an act of patriotic duty, persons qualified 
to teach volunteer their services at the old salaries 
the school boards will see no necessity for advanc- 
ing their pay, and will continue the former school- 
strangulation policy. To leave the schools without 
teachers may be a slight hardship temporarily for 
the children, but it will be better even for them in 
the end; for it will awaken old fogy school boards 
to the necessity of paying sufficient salaries to secure 
real talent to enter the teaching profession, and to 
hold what is already in it. To volunteer at the present 
rates would be in principle nothing less than strike- 
breaking. Enough teachers have left their jobs to 
compel better treatment for those who remain, pro- 
vided their places are not filled at the old rates. 
Any one intending to enter the profession should do 
so only after giving careful consideration to those 
who have stayed at their posts in the forlorn hope 
of some time receiving proper recognition of their 
service.—The Public, of November 23, 1918. 








The Conference of Trade Union Women 
CLARA K STUTZ 
President Grade Teachers’ Union (Local 
No. 16), Washington, D C 


Mary Van Kleeck, Director, and 

Miss Mary Anderson, Assistant Di- 
rector of the Women in Industry Service of 
the Department of Labor there assembled in 
Washington trade union women represent- 
ing the various national and international 
unions for the purpose of determining stand- 
ards governing the employment of women 
in industry. ; 

The historic conference held its sessions in 
the courtroom of the War Labor Board in 
the Southern Building. It was formally op- 
ened by Secretary of Labor, William B Wil- 
son. Mr Wilson said that it was the hope 
of the Department not only to maintain the 
standards that already exist for the protec- 
tion of the woman worker, but to raise those 
standards where they had proved inadequate, 
and to secure the strict observance of such 
new and improved standards in the indus- 
tries which women have been compelled to 
enter in consequence of the draft on our 
man power for military service. He stated 
the purpose of calling the conference was to 
secure the advice of the women most familiar 
with the conditions of labor in helping to 
formulate standards, and to learn from them 
from what industries women should be de- 
barred. 

At the roll-call each delegate was requested 
to give a brief summary of conditions in her 
particular field. In this way it was brought 
to the attention of the conference that wo- 
men were already working on cranes in some 
of the great manufacturing plants, that they 
were engaged in “puddling” in the iron in- 
dustry, and they were employed as steve- 
dores for loading and unloading ocean-going 
vessels, and were required to enter the holds 
of ships, It was also brought out that under 


O N October 4, 1918, at the call of Miss 


the plea of labor shortage in some plants 
men were being dismissed, and replaced by 
women at a lower wage. Government con- 
trol of railroads, telegraph and telephone 
lines has thrown many new industries under 
the supervision of the National Federation 
of Federal Employees. Sail-makers, flag- 
makers, the wheelbarrow men, etc., of the 
navy yard and arsenals are now federal em- 
ployees. In the railroad industry the hazard 
to women working at night in isolated 
switch-towers and as section hands was em- 
phasized. The conference went on record 
as opposing night work for women except 
in case of national emergency, thus backing 
up the policy outlined by Secretary Wilson. 

The conference demanded the enforce- 
ment of a maximum day of eight hours, as 
distinguished from the basic eight hours for 
computing wages with pay for overtime. 
Delegates stated that a tendency existed on 
the part of the workers to break down this 
standard on account of the attraction of the 
overtime pay. The shorter day was urged 
both in the interest of the worker’s health and 
of increased production. 

The platform adopted includes the enforce- 
ment of provision for the worker’s health 
and safety, sanitary regulations, besides a 
variety of special regulations for particular 
industries. 

Revision of Civil Service laws to insure to 
women equal opportunity with men in ap- 
pointments, promotions, salaries and admis- 
sion to examinations was urged. The estab- 
lishment of adjustment boards in the De- 
partments on which the employees should be 
adequately represented was asked for. 

The basic principle of equal pay for equal 
work was reaffirmed. The conference called 
upon the wage boards to fix minimum wages 


214 





December, 1918 The American Teacher 215 


for women on the same basis as for men. 
The appointment of women on all wage 
boards was demanded. A protest was en- 
tered against the action of the Senate in 
denying the President’s appeal for the pas- 
sage of the suffrage amendment for women. 

The following resolutions of especial in- 
terest to teachers were adopted: 


The American Federation of Teachers wishes 
to present for your consideration several ed- 
ucational policies, the substance of which has 
already been approved by the American Federa- 
tion of Labor. These policies underlie real 
democracy in industry, and they are also the 
mainspring of the life of the nation itself. 

We recommend the adoption of more stringent 
laws dealing with the compulsory education of 
children and urge especially the reestablishment 
of a minimum age of 16 years. 

We especially urge the development of voca- 
tional guidance and industrial education. Every 
child should know the industrial history of the 
world. 

The health conditions in all schools should be 
investigated by properly authorized officials who 
believe that the health of a nation depends 
largely on the health of the youth. All over- 
crowding in schoolrooms should cease. 

An extension of playgrounds and outdoor 
facilities for normal exercise to meet the needs 
of all the children of all the people should be 
insisted upon. A nation should realize that by 
so safeguarding the life of the child it saves for 
itself in years to come. 

There should be an establishment of a com- 
plete system of modern physical education. 

“It has become a truism that the Germany of 
to-day is the product of the German school- 
master of yesterday. Just as certainly the 
America of tomorrow, perhaps the world of to- 
morrow, will be the product of the American 
teachers of to-day. What then if the American 
teaching force of to-day comes to consist of an 
inferior selection from our present teachers, sup- 
plemented by high school girls of no experience, 
of no practical training, of temporary tenure, 
and of only passing interest in their work?” 
(Joseph Swain, Chairman of N E A Committee 
on Salaries). 

We wish to bring to the attention of this con- 
ference the fact that there is a shortage of 100,- 
000 trained teachers in the United States to- 
day! This has been brought about by two great 
factors: First, the autocratic systems under 
which teachers work; second, by the totally in- 
adequate salaries. The American Federation of 


Teachers believes that as democracy is recognized 
in industry, and as it is developed among the 
teaching body, the first factor will be elimi- 
nated. The salary situation is the one that the 
nation must face immediately if it would save 
the democratic educational standards of the 
United States. 

“This is a day of big things. It is pre- 
eminently a day when those who are serving 
the State must be granted the right of way. 
The teachers of the country are not only serv- 
ing the State now; they have been serving it all 
their lives. They are the captains of the army 
of understanding: not alone of that technical 
understanding upon which military victory de- 
pends, but of that larger human understanding 
upon which depends the whole hope and future 
of the world. If we spend billions to save the 
world, can we not spend millions to make the 
world worth saving? We properly pour forth 
our treasures without stint to those who shape 
our steel and iron. Cannot we grant a living 
wage to those who are molding our life itself?” 
(Swain.) 

Therefore, we urge that there may be Fed- 
eral legislation appropriating $100,000,000 to be. 
apportioned by a Federal Department of Educa- 
tion, if one is created, or that failing, by a Fed- 
eral Board upon which organized labor and ed- 
ucation shall be represented, such fund to apply 
only to the payment of salaries of public school 
teachers in a state (including teachers of physi- 
cal education and of English to adults under pub- 
lic school supervision) after such state shall have 
satisfied the Federal Department, or special board 
that adequate standards are to be maintained and 
shall have appropriated an equal amount. 

