: 


MAY, 1927 


Democracy in Education 


VOL. XI—No. 9 


Education for Democracy 


The 


A aE - 
gE er ree er 








EEE 





| = F e | : | 
-~American Teacher ~ 


THE ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 














The 
TWIN CITY 





NUMBER 











Eg ee 











DESTINY 


One ship drives East, 

Another drives West, 
While the self-same breezes blow, 

’Tis the set of the sails and not the gales 
That bids then where too. 


Like the winds of the sea 

Are the ways of the fates, 
As we move along through life; 

"Tis the set of the soul that decides the goal, 
And not the storm or the strife. 














Published by 
AMERICAN FEDERATION 
of TEACHERS 


Single Copy 15c—Yearly Subscription $1.00 


Pw 20 327 So. La Salle St., Chicago 






















THE AMERICAN TEACHER 




















FUNDAMENTALS 


EACH: READING, writing, and arithmetic, of course, but not as funda- 

mentals, except as in the learning one is taught to read fine things, to write 

beautiful thoughts, and to know that in the fundamentals of life the sum of 
one’s happiness cannot be obtained by subtracting from others, and that the way to 
multiply the value of one’s possessions is to divide them with others, especially 
with those in need. Teach geography, but only that to world knowledge may be 
added world sympathy and understanding and fellowship. Teach history that 
against its gray background of suffering and sorrow and struggle we may better 
understand the present and may project a fine future. Teach civics to make strong 
the ideals of liberty and justice, and to make free, through obedience, the citizens 
of a republic. Teach science, but always as the handmate of religion, to reveal how 
the brooding spirit of God created the world and all that is therein, and see the 
stars in their courses, in accordance with the eternal laws that He "Himself had 
ordained. Teach music and art and literature. Reveal beauty and truth. In- 
culcate social and civic ideals. 

Teach that which gives intelligence and skill, but forget not soul culture, for 
out of this comes the more abundant life bringing forth the fruits of the spirit. 
These are the real fundamentals in education, for character is higher than intellect 


+ 








and the soul shall never die—Randall J. Condon. 




















CONTENTS 


Campaign for Tenure in Minnesota 
P. A. McMillen 
Federation Objectives and Their Realiza- 
tion 
Bess A. Tomlinson 
The Superior Teacher as Discovered by 
the Teachers Themselves 
Florence Fish 
The Large Class 
Luella B. Cook 
The Credit Union of the St. Paul Fed- 
eration of Women Teachers 
Flora F. Smalley 
The History of Group Insurance in St. 
Paul Locals 
Alice M. Hosmer 
Teacher Supervision 
Carolyn A, Reed 
Manumit 
Nellie M. Seeds 
mipeery The Negro’s Fight to Wipe It 


Mary L. Mason 
Editorials 
Book Reviews 
Our Locals 


i 




















Europe’s 
Progressive Schools 
Invite Sixty American Teachers 


Four Part.es, each comprising fourteen teachers 
under qualified leadership, will spend the summer 
visiting schools and meeting teachers in England, 
France, Switzerland, Germany, Denmark and 


Belgium. 


The programs include the progressive schools of 
London, the Danish Folk High Schools, the Munici- 
pal Experimental Schools of Hamburg, the Oden- 
waldschule and the Decroly Demonstration School. 


Each group has its individual itinerary but all will 
attend the International Conference on New Edu- 
cation at Locarno. 


Arrangements in Europe are being made with the 
assistance of the New Education Fellowship and 
Bureau International d’ Education. 


selective, al mine, Say Ceeerestey tiep tested Ae 
a 


THE OPEN ROAD, INC. 
2 West 46th Street New York City 








—— 
ene 




















The American Teacher 


Entered as second class matter October 20, 1926, at the post office 


under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance 


at Chicago, Illinois, 
for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1108, Act of February 28, 1925, authorized November 8, 1926. 








Volume XI, No. 9 


MAY, 1927 


One Dollar a Year 








Campaign for Tenure in Minnesota 
By P. A. McMillen, Local 43, St. Paul 


During the last four sessions of the Legis- 
lature, campaigns of increasing earnestness have 
been carried on for a teacher’s tenure law. This 
work has been done almost exclusively by class- 
room teachers. 

The first bill in the Minnesota Legislature 
was introduced at the request of Miss Florence 
Rood of Saint Paul Federation of Women 
Teachers Local No. 28, and Miss Sadie Brother- 
ton, President and Legislative Committee Chair- 
man respectively of Saint Paul Division of the 
M. E. A. Bill returned to author. 

The bill in the next Legislature was introduced 
at the request of Mrs. Elizabeth Haney of Min- 
neapolis Federation of Teachers Local No. 59 
The Saint Paul Federation of Women Teachers 
Local No. 28 co-operated in this effort. Neither 
of. the first two bills was ever reported out of 
committee. 

Following the failure of this second bill, the 
Saint Paul Federation of Men Teachers Local 
No. 43 appointed a committee to study tenure 
and to draft the principles of a sound tenure 
law. Members of the two Saint Paul Federa- 
tions went into the Saint Paul Division of the 
M. E. A. annual meeting, and secuzed the unani- 
mous adoption of a resolution to carry on a 
strong campaign for tenure legislation, and a 
resolution appropriating about $1,000 to finance 
said campaign. Oscar Hallam, formerly of the 
State Supreme Court, was retained to draft the 
bill, and to present it at teachers’ meetings and 
legislative hearings. Miss Florence Fish of the 
Minneapolis Federation of Teachers Local No. 
59 co-operated in conferences on drafting the 
bill, and she and Mrs. Elizabeth Haney of Local 
No. 59 succeeded in interesting the Minneapolis 
Division of the M. E. A. in full co-operation 
with Saint Paul teachers, including the appro- 
priations of about $1,000 to assist in financing 
the campaign. Very soon the Duluth Teachers’ 
Association came into the campaign with effec- 
tive help. A full time worker was employed 


jointly by St. Paul and Minneapolis teachers,on a 
high school salary basis. Our campaign never be- 
came really effective until March Ist, or the mid- 
dle of the session. We succeeded in the House 
with a vote of 83 to 37 on April 13th. With only 
one week of the session left, our bill became 
hopelessly involved in a deadlock in the Senate 
in the two closing days and died along with 
160 other bills. We now realized our inexperi- 
ence and our inefficient organization. We im- 
mediately determined an early reorganization for 
a more thorough and effective effort, with pre- 
primary and pre-election campaigris on the bill 
as it passed the House in 1925, and with a work- 
ing organization to make such campaigns effec- 
tive. By conferences the organization was ef- 
fected and early in\ 1926 the pre-primary cam- 
paign was on, and in the late summer the 
pre-election campaign. As the bill was drawn 
for cities of the first class, every candidate for 
the legislature in cities of the first class was 
presented with a copy of the bill and other in- 
formation, and later asked to state his stand on 
this measure. As a result there were only two 
representatives and one senator in all cities of 
the first class who were not committed to the 
bill. This gave us a very large sponsorship of 
the bill in both houses, and made it easy to secure 
practically unanimous recommendation to pass 
by the committees of cities of the first class to 
which our bill was referred, and likewise gave 
us a strong force of defenders in committee of 
the whole and on final passage in both houses. 
House File 77 and Senate File 205, identical, 
were introduced the second week of the 1927 
session; the bill passed the House on the 36th 
day and the Senate the 42nd day and the House 
again on final agreement on the 43rd day of 
the 90 day session. 

To rettace our. story somewhat, our worker 
went on full time September 1, 1926. Our 
teacher organization was perfected so that we 
had a legislative committee in each city, a joint 





4 THE AMERICAN TEACHER . 


conference committee of all first class cities, the 
various subcommittees as needed, and a build- 
ing representative in each school building who 
circulated petitions and distributed mail and other 
information as need arose in primary and elec- 
tion campaigns ‘and in the many interviews of 
. candidates and leaders of civic bodies. Our 
effectiveness was surprising to ourselves as well 
as to others. A majority of the main committees 
were members of the three Minnesota locals, 
though the other members of the committees were 
equally active and loyal to the movement, and 
the rank and file of teachers in all the cities were 
enthusiastic supporters. Though the M. E. A. 
had a sub-committee of three, two of whom 
were members of our federations, to work for 
tenure, and this sub-committee did wonderfully 
fine work, the M. E. A., otherwise, did not take 
an active part in the campaign. The M. E. A. 
Journal did all the printing we asked, even though 
the M. E. A. Assembly did not endorse our 
particular bill in its last session, the resolutions 
committee having refused to recommend endorse- 
ment. This, our tenure law is the result of a 
classroom teacher movement with the leading 
part taken by our federations, ably supported by 
all teachers and a large per cent of the prin- 
cipals, in the face of opposition from superin- 
tendents, the State School Board Association, and 
other reactionary interests. 


We were fortunate in our worker, Mrs. Alba 
Ladd of Minneapolis, a progressive Republican 
woman of great ability and large experience in 
political and legislative fields. No other cause 
had such an able worker or seemed so well 
organized. 


Another fortunate legislative circumstance was 
the frequent and questionable dismissals of 
teachers in “Minneapolis during the past three 
years. On this account the teachers of that city 
probably did the most effective work of all first 
class cities during the last session of the legis- 
lature. A brief synopsis of the Minnesota law 
follows : 


Probationary period of 3 years. Dismissal during 
period preceded by 30-day notice’ of same, written 
reasons as apply in cases of dismissals of perma- 
nent teachers. No hearing. : 
Permanent teaching period with continuous tenure. 
Dismnissals for one or more of following causes, 
preceded by 30-day notice of written charges, and 
a hearing if requested by teacher: 


a. Immoral character, conduct unbecoming a 
teacher, insubordination. 

b. Failure to teach without having secured a 
written release from appointment. 
Inefficiency in teaching or in management 
of the school. 

Affliction with communicable disease may 
cause suspension or removal while the 
teacher is suffering same. 

e. Discontinuance of position or lack of 
pupils. 

Written charges must be signed by person making 
same and filed with school board 30 days before 
dismissal for all causes except those under “c’” for 
which 4 months notice before close of a school 
year must be given. ‘ 
A hearing shall be offered the teacher, and ten 
days notice of time and place of hearing sent the 
teacher. She may have counsel and witnesses, and 
the proceedings shall be recorded. Hearing shall 
be private or public at decision of the teacher. 
Decision at conclusion of hearing by majority of 
school board within 25 days. If decision favors 
‘ the teacher the charges shall be physically 
expunged from the records, and no loss of pay 
shall result. 
Any teacher dismissed for lack of pupils shall 
receive first consideration for any other position 
for which she is qualified. 


A copy of the bill may be had by applying 
to any of the three Twin City locals. 














Hotel Continental 


“*Center of New York’s Activities”’ 


Broadway at Forty-first St. 
NEW YORK CITY 
Five Minutés from the Pennsylvania and Grand 
Central Terminals; Within Easy Access 
of the Retail Shopping District 
and Surrounded by Forty 
Theatres ; 


300 OUTSIDE ROOMS 
Each With Private Bath 


RATES: 

Single: $2.50 $3.00 $3.50 $4.00 
Double: $4.50 $5.00 $6.00 $7.00 
COMFORT OF OUR GUESTS 
Our First Consideration 


JOSEPH E. GOULET, Mgr. 
Hotel under same mafiagement: 

DEER PARK, DEER PARK, MD. 
Season, June to October. Special rates to mem- 
bers of American Federation of Teachers. 

DEER PARK HOTEL 
America’s Most Beautiful Mountain Resort 
Located in the Alleghany Mountains 

Booklets gladly sent upon request . 





























Federation Objectives and Their Realization 
Bess A. Tomlinson, Local 59, Minneapolis 


We do know where we are going “and we’re 
on our way.” 

