\ 


SEPTEMBER, 1927 4 VOL. XII—No. 1 


Democracy in Education Education for Democracy 


The 
American Teacher | 


THE ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS 














The Eternal Struggle 


Were there no progress the world would fall! 
Life is a ladder and Fate a wall. 

Each is ascending in eager quest, 

To reach a station above the rest; 

All surge and climb, with no qualm nor stop, 
In weird confusion to gain thé top; 

Glimpsing the struggling horde below 

That heave and lapse in a restless flow, 

Like throbbing tides that recede and rise, 

In weary murmurs and sullen sighs, 

While drifting wreckage of wealth and toil 

Is swept along in a hapless broil, 


Hither and thither with vague success— 
Haunted with shadows of worldliness 


That grin like phantoms, midst ruins old, 
Through witching vistas of fame and gold; 
And human hearts grow confused and fraught 
With idle fancy and longing thought, 
While the eternal struggle and strife 
Strangle the freedom and charm of life 
In the rush and turmoil to attain 
A princely goal and descend again. 
~—GEORGE SANDS JOHNSON. 


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a 
—. 








i ME . *9 
AMERICAN FEDERATION ESBS 20 327 So. La Salle St., Chicago 
sa Single Copy 25c—Yearly Subscription $2.00 








What man is there so bold that he should say, 

“Thus, and thus only, would I have the Sea”? 

For whether lying calm and beautiful, 

Clasping the earth in love, and throwing back 

The smile of Heaven from waves of amethyst; 

Or whether, freshened by the busy winds: 

It bears the trade and navies of the world 

To ends of use or stern activity; 

Or whether, lashed by tempests, it gives way 

To elemental fury, howls and roars 

At all its rocky barriers, in wild lust 

Of ruin drinks the blood of living things, 

And strews its wrecks o’er leagues of desolate 
shore— 

Always it is the Sea, and mén bow down 

Before its vast and varied majesty. 


Diehl ae 








LIBERTY 


By John Hay 


So all in vain will timorous ones essay 

To set the metes and bounds of Liberty. 

For Freedom is its own eternal law: 

It makes its qgwn conditions, and in storm 

Or calm alike fulfills the unerring Will. 

Let us not then despise it when it lies 

Still as a sleeping lion, while a swarm 

Of gnat-like evils hover round its head; 

Nor doubt it when in mad, disjointed times 

It shakes the torch of terror, and its cry 

Shrills o’er the quaking earth, and in the flame 

Of riot and war we see its awful form 

Rise by the scaffold, where the crimson axe 

Rings down its groove the knell of shuddering 
kings, 

For ever in thine eyes, O Liberty, 

Shines that high light whereby the world is 
saved. 

And though thou slay us, 
thee! 


we will trust in 











ee —— — 
yeaa TLL —— 


CONTENTS 





President’s Annual Report 
Mary C. Barker 


Program for American Education 


Eleventh Annual Convention of the 








Frank Morrison 


Freedom in Labor Education 
A, J. Muste 








Editorials 


Work-Study-Play Schools 
Gertrude Stevens Ayres 


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The American Teacher | 


Entered as second class: 


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Volume XII, No. 1 


SEPTEMBER, 1927 


Two Dollars a Year 








Address of the President 
Mary C. ‘Barker 
Eleventh Annual Convention of the 
American Federation of Teachers 


The founders of the American Federation of 
Teachers set up the slogan, “Democracy in Edu- 
cation; Education for Democracy.” The influence 
of the organization under that banner has been 
felt in no uncertain measure. Abuses of power 
and dangerous tendencies toward exploitation in 
the administration of the schools have been 
brought to the attention of those responsible. 
There have been reforms in many quarters. 
There is increasing evidence that the sthool 
world is conscious of the demand for reforms. 

The unwholesome conditions have been brought 
to the attention of the public, where a more in- 
telligent understanding of school problems augurs 
well for a better day. In defense of the free- 
dom and of the usefulness of the schools has 
been mustered a small army of those who can 
appreciate the significance of conditions that sup- 
press initiative and curtail the application of 
democractic ideals in education. 


Not the least in need of stimulation in the par- 
ticular kind of social intelligence here involved 
have been the teachers theniselves, and the Amer- 
ican teacher, whether in the Federation or out 
of it, has felt the quickening power of the new 
emphasis which the American Federation of 
Teachers has given to these ideas. 

Where efforts to curtail the freedom of the 
teacher had served to intimidate and repress, 
that servant of society has developed a new sense 
of responsibility and the courage to resist these 
anti-social tendencies. Where an all too com- 
mon interpretation of the teacher’s work and 
position had produced an attitude of snobbery 
and complacency, a new appraisal of the facts 
concerning the value of their services has worked 
to develop in teachers self-respect and a critical 
attitude toward the work that is theirs. “Where 
isolation in the community life had characterized 
the atmosphere of the teacher group, association 
with their fellow workers in other vocations has 


widened the horizon of community interest and 
is producing a better citizen. Teachers have dis- 
covered the necessity for becoming articulate in 
the community life, and the experience has given 
new vitality to their own work. 

Second in importance only to its influence in 
solving problems of direct concern to the schools 
and the teachers in them, has been the effect 
of our program in a field of more general ap- 
plication. In matters involving social justice, 
human welfare and progress, as they have arisen 
in local, national, and international affairs, it has 
been the policy of the American Federation of 
Teachers to set forth what it conceived to be 
the most desirable ends to be sought, and to sug- 
gest sound methods by which those ends might 
be accomplished. 

The effect of this growing social interest of 
the teacher: means that new power is entering 
the school room. A new personality will meet 
the boys and girls as they gather there, and the 
younger generation stands to gain immeasurably 
by the contact. 

But one wonders if we could not do something 
more to hasten the day when this improved teach- 
ing shall be general. Without leaving undone 
any of the good things we already do, might 
we not develop a line of more direct appeal to 
the teacher? Every group recognizes the ne- 
cessity for stimulating its own membership, no 
matter how experienced. We have the appren- 
tice with us always, which is as it should be. 
Then there is the teacher-at-large who is not 
one of us. 

It is not meant to overlook nor to underesti- 
mate the value of our official organ. The Ameri- 
can Teacher this year has been an excellent 


‘paper; an unstinted praise should be given to 


those who have made itso, particularly to the 


secretary. 
But the thought is of a more specific and direct 











4 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 





appeal to: the teacher in the interests of his or 


her own equipment for making better citizens 
out of the boys and girls that pass through the 
schools. ‘ 

To what extent are teachers to blame for the 
indifference of the great majority of the men and 
women in this country in the matter of their 
civic responsibilities? And what portion of the 
teachers of the land do you estimate have a 
very definite understanding or appreciation of 
the reasons for defending freedom of speech, 
freedom of assembly, or other items in a decalog 
of the freedom of man? Why are there so 
many attacks upon freedom to think, freedom 
to teach and freedom to learn? Why is the 
demagog able to wield more influence than the 
scientist ? 

Outstanding cases of such abuses have hap- 
pened so often during the past year that it would 
be hard to enumerate them. The offenders are 
almost always the products of from twelve to 
sixteen or more years of schooling. Surely we 
teachers and the curriculum have been at fault. 
But no curriculum is going far without the life 
that is put into it by the teacher. It will be of 
herself or himself, as the case may be; or it will 
be nothing. 

As we deplore these recurring displays of the 
non-thinking, or the uninformed, or the anti- 
social mind in the present generation, let us lay 
the foundation to make a more creditable show- 
ing in, the training of the next. 

Can we not devise some method of publicity 
by which such material as has been indicated, 
will get direct to teachers, unencumbered by other 
material so as to be sure to have the service 
register ? 

Organization of Work 

The Tenth Convention of the American Feder- 
ation of Teachers, hoping to make our work 
more effective and to increase the usefulness of 
the Federation, set up five standing committees 
designated as follows: Education, Professional 
Improvement, Academic Freedom and Tenure, 
Legislation, Promotion and Organization. 

The chairmen of the several committees were 
appointed by the convention and the program 
of work for each committee as outlined by the 
convention committee on Promotion and Organi- 
zation was adopted by the convention. Suggested 
lists of people to serve on these committees were 








furnished the committee chairmen by the mem- 
bers of the Executive Council and the chairmen 
were asked to organize their own committees. 
There is no doubt that we have here the ma- 
chinery for some;very important and constructive 
work. The standing committees are due to make 
report to the convention. 

In the case of the Committee on Promotion 
and Organization, the year’s experience indicates 
that) some of the questions that were in our minds 
and discussions when we adopted the plan, were 
not without reason. One of the New’ York dele- 
gates at the time made the point that the plan 
for this committee amounted to setting up another 
executive committee, that instead of facilitating 
the execution of the work ordered by the con- 
vention this additional machinery would hinder 
the carrying out of those measures. While 
others were in doubt and all of us realized that 
we were experimenting, we voted to make the 
experiment. | 

In one feature of the plan the objection ad- 
vanced has been vindicated. The year’s experi- 
ence has proved that it was not Wise to remove 
from the president and the secretary the responsi- 
bility for seeing that the orders and resolutions 
of the convention were executed. 

It is not the purpose of the president to antici- 
pate Dr. Linville’s report as chairman of the 
standing committee on Promotion and Organiza- 
tion. While she is ex-officio a member of the 
committee, she has heard nothing from the chair- 
man since last fall when he completed the work 
of the convention committee of the same name 
by assigning the resolutions of the convention 
to the several committees and sent to Atlanta 
the assignments of work for the committee on 
Professional Improvement, of which she was also 
made a member, in this case. not ex-officio. 

While it is not known what will be the rec- 
ommendation of the chairman of the, committee 
on Promotion and Organization after a year’s 
experience with the .program outlined, it is a 
safe guess that there will be no conflict of opin- 
ion as to the advisability of the change here 
proposed. 

Be that as it may, it is here recommended (1) 
that upon the president and the secretary-treasurer 
be placed the responsibility for seeing that the 
orders of the convention are carried into effect, 
and (2) that the purpose of the standing’ com- 











THE AMERICAN TEACHER ' 5 


mittee on Promotion and Organization be to 
bring about the organization of new locals and 
to extend the influence of the American Federa- 
tion of Teachers. This work is outlined in the 
report of Dr. Linville’s convention committee 
last year as follows: “The standing committee 
should plan (1) for the extension of our organi- 
zation; (2) for effective publicity; (3) for coun- 
teracting hostile public opinion; (4) for improv- 
ing the service of the American Federation of 
Teachers to its members; (5) for co-operation 
with the labor movement in the work of organiz- 
ing teachers.” 


It will be seen that the major part of the work 
outlined for the committee, and a full load of 
it, will remain after the president and the secre- 
tary-treasurer have been charged as the respon- 
sible executives. 


Financing Organization 
The Tenth Convention charged the’ Committee 
on Promotion and Organization with the task 
of raising a fund of $25,000 outside of our locals 
and chiefly among other labor organizations to 
promote a three year organization campaign for 


the American Federation of Teachers. Without 
meaning to discourage in any way the above 
mentioned project, it is again recommended that 
the members of this convention consider seriously 
the psychological effect of a movement like the 
American Federation of Teachers making no def- 
inite provision to finance the: propaganda of its 
ideas out of its dwn resources. The American 
labor movement has developed through the sacri- 
fices of those affected. It expects teachers to 
do the same thing and it has a right to expect it. 
If we can get money elsewhere, let us get it. But 
in the meantime, and all the time, let us get some 
from our own people. Other people’s money 
will not necessarily interest our people. Their 
own money will. 

Because of earnest conviction of the necessity 
for the thing proposed, it is recommended that 
the American Federation of Teachers begin to 
collect an extension fund from the membership, 
preferably by voluntary donations from individual 
members, the sum to be forwarded to the national 
office by the local financial agent authorized, that 
a report be distributed once a year ‘showing thé 
amount collected and, as far as can be judged, 
the results accomplished by means of it. 


