| i BIACKS REFERENCE DO NOT LOAN Py ee SR 82 AMERICAN TEACHER democracy in education- education for democrac IN THIS ISSUE Bread Butter and Ideals Dr. Henry R. Linville Qur Economic Crisis John FP. Frey The Teachers Union in a New Social Order Dr. Harold J. Laski Between Autocracy and Democracy Dr. Otto G. Tacke Teachers and Unemployment Dr. Jerome Davis Teachers of the World Meet Selma M. Borchardt ICIAL ORGAN OF THE AMERIGAN FEDERATION OF ‘TEACHER Price 25 Cents October 193 \ “YOUR JOB and Pe) SS eceoshine YOUR PAY” || | : A Picture of the World in Which i | N NEW YORK We Work By ™ KATHERINE H. 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SCHEDULE OF NUMBERS FOR 1931-1932 RP UNOm mnt PU MIDOS.g. aan cissccsencescacssnccececsesnseeeseeconnese ecsiimupeeaehaecsccammasuonamantbihas i lalate “Getting Under Way” Ocroser—Fall Number as SRE Sipenie ir ee Poon a ho ree Mate LR Pe TES A ITO NOE NE “Solving Our Problems” NoveMBerR—Thanksgiving Number NPIS RCR Sn eE ANN EN AAR RCRA he EINE OTERO ORE RE SY eT ‘Improving Winter Opportunities” DecemMBer—Christmas Number................0....-......... peocathcinssbinioes carapeisncconesinest re eee sek. “Safeguarding Educational Momentum” JANUARY—New-Year Number icc ate ocd sons ance Nba oe ita Ae eee ae ee “Surveys and Innovations” FesruARY—Winter Numbev......... aioe hades Seve nie viens co aecreee cae Lsatintlecinaapiteacciiaso Sieunieatiadcpciinidednaaen “Evaluating Our Progress” Marcu—Spring Numberc................ behead Eee SARI EERE oReed Pin oS sae, AOE ; LE Og Aprit—Conference Number......... $e is elasteke Utah diesel canbe ekbnids spitieGebbooaticinicor asi soeclinmnesiesarences eee “Needs and Opportunities” ER ee ee EL eRe veseussssses--s--' The End of the Cruise” Edited by a National Committee—Published Monthly from September to May SPECIAL TRIAL OFFER Three Months for One Dollar So convinced are we that new subscribers want to continue the Clearing House, that we gladly extend this trial offer to prospective subscribers. 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TABLER & Co., Inc., _ Fifteenth St., Washington, D. C. | I would like to have complete information on Independence Fund. Iam not obligated in making this inquiry. ] ! STREET CITY i NAME —_— o_o m ——<$>—$_—S$_————————————— | The American Observer | A Magazine for Thinking Teachers | THE AMERICAN TEACHER Dr. Henry R. LINVILLE Recognised Leader of Progressive Thought Among Classroom Teachers oh Es SOU me eee Olle eel oOo“ ide Wi th OcTOBER, 1931 Bread, Butter and Ideals Henry R. Linville President American Federation of Teachers The American Federation of Teachers rejoices to place the leadership of the teacher union movement in the hands of Henry R. Linville. Actively and effectively associated with the guidance of the national organization from its beginning ; nationally known among educators for his penetrating insight into the significance of our educational system and for his philosophic grasp of its problem; experienced in aggressive union activity through his years of leader- ship of the New York Teachers Union; he brings to the presidency of the national organization wisdom, power and promise. THE AMERICAN TEACHER takes great pleasure in presenting to its readers this inaugural message of President Linville to the members of the American Federation of Teachers. LTHOUGH our organization is A now entering the sixteenth year of its existence, it ap- pears to me that only now are we at the beginning of a social era that is likely to prove favorable to the de- velopment of a movement such as the organization of teachers’ unions. If this view is a valid one, it may im- ply that the American Federation of Teachers came into existence before it could hope to survive. But since it has survived and grown, and since it has within the present year clearly rec- ognized and expressed in convention proceedings its concern about the ma- jor problems of society that relate to education, we should feel the comfort- ing assurance that we got under way early, even if it may have seemed too early. For those of us who helped to start the national union movement among teachers fifteen years ago, as well as for those pioneers who had teachers’ unions before our time, it is now clear that it was impossible to attain our ob- jectives until the general social envi- ronment had taken on some of the lib- eral attributes favorable to our pur- poses. This is an important consid- eration for those among us who may still feel that teachers’ unions should limit their interests to the “bread and butter” problems that seem to affect the welfare of their members directly. This is a lesson which many others who are not teachers are in the proc- ess of learning, that the economic wel- fare of America is linked to the wel- fare of the rest of the world. As teachers who especially deal with ideas, with ethics, with knowledge and with methods, we should have been the first to apply our craft dependence on relationships and to realize that the work of teachers is not carried on in isolation. I trust that my belief that the pres- ent social situation is favorable to the growth of the union movement among teachers will not seem to be mere en- thusiasm. We are all familiar with the uncertainty of the existing world situation. We fear bolshevism, or fascism, or some economic disaster. But are we aware of the probability that out of the uncertainty of the times new political and social ventures, fraught with possibilities of great bene- fit to the human race, are likely to arise? We base our faith in a favor- able outcome on the fact that the world has steadily grown to be a bet- ter place for mankind to live in. If we look back beyond our present anx- ieties, even the most reactionary have faith in certain revolutions. Some of the psychological effect of the present world situation is pene- trating the case-hardened shell of edu- cation. For the first time, I believe, in the history of public education in this country a body of supposedly con- servative educators attached to en- dowed institutions of learning have, of their own initiative, organized a com- mittee to make a professional survey of schools, with the purpose of making known to the public the facts and the ascertainable causes relating to the morale of a politically-ridden school system. Heretofore it has been almost impossible to enlist on a voluntary basis the active interest of any educa- tors of distinction in the practical work of attacking directly the evils known to exist in public school systems. As another indication of the emer- gence of a new social attitude among educators, radical students are some- times surprised at manifestations of daring expressed in the lectures of col- lege professors of education in vari- ous parts of the country. To the ex- tent that such manifestations of intel- lectual courage become general we should regard it as helpful toward the elimination of that paralyzing fear of official censorship of thinking that has been the bane of the profession. One of the least expected indica- tions of the new spirit has begun to manifest itself in the leadership of the National Education Association itself within the present year. At the Feb- ruary, 1931, meeting of the Depart- ment of Superintendence of the N. EK. A. an important pamphlet issued by the Research Division of the N. E. A. entitled “The . Schools and Business” was on sale. The stupen- dous array of commercial exhibits shown at that convention gave point to the thesis maintained in the pam- phlet that the interests of the schools and business are the same. Although the general spirit of the February con- vention was rotarian in character, one address delivered by a former presi- dent of the National Education Asso- ciation, Dr. Jesse H. Newlon, was of high quality and progressive. There were two or three addresses simi- larly notable for breadth of view and social insight. The recent July con- vention of the N. E. A. at Los Angeles continued with stressing the idea of the relationship of education and business. One of the main addresses of the first day was given by Mr. Carl Milliken, vice-president of the Fed- eral Council of Churches, and secre- tary of the motion picture syndicate. In School and Society for August 1 we tind sharp comment on this ad- dress by the editor, Mr. William Mc- Andrew, former Superintendent of Schools of Chicago. Mr. McAndrew denounces Mr. Milliken’s address as “nearly naked propaganda of the Mo- tion Picture Producers and Distribu- tors of America, Inc.” He refers to the fact also that “further along in the general program is printed, ‘Hol- lywood motion picture stars will be introduced at several of the general 6 sessions.’”” ‘“What’s the great idea?” says Mr. McAndrew. “Is this a con- tribution of the Association’s division on the enrichment of life, or the de- partment of visual instruction, or a committee on character education, or maybe a section for the use of the schools for the promotion of business? Really, where is the hook-up in pur- pose between the schools and the Mo- tion Picture Producers, Inc.?” We shall have to wait to see what will be the effect of such criticism from a rec- ognized leader of the National Educa- tion Association. My guess is that the rising criticism of the practice of mak- ing use of the schools for the promo- tion of commercial objectives will give strength to Mr. McAndrew’s words be- fore another N. E. A. convention comes around. Anyway, we should be willing to help such good work to become effective. There are still many good people who insist that the teacher’s business is to teach, and to do little else. It is virtually held by some that teachers should close their eyes to the exploita- tion of the schools by those who see in them opportunities for the promo- tion of selfish ends. By this time it should be apparent that following such advice has had the effect of making exploitation easy and available for all who had power. It has also had the effect of transforming the teacher- (Gi at the opening of the new year! Let nothing you dismay ! We find all over the country at- tacks being made on salary schedules, those somewhat adequate and those without sex discrimination, on tenure, on retirement systems, and on the privileges of married women teachers in the schools. In your organization, however, you carry an insurance against these dan- gers. You have in your union a means to secure conditions which make for tenure of office, pensions, somewhat favorable salary schedules, a certain political recognition, and a certain so- cial recognition. I urge you not to let your insurance lapse in the hour of danger, but to in- crease and strengthen your protection by building your group in numbers and resources, and in spreading the knowledge of this protection to unor- ganized teachers. In our present situation we cannot repeat too often that economic secur- leader into the teacher-slave, the being who is easily led to accept the outcome of the thinking of others. If it is fair to assume that teachers as a class have any social responsibility for defending the schools against exploitation, as well as for maintaining them on a high level of efficiency, a strong case could be made against the profession for gen- eral neglect. But we are not con- cerned with indicting the. profession, but rather with pointing out the course which should be taken by union teachers and by those who in the possibly impending social transforma- tion may feel impelled to join with us. This course is to be seen in the history of the labor movement, as well as in the history of every oppressed or exploited group that has made its es- cape from bondage. They did it themselves! Leaders they had, but they came from their own class. It is highly improbable that exploiting groups will ever be willing, except un- der some form of social pressure, to yield their control. One trouble we have with the think- ing of teachers is that so many are prone to think of the union movement as embodying chiefly a conflict between personalities in their official relations. To some the movement seems real only when one defies a superintendent or a board of education. The corollary of such a mental attitude takes form Message to the American Federation of ‘Teachers ity is a necessary postulate of good teaching. It is our business to bring home to the public that salary cuts and FLorRENCE Curtis HANSON THE AMERICAN TEACHER in the thinking of those who explain their non-union status in saying that their principals have always been “lovely” to them. Thus, it becomes a matter of difficulty for some to enter an arena which seems to hold defeat or discrimination for them per- sonally. This attitude, so common among our colleagues, discloses a con- siderable lack of social understanding, Obviously, our minds require some expansion. The most considerable manifestations of social pressure op- erate in large ways on masses of peo- ple, and their origin is difficult to trace. For example, who can point out the lines of social pressure which caused an autocratically inclined superintend- ent of the Chicago schools within a few years to stand for the democratic idea of the extermination of commer- cial propaganda from the schools? In few of these situations where changes of attitude due to social pressure are manifest are we concerned with ques- tions of reasons or of sincerity. We simply know that the immense power of constructive social pressure oper- ating through experience is yielding results. The sources of this pressure are world-wide and general ; to a large degree they are inescapable. We are not so much concerned here with tracing the sources of the new manifestations of social pressure along (Turn to Page 30) insecurity of position destroy the schools. Salary reductions mean something vastly more important than saving a few dollars of the taxpayers’ money. They mean that many of our best teachers will be driven out into other fields and the most intelligent and free spirits among our young people will not be attracted into the educa- tional world. We must not allow this curtailment of school efficiency, not for ourselves alone but for the children, for education, for society. We are organized to preserve the ideal that “Free schools were not ¢s- tablished for the sole purpose of teach- ing reading and writing but to pef- petuate the democratic form of gov ernment.” We believe in democracy, and in the schools as the chief agency of democracy. Let us not for a mo ment neglect our business of estab- lishing this belief and making it 4 reality. Look to your insurance; guard your policy; keep up your premiums. You will thereby have a sure protection. *-o5 A ss —_ ER ain hat nes to old er- ion on- ng. me ble »p- e0- ce, the sed id- la itic er- Fes are ing ire ge ere ew for the cy; OcTOBER, 1931 Teachers as Citizens Doctor John Dewey education and honored member of the American Federation of ‘jeachers, was presented by the educa- tion committee of Local 195 in a lecture entitled “Teachers as Citizens” on April 9. The audience filled the largest hall obtainable, and included the Cam- bridge Superintendent of Schools, a number of members of the School Board, members of teachers’ clubs in neighboring cities, professors and stu- dents in near-by colleges, as well as Cambridge teachers. Besides stressing the need of giving the teacher more freedom in school and out, and the importance of training pupils to meet the demands of life as individuals and citizens, Mr. Dewey spoke feelingly of the work the Ameri- can Federation of Teachers is prepared to do in the community and the nation. He passed very lightly over the ques- tion of a teacher’s political right as a citizen, considering that right too obvi- ous to be discussed. Dr. Dewey said in part: All other reforms in education depend on those who are engaged in the teaching pro- fession. If any scheme could be de- vised to secure teachers of character and initiative who are fond of children, little more would be desired. Unfortunately the organization of many schools may be compared to that of the army or factory in which those who are regarded as being in the lower ranks receive orders from those con- sidered above them, and dividing walls are almost universal between admin- J: DeEwEY, eminent professor of ~ NN > ~~ oS ig Hence istrative and teaching forces. there is too little initiative on the part of teachers. There will not be indi- vidual responsibility unless there is freedom. When responsibility is con- centrated in a few, it is taken from oth- ers who would assume it of their own accord. When programs are laid out and methods of teaching prescribed it marks destruction of teaching ability. No one can throw his whole heart and energy into prescribed tasks. If .teach- ing by phonograph is bad, it is equally bad for teachers to be phonographs. All citizens of the country are citi- zens in some other aspect as well. Fail- ure to acquire the proper training in home and school leads to failure in meeting responsibility in larger circles. The corruption in high places of gov- ernment shows the need of the school’s fulfilling better its duty in forming citi- zens for the city, the state and the nation. If students do not hear public issues discussed in a frank, open way, how are they going to have adequate prepa- ration for citizenship? Is knowledge to be picked up by chance in a partisan spirit, or should it be presented in an open impartial manner? Schools must not take part in propaganda, but there has been too much dodging of the vital issues of the day. In trying to be im- partial we have become futile. Of course we must consider that we are dealing with immature minds, yet in the upper grades pupils do live pretty much in the world. They know what Addresses Cambridge Local their parents are talking about and what is in the newspapers. In the school there should be more complete discussion of the difficulties and evils in political life. If any study was ever denatured be- fore it reached the student, it is civics. Its anatomy is taught but practically nothing of the way it is worked out in life. The type of teacher in the American Federation of Teachers is the most so- cially progressive, fearless and farsee- ing in our school system. They are always to be found in the front ranks fighting any corruption or injustice in the schools of which they are a part. The enemies the Federation has made in Chicago, New York and Seattle are a compliment to the organization. There certainly should be no objec- tion on the part of officials or teachers to affiliation with Labor. Such objec- tions as have arisen have been due to snobbery or cowardice. Since the greater mass of pupils in the’ public schools is drawn from the workers of the country, teachers should be in a poistion to act as interpreters between Labor and the community. In order to develop Labor’s children, one must un- derstand the problems of Labor. In prefacing his remarks on the American Federation of Teachers, Mr. Dewey said that he was proud of his long years of membership in the organ- ization and in the American Federation of Labor, and that he always carried his “Union card” with him. Anna L. P. Cottins. THE AMERICAN TEACHER Teachers and Unemployment F A PLAGUE or influenza should I suddenly sweep America, making a million people sick, it would be considered a national, if not an inter- national, calamity. The President of the United States would immediately act, we would have Red Cross relief, if not relief through Congress, and other emergency measures would be taken. Actually, unemployment is a very much more serious threat to our civilization than such a calamity. It is an economic epidemic which sweeps not only America, but sweeps the world; and in the United States alone it has so seriously impaired the wel- fare of our people that it has thrown 6,000,000 people out of their jobs and probably an equal number of others it has incapacitated, so that they can only work a few days a week. Not only that, but it leaves in its trail a crop of suicides, broken homes,: and malnutrition on the part of the chil- dren; and yet we have been relatively indifferent to this terrible economic epidemic. Why is that? I think one reason is that America has been too much con- cerned with material things, too much concerned with the economic factors of our civilization, and not enough con- cerned with the human factors. If in a small town in Iowa there should break out a case of hog cholera, the entire resources of the United States Government, the State Government, and other agencies would be thrown to meet that case. If in the same town a hundred workers are thrown out of employment, it is not considered of sufficient importance to notice in the daily paper, and no resources of any kind are placed at the disposal of those men until after perhaps a year of serious national calamity. I do not think that we ought to be too hard, perhaps, on our American society, because we only isolated the unemployment germ some twenty years ago; and consequently we can- not perhaps be expected to do as much as we can in the matter of physical disease. That, I think, is primarily the responsibility of the teachers of the nation. What are we to think of an educational system which teaches almost nothing about economic prob- lems ? One reason we have been so rela- tively unintelligent abount unemploy- Professor Jerome Davis ment is that a great many of us have not really known what unempioyment was. We have not experienced unem- ployment ourselves; and yet when a member of the American Federation of