The Minneapolis Federation of Teachers, Local 
59, has much to encourage it in the way of ob- 
jectives realized. Minneapolis teachers are more 
active, more tolerant, and better informed be- 
cause of “The Federation News,” our official 
publication. 
ries a message at crucial times to wake the 
teachers to prompggand decisive action. 

Minneapolis is one of those cities which has 
a multiplicity of teachers’ clubs. These clubs 
achieve a certain unity by sending two delegates 
each to a “Central Committee” which works upon 
common aims. Ten different groups are thus 
able to pool their strength in combined effort. 
Under this plan of joint undertaking, it is diffi- 
cult for any one organization to claim sole credit 
for any measure of signal importance. However, 
the Federation can fairly claim the initiation of 
the sabbaticai leave which we now have. 

A single salary schedule, equal pay for equal 
work, a revision of the board of education rules, 
and the recently enacted tenure law weré obtained 
by combined action. 

From the first, the Federation has firmly be- 
lieved that its greatest work would be freeing 
the teacher’s mind. Teachers need to be better 
informed if they are to be of real service to 
youth, and live fully themselves. 

To this end, a Federation committee studied 
the question of “Teacher Participation” and, 
after a national survey of teacher councils, pre- 
sented a plan for a “Co-operative School” in 
which the teachers would form a governing fac- 


Like Paul Revere, The News car-_ 


ulty. This plan was given considerable publicity 
with the idea that some adaptation of it. might 
be made locally. So far it has not been tried 
out, but we haven’t lost interest in it. There are 
more teacher committees at work on school ac- 
tivities because of the publication of the plan. 
It stimulated the teachers to desire more responsi- 
bility and encouraged greater interest in the study 
of school management. 

Our relations with labor have done much to 
increase our respect for the aspirations of those 
who by their. skill are the moving force in better- 


. ing our common civilization. We need to bring 


to the attention of all those engaged in the work 
of public education the Promethean task which 
organized labor performed when it changed the 
pauper schools provided for labor’s children into 
public schools. The Minneapolis Federation is. 
preparing a leaflet on the subject of the origin 
of our public schools which will give due prom- 
inence to organized labor’s part in it. 

Through its labor committee, the Federation 
was able to gain much publicity and support for 
the teachers’ Tenure Bill in the last three ses- 
sions of the state legislature, the legislature of 
this winter having passed the measure by a good 
majority. 

In 1924 the Federation\ provided for associate 
membership of teachers outside the Twin Cities 
in our local. This step was taken to include in 
our group teachers from neighboring universities 
who were interested in our plan of organization 
and social ideals. 

Our growth has been slow, but it is sure. In- 


(Continued on page 10) 








= — 





7 








“Education Through Travel in Europe” 


We offer tours from $245 and upwards 
Tours providing promotional credits. French Tour of 36 days for $385 affords 
French instruction before departure at no additional cost. 


Special Terms to Teachers on Deferred Payments: 
One-Half Cash and Balance Monthly 


Address EARL B. HUBBELL COMPANY 
CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 








19 South La Salle St. 








- Dearborn 3567 








The Superior Teacher as Discovered by the 
Teachers Themselves 


Florence Fish, Local 59, Minneapolis 


We teachers in Minneapolis have had before 
us for some years a peculiar situation. Our 
salary schedule is comparatively low, and we 
have had the sympathy of the administration in 
our attempts to raise it, but the difficulty has been 
this. We have wanted it raised for everybody 
but the administration has wanted a so-called 
super-maximum schedule by which perhaps 40% 
of the maximum teachers rated as superior would 
be advanced in salary. 

Up to this time the teachers have refused to 
vote for this. Their argument has been: “We 
realize that some teachers are better than others 
and that a merit system is in theory fairer than 
an automatic one, but we deny that administra- 
tive officials can decide fairly as to the relative 
merits of teachers, and in short, we prefer 2 
lower salary for all rather than competition for 
the favors of the administration.” Since, how- 
ever, we do admit that some teachers are better 
than others, I have undertaken an honest inquiry 
among ourselves as to what are the fundamental 
qualities of the superior teachers and as to what 
the possibilities of measuring these qualities are. 
I assumed in my questioning ordinary respecta- 
bility in character, education, and health and went 
directly to the more elusive points. Many laconic 
answers have been given by teachers to my 
question “What do you consider as the most 
fundamental quality of a superior teacher,” and 
I should like to group them under topics and put 
them in the form of questions as though we were 
studying an individual teacher. 

No. 1. Background. Does the teacher in question 
come from a happy family life including congenial 
parents, brothers and sisters, easy economic circum- 
stances and early introduction to books, and a spirit of 


consideration and generosity? Is he socially adjusted 
as a mixer or a leader? Has he self-confidence and 
poise? 

No. 2. Outlook. Has he a definite life philosophy, 
including a belief that the world is growing bettet? 
Is he interested in his own efforts and the efforts of 
others to help that process along? Is he a curious and 
alert student in regard to all life’s problems? 

No. 3. Attitude toward teaching. Does he respect 
it as a career, not for what it has been, but what it 
may be? Does he respect human nature for its possi- 
bilities? Is he interested in the game of trying to 
‘advance human nature in these possibilities? 


No. 4. Atttude toward youth. Dees he respect 
them all—dull, average, and brilliant? Can he make 
himself attractive in order to secure their advance- 
ment? Is he ingenuous in plans to help them? Can 
he sympathize and not intrude? Has he a sense of 
humor? Is he fair and generous? Can he inspire 
them to work, and has he a sense of proportion in 
what is worth while for them to work on? Can he, 
without self-depletion, give his best efforts /to youth 
and not expect from them any retufn? 

No. 5. Attitude towards empl6yer. Does; he con- 
sider the public and not an individual or a bodrdfas his 
employer? Is he therefore loyal to what he= hgnestly 


- considers the public interest? <4 


r 

No. 6. Character and brain power. Will 12 work 
his best with or without supervision and be generous to 
all his associates who are showing the same spirit of 
honor? Has he the clear cut brain power to under- 
stand facts, the courage to face them, and the desire of 
the game to make facts change in the direction of 
improvement ? 

If, in the case of any individual teacher, the 
above questions can be answered “yes,” the sup- 
erior teacher has been found. At Teast, so says 
the composite teacher with whom I have dis- 
cussed this matter. Do you wonder, O adminis 
trator, in view of their many-sided views on this 
subject, that it is difficult for you to @gnvince 
teachers that you are able to rate teal as to 
their degree of superiority? 

The above is my interpretation of| many 
answers that were given me verbally. Péethaps, 
if teachers would seriously set themselves to 
study this question “What are the fundamental 
qualities of the superior teacher” and would keep 
at it until they had trained themselves to set 
their own standards, administrators would gladly 
step out of the discussion and leave the work of 
raising the teacher level to the co-operative enter- 
prise of the teachers on the job! | 





Cambridge university students have formed ihe Hip 
polytus club to reassert the supremacy of the male. 
statement of policy says: “Convinced that femini 
influence is eating like a cancer into modern civiliza- 
tion, the Hippolytus club will blaze a trail toward an 
era of uncompromising masculinity.” 


George Bernard Shaw, in a new volume, calls every 
man over 40 a scoundrel, and places such age limit for 
women at 30. 






= © © ® ef ®t A 








tk 








THE LARGE CLASS 
Luella B. Cook, Minneapolis, Local 59 


Experiment’ seems to be proving that pupils in a 
class of sixty learn as much as pupils in a class of 
thirty. Such education as can be measured by tests 
and scales, that is, seems to be unaffected by the dou- 
bling of the size of the class. Just what medical sci- 
ence would agree to be the wear and tear on the nerv- 
ous system of pupil and teacher due to the attendant 
confusion of numbers, however, has not yet been sub- 
mitted to scientific investigation. Size of classes, size of 
schools, size of cities, is doubtless affecting our civiliza- 
tion in ways too subtle for surface analysis. It remains 
for an expert to estimate the increase of nervous indi- 
gestion, due to hurried, crowded lunch hours; of nerv- 
ous fatigue due to noise and confusion; of neurotic per- 
sonality due to overstimulation. These effects of the 
larger class and the larger school have not yet been 
measured by the experimental schools in colleges of 
education. Therefore, a final judgment of the success 
of the large class is hardly in order. 

However, there is apparently no reason to doubt 
whatever the attendant evils, that the large class will 
function. Some things can very well be taught in 
groups as large as sixty, in a room designed to hold 
that large number adequately. Examinations can be 
given to the large group quite as efficiently as to the 
smaller. A great advantage appears, even in giving a 
final examination to a large group, for it saves the 
making out of separate sets of questions for each of 
the smaller groups.. Some advantage, also, would arise 
in giving directions and demonstrations to the larger 
group. A greater unity of result should occur. 

A further functioning of the large class is in project 
work where the large class divides into groups for™dis- 
cussion and stimulation. The teacher uses the first and 
last portion of a class hour to work with the whole 
group; the middle portion is devoted to group discus- 
sion. Such projects require a room large enough to 
accommodate six groups of ten each all falking 
together at the same time. 

The serious drawback to the large class is its reduc- 
tion of pupil participation and of individual criticism. 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


7 


What pupil-participation there is within the pupil- 
groups just mentioned above, is not to be compared to 
the pupil-participation in the groups which include the 
teacher. Fellow students are not quite the same stimu- 
lus for thoughtful work as the teacher, however valu- 
able this training to participate within groups appears. 
In all of the demonstration classes held in Minneapolis 
this last year, the teachers were obliged to check the 
discussion with, “We haven’t any more time today. 
Shall we wait until tomorrow?” In a class of sixty it 
must be the day after tomorrow or quite probably 
mext week before all may receive an opportunity for 
expression. 

The same is true of individual criticism. In any of 
the departments where creative effort is encouraged, 
such as in art or English, pupils must receive less indi- 
vidual attention. The success of mass teaching in cer- 
tain types of learning is hardly a reason for abandon- 
ing the old Socratic method of individual exhortation 
in creative effort. 


With adequate equipment, however, it seems reason- 
able that a combination of the large and small classes 
might easily be effected. If the responsibility is 
divided, two teachers might share three rooms, thereby 
handling more pupils than either might do individually. 
The combined groups might meet in the larger room 
for such things as examinations, outlines, demonstra- 
tions, etc., the teachers dividing the work. Smaller 
groups could meet with the teachers separately in the 
smaller rooms for such things as individual criticism, 
individual project work, etc. Some such arrangement 
as this might meet the administrative needs of more 
pupils to a teacher without hardships for either pupil 
or teacher; whether such a scheme results in economy 
of either time or effort remains to be seen. 

It is only by some such device as this, however, with 
an adequate equipment and a reorganization of our 
present school day that the large class will function 
without a sacrifice. The numbers of classes cannot 
casually be increased without taking into account these 
other factors. To do so is unscientific. 

Perhaps some day Minneapolis will have ah experi- 


(Continued on page 10) 








10 DAYS FREE TRIAL 













MONEY BACK IF NOT SATISFIED 


F FILLER 













than ifustrated SS 


DEALERS 


send for cataleg won’t 
and trade prices scratch, 












_] SEND NO MONEY 
solute satisfaction. 


prices, 





NEW INBOGRAPH 25! 
IMPROVED 


Feb gestman (AMD. ates oetndi 
certificate 


bums and adieu pia 


no collecting, no competition. Send for an | inkostgph er write for. special 


assures ab- 








i" talee plow brakine 








The Credit Union of the St. Paul Federation 
of Women Teachers 


a 


Flora F. Smalley, Local, 28, St. Paul 


The Credit Union is a co-operative society, or- 
ganized in accordance with state laws and under 
the supervision of the State Banking Depart- 
ment. In 1925 Minnesota passed a Credit Union 
law, and in 1926 the St. Paul Federation or- 
ganized the second Credit Union in the state. 


