"TEACHER'S ROOM STACKS Pei ih | lB, —ialh [AMERICAN TEACHER democracy in education: education for democracy , ry IN THIS ISSUE a er The Schools and the White House Conference Professor John Dewey Some Urgent Problems in Child Health Professor Anton J. Carlson The Child Guidance Clinic Ruth Gillette Hardy The Adult and The Child Judge Camille Kelley Give the Rural Boy and Girl a Fair Chance Senator Arthur Capper The Kindergarten in Child Development Isabel Williams OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THE AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS Price 25 Cents February 1932 Avi —Sstavice 9 ay ‘ Wi nonesiy, “AND, TRUTH = LIBERTY: ‘OFT THOUGHT AND, SPEECH —_ pony DEMOCRACY: IN-EDUCATION: EDUCATION IN DEMOCRACY | ~ THE AMERICAN TEACHER OFFICIAL ORGAN OF THe AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS Editor Lucie WarING ALLEN VoL. XVI Fesruary, 1932 No. 5 Table of Contents PAGE THe SCHOOLS AND THE WHITE House DE i cctbicusieds deaweewens Professor John Dewey 3 SoME URGENT PROBLEMS IN CHILD ccd ntkersmeebunnaes cou Professor Anton J. Carlson 5 THE CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC............+-. Ruth Gillette Hardy 7 THE ADULT AND THE CHILD................. Judge Camille Kelley 9 GIVE THE RurAL Boy AND GIRL A FAIR CL a. ctinbdensceneseren ew ceaeed Senator Arthur Capper 10 fy lg Be rr Dr. Henry R. Linville 11 NG a ee ee Bees Ca ek he eee ee wipe eee eiahs 12 Tue CONTRIBUTION OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN CHILD on. et chu bueake ka euee ee Isabel Williams 15 a OSD hs lege 1S GA Tal Sa wha a aA 16 REE PORE I eee po inter ts ee ee Oe Re ae Cee 17 I law ladies a bemadiaden mens 19 I os a a ial wie ACU eae 23 We regret that a change in business arrangements has delayed the issue of the January and February numbers of THe AMERICAN TEACHER. It is hoped that a return to the former size and style of the magazine may be possible in the future. —The Editor. | Og ge monthly except August and Septem- ber by the American Federation of Teachers, 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois. En- tered as second class matter October 27, 1926, at the post office at Chicago, IIl., under the Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Nov. 3, 1926. Editorial Office 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois oe reece: $2.00 for the year—Foreign $2.20 —Single copies, 25c. At the time of expira- tion, a bill will be found in the copy. Subscribers are ‘requested to give prompt notice of changes of address. Remittances should be made ™ postal money-order, express order, draft, stamps or check. No. 5 ers of ossible itor. n $2.20 expira- cribers hanges ade in stamps FEBRUARY, 1932 The Schools and the White House HE DISCUSSIONS of the White House Conference on Child Health and Protection were wisely limited. They touched upon the school child, but not upon the child in school; they did not consider distinctively educational problems. They left that aspect of the question, [ take it, to the educators themselves. The men and women who met to carry on the work of the conference dealt with school conditions as far as they affect the general health of pupils; they called for a health program; they Jemanded adequate recreational facili- ties; they pointed out the need of spe- dal classes for defectives and for the subnormal; for training to guard against delinquency and to give sym- pathetic and curative treatment to those unfortunate boys and girls who had already come under the arm of the law; they emphasized the need for adequate vocational guidance. They did not raise the question of the relation of the regular school curricu- lum and the daily administrative work to these great ends. They left, I re- peat, this task to the educators them- selves, This fact constitutes, to my mind, a challenge to teachers and to school administrators. It is a _ challenge, moreover, which will not be met even if all the specific recommendations of the conference which have to do with school work are actually carried out. for there would still be left the ques- tion of the contribution of the general work of the school, in its studies, its methods of teaching and of discipline, 0 that wholesome development of hild life which is the end sought in ill the special recommendations, This is far from being the first time that those in charge of schools have nad challenges put up to them from the outside. Those on the inside have improved the techniques of their work aid perfected its details. Great edu- ‘ational changes have usually been ef- lected by social demands from with- out. There is now an opportunity lor educators to reverse the process and, instead of waiting until society tas spoken with an imperative voice, Conference Professor John Dewey to take the lead. For the aims set forth in the Children’s Charter can- not be realized by independent and isolated special institutions, classes and agencies, The need is that the entire school in all its methods and processes day by day be so organized as to promote child welfare. Take the matter of vocational guid- ance for example. How can the ideal set forth be realized without a greater change in traditional subject-matter than has yet taken effect in most schools? It is absurd to suppose that a curriculum based on traditional aca- demic subjects will reveal the voca- tional tastes and abilities of pupils. It is equally absurd, though not quite so obviously so, to suppose that the lack can be made up by adding on a special advisor, no matter how expert, or by tacking on a special course. The pupils must be brought in their regu- lar work in contact with a sufficient variety of materials to disclose apti- tudes, and the material must be taught by methods which manifest the stu- dents’ own ideas, capacities, weak- nesses—an end that will never be realized as long as the main object is to test how much information he or she has stowed away. Article Ten of the Charter reads: “For every child an education, which through the discovery and develop- ment of his individual abilities pre- pares him for life; and through train- ing and vocational guidance prepares him for a living which will yield him the maximum of satisfaction.” Fine, [ say, and fine you all will say. But what is stated here is nothing less than the supreme problem and the su- preme test of life itself. The ideal cannot be realized bv instituting spe- cial devices. The whole work of the school must be coordinated and brought to bear upon its execution. The demand of the gps article that every child shall have such teaching and training as will prepare him for successful parenthood, home-making and rights of citizenship is also funda- mental. But it is so fundamental and so difficult that it can be met only by the organization of the entire educa- tional system, which means practically, in probably the majority of American schools, their reorganization. Consider, moreover, the health aims which at first sight are more attain- able by special means, A very little reflection shows that health is any- thing but a special matter to be cared for by special means. Without doubt things can be specified on the negative side. We must get rid of foul air, of bad lighting, of seating that almost forces bad posture; positive means can be specified, ample play grounds as well as good ventilation and so on. Sut health signifies wholeness, and it can be made secure only by conditions and activities which operate all the time. A physician, concerned with the mental hygiene movement, once told me that he was convinced that there was a close connection between the level of the general health tone and the interest which a student of college years took in his work. And the con- nection was independent of the ques- tion of definite overwork or strain, and much subtler than causes of that fairly evident sort. The connection of mind and body is so intimate that mental indifference, even if far short of actual repulsion, will not only dull the mind but depress bodily vigor, even though there is nothing which can be called illness which calls for the attention of a doctor. There is a great deal of what traditional edu- cation would call learning and getting knowledge in which mind and body are both cramped and made more wooden, less flexible. A pupil may acquire a special skill but at the ex- pense of poise and adaptability to new conditions. Health, it is hardly needful to say, includes mental well being. I have long thought that there is no greater challenge to education than the fact that persons suffering from mental disorders of some sort require as many beds in institutions as those suffering from all other diseases what- ever, If normality can be calculated on a Statistical basis, it looks as if, in case mental disorder keeps on increas- Ih i, r 7: 9 a ‘ ELT ang W LIBERTY: OF THOUGHT AND, SPEECH ~ ‘ DEMOCRACY: IN-E DUCATION-EDUCATIONIN DEMOCRACY | , — a di T THE AMERICAN TEACHER : T Of OFFICIAL ORGAN OF W Tue AMERICAN FEDERATION OF TEACHERS ; Editor { Lucie WaRING ALLEN th cl itt Voi. XVI Fepruary, 1932 No. 5 | 4 ~~ -~---——- ee p t Table of Contents PAGE f THE SCHOOLS AND THE WHITE House 1 RTT POET ere Teer. Professor John Dewey 3 r SoME UrGENT ProB_eMs IN CHILD EE coca eG Abe hukiene dan axeeu Professor Anton J. Carlson 5 _ ~ ° 7 ) [HE CHILD GUIDANCE CLINIC............... Ruth Gillette Hardy 7 THE ADULT AND THE CHILD................. Judge Camille Kelley 9 GIVE THE RurAL Boy AND GIRL A FAIR a CS Gi cbecGeelavadckeeceeoweeeee Senator Arthur Capper 10 F pe eg BS Dr. Henry R. Linville 11 n PS ditt eenctekedh Chicos unesanh bu eneseeeseasnesesae eae 12 ; Tue CONTRIBUTION OF THE KINDERGARTEN IN CHILD SPEER TE PORT Cr Por Cr errr Isabel Williams 15 ee cas ead ae hale ORM eS aaa ee eerie 16 ; ae eRe ee eer ee ee me eae ee ee 17 V ee I I sl wie eee eben ad eededa's 19 N UN OEE WOE GIR os henner eke eed cari caveaentnmeanen 23 We regret that a change in business arrangements has delayed the issue of the January and February numbers of Tue AMERICAN TEACHER. /t is hoped that a return to the former size and style of the magazine may be possible | | in the future. _The Editor. a UBLISHED monthly except August and Septem- ¢ ber by the American Federation of Teachers, anes UBSCRIPTION $2.00 for the year—Foreign $2.2) 506 South Wabash Ave., Chicago, Illinois. En- Editorial Office —Single copies, 25c. At the time of expire I tered as second class matter October 27, 1926, at 506 South Wabash Ave., tion, a bill will be found in the copy. Subscribers [ ( the post office at Chicago, IIl., under the : ae are requested to give prompt notice of changes J { Act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at Chicago, Illinois of address. Remittances should be made i , special rate of postage provided for in Sec. 1103, EP 20 postal money-order, express order, draft, stamps , Act of Feb. 28, 1925, authorized Nov. 3, 1926. or check. No. 5 pers of ossible itor. n $2.20 expira- scribers shanges ade im stamps FEBRUARY, 1932 The Schools and the White House HE DISCUSSIONS of the White iE Conference on Child Health and Protection were wisely limited. They touched upon the school child, but not upon the child in school; they did not consider distinctively educational problems. They left that aspect of the question, [ take it, to the educators themselves. The men and women who met to carry on the work of the conference dealt with school conditions as far as they affect the general health of pupils; they called for a health program; they lemanded adequate recreational facili- ties; they pointed out the need of spe- dal classes for defectives and for the subnormal; for training to guard against delinquency and to give sym- pathetic and curative treatment to those unfortunate boys and girls who had already come under the arm of the law; they emphasized the need for adequate vocational guidance. They did not raise the question of the relation of the regular school curricu- lum and the daily administrative work to these great ends. They left, I re- peat, this task to the educators them- selves. This fact constitutes, to my mind, a challenge to teachers and to school administrators. It is a_ challenge, moreover, which will not be met even if all the specific recommendations of the conference which have to do with school work are actually carried out. For there would still be left the ques- tion of the contribution of the general work of the school, in its studies, its methods of teaching and of discipline, lo that wholesome development of child life which is the end sought in all the special recommendations. This is far from being the first time that those in charge of schools have had challenges put up to them from the outside. Those on the inside have improved the techniques of their work and perfected its details. Great edu- ‘ational changes have usually been ef- lected by social demands from with- out, There is now an opportunity lor educators to reverse the process and, instead of waiting until society has spoken with an imperative voice, Conference Professor John Dewey to take the lead. For the aims set forth in the Children’s Charter can- not be realized by independent and isolated special institutions, classes and agencies, The need is that the entire school in ail its methods and processes day by day be so organized as to promote child welfare. Take the matter of vocational guid- ance for example. How can the ideal set forth be realized without a greater change in traditional subject-matter than has yet taken effect in most schools? It is absurd to suppose that a curriculum based on traditional aca- demic subjects will reveal the voca- tional tastes and abilities of pupils. It is equally absurd, though not quite so obviously so, to suppose that the lack can be made up by adding on a special advisor, no matter how expert, or by tacking on a special course. The pupils must be brought in their regu- lar work in contact with a sufficient variety of materials to disclose apti- tudes, and the material must be taught by methods which manifest the stu- dents’ own ideas, capacities, weak- nesses—an end that will never be realized as long as the main object is to test how much information he or she has stowed away. Article Ten of the Charter reads: “For every child an education, which through the discovery and develop- ment of his individual abilities pre- pares him for life; and through train- ing and vocational guidance prepares him for a living which will yield him the maximum of satisfaction.” Fine, I say, and fine you all will say. But what is stated here is nothing less than the supreme problem and the su- preme test of life itself. The ideal cannot be realized bv instituting spe- cial devices. The whole work of the school must be coordinated and brought to bear upon its execution. The demand of the next article that every child shall have such teaching and training as will prepare him for successful parenthood, home-making and rights of citizenship is also funda- mental. But it is so fundamental and so difficult that it can be met only by the organization of the entire educa- tional system, which means practically, in probably the majority of American schools, their reorganization. Consider, moreover, the health aims which at first sight are more attain- able by special means, A very little reflection shows that health is any- thing but a special matter to be cared for by special means. Without doubt things can be specified on the negative side. We must get rid of foul air, of bad lighting, of seating that almost forces bad posture; positive means can be specified, ample play grounds as well as good ventilation and so on. But health signifies wholeness, and it can be made secure only by conditions and activities which operate all the time. A physician, concerned with the mental hygiene movement, once told me that he was convinced that there was a close connection between the level of the general health tone and the interest which a student of college years took in his work. And the con- nection was independent of the ques- tion of definite overwork or strain, and much subtler than causes of that fairly evident sort. The connection of mind and body is so intimate that mental indifference, even if far short of actual repulsion, will not only dull the mind but depress bodily vigor, even though there is nothing which can be called illness which calls for the attention of a doctor. There is a great deal of what traditional edu- cation would call learning and getting knowledge in which mind and body are both cramped and made more wooden, less flexible. A pupil may acquire a special skill but at the ex- pense of poise and adaptability to new conditions. Health, it is hardly needful to say, includes mental well being. I have long thought that there is no greater challenge to education than the fact that persons suffering from mental disorders of some sort require as many beds in institutions as those suffering from all other diseases what- ever, If normality can be calculated on a Statistical basis, it looks as if, in case mental disorder keeps on increas- ng at the past rate, the abnormal peo- ple will be the normal ones. Now | do not wish to suggest that the schools are in any large measure the cause of these breakdowns; they grow to a much greater extent out of maladjust- ments in the home and family rela- tions. But is it not the province of education to develop more positive im- munity against these mental and moral failures? Is it not part of its function to develop some prophylac- tic? I do not see how special measures, however desirable in themselves, can accomplish this result. The activities of the school as a whole in play and work ought to be of an all-around sort which will develop stability of mind and character. In connection with both physical and mental health, nothing can be more important than the role of the emotions. If the schools have not done what they might do in protecting from future mental and moral instability, it is, I think, largely because of neglect of the emotional factors in the human make-up. We are still under the do- minion of ideas which grew up when learning was remote and difficult, and when there were few avenues of ac- cess to it. Under such conditions, there naturally grew up a great rever- ence for knowledge just as knowl- edge, for learning as acquisition of facts. In spite of the broadening of the educational scheme, this ideal, with its neglect of the life of desire and affection, persists. Even when the arts are introduced, they are often so dominated by the intellectualistic aim borrowed from the older studies that they fail to give emotional en- richment. It is possible to teach music, drawing or any one of the in- dustrial