As a second choice, if the above does not meet 
your approval, it is recommended that the several 
locals be asked from time to time to finance 
organization work in their own localities. This 
plan would not be barred by adopting the first 
proposal. 


- 





IN MEMORIAM 


The American Federation of Teachers has 
suffered an irreparable loss in the passing of 
William Mann Fincke, who gave most generously 
of his wealth, ability, energy and lovable per- 
sonality to the cause of academic freedom, civil 
liberty, iabor and education. His optimism, cour- 
age, cheerfulness in the face of adversity and 
devotion to a better social order have left an 
indelible imprint upon the cause of both educa- 
tion and labor. We prize his gifts to us and 
mourn the loss of his fellowship. 

Hedwig Hochbaum Hume, a charter member 
and first president of the Federation of Women 
High School Teachers of Chicago and one of 
those whose courage, foresight and persistence 
made possible the organization of the American 
Federation of Teachers, has in her passing left 
a permanent imprint of her splendid character 
and vigorous personality upon both the local and 
national organizations. Her influence is today 
far-reaching and inspiring. 

Genevieve Gilruth gave of her vivid person- 
ality, her loyalty, her richness of understanding 
and her generous enthusiasms to her work, to 
her friends and to the cause of laboring humanity. 
To her the American Federation of Teachers 
owes a great debt for gifted service. We wish 
to express our sorrow for her loss and our thank- 
fulness for the wise and courageous leadership 
she has given us. The high spirit and the kind 
intelligence which she has contributed to our 
federation will live on in her work, 


BE IT RESOLVED, That the American 
Federation of Teachers in Annual Convention 
assembled take this opportunity to pay tribute 
to these outstanding figures in our organization ; 
and be it further : 


RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution, 
with the three accompanying paragraphs, be sent 
to the families of these honored and loved mem- 
bers and to their local uffions. 





Program for American Education Week 


The American ‘Federation of Teachers has 
prepared ‘a stiggéstive program for ‘each day of 
American Education Week, ‘N ovember 6th to 
12th. A slogan is proposed for each day. 

The program ‘and slogans are as follows: 


MORAL DEVELOPMENT DAY 

Sunday, November 6—The Development of High 
Moral Standards. Among All Men. 

1. The record of achievement in moral growth 
under freedom in America. 

2. Creative activity and self-direction in education 
in relation to character development. 

3. The release of the Creative Power of workers 
as ‘the key to industrial ethics. 

‘4. Social ideals as a power in individual and group 
conduct and_in relations between the nations. 

Slogan: Freedom to Choose and Intelligence to 
Know the Right, Lead on to Character. 


AMERICAN TRADITIONS DAY 

Monday, November 7—American Traditions of 
Freedom. 

1. Freedom of the Press; the Zenger case of 1734 
in. which a printer of the Colony of New York won 
the freedom of the press for Colonial Americans. 

2. The Revolution—The Declaration of Indepen- 
dence; the influence of Thomas Jefferson; political 
freedom. 

3. Democracy; Lincoln’s First Inaugural Address; 
the Gettysburg Address; the Emancipation Proclama- 
tion. 

4. Freedom of speech. 

5. America establishes the principle of religious 
freedom to all, (a) The Statute of Toleration of 
Maryland, 1649; (b) Religious liberty in the colony of 
Pennsylvania, 1865; (c) Roger Williams in Rhode 
Island, 1636 (1663); (d) Thomas Jefferson in Vir- 
ginia (1777-78); (e) The First Amendment of the 
Constitution (1791). 

6. America, the Haven of Political and Religious 
Refugees. (a) The Pilgrims, 1620; (b) Louis Kos- 
suth, the President of the Hungarian Republic, 1848; 
(c) Refugees of the German liberal movement, 1848; 
(d) Russian refugees from religious pogroms, 1880- 
1904; (e) Cases of our government refusing to sur- 
render Russian refugees to Czar’s government; (f) 
Huguénots, Germans, Moravians of the 18th Century. 

Slogan: America First in Freedom and Democ 
racy. 

NATIONAL PROGRESS DAY 

Tuesday, November 8—National Progress in 
Times of Peace, 

1. The Development of Agriculture. 

2. The Development of Industry. 

3. Transportation. 

4. Commerce. 

5. The development of public education, workers’ 
education and of general educational institutions; the 
part played by the labor movement arid other organized 


groups, 


' 6. Ttie development of .néew world culture; litera- 


‘ture; philosophy, «art, music, drama. 


7. .The promotion: of the natidnal spirit through 
friendly relations with other countries—as_ advocated 
by Washington, Jay, Franklin, Jefferson. 


AMERICAN INSTITUTIONS DAY 


Wednesday, November 9—American Institutions 
Promoting Social Progress. 

i. Representative assemblies voicing the will of the 
people in community, state, and nation. (a) The Vir- 
ginia House of Burgesses, 1619; (b) The establish- 
ment of the principle of self-government throughout 
America, about 1689. 

2. The Northwest Ordinance, 1787; statehood ver- 
sus imperialism. 

3. The Constitution; a government instituted by 
discussion. not by violence. 

4. The administration of Government; when car- 
ried on by honest, qualified and devoted officials in 
local, state and national branches. 

5. Voluntary associations on a community basis; 
community councils; city clubs, playground associa- 
tions, garden clubs, probation societies. 

6. Politifal. organizations to ~proclaim political 
issues; political parties, old and new. 

7. Economic organizations operating in our indus- 
trial and commercial life; the American Federation of 
Labor and the railroad brotherhoods; U. S. Chamber 
of Commerce; manufacturers associations and farm 


organizations. 

8. The-public school and other educational institu- 
tions. 

9. Federal, state and local courts. 


Slogan: The Will of the People, the Supreme 


Law. 
POLITICAL LIBERTY DAY 


Thursday, November 10—The Extension of Politi- 
cal Intelligence Among the People of the Nation. 

1. Town Meetings. ; 

2. Free discussion of all political questions to pro- 
mote general understanding. 

3. Freedom of assemblage. 

4. Freedom for all political parties. 

5. Universal suffrage. 

6. The duty of the teachers and of all other citizens 
to encourage the discussion of political and social ques- 
tions, subject to the guidance of sound educational 
principles. 

7. Freedom of the radio. 

Slogan: No Progressive Government Without 
Ideas; No Progressive Ideas Without Freedom. 

SOCIAL JUSTICE DAY 

Friday, November 11—Social Justice for All. 

1. Child Labor Law; compulsory. education; juve- 
nile courts. 

, 2. Social and equitable apportionment of public 
money ; adequate school appropriations. 

3. Justice for the alien; justice for all ‘races, politi- 
cal, economic, social, | 





criti 
scril 
“T 
that 
the 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 7 


4. Tendencies making for improved industrial rela- 
tions; collective bargaining, shop committees, union- 
management co-operation. viz., railroads; mediation 
and arbitration. 

5. Public regulation of railways and other utilities. 

6. Mothers’ pension and workmen’s compensation 
legislation. 

7. Conservation of forest, 
resources of the nation. 

Slogan: There Shall Be No Exploitation in 
America—Neither of Men, Women nor Children. 


PUBLIC HEALTH DAY 


Saturday, November 12—Public Health—The 
Guarantee of the Strength of the Nation. 

1. Physical education. 

2. The triumphs of sanitation and preventive medi- 
cine. Heroes of peace: Koch, Lister, Pasteur, Metch- 
nikoff, Gorgas, Lazear, Curie, Noguchi. 

3. Play tnd leisure in relation to public health. 

4. The socialization of health protection; value of 
medical research institutioris. 

5. Disease no respecter of national boundaries; the 
necessity for international relations. 

6. The study of race improvement. 

7. National, state and municipal park systems and 
regional planning. 

Slogan: Sound Bodies for the Service of Man- 
kind. " 


mineral and power 





TEACHERS MAY TALK UNDER STRICT 
RULE 

Superior, Wis.—High schoo] teachers in this city are 
asked to sign away their rights as citizens and to 
criticize educational methods only in the form pre- 
scribed by the board. The contract provides: 

“I further recognize and subscribe to the principle 
that criticism of the policies of the board of education, 
the superintendent of schools or the principal of the 
high school should be made only in a professional man- 
ner and through the approved professional channels.” 


A state-wide, all-inclusive teacher tenure law has just 
been enacted in Indiana. The legislature of Indiana 
met in January and adjourned on March 7. The State 
Teachers’ Association spent all its time and effort dur- 
ing this period in obtaining the passage of this one bill. 
In general the- new law provides that “any person who 
has served or who shall serve under contract as a 
teacher in any school corporation in the State of Indiana 
for five or more successive years, and who shall here- 
after enter into a teacher’s contract for further service 
with such corporation, shall thereafter become a perma- 
nent teacher of such school corporation.” The term 
teaches is defined to include all teachers, principals and 
superintendents. Provisions are made for dismissal of 
teachers for cause, but only after a hearing before the 
school board if the teacher asks fort such hearing. 
Teachers are not permitted to cancel contracts during 
School terms under penalty of suspension of license for 
a year—The Illinois Teacher. 


- 


THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL CONVEN- 
TION OF THE AMERICAN FED- 
ERATION OF TEACHERS 


- Chicago, June 27th-July ist, 1927 

“The American Federation of Teachers con- 
ducts its affairs democratically through annual 
delegate conventions, absolutely without dictation 
or interference of any kind.” And the Eleventh 
Annual Convention was no exception to the rule. 
We got a splendid start with the following tele- 
gram from President ‘William Green of the 
American Federation of Labor, letter from 
President John H. Walker of the Illinois State 
Federation of Labor and greeting and inspiration 
from Dr. John A. Lapp, President of the Liberal 


Club of Chicago. 

It is indeed a source of keen regret that my engage- 
ments will not permit my attending and addressing the 
Eleventh Annual Convention of the American Federa- 
tion of Teachers. Though absent in person, I am with 
you in spirit. I extend to you, to the officers and dele- 
gates attending your convention, fraternal greetings 
and best wishes for the success of your convention. 
The Americar Federation of Labor is deeply inter- 
ested in the work of the American Federation of 
Teachers. We desire to assist you in every way pos- 
sible in carrying forward your work of organization 
and education. I earnestly hope that the declarations 
and decisions of your convention will redound to the 
best interests and advancement~of your organization, 
your membership, and the entire Labor movement. 

(Signed) WILLIAM GREEN. 


Mrs. Florence Curtis Hanson, Secy. Treas., 
American Federation of Teachers, 

327 S. LaSalle St., Chicago, IIl. 

Dear Mrs. Hanson: 

I am writing to advise that the session of the Illinois 
Legislature has been extended to include next week, 
because of matters over which I had no control. Tues- 
day of next week has been set as the date on which the 
Women’s -Eight-hour Bill will come up for final roll 
call in.the House. That matter is vitally important to 
the labor movement. The women workers consider ‘it 
the most important of all the things they now have 
under consideration. Under the circumstances I must 
be here. 

I regret this very much as I anticipated. with pleas- 
ure filling my engagement to be at your convention on 
that date. I am indeed sorry that I cannot be with 
you as I would like very much to have met the repre- 
sentatives of the teachers who have a sufficiently clear 
understanding of the labor problems~to realize the 
need for them in the trade union movement, who in 
addition, have the courage to. join it and take the risk 
of paying disagreeable consequences for discharging 
their obligation to themselves and humanity. | 

I sincerely hope that you may have a harmonious 
convention; that your work may mean progress for 





8 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


yourselves and be helpful to the cause of humanity; 
that it may result in a united membership working 
intelligently and aggressively to build up your organi- 
zation and the general labor movement and to help in 
the solution of the problems of the day in the way 
best calculated to serve the common interests. 