The primary purposes of the Credit Union are 
first, to promote thrift in its members by a system 
of small savings, second, to use the funds ac- 
cumulated for the benefit of its members by 
creating credit for them, and third, to educate 
members in matters pertaining to investment and 
care of their savings. : 

The federation felt that its members might 
well be served by such an organization, since 
teachers, with limited bank credit feel very often 
the need of loans, and too often fall victims to 
loan sharks demanding exorbitant rates of in- 
terest. The fact that savings might be made in 
small amounts also recommended the plan as 
beneficial for a group of salaried people. 

The organization of a Credit Union is made 
through the National Credit Union Bureau, 5 
Park Square, Boston. This is an office main- 
tained for purely philanthropic reasons, by Mr. 
Edward Filene, a well-known philanthropist. 
This Bureau will- furnish information to any 
group wishing to form a Union. 

The management of the Credit Union is within 
the membership of the union which is in turn 
made up of members of the federation. The 
organization consists of a Board of Directors 
of nine members, a credit committee which passes 
upon loans, and a supervisory committee which 
audits the accounts. 


Any member of the federation is eligible to 
membership upon the payment of an initiation 
fee of twenty-five cents, and upon subscribing 
for one share of stock, paid for in small install- 
ments, or by cash payment. The member may 
subscribe for many shares, paying by partial 
payments. 

On joining the Credit Union, a member may 
borrow money upon recommendation of the 
Credit Committee, and without the usual securi- 
ties’ demanded by a bank. This is a distinct 
advantage and ténds to promote good feeling 
among members. ° 


Loans are made for provident purposes only ; 
for self-betterment, for house-building programs, 
for business investments, or for emergencies such 
as sudden illness or need of hospital residence. 

The interest rate for loans is small. . Deposits 
with quarterly interest may also be made, and 
the earnings are divided among members in the 
way of dividends. The Credit Union is, in fact, 
a miniature bank for the benefit of the federa- 
tion group. 

While the Credit Union of the federation is 
young, it has made’a steady growth and has 
proved of service this year in making loans. 
It is expected that it will function to great ad- 
vantage to its members, during the summer 
months when loans are most necessary. ~ 

The Credit Union idea is growing rapidly all 
over the country, large industrial plants, postal 
clerk organizations, and teachers having formed 
them. The federation feels that it has taken a 
valuable, forward-looking step in establishing one 
in St. Paul. 

ST. PAUL FEDERATION OF WOMEN 

TEACHERS PRESENTS PROF. MEARNS 

William Hughes Mearns, professor of education, 
University of New York, was brought to St. Paul for 
a series of two lectures, April 4 and 6, by the Federa- 
tion of Women Teachers. The lectures were among 
the outstanding educational affairs for mothers and 
teachers of the season. 

Prof. Mearns spoke on “Releasing the Creative 
Power of Youth.” He has completed five’ years of 
research and experiment with original methods in 
school work at the Lincoln School Teachers’ college, 
Columbia. His experiments resulted in his book on 
“Creative Youth,’ and have made him a leader in the 
progressive education movement, and in_ constant 
dgmand, as a lecturer. 

Plans were made for Prof. Méarns to speak briefly 
to high school children while he was in the Twin Cit- 
ies. Educators of both cities cooperated to arouse gen- 
eral interest in the lecture course. 





ST. PAUL FEDERATION OF WOMEN 


TEACHERS 
WHAT? “From Eve to Queen Marie”—An Evolu- 
tion Party. 
WHERE? Federation Women Teachers’ Club 


Rooms—328 Cedar St. 
WHEN? Friday, May 6th, 8 o’clock P. M. 
WHY? To entertain Florence Curtis Hanson, 
Executive Secretary, A. F. of T., and—YOU. 
ARE YOU COMING? Yes! (Sign below.) 
Sounds interesting, doesn’t it? Well, it was. 









> OO: F LL ew 


tic 
ar 
ar 





The History of 


Group Insurance in St. Paul Locals 


Alice M. Hosmer, Local 28, St. Paul 


Early in 1926 the members of Local 28, The 
St. Paul Federation of Women Teachers, began 
to discuss informally the question of group in- 
surance. An investigation of the various plans 
available was authorized and a committee of two 
was appointed to investigate, tabulate and report 
its findings to the organization. . 

The study of group insurance proceeded for 
several months. Life insurance in all its vary- 
ing forms was studied and after due considera- 
tion the committee decided to recommend a plan 
for accident and health insurance. 

A comparison of these forms convinced the 
committee that whkt is called the “Cleveland 
Plan” far surpassed all others. This plan was 
offered by the United States Life and Casualty 
Company of Chicago. Inquiries revealed that 
this company was as old as any casualty company 
and had an enviable record for paying claims. 

While. Local 28 was considering the matter, 
the above company and two other large com- 
panies merged into what is now called the Wash- 
ington Fidelity National Insurance Company thus 
increasing its capital and strengthening its assets. 

The tabulated findings of the committee were 
placed before the local with the recommendation 
that the group insurance offered by the Washing- 
ton Fidelity National Insurance.Company be ac- 
cepted. The report of the committee was adopted, 
and an application was made for the master 
policy which became effective May 1, 1926. 

By the terms of this policy, the holder re- 
ceives one hundred dollars per month in case of 
illness, for a period not to éxceed six months, 
payment beginning on the eighth day of ill- 
ness. In case of acchent the holder receives 
one hundred dollars per month, beginning with 
the first day and continuing two years as a 
maximum. In either illness or accident one 
hundred dollars for the first month only is al- 
lowed for hospital fees. In case of accidental 
death, one thousand dollars accrues to the estate. 
There is no limitation in age. Members are 
subject to no physical examination. No disease 
or cause of accident is excepted. For these 
benefits each policy-holder pays twenty dollars 
annually. 

A year’s experience has convinced the Federa- 
tion of the wisdom of its choice of both plan 
and company. All claims have been cheerfully 
and promptly paid. Already many members have 


| similar. 


been greatly benefitted. As an-example, pneu- 
monia and an operation in quick succession 
brought to one member $290.00. This on an 
investment of $20.00 is not a bad percentage of 
return. 

The St. Paul Federation of Men Teachers, 
Local 43, was the first body of teachers in the 
United States to take out group insurance. Early 
in 1925 they received a policy from the original 
company. 

The provisions of the two policies are very 
One hundred dollars a month is paid 
for accident and illness with the same maximum 
time provision. Benefits begin with the fifth 
day, and if the illness continues for twenty-eight 
days or more, the first four days are also in- 
cluded. The principal sum for accidental death 
is one thousand dollars, with double indemnity 
if death occurs in a public conveyance. Hospital 
benefits are identical. The premium paid by 
members of Local 43 is twenty-four dollars. 
Both locals are well satisfied with their respective 
plans. 

As with all worth while things, time and effort 
were required to establish these insurance plans. 
Nevertheless the projects have paid, not only 
individually in financial benefits received, but also 
to the locals in increased interest'and stability of 
the membership. 





A .protest meeting was held by the American Civil 
Liberties Union in Philadelphia, April 24. The Ber- 
nard F. Schlegel Post of the American Legion held 
responsible for the dismissal of two liberal professors 
from the West Chester (Pa.) State Normal School 
and the suppression }f the Liberal Club, was declared 
more subversive to American institutions than “100% 
Bolsheviks.” The principal speaker was John Dewey, 
professor of philosophy at Columbia University. 


Prof. Dewey defended the right of students and pro- 
fessors to attack the federal administration. He 
labeled the “hush-hush boys” who try to suppress free 
speech the greatest menace to democratic government. 
A resolution from the Willard Straight Post of New 
York was read by Kenneth E. Walser, denouncing the 
Schlegel Post for “deliberately trying to suppress the 
exercise of the privileges of free men under a free 
government.” Dr. Robert T. Kerlin and-Prof. John A. 
Kinneman, ousted professors of the Normal School, 
also spoke. Morris L. Ernst, New York attorney, rep- 
resented the Civil Liberties Union in replying to the 
Legion’s attacks on the free speech organization. Dr. 
Albert C. Barnes of Merion, Pa., of the Barnes Foun- 
dation, presided. 








TEACHER SUPERVISION 
Carolyn A. Reed, Minneapolis, Local 59 


In order to consider the matter of teacher supervi- 
sion, it is first necessary to make a clear distinction 
between the rating of a teacher and the supervision of 
her work. Definite rating systems have existed since 
1879, none of which have been satisfactory. They are 
systems by which a teacher is marked on various char- 


acteristics ranging from “appearance” to “teaching 
ideals” and “pupil response.” According to these rec- 
ords the teachers are usually filed in classes. It is to 


this system that Dr. Abraham Lefkowitz, Legislative 
Representative of the Teachers’ Union of the City of 
New York, has found seventy-five per cent of the 
teachers answering questionnaires in New York and 
twelve other cities are strongly opposed.. 

Is a fair system of rating possible? Shall the 
teacher who is mediocre in the class-room, but a good 
leader in outside activities be rated above the one 
whose fort lies in imparting knowledge? Shall the 
highest rating be based upon general intelligence, upon 
a scholarly knowledge of one’s subject, upon the indefi- 
nite thing known as personality, upon the leadership of 
the children, upon strict discipline, upon good nature, 
or upon a sympathetic understanding? Rarely does 
one person combine all these traits. Which ones are 
to be marked in the “A” list? Who shall say? Is it 
strange that the majority of teachers and many princi- 
pals find a fair rating system impossible? 

On the other hand, teachers are pathetically eager 
for the right kind of supervision. Dr. Lefkowitz, in 
his pamphlet, says that he finds the common complaint 
of the teachers to be, not that there is too much super- 
vision, but too little. The great majority of teachers 
would welcome an understanding, helpful, appreciative, 
and constructive supervision. Where is such supervi- 
sion to be found? 

It is certain that we cannot escape supervision should 
we wish to do so. Is it not better, as Dean Haggerty 
of the University of Minnesota suggested in his talk 
last spring to the teachers of Minneapolis, that it 
should come from within rather than from without? 
Since there is no accepted standard of teaching, just 
what the nature of the oversight of a teacher’s work is 
to be is\bound to be a matter of personal opinion. It 
would then, seem fairer and more helpful that the 
nature of the supervision should, in the first place, be 
based upon the opinion of more than one person; and 
that it should, in the second place, be based, at least 
partly, upon the opinion of one in immediate touch 
with the classroom problems—in other words, that 
there should be teacher participation. Why should 
there not be one “teacher-supervisor” for each depart- 
ment throughout the city, or for each group of allied 
departments? Such a “teacher-supervisor” should be 
chosen by popular vote at a meeting of the given 
department, the voting teachers always keeping in mind 
the kind of personality which is inspiring and helpful 
rather than fault-finding and petty. Such a teacher 
should serve for one year only at a regular teacher’s 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 








salary, and should be given all of his time for supervi- 
sion. 

How can the visits of this “teacher-supervisor” be 
made profitable to the classroom teacher and to the 
system? Through appreciative comment, suggestion, 
and free discussion between the visitor and the visited, 
as between fellow-teachers. The “teacher-supervisor” 
may make suggestions from his wide knowledge of the 
methods of other teachers throughout the city, or the 
teacher may explain his objectives and plans. 

With this addition to the regular supervisory force, 
the Working Conditions Committee of the Minneapo- 
lis Federation of Teachers submit the following plan 
to the teachers for supervision as a possibility. 

I. That the supervisors of the teacher’s work shall 
consist of three persons; (1) the representative of the 
main office, (2) the principal of the building, (3) the 
teacher-supervisor. 