Teachers was dismissed by a school board because he stood for the civic rights of the teachers of America, it means that every single one of us stands in danger of unemployment. It is rather popular to say that un- employment is due partly to the fault of the individual worker. As a mat- ter of fact, the scientific studies that have been made have shown that that is largely and totally in error, for in the hearing before the United States Senate Committee in 1929, not a sin- gle testimony declared that it was the fault of the individual worker. It is our society that is primarily at fault for the unemployment situation in which we find ourselves. HE QUESTION IS: What are we T going to do about this situation of unemployment? We might say as George Moore, the great writer, said after looking at the pyramids in Egypt: “What care I that some millions of wretched Israelites died by Pharaoh’s lash or Egypt’s sun? It was well that they died that I might have the pyra- mids to look on or ‘to fill a musing hour with wonderment.” That is a perfectly possible attitude for us to take. We can say that it is not our business. We must be concerned solely with the wage scale of the teachers of America. We must be concerned narrowly with the policies of the American Federation of Teach- ers. We must not be concerned with the social problems and social policies which indirectly affect us all. But I take it that the attitude of the over- whelming majority of the members of the American Federation of Teachers recognizes that the problem of unem- ployment is our problem, that if we ignore such problems as unemploy- ment we have no right to ask the sup- port of organized labor or of the American public for our activities to get justice on behalf of ourselves. May I remind you also that it does have a rather direct effect on us. It has an effect on Yale. Our budget is cut. It has an effect on Wisconsin University, where I am teaching this summer, with a half-million-dollar cut in the budget, so that every single de- partment at Wisconsin must cut the amount of appropriation which it has. It has its effect on the children in the grades and in the high schools, so that in some of the school years you have a larger number enrolled because the children cannot find jobs. In certain other grades you have an increased amount of illness. That illness has not yet shown its effect ; and according to the President of the American Med- ical Association, you will find that ill- ness beginning to show in the year be- ginning next fall. From a study of the United States Labor Department on Empioyment and Child Welfare of two typical communities of America, it proves that the effects of a period of unemployment last for years. Babies are rickety; boys are taken out of school, and cannot advance beyond the unskilled labor class. Broken homes mean juvenile delinquency. The various relief agencies in the United States will have to deal with the wreck- age of this unemployment period for at least five vears, if not more. I think that the teachers owe a re- sponsibility to help society solve these problems. If we cannot do it, I do not know who will. If we, the teachers of the nation who should be the moral leaders of America, do not have enough social responsibility, if we do not sense that duty, certainly no other group is going to do it. I am often charged with being a theoretical technician instead of a prac- tical engineer, and I sometimes wish that our theories might be quickly put to the test. I think in the educational world where we are trying to train cit- izens, we have inevitably to correlate the teaching of the classroom with the community life; we have to show the relationship between Trade Unions and good citizenship, between unem- ployment and malnutrition. And it is just as important for us to show the effect af this economic epidemic of unemployment as it is any other aspect of health. I feel proud that the American Federation of Teachers was one of the Trade Union organizations that presented at the convention of the American Federation of Labor the resolutions advocating unemployment insurance before that great labor body. (Turn to Page 30) C are thi: the the the cou inte we are iste car luti fair ing Inst sour the abor mer the of 7 ; ty t VS WD ete et 6 ree CD — eee in of at e 1€ nt OcTOBER, 1931 HIS QUESTION of unemploy- | ment, this depression through which we are advancing, has been referred to so frequently in the press that you are all familiar with the points of view expressed by our lead- ing statesmen, our leading financiers, industrialists, men of commerce, and so on. I do not have to refer to what those statements have been. I am quite of the opinion that all of them have failed, and some of them delib- erately, to point out the real cause of this depression. There is generally the statement that we have had depressions in the past, that every country has them, and that with us we have always emerged stronger and better after each depression than we had been be- fore, so that in a way a depression is a disguised blessing. I must differ with those who say that the present depression is similar to those that we have had in the past, and that the same happy results will follow in the immediate years to come. At the present time our grain eleva- tors, our food warehouses, are more filled with agricultural products than they ever have been, although we have now had this depression affecting us for some eighteen months. We have hungry people in almost every com- munity, and yet we do not know what to do with the food products which are in storage. Although we have had this depression for eighteen months, there never has been a time when our banks contained so much money; nei- ther has there ever been a period in the history of our country when money could be borrowed at so low a rate of interest on good security. So at least we have these two conditions which are different from those that have ex- isted during previous depressions. _ In 1925 the convention of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor took a revo- lutionary position on the question of wages. It declared that it was not a fair wage or a living wage, or a sav- ing wage, which we should consider. Instead it was to be an economically sound wage. At that time I presented the formula that I had in mind in about these words: industry and com- merce must suffer fatal injury unless the real wage, the purchasing power of wages, keeps pace with industry’s increasing capacity to produce. I had Our Economic Crisis John P. Frey become convinced that we had been thought of, we had even thought of ourselves, too long as producers; that the employers, that commerce, that finance, considered the wage earners of this country almost solely from the point of view of producers, and that our importance to national welfare as consumers had not even been given a thought. Now, if we are to understand why we are suffering from this depression, we must first keep in mind the marvel- ous revolution in industry’s capacity to produce that was ushered in about thirty years ago, when the trained en- gineer, the mechanical, the electrical, the hydraulic, and these other engi- neers left the laboratory where, in the past they had principally carried on experiments, and went into the work- shops of the country to take immedi- ate direction of methods of production. They brought into existence what we have learned to call “mass production,” which has enabled industry to produce as men never dreamt it was possible. The mechanism, which is the first evidence of the trained scientific mind taking immediate charge of methods of production, wonderful as it is, appar- ently has had these defects; that those who worked out the systems, those who constructed the mechanism and turned it over to industry, failed to put any speedometer on it, failed to attach any brakes, failed to build in indicator dials which would give those who were operating the mech- anism some knowledge of what was actually taking place; and so we began to produce wealth in increasing quantities. Beginning with the early years of the century we discovered a little more what could be done. The tempo was accelerated during the war, and since the war we increased this capacity to produce, in some instances several thousands per cent; and that enormously increased the annual vol- ume of -wealth created. So our pros- perity (or what we thought was pros- perity), beginning with 1911 and end- ing in 1929, was due to this enormous capacity of our industry to create wealth, or the increased per capita pro- duction of our work. While this was taking place the cause of this depression was being sown, because industry failed to pay a real wage which would enable the people of our country to make use of, to consume, our own products. There is no reason to believe that while we live we will ever see an ex- port of American-manufactured goods amounting to over 5 per cent of the whole. So here we have in the United States this mechanism of production that has revolutionized industry, and a world condition that makes it neces- sary that we should consume 95 per cent of the product if it is to be con- sumed. I think that I am approximately ac- curate when I make the statement that 80 per cent of the consumers in the United States are the wage earners and their dependents, so that this 80 per cent must have a very vital part to play in whether this marvelous mechanism of production and this cap- ital invested in plants and in machin- ery can be operated profitably, because if it cannot be, if we do not have a con- suming market which will take up 95 per cent of our industrial product, then we have been building a house of cards which must collapse. Let us see what happened. Be- tween the years 1922 and 1929 when this application of science to industry enabled industry to increase the vol- ume of manufactured product by 17 billion dollars, the dividends paid by all corporations in the United States increased two and a half billion dol- lars. So much for the production and its profits. Now labor—the man pow- er necessary to this production and also this 80 per cent of the consuming market—how did it fare? Between 1923 and 1929 the total volume of wages paid in our manu- facturing industries decreased $300,- 000,000. The total volume of wages paid all types of labor reached their peak in 1926. They stayed at a fairly even amount for about a year, and in the summer of 1927 the total volume of wages paid in the United States grew less and less, so that in 1928, the boom year of them all, the total vol- ume of wages paid in this country was $649,000,000 less than in 1927. This depression has come about be- cause of such an economically un- sound distribution of wealth that the mass of the people were able to con- sume but a small part of what our (Turn to Page 30) 10 THE AMERICAN TEACHER The Teachers Union in a New Social Order Anniversary Address New York Teachers Union UsT BEFORE I left England, some J three weeks ago, I found a tele- gram from Dr. Linville which I could only regard as peremptory in character. And I agreed to obey its instructions for one very simple rea- son: | remember the foundation of the Teachers Union in New York. I re- member the atmosphere in which it was received, the sense that this was a dan- gerous and a wicked organization, the purpose of which was to introduce propaganda into the schools, and the end of which, undoubtedly, would be merely to protect the vested interests of teachers in an occupation which was in any case a nuisance. I doubted. Mr. Chairman, in 1916 whether the Teach- ers Union would survive. I doubted that because, speaking as a teacher to teachers, we are members of a shabby genteel profession, and the one object of all objects that we set before our- selves is to maintain our gentility in the face of public criticism. And | thought, as I know the profession to which I belong, the individual desire to be respectable will triumph over the corporate obligation to be useful. And it is because you have survived these fifteen years, and because one can measure in a real and in a coherent way the quality of the work you have done, that I have come here, if I may, to pay to you in general, and to Dr. Linville in particular, the tribute of my warm congratulation. Mr. Chairman, I want, if I may, to make some observations about the teacher’s work, not in relation to Amer- ica, of which now, alas, I know littie or nothing, nor in relation to Great Britain, about which in a heretic audi- ence I would not speak, but in relation to a place called Utopia which lies always on the fringe of what we can achieve if we only have the courage and the will and the determination to achieve it. Now, Mr. Chairman, what is the business of a teacher in a world like our world, and what could a teacher do if he or she really set himself or herself to the essence of the task that is possible? I received a classical education, and you must forgive me accordingly if I go back to the fountain of all inspira- tion, the Greek World, for the thesis that I want to put forward. “First of Professor Harold J. Laski all,” said Antiphon, the Sophist, “I place education.” And Plato in, I thing, the Fifth Book of the Republic, said that his test of the state was this simple test of whether in it the min- ister for education was more impor- tant than the minister for war. Those are, Mr. Chairman, my two tests, and by those tests a civilization either stands or falls. What is our business as teachers? Our first busi- ness as I conceive it, is to make those whom we teach skeptical of the foun- dations of the social order to which we belong. There is no greater danger in any generation than the tendency of all of us to confound the institutions to which we have grown accustomed with the necessary foundations of soci- ety. And if our children go out of the schools and out of the colleges be- lieving, shall I say, that the constitu- tion of Utopia was the greatest work ever struck off at a single moment by the mind of man, is it not unlikely that necessary change, when _ necessary change becomes essential, will be more difficult of access and more impossible of application, when the children leave your hands and my hands? Are they doubtful of our wisdom? Do they be- lieve that we are probably wrong? Are they prepared to be tolerant of our beliefs? Are they eager to insist that they can make the world anew in their lifetime, and remold it nearer to the heart’s desire? Or, do they come out of the schools feeling that after all, each of us is an egotistic person, that the attainment of material comfort is the greatest of all goals, and that if each of us properly follows his own self-interest, there is what Adam Smith called an invisible hand somehow mul- tiplying the competitive instincts of each one of us to the maximum good of us all? We rarely ask ourselves those ques- tions. We are prisoners of the routine and we think that if the child goes out into the world at large, knowing by heart the Utopian declaration of inde- pendence and realizing that it has no longer application to the immediate Utopian world, that all things are ‘well; that if the child has had just sufficient training not to be cheated over a shop counter, just sufficient power to read, to be able to go through without understanding the Utopian newspaper, just sufficient intelligence to have the results of educational train- ing counteracted by that propaganda (which I would define, if I may, as the art of deceiving vour friends, without being able quite to deceive your enemies) then we congratulate our- selves upon a great task nobly accom- plished. When teachers meet together in union their tendency is to empha- size the greatness of their task, but not sufficiently to emphasize the responsi- bilities that follow upon that task. And those responsibilities seem to me clear. This is a grim world about which we have to make our way at our peril. Every one of us to whom there comes a vision of how that world might be reshaped, or who has an inner and con- scious enthusiasm about that vision ard fails to communicate all that it implies to those whom he teaches, is a traitor to the vocation that we follow. I am not concerned, Mr. Chairman, whether the teacher is reactionary or radical, conservative or socialist. His business is to communicate his vision of the world as he sees that vision, and to stand by the consequences. It is only by the shock of a mind that gen- uinely believes impinging upon the mind that is eager to receive, that the teacher’s work can be done, and my difficulty as I meet teachers of my own profession is their satisfaction with the routine, their patience with public and official dogma, their refusal to examine, their acceptance of things as they are. In the Ninth Inferno of Dante, the very base of that Ninth Inferno, there will ultimately be found the teachers who were satisfied with things as they are, and in my judg- ment, Mr. Chairman, will rightly be so found there. The longer I live, the longer I teach, the more I realize what an endless opportunity is in our hands. Of course, we can’t do all that we should wish to do; not even the great- est of teachers, Morris Cohen, Felix Frankfurter, John Dewey—to take only three of the most outstanding of living Americans—of course, the great teacher measured by what needs to be achieved can only be conscious of abysmal failure. But the teacher who watches the operations of the school board in the capital city of Utopia and feels that it is not his business to inter- cated tio cla tu are an ere thi we fyi twe of wel Th all. whi orig sign that wri OcTOBER, 1931 fere because he might lose his job, that teacher fails to understand every- thing for which the profession to which he belongs exists. I have gathered from Dr. Linville that there are teachers in New York who are not happy about the associa- tion of the teaching profession in New York with trade unionism in America. Trade unionism consists of manual workers, hard, grim men earning at one period of American history such large wages, living such ample lives, the teacher feels out of accord with the purposes for which trade unionism stands. Was it not Benjamin Franklin who said that unless we hang together we shall hang separately? There is no room in a world like our world for teachers who want to be merely indi- vidual without a sense of that unity and oneness, teacher with teacher, out of which strength derives. Don’t you think that the misgovernment of your schools is in large degree the outcome of the refusal of teachers to make themselves one and indivisible, to stand so firmly upon the basis of vocational right, as to refuse access to political influence, or religious influence, or social influence, into the schools with whose destiny we are charged? Is it not clear that in the large, and granted all the difficulties and defec- tiveness, that the interest of the teach- ing profession is the same as the inter- est of the working class in this coun- try? You can be sure that the middle class, and the upper class will take care of themselves. They maintain their power very largely by a monopolization of knowledge; they maintain their power very largely because the con- sciousness of the strength that the working class possesses is a conscious- ness that can come only from educa- tion, and the majority of the working class is not given that education out of which a consciousness of power even- tually emerges. You, like ourselves, are divided into the two nations of rich and poor. Those two nations live dif- erent lives. Men who live differently think differently, and this common- wealth of America, like the common- wealth of Great Britain, has no uni- fying principle of common interest be- tween class and class in the community of which we are a part. We are not welded together into a genuine unity. There is not equal consideration for all. There is not even a thought that equal consideration was the basis upon which your commonwealth in_ its origins was founded. And until the significance of the historic documents that define the American tradition are written into the fabric of American in- stitutions, the teacher who does not realize that affiliation with labor is the basis of the future of his profession, does not know the purpose for which teaching exists. I add to that head, Mr. Chairman, one other observation. I know that neutrality is attractive. I know that when one approaches a problem from a non-political aspect, that one generally means, particularly in America, that one is going to strive to be reasonably impartial about it. But with teachers my own general experience has been that when a teacher emphasizes the neutrality that he feels about a particular subject of popular discussion, that means one of two things—it either means that he cares nothing whatever about the sub- ject, or it means that he cares most of all for the retention of his post. There is a remark in one of Cole- ridge’s Essays, that I would write over the entrance to every university and every public school. I give up the pri- vate schools as hopeless and useless for any serious purpose: “He who be- gins,’ says Coleridge, “by loving Christianity better than truth, will con- tinue by loving his sect or church bet- ter than Christianity, and will end by loving himself best of all.” The teacher who begins by loving his profession more than the truths for which that profession calls, will end by being useless to the ideal for which the profession stands. I am not asking that any teacher