IAL CONVENTION EDIT > | Pe | Ralby Around A.F.T. Program—Counts This is a section of. the acceptance speech of Dr. George S. Counts, Teachers’ College, Columbia University, who was ‘elected national president of the American Federation of Teachers at its twenty- third annual convention in Buffalo, N. Y. I WISH TO EXPRESS my appreciation of the very great honor that this convention has given me. I regard the American Federation of Teachers as the most progressive body of teachers by all odds in this country, an organization which already has great power and an organization which, in the years to come, I am sure will become the unrivaled leader and organizer of the teachers in this country, and at levels from the kindergarten through the university and in both public and private institutions. . I appreciate the opportunity that you have given me. I want to thank those who have voted for me as well as those who did ndtbecause those of you who did not gave me a little experience that I shall long remember. It was said that I was an academician, a philosopher and rather remote from the struggles of the market place. That is true, and you people have helped to educate me. I want to say further that I am going to be president, if it is possible, of the entire Federation of Teachers. I intend, insofar as the power lies within me, to use all of the resources of intelligence, of character, that this great Union possesses; I know of no edu- cational organization which is better equipped with such resources, and I mean literally just what I have said. Preparation for Crisis of Society Necessary I feel uncertain of my own talents here this morning as I face the future, and I am not just thinking of those 2,200 letters that Jerome Davis told me he had written during the past year or ‘he many miles that he had traveled, but I am thinking of the great talents of intellect and character which Jerome Davis represents. I am not sure that I can follow him, but I shall do my best. Jerome and I have been many battles together and my hope is that we shall be ogether in many more. Just one final word: The year ahead—maybe the days and weeks and months ahead, but certainly the year ahead— is going to be-anditiicyt veer. At least every indication sug- gests that-t-is going to be a difficult year. Our, *oeiety-goes on the whole of world society, and it apparently is going to go deep into a crisis. Just what form this crisis will take, we don’t know. Whether we, as a people, shall be at war a year from now, we don’t know. But we do know that we are going to pass through some very troublous and trying times and we know that this organization will pass through those times. We know that great battles for the values of democracy, of popular liberty and of simple humanism and decency are going to be fought in these months ahead, and I hope that this organization will be able to look back upon the record of this coming year with complete satisfaction and without regret. I appeal to all of you to rally around the great pur- poses of this Federation during the coming year. The following program is the one on which Dr. George 8S. Counts ran for the presidency of the American Federation of Teachers. It is published in full. 1, The Extension of Democracy We should promote the development of a comprehensive program of education designed to sustain and advance the cause of democracy during the present critical period. This requires: -1. Intensified support of all measures (with particular emphasis on federal and state aid) designed to reduce and ultimately to remove inequalities of ‘educational opportunity with respect to districts and regions, class, occupational, racial, national and religious groups. (Continued on Page 2) In This Issue Complete Report of the Na- tional Educational Policies Committee : AF of T Growth for 1938- Irwin R. Kuenzil Teachers Must Be Free Election Results Platform and Acceptance Speech....George S. Counts Report of the Legislative Committee Security of Teachers Adult Education Organizing Teachers’ Unions Problems of Financing 10 10 Building the Teachers Union Jerome Davis AF of L Aids AF’ of T Organizing Drive George Googe 14 Report* of the Committee 15 _ Editorials 16 Washington Relay................. 