II, That the object of the “teacher-supervisor” shall 
not be to rate a teacher, but to give him help. 

III. That whenever a representative of the main 
office shall visit a teacher, within two weeks after that 
visit, he shall send to ‘the teacher a written statement 
of his opinion of her work with favorable or unfavor- 
able comment. 

IV. That the principal shall send to every teacher 
in his building once a year a written statement in 
regard to the teacher’s work, and that the teacher shall 
have the right of discussion if he so desires. 

V. That the “teacher-supervisor” shall be called 
into consultation by the principal in case of doubt in 
regard to a teacher’s work. 


FEDERATION OBJECTIVES AND 
THEIR REALIZATION 
(Continued from page 5) 


terest grows in our problems as we gain new 
experience and new social contacts. We hope 
to take a greater part in the development of our 
public school system and be of greater service 
to the adult groups who need our help as we need 
theirs to create a higher ideal of worthy citizen- 
ship. 


THE LARGE CLASS 
(Continued from page 7) 


mental school in which these modern devices are first 
tried out under the conditions, under which they would 
have to function permanently. What a small school of 
200 may do under favorable conditions is hardly a 
standard for a school of 2,000. Yet that is the present 
criterion in the matter of day classes. A large class in . 
a small school in’ which conditions are adjusted to 
meet the experiment would not have the attendant 
evils of a large class in a large city school in which 
conditions and equipment remained the same. An 
experimental school adjusted to the conditions of out 
system is the next step towards progress in this matter. 








MANUMIT 


A Trade Union Contribution to “Experimental Education” 
Nellie M. Seeds, Exec. Secy. 


Manumit is the first experimental school for 
the children of the workers established under 
the joint management of trade unionists and 
educators. 

Picturesquely located in the foothills of the 
Berkshire Mountains, near Pawling, New York 
(sixty-four miles north of New York City), 
where nature combines with intelligent pedagogy 
to stimulate the creative instincts of childhood, 
Manumit possesses a physical setting of rare 
beauty and charm. 


It presents more than the 
usual formal collection of school buildings and 


playgrounds. Its basis is a farm of 177 acres, 
with fertile fields and intensively cultivated soil, 
well stocked with cattle. A babbling trout stream 
meanders by the mill and along the foot of 
Cobble Hill, offering the children infinite op- 
portunities for swimming and water sports. 

The school buildings consist of a low, rambling 
colonial farm house, containing the school dining- 
room and kitchen, library, social room, class 
rooms and several dormitories; a gymnasium; 
two faculty and student dormitories ; a craftshop, 
carpenter shops, and the various barns and out- 
houses connected with the farm. 

Manumit believes in the tenet of modern edu- 
cational theory that education is life. Because of 
its physical opportunities for a well-rounded life, 
it can truly provide an. atmosphere where the 
child may develop every potentiality that lies 
within him. Children at Manumit are free, as 
only children in the country can be, to seek out 
the job that they like, and then to do it. 

But freedom does not mean license. Far from 
it. The school is an autonomous, self-governing 


community. All affairs, both of school and com- 
munity life, are frankly and freely discussed in 
the weekly meeting. The children are made to 
feel that the school is theirs, and do not hesitate 
to give suggestions and criticisms. Some of 
them are of course utterly impractical, but others 
prove to be of real value. Each child presents 
them with the dignity of an individual who 
knows that his seriousness of purpose will be 
recognized, that he will not be snubbed nor dis- 
couraged from expressing himself merely because 
he is a child. The principle of one individual, 
one vote, governs all community meetings, save 
on questions of health, safety, and educational 
procedure. 

Even in formulating the curriculum, the chil- 
dren can choose the subjects which they desire 
to study, and determine to a considerable extent 
what their activities or projects shall be. But 
instruction at Manumit is not the formal class- 
room instruction, of the ordinary school. Each 
child is accepted as a complete individual. He 
is not pumped full of any kind of propaganda, 
neither capitalist, socialist, nor communist. No 
“ism” of any kind is taught. He is encouraged 
and allowed to think for himself. In order to 
render his thinking accurate, information is pre- 
sented to him as scientifically as possible, in as 
large doses as he is capable of absorbing and 
assimilating. The trade union movement, for ex- 
ample, is pictured to the child as it is in few 
other schools ; the children are made to appreciate 
the truly heroic struggle that labor has made to 
gain its rights. Other information, often with- 
held in our public schools, is presented to the 





12 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


children in the light of modern scientific inter- 
pretation. His normal ‘desire for information 
and enlightenment is satisfied just as fully as 
time and the knowledge of the instructors will 
permit. 

The children are divided into groups, six in 
number, each under the supervision of a group 
teacher. As nearly as is practicable, the work of 
each group centers around some activity or proj- 
ect which occupies the major part of their at- 
tention, and from which emerge naturally, and 
quite as a by product, problems in numbers, 
language, history, geography, and science. Thus, 
these subjects come .to the children’s attention 
not as abstract subjects, unrelated, and pigeon- 
holed in separate water tight compartments, for 
which lessons must be studied and marks are 
awarded, but as concrete, obviously related 
branches, whose usefulness has been satisfactorily 
demonstrated. 





Group II (age eleven years) has adopted as 
its project this year, the construction and furnish- 
ing of a cottage which they hope to occupy next 
year. Eager little fthgers turn over the pages 
of numberless magazines, looking for advertise- 
ments and pictures that appeal to them. They 
learn to write formal notes to Messrs. So and So 
asking for catalogue and complete information 
concerning their model heating plant, or scienti- 
fically constructed windows or frigidaires, or 
flooring, or wall boarding, or whatever it may be. 
They must do problems in arithmetic as they 
plan the number of rooms that they want, their 
size and shape, or as they stake out the land 
with rule and measure. Climatic conditions must 
be taken into account—amount of snow, rainfall, 
depth of frdst in winter, the intensity of heat 
in the summer, the prevailing winds and like 


considerations—in determining the character and 
equipment of the new building. They do not 
realize that they are studying arithmetic, English, 
geography. They get them as part of a game. 
And they retain them as no formal instruction 
can be retained, because they are actually re- 
lated with some life experience. 

The community appoints five committees to 

counduct and superintend the various school 
activities; health, recreation, scholarship, works, 
and a candy committee. 
. All of the work of the school, inside and out, 
is performed co-operatively by the members of 
the community, which includes in addition to the 
children, eight resident teachers, a farm superin- 
tendent with two assistants, a superintendent of 
buildings, a domestic science expert with two 
assistants, and a trained nurse. 


The inside works committee assigns squads for 
preparing meals, setting and clearing the tables, 
washing and drying the dishes, for sweeping 
and cleaning and other nécessary activities. The 
outside committees in co-operation with the farm 
superintendent plan and discuss the care of the 
animals, ploughing, planting, gardenirig, etc., and 


determine the amount of co-operation which the 
children can give. 


The candy committee was created by the chil- 
dren themselves, as a result of the criticism that 
they were eating too many sweets, and that some 
regulation was necessary. The committee pur- 
chases in large quantities, retails to the children 
for a half hour after lunch, three times each 
week, and devotes the profits to recreation. No 
child may purchase more than 5 cents worth at 
a time, and no proxy order can be given-with- 
out a written signed demand. This arrangement 
not only regulates a question always difficult 
with children, but satisfies their desire to settle 
it themselves. 


Of the eight teachers six are group teachers, 
and two are specialists in music and art work, 
who take the various groups at stated hours. 

The work of the music department is interest- 
ing in the extreme. No child is accepted in the 
department because he is sent there. He must 
come of his own accord and initiative. At the 
close of the fall term, there were only two chil- 
dren in the school who had not expressed their 
desire to study music in some form. The work 





- 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 13 


centers more or less about the school orchestra, 
which comprises not only a piano, trumpet, violin 
and several ukeleles, but other more unusual in- 
struments such as ocharinas, mirimbas, tambou- 
rines. A ukelele was constructed by one boy 
out of a cigar box, a zither out of a chalk box. 
One boy who has been very ill for some months, 
has saved dozens of the little glassvials contain- 
ing his medicine. These are arranged in rows 
of seven held together by wire, or a wooden 
frafne, filled with evenly varying quantities of 
water, and blown upon to produce even sound 
gradations—veritable pipes of pan.- The children 
also construct their own drums in the carpenter 
shop, and paint them in the art department. 
Three of the children have composed original 
compositions which the school orchestra has 
played. One girl of thirteen who has studied 
McDowell, has written Indian music, based on 
his style, and has also set a poem of Eugene 
Field’s to music. Harmony and the history of 
music are studied, not as subjects, but incidental 
to the writing of music. The department also 
organizes group singing, and is now planning 
to put on a Gilbert & Sullivan operetta. 

The art department is equally original and 
free. Here again the inventive genius of the 
child is allowed full scope. Wood cuts of many 
of the school activities, or of seasonal significance 
are designed and executed by the children: Ma- 
terials for painting, coloring, modelling, wood 
carving, basket work and weaving are all at hand, 
and instruction and advice given to the children 
as and when they demand it. The school pos- 
sesses a printing press, and a few of the boys are 
interested in the idea of printing a school maga- 
zine. The thirteen year old group this year has 
selected the publication of a group newspaper as 
their project for the term. The only limitation 
on the work of the department, in short, is that 
of lack of equipment and space to branch out 
into other activities. With the creation of a shop 
center, which the school is now working for, 
the manual activities of the school can all be 
better co-ordinated, and more adequate equip- 
ment for them provided. 

Work in the social sciences is again quite dif- 
ferent from the formal procedure of the ordinary 
school. 
court procedure are taught to the children by ex- 
ample, rather than by precept. Just before 


Administration of justice, law, and. 


Christmas group VI staged a mock trial in which 
each child was assigned his part, which he played 
with the utmost dignity and seriousness. In 
discussing the outcome of their trial, and its 
broad social significance, the children came quite 
naturally to considerations of social justice and 
methods of administrating it, of the fairness of 
jury trial, of inducements to distort and mis- 
represent facts, and of prevalence of graft. In 
other words, they learn civil government not as 
an abstract question out of a book, but as a living 
dynamic factor in every day life. 


Illustrations might be duplicated ad infinitum 


“showing how Manumit gives information to its 


children, not out of lessons, but out of life. The 
imprint left on the child is one that the passages 
of days and weeks does not easily eradicate. 
The work of every department is co-ordinated 
with that of every other department. The psy- 
chologic power of association is utilized con- 
sciously and extensively by the school in its ef- 
fort to offer to its children a broad and lasting 
education. 

The school has é¢ulled the best that it can find 
from modern educational theory. Teachers and 
professors in universities who stand high in their 
respective fields serve on the board of directors 
of Manumit, and offer valuable advice and coun- 
sel. 

All of this is offered to the children of trade 
unionists at a rate within the reach of any worker. 
Applications for admission are naturally so nu- 
merous that the school is forced to refuse many 
who desire to come. But with the building of 
new dormitories, and increase of number of 
scholarships, accommodations will be materially 
increased. 


(Continued on page 20) 





, Illiteracy—The Negro’s Fight to Wipe It Out 


Mary L. Mason 
Washington, D. C., Local No. 27 


Out of the Wilderness; 

Out of the night 

Has the black man crawled to the dawn of the 
light; 

He has come through sorrow and need and woe, 

‘ And the cry of his heart is, “To know, to 
know.” 


With the true artist’s universality of sym- 
pathy, Ella Wheeler Wilcox has poignantly ex- 
pressed in her PROBLEM, the passionate desire 
of the American Negro to become literate, not 
merely in the sense of being able to read and 
write the dominant language of his country, but 
capable also of understanding its usages, stand- 
ards and ideals, while possessing himself of the 
tools of American civilization in order to make 
himself understood, and in order to make ac- 
ceptable that which he is able and anxious to 
contribute to this great people in process of mak- 
' ing, on these Western shores. ; 

The New Negro no longer thinks of himself 
as the next step above the brute creation; he 
knows his background had great value to him 
however it may be considered by others; he 
knows that he is overcoming a handicap of en- 
vironmental readjustment to climate, culture, 
language and thought such as was never required 
of any: other people. 