With warmest personal regards and good wishes. 
I am, Fraternally yours, 

J. H. WALKER. 


In spite of the heat the delegates worked with 
enthusiasm from Tuesday morning until Friday 
noon stopping only for the banquet tendered 
them by the Chicago Federation of Men Teachers 
and the Federation of: Women High School 
Teachers on Wednesday evening, and a delight- 
ful lake trip as guests of the same locals on 
Thursday evening. The inspiring banquet ad- 
dresses of Dr. Theodore G. Soares, University of 
Chicago, and Assistant Superintendent William 
J. Bogan, Chicago, will appear in the October 
number. 

The Webster Hotel made us so comfortable 
that we forgot the discomforts of heat and hard 
work. 

Conventions are always encouraging to us. We 
meet one another and so each one is inspired by 
the other. 

The first decade of the American Federation 
of Teachers has passed. It was an interesting 
period, a period of creation and establishment— 
a worthwhile period which tested us. We were 
starting—starting not only ourselves but others 
who reeds must be affected by us. We gave 
a renewed and active impetus to teacher tenure 
laws; we urged without shame the recognition 
.of the purely economic needs of the teacher; 
we fought, often in the face of popular hysterical 
opposition, for the maintenance of the American 
constitutional rights of freedom of speech and 
of the press; we consistently sought to make 
teaching a profession and to obtain greater free- 
dom and self-respect for the teacher. And with 
it all we have survived. 

We are not always liked; at times those who 
fear us may strongly dislike us. We are not 
always successful; victory cannot always be ours. 
However, our record of achievement, both social 
and economic, is one of which we are justly 
proud. Moreover, we have by our actions earned 
the respect not only of those not in the movement, 
but we have also consistently and continuously 
conducted ourselves in such a/way as to main- 


tain our own self-respect. So we have triumphed. 

The second decade of our existence has suc- 
cessfully started. Our eleventh ‘annual conven- 
tion was a great success. One of the outstand- 
ing characteristics of this convention was the 
“carry on” tone of it. We were not simply start- 
ing, we were going on! The work started is 
going on and going on successfully. We have 
achieved for ourselves; we are helping others 
to achieve. The other educational organizations 
are following our lead. 

We are a pioneering organization. We are 
young, we dare. Our activities have proven 
themselves to be continuous and they remain as 
effective as when they started. We are happy, 
we are encouraged, we are sure that this second 
decade like the first is destined to inspire edu- 
cators everywhere. 

The addresses, reports and findings of the 
Convention will appear in future issues of the 
American Teacher. 





IS THIS THE RESULT OF A COLLEGE 
EDUCATION? 


The senior class of Yale College and Sheffield Scien- 
tific School voted Napoleon their favorite historical 
character, Mussolini the most outstanding figure among 
living men, and the seniors of Sheffield voted for Mus- 
solini as their favorite present-day character. 

Is this what higher education does for young Ameri- 
cans? Or is there some flaw in our national charac- 
ter? French school children voted Pasteur their great 
hero. They passed by the martial geniuses 01 France, 
and selected the man who had done more for the relief 
of human suffering and the saving of human life than 
any other yet born. 

But these young gentlemen of Yale and Sheffield, 
heirs of Washington and Jefferson, presumably famil- 
iar with history from Marathon to the Marne and 
with the statesmanship and science of today, choose 
for their favorite of the past a brutal Corsican adven- 
turer, who ruined his country, and for their favorite of 
the present a yet more brutal—and far less able— 
Italian usurper who is fast ruining his! 

It isn’t wise to get too serious about the notions of 
young men of 22 to 25, but considering the care and 
money lavished on their training, the reactions of these 
youthful gentlemen are rather disappointing.—Labor. 


We should ever haye it fixed in our memories that. 
by the character of those whom we choose for our 
friends, our own is likely to be formed and sill cer- 
tainly. be judged by the world. We ought, therefore, 


‘to be slow and cautious in contracting intimacy; but 


when a virtuous friendship is once established, we must 
ever consider it a sacred engagement.—Blair. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 9 


LABOR DAY, 1927 


' . By Frauk Morrison, 
Secretary American Federation of Labor 


Labor Day is a guide by which we measure 
increased understandings of our purpose and 
methods. 

Labor Day, 1927, is no exception to the rul 
that year by year the workers are better or- 
ganized, ' educated and _ self-disciplined. This 
equips them for service in industry and in those 
fields of social activity that should interest every 
citizen. 

Labor’s advance is in proportion to its col- 
lective intelligence and its capacity. Sensational 
gains are unstable. To be permanent they must 
rest on unity and education. 

Organized labor differs from revolutionary 
groups that discard orderly processes and ignore 
social development. 

Organized labor’s philosophy is rejected by the 
impatient and by those who refuse to accept 
the history of progress. 

Historically, gains made by a people through 
sudden upheavals have not been retained. The 
outward form may be held, but the permanency 
of changes that are intended to bring higher 
standards of civilization are in proportion to 
popular capacity for self-government. 

The present situation in Russia, where a group 
of dictators have replaced the Czar, illustrates 
this point. 

Appeals to intelligence are not sensational. The 
unfolding of a human mind, the awakening to 
possibilities heretofore undreamed has no element 
of the theatrical. This is why gains made by 
the trade union movement are so often more real 
than apparént. This is why organized labor 
is invincible, why its lines are never broken, 
though occasionally bent. 

An army can move no faster than its smallest 
unit, so organized labor adjusts its activities to 
the intelligence, willingness and unity of every 
group. This policy is necessarily slow, when 
considered in periods of days, but when judged- 
by the standard of our country’s life, the workers’ 
progress is rapid and lasting. 

Labor’s philosophy is the philosophy of democ- 
tacy. Neither popular government nor ‘rade 
unionism can depend upon “leaders” who are so 
essential to an autocracy. 4 

We trade unionists are aware of the reason 


\ 


for opposition to our movement. We know that 
intelligence and organization are the only effec- 
tulership by 


tive weapons against privilege and 
the .few. 

This thought is being accepted by workers in 
greater numbers, and on this Labor Day we 
re-dedicate ourselves to the cause of Education 
and Organization of wage workers. 


AN EDUCATIONAL “LOCARNO” 

An educational “Locarno” which met from 3rd 
to 15th of August in that famous flower-filled valley of 
the Tessin fulfilled all expectations. _ Educational- 
ists from all parts of the world assembled at Locarno, 
under the auspices of the New Education Fellowship, 
to discuss the problems of progressive education. 

Delegates included the Directors of Education for 
South Australia and S. West Africa, the Secretary of 
Public Instruction for Liberia, the Secretary of the 
National Council of Education, Canada, a representative 
of the Education Department of Santo Domingo and of 
the Government of Belgium. Representatives attended 
from the Universities of Dacca and~Allahabad (India), 
of Havana (Cuba), Cagliari (Italy), the Keiogijuku 
University (Tokio), in U. S. A., the G. Peabody Col- 
lege for Teachers, Iowa State College, Penn College, 
International Institute of Teachers College. Among the 
associations sending delegates were the American Fed- 
eration of Teachers, the Child Study Association, (New 
York), the Progressive Education Association, -the 
Teachers’ Union ‘New York), the Union of Parents’ 
Associations (New York), the Florida Education Asso- 
ciation, the Association of Private School Teachers of 
the Eastern States of America, the Polish New Educa- 
tion Association. 

Among the pioneer schools represented were Fren- 
sham Heights, Bedales, Garden School (England) ; 
Lincoln School of Teachers College, North Shore 
Country Day School, Winnetka Schools, Beaver Coun- 
try Day School, Edgewood School, Tower Hill School, 
Ethical Culture School, Downers Grove Junior Elemen- 
tary School (U. S. A.), Tyringe High School (Swe- 
den), Odenwaldschule (Germany), Hof-Oberkirch 
(Switzerland) ; Decroly School (Belgium). 

In addition to regular evening lectures on the sub- 
‘jects involved in the general theme of the Conference 
“The True Meaning of Freedom in Education” there 
were morning study-discussion groups on such sub 
jects| as Co-education, The Problem Child, Individual 
Methods, Intelligence Testing, The Psychological Free- 
ing of the Teacher, Experimental Schools. 

Miss Ruth Gillette Hardy, delegate of the Anierican 
Federation of Teachers, conducted a Round Table on 
the topic, “Selection of Teachers for Creative Educa- 
tion,” a report of which will appear in a later issue. 


No education deserves the name unless it develops 
thought, unless it pierces down to the mysterious spirit- 
ual principle of mind and starts that into activity and 
growth.—E. P. Whipple. 














10 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


A CODE OF ETHICS FOR SECONDARY 
SCHOOL TEACHERS 
(Endorsed by the O. §. S. T. F.) 
Duties of Teachers 
(a) To the Public. 

Teachers should take an active biterisk in the affairs 
of their community, and should endeavor to play their 
part as citizens, particularly by assisting in the pro- 
motion of all worthy causes. 

(b) To Their Students. 

Teachers should endeavor to advance in every way the 
highest interests of the pupils under their care, and, 
while maintaining due professional dignity, should show 
an attitude of kindliness and impartial justice. 

(c) To Boards of Education. 

A clear understanding of the law of contracts is 
incumbent since teachers are expected, once a contract 
has been signed, to observe scrupulously all its clauses. 
Information regarding the form of contract required 
in,any school may be obtained from the wetbiincanlan of 
the Federation. 

(d) To the Teaching Profession. 

Recognizing that individual success is bound up ulti- 
mately with the success of the profession as a whole: 

(1) Every teacher should affiliate with our profes- 
sional organization. 

(2) No teacher should imperil the position of a fel- 
low-teacher or weaken the profession by underbidding 
or supplanting.  ‘ 

(3) No teacher should seek to arouse a spirit of 
antagonism against a fellow teacher by disparaging 
remarks. 


{ 

(4) Teachers should, on the contrary, co-operate with 
principals and fellow-teachers in promoting the best 
interests of the students under their care. 

In Conclusion—Let us as teachers cultivate the fine 
virtue of loyalty. The loyal teacher will have the 
proper attitude towards his community, his school and 
his fellow-teachers. The loyal teacher will live re- 
spected and die lamented.—Teachers’ Bulletin, Ontario 
S. S. Teachers’ Federation. 


SPECIAL PRIZES FOR ESSAYS AND 
DEBATES ON THE PROBLEMS OF RLD 
PEACE 


Charles Sumner bequeathed the sum of $1,000 to 
Harvard University for an annual prize for the best 
dissertation on universal peace and methods tty which 
war may be permanently superseded. “I do this,” he 
said, “in the hope of drawing the attention of students 
to the practicability of organizing peace among 
nations.” 

A similar gift was made by Mr. W. H. H. Bryant 
to Bates College, Lewiston, Maine. 

The Seabury Prizes. Annual prizes are offered by 
the Misses Mary and Helen Seabury of New Bedford, 
Massachusetts, through the American School Citizen- 
ship League to the students of normal schools and 
teachers’ colleges and to juniors in secondary schools. 

The Intercollegiate Peace Association promotes 
peace oratorical contests in the colleges. 

The Institute of International Education offers occa- 
sional prizes. 


Federation Leaders Endorse the Weekly News Review 


Many members of the American Federation of Teachers are using the Weekly. . 
News Review in their classes as a text for the study of current history, and they have 
expressed appreciation of its fair-minded and liberal attitude on the issues of American 
life. Here are some of the comments that have come to us: 


From E. E. Schwartztrauber, Lincoln High School, 
Portland, Oregon; Vice President, American Federa- 
tion of Teachers: 


“For the first time in all my experience with current 
events magazines for history students, I have found 
what I want. The Weekly News Review is a challenge 
to open-minded study of national and international 


problems. Well-written articles on vital issues—as 
many as students can digest in a week, thought-provok- 
ing editorials, timely magazine reviews and excellent 
monthly tests make the Weekly News Review ideal.” 