should go into a school or a university and preach Socialism or Communism, or conservatism, or the unadulterated glory of the business man. I am ask- ing only that he shall be critical about those hypotheses; that he should ex- plain that it is possible, for example (1 don’t want in any way to be extreme), but that it is possible that men have served America more greatly than Mr. Rockefeller or even the Secretary for the Treasury. Possibly, Mr. Chairman, I should like to see the teacher emphasize to the children in the schools that if one puts forward the nation to which one be- longs as the embodiment of unending, and for others unattainable good, he is a traitor to that large humanity, by which all nationalities will in the end be judged. I come from a civilization that at the moment treads the very edge of the abyss. In Germany, in Italy, in Poland, in Spain, in Rou- mania, in Portugal you feel the sense wherever you travel of being on the very verge of disaster. May I put the implication that con- veys to me in concrete form, that in a choice between the approach for teach- 11 ing purposes of that situation between the attitude, let us say, of Professor Einstein and the attitude of the Daugh- ters of the American Revolution, it seems to me that the teacher has no choice; that unless in those years of school and college we can make the use of peace seem the greatest, the most ro- mantic, the most creative of adventures to the next generation, we shall fail in the vital purpose that lies before us; and that the only way in which that end can be attained is by making the young man go out of school, or college, believing that the first obligation is to conscience, and that the obligation to the United States of America, comes very long after the obligation to con- science, that it is, if I may say so with- out fear of deportation, a very bad second in all the historic circumstances. When I first came to America some fifteen years ago, I read the works, then to me largely unknown, of Tho- reau, and I found an essay of Thoreau on the duty of civil disobedience, which I am tempted, Mr. Chairman, to say is, as an essay, the most admirable embod- iment of the basis of the teacher’s creed of anything that I know. And out of my memories of that essay there comes to me one sentence that I venture to commend to you. “In atime of injus- tice,” said Thoreau, “the place of a just man is also in prison.” It seems to me that we ought to keep that frankly and stoutly before our minds. What does it mean to fulfill the teacher’s function as civic obliga- tion? The answer has been set out for this generation of you in America as for us in England, in unmistakable, and unforgettable terms. If when the teacher’s crisis comes he acts as Professor Frankfurter acted in the Sacco-Vanzetti Case, then he is entitled to say that as a teacher he was worthy of the vocation to which he was called. But if in a crisis of that kind he feels that it might damage the endowment fund the school or college is trying to raise, or that it will make him unavailable for the superintend- ency that is around the corner, or that it may lead to his being questioned by boards of trustees or what not, the teacher who thinks along those lines is a teacher who does not understand what teaching is, because he does not respect himself. If people do not re- spect themselves, how can they expect those for whom they are responsible in any basic sense to respect them? And may I say this: I have been questioned in my time by boards of trustees. I don’t know any more heartening experience. You derive (Turn to Page 24) reo , mon =D TUMNGD CO Pee Rae eB t * Fis {| "4 a) Me. *Teacnen’ tes CaAttinogy MAY © ue ae { vs “ te ‘ t THE AMERICAN TEACHER The American Federation of Teachers Protests Salary Cuts The Chicago Situation HE TrEACHER Unrons of Chi- cago have been fighting a series of economy raids on the Education Fund this summer. Owing to a badly managed property reassess- ment begun three years ago, no taxes were collected in Cook County for over two years, and the overdue taxes of those years are being very slowly paid because of the present general financial depression. The result is a Board of Education functioning prac- tically without funds. The situation, so far as the teachers are concerned, is further aggravated by the fact that the banks and city administration are completely hostile to this Board, be- cause it was appointed during the pre- vious political regime. The teachers, who are the innocent victims of this political impasse, have had. no money since April, and the Scrip which the Board has issued in lieu of cash has almost no market, be- cause, without the endorsement of the banks, the merchants generally cannot afford to accept it. The Board is, therefore, confronted by an unbalancable budget; and one desperate but well-intentioned Board member after another has sought a so- Dorothy Weil lution of the insoluble through the recommendation of economy measures. Before giving an account of the ef- forts of the teachers to protect the educational interests of the schools, it ought to be said, unequivocally, that there is no real solution of the finan- cial muddle short of a special session of the State Legislature where, it is expected, new revenue measures will be passed in exchange for which tax anticipation warrants, now unsalable, will find a market. None of the pro- posed economy measures is in any real sense a solution of the Board’s finan- cial problems, yet each one can none the less seriously retard the educa- tional well-being of the schools, or badly undermine their morale. The first economy proposal came as a result of an audit company’s survey. It recommended drastic savings in the Education Department to be effected by curtailment, particularly, of the so- called “automatic” salary increases of teachers, which are regular salary in- crements on a ten-year salary schedule. The Locals of the American Fed- eration of Teachers and other teacher groups, in their hearings before the Board, argued so effectively that this loss was not merely a reduction for the current year, but a cumulative loss amounting, in the case of the newly assigned teacher, to hundreds of dol- lars, and would bring about as well an incalculable loss in morale, that the proposal was effectively tabled at the time, and a further survey, particu- larly of the business and building de- partments (which were the only ones where extravagance or irregularity had been charged) was ordered. Meantime the proposal to pay in scrip was before the Board for adop- tion, and the teachers vigorously op- posed it, knowing that it would bring practically no financial relief to them. Since its adoption their position has been modified ; they now advise mem- bers whose creditors will accept it to procure it for them. Creditors who can afford to hold the paper have, in some cases, preferred scrip to non- payment, which is their only alterna- tive. On the week of June 29 to July 5th, while the American Federation of Teachers National Convention was in session in Chicago, the Governor's Revenue Commission began sessions to determine measures for financial ee os & «2 66 oe oh 2 o8 . 2 jG wees oe a2 ——_Ww YS Se 1931 OcTOBER, relief. A parade was organized from the National Convention to the com- mission sessions in which placards, ex- plaining the financial plight of the teachers who had been unpaid at that time for over two months, received wide publicity both through newspaper photo- graphs and moving- pictures that went throughout the coun- try. The next economy § proposal was an in- (7 crease in size of classes. Chicago, in (4° this respect, is already so much worse than most other cities, with its average of 46 pu- pils in the elementary school, 35 in the jun- ior high and 30 in the senior high, that, with the protests of civic leaders, and with ex- cellent newspaper publicity, the proposal killed itself be- fore the hearing on it opened. The third proposal for saving nearly a million dollars was that the teachers should give a week’s service without compensation. In reply the teachers pointed out that this was in effect a Po st Frocen pai tn ans oan Fe ay 21% per cent cut, and that the reduc- tion in cost of living brought forward to justify it did not apply to the teach- ers who had not had the proportionate rise in salary during the boom. They TEACHERS _ CALENDAR. MAY %4, Surprise JUNE NZ, Dismay SULY 40.24 Coesheme AUG 102 Disaster Sepr ae Cometqen: t, £ rise , ae a e yh acs Why wal sas? | PCM AY Bessiny At STR au rive Funo / were able to show that while teachers’ salaries had increased 33 points over those of 1914, that the cost of living, according to the latest available gov- ernment figures with all possible re- ductions, was still 42.5 points higher than the living costs of 1914. 13 Throughout their protests the teach- ers had emphasized the fact that the Educational Department was the last, rather than the first, place to recom- mend cuts, and had called on the Board for a program of sim- ilar and equivalent economies in other de- partments. The an- swer was a complete program of cuts pre- | sented for the Edu- cational, Legal, and Business Depart- ments. Twenty-five items in the Educa- talled $1,717,015, and nine items in_ the Business Department, to offset these, totalled $1,875,850. This en- tire program of econ- omies, except the dropping of 45 tem- porary assistant en- gineers and the dona- tion of a week’s serv- tional Department to- ice by employees, was passed on July 28. The Union teachers have requested a hearing before the Governor’s com- mission to present a case against un- wise petty economies, and in favor of far-reaching remedial legislative re- form. Britishers Want Their Pay Too Joint Manifesto by the National Union of Teachers and the Educational Institute of Scotland N DEFINING the attitude of teachers I towards the proposal of the Na- tional Government for effecting econ- omies in the education service, the Na- tional Union of Teachers of England and Wales and the Educational Insti- tute of Scotland, representing 165,000 teachers in Great Britain, take their stand on the principle of equality of sacrifice to which homage has repeat- edly been paid ty the Prime Minister. As citizens they will be prepared to meet the national emergency with pub- lic spirit and to bear their due share of the national burden distributed justly over the income of the whole nation whether earned or unearned. In deter- mining their contribution to the na- tional sacrifice necessary to meet a financial crisis that is admittedly tem- porary they demand that Parliament shall deal with them on the basis of their citizenship and not on the basis of reduction in their standard rates of Salary as public servants merely because their earnings are easily accessible to the Government. They decline to accept the findings of the Economy Committee as.an em- bodiment of the principle of equality of sacrifice, and they protest against the action of the May Committee in using the Economy Report as the in- strument of a savage attack upon edu- cation and the professional position of teachers. The budgetary deficiency is estimated by the Economy Committee to be £120,000,000. That represents 3 per cent of the national income. The application of the principle of equality of sacrifice cannot possibly justify the proposal of the May Committee to cut down the salaries of teachers by 20 per cent, to which would be added other demands which as citizens they would be compelled to meet. The recom- mendations of the Committee were ar- rived at without the evidence of a sin- gle representative of the teachers being invited and on the basis of incomplete and inaccurate data. Teachers have not had a square deal from the May Committee. They look for a square deal from the National Government. It has been the proud boast of the schools of Great Britain that they have made a valuable contribution to the de- velopment of the character of the peo- ple and to the social security of the na- tion. It is the desire of the teachers of Great Britain to continue to make their contribution to orderly progress and social solidarity, but the performance of this important task will be made increasingly difficult, if not impossible, should the National Government im- pose upon the schools the crippling restrictions recommended in the Econ- omy Report or inflict upon teachers so vindictive a reduction of their earnings. Teachers claim to be dealt with by the National Government in accordance with the principles of justice and equity (Turn to Page 25) 14 High Lights The Program of American Federation of Teachers. President Mary Barker E ARE HERE to represent teachers Wi. we shall consider the inter- ests of teachers. Many matters which develop out of our work will be con- sidered. Sut our conception of the teacher at work in the world brings us immedi- ately into the whole wide field of ed- ucation, with all its social implications. The teacher is just one member of the cast in the drama that plays perpet- ually upon the stage set for youth. All that goes on there is interrelated, commands our interest, and demands our attention. of the American Fed- eration of Tea. rs, however, the in- terest of the teaci... and education are not enough. We are here, too, as workers and we shall concern our- selves about the problems of work- ers. We are members of the American Federation of Labor not be- cause we are teachers, but because we are workers, and because we perceive that all workers have a common inter- est and need a common program. But the worker’s interest is not com- pletely comprehended in a program strictly for workers. The welfare of society at large is bound up with his: welfare. Yes, more, the common wel- fare requires that the worker be suf- ficiently class conscious to recognize his group as one of the keys to the progress of man. It is necessary for the worker to direct group action to protect society from the exploitation of the weak by the strong, with the consequent brutalization of both the weak and the strong. Nobody can do this but the worker. Others can help, but unless the workers organize their forces to hold in balance the forces that are organized for production and profit, a machine age will annihilate rather than release the powers in man that should be directed into new fields of endeavor. So we of the American Federation of Teachers are doing our best work when we realize our larger interest as well as our more immediate concerns, and act upon the premise that ours is a teacher’s program, an educational program, a labor program, and a pro- gram in the interest of the general welfare. For membe' PRESIDENT Mary BARKER Civic Responsibility of American Federation of Teachers Epwarp BERMAN HE American Federation of Teach- g ipod of which I have had the recent honor of becoming a meinber, it seems to me, must serve as a vanguard of American teachers in general in this If the teachers in the public not have the social con- matter. schools do sciousness, the facts which will enable them to know what the situation realiy is, then it is up to the American Fed- eration of Teachers to do what can be done to get across those ideas. ‘The American Federation of Teachers ful- fills a very high aim indeed, by being Trade Unionists in principle ; but some of the noblest things that the Trade Union Movement in this country has done have not been Trade Unionist. They have gone out and worked for social legislation for the improvement of social matters. Until every organ- ization in the American Labor Move- ment comes to see, in addition to the very important business of improving their own job security and increasing their own wages, the wider problems of our society, it seems to me that we will have in certain branches here and there a very restrictive kind of Trade Unionism. THE AMERICAN TEACHER o f Unemployment Among Teachers Report of Legislative Committee ABRAHAM LEFKOw!I'z, Chairman > po ACUTENESS of the unemploy- ment situation is felt by teach- ers almost as much as by the in- dustrial workers. Many boards of education have taken advantage of the growing unemployment to decrease the salaries of teachers, and to deny them their automatic increases, thus demon- strating not only their lack of states- manship but their inability to envisage the social and humanitarian considera- tions involved. We believe that teacher unemploy- ment gives our boards of education an unusual opportunity for the exercise of the highest statesmanship. ‘The first duty of such statesmanship is to make education more effective by re- ducing over-large classes to manage- able units, by providing for special coaching to reduce retardation, thus giving employment to thousands of unemployed teachers, trained at great public expense. Second, educational leaders have an unusual opportunity to raise educational standards, thus securing the best possible available teaching material, and, what is equally important, by maintaining wage stand- ards make teaching especially attrac- tive. Third, raising the school leaving age to 16 and the Continuation School age to 18 years, will not only make possible the best physical and mental development of the chilren, but afford adults suffering from unemployment an opportunity to earn enough to tide them over this period of unusual de- pression. Fourth, training schools should adopt a more selective program of admission, so that all of their grad- uates measure up to the highest stand- ards of the teaching profession. Fifth, school authorites should make a scientific survey to ascertain the teach- ing needs of a community for a period of time and by the selective method train enough to satisfy community needs. Sixth, liberalizing maternity, sabbatical and other leaves will pro- vide greater employment opportunities for licensed teachers waiting for regu- lar appointment. Let educational statesmanship show how intelligence applied to so great a social problem as unemployment speeds recovery and the return of prosperity. tic er ar lat an SO id ni: ni; wl th: rig co! cia tea ty, 0- u- aal ce nd OcTOBER, 1931 The Convention Positive Health BertTHA FURGUSON HE public schools of America have Tie many long years been accus- tomed to consider that their main re- sponsibility for children was the intel- lectual side—that is, in the lesson-learn- ing and the lesson-repeating processes —and they have been concerned very with that. forced to largely Whenever they were recognize behavior which disturbed the purposes of the school, they would look at the child in a very superficial manner and apply some sort of treatment, which largely came in the form of punishment. That is to say, if the chi'd became a nui- sance, there were certain rudimentary treatments applied to him; but in a very short time he would be turned over to some agency, such as the juve- nile court, without very much com- punction on the part of the school. Probably that could not be helped. I do not believe that we took enough time to work with behavior, outside of what we called the intellectual, but we are now being required to take time. Society is asking the school to become responsible for more than the merely intellectual. The school has been de- scribed very well, I think, as a relay station in which first signs of devia- tion from all kinds of health, both physical and mental, may be discov- ered; early deviations which, if they are uncorrected in children, produce later in life, dependency, delinquency, and all kinds of failure to adjust in socia! relationships. The school is an ideal place for commencing to recog- nize the danger signals. I think that teachers frequently have not recog- nized the signs; they did not know what they meant. Now we are com- mencing to recognize them; more than that, we are commencing to treat them right within the public school. It is commencing to extend not only to spe- cial teachers, but to the classroom teacher also. The American Federation of Teach- ers has, for years, been committed to a positive health program. For years we have been “whereasing” and “re- solving.” This year we feel that we must go beyond the “whereasing” and the “resolving,” and we are asking that every local Health Committee. form a Positive The Challenge of the Disarmament Conference LAURA PuFFER MorGAN HE General Disarmament Confer- jie for the Limitation and Re- duction of Land, Sea, and Air Arma- ments is called to in February, 1932, with some fifty or sixty nations in attendance. It is doubtful whether we in this country have any conception of the importance of this conference or what it may mean to the world. This conference, while | think it has in general created no great interest in the United States, is really dominating the international situation in the rest of the world, certainly in Europe. At the last meeting of the Preparatory Disarmament Commission, both the German delegate, Count von Bernstorff, and the English delegate, Lord Cecil, called attention to the fact that this con- ference furnished probably the last op- portunity for the nations of the world to reduce their armaments. That was a very ominous remark on the part of these statesmen. They feel that if at this next conference the nations do not succeed in making a beginning toward drastic reduction of armaments, it may retard the whole question of interna- tional cooperation, and will put the question of reduction of armaments back probably for a decade and pos- sibly for a generation. That is the serious way in which European states- men are looking at this thing. In fact, Lord