No other racial group on this continent, in. 


the sense of being absolutely without the ac- 
customed media of communication was ever so 
illiterate as the Negro; for the Indians had the 
immense advantage of familiarity with the phy- 
sical nature of the country. 

The young Negro of America knows full well 
that his history in the Western hemisphere did 
not begin at Jamestown, but that his ancestors 
were probably somewhere here, fong ere that, 
but for purposes of my story let us begin at 
Jamestown and place the illiteracy among all 
classes of the Negro population at one hundred 
per cent. Steadily since that time he has been 
fighting to wipe the blot of ignorance from his 
‘racial escutcheon. 

His keenest weapons have been a burning de- 
sire to know, an insatiable longing to achieve, 
a determined will to be heard and understood. 


The Negro has fought illiteracy as individual 
knights-errant, in small groups, like raiding 
parties in the desert; he has fought in alliance 
with his friends of noble humanitarian impulse; 
he has fought it organized into church groups 
like pilgrim knights on a holy crusade; he has 
fought it as a part of the organized force of 
the state as a soldier in the regular army of his 
country would fight. So limitless has been his 
desire, and so ardent his endeavor that no field 
of art or science now exists, which does not find 
among American Negroes its votaries. 


When we think of slavery we seldom consider 
the two widely separated categories into which 
it fell, patriarchal and commercial. Under the 
first system, the intensely religious forbears of 
present day Americans taught their slaves things 
they felt imperative, as a father would teach 
his children; then, too, pious missionaries of 
France and Spain devoted themselves to the im- 
provement of both Indians and Negro slaves. 
So the spark of knowledge fell into fertile in- 
dividual soil, and was as carefully nurtured and 
transmitted as was the sacred fire of Vesta, by the 
holy virgins of idolatrous Rome. It is note- 
worthy in the history of the American Negro that 
many of the outstanding individuals have been 
associated with teaching, and that of the most 
sacrificial type. Lott Carey, founder of “Mis- 
sionary work in Liberia, Robert Smalls, Alfred 
Jones, another Liberian missionary, Frederick 


’ Douglas, Scarborough, Greek scholar and gram- 


marian, are just a few examples. 


The history of the rise of educational effort 
in the District of Columbia may be found like 
a fascinating romance in a report sent to the 
Bureau of Education in 1870 by Geo. F. T. Cook, 
the colored superintendent. 

Think of three unlettered colored men, George 
Bell, Nicholas Franklin, and Moses Liverpool 
establishing in 1807 a school, for free children 
of color about the time that'the first attempts 
to educate publicly any child was undertaken in 
the district. The Cook family, Henry Smothers, 
Mary Wormley, George McCoy are only a few 
of the names of pioneers who organized and 
maintained through almost superhuman effort, 





nH OA eS EI] SB OO SoS oe Oo *D 2 


ot 


ee ee en an aa ee 









with a poverty almost unthinkable, some sort of 
private schools where the fight for the knowledge 
of the book was maintained. The District of 
Columbia was unusually rich in these rare souls, 
but few places exist throughout either The North 
or The South where some zealous Negro had 
not established some educational agency. Booker 
T. Washington’s effort at Tuskegee, Mary Mc- 
Leod Bethune’s work in Florida, Fanny Jackson 
Coppin’s school at Cheyney, Penn., are not ex- 
ceptional, save in degree of success and the out- 
standing genius of their founders. 


Group effort became a part of Negro life with 


the establishment of the first crude independent 


Negro churches about 1796. Earlier than one 
would think, these separate churches joined to 
make denominations, whose literature as ex- 
pressed in their books of discipline show unusual 
depth of insight into matters of religion and 
moral conduct ; very soon these church denomina- 
tions began to attempt some educational work ; 
their Sunday Schools were schools for giving 
the letter as well as the Spririt, and some church 
libraries still possess the old primers and spelling 
books which were fountains of knowledge to 
these struggling people. 

When emancipation with its larger opportuni- 
ties came, these church denominations made sup- 
port of schools a part of their religious duty, 
and out of their poverty Negroes taxed them- 
selves to put schools where there was greatest 
need for them. Notable has been the work 
of Negro Baptists, of Independent Methodist 
bodies, and of the colored members of churches 
which were not racially separate. At this time 
Negro churches are supporting in this country 
one hundred seventy-five schools whose property 
is valued at $4,000,000. Some of these schools 
have grown into notable centers for the train- 
ing of leaders; among them are Wilberforce, 
Ohio; Kittrell, N. C.; Livingstone, N. C.; and 
many others. 

With ¢he social ostracism, and political per- 
secution, with the privations, and disasters, the 
noble teachers who went South during the re- 
construction days must certainly have succumbed 
had it not been for the whole-hearted response 
and the eager co-operation which their work re- 
ceived from the pupils themselves. With the 
establishment of the Freedmen’s Bureau the 
Negroes showed their gratitude and their sense 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 15 


of its value by giving of their penury, $785,700; 
since that time their cumulative contributions 
total forty millions of dollars to the sacred cause. 
The Jeanes and Miner Funds, the work of the 
National Education Board and the splendid 
Rosenwald challenge to manhood have all elicited 
support. Up to this time Negroes have given 
for the building of the new era schools under the 
Rosenwald control $2,249,700. 


While fostering schools, Negroes have not 
failed to support such social agericies as the Y. 
M. C. A., the Y. W. C. A. and similar agencies 
which link people with the life of their times. 


The Negro Press has been like a tanks corps 
in the onslaught upon ignorance. The weekly 
papers have given high praise to’ learning and to 
the dignity and value of scholarship. Negro 
magazines like Opportunity and the Crisis have 
encouraged education; they have fought dis- 
crimination in the apportionment of school funds 
among whites and Negroes by giving the ugly 
facts the light of publicity; they have furnished 
a market for Negro authors and journalists; 
they have encouraged talent by the gift of prizes 
and scholarships; they have organized a school 
of young Negro artists who are making a new 
school of beauty in American art and giving a 
glimpse into the drama of the Negro’s soul. 

In February, 1927, the Negro Press is demon- 
strating its value by fostering’ Negro History 
week, a time set apart by The Association for 
the Study of Negro Life and History, for giving 
to the world information about the worthy place 
in the world’s history and the history of America 
borne by Negroes. Dr. Carter G. Woodson, 
founder of this movement, came off the farm 
at the age of sevénteen and stayed not his quest 
for learning until Harvard handed him his Ph. 
D. 

For half a century Negroes have*realized that 
their strongest offensive against illiteracy must 
come through the training of the Negro teacher. 
Had the funds spent to date on Negro education 
always gone to competent teachers, the reduction 
of illiteracy would be much greater. 

Early in theit own development schools like 
Hampton and Tuskegee recognized the need 
of touching and enlightening those who out of 
their own poverty of information were attempt- 
ing to share what they had. These schools have 
sent over the South field agents; they have held 








16 F 


institutes and conferences, and the response of 
the eager rural teachers with their wealth of 
consecration -to a great service has been wonder- 
ful. 

Dr. Lucy E. Moten’s work for teachers at 
the Miner Normal school in Washington at- 
tracted the praise of European educators; the 
Booker T. Washington demonstration of the 
worth of vocational training has furnished a 
model for many schools in America, in Europe 
and in Africa; a great university for the sane 
education of natives on the West Coast of Africa 
has been established under the Phelps-Stokes 
Fund administration, and Dr. Aggrey, native 
chieftain educated in an independent Negro 
Church school in America (Livingstone), with 
his Ph. D. from Columbia, is in charge. 

The states have for the most part found it 

best to commit Negro education to Negro teachers 
‘ who are meeting ever increasing demands for 
greater efficiency. The results obtained by the 
more than forty-two thousand public school 
teachers of color are more and more apparent in 
Negro life.. The national percentage of Negro 
illiteracy was reduced to 22.9 in 1920. 
_ A day of wider opportunity for the Negro has 
dawned; in many places the supervision of his 
fight on illiteracy is committed to his own hands ; 
the heads of the colleges where leaders are 
trained realize that the paramount task of the 
Negro teacher is to develop the best gifts of 
the Negro for the enrichment of the new civiliza- 
tion now in the making; there is a chair of 
African History at Howard University; there is 
a Hamitic League to inform the nation; there 
are among him teachers who realize the place 
of hard labor in his life and who would have 
Negro children know and honor labor through- 
out the earth, and expend their utmost for the 
advancement of the men and women who bear 
life’s heaviest burdens with least meed of praise 
or gain. Most of all these teachers would have him 
able to express his keen appreciation of beauty, 
his keen faculty for happiness, his sure feeling 
of kinship with the spiritual and his deep desire 
that the vision of human brotherhood may become 
constantly more real. 





To do all the good one can. 

To love liberty above everything, 

And even if it be for a-kingdom, 
—Beethovean. 


Never t9 betray truth. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


WEST CHESTER AND FREE SPEECH 

Dr. Robert T. Kerlin, head of the English Depart- 
ment of the West Chester State Normal School and 
Prof. John A. Kinneman of the Social Science Depart- 
ment have been dismissed, after the West Chester 
Legion post had attacked the Liberal Club for criticiz- 
ing President Coolidge’s Nicaraguan policy. 

The Post Commander Samuel Long declared that 
students in a tax-supported school had no business 
criticizing the government which was giving them an 
education. Protests were sent to the governor and an 
investigating committee appointed. Both professors 
supported the Liberal Club against the Legion assault. 
No explanation has yet been offered by the trustees for 
their dismissal. The professors charge that they incur- 
red the hostility of John Hollinger, business manager 
of the school, who “practically dictates all policies.” 
Of ten-other instructors also discharged, many are 
objecting that Mr. Hollinger’s personal animus is the 
reason. 7 

That politics had played a part in the teachers’ dis- 
missal was denied by Principal Smith and Commander 
Long, Dr. Smith saying that long-contemplated reor- 
ganization was responsible and Commander Long giv- 
ing credit to the Legion because of its attack on’ the 
Liberal Club for criticism of President Coolidge’s poli- 
cies in Mexico and Nicaragua. 

Defying the ban of the Principal Andrew Thomas 
Smith, the Liberal Club of the West Chester State Nor- 
mal School, Pa., has met twice and unanimously, passed 
resolutions urging a public hearing on the action of 
school authorities in suppressing the club and discharg- 
ing two professors for alleged “radicalism.”  Tele- 
grams of encouragement have been sent the liberal stu- 
dents from all over Pennsylvania and New York. The 
Yale Liberal Club, the Willard Straight Post of the 
American Legion, New York City, and Representative 
Hamilton Fish have commended the Club on its stand 
for free speech. Dr. Kerlin already has a record in 
fighting for free speech. 


MAGAZINE SUPPRESSED FOR DEFENDING 
OUSTED PROFESSORS 


The Bison, student publication of the: Oklahoma 
Baptist University, has been suppressed for publishing 
resolutions asking for the reinstatement of three pro- 
fessors discharged for teaching evolution. The dis- 
charged professors are Sinclair D. Conley, head of the 
Psychology and Education Department; A. B. Newell, 
head of the English Department, and J. Vernon Har- 
vey, of the Botany Department. A mass * meeting of 
students protested. 