arts by set models and rules, and by analysis of a vital whole into mechanical elements. Let me give one more instance of the impossibility of meeting a par- ticular recommendaticn of the White House Conference by anything except the general organization of the whole school system. The conference em- phasized, and properly, the signifi- cance of the life of youth and chil- dren outside the home and school: their relation to church, special agen- cies for organizing the leisure time of boys and girls, recreational facili- ties, moving pictures and the theater, radio, libraries, camping, commercial- ized amusements including those which verge on vice, etc. The report on this phase of child welfare con- cludes by saying that since 40 per cent of the lives of most of the children and youth is spent in spare-time ac- tivities and since leisure-time activi- ties exert an important influence in character formation, homes and com- munities should focus attention upon this phase of child welfare. Since streams cannot rise higher than their source, is it not clear that this problem cannot be safely set off from the problem of education in the school? Youth will take to their clubs, recreation fields, amusements, camps and so on, the attitudes which are formed in the schools. It makes an immense difference whether these agencies are looked upon simply as supplements to the educational work of the school, making good their de- ficiencies, struggling to correct their faults, or whether the ideas and ideals of life in and outside the school har- monize and work together all the way through. That it is necessary to raise this question is indicated by two sen- tences from the report of the com- mittee dealing with Youth Outside of Home and School. The passage reads: “Our system of education in general does not stimulate inventiveness, imagination or initiative. Compara- tively little has been done by the school to train esthetic taste which could be a guide to selection of activi- ties in leisure time.” It is clear that in the measure in which these state- ments are true, all the outside work recommended will be more or less crippled and perverted. There is a wide gap between spare time activity which supplements in the sense of ex- tending and expanding and that which supplements merely by counteracting what the schools are doing. I hope that my main point has not been concealed from view by the vari- ous instances I have cited. I wish to lay down the proposition that the fine purposes set forth in the Child Wel- fare Conference cannot be realized by breaking up the influences which op- erate to shape the life and character of youth into separate and independ- ent fractions. This is one of our American weaknesses. We add on more easily than we reconstruct from the center. The great lesson which educators can learn from the confer- ence is that if its inspiring aims are to be realized, the whole work of the school, in its courses of study and its methods, must be organized with those ends in view. They cannot be ade- quately served by a variety, however great, of separate agencies and tacked- on courses. Education is not the place where the motto of “divide and con- Tue AMERICAN TEACHE, quer” holds good, Every boy and girl is an individual, an undivided unity. This unity cannot be reached by treat. ing the boys and girls as if they were a bundle of independent elements each one of which can be reached by a separate agency of development, [j the school is the central educational agency, then what it does and does not do determines ultimately the efficiency of every other agency. | As the various reports of the con- ference close with definite recom- mendations, let me end with two items of counsel: First, educators should study care- fully the reports and recommenda- tions of the various committees of the Child Welfare Conference with a view to asking themselves how they can and should cooperate in carrying them out. Secondly—and in my even more important—they should consider how far the schools can be- come the central and unified agency for realizing the aims set forth, and pie should especially consider what inter- nal changes should be made in the schools in order to prevent the dis- persion of what needs to be done throughout a multitude of separate agencies, each operating with an un- real fraction of a whole child. It will require a good deal of reorganization to bring about this result. But it is in line with what the more forward- looking schools are trying to do any- way. The fundamental need in fact is change in the attitude of the educators themselves, It is surprising and some } times appalling to see how much of the efforts of those who train teachers || and of those who direct their work py has been devoted to improving the special techniques used and setting up highly specific objectives. In_ this process the directive and inspiring ends for the sake of which techniques exist get lost from sight, and the school goes on its way with little sense of its social responsibility. In my judgment, the great lesson which edu- cators have to learn from the work 0! the White House Conference is an enlarged sense of social responsibility, so that the challenge for unification of the ordinary day-by-day program of the schools will be met. Other- wise, leadership will pass from the schools to a variety of special organ- izations. Only through integration of f child and social welfare into the regu- f lar work of the school can the schools be maintained as the central agency in promotion of child welfare. judgment fie Che enc 01 few the heal pier brat not hu stat av ran arg labo ont befc {ror and Hon be and chile ship CHER nd girl unity, ’ treat. y Were ‘ments, hed by nt. If ational eS Not ciency i@ Ccon- recom- ) items 7 Care- nenda- ees of with a v they rrying igment should an be- agency h, and inter- in the 1e dis- done parate in un- It will ization t it is ward- 0 any- ‘act is icators some- ich of achers work ig the ing up 1 this spiring niques id the » sense n my h edu- ork of is an ibility, cation ogram Other- f m the § organ- ion of - regu- chools iency 1932 FEBRUARY, RESIDENT HOOVER Said, on trans- mitting the “Children’s Charter” to our citizens—“The Children’s (harter was written by 3,500 experi- freed men and women, after many months of study. It condenses into few words the fullest knowledge and the best plans for making every child healthier, safer, wiser, better and hap- pier. These plans must be constantly ranslated into action. Fathers and nothers, doctors and teachers, the hurches and the lay organizations, te officers of government in the yates and counties and towns, all awe one common obligation—to ad- tance these plans of better life for tie children. I urge upon you an even arger interest in it.” [am more at home in the research aboratory than among the practical onflicts and perplexities of the mod- km industrial age. But I was a man before I became a scientist. And iom my special field of investigation and teaching I have a real apprecia- tion of the harmful effects on the child { under-nutrition, overwork, failure to receive adequate medical service nd a favorable environment. As a child I knew want, poverty and hard- ‘ups, through parental misfortune. I till have a vivid personal recollec- tion of hunger pangs fifty years ago. lhad the privilege to assist Mr. Her- bert Hoover in organizing the extra- pogram for the starving children of blarge part of Europe after the Arm- stice in 1918-19. It was a relief to able to turn from war and de- Nruction to the constructive and heal- ig ways of peace. I shall never for- fet those thousands upon thousands i starving and stunted children over here. I don’t want to see any chil- tn like that over here, and yet we how have them by the tens of thou- kinds, : The recent White House Confer- fice On Child Health and Protection % Stressed again the fact that child talth and protection is inseparably lated to a great many other factors "society that at first hand may seem tt removed from the welfare and otection of the child. Indeed, child fealth and protection is so inseparably Professor Anton J. Carlson related to many of the major prob- lems of society that intelligent ad- vance in one line depends on the avail- able knowledge secured in all of the others. Physiologists may investigate and report on physical and mental fatigue, and the biochemists on the facts and problems of nutrition and adequate food; the psychologists may investigate and report on mental growth and safeguards for the mental health and emotional life of the child, but rational and intelligent applica- tion of this information to the indi- vidual child involves economic and so- cial considerations of the problems of poverty, child labor, school work and even the problem of adequate train- ing of teachers in knowledge of the mechanisms of the human body, as well as adequate training of school children in this knowledge. The phy- siologist may proceed to investigate respiration, temperature regulation of the body, the action of light, etc , but the intelligent application of even known data in this field involves, in part at least, the problem of housing, the problem of indoor and outdoor activity, the problem of industrial pol- lution of water and atmosphere, which in turn comes back, in part at least, to economic status and industrial needs. No informed man or woman can study the various committee reports of the recent White House Confer- ence without reaching the conclusion that despite the very serious gaps in our knowledge, we know today a great deal more than we actually ap- ply in child health and protection. Why this hiatus between knowledge and application? As I see it the main reasons are these: Much of our information on the nature and control of human life processes, on heredity, on the causes, control and prevention of disease is still largely confined to experts. Dis- semination of the known is slow even in our country of high average educa- tion and intelligence. As Secretary Wilbur recently ex- pressed it, “America is gradually be- coming health conscious rather than disease conscious.” We are institut- ing health education in our schools. kome Urgent Problems in Child Health The educational, the medical, the pub- lic health, the social welfare groups are endeavoring to bring the latest information in this field to the par- ents, but in the matter of health edu- cation programs in our public schools we are floundering, and in this pro- gram we often emphasize non-essen- tials. The primary education of our children is, by common consent now, largely a public concern, at least in many groups of our citizens. The time seems to have arrived when it has become as important in the edu- cation of the child for citizenship and healthy living that he be given a pro- gram of training from the kindergar- ten up through the high school in the functions and workings of the human body, a program of study as continu- ous and as thorough as our established education in the three R’s, This is, by and large, not yet being done in the country. Where it is attempted it is largely fragmentary. It is not an easy undertaking. It involves in part a re- study of our whole primary and sec- ondary educational program, ‘some re- training of teachers, and possibly a scrapping of some of the present cur- ricula. It will not be accomplished tomorrow, even if we made a start today, but the longer we delay the longer we keep floundering, the more millions of biologically uneducated fathers and mothers are added to so- ciety to again be faced with the ig- norance and the bewilderment as to the health and protection of their own children that we see in so many mil- lions of parents today. Is it beneath the dignity, or outside the role of the governors of our various states to call into conference the educational, the medical, the social welfare and the in- dustrial agencies in their respective states to consider what is desirable and feasible in this direction? The kind of health education I have in mind in our grade schools and high schools is not a series of “thou shalt and thou shalt not,” in re tobacco and alcohol, tooth brush, bath and calis- thenics, but rather something like this: This is the human body, these are the intricate and beautiful ways it works, These are the ways it can be strengthened. These are the ways it can be injured. And this is the evidence, not from books but direct from nature, from the living human body, from animals, from models, from simple experiments on living or- ganisms graded to the age of the child. This calls for new equipment in our schools, new material equip- ment and new intellectual equipment in our teachers. Has it ever struck you aS incongruous that we have, in our high schools, teachers specially trained in and frequently giving their entire time to teaching of Latin, or German, or French, or Botany (and this is right and necessary), but, so far as I know, we have not one teach- er specially trained in and giving his or her entire time to human biology, human physiology, human health, I believe most workers will agree that it is only through the agency of fathers and mothers adequately edu- cated in human biology in its broad- est sense that continued application of the known to child health and pro- tection will be most effectively car- ried out. Theories and philosophies of the nature of the world and man must be disciplined by facts. Modern curative medicine, modern preventive medicine, modern practice of indi- vidual and public health and modern practices of nutrition are based on facts that have been established about the human body in health and disease. Unemployment and poverty of par- ents is a menace to child health and protection. Our Children’s Charter states: “For every child the right to grow up in a family with an adequate standard of living and the security of a stable income.” There can be no doubt that in our wealthy country, even in normal times, and particularly in periods of economic stress like the present, failure of applying to the child what is. known of the normal growth, health and development is de- termined in a large measure by the poverty of the home. This applies to the matter of adequate food, proper housing, hygiene, and adequate med- ical care. The cost of medical care of the child is a problem not only for parents hopelessly submerged in pov- erty, but for all parents in moderate economic circumstances. The medical profession is deeply concerned, for the trend seems to be in the direction of group medical insurance, so that the accidents of disease may not &n- tirely overwhelm and disrupt the in- dividual family ; or some form of state medicine, like the state care of ele- mentary and secondary education. The later alternative is viewed with apprehension by many able doctors. It is clear that every child is en- titled to the best in prevention and curative medicine. It is equally clear that thousands upon thousands of children do not receive these advan- tages of our civilization because of the ignorance or the poverty and jus- tifiable pride of parents. I can un- derstand and I do respect that pride in parents which makes them suffer in silence rather than accept charity. But there is no “dole,” there is no “charity” for the child. The best we have is his by right. When the par- ents cannot give this, the state must. Otherwise the future citizen may be maimed and _ permanently —handi- capped. The organization of this mat- ter on physiologic, humane, and sound economic lines calls for the highest statesmanship in the leaders of so- ciety, “For every child an adequate quan- tity of nourishing food for the proper development of body and mind.” It is not pleasant to contemplate that in this country with its plethora of wheat, and fruit, and multimillion- aires, any child should suffer from starvation and undernutrition, that any child should be forced to work at an age or at a rate that may interfere with physical and mental growth and vigor. To the minds of some kind people this condition may seem un- thinkable, nevertheless, it is so, even if the number of children so handi- capped in normal times is small, In times like the present they number tens of thousands in most states. We agree that every measure should be taken to remove these handicaps to child health that are within our power to remove. Certainly, the starving child need not be among us. He is a challenge to our social conscience and economic order. We have the food. We agree that all children should be adequately fed, but we have not ade- quate plans for doing it. It does not help the child to place the blame for this condition on the individual parents. But doing so may salve our social conscience. In blam- ing the parents we forget the claim of the child upon, and the menace of the neglected child to, society. We preach, we urge, we insist on THE AMERICAN TEAcuspfe economic foresight and prudence ; our citizen, the putting away som thing is an insurance against tj “rainy day,” particularly on the pa of those who assume the respon bility of parenthood. This seer eminently wise and right. But I a you, granting the strictest econo the wisest foresight, the greate thrift, how can any surplus be p aside against accident disease, or w employment in families of three ; hi eight or more children where foo) house rent and clothes for all my ad come out of a weekly wage of frog iar $15.00 to $30.00? And let us not fod); get that man, even adult, educatefby man, is still a good deal of a monkedleg still a very imitative animal, Tighe Rolls Royce, the mink coats, the di | monds in the home of citizens wig! economic security lead to the jitneg'® the imitation silk, the glass beads iq the homes of even those who lig" perenially on the economic brink, }™ tC Yes, economic prudence and thriff,; is a necessary and useful measure if 4 the citizen. But why is it not am equally necessary and useful principlf rey in the industrial corporation? Whi si should not modern industrial ethicf all include the putting aside of surplig To earnings during the “seven fat years]: | against, not only the bonus to execug ‘ tive and increased dividends to stock ™ holders, but as an insurance for tha” human cogs of industry in slad times? There is nothing revolution ary in this principle. It is merely a plying to modern industrial life aq) cepted principles of conduct of the ir dividual in society. Assuming that these measures ale mn in the main, rational, feasible and def je sirable, it seems to me that the teachf ch ers, individually and collectively, havg to large opportunities and _ responsibilif re ties in bringing them about. Adequatq so food for the school child, and the preg an school