From Mr. Charles B. Stillman, Lane Technical High 
School, Chicago, former President, American Federa- 
tion of Teachers: 


“TI am still finding your paper by far the best current 
events , Periodical for class room use I have ever run 
across.’ 


From Miss Lucie W. Allen, Lakeview High School, 
Chicago, Vice President, American F Federation of Teach- 


“ise am liking the paper more and more. Other teach- 


explanation of ional situations have pleased the chil- 
dren and have stimulated thought.” 


comments came to us during last year’s use of the paper. This year we are making marked improve- 


These 
ments. We have established a 
in which we 


also make a very 


Bureau for the use of our subscri' 
pee mee te mple terme, the busin silae ve ccnauans onanmed th thet pire 
ties and furn an iograp 8 e 
and attractive offer. a cate inh te or ae 
“cents a semester for clubs and $1.20 a year for single copies. Write for compiea. 


; we have added two supplementary pages 
of various cities 

on oratorical contests. We 
before: a dollar a year or fifty 


WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW, Lock Box 1915, Washington, D. C. 

















if 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER » dd 








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PIONEER YOUTH OF AMERICA 

Pioneer Youth of America, an educational club and 
camp organization for workers’ children, sponsored by 
many trade unions and leading educators, held its 
fourth Annual Labor Conference March 2nd in the 
Auditorium of the International Ladies Garment Work- 
ers Union, 3 West 16th St. (N. Y. C.); seventy-five 
unions being represented and Thomas Curtis, President 
of the Tunnel and Subway Construction Union of 
North America, and once president of the N. Y. State 
Federation of Labor, presiding. 

Joshua Lieberman, Executive Secretary of Pioneer 


Youth, reported on the year’s work. He said in part: 


“The growth of interest in Pioneer Youth has been 
ee. Requests for the formation of branches 

ave been received from all sections of the country— 
the Seattle Labor College; San Diego, Calif., Central 
Labor Union; The American Federation of Hosiery 
Workers in Milwaukee; Pa, Federation of Labor, Har- 
tisburg, Pa.; and labor groups in Chicago, Schenectady 
and Boston. Coal miner groups in Pennsylvania have 
been particularly urgent. 

“Even now a group of labor people and educators in 
Baltimore, headed by Broening, Head of the Baltimore 
Federation of Labor, are preparing for the first Pioneer 
Youth Conference in that city on March 10th. They 
plan establishing a branch and to begin with a sum- 
mer camp. 

“The mands made on our organization in New 
York and Philadelphia, by children and parents far 
exceed our facilities. We had to turn away nearly two 
hundred children from our summer camp in New York 
for lack of room—and we could have many times our 
present thirty children’s clubs if we but had finances 
enough to assure their proper development.” 


In emphasizing the importance of an organization 
such as Pioneer Youth—Mr. Lieberman pointed out 
that children are constantly subjected to direct and indi- 
rect anti-labor influence in Schools, movies, newspapers 
and that such influences are doing much to mould the 
attitude of the coming generation of workers toward 
the labor movement. Labor must assume its responsi- 
bility toward these young people. Pioneer Youth is 
trying to meet just this situation. 

Discussing the educational aspects of Pioneer Youth. 
Abraham Lefkowitz, Vice-President of the Teachers 
Union, said: 


“Pioneer Youth is fundamentally educational. It 
is education in a labor background with a labor Dey. 
chology. It differs from the public school system. t 
is not authoritative; it does not crush the child. It 
tries to find a place to bring out the child’s posstbili- 
ties educationally to the utmost. It is amazing to find 
what a child can do when it is allowed to follow its 
own creative inclinatigns. Pioneer Youth is Te to 
develop initiative and self-reliance in the child. t is 
trying to work with the creative idea in education; it 
has no ‘isms’ and there is no propaganda.” 


Professor Leroy Bowman of Columbia University 


makes the following statement in regard«to Pioneer 
Youth: 


“I have seen Pioneer Youth in action and have felt 
that I was part of it. I have only words of the high- 
est praise for the splendid, lively, interesting and effec- 
tive work vou are doing. The =p 4 that pleases me 
perhaps more than anything else is that you have 
retained the experimental attitude and seem to have 
impressed this attitude upon all in the organization. 
Then, too, the actual results that I have noticed in the 
camp were ail that could have been demanded by the 
most outspoken advocates of efficiency. 

“When newer educational methods, freedom of seélf- 
expression, self-determinism in the group can all be 
combined with practical. satisfactory 
I think the case is pretty well proven for: you. I am 
also happy to see that you realize that f m on the 
part of the children to express whatever they feel is 
not inconsistent with stimulation and with the inculca- 
tion of standards of accomplishments. I feel that this 
is the most wholesome form of Pp activities that I 
have ever witnessed for either ys or girls.” 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 13 


Freedom in Labor Education 


A. J. Muste 
Chairman of Faculty, Brookwood 


Organizations, groups and classes establish 
educational institutions in the hope that the chil- 
dren or older students trained there will be useful 
members of the organizations, groups or classes 
supporting such institutions. No group of people 
is likely for very long to support a school that 
turns out students who are absolutely useless 
to that group or diametrically opposed to all 
that it stands for. The labor movement also 
doubtless expects that somehow workers’ edu- 
cation classes and colleges are going to turn out 
people who are useful to the labor movement. 


All true education, however, somehow involves 
the attempt to see things as they are, to face 
facts, however disagreeable or inconvenient they 
may be, and since we live in a very complex 
and changing world, there is no absolute guar- 
antee that when people set out to seek or teach 
the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the 
truth,” as they see it, they are going to be a 
hundred per cent for everything that the group 
that they belong to regards as orthodox and 
proper. They are likely to be somewhat critical 
and rebellious. 

Constantly, therefore, in the history of man- 
kind, attempts have been made to suppress schools 
and teachers, or at least to tell them to be good 
boys. and very careful of what they think or 
say. Every so often the man who asks irritating 
questions or points out embarrassing facts, like 
Socrates, is given a swift kick which sends him 
clean out of this life—into hell presumably—at 
least some place where men can’t see or hear 
him any longer. . 

These are, in a large number of instances, 
the very men that future generations worship 
as the great enlighteners and saviors of the race. 
In other words, we recognize that in the long 
run, it does not do to suppress freedom of 
thought and teaching. Minds that are forced to 
think in a certain way are paralyzed. They be- 
come mere parrots or automata. They can re- 
peat the proper formula, but they have no power 
to meet new situations. Thus freedom of the 
mind has become one of the great “principles” 
of humanity. 


group is engaged in a life and death struggle 
with another group, \it is by no means easy to 
tolerate some Mr. Socrates who, though he may © 
have been a good soldier in the service of his 
country or his class, as the real Socrates was, 
nevertheless, insinuates that there may be some 
good in the other gang and perhaps some evil in 
his own. That sort of thing does not seem to 
make for unrestricted enthusiasm in the fight 
to knock the other fellows on the head. Be- 
sides, in any given instance Mr. Socrates may be 
dead wrong. If you are going to have freedom 
of thought and teaching then you have to run 
the risk of having people sometimes teach wrong, 


foolish, dangerous things. 


What is to be done then about this freedom 
in education? Who shall say? In practice a 
group tends to suppress opposition no matter | 


‘how mild and polite when it is at war; more 


leeway is allowed in times of peace. But there 
is precisely the rub, as Bill Shakespeare might 
put it. The -principle that you throw to the 
winds when it becomes a little uncomfortable 
to observe it, isn’t a principle at all. This pro- 
cedure lands you right back into the denial of 
all freedom of thought and speech which we have 
found to be so foolish and stultifying. 

‘A school, at all events, cannot maintain its 
self respect if it lays down in advance what its 
students or teachers must think about the sub- 
jects which they study, and a teacher cannot 
maintain his self respect if he submits to such 
external control. Freedom to study, think, spec- 


‘ulate, speak, is precisely the essential tool of the 


| Now to what extent organizations and move-° 


ments can be expected really to respect and ob- 
serve that principle is a big question. When a 








14 


12 


teacher’s craft. He cannot work without it any — 
more than any other craftsman can work without 
his tools. 

The A. F. of\L. has recognized the im- 
portance of freedom and has stood for it and 
against dictatorship in educational matters. It 
fought the Lusk laws in New York State, it 
defends Miss Hardy, Miss Hughan and Mr. 
Lefkowitz in New York City. The declaration 
of the A. F. of L. Convention in 1919 may be 
taken as typical: “It is unquestionable that 
teachers have no right to impose their personal 
views on pupils. But it is necessary in some 
quarters to emphasize that neither do school 
authorities have that right. And it is further | 


THE AMERICAN TEACHER 








THE AMERICAN TEACHER 13 


necessary to ask this convention to endorse with 
all its power, the principle that men and women 
in becoming teachers do not thereby -surrender 
their rights as American citizens, and that in- 
quisitions by school authorities into the personal, 
religious, political and economic views of teachers 
is intolerable in a free country, strikes at the 
very basis of our public school system, and can 
result only in the development of mental and 
moral servility, and the stultification of teachers 
and pupils alike.” And again, “In a democracy 
the primary requirement is a citizenship educated 
to straight-forward, logical thinking based on 
facts established by careful sifted evidence. The 
schools cannot develop this essential mental fibre 
if the pupils are carefully shielded from knowl- 
edge of the topics that men and women think 
about.” 


Or as President Glenn Frank recently said: 
“As long as I am president of the University 
of Wisconsin, this complete freedom of thought 
and expression will be accorded with utter im- 
partiality alike to teachers who entertain con- 
servative opinions and to teachers who entertain 
radical opinions. The fact that I may think, 
that an official of the state may think, or that a 
citizen of the state may think a teacher’s opinions 
wrong-headed or even dangerous will not alter 
this policy. For the whole of human history 
presents unanswerable proof that only through 
the open and unhampered clash of contrary 
opinions can truth be found.” 


Brookwood takes its stand on that platform. 
We are a labor educational institution. We ex- 
pect to serve the labor movement. The school 
is in the control of representatives Bf trade 
unions. We believe, however, that we can serve 
labor best by cultivating in our students, as we 
have so often put it, the factual approach—“re- 
spect for facts, willingness to face facts, ability 
to dig out relevant facts, to solve problems, and 
to make generalizations on the basis of facts.” 

We want to open minds, not to close them; 
to make them face realities, not to float off into 
lovely dreams. We would fight propagandizing, 


“putting over” on students any ism: whatever. . 


No teacher who undertook to do so would be 
tolerated. We are not interested in telling anyone 
what to think, only in inducing people to think 
for themselves, perhaps helping to show them 
a little about how to think. We want to be free 


to discuss any issue dispassionately. Nothing 
we may say is put out as a final revelation of 
truth. It is all subject to criticism and revision. 
Doubtless we make mistakes, but they are 
honestly made and we seek honest correction. 
To carry out such a program in time of stress 
and conflict in the movement is not easy. In 
trying nevertheless to do so, and in standing for 
freedom to think and teach, we believe that we 
are truly serving the cause of labor and workers’ 
education. 


‘ 





CHILD LABOR AND EDUCATION 


By John A. Lapp, President, 
National Conference of Social Work 


There are.two objects of child labor control—pro- 
tection of youth against physical deterioration and pro- 
vision of an opportunity for preparation for life. Each 
of these is important, but the latter is least often made 
to do duty in the good cause. Perhaps this is inevitable 
since people respond more readily to the bitter cry of 
the overworked children than they do to the evidence 
that privileges of innocent children have been sacrificed. 
Laws are more easily passed to prevent cruelty to body 
than to prevent the slow working cruelty of a life 
handicap. The cruelty which is scattered in time or 
place makes an appeal altogether too feeble, to our 
just sentiments. 