Dr. W. S. Spears, president of the Board of Regents, 
in explaining the dismissal of the professors, said: 
“The great Baptist hosts of Oklahoma are fundamen- 
talist to the core and desire Oklahoma Baptist Univer- 
sity to be maintained upon this principle. This board, 
as their servants, is set to protect the Baptists of Okla- 
homa in their educational institution against any form 
of evolutionary teaching.” 





a 


—_Aa - - = WwW 


—_— -—- Fm iW hee 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


TEACHERS UNION APPEALS FOR OUSTED 
TEACHER 


The Teachers Union of New York City has asked 
the Board of Superintendents to investigate the dismis- 
sal of Charles Wagner, substitute teacher in the Berri- 
man Junior High School allegedly for teaching evolu- 
tion to seventh grade students. Wagner ¢laims that 
the ground of “inefficiency” given by the principal is 
only a blind. He charges that Dr. William F. Kurz, 
his principal, has threatened to blacklist him in all 
New York City schools because he published his ver- 
sion of the dismissal in local newspapers. New York 
educators have objected to reported rules forbidding 
the teaching of evolution to students in the junior 
high school. 


According to newspaper announcement, 23 teachers 
were requested by the Board of Education to hand in 
their resignations. Seventeen have complied; the other 
six will demand hearings. Without a doubt the Port- 
land school system needs to rid itself of a lot of dead 
timber which has accumulated under the old regime. 
The present administration is making an effort to clean 
house, and is doing it with the full support of the 
Board of Education. It is no secret that the Board ot 
Education is placing increasing reliance upon the judg- 
ment of the superintendent and his assistants in all 
matters pertaining to the hiring and firing of teachers. 
As indicated by a proposal at one of the board meet- 
ings recently, there is a movement on foot to make the 
superintendents and ‘other administrative officers into a 
sort. of Board of Managers with delegated powers. In 
view of the provisions of our emasculated tenure law, 
this tendency on the part of the Board of Education is 
interesting and will bear watching. If the experience 
of last year’s trial of three teachers is of any worth, it 
is almost a safe bet that those six teachers who have 
determined to apply the provisions of the law and ask 
for a hearing will be wasting their good money on 
counsel. The superintendents have asked for the res- 
ignations of the six). teachers; the Board has 
acquiesced. It is not likely that the Board will reverse 
itself and thus question the judgment of the superin- 
tendents when the day of trial comes. The teachers 
union wants incompetence eliminated from the schools 
but it also wants justice rendered. The freedom of 
spirit of the competent teacher is at stake. Our pres- 
ent school administrators are admittedly the fairest in 
their treatment of the teachers that our school system 
has yet seen—in the opinion of those who have been 
long in the system. But unlimited power endangers 
justice. And, furthermore, if we teachers sit by and 
do nothing as the years go by, we shall some day get 
just what we deserve—a complete Prussian system. It 
is time we prepare for two years hence when the legis- 
lature again fmeets. Let us ask for a real tenure law 
for Portland and for the state. We have nothing to 
lose and everything to gain by putting up a good 
scrap; for stich an objective—Bulletin, Portland 
Teachers’ Union. ' 


SENSATIONAL 5 


Typewriter Oltfer 


fw Lak = Se 

$3 Worth Extras FREE 
Smith Typewriter Sales Corp. 

3365 @80 East Grand Avenne, Cideage 























The Roxbury School 
for Boys 


Cheshire, Connecticut 


cAre you seeking a school to recom- 
mend to special students ? 


The attention of the teachers who read 
this magazine is invited to the advantages 
of the ROXBURY SCHOOL, a boarding 
school combining sound scholastic train- 
ing with careful attention to the needs of 
the individual student. 


A large faculty and small instruction 
units admit of great flexibility in fitting 
a boy’s program to his particular needs. 
Roxbury meets the requirements of high 
school students who wish spécial prep- 
aration for college. 
A. N. SHERIFF, 
Headmaster. 

















18 ; THE AMERICAN TEACHER 








‘The American Teacher 


Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 
Published monthly, except July and August, by 
THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 
327 South La Salle Street, Chicago 
Fiorence Curtis HANSON 
Sec.-Treas. and Editor 











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 (Chicago ex- 
change). 


SUBSCRIPTION PRICE, ONE DOLLAR FOR THE 
YEAR—FOREIGN, $1.10—SINGLE COPIES, 15c 


Advertising rates made known on application. 


ES 20 


“This movement they call organized labor is the uni- 
versal, vital problem of the world.” 


—Thomas Carlyle. 





























“EPIDEMIC OF HARD NAMES” 


President Frank, University of Wisconsin, 
says, “The highest impertinence,is a hasty mis- 
interpretation of the mind and motive of others. 

Dr. Lichliter, a Columbus, Ohio, pastor, as- 
serts that we are living in an era of inaccuracy, 
and that the use of the epithet instead of ar- 
gument is the result of lack of intelligence. 

There was a time in the history of organiza- 
tion before the World War and the Russian 
revolution when anyone who differed in principle 
or policy with established authority was called 
a “crook.” Times and manners have changed. 
Now when there is an honest difference of opin- 
ion, we hear applied the epithets—Red, Com- 
munist, In the pay of Moscow, Pacifist, Bol- 
shevik. 

If we agree with President Coolidge who has 
publicly declared compulsory military training 
undemocratic and tending to a warlike spirit, 
we are labeled “Red.” 

If we agree with the American Legion that 
the international mind should be developed 
through education, holding with them: 

“We urge writers and teachers of the youth 
of our land to inculcate in their pupils an ap- 
preciation not only of our own national virtues, 
but also of those of other nations and races, 
and an understanding with and sympathy for 
their glories and ideals. We advocate an ex- 
change, on a large scale, of pupils and teachers 


with foreign countries, in our schools and uni- 
versities. International sports should be en- 
couraged. We advocate the truthful exposition 
of the facts of history to the end that the causes 
of war may be recognized and determined. 
Those charged with the responsibility of teach- 
ing the young are urged and requested to study 
how best to educate mankind in international 
good will.” 

(Par. 7, American Legion Resolutions adopted at 
Omaha, 1925.) 

We are “in the pay of Moscow.” 

If we believe with Senator Borah in non- 
intervention in Nicaragua and the settlement of 
difficulties with Mexico by arbitration, we are 
referred to as “Communists.” 

What is the basis of progress? Honest dis- 
cussion of some common end desired by all? 
If we are all headed for the same goal—peace 
and security—we ought to be able to go to- 
gether and not resort to hard names, the evidence 
of ignorance, 





An anonymous communication sent to this 
office, addressed to the editor, contains this under- 
lined statement, 

“Note that the State has power to see that teachers 
are of good moral character and patriotic disposition, 
that studies essential to good citizenship are taught and 
that nothing inimical to public welfare is taught. This 
decision should be followed by housecleanings in many 
of our public schools, as well as in many private ones.” 

We thank our anonymous correspondent for 
his communication which has given us a new 
occasion to restate our position on War and 
Education. It will be seen that we are in hearty 
agreement in ,a2 common “patriotic disposition” 
and a desire that “studies essential to good citi- 
zenship,” and “nothing inimical to public wel- 
fare” be taught. 

Washington objected to the Tory attitude which 
sought to preserve constituted authority; we ob- 
ject to the Tory attitude to-day which proposes 
to tell us what we shall thank, what we shall 
discuss, and which, answers not argument with 
argument but. argument with epithets and in- 
sinuations and anonymous communications. 

Abraham Lincoln has said, 

“I shall try to correct errors when shown to be 
errors, and I shall adopt new views so fast as they 
shall appear to be true views.” P 

To be as patriotic as Washington and Lincoln 
means to be able to know when new conditions 


a re ae ae ae a oe le le 











demand governmental changes and to be brave 
enough to make the experiments necessary. 

In this connection also it were well to restate 
our position on the incomparably valuable prin- 
ciple and policy, Freedom of Discussion, 


Academic Freedom 

“Change is the law of progress. If the social value 
of change is to be secured, teachers and pupils must be 
free. Unless such freedom is assured intellectual stag- 
nation is inevitable. In certain states of the Union the 
violation of the principle of academic freedom has 
been seriously menaced if not nullified by legislation 
based on mistrust not only of the intelligence of teach- 
ers, but of their unselfish devotion to the state and to 
the ideals of, the teaching profession. As teachers 
loyal to our profession we cannot but deplore the 
growth of the un-American spirit of political, religious 
and economic intolerance abroad in the land. 

“As teachers we especially fear the effect of the 
present wave of intolerance in education on the task of 
providing. the schools with enlightened teachers, With- 
out freedom in the intellectual life, and without the 
inspiration of uncensored discovery and discussion, 
there could ultimately be no scholarship, no schools at 
all, and no education. The minds that now seek an 
outlet in education would be driven off into other 
fields, if, indeed they could find a reason for existence 
anywhere.” 





WAR AND EDUCATION 


Instead of scrapping educational machinery to meet 
pleas of economy if such pleas ate justifiable, then 
economy should be undertaken by curtailing naval and 
military organization. The funds thus saved should 
be devoted to education, so as to make the children of 
America not only guardians of our revolutionary and 
constitutional heritage, but pioneers of a better social 
order—an order built not on special privilege or per- 
sonal gain, but on service for all. Not the develop- 
ment of robots, but the development of character and 
nobility of soul should be our goal. War not only 
militates against the development of the highest type of 
citizens, but is destructive of all that is best. It makes 
for the survival of the biologically unfit, for economic 
disorganization, for misery, chaos, and for hatreds 
which make future wars inevitable. 


We must meet propaganda for war with propaganda 
for peace.. Our great task is to organize for peace by 
appealing to the hearts and minds of the growing 
manhood and womanhood of the nation entrusted to 
our care, Let the schools become the training ground 
for the warriors of peace, righteousness, and for polit- 
ical, social and economic justice. Then the goal longed 
for by the lovers of progress and mankind will surely 
be attained. 

To achieve the end so ardently desired by the lovers 
of peace, the schools must first root out those narrow 
ambitions and ancient animosities that haunt and domi- 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 19 


nate Europe and replace them with a desire for organ- 
ized co-operation, which alone can develop an interna- 
tional mindedness without which no world machinery, 
however admirable, can function. The American Fed- 
eration of Teachers should seek to have the states 
enact legislation, or, better still, complete our plans for 
a world conference of educators with a view of recon- 
structing our textbooks in literature in the social and 
natural sciences so as to eliminate national egoism, 
race hatred, the glorification of war, and the substitu- 
tion therefor of the teaching of the truth about war— 
its cold-blooded butchery, its elimination of the biolog- 
ically fit, its economic chaos, its debts, starvation and 
disease. We should not glorify the heroes of war, but 
rather the heroes of peace as symbolized by the physi- 
cian who risks all to discover a cure for leprosy or the 
idealist who holds fast to a minority view. 

Third, we should endeavor to have Congress enact 
legislation that would empower the president to work 
for the outlawry of war and the creation of an inter- 
national tribunal for the settlement of such disputes as 
may arise on the principles of an international code to 
be developed and codified. 

Fourth, we should support such measures and move- 
ments as seek to have the United States participate in 
international conferences called to consider reduction 
of armaments and such economic and social matters 
as are of vital concern to mankind to the end that 
imperialistic conflicts and the wars they produce may 
be forever banished. 

Sixth, we should support measures which seek to 
prevent the use of government funds for the support 
of compulsory military training in public schools and 
colleges. We are opposed to the conscription of Amer- 
ican manhood by educational institutions, as tending to 
develop the military spirit. Compulsory military train- 
ing, which is a poor substitute for physical training, is 
educationally unsound since it substitutes automatic for 
rational reaction. What may be far worse, compulsory 
military training engenders an attitude of mind, menac- 
ing to world peace, because it recognizes war, as a nor- 
mal social phenomenon placing upon citizens the duty 
to participate in it. 