We further urge equal wages for equal work. 
As in all other branches of industry, so in teach- 
ing, the woman worker has been unjustly dis- 
criminated against in regard to equal pay, and 
we would recommend that this economic defect 
be remedied wherever it may exist. 


We would further recommend that salary com- 
pensation be sufficient to maintain a teacher with- 
out necessity of night work, which reduces her 
efficiency as a teacher, and tends to debase the 
wage scale in other industries. 

We further urge more extensive use of the 
school plant for the civic, social and educational 
needs of the community. 


“The war is training the National imagination 
to see things on a new scale. It is no longer a 
day when we say, ‘This ought to be done. We 
will do it, provided we can get the money.’ It 
is a day rather when we say of whatever is vital 
to the public welfare, ‘Let this be done.’ And 
then we get the money.” (Swain.) 








216 The American Teacher 


Miss Anderson explained the plan thru 
which the Government expects to secure the 
enforcement of adequate standards govern- 
ing the employment of women in industry. 
All contracts of the Federal departments will 
contain clauses requiring full compliance 
with state labor laws. In addition, others 
requirements are made by the Federal Gov- 
ernment. Such requirements to be broken 
only by permission of the Council of Na- 
tional Defense and the Department of Labor, 
for a limited period of time, in a particular 
plant, in case of national emergency, such 
emergency to be declared to exist by the 
Council of National Defense after full in- 
vestigation by the Women in Industry Serv- 
ice. 

Mr Felix Frankfurter, Chairman of the 
War Labor Policies Board addressed the con- 
ference October 5, at its closing session. He 
‘explained the chaotic condition of the in- 
dustrial world created by the war, told where 
and how the pressure is likely to come which 
the women must meet, and he made clear 
that woman’s work was essential in the win- 
ning of the war. 

Mr Frankfurter said in part: 


As President Wilson, in regard to the inter- 
national situation said, the only way we can have 
peace and order and a life that is tolerable, is 
by a process of everybody who is concerned sit- 
ting down and reaching the largest possible good 
that in a limited human world you can reach. 
Exactly the same situation is true in the indus- 
trial world. There may be specialized experi- 
ence and specialized needs and specialized power 
on the part of the workers. There is specialized 
experience and a specialized problem on the part 
of the management. And each side being pre- 
occupied with itself does not take into account 
these other things. 

I say to manufacturers constantly that the 
real reason why I believe in unionism, in organ- 
ization on the other side, is because unless there 
is organization, unless you have this means of 
working these things out together, there is a 
responsibility thrown upon you as employer that 
no human being can possibly discharge, namely, 
having regard not only for your interests but 
for other people’s interests, It cannot be done. 
We are limited human beings, and no man is 
wise enough, gentle enough, no matter how right 
he may be in his heart, to be able to think out 


Vol. VII., No. 10 


all of his own interests as well as the other peo- 
ple’s interests. 

That to me is the fundamental reason for or- 
ganization, particularly where the element of 
shifting is so large as it is among the working 
women as compared with working men. And 
that is why I believe that unionism is such an 
essential instrument of education in a democracy. 


And so beyond these standards, beyond the 
physical protection, beyond the health standards, 
beyond the question if night work, beyond the 
processes that will give us the efficiency, over 
and beyond that the thing we have got to work 
out is the attitude of men towards one another 
and towards the public as a whole, and that 
rests, women, more upon you than I suspect you 
sometimes realize. 


You will forgive me if I am just a bit 
frank. I think in time of war we ought to deal 
with one another as a surgeon does in an operat- 
ing room, be ruthless in order that the full sit- 
uation may be revealed. 


The thing that filled me most with a sense 
of confidence and hope and optimism, was what 
it means to have women participate the way they 
did participate, the way nations enable them to 
participate, in the conduct of their lives, but 
there was a sense of sadness at the poverty of 
trained leaders among them. Leaders are not 
born, but except a very few, leaders can be 
trained. And here was this great union on the 
Pacific Coast, and there were very, very few 
women in it who had the training, who had had 
the experience to lead those large numbers of 
girls wisely and effectively. 


The thing that we need, and need terribly— 
I don’t know whether you will agree with me 
but I hope you will, and I think you must—is 
the training to increased participation that wo- 
men will have in industry, and therefore in gov- 
ernment. Political power always leads to econ- 


‘ omic power, and vice versa. And the funda- 


mental difficulty in our national life in so far 
as we have one, is the great discrepancy between 
the power of the women folk in industry com- 
pared with the power they have in politics. That 
is going to be remedied more and more. Of 
course that applies particularly as to women, not 
only because in war they are going into industry 
but after the war they are going to remain in 
industry, and your participation in government 
is going to be a very important participation. 
The President put the case well when he said 
that unless we have women participating in gov- 
ernment we shall be only half wise. But you 
women must train your rank and file to make us 
wholly wise by being wise yourselves. 





~—~— = -—- A ee 


December, 1918 


The delegates expressed enthusiastic ad- 
miration for the work undertaken by the 
Women in Industry Service, and resolved 
themselves into a permanent advisory com- 
mittee to co-operate with the Service and to 
meet at the call of the Director. 


The delegates at the conference were as 
follows: 

MARGARET DALEY, United Garment Workers 
of America, New York. 

FANNIE M CouHN, International Ladies Gar- 
ment Workers Union, New York. 

IpA McCUTCHEON, International Brother- 
hood of Electrical Workers, Pittsfield, 
Mass. 

ELIZABETH CHRISTMAN, International Glove 
Makers Union, Washington. 

Mary E MCGALLIEN, United Garment Work- 
ers of America, New York City. 

Mary KELLIHER, Womans Trade Union 
League, Chicago. 

AGNES J JOHNSON, Boot and Shoe Workers 
International Union, Chicago. 

Miss CLARA K Stutz, American Federation 
of Teachers, Washington, D C. 

Miss ETHEL SMITH, Federal Employees 
Union, Washington, D C. 

Mrs MILDRED M SMITH, American Federa- 
tion of Musicians, Washington, D C. 
FLORENCE ETHERIDGE, Federal Employees 

Union, Vinita, Oklahoma. 

EMMA STEGHAGEN, Womans Trade Union 
League, Chicago. 

LAURA J GRADDICK, Bookbinders Interna- 
tional Union, Washington, D C. 

BRiGID HAGGARTY, National Federation of 
Postal Employees, Memphis, Tenn. 

Mary E CAMPBELL, United Leather Work- 
ers, Wilmington, Del. 

MARIE KUROWSKIT, Amalgamated Meat Cut- 
ters, Chicago. 

Mrs May PEAKE, International Association 
of Machinists, Boston. 

BLANCHE DE CELLES, International Associa- 
tion of Machinists, Springfield, Mass. 
ELIZABETH A KELLY, Cigar Makers Interna- 

tional Union, Lancaster, Pa. 

NELLIE H GALLAGHER, United Hatters of 
North America, Danbury, Conn. 

Mary P Scuuiy, American Federation of 
Labor. 