child, is more essential tha school books at public expense. Th" experience of the last two years ha shown clearly that the situation is it adequately met by charity. And as? the proposed program of a more ¢ fective health education in the schook§ the understanding, the preparatio the sympathetic cooperation of th teachers appear to me the prime ¢ sential. Without these, regulating, or proposals by school boards any, other ruling bodies, will be large!f \. futile. lea ~~ ee 1932 idence | ay Som ainst th the pay respons 1S seen But I ag econom 'S be p se, OF uy three ; ere foo all muy of froj S not foy educate monke; al. Th , the dis ens wit! 1e jitne beads i who liy rink, nd _thrii pasure | t not aj princip] 1? «Whi al ethi * surplu at years 0 exec to stock for thi in slad volution erely af life a »f the in ures att and de 1e teacl ely, hav yonsibil \ dequat the pre jal tha se. Thi ears haj on is if nd as! nore é! schools yaration of thi rime és ulation rds an largel! ey q HE GREATEST discovery of edu- Tsao in recent years has been the unearthing of the individual child. Not that good teachers have sot always known that he was there ad done their very best for his wel- fare; but officially he is a discovery of the last fifteen years—discovered ty research workers, teachers’ col- kges, foundations and, eventually, by the general public. When I got my training, twenty years ago, at one of the most repu- able institutions in the country, I was taught to observe classes, to teach lasses, to present a uniform mass of naterial to a group; they might take itor leave it. If they left it, the only thing I was instructed to do was sym- pathetically, but firmly, to give failing marks and require that the subject be repeated; if it “took” fairly well, to give a passing “mark,” etc. That was al one could do for the individual. To do any more was an act of grace, aproof of better than average inter- st. Fortunately for education, many, many teachers performed these acts of grace, and always have. But they met insoluble problems: the boys and girls who never seemed to learn, how- ever much they were coached or “kept after school” or reasoned with, rest- ss children, lazy children, outbursts (i temper or sullenness that put the lassroom teacher at her wits’ end; more rarely, but a constant factor to ’e guarded against, downright bad thildren. The only suggestions made lo the teacher were to bear with them, tason with them and, as a last re- ‘ort, “report them to the office” where a attempt might be made, unless heir parents were too influential, to nave them discharged from school. The pioneer work of Dr. Binet had ilready proved the need of special “ork for the mentally defective; in- ‘itutions for their training and spe- val “ungraded” classes in large sys- ms were in existence twenty years 4g0, but the general assumption in the ‘xpert as well as the general mind vas that, with these exceptional and infortunate children removed from the regular classroom, most children “ere “pretty much alike” and could ‘arn the customary “subjects” if they Ruth Gillette Hardy “put their minds to it.” The Na- tional Committee on Mental Hygiene had been organized twenty years ago, but it had not yet discovered that the prevention of mental sickness must begin in childhood to be effective in the community; their effort was de- voted to the care and cure of those al- ready ill. Child Study Associations had been widely established but were still fumbling toward effective meth- ods of parental education. But as often happens with discov- eries, several movements began almost simultaneously to discover individual differences which any mother had al- ways known were there, and to in- vent means for diagnosing and curing or preventing those differences which appear harmful to society, in a con- tinuaus, scientific effort which mothers could not make. Three of these move- ments were directly educational. Bold pioneers, like Miss Caroline Pratt of New York, opened “play schools” which gave a fresh angle to the rather theoretic progressive schools started at such centers as the University of Chicago. Their new feature, which alone concerns us here, was the stress on differences, in talents, interests, abilities and rate of achievement ; such differences (unless patently harmful) should be studied and fostered. not re- garded as inconveniences. Second, the attempts to measure intelligence, first widely used in the army, were, even in their earlier misuse, an eye- opener to teachers. Not the least of the service tests have done us has been the discovery that numbers of hope- less “failures” and “dullards” are pos- sessed of high intelligence. They set us searching for other causes of school maladjustment. Third, the es- tablishment in numerous cities of a corps of visiting teachers who might better adjust the conspicuous misfits by work in the homes and in the com- munity as well as in the school began to give us a new body of knowledge and a new point of view. We must add to these school movements the whole contribution of psychology from writers as diverse as Dewey, Adler, Watson, Freud and all the ten- dencies of thought and study that have arisen among their disciples, a The Child Guidance Clinic subject so vast and so full of contro- versy that it is sometimes hard for us to see that all point in one direction: away from mass-teaching toward the observation and treatment of the unique individual. As if reaction to the tremendous economic forces which are making our lives more and more collective, more and more dependent or close, world-wide cooperation, our intellectual discipline, from the most diverse angles of psychology, medi- cine, industry, biology, concentrates on proving that there is no uniformity in the human race; the day of gen- eralization in education, or in any so- cial thinking, is past. Finally, far away from schools and theory, was born in human sympathy and a sense of justice, the children’s courts and their system of probation under spe- cially trained workers. To single out the foremost among many, who can estimate the debt the country owes to workers like Judge Lindsay and Dr. Miriam Van Waters? For it was by way of the “Preven- tion of Delinquency,” if you please, that the child guidance clinic we know today was invented. It is just twenty years since Dr. William Healy pub- lished his great work, “The Individual Delinquent,” based on his studies of children who had become court cases in Chicago, but it was some time be- fore the significance of what he was doing began to be generally realized It is just ten years since the Common- wealth Fund turned its resources in money and ability into organizing a five-year program for the prevention of delinquency, with four main divi- sions: one, to aid the New York School of Social Work in the train- ing of psychiatric social workers and visiting teachers, with a demonstra- tion bureau of child guidance; a sec- ond, to cooperate with the National Committee for Child Guidance in es- tablishing demonstration child guid- ance clinics in selected cities and rural counties in all parts of the country; a third, to cooperate with the Public Education Association in extending the work of visiting teachers through- qut the country, and a fourth to con- duct investigations and publish studies on the work. The child guidance clinics thus es- tablished had, in general, a uniform set-up and functions which proved so successful that at the close of the five- vear period the public school system or other public agencies of the city has continued them in the same form; other cities and rural counties have copied it; in still other cities and in a considerable number of the universi- ties, while the set-up has been varied to fit special conditions, the aims have been identical and the procedure sim- ilar. In short, a new institution has been set up. Communities where it has been established wonder how they ever got along without it; in com- munities where it is still lacking, an informed public opinion clamors for it. Social agencies and courts are es- tablishing their own. Functions are more important than set-up. Exactly what does a child guidance clinic do? First of all it ex- ists to diagnose and treat the manifold maladjustments of children. Its work must be as individual as that of the physician, whose services are an inte- gral part of its activity. Since today practically all children are in school, it is inevitable that the greatest number of clinics must be established within the public school systems for the treatment of ills discovered in the classroom. But there is also great need of clinics under the auspices of hospitals or other institutions, avail- able for parents, private schools and family agencies. Since the work must be individual, the greater the size of a city, the more heavily it is handi- capped in getting a clinic or clinics which will cover its needs. The pre- vention of delinquency is one of these major needs, but we have come a long way since 1921 when it was the center of interest. The clinics have proved what was suspected in 1921, that crimes are not committed by children who are secure and active in socially approved effort. But they have also proved that many children are un- happy and others miserably warped in character without committing crime, and the most general form in which their want may be expressed is also insecurity and lack of satisfying ac- tivities. But what multi-form and ob- scure shapes these wants assume! Every form of childish “naughti- ness,’ from thumb-sucking to bully- ing, bed-wetting and stealing, may be traced to insecurity, such as a hidden doubt in the true affection of the home. But none of them can certainly be traced to any such cause; the causes are as multitudinous as the manifestations, A physical malforma- tion may be the cause of each of these, or something else. Thus we must use the vague word “maladjustment” for any conduct that seems undesir- able ; if the clinic agrees that the con- duct is undesirable and not a mere fad or freak of some teacher or par- ent, a separate study of that child must be undertaken; general rules or resemblances are not diagnoses. Causes may be roughly grouped as physical, intellectual, emotional and economic, but any individual child may present a mixture of them all. Experience is tending to show, how- ever, that emotional imbalance is the most frequent ingredient in the mix- ture, since a physical handicap or in- tellectual failure or life below any accepted economic standard must af- fect anyone’s feelings about himself and the community. But all must be looked into and corrected to the limit of our resources. Thus established practice today begins with a physical examination and treatment for any clear defects like bad teeth or tonsils, a series of tests for general and spe- cial abilities and a family history which tells the personal and economic environment. These give opportuni- ties for interviews with the child bv specialists who are observing him as a whole as well as securing particular data and who are ready to cooperate in a diagnosis. There are cases, and some of them of very “bad” behavior, which clear up as if by magic when teeth are straightened or a_ hidden musical ability fostered or clubs and games arranged for or a pressing financial need met. But many require expert treatment from a psychiatrist, whose every treatment is also a con- tinued diagnosis of the hidden springs of action. At best, every step of this work requires patience, sympathy, skill and time, much time. A child guidance clinic can never be got cheap. Every worker must be lim- ited to what seems to the teacher, used to classes, a ridiculously small case- load; otherwise a clinic is going through waste motions. Furthermore, as soon as a Clinic is available to a school the most pressing cases appear to be those of school failure; they are certainly the most numerous, or are a complicating fac- tor in situations otherwise recognized as bad. Thus any clinic is liable to be swamped with applicants and if it cares for them all the city incurs an overwhelming expense. For example, THE AMERICAN recent studies have shown that thos queer cases, most of them boys, wh appear “bright” but cannot learn tj read until they are ten or twelve year old, are often victims of a transpog. tion of certain brain nerves; they ar practically all of high mental abilit and can be taught adequately if spe. cial methods are used. However mental defectives often appea “bright,” especially if they are pretty children, and many of them can never be taught to read. So it would seem that all reading failures must forth. with to the clinic. hoods, that the most pressing cases are not the overtly naughty, who can}” often be trusted to work out their}® troubles for themselves, but the ab-f” normally “good” children, the too quiet, the unsociable, the prudes and prigs. In adult life, too many de. velop “nerves” and obscure illnesses, }* grievances f° which render them useless to society others, fanaticisms or if not actual liabilities in hospitals. This potential swamping of the clinics has led them to emphasize a second function, that of educating the teaching body to recognize at least the simpler symptoms of maladjust- ment, and by a changed approach to school discipline to prevent the de- velopment of as many as possible oi the situations which create undesir- able traits. This work is usually re- ferred to as mental hygiene in the schools. In practice it takes the most diverse forms, generally beginning with lectures and recommended read- ings for teachers in service, continu ing by actual demonstrations from a visiting teacher or a worker similarly trained under almost any title such as dean, counsellor, welfare worker, etc. but working in a particular school among the teachers, by demonstra: tions from the clinic and, perhaps more fundamental, inclusion oi courses and demonstrations in the teacher training schools, where the oncoming staff of the schools becomes imbued with this new technique for an old ideal, the training of well rounded individuals for maximum service in society and happiness t0 themselves. This instruction in the technique 0! positive mental health has a wealth 0! possibilities in encouraging an ir proved curriculum, similar to that frer which the progressive schools have} undertaken to construct, in establish- (Turn to page 22) TEACHES th | Then the psy. d chiatrists tell us, and prove their point by the later history of known child-f tory mot swe it 1 Ot STO! exp it eS) CHE, at thos YS, Why Carn to ve years AN Sposi- hey are | abilit, if Spe- Owever appea - pretty n never ld seem - forth. 1€ psy: Ir point 1 child- g Cases rho can it their the ab- he too les and ny de- Inesses, evances society itals. of the asize a ing the t least adjust- yach to he de- ible of ndesir- lly re: in the ie most rinning 1 read- ontinu- from a milarly such as r, etc., school onstra- erhaps on ot in the re the ecomes ue for well ximum ess to que of alth of n im- ) that , have ablish- 1932 FEBRUARY, history when there was so much in common between parent and hild as at this moment -when the meat midday of life is held as one w the young and the old. ‘Children are featured more, given nore place on the stage of life, have more self confidence, and are ex- sessed earlier than in the yesterday of our Experience, Parents are younger and hold to yuth more tenaciously. Dress is gore youthful, Recreation calls youth ad age into the same arena, Even mance attacks extreme youth and xtreme age as never before in his- tory! (es has never been an hour in The other day a young man came « me who had just stepped across ihe line from youth to maturity—a iuoyant, courageous, fun-loving man. |asked him what message he would dive to youth if he was allowed just ne. “Pay your way. Not just money—but pay your way,” he an- wered, I analyzed this statement. It means 0 give and take. It means to be portsmanlike. Above all, it means n't cheat. The warping of life omes from cheated values, A sense if values is the rarest gift of a bal- anced mind. Fond parents who try 0 shield youth from its life lessons iten only defraud. Honesty in thought and life is a thing we rarely hand squarely to a wowing child, Only half of the evils «pressed by the human race are gainst Our written law. The ones without legal penalty often are dead- lest, lf it were not sad it would be amus- ig to see parents try to drive into ‘tt heads of their defenseless children ‘ne element of success that they have ailed to achieve. A father came in with his boy one ‘ay and said in a most dramatic man- ttt, that his boy had been repeatedly ‘'atdy at school and this was just one ‘ning he couldn’t stand. Of course, I don’t believe boys Judge Camille Kelley should be tardy at school—there is absolutely no excuse for not being at the place one belongs at a given time, especially when it inconveniences and upsets the plans of others. However, I knew by the pressure of the father’s attitude that it was one of those un- expressed emotions. So I asked the boy to sit in the hall a moment until I talked with his father. When the door closed, I asked the father if it was one of his habits to be late at school when he was a child. He answered, “What makes you think I was late at school?” I replied, “I don’t think it, I know it. It would take a lifetime for any- one to get as much excited about be- ing tardy as you seem to be.” I then told him about seeing a woman sitting sewing in the room where a child was practicing on the piano. She would sew a little and then in an irritated tone say—“Practice.” The poor little thing would struggle on and not hav- ing a particle of music in her system would pause, frantic under the pres- sure. The mother would again scream, “Practice!” And so, the poor little child staggered on. When the mother was asked why she pushed this little girl so hard when she didn’t love music, she said, “I longed to take music lessons all my life and JI didn’t have an opportunity. So, I made up my mind my daughter had to be a musician regardless of everything else in life.” Poor little girl! Perhaps her artis- tic temperament turned to sketching or dancing. But no, she must be a musician because her mother was de- nied music, and son must be a lawyer because his daddy always wanted to study law. On with the dance! Try- ing to spill over unexpressed emotions on our children when each human is an individual, a child of the living God and must lead his or her life as a unit, though of course taught to harmonize with the group. We must not emotionally absorb or feed upon our children. We should be friends with them, but we should teach them self control. The Adult and the Child The Juvenile Court