Yet in the long run the lack of preparation for life 
brings more misery, and handicaps more children of 
future generations than the direct physical disasters due 
to child labor. Prohibition of child labor, important as 
that is, must be accompanied by provision for education 
suitable to the needs of the children who are kept out 
of industry. Child labor regulation puts new, and I am 
sure, very welcome burdens, upon progressive school 
men. They are given back for a period of two to four 
years, a body of youth who had been lost to the influ- 
ence of education. And if the ideal of child labor laws 
is to be attained it be only through the vision and 
constructive ability of the leaders of education who are 
thus called upon to provide a suitable curriculum for 
the otherwise wasted years. That such a program re- 


quires more appealing studies cannot be doubted; that 


it requires a closer adaptation to practical life work 
goes without argument. The prohibition of child labor 
will be accompanied by an unnecessary amount of harm 
if the schools do not meet the challenge—The American 
Child. 


Do we need teacher organization in Wyoming? 

Here is an answer: 

“Kindergarten Bill Fails in Senate.” 

“No Eight-hour Law for Women Workers.” 

“Ratification Child Labor Amendment ‘Postponed by 
Senate.”—Wyoming Labor Journal. 





; ‘THE AMERICAN TEACHER 15 








12 


14 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. TWO DOLLARS FOR 

THE ee en $2.10—SINGLE COP- 

IES, 25c 


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. 






































TEACHERS’ UNIONS—WHY? 

To answer the question, why should teachers 
unionize, is impossible in one short editorial. 
It is our purpose to give conclusive reasons 
throughout the year in a series of editorials of 
which this is the first. 

Teaching should be professionalized. The 
fundamental requisite of a profession is that 
the members should themselves fix the standards 
of their profession. Medicine and Law were 
not always professions. Who professionalized 
them, and how? They were professionalized 
chiefly because their own members fixed the 
standards of their profession. Does the Ameri- 
can Legion or the Medical Association decide 
whether a man is a quack or a reputable phy- 
sician? Does the Real Estate Board or the Bar 
Association determine whether an attorney shall 
be disbarred? But do the American Legion, the 
Chamber of Commerce, the Real Estate Board, 
the Manufacturers’ Association decide upon the 
efficiency of the teacher? They certainly do. 
Are the teachers of Boston professionalized when 
the school administrators fix a code of ethics 
for them stating, among other things, to what 
sort of organizations teachers should belong? 
The professional standards ‘of teaehers are de- 
termined by conduct and ideals which find favor 
in the eyes of those who control their job, those 
who in many cases know nothing at all of what 
should control the standards of the teaching 


profession. The basis of a profession is security 
of tenurd and who determines the tenure of 
teachers but the non-teacher? What voice do 
the teachers have except in‘a few communities 
where the teachers are strongly unionized? 

So long as teaching standards and security of 
tenure rest on this mean basis, just so long will any 
boast about a profession be no more than a boast. 
This security of tenure is something teachers 
should have if they are members’ of a profession, 
and which they have ‘not; a thing we usually do 
not associate with labor, and which labor has. 
The laborer has security of tenure and the union 
teachers have taken a leaf out of labor’s book. 
They are asking for it through the powers with 
which they have affiliated themselves, and through 
those powers they are going to professionalize 
the teaching industry just as some of the other 
industries have been professionalized. 

Professionalization of the teachers through 
security of tenure and determination of their qwn 
professional standards can be accomplished only 
through the right kind of organization and 


- through contact with an organized citizenry that 


will make their cause its own. The American 
Federation of Teachers is striving for greater 
freedom iand self-respect within the teaching 
PROFESSION. The development of the Amer- 
ican Federation of Teachers means a progress 
towards the dignity and self-respect which are 
so much desired in those who carry on the work 
of the classroom. 





PHYSICIANS UNITE IN REGULAR UNION 


Chicago.—More than 125 physicians employed by 
the city *health department have organized and af- 
filiated to the trade union movement. They ask 
that their monthly rate of $100 be incresed to $200 and 
that the city pay for upkeep of automobiles they use 
when calling upon city patients. They are supported by 
Dr. Herman N. Bundesen, city commissioner of health, 
who says: 

“The average time these doctors have served the city 
is from 10 to 12 years. Practically all are graduates of 
Class A medical schools, and every one is a reputable 
doctor in his locality and many are high grade special- 
ists in the diseases of children. 

“They are on duty and subject to call 24 hours a day, 
Sundays and holidays included. 

“Basing their visits on the average charge of a physi- 
cian’s call, they receive about 10 cents per visit. To 


-cover the territory assigned, each physician is com- 


pelled to use an automobile, the running expenses of 
which he pays out of his own pocket.” 





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TEACHERS’ AFFILIATION WITH 
LABOR 

Teachers should affiliate with organized labor 
because : 

“1, Organized labor was the first to sponsor 
and demand a real public school, 

“2. Organized labor has consistently stood by 
those who have the vision and will to pro- 
vide for universal, free education ; 

“3. Organized labor is the only organization 
that has without cant or sophistry effectively 
espoused the cause of the classroom teacher ; 

“4. The ideals and program of organized labor 
offer the most practical scheme for industrial 
peace and democracy and world-wide good will; 

“5. Organized labor has done more to miti- 
gate the evils of child labor than any other or- 
ganization ; 

“6. The -teacher finds in the program and 
code of organized labor that which more nearly 
represents the teacher’s aims and ambitions ; 

“7. The teacher has more in common with 
organized labor than with,any other organiza- 
tion; 

“8. The union movement -is primarily an eco- 
nomic and welfare movement, having in mind 
purely and solely the improvement and better- 
ment off human kind to ari extent not found in 
any other organization ; 

“9. Locally (a) organized labor has supported 
unhesitatingly, whole-heartedly, a progressive 
public school system for all the children, has 
defended the schools against vicious attacks, has 
enabled the teachers to secure substantial increases 
in salary and tenure of position and has elevated 
the position to one of dignity, respect and in- 
fluence in the community ; 

“(b) Ninety per cent of the children in our 
schools come from homes of organized labor or 
friends of the union.” MARY HICKS. 





At a conference of school officials held recently in 
New York the question of married women teachers 
came up. The consensus of opinion is expressed by 
the editor of one of our exchanges when he Says: 
“Why shouldn’t married women teach? ; Many of 
them have children of their own and for that reason 
can handle youth sympathetically. Only two tests 
should be applied to a teacher—sterling character and 
efficiency. If one can perform the work of a teacher, 
whether man or woman, married or single, Catholic or 
Protestant, he or she should be given the 08 and the 
pay that goes with it.” 








; ‘THE AMERICAN TEACHER 15 


SHALL WE FIGHT ON? - 

The disintegration of man’s fighting idealism is the 
worst blow the cause of progress has suffered since the 
military termination of the World War. Teachers like 
disiliusioned radicals are saying: “Oh, what's the use? 
The politicians are in the saddle; the public apathetic. 
Why fight on?” 

The above philosophy of despair, too often heard in 
every school, is a greater menace to the ultimate tri- 
umph of economic, political and religious liberty than 
all the reactionary and industrial autocrats, or educa- 
tors combined. If the “what’s the use” philosophy had 
animated the leaders and thinkers, like Socrates, , Bacon, 
Bruno, ‘Galileo, Copernicus, Voltaire and a host of 
others, the world might still be in the Dark Ages, relig- 
ious intolerance would still be in the saddle and Divine 
Right upon the throne. The members of the Union 
and the Auxiliary must carry on until the philosophy 
of despair gives way to a philosophy of hope and 
achievement. 

What then shall we strive for? First, we must fight 
to keep education untrammeled by either religious zeal- 
ots, politically-misled liberals, educational fundamental- 
ists or economic Bourbons who see all social ques- 
tions from the point of view of gain. Anti-evolution 
laws, Lusk Laws and the like must be fought not 
merely by resolutions but by an organized educational 
and political campaign capable of rousing intellectual 
America to the menace in intellectual intolerance. If 
that is done, truth will not become a casualty’ of fun- 
damentalism or of unenlightened reaction. 

Second, we must fight the spoils system which is 
throttling education throughout the country as evi- 
denced by the expulsion of Prof. Meikeljohn, the 
forced retirement of President Suzzallo, the forced 
resignations or retirement of men like Professors Cat- 
tell, Dana, Beard, Nearing, etc. This means we must 
resist the efforts of Hylanism to make political alleg- 
jance or subserviency the chief factor in educational 
preferment. 

Third, we must stand for the maintenance of the 
spirit of the merit system. The temporary denial of 
well-earned promotion to the Hardys, Hughans and 
the Lefkowitzs is of little importance when compared 
to the need for creating a public sentiment which will 
never brook such flagrant abuse of power as is typified 
in the three teacher cases. When we believe that an 
awake public is prepared to ‘throw out of power 
any political group which will use the schools for par- 
tisan purposes, our educational talk may be regarded as 
having been well done. 

Fourth, we must fight for social and industrial jus- 
tice based on co-operative service and not upon com- 
petitive greed. The best of us are susceptible to the 
wiles of greed. Mankind must be educated to realize 
that greed like the principle of service, will grow on 
what it feeds. We must, therefore, help place the 


ideals of service and universal peace in their proper 
place in the scheme of education. So strong must the 
ideal of service become that it will regenerate even the 
misguided Mandels—unfortunate products of a vitious 


+ 


16 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


system—and give even them a greater opportunity for 
more useful service, which their abilities, when socially 
used, can render. 

Are these things worth fighting for? Can truth tri- 
umph merely because it is truth or must lovers of truth 
fight that she may be heard? The voice of truth 
seems too harsh to beguile the unwilling. Truth is a 
siren only to its most ardent devotees. Though 
strange and unlovely to the uninitiated and unin- 
formed, truth awaits the day of enlightenment. The 
task of the organized teachers and progressive citizens 
—be their affiliations what they may—is to wage a 
co-ordinated fight so that truth may have a chance to 
be heard. In this struggle between truth and false- 
hood, many of us may be hurt financially or politically. 
Some may even be injured physically or mayhap pay 
for their devotion with their lives as did hundreds who 
fought the fight before them. Such casualties, instead 
of deterring us shotild incite those of us who remain to 
greater efforts and to more heroic achievement. If 
those who have suffered have faith in the ultimate tri- 
umph of right, justice and truth why not the rest of 
us? Join with us, fellow teachers and citizens, in this 
struggle which will terminate only when mankind is 
emancipated. Guided by thé-steadfastness of Lincoln, 
let us fight with the indefatigable energy and purpose 
of the great Voltaire—The Union Teacher, April, 
1927. 

(Editor’s Note: The above editorial appeared in 
The Union Teacher simultaneously with the editorial, 
“What's the Use,” in the April Number of The Ameri- 
can Teacher, but entirely independently. What is the 
answer ?) 


WHEN TEACHERS GO JOB-HUNTING 


A teacher looking for a job must cultivate a taste 
for humble pie, according to Thomas Minehan in the 
current issue of THE NATION dated June 1. A 
promise not to smoke, not to fall in love, to sleep eight 
hours a night and to take an active part in Sunday 
School is expected of the average teacher if one may 
judge by Mr. Minehan’s experience. 

“A school in Missouri wanted me to sign a resigna- 
tion with a contract. The resignation was to be effective 
together with the forfeiture of all salary that might be 
due me if I should smoke a cigarette, pipe, or cigar at 
any time, in any place during the period my contract 
was to run. I did not sign. A girl of my acquaintance 
went out to Montana a few years ago after signing a 
similar contract except that the prohibition was against 
dancing on school nights. After the first of the year 
there was no money in the county treasury. She was 
paid in driblets until the end of May. When she ap- 
plied for the remainder of her wages, she was pre- 
sented with evidence showing that she had been seen 
at a dance one night in March and consequently no 
further money was owed her. 