The American Teacher 


217 


Statutory Advisory Committees 

What I propose, for the improvement of educa- 
tion, and the increasing participation in its govern- 
ment of the teachers themselves, is a very great de- 
velopment of Professional Advisory Committees, to 
be attached to all Education Authorities, national 
and local. The Teachers’ Registration Council should 
evolve into a Standing Advisory Committee to the 
Ministry of Education. Every Local Education Au- 
thority should be statutorily required to appoint a 
Local Advisory Committee, genuinely representative 
of all grades and kinds of teachers in the locality, 
to be nominated, as far as possible, by the local 
branches of the professional associations. These Ad- 
visory Committees should have a statutory right 
to be consulted on all important changes which af- 
fected the profession or its service——Sidney Webb 
quoted in The London Teacher. 





This is the Official Organ 
of the 

American Federation of Teachers 

ORGANIZED APRIL 15, 1916 
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 
OFFICERS OF THE A F OF T 
President, CHARLES B STILLMAN, Chicago, 

1620 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, III. 


Secretary-Treasurer, F G Strecker, Chicago, 
1618 Lake Avenue, Wilmette, II. 
National Organizer; First Vice-President, 
L V LAMpPson, Washington, D. C., 
1336 Otis Place, N. W. 


Editor, The American Teacher; Sixth Vice-President, 
Henry R LINvILLE, New York City, 
36 Terrace Avenue, Jamaica. 
Second V.-Pres., MaBeL L Rees, Brooklyn, N. Y. C., 
39 Winthrop Street. 
Third Vice-President, ANITA BaiLey, Gary, Ind., 
650 Buchanan Street. 


Fourth V.-Pres., JupitH G Rippick, Norfolk, Va., 
722 Duke Street. 


Fifth V.-Pres., S E Compron, Washington, D. C., 


Dunbar High School. 


Seventh V.-Pres., CLara K Stutz, Washington, D. C., 
1628 Swann Street. 


Eighth V.-Pres., Carrie L Cotpurn, Olean, N. Y., 
803 West Henley Street. 


Ninth V.-Pres., ISABEL WILLIAMS, St. Paul, Minn., 
916 St. Clair Street. 





The Question of Discipline 


GEORGE CRONYN 


Late of DeWitt Clinton High School, New York 


The Teacher had been revolving certain 
cogitations during this Battle of the Theories. 
Just what, for instance, are morals—relative 
to children? Are habitual actions ever 
moral? Does not the word moral imply a 
decision—a choice—a judgment—the accept- 
ance of one course of action in deliberate 
preferance to another? If so, how can the 
purely mechanical reaction of Habit be 
claimed as moral? In fact, does not a real 
moral decision generally mean a breaking 
down or at least questioning of habit? Is 
not the essence of morality freedom? Mil- 
tonic phrases floated vaguely thru the Teach- 
er’s head? 

What freedom of judgment is permitted 
the child, in the orderly confinement of the 
class room? Wherein does his appointed 
Keeper encourage the growth of a moral con- 
sciousness? Is not true moral consciousness, 
if there be such a thing, the consciousness of 
one’s social relations? And what opportun- 
ity is given the individual, separated as he is, 
by every barrier of rule and custom from his 
fellow classmates, to develop that social at- 
titude? 

Is the normal teacher, the teacher of “Su- 
perior Merit,” interested in learning how the 
class as a whole responds to breaches of its 
etiquette? Does he not rather treat infrac- 
tions of discipline as reflections upon him- 
self, and engage in strictly personal duels 
with the errant ones? As the Teacher pon- 
dered, he recalled the momentous issues of 
those first weeks at the Institution. 

His Principal had summoned him for a 
conference at the end of the month. The 
Principal was agreeably youthful; he was 
therefore disposed to be indulgent, but he 
was troubled. 

“It’s just this way,” he said, with a con- 
ciliatory accent rare enough among princi- 


pals, when discipline is involved, “you know, 
yourself, that conditions in your room aren’t, 
well, aren’t quite up to the mark.” 

“Which mark?” asked the Teacher inno- 
cently. 

“Of course, I know that you have Ideas,” 
said the Principal, evading the challenge, 
“but where does the rest of the school come 
in? I tell you frankly the Old Man” (their 
astute Superintendent) “really doesn’t like 
to bring visitors in there.” 

“Neither do I enjoy having them,” an- 
swered the Teacher with the boldness of one 
who is indifferent to tenure of office. 
“Couldn’t you persuade him to avoid the 
dangerous premises of Art until they have 
become presentable, if not conventional? 
And those tables—” : 

“Yes, I know; things are far from ideal, 
but the tables must be used; they can’t be 
thrown away! About visitors, we'll see 
. . » how long do you want?” 

“Four months immunity, at least!” 

The Principal changed the subject by 
drawing out a High School ART catalogue, 
illustrated. 

“Now here is the sort of thing I expect 
to get from your classes when they settle 
down. These were done by New York boys 
and girls. That’s what I call pretty fine chil- 
dren’s art.” 

The Teacher inspected the neat reproduc- 
tions without enthusiasm. 

“Excuse me,” he said sceptically, “but 


- I don’t consider these examples of child art 


atall. It is the work of adult minds executed 
by children. Real child art is inconceivably 
remote from these admirably decorous speci- 
mens.” 

“Well, you know, you’ve got to show us,” 
replied the Principal, warningly. 

The Teacher was granted four months of 


218 





December, 1918 


comparative freedom from inspection. He 
was free to employ any method of repression 
he chose. His favorite method was very 
simple: the inveterate chatterbox was gently 
withdrawn by the Teacher from his circle of 
listeners, and requested himself, to do noth- 
ing but listen (generally a hardship in it- 
self). 

“What do you hear?” the Teacher would 
say. 

“A lot of noise.” 

“Do you like it?” 

“Naw!” 

“Well, that’s what I have to listen to all 
day long.” 

“It’s those girls!” 

“No, young man! Don’t fool yourself! Your 
voice is just as strong and active as theirs. 
Now, don’t stop talking, but try to talk as 
you are talking to me now. See if you can’t 
say just as much without saying it so loud 
that it hurts people’s ears. That will do.” 

The Teacher spent two months in arousing 
the auditory consciousness of the Art stu- 
dents. He was as much interested in quiet 
voices, and in restrained timbre of voice, as 
You 


in the products of those busy hands. 
will say, that it was unnecessary labor ; there 
should have been absolute quiet, from the 
very beginning. Or at most, a permissable 
whispering, always under strict regulation 
by the teacher. But the Teacher had formally 


abolished discipline. He had done this in 
order to stimulate Activity. That was the 
one theory he clung to tenaciously. 