Cecil said, ““The conference must succeed. If it should fail, the conse- quences are too serious to contem- plate.” Now what does this mean to us? Every stucesman who has made public speeches regarding this conference has said that the success of the conference will be due to public opinion in the va- rious countries, will be due to the de- mand that the people of the country make upon their own governments. Therefore, there comes a challenge to all those of us who have to do with the creation of public opinion. It is our job as teachers, if we are inter- ested in the maintenance of a world community the necessity of which has become increasingly evident this year, to help toward the creation of the pub- lic opinion. meet at Geneva Academic Freedom Report of Committee on Academic Freedom Henry R. Linvitie, Chairman HE members of the Committee on fp tere Freedom agree first of all that one of its endeavors should be to help all teachers to realize the im- portance of freedom in teaching as a condition necessary to good teaching itself, and indispensable to the de- velopment of professional character among teachers. The policy of the American Associa- tion of University Professors is to tie up the idea of Academic Freedom with Tenure, and to think of the right to express views and to discuss contro- versial questions as being involved sim- ply and solely with the right of the teacher to hold his job after that dis- cussion has been carried on. We feel that we want to stress freedom in teaching as a condition necessary to education itself and not so much as being tied up with whether the teacher can hold his job. During the year several cases involv- ing freedom in teaching have received public notice. Some of these cases in- volve the right of teachers of known capacity and distinction to express opinions on current issues in public affairs, either in their relations as teach- ers or citizens taking part in public discussions. The harm done to the rep- utation of distinguished professors is as nothing compared with the fear in- spired among younger teachers, and harm to the colleges themselves, by the arbitrary acts of autocratic or reaction- ary boards in colleges and schools. The Committee does not wish to in- dicate that nothing should be done about the younger teachers’ cases which come up and are settled, without knowledge practically, by the mere can- celling of their tenure, which does not extend beyond a year. ;We feel that boards of trustees are perfectly satis- fied with the continuance of the situa- tion which establishes fear in the mind of the younger teachers, because that is the only way the status quo can be maintained. Without thinking some- times at all, these boards of trustees fear anything that seems to be new or that raises an issue in social or eco- nomic problems ; and so through advice of older teachers and through a recog- nition of the danger involved in ex- pressing views or permitting the dis- (Turn to page 25) 16 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Democracy in Education American Federation of Teachers Organized April 15, 1916 Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor EXECUTIVE COUNCIL President Henny R. Linvitte, New York Local 5; 70 Fifth Ave., New York, N. Y. Secretary-Treasurer FLorENCE Curtis Hanson, Chicago Local 3; 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, III. Legislative Representative and Vice-President Se.MA M. Borcuarpt, Washington Local 8; 1741 Park Road, N. W., Washington, D. C. Associate Secretary and Vice-President Lucre WarinG ALLEN, Chicago Local 3; 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. Vice-Presidents Mary C. Barker, Atlanta Local 89; 685 Myrtle Street, N. E., Atlanta, Ga. Amy Fox, Minneapolis Local 59; 906 W. 42nd Street, Minneapolis, Minn. ABRAHAM Lerxkowi1Tz, New York Local 5; 10414 27th Ave., East Elmhurst, Corona, New York, N. Y. A. J. Muste, Brookwood Local 189; Brookwood, Katonah, N. Y. BerRNIcE Rocers, Cambridge Local 195; 20 A. Prescott Street, Cambridge, Mass. FLORENCE Roop, St. Paul Local 28; 372 St. Peter Street, St. Paul, Minn. W. B. SATTERTHWAITE, Seattle Local 200; 1837 12th Ave., West, Seattle, Wash. E. E. ScawArRzTRAUBER, Wisconsin University Local 223; 130 Breese Terrace, Madison, Wis. W. J. Scorr, Atlanta Local 89; 212 Kings Highway, Decatur, Ga Mary Barker Mary Barker has served the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers as presi- It was with deepest regret that the convention this dent for seven years. year heeded her plea, repeated each convention for three years, that the When health, heavy work, personal responsi- bilities and weariness have forced her to beg for release, we have said, Not yet—this year it can not be. And each year she has put aside her personal desire and yielded to the general be- lief that for the good of the organiza- tion she must accept the charge for another year. That this belief has prevailed to such an extent as to force us to ask this when we knew it was hardly fair, is sufficient evidence of the value of her service. Nothing we can say can add to that testimony. But the mem- ory of the years of contact with her quiet dignity, gracious tact, coura- geous thought and wise counsel will not permit that we allow this retire- ment to pass without an expression, inadequate though it may be, of our admiration, our gratitude and our re- gret. We are confident that we express the universal feeling when we say we sincerely hope that the thought of the regard in which she is held and the sense of a responsibility splendidly met may be some recompense for the sacrifices she has made. leadership pass to another. Organization No theme had deeper appeal for the delegates to the Fifteenth Convention than Organization. It seemed to per- vade every session, no matter what subject was on the program. As Barbara McGlynn told her story of the fight for tenure of our new locals in the Pennsylvania coal dis- tricts, we felt such pride in their spirit, their fighting skill and their all around pluck, that we said certainly these lo- cals were worth any sacrifice. Miss Mann’s account of the splendid work of our great Atlanta local in ex- tending our organization among the teachers of the smaller communities of Georgia, was a challenge to other strong locals. Mary Mason Jones’ impressive re- cital of the help her people had found in their affiliation with us as they strive against double odds for better educa- tional advantages for their race, made us humbly proud. Mr. Satterthwaite’s plea for throw- ing the whole strength of the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers into an organization campaign, backed as it was with a story of courage and sacri- fice, became the dominating note of the Convention. No mandate to the Executive Council was more impera- tive than that it make organization the chief objective of the year. THE AMERICAN TEACHER wishes, in its first issue of the year, to place before the entire membership the Or- ganization Resolution passed by the Convention, and to ask that it be read at an early meeting of each local. Wuereas, During the past year new evi- dence has been forced on the attention of teachers that unfavorable conditions in one school system are frequently used as a justi- fication of bad conditions in other systems, thus thwarting efforts toward betterment, and extending the evil effects of bad cond tions ; and Wuenreas, The present period of depres- sion and chaotic economic conditions is one conducive to the lowering of existing stand- ards and the introduction of new wrongs; and Wuereas, During such periods of stress teachers feel most keenly their helplessness in the face of adverse conditions and of or- ganized economic and political power, ané tend to be receptive to the idea of self-help through organization, be it Resolved, That the Fifteenth Annual Cor vention of the American Federation o Teachers pledge the resources of the organi zation to renewed efforts to extend to the unorganized teachers of America a moft effective knowledge of the benefits of orgati- zation, and to call on all members, both # individuals and as groups to make suc sacrifices as shall insure an organization campaign commensurate with the needs and the opportunities of the time. of ier es, ace the 2ad | of one isti- mS, ent, ndi- res- one and- ress ness or- help Con: 1 of , the more h a8 such ation ; and OcTOBER, 1931 17 Education for Democracy Social Science in the Schools Believing that high school students should have a knowledge of economics to fit them for the solution of the problems of this na- ture that may arise in future years, when they have become factors in the economic life of the country, Inspector Frank Gorman, at the Board of Education meeting last Tues- day, urged that economics be made a com- pulsory study and necessary for graduation. “The teaching of economics in our high schools,” he said, “I believe, will prove of inestimable value, and should replace one of the present elective subjects of the school’s curriculum. Such a move will furnish our boys and girls with facts that will serve to prevent, in the future, such debacles as the Stock Market Crash, the exploitation of the public in real estate booms, such as was wit- nessed in Florida lands and the Boulder Dam proposition. Knowledge of economics surely would have served as a bulwark against such intriguing allurements, regardless of the roseate hues used in their portrayals.” “The suggestion offered is a forward step,” said Inspector John H. Webster, “and one that immediately should become effective, if for no cther reason than to help keep future generations from becoming entangled in the meshes cf economic depressions in time to come. Tcday, we have the lesson for the necessity cf such study, and as we wallow in the maz? of futile «ffcrt, seeking some sane remedy io cure a str: ‘en world, it is manda- tory that we so prepare our children that they will be ably fitted to prevent any such a recurrence in future years.” The Board voted unanimously in favor of the proposition —Detroit Labor News. This news from Detroit is good news. We trust it may herald a wider introduction of Economics as a re- quired study in our schools. The so- cial sciences have had too great diffi- culty in making their way into the cur- ricula of our high schools, and stu- dents are graduated every year from technical colleges without a single unit of college grade in social science. The traditional high school course is crowded, and it is held in status quo by traditional college entrance re- quirements. There seems to be no place for this half approved newcomer. In thousands of our public school sys- tems no requirement in social science exists except a semester of Civil Gov- ernment in the senior year of the high school; in thousands more, only this and a semester or two of United States History. Invaluable as are these courses in fitting the few who take them for their place as citizens in a democracy, they do little to acquaint our young people with the economic system into which they are entering which will determine their wellbeing and happiness far more than will the political system. ‘Miss Barker in her challenging con- vention address called upon the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers to make “social science and more social science” its curriculum slogan. “Once again,” she says, “a great catastrophe emphasizes the fact that our civilization is a one-sided develop- ment, that knowledge of the natural sciences and inventions has advanced more rapidly than knowledge and ap- preciation of the social sciences. How else can we interpret the helplessness of this great country in the midst of what we call a world depression? How else can we interpret the helplessness and the apparent stupidity of those who have the power to direct and as- sure relief from the devastating unem- ployment situation with its train of ills from human wreckage? Crime, disease, arrested development, grief, scars of all sorts of emotional derange- ment and demoralization of the spirit of man will be the heritage of our people for generations. The tech- nique of the machine has been devel- oped to what purpose? To increase man’s ability to exploit his fellows? “To fight a world war the directing genius of the nation was organized almost te a man within a few months; but to fight starvation and the accumu- lated evils of our economic wars, we have no method, we do not know what to do. No West Point or Annapolis for training in the social sciences has been set up to train men for that serv- ice. Every man to himself in that field and survive who can. If here and there a few thinkers and leaders have arisen they have found the inertia of ignorance in the masses so great as to preclude the development of enough public sentiment to induce legislative action. People have not learned to think in social terms. Education’s lack is the teacher’s responsibility.” Every local in our organization should respond to this challenge with a study of the situation in its own sys- tem and a definite planned campaign to awaken a public sentiment which will demand action similar to this of the Detroit board. College and univer- sity locals should look to the require- ments of their school. The farsighted plan of one principal who made a re- quirement of an extra year of social science, including elementary econom- ics, in his school, was largely frus- trated by the college entrance require- ments. It was found that the graduates of his school got to college with too much social science! So the extra year was first made optional, and then dis- couraged. (Fortunately its popular- ity with the students has kept the course alive.) May the day come soon when the colleges shall remodel their require- ments to set them in line with the needs of the time, or when school boards shall say we have given our students the education this day demands, refuse them if you dare! Jobless Crowd Retraining Schools Long waiting lists of unemployed men and women wishing to enter classes are the re- sult of the Board of Education’s offer to give them vocational retraining. Although more than 1,000 unemployed adults, ranging in age from 17 to 60, are enrolled in the two voca- tional retraining schools operated by New York City, there is a waiting list of 104 women in one class alone—bookkeeping—and equally large numbers await entrance into other classes. Among those enrolled in the courses are jobless musicians, seamen, car- penters, machinists and mothers with de- pendent families. This planless rush of the helpless unemployed for retraining should open all eyes to the need for industrial plan- ning and vocational guidance for adults. Whether this retraining of- fered on a small scale can do anything except shift the unemployed from one overcrowded occupation to another is extremely doubtful. The knowledge of the almost certain tragedy awaiting many of these victims of our economic stupidity makes us realize that the ed- ucational system is guilty at many points of stupidity just as great. A profession whose objective is sup- posedly human betterment rather than commercial profit should direct its best energies during this period of hu- man bewilderment to an intelligent so- lution of the problems of readjust- ment. We are justifiably censorious of the inadequacy of economic “ex- perts” who seem helpless before the problems in their field. The flocking of the unemployed in every large cen- ter to the various types of opportu- nity schools is a challenge to educa- tional statesmen to prove their compe- tence in this national emergency. 18 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Officers and Board of Directors of World Federation of Education Associations The Teachers of the World Meet Miss Selma Borchardt and Miss Ruth Hardy represented the American Feder- ation of Teachers at the Denver meet- ing. Copies of the resolutions adopted in Denver may be had from the office of the American Federation of Teachers. —Editor. r [ TEACHERS of the world met in Paris, in Stockholm and in Denver and redetermined their course in the promotion of interna- tional good will through education. In Paris, at the meeting of Interna- tional Federation of Teachers of Sec- ondary Schools, the European federa- tion of secondary teachers, resolutions were adopted pledging this group to work for peace. In Stockholm the In- ternational Federation of Teachers As- sociations devoted one-half of its pro- gram to a consideration of military training and the serious menace this training is to creating peace-minded- ness in the youth of today. In Denver, the World Federation of Education Associations, the interna- tional body through which we are at present making our _ contribution, worked through its Herman-Jordan committees and through its sectional meetings. It gave earnest consideration to definite means and media through which hatreds may be eradicated, and Selma M. Borchardt a true sense of values given to children everywhere of the contributions which each national and racial group has made. We, the teachers, then are recogniz- ing that ours is a serious responsibility for the preservation of peace among men and among nations. We are teach- ers, true to our profession. We recog- nize now, more and more, that to the extent to which we assume our respon- sibility in insisting that the truth only be taught, and that a full, fair picture of all events national and international be presented in the classroom that we are meeting our responsibilities. And these international meetings were encouraging too, for they ap- proached definite problems in a definite way. In Denver, we considered some very definite questions. Why not have in the Polish schools the bilingual approach so ideally han- dled in Esthonia was a question pre- sented by the German delegates, which commanded attention. The discrimination in academic fields against the Jews, in Hungary, in Rou- mania, and in some of the Austria uni- versities was forcefully brought to us as a grave world-wide challenge to the advancement of learning. And true knowledge can have uo racial or na- tional limits set for it. With a German and French delegate speaking from the same platform we learned of the truly valiant work in the French schools, in their efforts to re- move from the textbooks all biased statements; all statements tending to produce hatreds, and unfriendly con- cepts of other peoples. In Japan, too, where a tremendously interesting work is going on in their schools—preserving the best of their age-old traditions, and introducing the valuable of the most modern methods of instruction—that there too a well-defined work is being done in redirecting into social channels the fighting impulses. And as a part of this work here, too, a revision of text- books is going on. We learned here, too, how the grave problems which have grown out of a world-wide attempt at postwar eco- nomic readjustment have brought to the schools everywhere a most serious problem. The teachers in the British Isles are confronted with an attempt to reduce their salaries 20 per cent. In many countries on the continent the cut (Turn to Page 31) atin kt ee a ok on CO CO ev Sia rey reg ori the OcTOBER, 1931 19 Between Autocracy and Democracy The Tragedy of the German Post-War School Policy —E GERMANS are well known in the world because of our talent to conform our ac- tions more to the mere metaphysical categories than to the empirical neces- sities of life. This tragic gift of na- ture may enable us on the one hand to conceive of new possibilities in what- ever branch of human work we at- tempt—often realized through our strong energy—but on the other hand it makes us unable to find the com- promise between the “Ideal and the Life’ (as our great national poet Schiller says). What we see in poli- tics, e.g., in considering the results of a monarchial system; in organization, in the military system; in technology, in the construction of the Zeppelin ; ap- pears also in the school organization of a former time; the realization of an idea through the Germanic obstinacy in following out some purpose. The school is always a political thing, says the Empress Maria Theresa. But never has a state endeavored as ob- stinately to carry out a purpose as did Prussia before the Great War in using the means offered by this sociological fact, the school, to establish its power. The school institutions are divided into two classes, separated by insur- mountable walls, the one for the lead- ing class (officers, superior employees), the other for the working class. What the two groups are learning is of lit- tle practical value for their respective life-tasks, but rather makes them either self-conscious or submissive to au- thority, given by God himself. The flower of German philosophy, influenced by the great idealistic edu- cator Wilhelm V. Humboldt, became the center of a real school cult with much incense that intoxicated the “eso- terics,” and at the same time separated them from the simple people who re- garded them with respect. The Knowledge of Greek and Roman cul- ture—evidently a republican culture! —served rather to give the feeling of an aristocratic style of life, contrast- ing generally with the real work of every day. The employee of the Prus- sian state was paid with vanity. Asa representative of the state he always regarded the “subjects” with superi- ority, if not with contempt. And these subjects themselves did not ex- pect any other attitude from the expo- Dr. Otto G. Tacke nents of the system, having learned in their numerous “religion