Judge Looks at Both of Us In this land of law and scientific exactness, where the world turns on its axis on schedule and every star hangs in its place in the firmament, we mustn’t teach God’s masterpiece— Man—that he is at liberty to run riot with his passions instead of expressing that control which combined with in- spiration evolves genius and harnesses the forces of the world. We must show that we are sustained, sur- rounded and controlled by law—God’s law. Man’s law is, in a sense, our agreed code of living. Everything has its technique in this machine age. It is not fair to rear children without discipline, without obedience. We should not force chil- dren to learn the discipline of life by hurling them against the rough edges of experience. Instead, we should gird them for the battle. I believe in free expression and in the psychological training of today. I would not turn the clock backward and reach physical control in govern- ing a child. But I have often said that a lump of psychology or psychia- try swallowed and not digested or as- similated, gives the worst mental indigestion in the world. There is no freedom without control. This can be illustrated by the airplane in talk- ing to the child, Let one control give way, and your freedom is over, and you are governed by force or chance. There are two outstanding dangers that confront our children at this hour. One is the tendency toward trading romance for dissipation, and the other is allowing themselves to become bored because they close their eyes to the color, light, the laughter and music within their reach. Youth has a little supercilious air of being bored. Sometimes this is mental lazi- ness, and sometimes it is an over- whetted appetite that calls a sensa- tion a thrill. We have an especial obligation to the subnormal child—both from a standpoint of the individual and the community. A subnormal boy falls (Turn to page 21) 10 THE AMERICAN TEACHEME! Give the Rural Boy and Girl a Fair Chance UR NATION is built on the prin- ciple of government by the people. To be successful this requires an electorate sufficiently well informed on public questions to vote intelligently. In other words, it ne- cessitates educated citizens. Few of our states have educational qualifica- tions for voting because the American idea is to have universal suffrage and universal education. We do have universal education of a sort. In most places there is com- pulsory school attendance for boys and girls, and there are educational re- quirements for teachers. Unfortunately, however, education in the cities is, upon the whole, much superior to education in the rural dis- tricts, Schools are still largely a local affair, and cities, with their concen- trated population and wealth, can pay larger taxes and supply better school advantages for the children. It is true that more money is available to- day from national, state, and other general funds for education than in the past, but the distribution still is not adequate. Education cannot prop- erly be considered a local problem. Especially it cannot be so considered in an age of automobiles, telephones, and radios. The whole population of the country is more mobile, less fixed, and less stratified than ever before, not only physicaliy but in thought. The average person in the United States at the present time travels The Case of the Rural High School |: RECENT study made by the Federal Office of Education shows that the small rural high school is falling short of fulfill- ing the hopes of the rural taxpayers who have sought to give their boys and girls equal opportunities with city children. Lacking an intelligent plan of what a rural high school should be, many of these schools are merely poor imitations of the city school, in- adequate as imitations and ill suited to their real purpose. Inadequate funds limit teaching force, equipment, course of study and methods. The better trained teachers Senator Arthur Capper more than the average citizen of any other country has traveled in any previous era, and the average citizen’s thoughts travel over a wider range than in any other nation past or pres- ent. At the same time, the economic, social, and political problems of the United States and the world steadily become more complex. It, therefore, is of the utmost importance to every one, no matter where he lives, that every child in any part of the coun- try obtain as good an education as possible, The rural schools in which I am especially interested need better teach- ers. Country teachers are doing fine, devoted work. They have the interest of their pupils and the interest of the country at heart. But the educational requirements for rural teachers are not so high as for city teachers, and this is wrong. If we are to have bet- ter educational qualifications in the country, higher salaries must be paid in order to make it worth while for the teachers to get better training. The country is taxed, however, up to its ability, and in many cases beyond its ability, right now. The necessary money must come not from added taxes on already overtaxed farm land, but from other sources. Also, we must develop courses of study more specifically adapted to the needs of rural children. We are in danger of assuming that universal education means identical education are, of course, drawn to the larger communities where better salaries and less taxing work can be offered. But the best of training could not equip a teacher to give high grade training in the large number of subjects the rural teacher must teach. Social science, the natural sciences, vocational training, extra - curricular work, sports, dramatics, school pub- lications, all those features of modern secondary education which have modi- fied and vitalized the old rigid courses of languages and mathematics are im- possible, and methods must be limited for all groups of the population, Aclkixte tually it means nothing of the sonfont We recognize that a lawyer needs dive different sort of training from a phyffion sician, but we have not yet come tqpect! see that a boy or girl who will prot: ably live in the open country or in: Toe small town requires a somewhat dijf \\ ferent education from the child whi will probably spend his life in Newpeli York or Chicago. I do not mean tips t imply that a boy or girl ought nec§n0v essarily to stay in the kind of placegwith in which he grows up. Education igftall all schools should have enough gen-§uall eral studies to provide for the facislu that a certain proportion of the pupilfay will follow very different careers from§Way their parents. A large majority of" the pupils, however, will not make such great changes, and there oughifiva to be plenty of studies in a ruralgown school to fit the pupil for more eff-g' cient and happier life in a rural com-{)W munity. This has been accomplishe!f®? | to some extent through the work in agriculture and other rural subjectsg"s but more ought to be done. Thef\*. P , A courses of study of country schookf” . 9 . “3 . 0 are still too greatly dominated by cif... needs and points of view. mn The nation has always obtainelfjyc from the country a solidity that comesfivac from nowhere else, and we need ifthe these trying times such education afer will preserve and broaden the ruralfow point of view. by the class organization and inadef® quate equipment. As remedies the Federal Office off0u Education proposes the careful studif y by each state of its rural school situa fat tion; cooperation among all Govert{pro: ment and social agencies with a viewgnc to school consolidation, the converg 9 sion of some small senior high schoolfu into junior high schools; and the emy—® ployment at good salaries of teacher§ who are experts in special subjects, tf cover several schools in a district, Of the wide use of correspondent, courses under competent supervision ACHEMPEBRUARY, 1Cé On, Ag the sor needs ; na phy come tj ill prob Or in: hat dif. ild why in New mean t ht nec. of place ation ir gh gen: the fact e pupils ors from ority 0! yt make € ough a rural ore effi- ‘al com- n plished work in subjects m The schools by citi 3 »btained t comes need in ition a Ye rural | inade- fice of i] study 1 situa- sovern: a view conver schools the em- eachers ‘ects, t9 rict, 0 wie rvisiony 1932 ll The President’s Page We Are Adolescent The American Federation of Teach- -«; will soon arrive at the end of the xteenth year of its existence. While templating that fact, we may also we thought to the educational situa- on with which our existence is con- ected. loo Few to Frighten We no longer create fear in the minds of conventional educators who idieve it is professionally wrong for ys teachers to affiliate with the labor sovement, thereby allying ourselves vith a section of the public inferen- ially preparing to oppose the re- mainder of the public. Although the suation of any minority movement say be similarly described and the yay to all progress thus cut off, the varning of the reactionary professors as enough to frighten most teachers way from the consideration of their own welfare. Some who ignored the aning saw their organization laid ow and the ‘“‘yellow dog” contract set uy by the combined efforts of school iicials and the courts in the outlaw- ag of teachers’ unions. Although he external obstacles to freedom of hoice in Organizational activity and ‘0 professional independence for achers are considerable, they are not warly so great as such internal ob- sales as lack of interest among achers in the problem of increasing he power of education as a social wency, and lack of concern about the ow social status of teachers as a class. Most of our colleagues are content ith permitting those who rise from le ranks to positions of official con- ‘ol to dictate professional policy. hus, even aside from the external istacles, we may expect to continue 0be a minority body for some time 0 come, Our Work Cut Out for Us We may as well understand also ‘at we cannot build up a spirit of mofessional self-respect and compe- mee, except as the by-product of a operative endeavor to lift the whole ‘lucational structure out of the com- tonplaceness of regimentation, away m conformity to fixed traditions, ad above low grade, amateurish edu- tional thinking, in which conditions Fueation, especially public education, % been drifting for decades. A ‘eat many observers of social situa- Dr. Henry R. Linville tions have been noticing the fact that the responsible official leaders of pub- lic education have not been concerning themselves with the lack of coordina- tion between the needs and interests of modern social existence and the program and the work of the schools. It is obvious that the job of doing something about this situation is too big for the personnel of official leader- ship. Besides the leaders have an investment in the status quo. Why Should They Worry? Professional educators for the most part, are still busy with measuring the results of what has been happen- ing. They are not yet concerned about the major question of why things should be allowed to happen as they are. But we of the Union movement have a spiritual, as well as an economic investment in all efforts made toward a thoroughgoing recon- struction of public education and its machinery. The inspiration we draw irom the trade union movement leads us in the direction of trying to im- prove the working conditions of teach- ers. We hold, I believe, that success in the attainment of improved work- ing conditions leads to greater satis- faction for us, increased interest in teaching as a profession, and to better results in happiness and educational growth for the children. In propor- tion as we do these things ourselves, we become more conscious of our own social power, and we move on toward establishing a_ professional status that means more than a polite characterization. Higher Salaries and Smaller Classes Not Enough Even if we had made substantial progress toward higher salaries and smaller classes, as we have not on the whole, that would be a small part of our objective. It would be worth a vast amount in terms of improved working conditions if public education were turned into a vital, stimulating, producing agency, fairly commensur- ate in results and satisfaction, let us say, with the creation of the great and beautiful lake shore at Chicago, or with the conservation of the water supply throughout the country, so far as it serves the uses of the people. Just imagine what teaching would be like if the chains that bind education to the past, as well as to the vested interests of the present, were broken and the potentialities of education were released for free development! Have Teachers Unions Done Enough? At times it has seemed that some of our teachers’ unions were content to sit back and rest on the record they have made in joining the trade union movement, in paying per capita, in sending delegates to conventions once in a while, and perhaps occasion- ally in supporting some good (or bad) man for high municipal office. The Program of Action, the Social Pro- gram and the adopted resolutions of the American Federation of Teachers (see the excellent Report of the Pro- ceedings of the Fifteenth Annual Con- vention) are enough, if applied, to keep a live union going for many years. Many of our union members carry into the movement the feeling either that they must fight the school authorities, or that they must trade with local political forces to attain union objectives. As a matter of fact, there is another and a better way than either. It’s Up to Us Every community has its educa- tional problems. Some of the school problems in each community may be covered up by intention and others by ignorance. The chances are that members of trade unions are con- versant with at least surface indica- tions. Teachers know more. Beyond that every community has some free- minded citizens who stand for decent government and a good school sys- tem. It has been the experience of some teachers’ unions that a sound school betterment program proposed clearly and openly by teachers will gain immediate support among enough of the citizenry to enable the union to have its hearing and to pass through the critical period every real union ought to have. Moreover, a program presented in behalf of the community would be a thrilling experience for most American cities, towns and lo- calities. It is not suggested here that communities in general are going to accept teachers’ unions primarily as beneficiaries. Our first objective should be to strive to establish the basis for social respect. We have a long way to go, but there is much gratification in trying. 12 Democracy ' mnt UNA UUNLUNGUNUOOEONUOUENNOOOE GALA REUAU AOA HEU ANEMONE ait VAUUANEULAUUUAEENAULLO ONE NSUOUULUENOONA REAL OOD nnggngaU nn ANAL American Federation of Teachers Organized April 15, 1916 Affiliated with the American Federation of Labor President kK. LInvitte, New Ave., New York Local 5: York, N. Y. HENRY 70 Fifth Secretary-Treasurer Frorence Curtis Hanson, Chicago Local 3; 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, III. Legislative Representative and } "ice-President Se_tma M. Borcnarpt, Washington Local 8; 1741 Park Road, N. W., Washington, my ¢. Vice-Presidents Lucie Warinc ALLEN, Chicago Local 3; 1803 Livingston Ave., Evanston, III. Mary C. Barker, Atlanta Local 89; 685 Myrtle Street, N. F., Atlanta, Ga. Amy Fox, Minneapolis Local 59; 2615 Park Ave., Minneapolis, Minn. ABRAHAM LerKowlI1z, New York Local 5; 10414 27th Ave., East Elmhurst, Corona, New York, N. Y. A. J. Muster, Brookwood Local 189; Brookwood, Katonah, N. Y. JERNICE 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. SatrerTHWAITE, Chicago Local 2; 5463 Kimbark Ave., Chicago, III. E. E. SCHWARZTRAUBER, Wisconsin University Local 223; 130 Breece Terrace, Madison, Wis. W. J. Scorr, Atlanta Local 89; 212 Kings Highway, Decatur, Ga. Ce ee TTT MME ELL CLL LCE SELLA LALLA LLLP eee ec Florence Kelley More than fifty years of magnifi- cent service to humanity closed Feb- ruary 17 with the death of Florence Kelley. To the protection of women from harmful working conditions and to a relentless fight against child labor she had given a lifetime of valiant and efficient work. She herself has told the story of her early dedication to the work against child slavery. She was just twelve when her father, a congress- man from Pennsylvania, took her at night to the factories that she might see the children of her own age at their all-night toil. The lesson was never forgotten. To the effectiveness of her work for child labor legislation the foes of the Children’s Amendment paid the homage of a campaign of personal abuse and misrepresentation during the struggle for ratification in Massa- chusetts. May the loss of this great crusader and the memory of her undaunted zeal be an effective reminder to every member of the American Federation of Teachers that our honor is pledged, as was hers, to continue the fight for the ratification of the Children’s Amendment in our several states, un- til the disgrace of America’s com- placency in the face of our inadequate protection of childhood shall be wiped out, The Children Pay Chicago has a “Hungry School Children’s fund.” New York teachers are asked to contribute two million dollars for food and clothing for chil- dren. “Nine Thousand Hungry School Kids” says a headline from Cleveland. “Thousands of children in our National capital are going to school hungry,” reports the Parent- Teachers Association of Washington. “Seventy-five thousand school chil- dren in Oregon are below normal,” says the State Board of Health. Fifty- six to seventy per cent of the children of Centralia, Pennsylvania, are at least ten pounds under weight, a re- cent survey shows. Almost unbeliev- able suffering among children, report the Friends working among the starv- ing miners, Children who faint on the streets, children who faint in the school room, THE TEACH: AMERICAN in Educatio children who eat only every other day The press of the last year yiel headlines and stories whose frequen still more than their details appals thy reader to whom a general survey hy been possible. No state or section city or rural district seems exempl s Six million children in the United States are below normal because ¢i lack of sufficient food, Grace Abbot chief of the Children’s Bureau, tol the American Red Cross conventioy Thousands of our teachers need p newspaper, survey or official report t tell them. The drain on our sympathy of th: thought of hungry and cold childre: is almost unbearable, But that is no the worst of it. In children the pair of present hunger is far less to } deplored, say the scientists, than the permanent injury being stamped om the bodies of these children. Pair may be relieved by a return to normd nourishment, but tuberculosis, rickets stunted development may remain t attest the real meaning of the perio of undernourishment. Unfortunately, stories of need are so frequent that the most sensitive grow callous. Seeming helplessness in the face of a calamity too great t be remedied tends to discourage en- deavor. The very evident need fo: basic remedies of our economic ilk makes mere palliatives seem futile All very true—but what of the chil: dren? Dare we forget that we cannot make up to them even by the promis of some better future world for the toll in permanent physical injury thi time of depression may take ?