“The end is not yet. A woman received a contract 
from a small village along the seacoast of North 
Carolina. It contained the usual stipulations in regard 
to certification, boarding. at the dormitory, sacrificing 


pay while unable to work, and in addition the follow- 
ing clauses: 

I promise to take a vital interest in all phases of 
Sunday school work, donating of my time, service, 
and money without stint for the uplift and benefit 
of the community. x 

I promise to abstain from all dancing, immodest 
dressing, and any other conduct unbecoming a 
teacher and a lady. \ 

I promise not to go out with any young men 
except in so far as it may be necessary to stjmulate 
Sunday school work. 

I promise not to fall in love, to become engaged 
or secretly married. 

I promise to remain in the dormitory or on the 

_ school grounds when not actively engaged in school 
or church work elsewhere. 

I promise not to encourage or tolerate the jlest 
familiarity on the part of any of my boy pupils. 

I promise to sleep at least eight hours a night, to 
eat carefully, and to take every precaution to keep 
in the best of health and spirits in order that I may 
be better able to render efficient service to my 
pupils. 

I promise to remember that I owe a duty to the 
townspeople who are paying me my wages, that I 
owe respect to the school board and the superinten- 
dent that hired me, and that I shall consider myself 
at all times the willing servant of the school board 
and the townspeople and that I shall co-operate with 
them to the limit of my ability in any movement 
aimed at the betterment of the town, the pupils, or 
the schools. 

“This, remember, for a job paying eighty-five dollars 
a month for seven and a half months in a little town of 
three or four hundred persons, located in the mosquito 
and fever district of North Carolina, where half the 
inhabitants cannot read or write. 

“This is the most restrictive contract I have ever seen, 
but anyone who is familiar with the conditions of re- 
straint under which the average teacher works and with 
the attitude of the community toward the teacher cannot 
help admiring its frankness. There are hundreds of 
places where every provision mentioned in that contract 
is enforced. A teacher may not be required in writing 
to teach Sunday school, but the teacher who fails to do 
so will not be re-elected. A teacher may not have to 
promise not to fall in love, but if she does she had 
better marry as soon as possible, for in nine cases out 
of ten she will find herself out of a job the next year. 
A teacher may not have to sign a pledge to sleep at 
least eight hours a night, but the teacher who wants 
his job will not keep a light going long after curfew.” 





To teach men how they may learn to grow inde- 
pendently and for themselves is, perhaps, the greatest 
service that one man can do for another—and how to 
grow, if possible, in after life. I hate to meet a man 
whom I have known ten years ago, and find that he is 
precisely at the same point, neither moderated, nor 
quickened, nor experienced, but simply stiffened.—Ben- 
jamin Jowett. 









AMBASSADOR HOUGHTON, WAR AND PEACE 

Did you read what Alanson B. Houghton, Ambassa- 
dor to England, said to the Harvard Alumni Associa- 
tion on Commencement Day? Perhaps not, for the 
speech was ignored by all the newspapers, except ,a 
very few and apparently by the great press associa- 
tions. 

Ambassador Houghton has had the courage to sug- 
gest a startling extension of democracy, even that the 
war-making powers of governments shall be vested in 
the people. He defines government as “little groups of 
men” maneuvering the masses into dangerous or fatal 
positions because these “little groups seek constantly 
and naturally to gain supposed advantages of vue sort 
and another for their own nations.” - When they have 
involved governed groups in a situation from which it 
appears impossible to recede they order under arms 
“those great masses of men and women roused by 
every power of organized appeal. and propaganda 

and war follows.” 

He maintains that ‘war is not inevitable because 
human nature is what it is. War is not necessarily the 
“result of a process of necessity.” He says, “we have 
‘no reason to admit that a similar result would follow 
if the power to declare war were in the hands of the 
populations. That is precisely what we do not know. 
The experiment has never been tried. And there are 
considerations which, apparently; point the other way.” 

Mr. Houghton calls pttention to the success of self- 
governing peoples in managing their own domestic 
affairs and says, “Foreign affairs are merely an exten- 
sion of their domestic affairs,” and the foreign affairs 
are “not a sort of arcana, wherein the laws of com- 
mon morality are ‘excluded, and in which only cynical 
gentlemen of bilingual attainments are competent to 
play a role. They are in the main simply the natural 
and beneficial outcome of a desire to trade.” 

Mr. Houghton points out that in the present condi- 
tions no party to war can win; that civilization itself 
may be destroyed, “for the war of the civilized means 
the break down of. civilization”; also each nation, 
based on force and armed for defense “thus becomes 
potentially more able to attack and so more dangerous 
as a neighbor.” 

Give heed to the following\statement of the Ambas- 
sador: “The power to declare war stands on a differ- 
ent plane from all other powers of government. It is 
all embracing and all-consuming.” A people should 
reserve this power to itself “since it puts in jeopardy 
their collective ‘lives’ and property. and yet, strange 


enough. it is the one power they do not possess.” Self- 


governing peoples have not been protected from war; 
they have never been truly represented on the issue, for 
their representatives were chosen on other issues, and 
do in truth misrepresent the people. 

“A durable peace cannot be based on force. It must 
if it exists at all be based upon good will. Only a tra- 
dition inherited from an outgrown system of auto- 
cratic government prevents our recognition of that 
great and beneficent fact. We are caught in a process 
of our own making. And we must unmake it.” 


‘ 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 17 






Hail to Ambassador Alanson B. Houghton! 

But what will happen to him? Will he be repri- 
manded or recalled? There was a time in the history 
of our nation when men in high places were not com- 
pelled to suppress their opinions, but that time seems to 
have passed. Men of ability, of ideas, of initiative 
must become mere echoes—and the press remains 
silent. The public is uninformed and unintelligent and 
nations are led into policies ending in wars without 
the knowledge and consent of the people. A few more 
Houghtons and perhaps this will not be. 


A TIMELY MOVE FOR ARBITRATION 


Sirs:—Your readers will be interested in a campaign 
to arouse all peace-lovers to redoubled efforts to pre- 
vent war.- The method proposed requires no action by 
the United States that is not reciprocal on the part of 
other nations. It should meet the approval of every 
patriot from the officer of the military training camp 
who urges preparedness to prevent war to the absolute 
pacifist who pledges himself never to fight under any 
circumstances. 

The idea is to induce our Government to outlaw 
war by negotiating treaties with every nation provid- 
ing for obligatory arbitration or adjudication of all 
disputes that may arise between them. The United 
States has made no such treaty. The Bryan treaties 
were for conciliation, the disputants remaining free to 
reject the recommendation of the commission. The 
Root treaties excepted questions of vital interest or na- 
tional honor. War is not outlawed under any of them. 

A nation’s honor is vindicated when it has used 
every proper procedure for obtaining its rights or re- 
dressing its wrongs. When arbitration is established 
as a final resort, the aggrieved nation will maintain its 
honor by submitting its grievance to an impartial .com- 
mission or tribunal. 

To stimulate interest the following prizes are offered: 
$100 for the best letter, editorial or article appearing 
in any publication having at least 5,000 circulation ; $100 
for the best public demonstration or concerted en- 
deavor for obligatory arbitration;. $100 for the best 
cartoon; $100 for the best slogan; $100 for the best 
sermon. . 

The main idea must be arbitration in each instance. 
The contest closes July 4, 1927. 

A donation of 25 cents enrolls anyone,as a Peace 
Crusader; $1 as a Peace Seeker; $5 as a Peace Coun- 
selor; $10 as a Peace Advocate; $25 as a Peace Patron; 
$160 as a Peace Patriot; $500 or more as a Peace 
Founder. Yours, etc., 

American Arbitration Crusade, 
114 East 3ist St. N. Y. C. 
William Floyd. 


Through collective action the workers.rcaise living 
standards, foster education, uproot ignorance, shorten 
hours and lengthen life. 

Trade unionism has been indorsed by every person 
who is awake to the spirit of the age. 







' 





















18 _ THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


CONDEMN MILITARISM IN PUBLIC 
SCHOOLS 


C. F. L. Seeks Legislative Action to Demilitarize 
Civic Parts of Government 


The following resolution, condemning militarism in 
educational institutions and urging legislative action to 
demilitarize civic divisions of the Government, was 
adopted April 23 by the Executive Board of the 
Chicago Federation of Labor: 


WHEREAS, Militarism is the sure symbol of despotism, gov- 
ernment by force, while a democracy, or a Republican form of 
government, unless it be such in name only, is governed by rea- 
son and law and not by brute force or military power, and 

WHEREAS, These two forms of government are not only 
incompatible, but human ex has proven that govern- 
ment by military force always destroys the last vestige of 
democ for the people over whom it rules, and 

WwH . At the present time everywhere in the world 
we are in a flux, those who believe in government by force are 
by every means at their disposal, ing to secure control of 
the governments of the separate countries and by combination 
poll ary all of the countries of the world, and 

WHEREAS, Evidence to this effect is all around us, Cuba 

every vestige of the democra rights 

destroyed and those who etand for 

democracy being murdered, just as was the case in Ireland, 

after the constabulary were in ced; in Russia when the 

Cossacks were in use, and in Mexico when bloody Diaz had his 
Rurales to do his biddi 

The most positive proof of the activities of those who repre- 
sent that sentiment in our state, is the effort to militarize our 
state government and our schools. The Ronsienet features of 


ili 
activity, the University of Illinois; and as they must 
find outlets for the men who are trained and who have 
developed the military spirit, and jobs for them, the needs in 
that respect of that , veer organization at the University 
radiates throughout state and the nation. It Ak ~ we 
oped into efforts Siew 6 made to estab military or; 
mall of the Mich ochecls of the state ef Iilinels. eS 
seeking for years to find jobs for ates. Immense 
Gene Teveh, Snam. ‘outend, tis tia aieeacten BO thet ait 00 fas- 
ten a militarization of the police on te the people of our state. 
Citizens military training camps have been established every- 
where. Our state and the country is being overrun by individ- 
ual representatives of military organizations and militarism. 
Committees and commissions, seeking to inculcate the spirit of 
militarism in our people, and to eat inte the different institu- 
tions of our government in all walks of life: to permeate all 
of them and everything with militaristic ‘sentiment, view- 
points, activity amd organization; and every additional militar- 
ist that is created by whatever means, or under whatever guise 
increases and intensifies this activity. Therefore be 

RESOLVED, That we aa American citizens of the greatest 
Republic on earth, view with alarm this ceaseless military 
activity and the ever-growing symbols of despotism within our 
midst and, for the safety of our Republic and our Democratic 
form of Government, we believe that steps should be taken 
te curb and minimize it, and when the time comes that it is 
safe, , 4 amar it altogether. 

We believe that whatever of military organization and activ- 
ity are necessary, 


e guises which enable its 
1 ra and growth without = citizenship being aware 


except as they are under the drect Juriediction of 
the military department of our government, and recognized 
ly, and the appropriations made to sus- 


The cause of peace is not the cause of cowardice. If 
peace is sought to be defended or preserved for the 
safety of the luxurious and the timid, it is a sham, and 
the peace will be base; war is better. If peace is to be 
maintained, it must be by brave men who have come 
up to the same height as the hero, but who have gone 
one step beyond the hero.—Emerson. 