lessons” that “whatever authority is, is from God.” The other type of schools, with practical aims—such as _ voca- tional schools—remained strangers to the original organization of instruc- tion: it is not the ministry of public instruction that here exercises the function of supervision! And a few months ago the plan to prolong the school time was wrecked, the two min- istries acting, of course, in different directions. The Prussian form of supervising the schools shows clearly the same ten- dencies. In the rural districts, the su- perintendent was the vicar or priest inspecting his schools and his teachers on behalf of the state, and with a min- imum of expertness; further, the provincial supervising centers had the conviction that they were the real “motors” and were responsible for the intellectual movements in the schools; and therefore the more noise and dust they made, the more they fulfilled their duty. It will be evident that the classroom teacher was infected with this spirit of authority. The children were his sub- jects; his authority was based upon his knowledge gained in his youth in a seminary, and given out to the series of generations without great changes. The children had to learn what the professor said, and the best pupil was he who had the best memory, and the least inclination to criticize. The psy- chological basis of this form of in- struction was the opinion that one can “tank” knowledge, as well as oil for future needs, and the method was lim- ited purely to matter capable of easy reproduction. The new idea of “struk- tur” had not yet been discovered. Psychological thinking was very ma- terialistic. No doubt, this Prussian and, in gen- eral, German school educational sys- tem has its greatness and can be re- garded as the typical autocratic and primitive system. But as soon as the cultural level is elevated by the prog- ress of civilization the spread of criti- cism cannot be suppressed by auto- cratic measures—although perhaps re- tarded—and therefore the first revo- lutionary tempest overthrows the pil- lars of the whole educational struc- ture. The beginnings of the democratic school movement in Germany were good. Conforming to the theoretical and speculative German mind, there had been for half a century a strong desire to bring school-practice into har- mony with the modern results of psy- chological research (Wundt, Neu- mann, Stern), and the teachers in ele- mentary schools as the intellectual rep- resentatives of the suppressed classes, had prepared the organization of the “unity school.” In the Constitution of Weimar we find the results of the long discussions between the professors and the political parties dealing with the creation of the German Republic on the ruins of the autocratic empire. And the proposals were excellent. Not only the combination of a reasonable nationalism—not chauvinism—with a sound internationalism was there, but also the idea that all branches of school instruction must remain in organic con- tact with each other. This can be rec- ommended as the first serious attempt to accommodate the school of today to the new world situation that cannot exist without democracy. Theoretically the selection of the best pupils is accomplished, not with regard to their social position, but only according to their talents. Nev- ertheless, the privileges of the ancient leading groups have not been extir- pated; their children prefer the sec- ondary schools and the consequence of the actual selection is a ridiculous over- crowding of these schools, with injury to the value of the school-work. We always have a pupil inflation in the secondary schools, and in consequence an evacuation of the Volksschule. One of the reasons explaining this inver- sion of what would be demanded by logic and by economic theory is the temporary annulment of one of the most important suggestions of the Con- stitution of Weimar: the economic power of large sections of the Ger- man population, and the abolition of school fees, at least immediately after the war. But now, as the privileges of the secondary school become worthless be- cause of their overcrowding, the strug- gle for a superior position in life be- gins, and the hopeless situation for so many families in the world crisis finds its expression in the enthusiasm shown (Turn to Page 31) Heard Round the World Goodwill Day oopwiLL Day assumed a deep significance this year when worldwide suffering and per- plexity is forcing all peoples to turn to each other for counsel and coopera- tion in meeting the crises that have confronted one nation after another. Thinking men of every nation and of every function, statesmen, educators, economists, financiers and business ex- perts, unite in their declarations that these crises are all phases of world problems which must be met by world understanding and unity. Many of these leaders recognize in the situation the need for an interna- tional-mindedness among the peoples of the nations which does not now ex- ist. Many recognize that it is largely a problem of the mind of youth, and that through the schools must come the solution. One of the most interesting and sig- nificant exercises of Goodwill Day was the “round-the-world” telephone con- versation between young people of many nations which was arranged by the World Federation of Education Associations in cooperation with the National Council for the Prevention of War. Senator William E. Borah, in com- pleting the arrangements to have this conversation carried on from the of- fices of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee room in the Capitol, gave the following statement to Miss Selma Sorchardt, representative of the World Federation, on the significance of the event : “The youth of this country must determine whether peace is to have a firm foundation and become a set- tled policy among the nations or whether it is to be the occasional visitor giving a period of rest and time preparatory for the war lords. If the belief so long entertained that force is the ultimate arbiter in inter- national affairs is to give way to the belief that all questions of national import are susceptible of peaceful adjustment, the work must begin with the young. We must build from the ground up. We can not depend upon diplomats and the ways cf governments, there must be or- ganized public opinion, and that must come through the education of the youth.” Goodwill Day Message of the Children of Wales “With a cheer we, boys and girls of Wales, once again greet you, the boys and girls of Europe, Asia, Africa, the Americas, and of the great lands of the southern seas. Today, Goodwill Day, 1931, we, in Wales, would especially remember the work of Dr. Nansen, who was a friend of every country, and who is a hero to the children of every nation. We believe, as Dr. Nansen be- lieved, that peace is the practice of ev- eryday friendliness between the peoples of the whole world. We, too, would set out on thisc high adventure of win- ning the world for peace. We hail to- day the victories that have been won. And, with you, we resolve to dedicate ourselves, mind, heart, and hand, from this day forward, to securing the greater triumphs still to come.” American Educators Honored by League of Nations Dr. Stephen P. Duggan, Director of the Institute of International Educa- tion, past Chairman of the Educational Committee of the League of Nations Association, has been appointed a member of the League of Nations’ Sub-Committee of Experts for the In- struction of Youth in the Aims and Organization of the League of Na- tions. This is a Sub-Committee of the League’s International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation, of which Sir Gilbert Murray is President. Dr. Duggan’s appointment was made by the Council of the League of Nations which met in January at Geneva. Miss Helen Clarkson Miller, pres- ent Chairman of the Educational Com- mittee of the League of Nations As- sociation, was named as substitute for Dr. Duggan in the event he should be unable to attend some of the Sub-Com- mittee’s meetings. The work of this Sub-Committee, authorized by the Sixth Assembly of the League in 1925, is admirably outlined in the As- sembly resolution: “to familiarize young people throughout the world with the principles and work of the League of Nations and to train the younger generation to regard interna- tional cooperation as the normal method of conducting world affairs.” The Teacher and World Peace “The teacher’s job is not primarily to build up international understanding; it is far bigger—to build up fine, un- derstanding personalities. War comes because of the kind of education which leads to misunderstanding.” This was the keynote of the Institute of International Relations for Educa- tors, held at Haverford College, Jure 22nd to July 3rd, under the auspices of the American Friends Service Com- mittee. The limit of enrollment had been set at 150, and this number was very nearly reached, there being an at- tendance of 140, although this was the first such institute held by the com- mittee. Full-time courses by Dr. Herbert Fraser, of Swarthmore College; Ed- ward W. Evans, of University of Pennsylvania, and Henry Cadbury, of Bryn Mawr, with Dr. Leyton Richards, of Carrs Lane Church, Birmingham, England, laid a solid foundation of fact in the economic, political, and spiritual problems of peace in our “civilization— the machinery of life.” Other lectur- ers, such as Professor Kilpatrick, of Columbia; Sidney Fay, of Harvard; Augustus O. Thomas, President of the World Federation of Education Asso- ciations, and Agnes MacPhail, only woman member of the Canadian Par- liament, gave special information, or set forth ways and means of creating attitudes of mind, especially the atti- tude which recognizes the world today as a single community, and armaments as “an expression of diseased interna- tional relations.” These students, who wished to help their pupils understand civilization, came from Canada, and from every part of the United States. Every age and every department of school work was represented, with a sprinkling of other workers among young people. Interested and enthusiastic to the last degree, these educator-students closed the sessions with a rousing cheer for the institute, and for the last speaker, Dr. Frazer, whose course was a feature of the sessions. There can be no doubt of the eager- ness of teachers for such expert advice and leadership as was offered at this institute. The Friends Service Con- mittee now plans to hold a simular it- stitute each year, to help teachers ™ their task of training the rising gener ation in world citizenship. THE AMERICAN TEACHER ard or t int sent the ders neet ader chil tenc 16 | chil sche chile visic and State chile thei of tl dans and mine g; n- eS ch ds, act aly ar- ng tti- lay nts elp on, ery ge OcTOBER, 1931 Living Wage Child Labor Cure LIVING WAGE for the father or A the chief wage earner is basic to the solution of the problem of child labor, says the child labor sec- tion of the White House Committee on Vocational Guidance and Child Labor. Its conclusions have just been printed by the Children’s Bureau. Ellen Nathalie Matthews, director of the industrial division of the Chil- dren’s Bureau, was chairman of this section of the White House Confer- ence Committee. Julia C. Lathrop, Frances Perkins, Samuel McCune Lindsay and Fred M. Wilcox were other members. These authorities agreed that child labor is “plainly in large measure a question of poverty.” Hence they urged that the nation solve the child labor problem by solving the problems of unemployment, farm economics and a living wage, “since an income earned by the chief wage earner of the family sufficient to maintain a decent stand- ard of living is basic to a normal so- lution of the problem of child labor as of other problems of child welfare.” No child under 16 should be permit- ted to leave school for work, according to the standards set up by the commit- tee, nor should boys and girls of 16 and 1? be allowed to enter occupations known to be physically or morally haz- ardous, or to work more than eight hours a day or forty-four hours a week, or to work at night. These standards, in the opinion of the committee, repre- sent the least that should be done in the light of present knowledge and un- derstanding of the mental and physical needs of the child and the adolescent. Among other recommendations are adequate methods of administration of child labor and compulsory school at- tendance laws; the prohibition of the manufacture of articles in the home; 16 as a desirable minimum age for child street sellers; the extension of school attendance requirements for the child workers in agriculture ; the super- vision of labor camps by state agencies and special school arrangements—with State aid if necessary—for migrant children, together with regulation of their living conditions ; the prohibition of the employment of young persons in dangerous occupations; and extended and increased compensation for injured minors, including additional compensa- America Increasing Educational Opportunities EDERAL Office of Edu- cation facts show that the average American boy or girl of 1931 receives two more years of schooling than the average boy or girl of 1914; that he is one of a class of 30 |} pupils, while his father’s 1910 class had 34 pupils; that his chances of going to high school, which were but | in 10 in 1900 are now fifty-fifty, and his chances of going to college are | in 6. tion for minors illegally employed and compensation based on future earning capacity for minors permanently in- jured. The establishment of a national mini- mum standard is advocated by the com- mittee, which declares that the control of child labor and the extension of education is one of the most important of the nation’s efforts to realize democ- racy, and as such it is of national im- portance and concern. The committee calls attention to the fact that the regulation of child labor by the various states has been slow and uneven and the cause of grave injus- tice. “These inequalities,” the commit- tee reports, “cause injustice to children in states with low standards because they are deprived of equal opportunity with others for health, education, and immunity from injurious labor ; injus- tice to employers in states with high standards, since they must compete with employers whose labor costs are low because the labor is child labor; and injustice to all the citizens in both groups of states.” Among the remedial measures rec- ommended are the extension of state aid to widows and dependent children in the form of mothers’ aid laws, with grants sufficient for the family to main- tain an adequate standard of living; the establishment of a minimum wage scale to avoid the industrial exploita- tion of children; scholarship funds (as a part of the public school budget) to keep young persons in school who would otherwise be obliged to work; and changes in school curicula to pre- vent the discouragement and feeling 21 Children of the World of inferiority that are often responsible for children leaving school to go to work. LABOR in commenting on the report makes one very pertinent observation: The report states clearly that the problem is one of national scope—but it fails to urge the one way in which a national minimum standard of child protection can be secured. That is the adoption of the child labor amendment to the Federal Constitution, sub- mitted by Congress years ago, bitterly fought by Southern mill owners but still pending before the State legislatures. At present, Congress is the sole legisla- tive body on earth which has no authority to regulate the labor of a child. It can send a milliou men to war, but it can’t take one child out of a factory and put him in school. Why reference to the amendment was omitted from the report—otherwise an ad- mirable document—was not revealed in thc official releases. Child Labor Legislation Gains in Pennsylvania Child labor legislation in Pennsyl- vania gained four points in the last legislature. The most important was a change in the accident compensation law whereby children injured while ille- gally employed receive double compen- sation. Heretofore children injured while illegally employed were not al- lowed any compensation at all. Children who come into Pennsyl- vania with their parents to work on seasonal crops, such as in cranberry bogs, will hereafter be required to go to school as long as the Pennsylvania schools are in session. The local board is empowered to admit them with or without tuition. In view of the ex- tremely low wages paid to this sort of seasonal labor, tuition is considered impossible. New Jersey, which employs yearly thousands of families and children from Pennsylvania, is investigating conditions of children in the migratory labor camps, and the commission has prepared bills which will take care of the sanitary and educational needs of the migratory children—if they are passed. In addition to these successes in children’s protection, Pennsylvania also defeated two attacks on child labor laws. A bill to exclude caddies from the benefits of child labor laws was de- feated in the house, and one to exempt “stage children” was lost in committee. 22 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Spot Light on Education Students Educate Themselves A new teaching plan was inaugu- rated in the Wisconsin Summer School for Workers in Industry, which recently completed a six-weeks’ course on the campus of the state university. ‘There were no set hours for classes and the students themselves decided what subjects they would study. On the first day, one of the teachers asked the students, “What are the problems you have faced as workers during the last six months?” Of course, unemployment came up first. In all, eight topics were selected for study, grouped under three main head- ings, —economic problems of the worker such as unemployment, work- ing conditions, wages, trade unions, consumers’ problems, and the work- er’s place in the economic system, with discussion of capitalism, communism, and fascism; political problems of the worker, with discussion of labor legis- lation, the injunction, and the work- er’s influence on the government; and social problems of the worker, such as education, housing, and race relations. Each student chose his group, and in the group each worker chose his or her particular phase of the group topic. Each carried on his study alone, reporting to the group for criti- cism, additions, and _ corrections. Every group elected its chairman, who called a meeting with the teacher when- ever the members felt they were ready for discussion or for further sugges- tions as to reading material. After a week of work in the units, a meeting of the whole school was held, in which one member from each unit explained just what his unit was working on. Each group’s program was discussed and additions suggested, and jurisdictional disputes between groups were ironed out. Later another meeting of the whole school was held, at which each group presented its find- ings to be challenged by the whole student body. There are no separate classes in English, but two English teachers were available to give individual assistance in the preparation of papers and speeches. A poetry group gave weekly readings, and a dramatic group pre- pared a production of Men of Steel, by Paul Peters. Outside lectures in- cluded a series by Ernest Schwartz- trauber on the history of the world, and two by Prof. John Goss on eco- nomic geography. German Labor Develops Its Own Culture In writing on the German Labor Movement in Labor Age, Ed Falkow- ski calls attention to a phase of the movement which should be of especial interest as the shorter work day gains headway in America. He says the Ger- man Labor Movement has developed its own labor culture to such an extent that a worker can find satisfaction for a good many of his spiritual and cul- tural and emotional desires without go- ing outside of the Labor Movement. Labor drama, the beginnings of a worker-cinema, lectures, schools, mu- sic, and dances, sports and hobbies, literature and newspapers, stores and even factories, may be found within the bounds of the Labor Movement. In combatting the political and eco- nomic tension the German unions work with camera and pen and brush. Poem and song and play and music are weap- ons in the hands of the movement. Each organization has it weekly pa- per furnished to its members. Besides, there are many monthly publications, special magazines for plant-committee- men dealing with methods of handling plant situations legally. Research de- partments dig up statistical material, while university-trained workers, or graduates of labor colleges write up the news or do active work among the workers, such as representing their claims against the corporations in the law courts. The unions conduct night schools for young workers desiring to learn the elements of unionism. From the brighter ones students are selected for intenser training, at first in labor Sun- day schools (all expenses covered by the organization) and then a few weeks or months in a higher institution. At Konigswinter is a labor college where the Christian and social demo- cratic unions send many of their stu- dents. A select few are sent to Dussel- dorf, or Frankfurt universities. From this class come the economic experts, journalists, etc—men who will handle the more complicated work of the or- ganizations. Besides this there are many schools such as the Metallarbeiter’s school at Durrenberg, where the