—Musi take, if intelligent child relief is no provided. As enlightened citizens _ keenl\ aware of the need of our economit system for basic changes, but also a teachers in daily contact with hungr! children, we have two obligations i" this distressful time. With one breath we must be saying these children shal not pay with their hope for futurt well-being for our monumental eco nomic stupidity, and with the next it must never happen again. The per- manent injury with which underfe children are threatened must be kept before the public mind, and our de mands that city, state, and nation a sume their responsibility for bot! present relief and basic remedy mus! be forceful and unceasing. ACHE O her day ar yield requen Ppals 4 irvey ha Section| exemp United Cause 6) - Abbot eau, tol vention need n report t y of the childrer at is not the pair 3S to be than the nped on 1. Pair ) normal rickets main to € perio! eed are sensitive lessness great t ‘age el- eed for mic ills . futile he chil- > canno! promis for the ury this —Mus - is not keenl\ ‘onomit also as hungr ions if - breath en shal! future al eco- e next. he per- iderfed be kept yur de ion as r both y musi FEBRUARY, 1932 13 Education tor Democracy The Pre-School Years Nursery Schools were presented to the American Federation of Teachers by a resolution introduced in the Con- yention of 1927, which asked for an endorsement of the movement to spread the establishment of this new type of schools. No very hearty support to the res- olution was accorded by this conven- tion. The association of babies and shools gave rise to fears and some natural rebellion. In the discussion on the floor the supporters of the res- olution called attention to the fact that between the years of two, when the infant welfare work drops the child, and of four or five when the kinder- yvarten takes it up, lie the years that the psychologists are calling the most important of the child’s life—and that they are largely unknown years. Nevertheless, there was a quick chal- lenege to the whole idea, and expres- sion of fears of suppression, of regi- mentation, of loss of initiative and individuality were combined with ‘where does the parent come in?” and ‘how much more will they ask of the schools ?” The resolution was referred to the Permanent Committee on Education for study during the ensuing year and areport to the next convention. The committee gave no little thought and time to the matter, reading the theor- ies, talking with proponents, visiting the schools, Several mothers of chil- dren of the nursery school age were asked to observe the schools and re- port their opinions to the committee. In the course of the investigation fears seemed to be largely allayed. To the convention of 1928 the com- mittee brought their report. The Education Committee wishes to recommend : “That the American Federation of Teachers endorse the movement to study the needs of the pre-school child and the establishment of schools in which research, the training of teachers, the relief and in- struction of parents may be combined with Sientific care of children. “That it commend the spirit of truly scientific and yet sympathetic altruism shown in the movement and in the schools at present being conducted. “That it recommend that the extension ot the public school system to include these schools for the pre-kindergarten child be deferred until such a time as ex- periments shall have had time for com- pletion, ‘a tried and approved technique shall have been developed and a sufficient body of trained teachers shall be avail- able; until there is no danger that stand- ardization, indifference or lack of funds shall warp these schools out of the ideal- ism that characterizes these pioneer schools of the movement.” The report of the committee was endorsed by the convention and many members of the American Federation of Teachers have watched with inter- est and sympathy the work of those who have devoted themselves to work- ing out the best methods of caring for children in these highly important pre-school years. The study made by the regional White House Conference of Chicago (one of those follow-up conferences which have resulted from the one called last year by President Hoover) is a splendid survey of the needs of a community in order that its children may have an all around complete equipment for the highly complex life in which they must find their way. We commend it to students of child welfare and to communities seeking a like objective. Green Pastures We are grateful to Opportunity for another association with this now fa- mous name, The October, 1931, num- ber has an account of the splendid camp for colored children, which is one of the finest of the social services developed bv the Children’s Fund of Michigan. This fund. established by the generosity of Senator James Couzens, has to its credit some not- able achievements in the interest of childhood, but we doubt if any are of greater significance than Green Pas- tures Camp. Sixty-eight acres of woodland along the shores of a little lake near Jack- son, Michigan, has been splendidlv improved and equipped as a summer camp for Negro children of Detroit’s poorest. From the alleys of Detroit. where the poverty and suffering of this distressful period are intensified by race discrimination, come these sad little children to live for a while in the beauty of woods and water. Clean cottages, good food and a splendid corps of counsellors and helpers make the experience one of physical and moral upbuilding. Of the ultimate good to the children and to their city one can have little doubt. ‘eral in the boom periods. Salary Facts Salary cuts for teachers, actual and threatened, are doubtless accepted for the most part by the man in the street as just a part of the general decline of salaries and wages, justified by some, execrated by others, but by none regarded as in any way exceptional. Cuts and unemployment are too trag- ically common for the teachers’ plight to attract much attention. We must face the fact fairly that in a world of suffering the case of the teachers is a commonplace to the average man. Since such psychology presents a very real danger to our public schools a few facts should be clearly under- stood by teachers, and by them be kept in the public mind. First, it should be stressed that teachers’ salaries are not in the same case aS wages and salaries of many other workers. Teachers in general did not share to an appreciable degree in the wage advances that were gen- Like the farmer the teacher paid for years boom time prices with pre-boom time wages. Second, it should be understood that teachers are not a well paid group in comparison with other workers. A survey recently made by the National Education Association of salary fig- ures for the year 1930-31 reveals that in 1632 cities and towns of 2500 popu- lation or more, 54 per cent of the teachers receive less than $2000 a year. When it is remembered that $2000 a year is approximately the average income of all gainfully oc- cupied persons in the United States this becomes extremely significant. We are giving to our school system lip praise. We are expecting of it the greatest accomplishments ever de- manded of a public institution, but we offer to more than half of its teachers less than the average American wage. Again it should be stressed that it is not the teachers, primarily, for whom concern should be felt. Re- quirements for teachers may be high compared with those of this average income worker, justice may demand that their pay should be commensur- ate with the investment in their prep- aration and the value of their service, but we may forget that now—this not being a time when justice and deserts are to the fore—but what of vour children? what of your schools? 14 If you could take care of your chil- dren with the teachers this niggardly compensation will provide, economy might say let it be done. If you could put a half fed, distraught, physically and mentally exhausted teacher into a poorly equipped schoolroom and give her forty to sixty children to care for, and get adequate care for the children, some types of business philosophy might say let it be done. But it cannot be done. Every teacher knows it cannot be done, and every teacher should tell his community and its Board of Education that it cannot be done. It is our responsibility if we let destructive economies cheat children through ignorance of what these economies mean. Economy Programs Economy in public expenditures is a nation-wide demand. From the fed- eral government down through the states, counties and municipalities every governing body is feeling the pinch of lessening revenues and the public demand for retrenchment. As the cases multiply where this retrenchment expresses itself first in’ shortened school terms, closed schools, reduced teaching force, increased class size and lowered salaries for teachers, the conviction grows that we are be- ing no wiser in our economies than we have been in our waste. In hundreds of communities we are seeking to rectify the depletion of treasuries due to incompetence of public employees or to conscienceless plundering of public funds by dishonest public offi- cials, by depriving children of their right to adequate education. The loyalty of teachers to their work, their eminently just sense of the unfairness of these curtailments to the children, or a mistaken sense of their responsibility for the public emergency, is leading some teachers to voluntary surrender of a month’s salary, and others to an attitude of passive acceptance of salary cuts and utterly wasteful retrenchments. Such sacrificial loyalty is calling forth much praise in some quarters, but we beg to submit a warning. What may we be doing to public thought when we assume that responsibility for public education rests one iota more on teachers than on any other body of citizens, individually or col- lectively? What right have we to make education once more a function of private charity? What are we do- ing if we lead our communities into the belief that education may be cheapened? How can we escape re- sponsibility if we acquiesce in the sur- rendering of rights of children and protecting, at their expense, the ineffi- ciency or dishonesty of our public service? That we cannot expect to pass through this period of chaos uncon- cerned is indeed true; but the part of teachers who know, as does no one else, that schools cannot be cheap and at the same time adequate to the needs of this day—the only part they can with intelligence and conscience play is that of protest and warning. To the uninformed general public the cost of education can be made to seem large when held up alone and viewed as an abstract lump sum. It is only when this so large seeming sum is seen as only 2.75 per cent of our annual income, when it is seen in comparison with our bills for luxuries, for non-essentials, for crime, for armaments, does it assume its proper place in the picture. Then it becomes startlingly revealed that our supposed devotion to education has had only the most meager expression, That is our message to our com- munities. Our work is cut out for us. To hesitate for fear of the im- plication of self-seeking is the most real selfishness of which we may be guilty. Fads and Frills—So-called Where justification for attacks on school costs is sought, frequently it will be found in what the attacking forces are pleased to call the fads and frills of modern education. Some feature such as instruction in mil- linery, tap dancing, or art apprecia- tion will be held up to ridicule or abuse as wasteful use of public funds, and its elimination demanded, Such attacks might well be met by the statistical information released by the Federal Office of Education in the November issue of Scnoor Lure. Here it is shown by comparing the figures of the census of 1930 with those of 1920, that the holding power of the schools has been significantly increased in this decade. The per- centage of 16 and 17 year-old boys and girls attending school has in- creased from 42.9 per cent in 1920 to 57.3 per cent in 1930. In numbers this means that in 1930, 671,491 young people were attending school who would have been in industry had the percentage of 1920 continued. The Federal Office finds in these figures proof that the schools are play- THE TEACHE, AMERICAN ing a valuable part in this period oj unemployment. Removing this num. ber from the ranks of those compet. ing for employment is indeed a valy- able contribution in the emergency: but proof of a far more significant and permanent contribution may be deduced. Raising the standards of the race by lengthening the period of growth has ever been a characteristic of ad- vancing civilization. In this day the development of machinery and _ the consequent lessening of the man power needed for the work of the world has increased the desirability of this prolongation of the period of youth. Not only should the working years of the individual be decreased with this economic change, but the shortening of working hours makes increased demand that the individual be trained for happy and profitable use of leisure. The care of this large number in our high schools has greatly increased school costs, but that is advancing civilization. Supplying the vocational, cultural and recreational opportunities required has played the double role of holding them in school and of making the added years socially and individu- ally valuable. It has cost money, and must cost money. But it as much a part of the progress of mankind as paved roads, fire protection and sani- tation, and the cost should be ac- cepted as in the same case, Martyrs Up-to-date The following story from the Mon- tana Labor News is interesting and instructive from many angles. Not the least important of these is the glimpse it affords of the part eco- nomic interests have sometimes played in the people’s struggle for adequate revenues for public education. That educators themselves have sometimes played into the hands of these inter- ests should give us pause. The teaching profession has the distinc- tion of having driven out of his chair and out of the state the man who did the un'- versities more financial good than anyone else. Some thirteen years ago Dr. Levine at Missoula wrote an essay in the Eco- nomics school on the advantages of a gross metals mines tax for the benefit of the educational funds. At the request of the mining companies, their allies, the powét, railroad and telephone companies, the other college men hooted Levine out of the state. His essay took with the people. In a few years it became a law. It produces hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for the universities. The salaries of the chaps who chased Levine away for pub- lishing his thesis are paid from the fruit borne by his ideas. * em mm ee ll > .CHER riod ot iS num- compet- a Valy- rgency; nificant may be he race growth of ad- lay the nd _ the = man of the ility of iod of vorking creased ut the makes ividual ofitable iber in ‘reased rancing tional, unities role of naking lividu- 'y, and uch a ind as 1 sani- ye ac- Mon- g and Not is the t eco- layed quate That >times inter- listinc- ir and e uni- inyone Levine } Eco- _ gross »f the of the ower, other f the e. In duces . year »f the pub- fruit 1932 FEBRUARY, HEN so broad a topic is se- lected for discussion it car- ries with it the liberty to jwell on the phase which at the mo- ment appeals most to one’s interest. Many volumes have been written, and will be written, on the subject of the \indergarten — fascinating, illuminat- ing, inspiring. Thus being freed from any serious responsibility in the mat- ter we may wander at will, just catch- ing a glimpse of the conditions under which the little children meet new experiences, new occupations, new so- jal situations, and react to them in an environment which brings joy and satisfaction. It has been stated times without number by prominent educators, that the kindergarten is the best organized aid most progressive department in public school education. This state- ment will not be questioned, I think, by those familiar with the philosophy of early childhood education, nor by those who have followed the growth of kindergartens since their introduc- tion into public school systems, In- deed the kindergarten has changed within its own walls, in the last twenty vears, aS much as the elementary school has changed in method and shoolroom procedure. There is no doubt that education is pursuing a for- ward march and the kindergartens are a step, or several steps, beyond the rest of us. It has expanded in both directions, one way through the development of the nursery school, and the other way by the infusion of its spirit and philosophy into the pri- mary school. When I first wrote the last sentence I used the word “inject.” Then I thought infusion expressed the idea more accurately, and now I think | should have said infection. The kindergarten spirit is catching, and the primary school is susceptible to almost anything that will bring to it a busy, lappy atmosphere, and make of it a place in which children may live. _As we look back over the period since the introduction of the kinder- garten into public education we are almost startled by the growth and ex- Isabel Williams pansion of that idea. The first kin- dergarten established in the United States was in the home of Mrs. Carl Schurz, Watertown, Wisconsin, in 1855. We of the Middle West, feel pleasure at that, and again when we recall that the most notable early adoption of the kindergarten in a large public school system was in St. Louis in 1873. It was some twenty or more years later before they became common in the public schools. It is a far cry from the early kindergartens to those of the present day, and many were the obstacles which had to be overcome both within and without the system. The principles of kindergar- ten teaching were not generally under- stood and there was curiosity but no excess of sympathy for the difficulties of the situation. The