Indeed, the activity of the Three Hundred 
was phenomenal. At first it consisted largely 
in perpetual curiosity concerning the affairs 
of others. The passionate devotees of brush 
and pencil were objects of unabated, insatia- 
ble interest. There was much aimless wan- 
dering about the room, much empty vapor- 
ing, much indisputable nagging and teasing, 
one of the other. In these latter cases dis- 
putes and quarrels arose in which the Teach- 
er interfered as little as possible, preventing 
blows, protecting those plainly at a disad- 
vantage if necessary. It came gradually to 
be recognized that the workers were not to 
be annoyed, chiefly because at some time or 


The American 


Teacher 219 
other, the offenders were annoyed by others, 
after they had concluded to try work for a 
change. They wandered, gabbled, and 
stared, possessed of the boundless restless- 
ness of confined animals, without sufficient 
art impulse to hold them down to their seats. 
Moreover, it was vastly more comfortable to 
stroll than to bend over the low tables until 
one’s back ached. They were utterly indiffer- 
ent to the appearance of the room; they sly- 
ly dropped on the floor the paper they had 
just spoiled, and then disclaimed responsi- 
bility. They left their paint boxes in vile 
condition, and complained bitterly when they 
received them in the same condition from 
another class. Altogether, to the casual visi- 
tor, the Art room presented the spectacle of 
hopeless and muddled inefficiency. At times, 
the Teacher, surveying the ruin, cursed Edu- 
cation, or rather his own soul, which forbade 
him to teach as others. 

Thruout the rest of the school a fine 
esprit du corps prevailed. Already the Honor 
Roll adorned the hall. The Discipline was 
becoming exemplary, that is, routine; the 
Superintendent spoke, in assembly, of Char- 
acter Building. He felt assured that his boys 
and girls were learning to be neat, clean, or- 
derly, well-behaved, and moral, as morals go. 

All these pleasant accomplishments of 
Discipline evaporated however, between the 
Main Building and the “Tech;” there they 
were still primitives. 

There were several quaint incidents to re- 
cord. 

One small lad had proved unbearable to 
his immediate neighbors until they implored 
relief. The Teacher requested the imp to 
report to his own desk for a discussion of the 
trouble, then turned to assist another pupil 
in difficulties of an artistic nature at the rear 
of the room. 

Now the littlest boys and girls were ac- 
customed to bring all sorts of queer gifts to 
the Teacher. That morning one of them had 
presented, with an air of supreme triumph, 
a large, shiny tin can, which housed a mam- 
moth toad. The toad had proved too am- 
bitious for the peace of the class and had to 





220 


be cast out of the window. The can remained 
on the Teacher’s desk. 

The Teacher, apprised by an indefinable 
stir, of something unusual, looked up; in his 
chair, the seat of official authority, sat the 
recalcitrant mischief-maker, with folded 
arms, pursed lips, and sternly regal front, 
wearing on his head as crown something 
bright and shiny—a Tin Can King! What 
would you do under the circumstances? 
Would you stress the Disposition or the Act? 

The Teacher did neither, but went on 
about his business of extricating the artis- 
tically mired. As long as nothing revolu- 
tionary occurred, what did it matter how in- 
genious youngsters comported themselves be- 
fore their fellows? Did it impugn the dig- 
nity of the Teacher. That was surely not a 
matter of chairs and tin cans, but of his 
day-by-day relationship with the members 
of the class. A dignity so easily lost was not 
worth having. Is not the fear of losing 
one’s dignity tantamount to a confession of 
a greater fear, the fear of one’s pupils? To 
such teachers discipline is an indispensable 
bulwark which shelters them from acutal 
contact with the barbarian hordes they 
thereby control. 

But what, in heaven’s name, was the ef- 
fect on the class of his subversion of au- 
thority? There was no authority; therefore 
there was no subversion. The effect was 
practically nil. When the class saw that the 
Teacher was not going to make anything of 
it, they immediately lost interest in their 
Tin Can King. As for that self-annointed 
monarch, he made the discovery that it is 
next to impossible to keep up an air of colos- 
sal impudence in a vacuum of conflict. Taken 
to task, lectured, manhandled, he was ready 
to be pert, sullen, eventually crushed, tear- 
ful and repentant; but nothing was done 
about it, and his resistance rapidly faded. 
Tin cans were stupid things—if the fellows 
wouldn’t laugh. He tried to face it out, 
failed miserably, removed the article, got out 
of the seat, and creeping back to where the 
Teacher was bending down absorbed, asked 
in a subdued whisper, if he couldn’t go to 
work now. The Teacher nodded, without 
looking up, and he went away. 


The American Teacher 


Vol. VII., No. 10 


Oh the tension of classes! The strained, 
unnatural attention—then the slip in the 
cog—a mispronunciation—a sneeze—a stum- 
bling reply—and the whole thing collapses 
in a gale of cackling, hysterical laughter, or 
irrepressible giggling, the teacher, all the 
while, nervously alert to catch and pin-down 
the ringleaders of the disorder which, he 
feels is undermining his precious (and un- 
substantial) authority). 

Then the incident of the boy who jumped 
out of the window. 

The Teacher, at the summons of a friendly 
visitor, stepped into the hall, closing the door 
and leaving the class to their own devices. 
on re-entering they rose as one and said that 
Louis Markowitz had gone out of the win- 
dow. The Teacher was almost startled, not 
so much by the daring “nerve” of the deed 
as by its physical execution, the windows of 
the Art room, tho on the ground floor, being 
by no means close to earth. Shortly, how- 
ever, Louis himself appeared, in the normal 
way, through the door, and on enquiry, 
stated, with complete assurance of justifica- 
tion, that he had wished to absent himself, 
but, “bein’ that you was chinin wid de guy 
outside I din wanta butt in” (Louis was a 
new arrival and still spoke pure New-York- 
ese) and so had solved the problem in the 
politest fashion possible. Of course one had 
to explain to Louis that while his Disposi- 
tion was all right, the Act was questionable 
from the standpoint of outsiders, who might 
be alarmed to see small boys dropping 
promiscuously from class-room windows. 

Then there were the Art pencils. 

Despite all the Teacher could do, they dis- 
appeared from time to time into pockets 
needful of those important instruments of 
communication. The loss necessitated a cer- 
tain number of pupils going without them in 
subsequent periods of Art. The classes 
chafed. At length a group of Vigilantes 
sprang spontaneously into being, pledged to 
restore the missing pencils. Pencils they did 
restore—but not always Art pencils. The 
Teacher, showered with a motley array of 
nibbled points, and fearing the eventual 
denudation of the rest of the school in this 





December, 1918 


regard, had to call a halt on the activities of 
the band. He once more restored the full 
quota of lead; but his Faithfuls had made 
pencil “swiping” the most unpopular of oc- 
cupations. 

Then there was the eternal question of 
Cleaning Up. 

The Teacher was loth to use compulsion. 
His pupils were quite frank in their opinion 
of dirty rooms and materials; but they were 
equally unaware of their individual re- 
sponsibility in the matter. In that respect 
they were not far from their seniors. 

Of all the periods during the Teacher’s 
day the last was the most difficult. At that 
time came the very littlest boys and girls, a 
large, intensely active, noisy, and thoroughly 
irresponsible class. Can you conceive of 
some sixty tots, ranging in age from seven 
to nine, in disposition, kitten, fox terrier, and 
Spring lamb, at unrestricted play together, 
amusing themselves with cardboard, raffia, 
colored chalks or paint boxes? The resultant 
muss defies description ! 

A few faithful servitors in every class 
volunteered regularly to perform the duties 
of char-woman each day, but this arrange- 
ment proved burdensome even to the most 
willing. At length the Littlest of all the little 
girls, the quickest and ablest helper of the 
lot, suggested a scheme. 