SENATE SENDS BACK POISON GAS TREATY 
Recommittal to Committee, on Borah’s Motion, May 
Kill the Protocol 
American Legion Fought It 
Representative Fish Condemns Their Attitude— 
Persiing Favors Ratification 
(Special to THE NEW YORK TIMES) 


Representative Hamilton Fish, Jr., of New York,. 
one of the committee which drew up the preamble of 
the Constitution of the American Legion, wrote Sena- 
tor Copeland today deploring the Legion’s stand 
against the treaty. His letter, in part, is as follows: 

“The American Legion, of which I am.a member 
and an ardent supporter,” Representative Fish wrote, 
“has, I regret to say, often made haste too quickly at 
its annual conventions in adopting ill-digested resolu- 
tions backed by powerful interests or instigated by 
important individuals in the organization which do not 
recommend themselves to the rank and file of the 
Legion after mature deliberation. The Legion is a 
civilian organization composed of veterans, ‘to make 
right the master of might and to promote goodwill and 
peace on earth.’ It was not organized for purposes of 
war and trying to prevent humane agreements among 
nations to mitigate the horrors of war. 

“Every thinking man and woman knows that poison 
gas, which had just begun to be developed into a 
deadiy weapon when the armistice was signed, will, in 
the next war, if sanctioned, become a means of con- 
veying sudden and horrible death to countless women 
and children crowded into cities far back of the battle 
lines. 

“The United States cannot with self-respect refuse 
to cooperate with other civilized nations to destroy this 
Frankenstein and align ourselves with other great 
nations striving to protect modern civilization. 

“There is little difference between poisoning the 
water supply or spreading fatal bacterial germs among 
the civilian populations than asphyxiating by the use of 
invisible and odorous gas dropped in huge quantities 
from airplanes."—The New York Times. 


have changed the 


“Modern educational processes 
three r’s from reading, 'riting and. ’rithmetic,” says the 
Tampa Tribune, “to rah; rah, rah,” 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER : 19 


UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE 
_ INTERIOR—BUREAU OF EDUCATION 
4 Washington 


. . YOU AND YOUR; UNION 

What’ is -the tinion? Some seem to think that it is a 
separate. .sort of superstructure apart from mortal 
man. The fact is that the.union is simply you and I. 
All of us make the union. We are the union and make 
it just what it is and what it stands for. We can 
either make or break it; we can make it grow and 
function in -the right direction, if we apply the right 
principles; we must shape our actions to fit existing 
conditions; we must each of us derive some real bene- 
fit from the bitter lessons of the past. Then we must 
endeavor to master the present and try to apprehend 
the future. We must do these things ourselves, if we 
expect to receive justice. Employers won’t do them 
for us, we as individuals may hold and are entitled to 
our individual ideas, but in the union we must pool our 
ideas to fix existing conditions and then submerge 
them to the will of the majority. 


Walter Lippmann, editor of the New York World, 
says this about labor and its need of organization: 

“The fact is that nothing is as stubbornly resisted as 
the attempt to organize effective unions. Yet it is 
labor erganized that alone can stand between America 
and the creation of a permanent service class. Unless 
labor is powerful enough to be respected it is doomed 
to a degrading servitude. Without unions no such 
power is possible. Without unions industrial democ- 
racy is unthinkable. Without democracy in industry— 
that is where it counts most—there is no such thing as 
democracy in America. 

“For only through the union can the wage-earner 
participate in the control of industry, and only through 
the union can he obtain the discipline needed for self- 
government. Those who fight unions may think they 
are fighting its obvious errors, but what they are really 
against is just this encroachment of democracy upon 
business.” 


An innovation in -Americanization methods among 
newly-arrived immigrant aliens was launched Novem- 
ber 8, when the S. S. “Leviathan,” while proceeding 
up New York harbor, entertained steerage passengers 
with motion pictures depicting life and customs in the 
new home of their adoption. 

In the future immigrant-carrying steamships will 
show such films to the steerage passengers while cross- 
ing the Atlantic. The United States lines, it was said, 
will start the custom, and other companies are ex- 
pected to follow suit shortly. - 

Among the pictures which will be available are: 
“As No Man Has Loved”; “Barbara Frietchie”; “The 
Covered Wagon”; “Heritage of the Desert”; “The Iron 
Horse”; “Janice Meredith”; “North of 36”; “The Pony 
Express”; “The Scarlet West”; “Sundown”; “Sun-up” ; 
“The Thundering Herd”; “Warrens of Virginia”; and 
“The White Desert.” 

In announcing plans for the new ship film service, 
Secretary Davis declared: “It is a fine thing to be 
able to present in motion pictures the heart of America 
to those who intend to make this their home,” 


: May 10,- 1927. 
To Persons Concerned with Rural Education: 

Rural schools that are fully as good as city scheols 
is the ideal that has long been sought in America. ‘ The 
Australians have found a way to obtain them—if any 
way‘is possible. And every child in that Continent, 
however remote, is reached by effective instruction in 
some measure. 

The methods by which this is accomplished are set 
forth in a.series of reports prepared by Australian state 
officers at the request of American Consuls and for- 
warded through the Secretary of State and the Secre- 
tary of the Interior to the Commissioner of Education. 
The essential portions of the reports will be published 
in SCHOOL LIFE, a periodical issued by the Bureau 
of Education, 

The school system of Victoria, a state which is com- 
parable with Nebraska in extent of population, was 
described in the April number. All school buildings are 
erected and equipped by the state, and every teacher is 
assigned to his station by the Minister of Education. 
Rural teachers and city teachers are members of the 
same corps of civil employees. 

The report on Western Australia, a sparsely settled 
state of great area, is in the May number. Different 
methods are employed there for providing instruction 
in communities of different types, but each has the 
best that it is practicable to furnish. 

Correspondence instruction is utilized in all the Aus- 
tralian states for giving high school instruction under 
certain conditions and in giving elementary instruction 
to isolated children. The report of the organization 
and methods will be in the June number. Other re- 
ports will be printed during the autumn, 

Subscription to SCHOOL LIFE is 50 cents a year, 
which covers only the actual cost of printing and dis- 
tribution. IN LOTS OF 50 OR MORE, SENT IN 
BULK TO ONE ADDRESS, THE PRICE IS 35 
CENTS A YEAR EACH. Subscription should be 
sent to the Superintendent of Documents, Government 
Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Specimen copies 
will be serlt free upon\application to this bureau. 

Very respectfully, 
JNO. J. TIGERT, Commissioner. 


The Trade Unions started every social betterment 
that the workers now enjoy. 

They developed a public opinion for free education, 
the secret ballot in public elections, direct legislation, 
abolition of child labor, higher living standards, work- 
men’s compensation, factory sanitation and protection 
of life and limb. 


Attacked and denounced as scarcely any other in- 
stitution ever has been, the unions have.thriven and 
grown in the face of opposition. This healthy’ vitality 
has been, due to the fact that they were a genuine 


product of social needs—indispensable as a protest and 


a struggle against the abuses of industrial govern- 
ment,—John K. Ingram, LL, D. 





20 THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


WORK-STUDY-PLAY SCHOOLS 
Gertrude Stevens Ayres, Formerly Executive 
Secretary, Progressive Education Association 


Because I am a mother who has met some rather 
discouraging school conditions in the formal education 
of our two children, I should like to see the Work- 
Study-Play plan given a fair trial in Chicago. When 
our boy reached sixth grade in the schools of another 
city, he encountered a teacher who appeared to have 
temper tantrums, rather frequently. The unjust and 
harsh treatment meted out to the children under her at 
such times so wore on the nervous system of our boy 
that, after taking him to visit another public school, 
which we had under consideration, where there were 
wood-working, print and machine shops of simple type 
and receiving his glad co-operation, we took him from 
the neighborhood school and sent him by trolley-car 
each morning to the so-called school for incorrigibles. 
He found there an unusual room-teacher and a chance 
to use daily his large arm and leg muscles in the print 
and wood-working rooms under men teachers. 

He was a very happy boy and regretted the coming 
of the time when he would secure a better. teacher in 
the neighborhood school through class promotion, and 
so returned. 


Again in high school he once found himself in a. 


similar situation and was about ready to give up school 
for business. A change from the general language 
course to the general science course gave him the 
opportunity to have a year of forge and- foundry work. 

In passing, I want to say it seems a pity that Chicago 
feels that financial economy demands the removal of 
shops from the schools where most of the children are 
attempting “culture” only. Learning to apply facts 
acquired in the school room to the child’s own prob- 
lems is one feature of the so-called progressive move- 
ment in education. 

Our girl, who had attended the freer type school until 
nine years of age, found it almost an impossibility to 
sit in the wooden seats of the school room for the five 
school-day hours, and complaified of actual physical 
pain to say nothing of unpleasant reaction to the con- 
tinuous mental domination of our usual school practice. 
Later she, too, encountered a teacher who, in the name 
of discipline, used the most archaic, unethical punish- 
ments. 

If these children had had the opportunity to change 
their environment for one-half of each session, class- 
room life would have been more tolerable, even if con- 
ditions were a little trying. 

Then, too, children are happier and more responsive 
to instruction if their environment is changed a reason- 
able amount. We have not yet realized the value in 
child-life of happiness or joy. I used to tell my teach- 
ers that they could have joyful children only when they 
themselves were joyful; and that if their own mental 
condition was below par, not only to watch themselves 
more carefully but to let up on the pressure on the 
children, allowing them to do the freer things that 
even our public school curricula provide. 

If the end and aim of education is for each child to 


tA %erV 


secure conscious self-control.and..conscious. self-direc- 
tion toward standards of life,. which grow constantly 
higher and higher as he grows,@lder, then opportunity 
to move from room to room, to,exercise this self-con- 
trol and self-direction in. varying environments and 
under varying teachers is a positive necessity. 

In speaking before the High School Teachers’ Feder- 
ation in Chicago this winter Dr. Joseph K. Hart after 
dwelling on the worshipful attitude of most of us in 
the United States toward the great national institution 
of our “Free Public Schools,” said that improvements 
in the future will come by watching for the lines of 
departure from accustomed usages and experimenting 
along such lines. 

Students of education know that about the time of 
Horace Mann the type of school perfected then in 
Germany became the ideal for the States. Hence the 
processes of the average school are often called today 
Germanic and military. - 

Teachers never having lived nor trained in the type 
of school that “hums with industry” find it very hard 
to visualize the possibilities of a child life that is self- 
directed and socially co-operative. 

The Work-Study-Play plan offers a promising depar- 
ture from the institution as it now exists and should be 


allowed a place in every developing school system. 


Note. What do you think of the suggestion contained in 
Mrs. Ayres’s article? Let us hear from you.—Editor. 


Colorado Springs Workers’ College 


The Colorado Springs Workers’ College has just 
issued a most interesting and instructive twelve-page 
pamphlet dealing with the history, organization, plans 
and results of that college. 

Although the college is not an old one, it already has 
reached a high degree of development. This year it 
offers twenty-two classes. These are all given on the 
same evening, but the evening is divided into two peri- 
ods so that those who desire to do so can enroll in two 
of the classes. Among the students, fifty trades and 
professions are represented. Not the least important 
are the forty housewives who are enrolled. This inter- 
esting of the wives and mothers of trade unionists in 
workers’ education should be noted and so far as peos- 
sible imitated by all workers’ colleges. The trade union 
movement cannot go forward as it should without the 
active and intelligent co-operation of women, whether 
they be wage earners themselves, or the wives of wage 
earners. 

The pamphlet can be obtained free of charge by 
writing to the corresponding secretary, Mrs. Pauline 
Drucker, Colorado Springs, Colorado. 


Rehabilitation work for crippled children ot Alabama 
and provision of academic and vocational training has 
been undertaken, in connection with the rehabilitation 
service of the division of vocational education of the 
State Department of Education, by the recently organ- 
ized Alabama Society for Crippled Children. 

The program contemplates continuous care of the — 
crippled child until established in a remunerative vo- 
cation. 