teachers were trained to care for small groups of children in private kindergartens. They were confronted by enormous classes. The materials and equipment were formal in spite of the fact that they were way beyond anything the public schools had ever seen before. The work of the kindergarten itself, judged by present-day standards, was formal. People gave little thought to science in the sense of its application to living and working. Education was an experiment, is still for that matter, but there is at least a scien- tific basis and a new child psychology underlying the experiment. That the kindergarten teachers were alert and anxious to bring to the children the best that education had to offer is evidenced by the great change in the program and methods of the kinder- garten. One need only step into a modern kindergarten to realize that. It was a great step forward when educators realized that the best way to learn in early childhood is by try- ing out life as the child sees it around him. He likes to live over his ex- periences in play. To meet a new concept of education new equipment was necessary. So we find the small blocks of an earlier period replaced with blocks large enough to build houses, barns. stores, bridges, boats, The Contribution of the Kindergarten in Child Development trains, with which the children may actually play, not in an imaginary way but by actually carrying on activities which seem very real to the child. The modern kindergarten is also equipped with work bench, hammers, nails, saws, paint and numerous other appliances which the children use. All this, of course, means a much broader and more intelligent develop- ment for the child. He is a part. of the plan, whatever it may be, which is being worked out in the kindergar- ten. He finds the need for social ad- justments and is called upon to help solve the problems which arise. He is being trained to social responsibility. He finds opportunity for the expres- sion of his individuality at the same time that he is engaged in a fine piece of cooperative activity to meet the needs of a given situation. The chil- dren in the modern kindergarten are free with what Dr. Dewey calls “a rational freedom which is the fruit of objective knowledge and understand- ing.” Of course this creative impulse car- ries over into the primary grades. It may work out in ways suggested or related to the program of the grade, but certainly the children who have had the rich experience afforded bv an up-to-date kindergarten have a background and readiness even for the formal subjects of instruction that the child without kindergarten training lacks. We find them ready to plan, suggest, and work out the problem. What the kindergarten has contrib- uted to child development cannot be measured in words, not only in the actual practice in the kindergartens, but even more in the change that it has helped to bring about in the pri- mary school. It has freed the child from a formal, adult conception of education and has set up an educa- tional philosophy that has enriched the lives of the children. It is not too much to say that it has done more than any other department in the school system for an all-round devel- opment of the children and to provide an environment and program condu- cive to growth. 16 THE AMERICAN TEACHE, The Preschool Years _ This article is a summary of the recommendations made by the Preschool Commuttee of the Chicago Regional White House Conference called by Super- intendent William J, Bogan. Tue AMERICAN TEACHER feels this careful study is a valuable contribution to the general knowledge of this important subject and that many of the suggestions are applicable to any community. For permission to present this report to our readers we are indebted to Mrs. Rose H,. Alschuler, the Chairman of the Preschool Committee, a sub- committee under the general section “Education and Training,” of which Charles 11, Judd was Chairman. HERE are approximately 360,000 children under six years of age in Chicago. Although they con- stitute somewhat more than 10 per cent of the population, there has been no adequate program for their care. In the past few years there has been an increasing realization of the signifi- cance of these early years as basic to later physical and mental health; yet up to the present time there has been no full realization of the needs of this more than 10 per cent of our popula- tion and certainly no adequate attempt has been made to meet these needs. The Preschool Committee of this White House Regional Conference was composed of persons working in various fields having to do with young children. Some were primarily con- cerned in physical, and others in men- tal health, some were associated with social and some with educational agencies. It was the unanimous opin- ion of all of these workers that each of these fields is closely inter-related with all of the other fields and that any program intelligently formulated must integrate and provide for men- tal, physical, social and educational study and care. The needs of young children, whether they are in their own homes or are under the care of agencies and institutions, are approxi- mately the same, but special provi- sions must be made for specific situa- tions, Routine General Examination Provision should be made for rou- tine general examinations of all pre- school children. These should include not only general physical and dental examinations, but psychological ex- amination and social investigation should be included, so that defects and difficulties may be recognized and remedied as early as possible. Ade- —TueE EbpIror. quate provision should also be made for remedial care of defects. For all children gathered in groups, there should be daily health inspection and provision for isolation care especially needed where contagious illness is sus- pected or diagnosed. Every child should be immunized against diph- theria and smallpox during the pre- school period, preferably before en- tering any group. In order to carry out this program we must have many more adequately staffed centers of various kinds prop- erly distributed to meet the needs of all localities. That is to say, we need many more centers such as infant wel- fare stations, child guidance clinics, day nurseries, nursery schools and kindergartens. We also need a more widespread and adequate understand- ing in homes and in all institutions of what constitutes thorough examina- tion and care of preschool children. Need for Survey In order to know where to locate centers and what type center will best serve the needs of each locality, we recommend that a survey of the Chi- cago area be made. From this survey we should expect to get not only types and locations of centers needed, but there should also be evolved a pro- gram which would indicate minimum as well as fuller programs for ade- quate child care, also expected train- ing and amount of staff needed to carry On such programs. We believe that a survey is the first step toward any adequate program of child care in this area. A few indica- tions for the need for such a survey and program lie in a realization of the lack of facilities to give needed ex- aminations and care for even a small percentage of children at the present time and in the inadequate standards and programs in many existent insti- tutions and agencies. We suggest the following points jo; consideration in any study to be made, All existent agencies and institutions caring for preschool children should be studied with the objective of bring. ing them up to standards to be more definitely established as a result ot the study made. Training of Parents and Professional Workers Any comprehensive plan for caring for young children should include work with parents. The education of parents of preschool children is espe- cially important, as in those early years parents and homes are the larg- est factors in children’s lives, Par. ents must be made thoroughly con- scious of the physical, mental and spiritual needs of their children. They must also know developmental levels, so that they may be prepared to understand and meet their chil- dren’s needs at all stages of develop- ment. Parent education must include work with fathers, as well as mothers, in order to obtain needed cooperation in carrying out home programs. Par- ent education programs should also include plans for developing in chil- dren and youth attitudes and habits enabling them to function successful’ in home and family life. Schools at all levels, from nursery to university, should introduce activities and mate- rials contributing to this end and they should be made available to both boys and girls. All professional workers dealing with young children, e. g., doctors, nurses, nutritionists, teachers and psy- chiatric social workers, should receive special training in child care and de- velopment, as well as in parent educa- tion. The need for a continuous re- search attitude among all workers should be stressed as basic to pro- grams that will not be static, but will continue to broaden and develop. Need for Research The need for research in child de- velopment is important in order to gather facts on which to base pro- cedures and programs, While many of the present programs and pro- (Turn to page 18) FE L\ CHE, 1t inst- ints for e made. itutions should f bring. ie more sult of ssional _ Caring include tion of S espe- early € larg- Par- y con- al and ildren. mental epared - chil- velop- nclude thers, ration Par- 1 also 1 chil- habits Sful! ols at ersity, mate- 1 they | boys -aling ctors, | psy- ceive d de- duca- is re- rkers pro- + will 1 de- ‘r to pro- nany pro- 1932 FEBRUARY, 17 BOOKS “There is no frigate like a book To bear us lands away.”’ e e e —Emily Dickinson THE MAKING OF CITIZENS By Charles E. Merriam University of Chicago Press pp. 360. $3.00 Under the general title Studies in the Making of Citizens, a series of dght volumes by prominent students of Political Science has been published by the University of Chicago Press. It embodies the results of studies of the systems of civic education in eight modern states. Professor Merriam, who has edited the series, now com- pletes it by this volume in which he analyzes and compares the systems as jound in the nations studied. Extremely significant is the pro- sram of civic education in two of these states, Russia and Italy, where new types of civil loyalty must be developed for new political and eco- nomic systems, Especially significant is it that the leaders have so com- pletely recognized that only through such education can the safety of the new system be assured, If in America a new type of citi- zenship is desired, as some aver, we may well consider this means of at- taining it. Such a study as this series represents is a valuable pre-step if we would attain our objective with a minimum of lost effort. Out of what does civic loyalty come? asks Dr. Merriam in the first paragraph of the summation study, and under what conditions does it dis- integrate? “How did this pattern of political behavior come into being? Out of what material was it woven?” “What part do social groupings play in the spirit of the state?” “What determines the choices between com- peting loyalties?’ The attempt to answer such questions as these makes this concluding study more than mere lescriptions of various educational ystems. An illuminating philosophy of the functions of government per- vades it. Especially significant does the reader of today find’this basic tenet: It cannot long be fogotten tnat politi- ‘al loyalty depends upon the balance of ‘ocial interests of which it is an index, and without which it is nothing. The leeling of political loyalty must in the ong run have a functional basis—must ‘etve some useful social purpose in the life of those associated in the community. Otherwise’ allegiance dissolves and another grouping takes place, drawing in new social elements and fashioning them together in new patterns. Teachers of social sciences will find much that is suggestive and practical. It must be asserted with equal vehe- mence, however, that the full understand- ing of systems of civic education will not be reached unless they are taken as a part of a total social situation, in the midst of which they are set and as a part of which they function. Failure to do this is the basic error of many studies in civics which are confined to the strict- ly structural and more narrowly and for- mally governmental relations to which it is assumed that politics is restricted. Our lack of training for interna- tional relations Professor Merriam finds of serious import in this day when the interdependence of all peo- ples is so evident. 3roadly speaking, the typical child emerges from the schools inadequately informed regarding other groups of the world, quite unsophisticated in interna- tional behavior in a world tenanted by fifty-odd other states. He is brought up as if he were an only child, not only the lone child in the family, but the lone child in the world. The raison d’etre for the whole study is perhaps found in a paragraph in the last chapter. , The long, long line of those who have marched to their doom, in slavery, prison, or the grave, in the tragic struggles for political readjustments, is not yet ended. But there is reason to believe that it is possible for humanity to train itself in such a way as to reduce the terrible and agonizing cost of men’s adaptation to each other and to social change, and to release the finer, richer, more beautiful and satisfying possibilities of co-operation in mankind. EXAMINING THE EXAMINATION IN ENGLISH Harvard University Press, Cam- bridge, Mass, $2.00. “Examining the Examination in English,” Volume 17 of the Harvard studies in Education, is a report to the College Entrance Examination Board by the Commission on English. For the teachers whose pupils are to enter college by passing the College 3oard examinations there is much in- teresting discussion on the two types of examination, Comprehensive and Restrictive, on the system of reading the papers, and on the principles which control the grading of them. To illustrate the latter they have ex- hibited, with the comprehensive ex- amination of 1929, nine complete an- swer books, rated from 50 to 95, and the readers’ comments on the books “as evidence of the candidates’ ability successfully to pursue the work of Freshman year in college.” Whether the method of judging that ability is satisfactory or not is discussed fully. In defense of the general plan, Prof. Lowell is quoted as saying that the examinations “have been increasingly directed to the single object of testing the proficiency of the candidates.” (A full statement of his claim is to be found in “The Art of Examination,” Atlantic Month- ly, January, 1926.) On the other hand, Prof. Brown of Brown Uni- versity believes that the new freedom inculcated by the Comprehensive Plan of enlarging the students’ literary ad- ventures is responsible for a poorer grade of answer books. He feels sure while “it is a move in the right direc- tion,” it is “in danger of arriving no- where except in a thick fog.” For teachers who are not directly involved in the issue of what the col- lege entrance test should be, the book offers much discussion that may help to clarify ideas on the wise planning of examinations within the secondary school, It is altogether probable that many groups who do not have the stimulus of the college entrance exam- ination are, as a result of our efforts to diversify their literary pleasures, already arriving in a thick fog. A chapter on Consideration of Aims is rich in comments on the many moot points of our work. Counsel by ex- perts is available here for all. —Ruth E. Moore. CHARACTER EDUCATION: SIXTH YEAR 300K OF THE CHICAGO PRIN- CIPALS’ CLUB Published by Chicago Principals’ Club, 315 Plymouth Court, Chicago 290 pp. $1.50 This is a splendid presentation of an aspect of the work of the schools which is demanding the attention of the educational world with increasing persistence, As stated by the editori- al board in the foreword, “for three 18 and a half years committees of princi- pals, teachers and laymen have worked together in Chicago in an attempt to find some solution to the question how to produce good character in our citizens.” This book is a result of that work. The material presented has been contributed by principals and teachers who have used the prac- tices described. Part One gives what has been done in this line in different parts of the country; a statement by Superinten- dent Bogan concerning the organiza- tion and work of the Chicago Council on Character Education, a lay group of civic minded citizens; a “mosaic” of current theory and practice, and an account of devices for measurement of the results of character education. Part Two gives details of method in character education in use in the Chicago schools. Work along this line in the elementary schools, the junior and senior high schools, the Normal College and the Special schools for problem children is described. An interesting study is given in Part Three of the relative value of four methods as applied to the teach- ing of honesty, direct, indirect, through club activities and through pupil government. Two hundred and fifty difficult situations and how they were met are described and the methods of han- dling are classified and ranked accord- ing to frequency. The book is well worth the time and effort that has been spent on it by these Chicago principals. The hope expressed in the preface that it “prove of practical value in the field of char- acter education” is not a vain one. The reader is impressed that these schools are administered by men and women of high ideals and earnest pur- pose and that steady growth in quali- ties that make for desirable citizen- ship and splendid maturity is the rea- sonable hope for the boys and girls in these schools, —Marion Sykes. Cuicaco: A PortTRAIT By Henry Justin Smith Century Company, New York. $5.00 It is always unfortunate when some one fact about a city, or an institution, or an individual, receives so much publicity as to prevent a proper ap- preciation of other characteristics. That has happened in the case of Chi- cago. This bustling metropolis of the Middle West, alive as it is with an energy and ambition uncommon even among American cities, and filled as it is with beauty, is thought of through- out the world as the capital of gang- land. Racketeers and murderers there are in Chicago, They constitute one of the great problems not only in that city but in all the large centers of population in the United States. Chi- cago has not the best record in the country with respect to crime, nor has it the worst. But irrespective of this blot on American civilization which may be seen, as elsewhere, in Chicago, that city has had a marvelous devel- opment during the last century and it is today one of the most attractive and interesting of the great cities of the world. A fine description of this great city is to be found in Henry Justin Smith’s Chicago: A Portrait. The book is beautifully illustrated by E. H. Suy- dam. The illustrations alone would lend distinction to the book, but the descriptive matter gives, as the title indicates, a picture of the city and its institutions. The work is not primarily histori- cal, though a bit of history is thrown in—enough to give a proper setting to the institutions which are described. Here is a picture of the real Chicago, the great stores of the “Loop,” the suburbs, the universities, the parks, the stockyards, the markets, the mu- seums. It is a fine portrait which the author draws of a great American city. —The American Observer, / CHILD AND UNIVERSE By Bertha Stevens John Day Company, New York 249 pp, 47 full page illus- trations. $3.50 This book is written for the pur- pose of inspiring elementary teachers so to relate the life of the child to the cosmic universe that he may see the beauty of design and unity of plan in everything. A scheme is developed in which natural science becomes the core of education for two successive years. If the reader addressed be a parent the book will prove useful, not aS a program of study, perhaps, but as leading to a responsive attitude when the children come with observations and questions. The physical make up of the book, its form, illustrations and other de- tails are artistically in accord with the beautiful ideas set forth. —Vern O.