“If you will get me some small blank books, 
Teacher,” said she one day, “I will get the 
work done.” 

The blank books were immediately forth- 
coming. In each book she wrote certain du- 
ties, and, by some fine executive sense all her 
own, assigned a book to a like number of 
girls, adjusting, changing, varying the work 
from day to day, with the tact and skill of 
a born’'manager. She was not above eight 
herself, and her obedient assistants were, in 
some cases, a year or more older. There- 
after she did no actual work, or at least only 
the minor duties, and delegated the whole 
labor to the others, who, strange to say, 
seemed to enjoy her efficient bossing. She 
had an excellent memory and in the absence 
of the Teacher could be relied upon to leave 
the Art room in as perfect condition, as tho 


The American Teacher 


221 


he himself were there to superintend. As 
an artist she was by no means inspired, but 
as an Efficiency Engineer she was a star! 

Gradually other classes had their eyes 
opened to the need for Responsibility and 
adopted various contrivances for establish- 
ing and maintaining the integrity of the 
equipment. Clean-up squads were instituted 
at the instigation of the pupils, and, after 
weeks of trial and uncertainty, came at 
length to a firmer understanding of the part 
each member of a class should play in rela- 
tion to the whole social unit. 

The tables, however, continued to prove 
constant sources of irritation, they caused 
congestion in the passing to and fro of pupils, 
besides decentralizing the attention of the 
class, and they were fertile inducements to 
the careless youngster to cast his trash be- 
neath. A holiday, accompanied by a great 
reception in another part of the Institution, 
necessitated their ‘removal for a week. The 
Teacher seized the opportunity to experi- 
ment with an ideal seating arrangement, and 
at length made an important discovery, 
namely, that in a given space the same num- 
ber of seats, disposed in a semi-circle, or in 
this case, two permits each pupil to occupy a 
much larger area, ample space for extra 
movements of the class. No sooner had the 
classes seated themselves than the advan- 
tages of the semi-circular plan became mani- 
fest. Each child was now a complete unit, 
at an equal distance from the point of cen- 
tral interest. Each individual was visible at 
once, and directly faced the Teacher. His 
contact with others was one-dimensional 
rather than two-dimensional; there could be 
no furtive crouching behind the boy in 
front, for only the Teacher or clear space 
was in front. Best of all, it gave a breadth, 
dignity, and amplitude to the appearance of 
the class room, totally lacking before. By 
arduous persuasion the Teacher succeeded in 
getting the tables abolished once and for all. 

Do you think these lively youngsters did 
not respond to the new sensation? Do you 
imagine that the average child does not en- 
joy the manifestation of a greater order? If 
he has witnessed and aided in the growth of 





The American Teacher 


that order, he does! Their praises of the 
novel experiment were loud and long. It 
was astonishing to see the rapid strides made 
henceforth by all the classes in their social 
consciousness? They began to be proud of 
their room, with a pride born of effort; they 
had wrestled with its problems, and strug- 
gled, not without signal failures, toward an 
ideal at no time clearly discernable. Chil- 
dren do not love disorder—any more, than 
they love idle tumult—but they are helpless 
before their own chaotic impulses, and they 
are never permitted to learn by an empirical 
process, the method of arriving at another 
state than anarchy, self-control. Teachers, 
principals and supervisors, seeing only the 
agreeable results of their discipline, vainly 
imagine that the pupils have taken to heart 
their oft-reiterated preachments. but let the 
unexpected occur, withdraw the iron hand 
for a brief moment, and the System van- 
ishes, leaving the same old rebellious anarchy 
of the child! 


The High School Principal- 
ship in New York 


N years past THE AMERICAN TEACHER 
I has called attention frequently to the 
lack of standards apparently in the 
minds of the educational authorities when 
high school principals were being appointed 
in the City of New York. It takes a long time 
for the ideals of efficiency and democracy to 
get into official brains, and longer still for 
the public to realize what is being done to it. 
sometimes dishonestly. But in this wartime, 
brains seem to be more alert, determinations 
seem to be more swiftly formed, than in ear- 
lier “piping times of peace.” Hence, the great 
encouragement we now feel when teachers 
come out and tell what they know. Kaiserism 
in education cannot withstand that, for in 
behalf of the great public the ideal of Democ- 
racy has been skillfully formulated by a mas- 
ter mind. 
The two letters given below were printed 
in The New York Evening Post. They were 


Vol. VII., No. 10 


written by a man of excellent standing thru- 
out the country as a teacher of English. We 
vouch for the accuracy of the statements 
made by Mr. Fairley.—Eb. ‘ 


The Teacher’s Lot 


To the Editor of The Evening Post: 

Sir: Every man I know who is teaching in the 
public schools of New York City comes back to 
his work this fall without enthusiasm, and, in 
some cases, with a positive sinking of the heart. 
There are several reasons for this: the low sala- 
ries, the character of the supervision to which 
we are subject, and the fact that teaching in our 
city is a blind alley job, the highest positions are 
not open to merit but to pull. This letter will 
attempt to discuss the third of these reasons. 

In the high schools a man may go up as far 
as first assistant by his scholarships, his record, 
and by his ability in passing the necessary ex- 
aminations. In the elementary schools one may 
become a principal on his record, his scholarship, 
and his ability in passing the requisite examina- 
tions, in short, in the regular civil service way. 
But if a high-school man aspires to be a principal, 
or if an elementary-school man aspires to be a dis- 
trict superintendent, he soon finds that he is con- 
fronted with a very different proposition. I am 
more familiar with the high school situation than 
I am with the elementary, so I will speak of that, 
but the situations and conditions in the two 
branches of the service are practically alike. 

When a high school principalship becomes va- 
cant in New York, a grand scramble begins. 
Every man who thinks he has the remotest chance 
of consideration begins to pull every wire of which 
he knows the existence. He calls on every men- 
ber of the Board of Superintendents, with his cap 
in his hand. Then he seeks out every member 
of the Board of Education and presents his 
claims. If that were all, one could not greatly 
object. But that is only the beginning. Then 
our prospective candidate begins to work all his 
friends who have any shadow of influence, natural 
or adventitious. If he is a churchman, he asks all 
the dignitaries of his church to help him. If he 
has any political acquaintances, he urges them 
to do their bit; if he is a Mason, or an Odd Fel- 
low, or a Snark, he asks his fellow-Masons and 
Snarks to help him; from every conceivable angle 
he brings what pressure he can to bear upon the 
superintendents and the members of the Board 
of Education. 

One would suppose that these latter would re- 
volt and demand that high school principals and 
district superintendents be appointed from an 
eligible list, but, so far as I know, no such revolt 


4 





December, 1918 


has taken place. Instead, these gentlemen seem 
to enjoy the process. The superintendent now 
in charge of high schools has, indeed, set in op- 
eration a system whereby the prospective candi- 
date visits for one brief day the vacant high 
school, and then writes out a painstaking report 
of what he would do if he were principal. This 
is, of course, a step in the right direction, but 
some of the superintendents do not take these 
reports seriously, a fact which is substantiated by 
the common report that since the system was put 
into play, one high school principal has been ap- 
pointed who wrote no report at all, and another 
who handed in a very perfunctory report. 