The outcome of the struggle between war and peace, 
upon which so much depends, rests largely with the 
schools and the colleges. It is therefore, encouraging 
to the lovers of peace and brotherhood to find, the 
young men of our Colleges objecting strongly to com- 
pulsory military training. The American Federation 
of Teachers hopes that this opposition to military 
training, and especially, to the domination of such 
training by the Department of War with the resources 
and prestige of the government behind it, will grow 
until compulsory military training is completely wiped 
out of every educational institution. Only through 
such a victory will a peace mind-set gradually develop 
and help undermine and finally nullify the organized 
efforts, being made to fix more firmly the war mind- 
set, which unfortunately still dominates mankind— 
Resolution: adopted by Tenth Annual Convention of 
thé A. F. T. 









20 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


$56,000 IN PRIZES FOR YOUNG PEOPLE 

The Woodrow Wilson Foundation is offering two 
prizes of $25,000 each to the young man and the young 
woman who shall present by October’ Ist, 1927, the 
best essay on the subject, “What Woodrow Wilson 
Means to Me.” Contestants must be between 20 and 
35 years of age. 

What is sought is a non-partisan appraisal of the 
principles, standards, ideals of the World War Presi- 
dent. No biography or analytical criticism is desired: 
praise and blame are alike to be used sparingly. A 
fair appraisal of principles, standards, and ideals— 
that’s all; what William Green has called “a map of 
Woodrow Wilson’s mind.” To be sure this descrip- 
tion President Green applied to “Selected Literary and 
Political Papers and Addresses of Woodrow Wilson,” 
but it applies equally well to what we understand is 
desired from the essayists in this contest. They may 
agree or disagree politically, in party allegiance or fun- 
damentally, with Wilson, but they should be able to 
present a “map” of his ideas dispassionately and with 
an original slant, avoiding long quotations. Only one 
article may be submitted by each contestant, and it 
must not exceed 2500 words. 


Further particulars about the contest may be 
secured through the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, 17 
East 42nd St., New York City. 

Selected Literary and Political Papers and Addresses 
of Woodrow Wilson. Preface by Ida Tarbell. Intro- 
duction by Ray Stannard Baker and Professor Wil- 
liam E. Dodd. 3 vols. Grosset & Dunlap. $2.00. 

We have had many critical estimates of Mr. Wilson 
—personal recollections, interpretations and explana- 
tions. With the appearance of this popular edition of 
‘ Wilson’s Papers and Addresses—one that includes the 
literary as well as the political writings—we are able to 
get at last a clear picture of the man and his ideas 
through the crystal-clear medium of his own personal 
style. 


Here are practically all Mr. Wilson’s early theories 
on government and society, the ones which he later 
elaborated into political proposals. Here are his liter- 
ary ‘and historical essays on Burke, on Adam. Smith, 
on Robert E. Lee, on Abraham Lincoln. Here are all 
the important documents of his later political career. 
Here is his first article written while he was a student 
at Princeton. Here is his last public address. 


The result is a veritable map of Woodrow Wilson’s 
mind—one that shows the gradual illumination of his 
ideals under the buffeting of experience. Woodrow 
Wilson understood, as few statesmen have understood, 
the viewpoint and the problems of the common man. It 
was this understanding, this desire to make of our 
government a government of all the people, that 
underlay his career. Very apparently, he thopght 
of himself always less as a governor of the 
people than as their spokesman. 

To read these books is to realize this all over again. 
Woodrow Wilson’s policies were always an attempt to 
apply the ideals and principles of the founders of the 
Republic to present day problems—to industry, to 


finance. to politics, and finally to world affairs. More 
than anything else, he was a twentieth century Jeffer- 
son who believed in the ability of the ordinary man to 
direct his own destiny. 

The amazing thing about the papers in these volumes 
is their variety, their many*sidedness. Here is the wis- 
dom of a philosopher who was not a metaphysician, a 
statesman who was frequently impatient of small poli- 
tics, a man of letters who so mastered the art of writ- 
ten and spoken discourse that he carried even into his 
most familiar speeches the high dignity of literary art. 
And with it all, a humas personality, sometimes 
reserved in oral discourse, but delectably revealed in 
the printed page. He who would know Wilson, the 
man, may find him in these books. 

What makes the set extremely interesting is the 
inclusion of the literary essays. In a sense, they are of 
one piece with the rest of his work, yet they reveal to 
us a man deeply read in the humanities—a writer who, 
even when confined to subjects purely literary, is wor- 
thy to rank with the best America has produced. 

To judge from the publishers’ statement, the occa- 
sion which has brought forth this inexpensive set is 
the current $50,000 Prize Essay Contest which the 
Woodrow Wilson Foundation, 17 East 42nd Street, 
New York City, is conducting on “What Woodrow 
Wilson Means to Me.” This Contest includes both 
sexes between the ages of 20 and 35 and is for the best 
essay of 2500 words written by one man and one 
woman. The publishers have brought out this set so 
that Wilson’s writings may be readily and inexpen- 
sively accessible. It is an extraordinary achievement 
in good book-making, at an unusually low price. 

~Those of us to whom America and the Declaration 
of Independence are something more than empty 
words—those of us who have faith in democracy, and 
who believe that Woodrow Wilson, whether we agree 
with his proposals or not, was one of its great prophets 
—such people will find these volumes dynamic, vital 
and stimulating. They provide an unusually interest- 
ing and rounded view of one of the outstanding per- 
sonalities of our times. No matter what one’s political 
leanings may be, to read them is to secure a liberal 
education in American history, letters and politics. 








MANUMIT 
(Continued from page 13) 


To the forty or more individual children who 
are fortunate enough to live ‘at Manumit, the 
school is a veritable open sesame to a broader 
and fuller life. To the labor movement as a 
whole, Manumit hopes to serve as a laboratory 
school. Education like the mumps and_ the 


measles can be made truly “catching” if it is of 
the right kind. The school system of our coun- 
try rightfully belongs to the workers who created 
it. If they can demonstrate in their own labora- 
tory school the infinite possibilities of a free edu- 
cation, they are in a position to insist that the 
same principles be applied to the public schools. 





TI 
sents 
beca 
to di 

As 
that 


“ 


an 
noth: 
ent ¢ 
Of! 
“C 
force 
wish 
breat 
with 
natio 
leisu! 
but i 
whol 
Th 
incre 
mach 
sketc 
our | 
trial 
As 
ws 
princ 
not 
high 
facto 
who 
the 1 
safet 
simil 
yet : 
pain. 
To 
indiv 
majo 
fore 
many 


~day ; 


time 
is nc 
hour: 
Th 
hone: 
pathy 
exten 
work 
tions 
amus 


Wi 
of th 
justic 
labor 
inhur 
Justic 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 21 


THE THREAT OF LEISURE 


The Threat of Leisure (Yale University Press) pre- 
sents the perils that endanger our machine-blessed age 
because Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands 
to do. ; 

As to the quality of our leisure, the author points out 
that the very definition of the word has passed from 
“an opportunity to do something” to “a chance to do 
nothing.” As to quantity, his presentation of our pres- 
ent condition will be to many of his readers a surprise. 

Of machinery he says: 

“Controlling civilized man as it has done, it has 
forced leisure upon us and turned us, whether we 
wished it or not, from a people to whom toil was our 
breath to a nation of idlers, little knowing what to do 
with our surplus time.” “With Rome and with other 
nations, which obtained leisure through slave labor, the 
leisure class was a small proportion of the population; 
but in America today the leisure class is practically the 
whole population.” 

The progressive reduction of working hours and 
increase of production owing to development of 
machinery, Dr. Cutten expounds with somewhat 
sketchy statistics in the chapter, “Where did we get 
our leisure?” 
trial civilization. 

As to the charge of deadening monotony, he says: 

“The complaint against the machine does not come 
principally from the operatives themselves, or, at least, 
not from many of them. It comes from people of 
high intellectual ability whom chance has landed in a 
factory, or from other persons of equal intelligence 
who have never worked in a factory. It is like 
the mother who imputes her own feeling of pain if a 
safety pin were embedded in her flesh to a young baby, 
similarly conditioned, but whose consciousness is not 
yet sufficiently developed to experience much or any 
pain.” 

To the charge of restricting initiative and stifling 
individuality, the answer is that the intelligence of the 
majority is equal only te a machine task; let us, there- 
fore rejoice that the machine task is there to keep so 
many of us out of mischief for some few hours of the 
day anyhow. “The employer is careful to see that the 
time he purchases and pays for is not wasted, but there 
is no employer to insure similar control over leisure 
hours.” 

The main idea of the book, that there is a “duty of 
‘honest leisure,” - will meet with agreement and sym- 
pathy, and so will the suggestions for revision and 
extension of the educational system. But the picture of 
working-class—or must we say leisure-class—condi- 
tions sounds like a fabrication, likely to be considerably 
amusing to workers.—The Federal Employee. 


Without the union all labor would still be the victim 
of the long day, the insufficient wage and kindred in- 
justices. Under the present organization of society, 
labor’s only safeguard against a retrogression to former 
inhuman standards is the union —Commission on Social 
Justice, Central Conference of American Rabbis, 


The answer leads to a defense of indus- | 


The Progressive Education Association, devoted as it 


‘ is to the advancement of education through the encour- 


agement of more liberal procedure, has rendered real 
service in its publication of these two manuals on 
Music and on Art. These yolumes give an idea of the 
types of creative art and. music being developed in 
schools scattered over the United States. What is here 
assembled, ranging all the way from the earliest kinder- 


‘garten to high school work, gives ample evidence of 


the talent latent in the ordinary child. The articles, 
written by teachers doing this new type of work, show 
a healthy divergence of opinion and an_ interesting 
variety in approach. Underneath all is an unshakable 
belief in the creative ability of children. They fully 
and beautifully reveal the new spirit and method, with 
a \wealth of suggestive discussion and a rare selection 
of\ reproductions of children’s work in both art and 
music. 

We have here something more than books for teach- 
ers. They are of the greatest value to parents also, af 
showing what children can actually do. They are an 
exposition of what to look for, what to understand, 
and what to encourage. They are a rich demonstration 
of. the artistic and musical possibilities of our children 
when their natural powers and spontaneous enthusiasms 
are given opportunity for free expression. 

Creative Expression Through Music. The January 
issue of “Progressive Education.” A symposium on 
newer methods of teaching instrumental music, singing, 
rhythms, and music appreciation by Thomas Whitney 
Surette, Katharine K. Davis, Harriet Ayer Seymour, 
Elizabeth Newman, Calvin B. Cady, Edith Potter, Satis 
N. Coleman, Ryth Doing, Norval Church, Peter W. 
Dykema, Helen Goodrich, Ellen W. Steele. Eighty 
pages, seventeen half-tone illustrations, Price per copy, 
Sixty cents. 

Creative Expression Through Art. A _ reprint in 
book form of the April, 1926, issue of “Progressive 
Education.” A symposium on the newer methods of 
instruction in art, by Hughes Mearns, Frederick G. 
Bonser, L. Young Correthers, Willy Levin, Peppino 
Mangravite, Florence E. House, Elizabeth Byrne 
Ferm, Lucy Sprague Mitchell, Florence Cane, Marga- 
ret Naumburg, Ellen Steele, Helen Ericson. Eighty 
pages, one hundred reproductions of children’s original 
creations, fifty in color, fifty in black and white. 
Attractively bound in boards. Price per gopy, One 
Dollar and a Half. 


We affirm as one of the cardinal principles of the 
trade union movement that, the working people must 
unite irrespective of creed, color. sex, nationality or 
politics—A. F. of L. Convention Declaration, 

y htwaek t 

Let us make and keep the government of the United 
States free from special interests and. responsive to 
the people. We must maintain and constantly guard 
the heritage of liberty left us by our fathers. Let us 
stand up and fight for our own liberties and that of 
the generations to follow. Sincerely yours, X 

Robert M. La Follette. 