- Graham. THE AMERICAN TEACHE Tue Lesson ASSIGNMENT By William G. Carr and John Waay, Stanford University Press, 1931. $1.50 The authors, one of whom is J, rector of the Research Division 4 the National Education Association have summarized the objective studie that have a bearing on assignment; Their analysis of assignments is stim ulating. Assignment procedures ;j: practically all sorts of school situ. tions are held up for examination Even the more radically “progressive teaching comes in for some attentior in the discussion of pupil participa tion in the determination of assign: ments. —Russell L. Wise. The Preschool Years (Continued from page 16) cedures have been scientifically evalu- ated, many other possibilities for quit different programs and _ procedures have been but faintly recognized and some others have doubtless not ye been visioned. Care should be taken lest propaganda in the field of parent education and treatment of child be- havior tend to outrun knowledge. Re- search should include studies of large numbers of children in all aspects of their living and would of course in- clude studies of behavior and person ality problems and of the most effec- tive methods for treating them. Con sideration should be given to the needs of preschool children in special groups living in the Chicago area, such as the negro group and any foreign groups whose adjustment in a new com munity gives rise to special needs There should also be long-time fol- low-up studies of numbers of children to acquire facts regarding the actual significance of early behavior prob lems. In the educational field a need is indicated for study and _ research which will integrate programs of pre school and elementary school children Legislation If this regional program goes for ward as outlined, if research and sur veys are carried through, we should in time look forward and be prepared to make definite recommendations for legislation which will create wide spread better care for preschool chil- dren. FY ACHE, n Waay; "eSS, m is Pj. rision 0! ;OCiation € studie onments ; 1S stim lures jr ol situa nination Tressive’ attention articipa- assign- Wise. y evalu- Or quite cedures zed and not yet ve taken * parent hild be- ge. Re- of large ects of Irse in- person t effec- Con e needs groups 1 as the groups r COMm- needs ne fol- hildren actual prob- a need search of pre: ildren -s for- id sur- should epared ns for wide- 1 chil- FEBRUARY, 1932 Washington Local 27 Washington Teachers’ Union, Local 27, held a supper meeting, December 3, at the en's Christian Association Building. The meeting was for the purpose of hearing about the Fifteenth Annual Convention of the American Federation of Teachers and ther educational meetings held throughout the country this summer. The special guests included Mrs. Mary L. McNeil and Dr. J. Hayden Johnson of the Board of Education, Supt. Garnet G. Wilkinson, in charge of Divisions Ten to Thirteen, President and Mrs. Clarke of Miner Teachers’ College, Miss Mary C-. Dent of Local 8, Mr. Edward McGrady, Legislative Representative of the Amer- ian Federation of Labor, Miss Mattie Shadd, retired Ass’t. Supt. of Washington Schools, and Miss F. E. Bruce, a member of Local 27 who has retired after fifty years Of service in our schools. We were iso happy to have with us Mrs. Givens of Indianapolis, head of Zeta Phi Beta soror- iy, who was here in attendance upon President Hoover’s Housing Conference. Miss L. R. Smith and Mrs. Mary Ma- wn Jones made their reports on the Chi- cago Convention, and Mr. M. Grant Lucas sid a few words in behalf of the Colum- bian Educational Association. President Clarke spoke of the necessity of training new teachers coming out of our schools way from autocracy. Miss Dent urged membership in the Union as a means of educational growth nd social opportunity. Mrs. McNeil expressed entire sympathy with the movement for organization of tachers to promote their own welfare. Mr. Wilkinson spoke of the fine coopera- le spirit existing now between the Teach- as’ Union and the administration. He sid our annual conferences have become amatter of delightful anticipation: many ot the teachers’ suggestions have been in- corporated in administrative policies. Mr. McGrady was splendid in his whole- hearted defense of teachers and his sup- port of their right to organize and in point- ng out the advantages which have come irom this organization. He said that the American Federation of Teachers formu- lates 1ts own policies but when formulated they are whole-heartedly backed by the American Federation of Labor. Preceding the program was a delicious supper where all were put in the most ‘ongenial frame of mind. Music was lurnished by members of Howard Uni- versity Glee Club, by Miss Estelle Pickney and by Mrs. Maizie Handy Robinson, artists of notable merit. After the pro- gram there were music and dancing. Mary Mason JONEs, President eautiful Phyllis Wheatley Young Wom- . Sacramento Local 31 Local 31 this year has entered upon an intensive membership campaign, and the results, although not brilliant, are encour- aging, especially in view of the fact that several teachers who had dropped out are renewing their membership. Our presi- dent, Edward Goldberg, is enthusiastic and untiring in his efforts for the organiza- tion. Perhaps the strongest reason for trying to build up membership in this time of depression is the depression itself; for everywhere are heard rumblings about the cost of education, and, of course, to any outsider and to most school boards the obvious cure is the reduction of teachers’ salaries. It does not seem to occur to them to investigate overhead and admin- istrative expenses for possible leakages. Now is the time when we should “all hang together” to resist such a course and to find ways and means of easing the tax burden without such sacrifice. It is only when the cost of living is lowered, as at present, that teachers’ salaries, here at least, are in any wav commensurate with what they ought to be. 'n order to give teachers a chance to study the tax situation with a view to re- ductions and readjustment, our Program Committee has arranged for two experts to speak at regular meetings. Mr. Walter Morgan, assistant State Superintendent in charge of statistics, gave a very interesting and informative talk on January 7, and Mr. Rolland A. Vandergrift, State Di- rector of Finance, is scheduled to sneak at the next meeting. The two men have entirely opposite ideas for the solution of taxation difficulties, and so it behooves us teachers to use our heads. At the Institute conducted by the Cali- fornia Teachers’ Association, Northern Sec- tion, held in Sacramento, and attended by several thousand teachers, a table was kept supplied with literature of the American Federation of Teachers to be taken gratu- itously, and copies of “The American Teacher” were on sale. The supply of literature had to be replenished several times, showing that people are becoming interested. Our little monthly bulletin has this year assumed a new name, “The Teachers’ Voice,” and acquired a new dress. It is being sent to all teachers in the city, re- gardless of membership. : The report from Local 5, of New York in the December number of this magazine is a very interesting one reflecting the wide- spread tendency of those in authority to dictate what teachers and other city em- ployees must donate in various campaigns for relief. As a rule, teachers will give more than is really asked if they are ap- proached without pressure. The report is 19 News From the Field interesting also as showing further light on the New York graft situation which is filling the eastern papers and which reaches us through the January 2 number of the Literary Digest. In closing may I add that “The Amer- ican Teacher” is becoming a very readable and worth-while magazine? I read it as a pleasure instead of a duty. MaArGARET Moore, Correspondent. Grand Forks Local 205 The National Office has been pleased to receive the December Newsletter of the Grand Forks Local. We agree heartily with the tenet laid down in their introduc- tion: “A true and full knowledge of the functioning of any organization is hardly possible without a journal that is regularly published and read.” We believe all locals should find a way of putting into the hands of all their members some such news sheet. The Grand Forks Newsletter is a splen- did answer to the question which still gets itself asked in some places (mirable dictu) : “why a union? what can it do for me?” Washington Educational Union Local 198 A movement “to reduce the mental wear and tear on the man who is job- less by supplying him with studies that will keep his mind open and his heart cheerful in anticipation of bet- ter times,” has been started here by a group of civic and educational or- ganizations. As explained by Richard S. Har- vey, president of Washington Educa- tional Union, No. 198, who is spon- soring the plan, it is proposed to cen- tralize all of the free educational courses available in Washington to the end that unemployed men and women may have facilities for in- creasing their knowledge in varied fields to fit themselves for better jobs. Already there are a large number of such courses being taught at vari- ous schools and by various organiza- tions in the District, Mr. Harvey points out, but heretofore there has been no effort toward correlating the courses through one educational clear- ing house which would function to bring prospective pupils into contact with the courses best suited to their needs. 20 At a meeting of a number of or- ganization representatives a group called the City Council of Adult Edu- cation was formed to list such courses as are now available and to provide for establishment of additional courses wherever possible or necessary. It was decided to list every avail- able free instruction course and by means of posters and other media to give these courses the greatest pos- sible publicity. The explanation was given that “in this time of financial distress and of. great emergency the morale of the worker must not be permitted to sag because a job is not at hand or even in sight, and educa- tion is the means to keep the worker fit and ever ready, for better jobs when the clouds roll by and prosperity returns again.” To accomplish this purpose a com- mittee of five was appointed to col- lect data and make and carry out plans, Mr. Harvey reported that the Community Chest would cooperate and see that the public was informed of the results of the move to get the unemployed in touch with educational advantages now available. Washington Post. School Salaries Low WASHINGTON, D. C.—(ILN)— “If our classrooms are in the hands of incompetents, then we are com- mitting intellectual suicide,” declares J. W. Crabtree, secretary of the Na- tional Education Association, in a foreword to a report on teachers’ sal- aries made public by the association. Crabtree denounces efforts to cut teachers’ pay, saying that teaching is an underpaid profession and adding: “Recently a few thoughtless per- sons and some organized groups have thought it possible to relieve the eco- nomic depression by reducing the sal- aries of teachers. Economic stability and the return of prosperity will never be secured by widespread re- duction in buying power through ar- bitrary wage cuts.” Teachers’ Pay Low The report says that a majority of teachers in city schools throughout the country receive salaries lower than the average annual income of all gain- fully employed workers, despite the fact that educational salaries have risen in the last two years. Salary figures for the academic year of 1930-31 were obtained by the association from 1,632 cities with populations of 2,500 persons or more. Of the 301,000 teachers employed in the cities reporting their educa- tional disbursements for _ salaries, more than 164,000 or 54 per cent of the total, received less than $2,000 an- nually, the approximate average in- come of all gainfully occupied per-~ sons in the United States. Big Cities Pay Best The best showing was made by cities of more than 100,000 in popu- lation, where only 34 per cent of the elementary kindergarten part-time and junior and senior high school teachers were paid less than the average na- tional income. But the percentages rose rapidly in the smaller cities. In cities of between 30,000 and 100,000 persons in population, the majority of teachers, 69 per cent, were listed as receiving less than $2,000 a year. For still smaller centers the percentages of teachers in that category were as fol- lows: In cities of population between 10,000 to 30,000, 84 per cent; centers of 5,000 to 10,000 in population, 89 per cent, and those of 2,500 to 5,000 in population, 94 per cent. Americans Spend 2.74 Per Cent of Income for Education Dr. George A. Eaton, assistant superintendent of the Salt Lake City schools, says that the American peo- ple as a whole believe in education. “Yet,” says Dr. Eaton, “occasionally a cry is heard that we are going be- yond our means in the expenditure for education; that it is not what we should like to have, but what we can afford that should govern. That same cry was raised every year since we have had free schools, and I doubt not will be raised every year hereafter. It should not greatly disturb us. This country has an annual income of $89,000,000,000 and spends $2,448,- 000,000 or 2.74 per cent of this in- come for schools, elementary, high, and collegiate. There is no econo- mist or statesman worthy of the name who will not affirm that the public schools of a country are its greatest asset ; also, that it is not a question as to whether we can afford good up-to- THE AMERICAN TEACHE, date schools or not, for we simp) cannot afford not to have them, ~ “Yes, the American people belie, in the schools and what they are do. ing. We have full confidence the will still be willing to expend 2.74 pe cent of their income for education.” —Utah Labor News. Sixty Cents a Day Buys Education Sixty cents, the price of a pound of candy or a single golf ball, buys one day’s education for a child in the average public school, according to Kgh; figures released by the Federal Office of Education. Statistics from a_ representative group of American cities show that} the total average annual cost per child yb: for teachers’ services for nine months for heat, janitor service and, in most IK instances, school supplies, books and library facilities, is $108.87. Since instruction costs, which in- clude teachers’ salaries, books and the library, make up three-fourths of total school costs, the city child gets the service of trained teachers and useful textbooks for approximately 47 cents per day or 8 cents per hour. State Commission Urges Miners to Organize DENVER, Colo.—In a sharp at- tack on wage cutting, which it de- nounces as a “serious mistake,” the Colorado Industrial Commission urges coal miners to organize. “Unions are as much the product of modern industrial life as the cor- poration,” the commission said. The commission’s criticism of wage slashing followed a four months’ in- vestigation of conditions in Colorado coal mines. “We regret,” the commission said, “employers thought it necessary to re- duce wages at a time of widespread unemployment. We believe it to bea serious mistake when we are suffer- ing the most serious industrial and financial panic in history. ‘Tt is our opinion employers should have followed the advice of the Pres ident and his advisers to maintain wages. “Prosperity would return much sooner if attention had been paid to the .recommendation of the Presi dent.” ACHE, ‘m. : believe are do- ice they 2.74 pe catia Vews. uys | pound ll, buys 1 in the ling to l Office -ntative yw that = ¥ child nonths. n most ks and ich in- and the of total =ts the useful 7 cents eS rp at- it de- .” the urges roduct e cor- wage is’ in- orado said, to re- pread » bea uffer- | and hould Pres- ntain much id to resi- MenkUARY, 1932 ). A. R. Leader Seeks to Stop Student Meet PHILADELPHIA.—Professional “red ters,’ With the enthusiastic volun- ‘ry assistance of Mrs. Rudyard even Uzzell, an ardent member of ye Daughters of the American Rev- jytion, attempted to stop the sessions ; the Intercollegiate Disarmament fonference held last Thursday on the Y of Penna, campus. Last Thurs- wy and Friday more than forty let- vs and telegrams were sent out to i. Josiah Penniman, Provost of the iniversity, urging him to order the isbanding of the conference. Dr. enniman took no action and the con- ‘rence was held. Mrs. Uzzell also attempted to ob- nin the cooperation of student leaders | is banning the conference. At a meet- ng held at her sons’ fraternity house ne attempted to interest a group of dudents in taking steps to break up he conference. They refused to fol- bw her suggestion, After listening to Tucker Smith’s ea for elimination of “the war bit” the delegates at the evening gssion unanimously passed a resolu- ion calling upon President Hoover to point an American delegation to the Geneva Conference which would take he lead in promoting a universal 50 yr cent to 75 per cent cut in arma- nents and armament budgets. Mrs, Uzzell denounced this action s “expressing only the views of the Christian Association” and said she ittempted to stop the meeting “be- ause the students engaged in holding twere not representative of the stu- lent body.” She announced that al- hough her group had not succeeded n halting the meetings, they would ontinue all investigation, and de- lared “much more would come of this,” —The Hosiery Worker. lf some persons are jailed for talk- lg peace in time of war, why should wt others be jailed for talking war in imes of peace? —S. Parkes Cadman. A Government bureau for child- welfare work was established in Costa Xica by a law of August 15, 1930. 