Just at present it looks as if the members of 
the Board of Education were wishing to take a 
hand in the naming of candidates for vacancies, 
although that is plainly the function of the Board 
of Superintendents. Last spring the Board of 
Superintendents nominated a principal for the 
Morris High School, but the Board of Education 
has repeatedly failed to confirm the nomination, 
and rumor has it that a member of the Board 
from the Bronx maintains, that, as Morris High 
School is in The Bronx, he ought to have the 
naming of the principal. To the victor belong the 
spoils. So the horrid spoils system, which has 
been banished from almost every other depart- 
ment of American life, is still flourishing in the 
schools, where, of all places, it ought never to 
exist. 


Meantime, the rank and file of the teachers, 
seeing that promotion to the higher places in the 
system is not surely the result of merit, are dis- 
couraged and are leaving the system in droves 
and would leave even faster if they had not given 
hostages to fortune by years of contribution to 
the pension system. 


All this could be changed if only the school 
principalships and the district superintendencies 
were placed under the civil service. Let a man 
feel that he could take his stand among his fel- 
lows on his record, which should include his teach- 
ing and supervising ability, his disciplinary power, 
his scholastic attainments in degrees won, and in 
books and articles published, his leadership as 
shown in his work in professional associations and 
committees; let him feel that even the places at 
the top were open to him, that he did not need 
pull but proficiency, and I make no doubt that a 
great change would take place in the spirit of 
our teaching force. 


This is written, not in a vindictive, but in a 
constructive and reformatory spirit by a man who 
realizes that in this letter he is cutting off any 


The American Teacher 223 


remote chance he may ever have had of promo- 
tion, in the hope that this serious blot upon the 
school system may be removed. 
EDWIN FAIRLEY. 
High School, Jamaica, N. Y., October 11. 


High School Principalships 


To the Editor of The Evening Post: 


Sir: Among the responses which have come 
to me from my letter on “The Teachers’ Lot,” 
recently printed in The Evening Post, the only 
one I care to notice is that in regard to the action 
of a member of the Board of Education in hold- 
ing up the nomination by the Board of Super- 
intendents of a principal for the Morris High 
School. 

One of my correspondents assures me that the 
member of the Board of Education is convinced 
that he can find a better man for the place than 
the one picked out by the superintendents. But 
what does the State Education law say? It says 
distinctly that nominations for the principalships 
of high schools shall be made by the Board of 
Superintendents. The Board of Education has 
no function in the premises, except to confirm or 
to reject the nomination of the superintendents. 
The Board of Education is then entirely within its 
rights when it rejects a nomination which comes 
before it. But it is entirely outside its rights 
when it attempts to dictate a nomination. 

Whether such an attempt to dictate to the 
Board of Superintendents has been made, I have 
no means of knowing. The report, however, is 
very common that such an attempt is being made 
and the rumor goes on to mention the name of 
the man who is to be put into Morris High School. 
I hope that the report is not true, for I think 
that all righ-minded men will agree that it is 
very important to keep the power of nomination 
where it belongs, in the Board of Superintendents. 

No one has attempted to answer my main 
point, that nominations for high school principal- 
ships and district superintendencies should be 
made from an eligible list, made up of persons 
who have proved their worth especially by their 
record and by their positive contributions to ed- 
ucation as also by their ability to pass equitable 
tests set by the Board of Examiners, who, so far 
as I have been able to observe, are fair-minded, 
honorable gentlemen, whom I would trust in any 
situation. 

EDWIN FAIRLEY. 

High School, Jamaica, N. Y., October 28. 





What They Say 


A Letter to the President of the 
American Federation of Teachers 


UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA, COLLEGE OF EDUCATION 
Minneapolis, October 11, 1918 
Mr Charles B Stillman, 
1620 Lake Avenue, 
. Wilmette, Il. 
Dear Sir: 

The last number of THE AMERICAN TEACHER, 
which I have taken since it began, is interesting as 
evidence of the progress of The American Federa- 
tion of Teachers. It is needless to say that I am 
heartily in sympathy with this organization. 

A committee of the N E A is carrying on an 
active canvass for members for that organization. 
An appeal is being made to all teachers to join as 
a patriotic duty. This is all right as far as it goes. 
The committee is made up of men and women in 
whom for the most part we have confidence, and 
certainly there should be more effective organiza- 
tion, but I believe it would be execeedingly unfor- 
tunate if teachers do not seize this opportunity for 
a thoro re-organization of the N E A. If teachers 
merely contribute their dues and do not seek a 
more democratic organization, some good will likely 
result as long as the committee in charge is as trust- 
worthy as the one now appointed. But there should 
be a real federation of teachers before vast funds 
are contributed. This federation should have fea- 
tures akin to those of tha American Federation of 
Labor. .Of course I know you are in favor of such 
a move, but my point is that, while we should not 
antagonize the present movement for increasing 
membership in the N E A, we should agitate for a 
more democratic form of organization before we all 
join it. The two ideas should go together. I have 
been an active member of the N E A for more than 
thirty years and shall continue my membership no 
matter what happens, but I confess I would have 
more enthusiasm for an increase in membership if 
a change such as I have suggested is made. 

I have read over the article of your organization 
which deals with membership. I see no provision 
for college teachers. Why should there not be such 
provision? It would certainly be unfortunate to ex- 
clude college teachers from a general federation of 
teachers. I think that college teachers are not less 
in need of enlightenment which such membership 
would bring than are grade teachers. In our col- 
leges of education, and in the departments of educa- 


tion in other colleges, an increasing number of stu- 
dents are having their minds trained for service, 
The same thing is true of normal schools, whose 
teachers are also excluded, at least they are not 
included specifically. What would result if our 
teacher-training institutions are conducted by those 
who are indifferent or hostile to a federation thru 
ignorance or prejudice? Probably the average in- 
structor in colleges other than education would be 
the hardest proposition from the point of view of 
this reform. But even he is not hopeless. Events 
are compelling him to take notice of the need for 
democratizing educational administration. The war 
is stirring him to consider things other than tradi- 
tion. One, a gentleman of culture, said to me the 
other day that he had learned more the past year 
than in any other year since he left college many 
years ago. His field is somewhat recondite and | 
am sure he had in mind something vastly different 
from the ancient lore in which he delves. Why 
not take in all college instructors who care to join? 
Yours truly, : 
ALBERT W RANKIN, 
Professor of Education. 


An Open Letter to a Labor Leader 
My dear Mr Bagley: 

I hope you don’t think too harshly of us, the 
teachers. True, we have not yet learned the lesson 
that labor learned many, many years ago, the les- 
son that unless we stand shoulder to shoulder in one 
solid rank, we are but the play thing of any polit- 
ical party or any petty autocrat that happens to 
strut the stage. Not only have we failed to stand 
together, but too often have we shown ourselves 
ready to desert in their darkest hour those few 
among our numbers who had the courage of their 
manhood and womanhood, who spoke out for them 
that are supine, and who were listed for the guillo- 
tine because of their courage. There are many other 
charges which you and your fellow-leaders of labor 
might bring against us, to which we should have 
to plead guilty. 