individual unions send their students for special training. This means that the Labor Move- ment has a sound intelletcual basis for its work. There is less hit-or-miss about the movement than there is in the United States. At the top is a structure of skilled experts, many of whom attend international meetings, and try to look at arising situations from a scientific and world point of view. No genuine labor culture can arise out of unaided enthusiasm. Trained skill must be put to use, and the Ger- man unions have long appreciated this fact. The School Bus and the Consolidated School According to information gathered by the Office of Education, U. S. De- partment of the Interior, approxi- mately 2,000,000 children are carried to and from school daily by the 50,000 school buses which daily serve about 17,000 schools throughout the United States. Since 1869, when the first State law for transportation of school children was passed by Massachusetts, and fol- lowed by similar laws in Vermont in 1876 and Maine in 1880, practically all States have enacted some form of leg- islation permitting transportation of children to and from school. In many States transportation is compulsory for pupils living a certain distance from the school building, and in many com- munities throughout the United States the school bus has become a factor almost as important and necessary to the education of boys and girls as the school desk or the blackboard. The cost of school bus service in the United States during 1930 is said to have been approximately $40,000,000. Of this amount Indiana probably ex- pended more than any other State, nearly $4,000,000, while North Caro- lina, Louisiana, Ohio, Iowa, Missis- sippi, Minnesota, and California, each disbursed more than a million dollars for school bus operation. Practically every State operated more _ school buses in 1930 than in any previous year, statistics show. Much of the success of “Consoli- dated” rural high schools is attributed to the motor bus of today and to im- proved highways. A decrease in the number of small rural schools has been paralleled by an increase in “consoli- dated” schools, the Office of Educa- tion reports. “Consolidated” schools have been established at the rate of more than 1,000 per year during the past 10 years. From 1918 to 1928 one-room schools. decreased from 195,000 to 153,000 while the number of “consolidated” schools increased from 5,000 to 17,000. yf S 1S rf 2, i- () 0) it n a in Il OcTOBER, 1931 he iui {ij \ Vice-President Muste At the Front In the great silk industry is occur- ring another of those tremendous struggles which have so often demor- alized the various branches of the great textile industry. Starting in Pennsylvania and Rhode Island the strikes have reached Paterson, New Jersey, a city where stabilizing, hu- manizing power of effective union or- ganization has never been able to de- velop. This summer the two types of organization that have figured in late years in practically every industrial dis- pute throughout the country, have been working in Paterson seeking to effect unions of sufficient strength to dominate the situation and to furnish permanent protection for the exploited silk workers. The communists have organized the National Textile Work- ers Union, and the A. F. of L. has drawn a local union into its organiza- tion, the United Textile Workers. On this struggle for leadership the New Republic of August 12 makes the following comment : This combination (the United Textile Workers and the local organization) is being led by two able labor progressives, A. J. Muste, President of Brookwood Labor Col- lege, and Louis Budenz, formerly editor of Labor Age and successful leader in other branches of textile labor. _These men are active, intelligent, enthu- siastic and, of course, incorruptible. So far, according to reports, their following is much more numerous than that of the Communists. It will be interesting to see what the regu- lar union can do in a situation like this with leadership of this type. _ The Executive Council of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor in its session at Atlantic City endorsed the strike in Paterson. President Green, speaking for the Council, stated that more than 90 per cent of the strikers were mem- bers of the organization affiliated with the A. F. of L. and had nothing to do with the communistic organization. Halt Radio Trust, Plea of Educators HE NATIONAL COMMITTEE ON EpucatTion By Rapio, represent- ing nine national groups of edu- cational institutions, presented argu- ments recently before the Federal Ra- dio Commission, objecting to the grant- ing of further high power clear chan- nels to any commercial organizations or interests. The objections of the committee are to the general effect that the result of these grants to private and commercial bodies is another step in the process to- ward a commercial monopoly of all broadcasting channels. They charge that the broadcasters are not public utilities or common car- riers, and that they claim and exercise the right of censorship on all matter passing over their channels. The com- mercial interests regard the function of broadcasting stations to be “to build up audiences that can be sold to advertisers,” is alleged to be the statement of the broadcasters them- selves. It is shown that 29 out of the 40 stations applying for high-power li- cense are either owned by or asso- ciated with the largest chain broad- casting companies. A member of the Federal Radio Commission is quoted as saying that “a monopoly of radio is now insistently claimed by a group, and its power and in- fluence are so subtle and effective as to portend the greatest danger to the fundamentals of our govern- ment.” It is asked, “Shall one group or any individual say what shall be said at long range to millions of listeners? If so, there is a clear vio- lation of the guaranty of free speech.” The extent to which the present channels are controlled for commer- cial purposes is said to have been shown when “a tobacco company was thanked by radio announcers for granting the President of the United States the opportunity for addressing the citizens of our coun- try on Lincoln’s birthday.” The committee urges no further high-power licenses be granted un- til the matter shall have been brought before Congress and con- sidered again in all its bearings. They quote the words of President Hoover, when he was Secretary of Commerce: “Radio communication . . - is a public concern impressed with a public trust and to be con- sidered primarily from the stand- point of public interest to the same extent and upon the same general principles as our other public utili- ties.” First Labor Code Passes In Wisconsin The Wisconsin legislature has to its credit the passing of the first state labor code in the United States. The bill embodying the code passed the Assem- bly by a vote of 82 to 3, and the Senate 20 to 9. The provisions of the Duncan bill are: 1. The right of labor to do collective bar- gaining. 2. “Yellow-dog” contracts declared illegal. 3. Workers may strike, join unions, as- semble peaceably, picket peaceably, make ar- rangements to act together, seek to persuade other laborers to their point of view, and courts may not restrain such acts. 4. Labor union officials or members cannot be held liable for the acts of other members unless it is shown that the acts were insti- gated by officials or members. 5. No injunction can be issued without no- tice and hearing for workers and only after an open court hearing, and an injunction can last only five days and be applicable only to specific acts. 6. Appeals of injunctions takes precedence over other court business and must be ex- pedited. 7. Persons cited for criminal contempt have the right of bail, of being notified in ad- vance of a hearing to permit preparation of a defense of jury trial and of filing affidavit of prejudice against the judge. Punishment is limited to $25 fine or 10 days in jail. Labor Triumps in Seattle Following the recall of Mayor Ed- wards of Seattle, Robert Harlin, a member of the city council, was chosen Mayor. Until two years ago Harlin was secretary to James A. Taylor, president of the Washington State Fed- eration of Labor. He was formerly active in the United Mine Workers and is now a member of the Team- sters and Truck Drivers Union. The city council vacancy caused by Harlin’s elevation to the office of mayor was filled by the election of Dave Levine, president of Seattle Cen- tral Labor Council. Levine is a vice president of the Jewelry Workers In- ternational Union. 24 Union Expert Called to Columbia Dr. leo Wolman, for 11 years direc- tor of research for the Amalgamated Clothing Workers of America, will join the department of economics of Columbia University this year. Dr. Wolman will give two advanced courses on the subject of labor which were formerly given by Prof. Henry Rogers Seager. Dr. Wolman’s career has included many high professional distinctions in addition to his activities with the labor movement. Receiving an AB. degree in 1911 and a Ph.D. in 1914, both from Johns Hopkins University, he joined the staff of the U. S. Industrial Relations Com- mission, where he studied collective bargaining in the glass bottle industry and the fur and felt hat industry, and compiled figures on the extent of trade- unionism in America. He then taught successively at Ho- hart College, the University of Michi- gan, and Johns Hopkins, and served as statistician for the Council of Na- tional Defense and at the peace con- ference. Returning from Paris in the fall of 1919, he was appointed to the staff of the New School for Social Research, where he has taught with some inter- vals, ever since. He joined the staff of the National Bureau of Economic Research in 1921. In his capacity as economic adviser to the amalgamated clothing workers, Dr. Wolman’s duties have included prepa- ration of data for wage arbitrations, collection of facts for use in negotiat- ing agreements, and the development of an unemployment policy. The Amalgamated’s unemployment scheme under which contributions are paid by both employers and workers, was developed largely under his di- rection. He is a director of the union’s two banks, in New York and Chicago, and also of Amalgamated Investors, Inc. Dr. Wolman is the author of three hooks : The Boycott in American Trade Unions, published by Johns Hopkins University, and two published by the National Bureau of Economic Re- search, namely, The Growth of the American Trade Unions, 1880-1923, and The Planning and Control of Pub- lic Works, the latter of which ap- peared last year. He collaborated in the preparation of Recent Economic Changes, Business Cycles and Unem- ployment, and other publications of the bureau. Teachers Union in New Social Order (Continued from Page 11) from it a conscious knowledge of ef- fortless intellectual superiority that, Mr. Chairman, is incapable of being attained in any other way. It is an experience, | venture to sug- gest, through which every teacher ought to pass at least once, and not until he has crossed the threshold of a trustee’s door and been driven prop- erly to formulate the philosophy for which he stands, and to defend that philosophy, does he really know all the implications and all the glory of trying to make the younger generation learn the art of thought. And it is because it is the obligation of the teacher to do that, that the soli- darity of teachers is so fundamental. If you belong to a teachers union, that is strong and articulate and deter- mined, and that will take its stand upon the platform of your right to say what you say in the way in which you see it ought to be said, your position in the teachers’ world is a very different one. When I look back over the history of the American Association of Uni- versity Professors and the change in the atmosphere of the academic side of the profession as the result of its activ- ity, it is a measure of the fact that solidarity is fundamental to the ad- vance of the teacher. And, solidarity, Mr. Chairman, I emphasize again, with labor. If we helieve that the endless support of the rich man or the great foundations, or what you will, is really going to pro- tect us in moving forward to our goal, let me assure you that we miss the mark. I have seen in England the way in which the whole status, the way in which the whole purpose, the ob- jective and standing of the teacher has been altered by the development of trade unionism, and by the presence of teachers’ representatives in the House of Commons as members of the Labor Party. I know, Mr. Chairman, that in my particular line of work, when from time to time business men question the utility of the attitude we take (and I can say that my senior assistant is the President of the Board of Educa- tion and that my colleague, the Pro- fessor of Public Adminstration is the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and that my colleague, the Lecturer on Social Economics is at the present mo- ment the Postmaster General), the amplitude of protection that it .casts about my private heresies when pub- licly expressed, is one of the most at- THE AMERICAN TEACHER tractive aspects of the work that I try to do. Mr. Chairman, I am not ashamed that we in the world to which I belong should have thrown in the whole of our energies with the Labor Party. | am not ashamed of any teacher who throws in the whole of his energies with other parties in the State, on the political side of things, so long as it is clear that he is doing so out of a con- scious realization of that for which the party stands, so Jong as he realizes himself that on the vocational side, the solidarity of labor with our teachers is basic to their proper protection. May I, Mr. Chairman, say this in conclusion. You in America as we in England are at the beginning of a long period of grave difficulty in our social and our economic life. And one of the pivotal points of attacks because of that difficulty is bound to be the edu- cational system. When the first grant for national education was proposed in England in 1813, a distinguished Eng- lish conservative, Mr. William Wind- ham, opposed the grant on the ground that education would make servants insubordinate to their masters. | know no better definition for the pur- pose of education. It is precisely the function that we serve, to abolish the distinction between masters and serv- ants, to bring out the eminent dignity of human nature, and the equal claim of every sort and kind of human na- ture, that can equally serve the commonwealth. From time to time there has come to me, as I have no doubt there has come to many of you, the opportunity of alternative careers. I faced those al- ternatives. I have concluded always that the career of a teacher is on the whole, with all the difficulties and the doubts that come to one from time to time, the greatest career in the modern state, the one that offers the oppor- tunity, could one but take advantage of it, of service. My side of the profession is, of course, the spoilt darling of the whole teaching world. Everybody thinks that a university teacher is a learned person, because he is in a university, and that he has got to be respectfully discussed as though he really had something to say. Well, Mr. Chairman, I have known too many professors to be really seri- ously impressed by the academic side of the vocation to which I belong. | depart from the fact that I know too much about myself really to believe the eulogies of the academic side that I read from time to time. ta i) ed —_ ws tH fe we — —— o_O OO OP it 1931 OCTOBER, In so far as my side of the profes- sion fails to take its stand alongside the teachers in the ordinary public schools, it fails to fulfill its obligation. Your work in general seems to me much more difficult than our side of the work. We get young men and young women, some of them, by divine miracle that we can’t understand, ac- tually know, at any rate, the basis upon which the thing is. And I know few teachers in the university to whom a miracle of that kind could be attributed. | do hope that the next ten or fifteen years are going to persuade the uni- versity teachers in America, to stand side by side with the few thousands of consciously minded teachers in fed- erations like this, which meets here this afternoon. I do hope they are going to realize the unity of the profession, its solidarity, its determination to master the events with whose destiny it is charged, makes the future of Amer- ica more certain, more admirable, more hopeful than can be achieved in any other way. I began by congratuulating Dr. Lin- ville. May I end by saying this: If the next fifteen years of this federation of teachers is as fruitful as the first fifteen years, he will be able to claim that that little spark which lit up the fre in him fifteen years ago was a spark that did not glow vainly. He is embarked upon a.task as difficult as any that I know. It is in its difficulty that I find the room for my pride in his achievement, and my esteem for his personality. Britishers Want Their Pay, Too (Continued from Page 13) which the Prime Minister himself has enunciated, and the National Union of Teachers of England and Wales and the Educational Institute of Scotland will use every legitimate weapon at their command to secure such treat- ment for their members. ANGUS ROBERTS, President, National Union of Teachers. F. MANDER, General Secretary, National Union of Teachers. ’ R. BENNETT MILLER, President, Educational Institute of Scotland. Tuomas HENDERSON, General Secretary, Educational Insti- tute of Scotland. 29th August, 1931. —The Scottish Educational Journal. Education and Labor The proposal to raise the school-leav- ing age in Britain to fifteen years is meeting some opposition on the ground that by giving advanced education to a larger section of the community the country will ultimately find itself al- most without a supply of unskilled la- bor. Which is another way of saying that a certain proportion of people should be kept in a semi-literate state in order that the menial jobs of life may be done. Is there any real reason why the menial jobs should be done by illiterate people—why a scavenger should not be as educated as, say, a bank clerk? It is true that we have come to associate education with a certain kind of em- ployment and to regard a matriculation certificate mainly as a passport to the white-collar professions. But such an association entirely belies the real ob- ject of education. People are educated—or should be— in order to get the fuilest intellectual pleasures of life. But that need not unfit them for useful labor. Ruskin says of himself that he was a bad roadmaker, but that was not because he was educated but because he was Rus- kin. Gladstone, on the other hand, was an expert tree-feller. The truth seems to be that we need education today as never before, as a corrective to the ever-growing monotony of increasing factory production. Without education the modern factory worker runs the risk of having his soul mechanized out of existence. Far from preventing a man from doing menial jobs education should enable them to do them and at the same time take a lively interest in life. As things are now, advanced educa- tion is still rare enough to have a ma- terial value on the labor market. When it becomes more universal it will have to be sought for its own sake alone. And perhaps by that time we will be living in a community whose members would be too interested in living to be over fussy about how they earned their livings—Winnipeg Tribune. Culture is the highest human justice. It is the attainment of mind and soul which can consider with equanimity two sides of any issue; which can weigh without prejudice all phases of any interest; and which ¢an differ without scorn with any extreme of another’s vision.—Katherine Locke. The labor question is a question of pro- viding for every worker an abundant life, a full and complete expression of personality. 