22 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


CONVENTION 

The Eleventh Annual Convention of the American 
Federation of Teachers will be held June 28th to July 
Ist, 1927, at the Webster Hotel, 2150 Lincoln Parkway 
West, Chicago. The hotel is delightfully and conven- 
iently located fronting Lincoln Park, 15 minutes by bus 
or L to the theatres and principal shops. The service 
is unexcelled. 

The management of the Webster Hotel has made a 
special rate of $3.50 per day for a single room and 
$2.50 per day for two in a room. There are a number 
of very good hotels and residences with pleasant rooms 


to rent in the immediate vicinity. If the delegates will | 


' inform the national secretary of their wishes, arrange- 
ments will be made for them. If anyone cares to share 
a room with another, an agreeable adjustment can 
doubtless be made. 

The membership is urged to present to their locals 
for careful consideration subjects of importance and 
locals are urged to transmit these to the national office. 


WHY DO WE HAVE ADVERTISERS? 

It is generally accepted in publishing circles that a 
periodical makes money, if it does, not from.the sale 
of copies, but from the advertising it carries. It is not 
the purpose of the American Teacher to make money, 
but to be self-supporting. 

Certainly the small amount each member pays for 
the American Teacher would not pay for a magazine 
of the scope and type, which we desire to publish. 
The difference must be made up by the advertising 
which appears in this magazine. 

But the business men to whom we niay go for adver- 
tising are not primarily concerned in the American 
Teacher, or even in the American Federation of 
Teachers. They take advertising space, and pay the 
money which helps produce this magazine only if they 
think by advertising in it they stand a chance of 
increasing their own sales. 

Some of them are uncertain as to whether they are 
reaching persons through this magazine or not. There 
is just one way of proving it to them. Federation 
members who make use of the advertising columns can 
clinch our arguments by referring to the American 
Teacher advertisement. 

One reference to “Your advertisement in the Ameri- 
can Teacher” would prove more than all the promises 
we could collect. 


Katonah, N. Y.—Trade unionists of Reading, Pa., 
are establishing a “Jim Maurer Scholarship” for 
Brookwood Labor College in honor of the veteran 
labor leader who was born in Reading 63 years ago. 
The scholarship will provide tuition and maintenance 
each year for a worker from Reading to study at the 
school. The Federated Trades Council authorized 
funds to be raised for the scholarship following a 
recent address by Clinton S. Golden, business manager 
of the school, setting forth Brookwood’s program. 

James H. Maurer, for 15 years president of the 
Pennsylvania State Federation of Labor, was one of 





the group of labor men and women who were instru- 


mental in establishing Brookwood six years ago. He 
is chairman of the Brookwood Board of Directors and 
also president of the Workers Education Bureau of 
America. 

Brookwood is entering on a building and endowment 
campaign for $2,000,000 to enlarge the capacity of the 
school to 100 trade union students and to provide an 
income from invested funds sufficient to meet half the 
annual budget and allow for summer schools, exten- 
sion courses and research. The control of the school 
rests primarily with representatives of unions, which 
have established scholarships for their students. Fac- 
ulty, students and alumni are also represented on the 
board of directors. A. J. Muste is chairman of the 
faculty, and all of the teachers have been active in the 
labor movement. 


We are in receipt of the following letter from Mr. 
Sumner H. Slichter, Department of Economics, Cor- 


nell University, Ithaca, N. Y.: 
“Dear Miss Hanson: 

“Several months ago you very kindly sent to the Cornell 
Laboratory of Industrial "Relations copies of issues Number 1 
and 14 of Volume 1 of your Monthly Bulletin. Our e .. 
now complete except for the issue of January 5, 1922. ' 
could obtain this inoue we would be ins position to bind the 
volume 

“I wonder if there is any possibility of your yd some 
member who could and would supply us with this The 
usefulness of this material in our classes is much oo 
when it is not bound. 

“Yours very truly, 
“SUMNER H. SLICHTER.” 


If you can supply number 8 of Volume 1 of the 
Monthly Bulletin will you please forward it to this 
office? 











A Challenge to Those. 
Who Talk About Russia 


THE WANDERING UNIVERSITY 
OF 
The NATIONAL STUDENT FEDERATION 
OF AMERICA 
WILL STUDY SOVIET RUSSIA 
THIS SUMMER 


The curriculum includes 


Hobnobbing with Russian Students 

Quizzing Professors 

Conferring with Government Officials 
Looking r Factories 

Visiting Workers’ Clubs and Rest Homes 
Studying Minority Governments and Cultures 
Staying in Villages and Student Rest Homes 
Attending the Theatres 


Arrangements have been made to include a limited 
number of teachers and non-students. J 


The Travel Committee 
National Student Federation 
of America 


2 WEST 46th STREET NEW YORK 























a 





Th 
189 t 
Scho 
“To 
“Wes 
“Wes 

“Fe 
dren 
denie 

“W 
the s 
izens, 
phere 

“Le 
fore 
has r 
ers, 2 


St. 
St. I 
their 
on Sz 
cessft 
probl 
topic 
are li 
ers a 
such, 
mechi 
point 

Mir 
at the 
of th 
Curti: 
and 
move 


Mr 
tunity 
mittee 
the A 
nal o 
and ¢ 


The 
share 
the / 
Our | 
come 
plan 
Teach 


Pet 
the c 
you <¢ 

Ney 
Teack 

St. 

Mir 





= ee Te FF 


.. eF = TF SF 2 oF 








Our Locals 


The following telegram was recently sent by Local 
189 to the principal of the West Chester State Normal 
School, Pa.: 

“To Dr. Andrew Thomas Smith, Principal, 
“West Chester State Normal School, 
“West Chester, Pennsylvania. 

“For the future teachers of American school chil- 
dren to be taught by normal school instructors who are 
denied academic freedom is calamitous. 

“We believe that servility breeds servility and that if 
the schools are to produce free, unafraid American cit- 
izens, the teachers must live and work in an atmos- 
phere of freedom and self-respect. 

“Local 189, American Federation of Teachers, there- 
fore strongly protests against the reorganization which 
has resulted in the dismissal of several of your teach- 
ers, and urges that they be reinstated.” 


St. Paul Federation of Women Teachers No. 28 and 
St. Paul Federation of Men Teachers No. 43 held 
their annual joint luncheon at the New Lowry Hotel 
on Saturday, May 7. This was a very brilliant and suc- 
cessful affair. Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson discussed 
problems interesting to classroom teachers under the 
topic “What’s Your Average?”’ She pointed out that we 
are living in a changing and changed world, that teach- 
ers are the architects of the social structure and as 
such, since we have well advanced the technical and 
mechanical means of getting a living they must now 
point the way to life and living together. 








Minneapolis Local 59 gave a largely attended dinner 
at the Radisson Hotel on Thursday, May 5, as a part 
of their organization campaign. Secy.-Treas. Florence 
Curtis Hanson was a guest and spoke on the economic 
and social significance of the teacher unionization 
movement under the topic, “Well, Why Not Now?” 





Mrs. Mary L. Huey, principal of the Atlanta Oppor- 
tunity School, has been named a member of the Com- 
mittee to represent the City Teachers’ Association in 
the Atlanta Federation of Trades. The Atlanta Jour- 
nal of Labor pays.a tribute to Mrs. Huey’s business 
and executive ability. 





The California and Portland locals will probably 
share in the publication of a Pacific Coast number of 
the American’ Teacher, either in June or in the fall. 
Our local in March agreed to the plan and word has 
come that there is favorable consideration of the 
plan among California locals—Bulletin, Portland 
Teachers Union. 


CHICAGO NUMBER 

Peter A. Mortenson: Permit me to thank you for 
the copy of the American Teacher and to congratulate 
you on the Chicago number. 

New Haven: The Chicago number, 
Teacher, is fine. So big and interesting. 

St. Paul: The Chicago number is great. 

Minneapolis: The Chicago number was fine. 


American 


TIAIR 1007 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 23 


FAVOR R. O. T. C. 

A communication signed by thirty men teachers of 
the Chicago High Schools objects to the statement 
that a large number of teachers do not favor military 
training in high schools and colleges. It states that 
they are “quite strongly in favor of military training 
as now conducted in our Chicago Public High 
Schools.” 


oe 
i 


E. E. Schwarztrauber and H. A. Director are giving 
a course in Post War Labor History at the Portland, 
Oregon, Labor College. This course includes a study 
of the Chinese and the Mexican situations and deals 
with European developments as well. 





Junior High Schools in Chicago were the subject of 
discussion by the Education Committee of the Chicago 
Federation of Men Teachers at an open meet- 
ing held at the City Club Friday, April 8. In conjunc- 
tion therewith a tentative report with reference to these 
schools was submitted for further study of this vital 
question. 

Victor A. Olander, secretary-treasurer of the Illinois 
State Federation of Labor, was not at all in accord 
with the report. t 

He took the same position he advocated several 
years ago when the Chicago Federation of Labor, in 


. accord with his conception of this change in the school 


system, condemned the junior high school as detrimen- 
tal to the majority of school children. The Federation 
then emphasized that the junior high school system 
virtually sidetracked the children of the workers to 
the factory door. It was said then that the junior high 
school system is an educational switching arrangement, 
intended to reduce the cost of public education by turn- 
ing large numbers of children away from the high 
school and putting them on a sidetrack that ends at a 
factory door. 

Asst. Supt. Bogan replied to Mr. Olander and 
defended the Junior High School as established in 
Chicago, citing statistics to show that pupils were kept 
in school rather than turned away. 





E. E. Schwarztrauber visited Seattle and Spokane in 
the interest of organization during the vacation week, 
April 18-23. 


Dr. Robert F. Kerlin, Philadelphia, Selma, M. Bor- 
chardt, Washington, and Margaret Forsythe, Philadel- 
phia, represented the American Federation of Teachers 
at the Annual Meeting of the American Academy of 
Political and Social Science held at the Bellevue-Strat- 
ford, Philadelphia, April 22 and 23. 


FEBRUARY ISSUE 
Have you a copy of the February, 1927, number of 
the American Teacher to spare? There has been such 
an unprecedented demand for copies that our supply 
is exhausted. If you have a copy, will you please send 
it to the office of the American’ Federation of Teach- 
ers, 327'S. La Salle street, Chicago? 


eee i.e alin re 

















24 THE AMERICAN TEACHER JUN! 





— — — 
— _ 


———_— 
Buy Union Stamped Shoes 


















We ask all members of organized labor to pur- 
chase shoes bearing our Union Stamp on the sole, 
inner-sole or lining of the shoe. We ask you 
not to buy any shoes unless you actually see this 
Union Stamp. 


Boot @ Shoe Workers’ Union 


Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 


246 SUMMER STREET, BOSTON, MASS. 


COLLIS LOVELY CHARLES L. BAINE 
General President General Secretary-Treasurer 




















Ww O R L D Acquaintance — Study — Pleasure T O U R ty 
Exceptional Opportunity for . 
STUDENTS, TEACHERS, AND LECTURERS 


SPECIAL TOUR including Pestalozzi Centenary and INDEPENDENT TRAVEL a S Sailing Each 
Locarno Conference on Progressive Education e Week—May to SoSegtaaben. ery le pont 


Experienced Leaders Student Tours—Low Priced 


Send for Booklet 
WORLD ACQUAINTANCE TOURS Circle 2511 51 West 49th St., New York City 

















— — 
— a 


Main 2328-2329-2330 
THE H.G. —- PRINTING Co. 


Constructive Printers 
Publications 


Printers of this “ey 107 N. Wacker Drive 
Journal CHICAGO 


————— 
ee 


l