First, we teachers are snobs. We have been 
lulled into the belief that our knowledge of book 
lore, often an antiquated and functionless book lore, 
has put us into some sphere of existence other than 
that inhabited by the common manual worker. We 
teach a lip-democracy when we tell our pupil that 
all labor is dignified provided it is socially pro- 
ductive. But we don’t mean what we say. 


224 





December, 1918 


We give ourselves the’ lie when we refuse to clasp 
hands with labor, when we refuse to join with the 
parents of the very children to whom we preach 
this lip democracy. 

Then, too, we teachers are afraid. You may find 
it difficult to believe that we who preach moral cour- 
ave to our children lack that moral courage which 
is necessary if we are to organize effectively. You 
would be astonished to hear teachers say, “I’ll wait 
until the Union is strong before I join it.” Yet we 
teachers say it again and again. You who have been 
at this game for years and have met with more 
courageous response, will find it hard to believe that 
we teachers are willing to let a small group face 
the danger and pay the price if need be. Yes, we 
are ready to join them only when their success is 
assured. We know that this very aloofness of ours 
is what handicaps the brave few, but we don’t want 
to risk too much. 

And, finally, I am ashamed to confess it, we teach- 
ers are ignorant. We do not understand the forces 
that are moulding the destinies of peoples to-day. 
We know too little of what English labor and French 
labor have achieved. We are not even aware of the 
fact that in our own country labor is coming into 
its own, that not only cooperative shop-government, 
but that self-determination in industries is becoming 
the government policy. 

But you must not be indignant because we are 
snobs, you must not desert us tho we are timorous, 
you must not despair of us because we are ignor- 
ant. There are many forces at work which will 
help us overcome these serious handicaps and we 
shall yet be worthy of your regard and your friend- 
ship. When the Mayor of New York told us “to 
cut out the nonsense about salaries” and “to get out 
and look for other jobs if you don’t like it” some of 
us, at any rate, realized that our position is a job, 
and that we are workingmen and workingwomen 
who are being spoken to in the manner which em- 
ployers have used toward unorganized workingmen 
and workingwomen. When Associate Superintendent 
Tildsley admitted to one of the teachers whom he 
“interviewed” at the DeWitt Clinton High School in 
the famous “inquisition” that he would not have 
imposed the longer school day upon us if all the 
teachers had one strong Union, he taught some of 
us the strength that comes from courage of convic- 
tion. And when you and your co-leaders of labor 
told us at a recent meeting of the Teachers Union 
about the work of the War Labor Board and of the 
right which labor now has to speak its mind and 
of the representation which labor now has in this 
national body, some of us began to realize what 
is meant by the dignity of labor. 

Yes, Mr Bagley, I venture the prediction that in 
the very near future we teachers shall have out- 
grown our snobbishness, we shall not be afraid, and 
we shall be more familiar with the place of labor 


The American Teacher 


225 


in the new democracy. The Teachers Union is grow- 
ing surely, and also quickly. We teachers will be 
found worthy of a place in the ranks of labor, where 
we, too, may march erect, because we shall have 
acquired self-respect. 

May I sign myself, 

Your comrade, 
JOSEPH JABLONOWER. 
Mr James J Bagley, 
President, The Pressmen’s Union. 


From a Humorous 


Pessimist 
To the Editor, THE AMERICAN TEACHER: 
I beg leave to offer the following list of 


definitions of school terms: 

SCHOOL. A square prism with appertures called 
windows, convenient inlets for occasional sun- 
beams. The largest aperture called a door is 
a most welcome means of exit. 

PRINCIPAL. A dynamo that forces “pep” and 
vim into petrified fossils called teachers. 

TEACHER. An ossified human being who mechan- 
ically fills a funnel with a vitiated liquid called 
knowledge. 

KNOWLEDGE. A well fermented, unadulterated 
liquid, with occasional sediment, that assimilates 
very readily with gray matter. 

PUPIL. Best explained by comparison. Pupils are 
to teachers what cooties are to soldiers—some- 
thing very annoying they are anxious to get 
rid of. 

HEADS OF DEPARTMENT. A clan 
“Rubber Heeled Aristocracy,” who 
ready to pounce upon their easy prey. 

TEACHERS’ SALARIES. A miniature sample of 
UNITED STATES currency. 

REFUNDS. A camouflaged finding like getting 
your penny out of the slot when it is out of 
gum. - 

CLERK. A permanent pest who tolls the cur- 
fews that drive the willing slaves to their dens 
called classrooms. 

JANITOR. Something needed, never found. Oc- 
casionally adds fuel to the flame of discontent. 

SUPERINTENDENT. A periodic epidemic that 
sweeps most violently thruout the realm, leav- 
ing susceptible bodies maimed for life. 

SALARY INCREASE. An empty dream. 

TERM. A sentence of six months as punishment 
for aspiring to the noble calling of cultivating 
the Lilliputian citizenship. 

LUNCH ROOM. A place where teachers may im- 
»bibe victuals freely, and talk just as freely, 
about superior pests and pestilences. The only 
place in the school where free speech is at- 
tempted. 


called the 
are ever 








226 


SUMMER VACATION. An extended furlough. 

TEACHERS’ MEETINGS. A regular social gath- 
ering—no refreshments served. The freshest 
serve the meek. 

BELLS. Mysterious diabolical sounds that make 
things stir. 

CORRIDORS. Darkened labyrinths that lead from 
one dungeon to another. 

BASEMENT. A subterranean excavation to -which 
the conscientiously wicked are banished. 

BASEMENT DUTY. A chronic inevitable curse. 
Best avoided by convenient absence. 

IRENE R SINELNIK, 
P § 165, Brooklyn, N Y. 


Home Service for Teachers 


THE RED CROSS CHRISTMAS 
ROLL CALL 


of 1918, the American Red Cross will 
have expended over $70,000,000 in re- 
lief work in France, $20,000,000 in Italy, 
nearly $2,000,000 in Switzerland, and $6,- 
000,000 in its Home Service Branch. 


S INCE the war began and up to the end 


All 
of which means, that thousands of sufferers 
have been healed and housed and fed, that 
thousands upon thousands of soldiers have 
been given comfort and cheer, that thousands 
of American prisoners have been furnished 
with supplies, and that thousands of soldiers’ 
and sailors’ families, thru the Home Serv- 
ice Branch of the American Red Cross, have 
been aided and befriended. 

That the American Red Cross has been 
able to serve thus widely and efficiently is 
due of course to the cooperation and serv- 
ice of the American people who have given 
themselves and their money gladly and un- 
tiringly to this cause of Mercy and Relief. 

Not least among these to give of them- 
selves, their time, their energy, and their 
powerful and far-reaching influence, are the 
teachers of the United States. Their service 
cannot be undervalued. So many are the 
doors to which they have access in present- 
ing the American Red Cross message and 
opportunity. So many are the ways in which 
they may reach the hearts of the people. 


Vol. VII., No. 10 


The American Red Cross feels that in them 
it has indeed a mighty band of workers 
stretched over the land. And the American 
Red Cross extends its appreciation to them 
for service they have already so effectively 
rendered and appeals to them to know no 
limit in service. 