25 In Defense of Freedom of Thought Twenty-two members of the faculty of Columbia University from five de- partments have signed a round robin protesting the suspension from the College of the City of New York of Max Weiss, former president of the Social Problems Club. Weiss was suspended following publication by the club of Frontiers, a paper which at- tacked military training in the college. “We deem it intolerable,” says the protest, “that, in a college supported by all the people, irrespective of their pelitical and economic views, opinions on questions of politics and economics would be made the basis for discrim- ination.” The signers include several who are recognized national leaders in their re- spective fields. In the list of names are the following: Wesley C. Mitchell and Rexford Guy Tugwell of the de- partment of economics; Karl N. Llew- ellyn and Robert L. Hale of the Law School; Richard P. McKeon, Horace L. Friess and Corliss Lamont of the department of philosophy; Harry J. Carman of the history staff; and Ar- thur W. McMahon and Schuyler. C. Wallace of the department of govern- Academic Freedom (Continued from Page 15) cussing of controversial questions in classes, the young college instructor tends to be more and more careful, and more and more fearful, of course, and less and less interested, perhaps in the question of whether he should permit the discussion of controversial ques- tions, or whether it pays at all to do any thinking on his own part in those fields. We feel that we should point out constantly that freedom is a necessary condition for the teacher, and that only under freedom wiil there be any chance of the natural interest on the part of the students of any age being developed and encouraged. The edu- cational results to come from that dis- play of interest, carrying on into the field of discussion, will really give us education. That is the only thing that can give us education. We feel that by a logical and clear-cut presentation of ideals we can make freedom of educa- tion popular. We expect also that the social effect upon the young persons who are thinking of becoming teachers will be stimulating. After all, ours is an attractive profession, and we feel that the better qualified men and women will want to become teachers when the possibility of freedom is as- sured. BOO K § “*Ghese is no frigate like a book to bear us lands away”— Emity Dickinson Book Week “Round the World in Books’’ is the theme for Book Week this year, No- vember 15th to 21st. Public libraries and book- shops have p lanned “Round the World Book Fairs” for the Week, bringing to - gether all the delight- ful foreign children’s books which American publishers have made available in translation, books which give children a sense of intimacy and friendliness for their cousins across the seas. France, Russia, India, China, Sweden, almost every country round the globe, it seems, has made contribu- tions in recent years to the favorite bookshelves of American boys and girls. These books range from fiction and folk and fairy tales to histories, biographies, and books of information, giving young readers a varied, colorful background of knowledge of the world we live in. With statesmen endeavoring to solve world problems of exceptional magni- tude this fall, the Book Week theme of international friendship through read- ing has a special timeliness and signifi- cance. Children have an unflagging zest for romance and adventure, and teachers and parents who plan round the world book tours for youngsters will find them eager to start off on the journey. The book fairs in bookshops and libraries in November will include booths G.voted to books about America as well as toreign countries, and the United States will naturally be in- cluded in the round the world book lists distributed at the fairs. Many school librarians are planning interna- tional book festivals for the Week, linking the displays with classroom work in history, geography, literature and art. Maud and Miska Petersham have de- signed a very gay wall panel in vivid color for Book Week, with children of other lands, in national costumes, car- rying books to American children. NELSON were, THE SECOND TWwENtTy YEARS AT Hutt-House. By Jane Addams. The MacMillan Company, 1930. 413 pp. International-mindedness is the out- standing single feature of Jane Ad- dams’ book. From the study at Hull- House the reader travels with her to China and India. Great Britain and Australia, Germany and Switzerland. Peace conferences and women’s movement affairs are attended at Geneva. The war, with its psychological ef- fects upon pecple, young and old, is sanely and intelligently discussed, as is the necessity for social legislation. Art, culture and education have their place in the volume. Progressive laborites will find in its pages a wealth of material for sober thought. The story of the Roosevelt “Bull Moose Party,” the experience with President Wilson, how he “kept us out of war,” the promises made and broken, constitute a practical lesson in the value of non-partisan politics. Her study of prohibition, its in- fluence on the young, and the rise of gangsterism and _ racketeering, is worthy of serious study. ‘“Bootleg- ging, in its economic aspect, is a great industry,” she writes. Efforts to hu- manize justice are weighed and its gains tabulated—but the Sacco-Van- zetti case clouds the gains. Miss Addams faces the immigration problem frankly. On the basis of her experience with many racial groups and close study of their problems she offers sound evidence that immigrants can become, and are, when given the chance, valuable citizens. The Amal- gamated Clothing Workers of Amer- ica is cited as an example of what can be done. And one must differ with her in her praise of the company union at the In- ternational Harvester Co. In her ap- preciation of its welfare features she loses sight of the essential fact that it exists largely to keep real unionism out. Considering the book as a whole, however, the evidence is that Miss Ad- dams has been going forward with the years, that the idealism and sincerity indicated in “The First Twenty Years” have continued as strong as ever. Vv vs CREATIVE THE AMERICAN TEACHER ScHooL CONTROL. By Philip W. L. Cox. Lippincott, New York. $2.00. As Dr. Cox states in his preface, “this book is written to encourage al] those who are interested in the social life of the school.” But “Creative School Control” contains more than encouragement. The author paints a graphic picture of the school of the future, and gives many helpful sug- gestions towards “creating within the school a purified and idealized society wherein pupils can practice the social virtues and social controls.” According to Dr. Cox, there are four important steps in the promotion of a creative school control: first, the inspiration of teachers to a state of conscious desire for a share in the spontaneous student life that goes on in and about the school ; second, recog- nition and promotion of those teachers who try to stimulate and direct student activties; third, a carefully planned standard uniform practice regarding all school mechanics; and fourth, a taking into account of the general con- servatism of parents and of the community. In successive chapters, Dr. Cox shows how creative control may be developed through home room activ- ities, through improved class room procedures, through athletics and phy- sical recreation, through clubs and s0- cieties, through assemblies, and finally through grade congresses and student councils. The discussion of creative school control through improved class room procedures is most interesting. He states here that “not the education of boys and girls in civil life, but the mastery of conventional subjects is too frequently the objective of class room teachers.” Many thought provoking questions are asked: “Should one teach algebra to John and Mary or should one teach John and Mary by means of algebra? How does de partmentalization of instruction affect the likelihood of emphasizing the sub- ject at the expense of the boy?” In his discussion of these questions, he says “that if America desires to de velop a self directing, self reliant, criti- cal, individualistic citizenry, out schools must depend on method as wel as, perhaps rather than on, content.” Jessie Lowe, The Atlanta Teacher. Qa. erm fe = ® § ast er Fe HO Oo | 2oq one r of + by de- sub- In he de- riti- yur well _” OcTOBER, 1931 Editorial Board of The American Observer—Harold G. Moulton, Charles A. Beard, David S. Muzzey, Walter E. Myer, Benjamin H. Riskin, E. A. Ross Arthur Henderson Puts It Up to the Schools S ELDOM in the life of mankind has a generation known in advance of the event that a decision affecting the whole course of history awaits its free choice.” Thus spoke the Rt. Hon. Arthur Henderson, M. P., British president- designate of the coming World Dis- armament Conference. “Most of the great changes of hu- man history, such as those ushered in by the fall of the Roman Empire, the discovery of America, the French Rev- olution, or the World War came,” he said, “without any real forethought on the part of the principal actors as to the consequences which would result from the parts they played. But the World Disarmament Conference which meets at Geneva next February is in a very different category. For we know now, weeks before it is due to assemble, that on its outcome will very largely depend the destiny of the gen- eration now growing to maturity. The delegates from over forty nations who gather at Geneva this winter will them- selves decide whether the lives of young men all over the world shall be spent in constructive, cooperative effort to the end of the advancement of the human race, or whether they shall con- tinue as potential enemies, ready to turn their strength and intelligence to the sordid business of mutual destruc- tion. “I said that the delegates at the Dis- armament Conference will themselves decide this, and literally that is true. But the decision will be heavily weighted by the press, the pulpit, the radio, the cinema, and the educational institutions of the civilized nations of the world, where is formed that pub- lic opinion of which the statesman in this democratic age must be the serv- ant. Above all, perhaps, the respon- sibility lies in the universities, colleges and schools of the different nations. There, relatively free from the press- ing duties which absorb the vitality of most men and women in their adult lives, are those who can study this question of disarmament on its merits. “As a result of their study the weight of youth will be thrown into the scales either for progress or for retrogression. But if the coming gen- eration in. every country wants peace, and makes its wish vocal, peace will not be denied it by the national dele- gates at Geneva. The character of popular opinion at home in the several countries cannot fail to be a factor of influence upon the work and results of the conference.”— Mr. Henderson went on to say that the issue which will be joined at Geneva in February is not between nation and nation, nor between the races nor the classes of mankind. “It is between those who have the will to see the scourge of war eliminated, and those who would see its age-old challenge to human advancement maintained. In this struggle there can be no neutrals, for those who do not work for disarma- ment are, by their apathy, encouraging the present system of national military preparedness based on the assumption that further war is inevitable. “ . . . Within the past few years students in schools and _ colleges throughout the world have heard much about their duty in the matter of pre- paredness for war. It is high time that energetic consideration should be given to the more urgent duty of prepared- ness for peace. Surely this is a form of preparedness in which those who have the privilege of higher education should assume the leadership.” —Interview given The American Observer by the President Designate of the Disarmament Conference. NEWS OF THE LOCALS THE AMERICAN TEACHER Hands Across the Sea One of the pleasant echoes of the Denver meeting of the World Con- ference of Education Associations was heard in Chicago on August 5th. Word of the arrival of the delegates of the National Union of Teachérs of England and of the Educational Institute of Scotland reached mem- bers of our Chicago locals, wuo has- tened to get into touch with the vis- itors and with those of their own col- leagues who could be reached. Sev- eral delightful informal discussions oc- curred. At least one typically Amer- ican baseball game was seen, and a characteristically large school was vis- ited by the out-of-towners, who found the latter amazing in its size, and strik- ing because of the inadequacy of the library facilities as contrasted with its completeness in laboratory equipment. In the evening some thirty-five vis- itors and Chicagoans met for dinner in the spacious dining room of the Chicago Woman’s Club. Dr. and Mrs. Hardy of the Ontario Teachers’ Fed- eration, who had come into town late in the day, joined with us. The mem- bers of the National Union of Teach- ers who sat down to dinner were Mr. and Mrs. Hall and Mr. Lloyd Pierce of the Executive, and Miss Phillips, Miss Dingley, Miss Jackman, Miss Quarrie, Miss Garwood and the Misses Baxter. The members of the Educa- tional Institute of Scotland were Mr. Miller, the President, Mr. Thomas Henderson, the General Secretary, and Mr. Skinner. In addition to the many members of the Chicago Locals who were present were other Chicago guests interested in teacher-organiza- tion or affiliated with our unions, among them Mr. James Mullenbach, a former member of the Chicago Board of Education, Mr. Robert Morss Lovett of the University of Chicago and Editor of the New Republic, Miss Agnes Nestor, President of the Chi- cago Woman’s Trade Union League, and Mr. Victor Olander, Secretary- Treasurer of the Illinois State Fed- eration of Labor. In the interchange of ideas following the dinner, Miss Lucie W. Allen spoke for the American Federation of Teachers, the visitors for their own groups, and the Presidents of the Chi- cago Locals for theirs. All of us were much interested to learn that the Na- tional Union has approximately 140,- 000 members and the Educational In- stitute more than 24,000, each group within 90 per cent of the actual num- ber of teachers in the respective coun- tries. Their problems, both in organ- ization work and in the wider educa- tional fields, approach ours so closely that we took heart when we learned which ones they had solved. The party broke up on a note of under- standing and harmony, giving great promise for the future. Beulah Ber olzheimer. Memphis Local 52 Local 52 has three outstanding ac- complishments to its credit tor the year 1930-31. First, we began the publication of a bulletin called the TEACHERS’ Forum. Three issues of eight pages each came out this spring. The board of editors is composed of Misses Carlotta Pittman, Mary V. Lit- tle and Nell Owens. Second, an in- vestigation of the teacher load in Mem- phis was made by a committee of which Miss Carlotta Pittman was chairman. ‘The result of this investi- gation appeared in the Southern num- ber of the AMERICAN TEACHER. Third, a Credit Union has been estab- lished. Miss Elizabeth E. Dix was chairman of the committee that worked out the details and she reports a most successful start. Committees on Tenure and Pen- sions hoped to get bills through the legislature this year, but the state of affairs at the capital made this impos- sible, as local bills were neglected in an effort to straighten out the state muddle. Progress in Pennsylvania The State Convention of the Penn- sylvania Federation of Labor recently adopted a resolution calling for the creation of a standing committee on Education and Schools. This committee is to consist of five members, two of whom shall be members of the Ameri- can Federation of Teachers, one shall be a director of a public school board and two shall be persons known for their interest in schools. Provision for the committee was incorporated as a section of the by-laws. The chair appointed a committee con- sisting of John Kmetz, John Edelman, D. H. Brislin, Barbara C. McGlynn and Charles Kutz, Chairman. Commonwealth Local 194 With 24-year-old Lucien Koch, youngest college head in the nation, at the helm, and the best labor course in its history, Commonwealth College is ready to embark on its ninth year. Koch, who took over the director- ship on July 4, succeeding Dr. Wil- liam E. Zeuch, chief founder, will han- dle the courses in Economics and American Labor History. Associated with him will be six teachers from pre- vious years and two newcomers. F. M. Goodhue, one of the found- ers; G. Y. Rush of Baltimore, Md.; Clay Fulks, Arkansas writer and teacher; David Englestein, Montreal, Can., teacher and student; William Cunningham, Oklahoma journalist and writer; and Clarice Cunningham, writer and teacher, are the Common- ers assisting Koch. The newcomers are Franz Wertgen, Germany, who has studied and worked in Morocco and Jamaica, and in Ore- gon and California in this country; and Lement Harris, Harvard grad- uate, recently returned from Russia where he spent 15 months as a factory and farm worker. Wertgen will offer a course in Cooperation. Harris is expected to give two courses: Russia in Transition, and The World Agri- cultural Situation. Probably Commonwealth is unique among American Colleges. Students and teachers work for smaintenance and none receives a salary. Twenty hours a week of industrial work on the farm, campus, or in the laundry is re- quired of each student. Brookwood Local 189 Graduation exercises for 37 worker- students on May 15 marked the close of Brookwood’s first decade as a work- ers’ education institution. In that 10 years, the school has graduated over 220 students, 85 per cent of whom have been trade union members. A recent survey shows 80 per cent of the graduates active in trade unions as officers or rank and file workers, in labor political groups, in the cooper- ative, youth, and farmer movements, in Y. W. C. A. industrial departments, in other workers’ education enter- prises, or as labor press correspond- ents here and abroad. Another 10 pet cent, it is estimated, would be active T- il- nd ed d- i: nd al, m nd m, n- n, ed y; d- sia ry ‘er ia ri- ue ats ity he OcTOBER, 1931 if they had employment. Seventy per cent of the students have come from the highly industrialized states of New York, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Illinois, although 29 states and nine foreign countries have been rep- resented. Slightly over 80 per cent have come from the basic industries— building, clothing and textiles, metal, mining, and transportation. Economics, labor problems, eco- nomic geography, labor history, Eng- lish, journalism, public speaking, labor organization and finance, psychology, and workers’ education are included in the 8-months curriculum. University of Wisconsin Local 223 The University of Wisconsin Teach- ers Union, Local 223, held an open meeting August 4, at which Dr. Jerome Davis of the Yale University Local was the guest speaker. Many teachers from all parts of the United States who are in attendance at the summer session of the Univer- sity were present. Members from at least five' locals made _ themselves known. Dr. Davis talked on why teachers should belong to the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers, and Vice- President Schwartztrauber discussed the differences in organization, aims and functions of A. F. T. and N. E. A. and the League of Classroom Teachers. Dr. Davis said that all American teachers, both public school and col- lege, should organize, that without or- ganization they are at the mercy of vested interests or of incompetent ad- ministrators. Among many reasons for joining the American Federation of Teachers, Dr. Davis advanced six. First: such an organization pro- tects salary, tenure, and intellectual freedom. One has only to remember the D. A. R. black list, the expulsions at the University of Pittsburgh, and the more recent outrageous incident in connection with Dr. H. A. Miller, at Ohio State University, to realize how narrow is the margin of freedom in many universities. Second: this organization helps to bridge the gap between abstract the- ory and the realities of social life. The teacher stands in peculiar danger of being too theoretical, of divorcing ideas from action, of dealing with ab- stractions rather than actual life. The American Federation of Teachers pre- vents this as it is a teachers’ organiza- tion with a social program. Third: the teacher needs to join the American Federation of Teachers be- cause it is affiliated with the organized labor movement. Teachers stand in danger of falling victims to smug respectability, of con- sidering themselves as just a little bit better than the rank and file of work- ers. We need to actually become part- ners with the toiling millions. From a selfish standpoint this will secure the backing of millions of workers in a more effective way for our educational policy for which teachers stand. Fourth: teachers need to join the American Federation of Teachers be- cause it is the most progressive organ- ization of teachers in the country. Ed- ucation needs to be remoulded, exper- imented with; and this organization is willing to listen to new ideas before they become popular. Furthermore, it stands guard against dangerous leg- islation and the action of selfish preda- tory interests. It was the American Federation of Teachers that was the first to protest against the Lusk Law. It was the same organization that just protested against the bill for the censorship of history teaching. Again it was the Federation of Teachers who blocked turning Education Week into a period of disguised propaganda for militar- ism. Fifth: we need organization because it is group solidarity that brings cour- age and fearlessness in speaking the truth. We must all be kept from being intellectual serfs. The individual teacher alone may not dare speak out for the right in an unpopular cause but with an organization behind him, aggressive action for the right is pos- sible. Finally, without same such organiza- tion, education for democracy and democracy in cducation is made a hun- dred times more difficult. \What would the conditions of labor be like in this country without labor unions? We should have complete economic serf- dom. Organization is just as desper- ately needed in the educational fieid as in that of labor. Sociology teaches that it is group action which is most effective in our day. The teachers should be one of the most highly re- spected groups in the nation. This is possible only as they become more organized and more powerful. The American Federation of Teachers gives them not power or organization ‘for selfish personal ends but for the welfare of all children and of society itself. siz 29 Writing... a way to increase both salary and income ANY people who should be writing - never even try it because they just’ can’t picture themselves making “big money.” They are so awe-struck by the fabulous stories about millionaire authors that they overlook the fact that $25, $50 and $100 or more. can often be earned for material that takes little time to write. Teachers, particularly, are for- tunate in having abundant material, and in having special incentive, for in many states liberal credits are allowed for published articles, as well as for com- pleted self-improvement courses. Mrs. Cherry Bomer Smith, 2315 Cherry St., Vicksburg, Miss., is but one of many men and women trained by the Newspaper Institute of America to make their gift for writing pay prompt dividends. She writes: “I have enjoyed the course very much in- deed and wish to report that I just sold a fea- ture article for $40.00 to the Hearst Sunday Sup- plement — the American Weekly Magazine.”’ The way to learn to write is to START WRITING The Newspaper Institute of America offers an intimate course in practical | writing—a course as free from academic “isms’’ and “ologies” as a newspaper office—a course as modern as today’s newspaper. Week by week, you receive actual assignments just as if you were right at work on a great metropolitan daily. Your writing is in- dividually corrected and constructively criti- cized. A group of men with 182 years of newspaper experience behind them are re- sponsible for this instruction. Under such sympathetic guidantee, you will find that (in- stead of vainly trying to copy some one else's writing tricks) you are rapidly developing your own distinctive, self-flavored stvle. You learn to writé by writing—acquiring the same experience to which nearly all well-known writers of short stories, novels, magazine ar- ticles, etc., attribute their success. The extra money to be earned through the sale of simply prepared, clearly written articles is in itself incentive enough for a teacher to de- velop facility in writing. The value of credits which may be accumulated (generally each published article is worth 30 credits) to ad- vance salary grades is too real to require em- phasis. If you are one of those teachers who take pride in your profession and are practi- cally committed to it as a life work, an in- vestment of a little time and a few dollars in the N. I. A. course holds literally limitless possibilities for enlarging your future. How You Start . The informative Newspaper Institute book- let, “Journalism, Your Future and You,” is Free. You'll find it a compact little course in itself and a guide to a real understanding of writers and writing. Send the coupon for your copy and bring yourself that much closer to a clear realizatior of how this stimulating home-study course can help you to higher salary grades and higher earnings. News- paper Institute of America, 1776 Broadway, New Yor Newspaper Institute of America 1776 Broadway, New York Send me, without cost or obligation, your ex- planatory booklet, “Journalism, Your Future and You,” as promised in The American Teacher, October. Miss Mrs. (¢... Mr. Pees (All correspondence confidential. will calf on you.) “No “salesmen 753411 Our Economic Crisis (Continued from Page 9) agriculture and our industry were pro- ducing. This depression, therefore, is not due to the causes that have brought on depressions in the past. It is due to two things; one the fact that we discovered a way of production that placed us ahead of all the other indus- trial nations of the earth, and the sec- ond that we have failed to distribute the wealth created on an economic basis which would enable us to go ahead and enjoy real prosperity. We want a return of prosperity. We are all looking for it, and yet if a re- turn to prosperity means a return to the condition existing between 1922 and 1929, we do not want that, be- cause that will bring us certainly not only into another depression, but sooner than the last one, one that will carry us deeper into the pit. We have heard very much about rugged individualism, and as a Trade Union officer I have given more of my interest and my energy to establish- ing a larger degree of human liberty and of human opportunity than to any- thing else; but the statistics for the period ending in 1929 make it very evident that a number of Americans used rugged individualism for the pur- pose of bringing about ruthless ex- ploitation. And we are not going to protect, in the name of individualism, a condition under which a few men, because of their greedy desire to reap untold wealth in a few years, are will- ing to wreck the structure on which our civilization is being built up. There is not a wrong against which we fail to protest or seek to remedy; there is not a right to which any of our fellows are entitled which it is not our duty, mission and work and struggle to attain. So long as there shall remain a wrong unrighted or a right denied, there will be work for the labor movement to do.—Samuel Gompers. Saturday Review of Literature. China. The Midland. Richly imaged experiences A Book to Develop International-Mindedness Betty of the Consulate LYDIA J. TROWBRIDGE Scene: China in the Sixties. Chief characters: A consul’s two children. Plot: The struggle for possession of a mascot. Chicago Schools Journal. Pleasant style, often twinkling with humor. unusually well written. New York World. A blithe record of two happy youngsters. Chicago Evening Post. Those who have a little geography and history will enjoy (it) for the background; the littler ones for the adventure. Sound psychology of race and country Such books would help to make the coming generation international-minded. Pittsburgh Press (Mary E. Foster, of Carnegie Library). You will enjoy reading “Betty” to your 6, 7 and 8 year olds. And interest is the basis for later It should interest them in international understanding. Price $1.50 DOUBLEDAY, DORAN AND COMPANY Garden City, N. Y. Bread, Butter and Ideals (Continued from Page 6) constructive lines. But it is impor- tant to recognize the fact that pretty nearly every practice in government, in politics, in finance, in diplomacy, and in education is being tested some- where in the world today, and that the reagent involved in these tests is the social welfare of mankind. As teach- ers in the union movement it is im- portant for us to realize the nature of our opportunities for participating in the inevitable changes of so important an era. We need to do some careful, un- biased thinking, facing social, economic aid political facts as they exist today, as well as the bread and butter facts of personal existence. Especially do we need to give our own social enterprise of education the most careful scrutiny of all, realizing that the knowledge re- quired for the correction of its basic faults is available to those who do the work of teaching. In the same spirit of understanding, and with proletarian support, we must contrive to lift edu- cation from the condition of being the hand-maiden of the status quo, and make of it the leading, dominating in- terest and constructive force of life itself. Of such, it seems to me, do the “bread and butter,” concrete materials of a teacher’s existence consist. Teachers and Unemployment (Continued from Page 8) In conclusion I want to say that I think it is perfectly possible for the colleges of the United States to organ- ize locals of the American Federation of Teachers. I think it is perfectly possible to get the teachers in our colleges lined up solidly behind the American Federa- tion of Teachers. I think that this coming year we will increase the mem- bership at Yale, and I am certain of one thing. The teachers who belong to the American Federation of Teach- ers at Yale would not be interested in belonging to this organization except that it takes a forward social stand; and the reason that we have been able to get men to join from Yale is be- cause they feel that in joining the American Federation of Teachers they are joining an organization which is not narrowly concerned solely with the salaries or even the tenure of office of the teachers of the nation, but that they are concerned with the wider problems confronting our American society. The professors at Yale are willing to join the organization because they feel that it is going to deal with the social problems, and that it 1s going to make its influence felt. THE AMERICAN TEACHER OcTOBER, 1931 Teachers of the World Meet (Continued from Page 18) has been made. In others the teachers can still resist them. And this problem brings to us again, most forcefully, as a world-wide body of teachers, the challenge with which ynsocial groups confront the schools. Is it not the duty of us as teachers to resist with all the power we can muster all cuts in educational expenditures? National economics are necessary, ’tis true, everywhere. But is it economy to thwart the development of the children of a nation ; to deny to them the fullest and richest opportunity for growth and development ? Economy is necessary, claimed the delegates of the American Federation of Teachers, in sponsoring a resolu- tion in favor of drastic cuts in expen- ditures for armaments, but economy should be practiced on our war bud- gets, and not on our children. Much to our surprise, this resolution asking that the money to be saved by a drastic cut in armaments be spent for education and other social purposes was not carried, it being pointed out on the flor that to the British it would not appear in good taste for us to presume to tell governments what to do with their money. So, too, was lost our resolution ask- ing that in the large group of advisers in the deputation to the conference, that teachers be included. In fact, this resolution, amended, asking that the deputation be made of peace-minded lay delegates was defeated. The Eng- lish laborite who led the opposition was no doubt just as sincere an advocate of the purpose of our resolution as we ourselves are. It all simply shows that while our methods of approach differ in the sev- eral countries, our aims and purposes are the same. We “resolved” on many vital ques- tions, and we set into motion machinery to help us realize much from our “re- solving.” There were over forty nations rep- resented in Denver among the 3800 who registered; some officially, some unofficially. It was a successful meet- ing, for it helped greatly advance the cause of peace through our schools. It was another of those glorious op- portunities for us to have, to know our neighbors better. And Denver Proved to be a marvelous host to all of us. We return to our classroom more de- termined to apply ourselves to making our work a true expression of the art of living together. Between Autocracy and Democracy (Continued from Page 19) by the national-socialistic votes last year, chiefly on the part of the younger generation, and in the propaganda for the anti-democratic idea of regulating the world by force. There is no doubt that the secondary school practice of conserving both the ancient conservative method and the historical aims of the curriculum, is contributing to the phenomena of re- sistance against the new principles of world policy, as, for example, the arbi- tration idea, leading to the League of Nations and the International Labor Bureau, or that of the Outlawry of War, culminating in the Kellogg Pact. The misunderstanding of what is really of national interest was allowed to infect at least the pupils of the sec- ondary schools for twelve years, and it will be difficult to show them that the phraseology of an earlier period can be of no avail against the demands of modern necessity. On the other hand the theory had well prepared the method for creating a new feeling for the brotherhood of man by proposing a method of col- laborating in class in finding out the problems and indicating their solu- tion. Not the learning of “verities,” not the “jurore in verba magistri” will satisfy the new German educator, but the training in community study work (gemeinsam erarbeiten) according to the best methods (cf. the antithesis of the individualistic Dalton Plan). This custom will teach the young pupil that no truth is found easily, and that truth is relative, two views tending to re- move self-consciousness, and the ten- dency of dictating their own opinion to others, and to suggest respect toward every serious meaning and private feel- ing (Constitution of Weimar). The victory of this spirit of Wei- mar, over all other attempts to reor- ganize Germany, is a question of great importance not only for us, but also, theoretically, for everyone dealing with educational and sociological problems, and practically for the whole world, for an anti-democratic school system in the middle of Europe will be a cen- ter of trouble. In liberal education are blended freedom and discipline ; questioning and awe; the edu- cation of the body and the education of the mind; science and letters; preparation for livelihood and for leisure alike—Sir Michael Sadler, University College, Oxford. Prejudice surpasses all the other sins of men ; it has made history an orgy of carnage, and makes civilization today a brief interval between two catastrophes.—Fosdick. 31 American Federation of Teachers 506 South Wabash Ave. CHICAGO, ILL. The American Federation of Teachers desires to establish an intimate contact and an effective co-opera- tion between the teachers and the other workers of the community. The American Federation of Teachers desires to co-operate with all civic organizations for improved civic life. Groups of seven or more public school teachers are invited to affil- iate with this National Organiza- tion of Classroom Teachers, for mutual assistance, improved pro- fessional standards and the de- mocratization of the schools. Our Slogan Is: Democracy in Education Education in Democracy The American Teacher is published monthly by The American Federation of Teachers Membership dues carry subscrip- tion to the magazine. To all oth- ers the subscription price is $2.00 per year, 25 cents per copy. 32 Union Co-operative Insurance Association 1200 Fifteenth St. N. W. Washington, D. C. = ORGANIZED LABOR’S FIRST OLD LINE LEGAL RESERVE LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY a Special Attention Given to Life Insurance For Teachers | SCHOOL. and SOCIETY Edited by J. McKeen Cattell A weekly journal that aims to present the unity of edu- cation from the nursery school and before, to the university and after, and to keep the educational system in touch with modern demo- cratic civilization. Five dollars a year Fifteen cents a copy The Science Press Grand Central Terminal New York, N. Y. News of Our Members Dr. Harry F. Ward, chairman of the Civil Liberties Union, was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws at the recent commencement of the University of Wisconsin. I: confer- ring the degree, Pres. Glenn Frank of the university said it was given because of Dr. Ward’s outstanding public serv- ices, among which was that “as chair- man of the American Civil Liberties Union you have valiantly defended those basic rights of free speech, free press, and free association without which neither scientific advance nor socia! progress is possible.” Miss Bernice Rogers was invited by the Boston Central Labor Union to speak at their Labor Day celebration on the historic Boston Common. This is the first time in many years that a woman has been invited by this organ- ization to be a Labor Day speaker. Never before in its history has it in- vited a teacher. Miss Selma Borchardt was in gen- eral charge of the round-the-world telephone conversation between young people of many nations which was one of the features of the Goodwill Day celebration arranged by the World Federation of Educational Associations. Lucien Koch, the new director of Commonwealth College, was the speaker at the Los Angeles Open Forum on August 16. Harrisburg, Pa.—Rep. Darlington Hoopes, Socialist of Reading, led his first successful floor fight when labor forces defeated an attempt to weaken the child labor law by exempting golf caddies from its operation. -The bill was defeated 95 to 68. THE AMERICAN TEACHER Who’s Who in This Issue President of Dr. Henry R. Linville American Federation of Teachers, President of New York Teachers Union, author of scientific works. recognized leader in Liberal Edu- cation Movement. Florence C. Hanson—Secretary-Treas. urer American Federation of Teach- ers, Past President Chicago Feder- ation of Women High School Teachers. Anna L. P. Collins—Secretary Cam- bridge Local, American Federation oi Teachers. Dr. Jerome Davis—Professor of Eco- nomics, Yale University. John P. Frey—Secretary Metal Trades Department, American Federation of Labor. Dr. Harold P. Laski—London School of Economics, author and publicist. Dorothy Weil — President Chicago Federation of Women High School Teachers, English Department Crane Junior College (Chicago). Mary C. Barker— Past President American Federation of Teachers, Past President Atlanta Teachers Union, education and labor leader of the Southern States. Dr. Edward Berman—Department of Economics, University of Illinois, author of Labor and The Sherman Act and other works on_ political science. Abraham Lefkowitz — Vice-President American Federation of Teachers, Legislative Representative New York Teachers Union, recognized authority on educational legislation. Bertha Furguson — Representative leader in Minneapolis Teachers Union. Laura Puffer Morgan—Associate Sec- retary National Council for the Pre- vention, of War. Selma M. Borchardt—Vice-President and Legislative Representative American Federation of Teachers, Director of World Federation of Education Associations. Dr. Otto G. Tacke—Director World Federation of Education Associa tions, recognized leader of progres sive education movement in Europe. vears? SAVE $1.60 SAVE °*.80 over Newsstand Price’ How Much Education Will Satisfy You? | paar some people a grammar school education may seem suflicient; some believe that a high school training or its equivalent is necessary; others would never be content unless they or their children continued education at least through college. Many of the professions require both college and post graduate training. The greatest thinkers—statesmen, writers, preachers, and eminently successful business men —have repeatedly said that education must never stop; that to be happy and successful to one’s capacity one must continue study throughout life. How much education will satisfy you, and help you most toward your objectives? There is no doubt that, by careful selection of subjects, every- one can reap great benefit from continued study. Whether the objective is a greater ability for ser- vice, a larger financial reward, a more interesting social life, or a richer background to train one’s children, there are available to all, who will give spare time, valuable and attractive courses pre- pared especially for study at home. Columbia University invites you to inquire about them, and to enroll for coursés that seem suited to your needs. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY Offers Home Study Courses of University Grade in the Following Subjects: Greek Harmony High School Courses History Investments Italian Juvenile Story Writing Languages Latin Library Service Literature Machine Design Magazine Article Writing Marketing Mathematics Personnel Administration Philosophy Physics Poetry Psychology Public Speaking Religion Secretarial Studies Short Story Writing Sociology Spanish Stenography T ypewriting World Literature, Etc. Accounting Agriculture American Government Applied Grammar Banking Business Administration Business English Business Law Business Mathematics Business Organization 3usiness Psychology Chemistry Child Psychology Classics Composition Contemporary Novel Corporation Finance Drafting Drawing and Painting Economics English Composition English Literature European History Fire Insurance Foremanship French Geometry German Grammar [h this country we are in the midst of an adult education movement. University home study courses af@ one ofthe important factors in this progressive mov€Ment, for they offer expert guidance under educators qualified to direct. Our courses have been prepared by our in- structors to meet the special requirements of study af, home. While all basic material essen- tial to full understanding of each subject is fully covered, sufficient elasticity is allowed to permit adaptation to the individual needs of the student. Everyone who enrolls for a Columbia course is personally taught by a member of the University teaching staff. Special arrangements “can be made for group study. ‘© The University will send on request full in- coupon is printed below for your convenience. If you care to write a letter briefly outlining your educational interests our instructors may be able to offer helpful suggestions. Mention subjects which are of interest to you, even if they are not listed here, as additions to the courses offered are made from time to time. HIGH SCHOOL AND COLLEGE PREPARATORY COURSES (= MBIA University Home Study Depart- ment has prepared courses covering the equi- valent of four years of High School study. This complete High School or College Preparatory training is available to those who can not under- take class room work. We shall be glad to send formation about these home study courses. A you our special bulletin upon request. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, University Extension—Home Study Department, New York, N. Y. Please send me full information about Columbia University Home Study Courses. I am interested in the following subject: Am. Teacher 9-31