'mphasis is placed on the protection of the child’s health and of his men- al, moral, and social life, and on the evention of maternal and child mor- ‘ality, W. F. E. A. Bulletin. The Adult and The Child (Continued from page 9) easy prey to a designing, vicious- minded person. However, if they are given educational advantages studied out through mental test and classifica- tions they have every right to become good citizens. This was brought to my mind spe- cifically when a boy with a record of a very low I. Q., but no delinquency, was found to be musically inclined. His first business contact with an adult was a contract of six months’ board, shelter, and $10.00 a month allowed on a musical instrument which would be his proud possession at the end of the six months. The task was faithfully performed, but the man refused to deliver the musical instrument. This experience, no doubt, would have resulted in de- linquency if the Juvenile Court had not stepped in at that moment. With limited reasoning power, a_ bruised state of mind and the consciousness that someone in authority had been distinctly unfair and dishonest, this boy might have been ruined as a citi- zen. I glory in the modern day teacher who is beautiful, vital and interesting, and beauty is not confined to youth. The radiant splendor of a life well lived is difficult to equal. Goodness is beautiful, but we should look our best. One of my friends said to me not long ago, “Judge, you know I don’t use any paint or powder.” I answered, “You are very selfish, for I have to look at you, and I do the very best I can to look pleasing for you.” Children love and respond to beau- ty. Color is a great factor in life measurement and wields a tremendous influence both consciously and uncon- sciously, Drab, unlovely surround- ings are unfair to a child. Persons should look and in reality be as lovely as possible. We dress up every rail- road yard, every factory site. Let us not neglect God’s masterpiece. It is our duty to look our best. I think school teachers and mothers should look charming all the time, if possible. We are spending from six to ten billion dollars every year for crime and one for education. We are sur- prised at results. The hour is draw- ing near when the enlightened con- sciousness of man will see the great 2! need of classification of children in schools and classification of criminals in penal institutions. Economically and socially the salvage will be star- tling. The psychiatrist says that only eight out of every hundred school children are problem children and that five of that eight, under scientific social treat- ment and handling are not a menace to society. He doesn’t risk himself to say how many adults in one hundred are problem adults, but personally, I believe the ratio is far greater. Often I suggest to parents that they study something. Every parent should begin the study of something new at thirty-five. It revivifies the mind and prevents them from drifting into stu- pid ill temper because they have be- come dull. Adults today are awake to play life. This is marvelous, It is a pity not to drink in the splendor God has pre- pared for us in this beautiful world. It is up to us to find the harmony in the heart and mind of every individ- ual. Broken homes have been enough in the limelight, so I will only pause to point the finger of thought to that phase of the subject. Many homes are broken though the ties are not dis- solved. This is the most dangerous type of broken home when considered from the standpoint of the child. Temperamental disorders wreck the the nervous systems of children. I have seen selfish dominance, ex- pressed sometimes by a parent and sometimes by a child, result in a far more cruel and blighting influence than a physical lash or imprisonment. I have seen families where one mem- ber had converted the heaven of the family fireside into a veritable hell A well-balanced educational pro- gram for a community inclues a Par- ent-Teacher association working intel- ligently with the teaching forces. This brings the academic, social and civic interests into correct relative recog- nition. Education is taking strides; recrea- tion is on the run; churches recognize the young group as never before. We take wonderful care of the sick and the crippled; the blind are educated and protected, but my plea is for the emotional or temperamental side of the child. Let the adult and the child “tune in” on principle and progress. The Child Guidance Clinic (Continued from page 8) ing a new spirit in school administra- tion which will conserve the best in- terests of teachers as well as of chil- dren, and by so much aiding in the evolution of a better social order, A third possible function is being envisaged by progressive guidance clinics which have become well estab- lished in school systems. They begin to look inquiringly at the teachers. The new techniques are harder to carry on in the classroom than the old; to teach a group of children with- out uniform instruction and, at the same time, to watch the development of each ideally demands omniscience ; to abandon mass discipline means noise in the classroom and a hundred difficult adjustments to conditions that teachers have traditionally regarded as naughty behavior. Can teachers rise to these new duties which, as al- ways, accompany new opportunities? Many do, and more can. But in order to adjust themselves they need to have more than an intellectual understand- ing of “mental health” or “good ad- justment”; they need to have ex- perienced these conditions. Teachers who have grown sour or narrow or harsh, teachers who bear grudges and those who feel aggrieved create “problem children” by their very pres- ence in the classroom. In the new order they have no more place there than if they were suffering from a contagious disease. Yet to try to change them by “removal,” “disci- pline” or “supervision” would be even more silly, and eventually more harm- ful to the morale of all teachers than to try punishing anyone for contract- ing influenza. We have learned in medicine that “prevention is better than cure,” yet many of us feel dis- graced if it is suggested that we visit a psychiatrist. It is quite possible to conceive of a healthier world where such a visit will be no more a dis- grace than one to a dentist. The best of teachers know how often they fail in a day’s work because of some per- sonal problem that has no place in the class-room; more and more rela- tively happy, well-balanced teachers realize how much more effective they might be if by self-understanding they lived to fuller capacity. The psychia- trist in charge of any guidance clinic sees all this even more clearly, for understanding is his business. Yet no good psychiatrist wishes to intrude, or hurry people faster than they co- operate. It would be possible, by pressing a few teachers in the interest of better influences among the chil- dren, to injure the good-will of the whole teaching body toward all the work of the clinic. Therefore this third function is one which school psychiatrists think about, but rarely as yet see a clear way to perform. It seems to me that the discovery of the method to this work must come from the teachers themselves, who under- stand and seek counsel to prevent their own maladjustments. They will be doubly rewarded, by the greater richness in their own lives which bet- ter self-understanding brings and by the experience of what modern psy- chiatry is doing, of which even a little surpasses many, many lectures and readings in the functions of child guidance. I who write have experi- enced. The institution set up in the child guidance clinic will probably then al- ways be needed. Even a perfect so- cial order with perfect teachers could not prevent all physical handicaps or all those emotional strains such as those between parents, or between parents and children which we know are fruitful sources of maladjust- ments. No known society yet has prevented the appearance of mental defectives or of sources of real or imagined inferiority. The experts who must cooperate in the study and treatment of individual children are the phychiatrist and, more or less regularly, nearly every other sort of medical specialist, the psychologist, the psychiatric social worker and a secretarial staff without whose full and accurate record little progress can hope to be made. In what proportions these shall be mixed is a matter of circumstances and judg- ment. Those clinics formed by the Joint Committee on the Prevention of Delinquency or under its influence are headed by a psychiatrist with a staff of one to four psychologists and as many psychiatric social workers as can be got. In others, especially those established under university auspices, the head is a psychologist and the psy- chiafrist is called in as one of the con- sulting medical specialists. In a large system, where many clinics will even- tually be established, there is advan- tage in appointing a head who has broad educational experience to handle the administration and leave all experts free to carry on their work, The newest profession on the staff and today scarcest is the psy- chiatric social worker. Such a pro- fession did not exist ten years ago; many people do not yet know what it means. But it is she who, as visitor or visiting teacher or assistant to the THE AMERICAN TEACH; psychiatrist, sees the child first ay most frequently, studies his enviro, ment and carries on his treatme from day to day, sometimes from yea, to vear. This treatment as ofte- means efforts to modify the enviro§ sponses; there may be need of any§ thing from new shoes to institutiongf, care; it may be as necessary to perf. suade parents to cease foolish indy. gence as to end over-strictness; § solution may be found in one case jsf opportunities for recreation, in an}, other, in stiffer work. And the psy}. chiatric social worker must be train to understand the whys and the hid den effects of these things, almost a fully as the psychiatrist, and how to find whatever is wanted at the righ place in the community. It is rapid) becoming the most exciting and unex. pected of the professions. Teaching}s has always seemed to me about as ful} of of human interest and unexpected]! drama as any occupation one could conceive of, but sometimes when I get}! a good chance to talk with my friends among the psychiatric social workers. J ; ; iC ment as to modify the child’s his Fel A Di I think they may go us one better. Jo But not for long. Look at the bound-}, less possibilities which a school sys- tem bent on really individual training for social ends is beginning to open up to us! The next step to this end. as it is to healthier and happier child- hood, is a strong child guidance de- partment somehow available in every community. Juvenile Offenders in Criminal Courts A recent statement from Miss Katherine Lenroot, of the Children’s Bureau, shows how far this country still has to go in the proper treatment! of its young offenders. In 16 states, Miss Lenroot says, children who commit certain serious offenses are excluded from juvenile courts and tried in an ordinary crim- inal court. All the creaking old legal machinery which works so vigorously against the casual offender and breaks down so completely in dealing with the gangster is invoked against the child law breaker. . The whole system of our juvenile courts rests on experience which shows that it is both wise and profit- able to take special pains with child offenders, and give them every chance and: encouragement to reform. But apparently, in nearly half our states. this rule is discarded in dealing with serious offenses, where it is most needed. ha C0: in WI Y; -ACHPAFEBRUARY, first anj ENViroy he right rapidly d unex. ‘eaching t as full xpected e could en I get friends yorkers, better. bound- 01 sys- raining O open is end, - child- ice de- ) every n Miss ldren’s ountry itment says, erious venile crim- | legal rously yreaks with t the venile which yrofit- child hance But tates. with most cut. 1932 A Seminar Trip to Soviet Russia Dr. Jerome Davis of Yale Univer- ity is leading a group of prominent gciologists and economists to Russia his coming summer to study the Sov- Ret social Fach member of the party wili con- Ientrate attention on one aspect of Ihe Russian scene, and it is proposed ' i) publish a symposium of the find- {ngs of the group. The trip is open a very few members of the Ameri- Yan Federation of Teachers. and economic situation. It is planned to sail from New AYork on the steamer Columbus of the North German Lloyd Line, June 26th, wing by way of Helsingfors into Leningrad on July 9th. will leave Moscow, at the end of their tudy on August 19th. The total cost of this trip will be $938, excluding the expense of the return trip from Moscow to Bremen, which amounts 10 about $65. Dr. Davis was stationed ia during the World War in charge of the Y. M. C. A. war work. He served a year under the Czar’s regime, and went through the first and second revolutions. Russia three times since, and reads and speaks the language. The party in Rus- He has been back to It is possible that a few who desire to stay in Russia only three weeks could do so, staying with the party for half of the scheduled time. cst from New York to New York in that case would be $670. For further details and inquiries write directly to Dr. Davis, Box 1807, Yale Station, New Haven, Connecti- The total The complete itinerary is as fol- lows : June 26: Sail from New York on the S. S. Cotumsus of the Nort Ger- MAN Luoyp. July 3: Due Bremen. july 4 and July 5: In Berlin. July 6: Leave Stettin (Germany) via Finnish Line steamer for Hels- ingfors. uly 8: Arrive Helsingsfors in the after- noon. Leave by late evening train for Leningrad. July 9 and July 10: Lenrncrap. Inter- views with representatives of the Leningrad Soviet. Visits to the Hermitage, the Czar’s Winter and Summer Palaces, The Fort- ress of Peter and Paul, and Soviet institutions of interest to the group. By night train on the 10th to Moscow. July 11 thru July 14: Moscow. Visits to the Kremlin, Lenin’s tomb, the Museum of the Revolution, the Courts, and other Soviet institu- tions according to the interests of the group. Interviews will be arranged and evenings will be left free for meetings, the theatre and visits to workers’ clubs. By night train on the 14th to Nizhni- Novgorod. Nizuni-Novcorop, where is lo- cated the mammoth Ford auto- mobile plant with its model workers’ community. July 16 thru July 20: Down the Volga by river steamer, with brief stops en route at Kazan in the heart of the Tartar Republic, at Sa- mara, at Saratov, and at typical small towns and villages. July 15: July 20: StraLincrap, with a visit to the new tractor factory. July 21: By rail to Rostov-on-Don. July 22 through July 24: In Rostov-on- Don, with visits to the State grain farm “Verblud” and col- lective farms. July 25 and July 26: By rail to Dniepros- troi, where the giant power de- velopment is being completed. Colonel Hugh L. Cooper, the American consulting engineer, has offered special facilities for viewing the work. July 27: By rail to Kiev. July 28 and July 29: Kuev. July 30: Group A leaves Kiev for Europe. July 30: Kiev. Leave by night train for Odessa. July 31: Onpessa. Leaving by Black Sea steamer for Sevastopol. Aug. 1: By motor from Sevastopol to Yalta. Aug. 2 and Aug. 3: YALta. Aug. 4: Leaving Yalta by Black Sea steamer for Batum. Aug. 6: Batum. By night train to Tiflis. Aug. 7 and Aug. 8: Tir is. Aug. 9: By motor across the Georgian Military Road to Vladikavkaz. Aug. 10: Leave VLADIKAVKAz by train for Kharkov. Aug. 12: KHARKov. Aug.13: To Moscow. Aug. 14 to Aug. 19: Moscow (with trip to the Lenin Commune). 23 Who's Who in This Issue Professor John Dewey, Local 5, Pro- fessor of Philosophy (retired), Columbia University. America’s leading educator. Professor Anton J. Carlson, Chair- man, Department of Physiology, University of Chicago; recognized leader in research work; contribu- tor to scientific journals. Ruth Gillette Hardy, Local 5, Chair- man, Department of English, Girls’ Commercial High School, Brook- lyn, N. Y. Judge Camille Kelley, Judge of the Juvenile Court, Memphis Tennes- see. Senator Arthur Capper, United States Senator from Kansas. Prominent representative of the farm interests in Congress. Dr. Henry R. Linville, Local 5, Pres- ident, American Federation of Teachers, President, New York Teachers Union, author of scientific works, Isabel Williams, Local 28, Past-Vice- President, American Federation of Teachers, Primary Department, St. Paul Schools. Ruth E. Moore, Local 3, English De- partment, Lake View High School, Chicago. Marion Sykes, Principal, Betsy Ross Junior High School, Chicago. A. R. BALFANZ, President Phone FRAnklin 8124-5-6 The H. G. ADAIR Printing Co. CONSTRUCTIVE PRINTERS W. T. FISHER, Treasurer 107 N. Wacker Drive, Chicago os Angeles Public Library, Hope St. Los Angeles, Calif. American Federation of Teachers | 506 South Wabash Avenue CHICAGO, ILL. \ \ MT HENPENESEOPNDESEOTALEDEETEDENTEEE OED EUEOPET PTET AL EL OEDEMA ONAN wi TONEUAHOHOETNE Ut TA ALTAR CLLLLLLE | i = => VOOMEN TODA NEATUENR ED ELE aE The American Federation of Teachers desires to establish an intimate contact and an effective co-oper- ation between the teachers and the other workers of the com- munity. 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 afhliate with this National Organization of Classroom Teachers, for mutual assistance, improved professional stand- ards and the democratization of the schools. MU LU SUM Our Slogan Is: Democracy in Education: Education for Democracy 1111101) AEMNNNE NGAP E A THE AMERICAN TEACHER is published monthly by The American Federation of Teachers. Membership dues carry subscription to the magazine. To all others the subscription price is $2.00 per year, 25 cents per copy. Se TUT TTT TTT TTT er Um Gn iLL nT EL ERET PEL PUGET LOL ELMS eee ET eT | NTMI ree MAU LHL UANADNALAMELAAAAILITUAGAAA MMC