THE AMERICAN TEACHER 21 


A VALUABLE WEEKLY 


As we turned a file of the WEEKLY NEWS 
REVIEW this week, we thought what a boon 
such a sheet is to countless busy people, how in- 
dispensable to those who, in small towns without 
libraries or reading rooms, wish to scep abreast 
of the news. 

To begin with, there are in every issue the four 
main articles on current events. These are com- 
pounded of facts assembled dispassionately—just 
facts carefully sifted. “Following the News” is 
a column designed to explain, interpret, the chief 
matters of controversy during the week... 

Short paragraphs comment on a dozen items of 
secondary interest. Even the editorials seek, not 
to mould opinion so much as to start thought and 
encourage open-mindedness. A double column 
handles vital “Questions” and “Topics for Re- 
search” in the best of all ways;' namely, by lists 
of references. This is, perhaps, the most valu- 


able department of the paper. 

Add to these features, brief reviews of new 
books and current magazines, and the “Monthly 
Test,” which is a page of questions and study 
outlines, and you have a four-page compendium 


of an amazing, lot of things one wants to know. 
But there is one other feature that appealed to 
us, because so arresting to the eye; that is, the 
graphs;and maps. In a minute we satisfied our 
curiosity on two points: just where Boulder Dam 
is,-and the identification of Kansu Province, 
scene of the May earthquake and the walking 
mountains, with the location of General Feng’s 
army. 

In this day, when current news plays so im- 
portant a part in schools, we commend the 
WEEKLY NEWS REVIEW to teachers for 
class work. But let.no one suppose that its use- 
fulness ends there. Every family that aims to be 
informed profits by some such weekly summary. 





ANTI-EVOLUTION BILL FOR FLORIDA 


Florida schools supported wholly or partly by public 
funds will be forbidden to teach evolution, if a bill 
introduced in the House of Representatives on April 11 
by Representative Leon Stalnak is passed. The bill 
also prohibits the use of any text book teaching “any 
theory that mankind either ascended or descended 
from a lower order of animals or any theory pertain- 
ing to the origin of mankind not in harmony with the 
Biblical account of the creation.” A fine of $100 is 
- Provided. 


CHINA INSTITUTE IN AMERICA- 

The China Institute in America, at 2 West 45th St., 
New York City, is interesting among associations to 
promiote friendship between China and America, in 
that it was organized by Chinese and is linked up with 
othér Chinese enterprises of magnitude such as The 
China Foundation for the Promotion of Education ard 
Culture and The Chinese National Association for the 
Advancement of Education. It will be glad to furnish 
speakers on “various phases of China’s national life,” 
either Chinese or Americans. 

It was through the efforts of this institute that China 
placed at the Sesqui-centennial International Exposi- 
tion an educational exhibit, to which was awarded a 
grand prize “for the development of a comprehensive 
system of public education.” 

For further information address the Institute. 


RICH AND POOR 

The present position which we, the educated and 
well-to-do classes, occupy is that of the Old Man of 
the Sea, riding on the poor man’s back, only, unlike 
the Old Man of the Sea we are very sorry for the 
poor man, very sorry; and we do almost anything for 
the poor man’s relief. We will not supply him with 
food sufficient to keep him on his legs, but we will 
teach and instruct him and point out to him the beéau- 
ties of the landscape; we will discourse sweet music to 
him and give him abundance of good advice. 

Yes, we will do almost anything for the poor man, 
anything but get off his back—Leo Tolstoy 


“Time Allotment to Manual Arts Work,” by Maris 
M.. Proffitt, Specliaist in Industrial Education, Bureau 
of Education. Issued by the Bureau of Education, De- 
partment of the Interior, as Industrial Education Cir- 
cular No. 26. Price, 5 cents per copy. E 26-254. 

“Seventy-two per cent of the cities included in this 
study increased their time allotment for the manual arts 
during the 10-year period from 1915 to 1925. 

“The smallest percentage of cities increasing their 
time allotment is found in the ‘5,000 to 10,000’ popula- 
tion group. 

“The number of cities increasing their time allot- 
ment in the first eight and last four school years is 
about equal. 

“Slightly more of the smaller cities increased their 
time allotment for the last four school years than did 
the larger cities, while slightly more of the farger cities 
increased the time allotment in the first eight school 
years than did the smaller cities. 

“All cities with more than 20,000 population have 
manual arts courses. Moreover, no city with over 
50,000 population reported a decrease in the time allotted 
to manual arts. 

“Of the cities‘ increasing their time a t in both 
the first eight and last four school years, the greatest 
percentage, 64 per cent, is found in the ‘50,000-to 100,000’ 
population group.” 

This survey was evidently made before the Retrench- 
ment policy” or “economy program” was inaugurated 
in Chicago, whereby some classes in manual arts were 
removed from the high school curricula. 














22 \ THE AMERICAN TEACHER 


MANY ELEMENTS TO PROBLEM OF 

Sk WORKING WOMAN 

“In the working woman are focused some of the 
most fundamental industrial issues. To employers, she 
is a factor in their labor supply. To feminists, ‘she is 
a critical element. in the complex labor struggle. Too 
often each of these groups tries to settle each issue in 
its own way, and with reference to no other interest 
but its own. These problems cannot be justly or suc- 
cessfully dealt with either as woman’s problem alone, 
or as labor problems alone, but must be recognized as 
involving the elements of both, in a combination which 
makes them uniquely difficult. They must be approached, 
therefore, not on the basis of theory alone, but with 
knowledge of economic facts and a balanced sense of 
the values at stake, especially the human values to the 
woman worker herself and to society as a whole.”— 
Mary Anderson, Chief of Women’s Bureau, U. S. Dept. 
of Labor. ~ 


Chicago citizens have recently formed an. organiza- 
tion, the Chicago Peace Council, “to provide a channel 
through which concerted action on matters affecting 
the peace of the world may be more easily secured.” 
The by-laws state that any organization located in 
Chicago or the Chicago branch of any state organization 
that includes work for peace in its active program, and 
whose aims and methods are patriotic and practical, 
may be admitted to membership. We welcome this 
addition to the rapidly growing peace movement in 
America.—National Council for Prevention of War 
News Bulletin. 


In School Life for October, Marie M. Ready, Asst. 
Specialist in Physical Education, Bureau of Education, 
writing on organized summer camps for children, 
sketches briefly the development of the project’ since 
1880, when Ernest Balch established his boys’ camp on 
Lake Asquam, N. H. Today there are not only num- 
berless private camps for boys and girls, younger and 
older; but boards of education, municipalities, the De- 
partment of Agriculture, each fosters a different type 
of camp. There are state and city supported health 
camps and camps for malnourished children. “Cali- 
fornia has 14 municipal camps maintained by the recrea- 
tion departments of cities with the co-operation-of the 
United States Forestry Service.” 

All this provision for periodic escape from the city 
to life in the open more or less “supervised” is build-. 
ing a future generation of more intelligent, more law- 
abiding citizenship. 


‘The child-labor amendment, which recently passed 
the General Assembly of North Carolina, provides that 
children can not be required to work more than forty- 
eight hours a week, or eight hours a day. Formerly, 
employers were privileged to require sixty hours of 
service a week. The law was passed for the protection 
of children between the ages of 14 and 16 years, as the 
compulsory education law takes care of all under 14. 
The new law applies to all industries and is not con- 
fined, in its operation, to cotton mills or to any other 
class of business. At present, only seven per cent of 
all persons employed in industry in North Carolina are 
children under sixteen years.—School and Society. 





- 
SEE 
——— 





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 G Shoe Workers’ Union 


| 
Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor | 
246 SUMMER STREET, BOSTON, MASS. f 


COLLIS LOVELY 
General President 





CHARLES L. BAINE 
General Secretary-Treasurer 












THE AMERICAN TEACHER “ae 23 


PORTLAND TEACHERS’ UNION 


A letter of interest came into the, hands of 
the writer of these notes a few days ago. It 
was a request for information regarding a 
teacher who had applied for a position in a 
school of the state. The applicant had given the 
writer’s name’as a reference. In a long list of 
detailed questions about the teacher’s character, 
training, etc., was the following significant one, 
“Is the applicant given to criticism of school 
officials and the schools?” Had there been no 
danger of injuring the chances for a job on the 
part of the applicant, one would have enjoyed 
answering, “No, but what do you want—an 
automaton ?” 


The above question leads one to speculate on 
the extent to which one can offer criticism to 
officials in our Portland schools, whether they 
be heads of departments, principals, or superin- 
tendents. None of us are so constituted that we 
ordinarily welcome criticism. It is too personal 
and it hurts, particularly when it comes ‘from 
those under our supervision or our employ. We 
come to look upon ourselves as on perhaps a 
little higher level in ability, etc. Criticism, there- 
fore, from those “beneath us” is apt to be taken 
as an affront, if not an insult, and as perhaps 
endangering our superior position. These words 
are written out of a slight acquaintance with the 
psychology of leadership as gained from the 
position of Head of Department in one of the 
schools. With these thoughts and experiences in 
mind one is led to the conclusion that even in 
Portland, to say nothing of small, town schools, 
criticism is not ordinarily wanted. For proof 
of this conclusion note how indignantly a group 
of teachers will, in their own circle, denounce 
a real or fancied injustice done them by a sup- 


Main 2328-2329-2330 


erior, and then watch those teachers kowtow 
in the presence of that same superior. Instinc- 
tively, or rather out of the experience of the 
group, it is known that to be frank in criticism’ 
is to jeopardize a livelihood. 

The fear of criticism permeates, in our opinion, 
every department of the school system. It is in 
general a sign of mediocrity; the truly superior 
never fear criticism. The great man or woman 
in the schools, whether teacher or school ad- 
ministrator, tries to cultivate the spirit of open- 
mindedness, of willingness to hear and profit by’ 
criticism. “Insofar, therefore, as criticism is ob- 
jected to just to that degree can we measure the 


‘mediocrity of school officialdom and _ school 


teacher. Some day we teachers may lead the way 
to a real democracy in education by actual prac- 
tice on ourselves, i. e., by accepting, in good 
grace, criticism from ‘boys and girls over whom: 
we have been wont to lord it in Prussian fashion 
these many years past—Bulletin, Portland” 
Teachers’ Union. 


TEACHERS’ PAY 


Amendment of Act Provides for Full 
Salary During Quarantine 


Officials of the board of education are not greatly 
concerned with the new amendment to the act which 
provides that teachers quarantined as the result of ex- 
posure to a communicable disease shall receive full pay 
during the time they are quarantined: For, so far as 
can be remembered, there has only been one such case 
here, and in that instance the board voluntarily paid the 
quarantined teacher, holding that he was temporarily 
deprived of the opportunity to teach through no fault 
of his own. 

This amendment does not apply to teachers who are 
ill themselves. In such case the rule that each teacher 
is entitled to 20 days’ illness in a school year at full 
pay applies—Hamilton, Ont., Labor News. 


THE H. G. ADAIR PRINTING Co. 


- Constructive Printers 
Publications 


Printers of this 


107 N. Wacker Drive 
CHICAGO —. £ 





American Federation 
of 


~ Teachers 


327 South La Salle Street 
CHICAGO, ILL. 


Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor 
Organized April 15, 1916 


B20 


The American Federation of Teachers desires to establish an intimate 
contact and an effective cooperation between the teachers and the 
other workers of the community. 


The American Federation of Teachers desires to cooperate with all 
civic organizations for improved civic life. 


Groups of seven or more public school teachers are invited to 
affiliate with this National Organization of Classroom Teachers, for 
mutual assistance, improved professional standards and the democra- 


tization of the schools. 
| 


iiss Slogan Is: 


Democracy in Education: Education for Democracy. 


“The American Teacher’ is published monthly by The American 
Federation of Teachers. Membership dues carry subscription to the 
magazine. To all others the subscription price is $2.00 per year, 
25 cents per copy. 




















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