The Home Service Branch of the Amer- 
ican Red Cross is one of its most important 
activities and one which particularly needs 
the cooperation and support of the teachers 
of the country. Its purpose is to care for 
the families of our men in the service, re- 
lieving them of money troubles, worries and 
loneliness, to keep the soldier still in Europe 
in touch with the folks at home, and to aid 
the disabled soldier. This it accomplishes 
thru its 10,000 Home Service committees 
which reach all over the country, into isol- 
ated communities and thru cities, spreading 
the doctrine of neighborliness and help. 

The service of teachers in this branch of 
American Red Cross work is invaluable. By 
sitting on local committees, by joining Home 
Service workers in the nation-wide campaign 
to encourage frequent and cheerful letter 
writing to the soldiers and most important, 
by keeping in sympathetic touch with all the 
families of their schools thru the children, 
learning their needs and worries and report- 
ing them to Home Service committees for 
relief and readjustment, they will be doing 
much toward keeping American homes 
strong and brave and happy, and much to- 
ward maintaining the morale of our army 
and navy. For unworried soldiers are al- 
ways the best soldiers, and unworried homes 
among soldiers’ best assets. 

Therefore, the American Red Cross urges 
the teachers of the United States to do their 
utmost in aiding its Home Service neighbor- 
liness and help in American homes. 


Compulsory Military Service 


The conspiracy to clamp the muffler of universai 
military service on the aspirations of the American 
people will, if we are not mistaken, encounter an- 
other serious obstacle if President Wilson and Sec- 





December, 1918 


retary Baker can thwart the scheme long enough 
to give the returning and released soldiers an op- 
portunity to express their views. So long as Kaiser- 
ism remained to be defeated, the young men of 
America’s great armies went grimly and even cheer- 
fully about their task of learning to be soldiers. 
There was hardly a whisper of complaint. They 
were for doing the job, and doing it thoroly. To- 
day, with peace assured, we are beginning to get 
from them their true feeling about the life of a 
soldier. They don’t like it. Their one desire is to 
get home and get out of a uniform. “Leave it to 
the M. P.’s,” chorused a group of soldiers in the 
front line above Verdun when the New York Times 
correspondent asked if they’d like to be in the army 
of occupation. “We want to get home.” If soldier- 
ing were popular under any conditions, it would 
have been popular to boys with the prospect of a 
triumphal march through the beautiful country of 
Alsace-Lorraine and the Rhine. In the camps in 
this country it is the same. There is less danger of 
militarism becoming popular in this country than 
many of us feared. Ask the boys who have been 
thru it. Their experience will place them as firmly 
in opposition to Dr. Nicholas Murray Butler and 
his kind as those of us who arrived at it on more 
theoretical grounds. The campaign for universal 
service is a dishonest conspiracy fostered by men 
who are desperately trying to keep back the rising 
tide of democracy, and to save their privileges. 
They believe that military discipline for every boy 
of every generation will breed a more uncritical 
and unthinking reverence for established instituticns, 
a habit of unquestioning obedience, a conformity that 
is scornful of heresies and untried things. In Eng- 
land this issue is understood by every liberal. The 
Bishop of Oxford, who returned last week after a 
long visit in this country, must have been appalled 
by the callow acceptance among large circles here 
of an institution that, as he told them, would be 
fatal to the progress of human freedom.—The Pub- 
lic, of November 23, 1918. 


Organization for Protection 

The decision of the Education Department of the 
State of New York in the case of the three teachers 
who were dismissed last spring from the DeWitt 
Clinton High School in this city has been rendered 
by Thomas E Finegan, acting Commissioner of 
Education; the Commissioner, Dr John H Finley, 
having escaped the necessity of passing upon the 
matter by virtue of his’timely absence in Palestine 
and elsewhere. The decision, as was expected, af- 
firms the decision of the Board of Education, and 
the separation of the teachers from the schools of 
New York City is, apparently, made permanent. A 
careful reading of Mr Finegan’s decision leads 
one to wonder on what principles of equity, not to 


The American Teacher 


speak of justice, the rights of public school teachers 
in New York against whom official charges may 
happen to be directed are dealt with by the highest 
educational authority in the State. The three teach- 
ers in question were suspended from their positions 
in November, 1917, on charges of “conduct unbecom- 
ing a teacher.” The president of the Board of 
Education, William G Willcox, in a speech before 
the Board on December 19, specifically stated that 
“the three teachers are not charged with disloy- 
alty”; and the charges themselves, stripped of non- 
essential incidents and differences, amounted to noth- 
ing more specific (save, in the case of one defend- 
ant, a debatable question of moral taste) than the 
allegation that they had been neutral regarding the 
war and had failed to show a sufficiently enthusi- 
astic patriotism. Mr Finegan, however, in his de- 
cision, rides rough-shod over the defendants, and 
declares that “a person who does not, without reser- 
vation, utilize all his intellectual powers and exert 
all his influence as a teacher” to make the schools 
a place where “the fundamental principles of Am- 
erica’s philosophy of life and government” are ef- 
ficiently taught, “fails properly to support the Gov- 
ernment in this war.” The parts of Mr Finegan’s 
decision in which he deals with the substantive 
elements in the case read more like a stump speech 
than like the reasoned words of the acting head 
of a great educational system. If this is the way 
New York is to foster patriotism in its schools, the 
sooner all the teachers organize to protect them- 
selves and rid the schools of politics, the better.— 
The Nation, of November 23, 1918. 


A Small Chance for Merit 


Lack of agreement between successive boards of 
education and boards of superintendents as to the 
best qualified persons for positions of high school 
principals and district superintendents emphasizes 
the fact that as yet a plan has not been devised 
whereby the merit of the various persons considered 
is definitely established. There isn’t any eligible list 
for such positions and proposals made to prescribe 
that lists be made up have again and again been 
voted down. Lacking such a list, the Board of Ed- 
ucation hasn’t even an official record that will reveal 
after a little study just who is best fitted for a 
particular vacancy. Positions often are filled by 
faver or by chance. One time it is the incident of 
a superintendent switching his vote that results after 
a long drawn out balloting in a majority vote for a 
candidate who has done nothing—especially, noth- 
ing that would antagonize any of the superintendents. 
Again the chance of acquaintance or friendship with 
a member of a board of education secures a nomina- 
tion that otherwise would not have been voted. 
School Page of the New York Globe, for November 
25, 1918. 





\ The American Teacher Vol. VII., No. 10 


\ 





I am the Bitter Enemy of Injustice, Tyranny and Autocracy. 


The Sycophant scoffs at me, the Political Appointee sneers at me, 
the Incompetent and the Self-seeker misrepresent me, and 


The Dishonest and the Cowardly fear me. 


I am the Saviour of thy Self-respect, the Promoter of thy Initiative, 
the Sustainer of thy Courage and Ideals. 


YATE TAT 


I am the Bane of the Real Estate Dealers Association, and of the 
War Profiteers and their Educational Tools. 


I fight for Right as against Migitt, for Democracy as against Autoc- 
racy, for Merit as against Pull, for Loyalty to Ideals as against 


Loyalty to Persons, Parties, or Shibboleths. 


I am the Protector of thy Economic and Physical Well-Being, 


w~wweom = - 


I am the Exponent of a new era, the Era of Cooperation. 


I am thy Salvation; for I am the Child of Labor. 





I am the Teachers’ 


UNION 


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Ail 








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