16 13 Resolutions Passed at the Convention Reports of: Speeches by George Chippereld and Senator James Mead. Executive Council (1939-40) Academic ‘The AMER! CA N ARMY OF OF far EAC HER. Official Organ of the American Federation of Teachers VOLUME XXIV September, 1939 nie No. | Dr. Counts Heads AFT; Nine New Officers Elected Union Backs Democratic Legislation The drive for federal aid to edu- cation was splendidly promoted by the cooperation of the AF of T Locals, Mary Foley Grossman, na- tional legislative representative, reported in her speech to the na- tional convention. “At least twelve state assemblies,” Mrs. Grossman said, “passed our resolution me- morializing Congress to pass the Federal Aid Bill. In many more instances the resolution passed one house. Scores of resolutions came through from central labor bodies, state federations of labor and individual labor unions. In Michigan and Illinois, where the vocational education question was very keen, our Locals did.a fine job..of education and sr local support. Everywheie AF of T members shouldered up to the job.” The Legislative Committee - is made up of the national Executive Council of the AF of T, and Mrs. Grossman acts as legislative rep- resentative in Washington ' for them. AF of T Works Actively While the AF of T worked ac- tively in Washington to promote federal aid, as Mrs. Grossman pointed out, “in the hysteria that gripped the Seventy-sixth Con- gress toward the end of its first session, the Federal Aid to Educa- tion Bill (which has been report- ed to the Senate) had little chance of being presented on the floor.” During the coming legislative year, it is expected that President Roosevelt will back the attempt to pass the federal aid act. As the President’s Advisory Commit- tee has already pointed out, the act is “necessary for the preserva- tion and extension of American civilization and representative po- litical institutions.” State Federations of the AF of T were especially active in op- posing attacks on the employment of married women and in defend- ing the right of labor to organize, according to the legislative rep- resentative of the Executive Council. The National Legislative Com- mittee has set up a model bill bureau which has cooperated with (Continued on Page 3) Minnesota Student Wins AFT Contest The first prize of $125.00 in the AF of T contest for the best essay on “Organized Labor—America’s Problem or Opportunity” went to Clarke Alexander Chambers of Blue Earth, Minn. The second prize of $75.00 went to Harry Hy- man of Philadelphia, Pa.; third prize of $50.00 to Grace Halter- man of San Francisco, Calif.; and fourth prize of $25.00 to Mimi Segal of New Rochelle, N. Y. 4 re AF off Ore nbn, at | New President | _ Delegates Set Record Attendance Eight new vice presidents and a new national president were elected by the delegates ‘to the twenty-third annual ,convention of the American. Federation of Teachers which was held August 21-25 at Buf- falo, N. Y. Dr. George S. Counts, Teachers’ College, Columbia University, mem- ber of the New York College ‘Teachers Union (No. 537), was elected to the presidency by a vote of 344 to 320. ! Dr. Jerome Davis, who was fin- George 8. vey we avr a number of leading educational committees in the United States and is the author of various books in the field of education. He received his A.B. at Baker University in 1911 and his Ph.D. in 1916 from the University of Chicago. He has taught at Dela- ware College, Newark; . Harris Teachers. College, St. Louis; the University of Washington; Yale University; the University of Chi- cago; and has been a member of the faculty of Teachers’ College, Columbia University, since 1927. Among Dr. Counts’ many writ- ings are: his newly published pamphlet, “The Schools Can Teach Democracy”; “The Prospects of American Democracy,” and “Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order ?” He is a member of the executive board of the New York College Teachers Union (No. 537) and has been a member of the AF of T for a number of years. New Ads Appear in This Issue In line with the recommenda- tion of the Officers’ Committee at the Buffalo convention, The AMERICAN TEACHER in this issue carries large ads from the Institute for Propaganda Analysis (page 16) and Modern Age Books (page 3). These ads will con- tinue only if you use the attached coupons and purchase. their ma- terials. Dr. Clyde Miller, secretary of the Institute of Propaganda Analysis, is a member of Local 537 of the AF of T. The institute is two years old. The monthly bulletin on propaganda has been found extremely helpful by both teachers and students. Modern .Age Books is a much needed experiment in providing the American public -with good books, reprintsjamd new, at low cost. In both ads please usé the |. jishing his third term as presi- |dent of the AF of T, was the dé- feated candidate./During his three i; years as president, Dr. Davis has seen the membership of the AF of T increase from 16,000 to more ithan ‘2,000. “Br. Counts ‘n his acceptance speech paid tribute’ to Jerome Davis’ “great talents of © intellect and character.” Eight Members Retire Retiring members of the execu- tive council and their length of service are: Allie Mann, Atlanta, six years; John Conners, New Bedford, Mass., two years; Paul Preisler; St. Louis, two years; Joel Seidman, New York (WPA), two years; Mercedes Nelson, Minnea- polis, four years; Michael Eck, Cleveland, two yéars; H. C. Brown, Palo Alto, Calif., of@ "year; and Lila Hunter, Seattle one year. According to the final report of Mary McGough, chairman of the Credentials Committee, the total number. of votes at the 1939 con- vention was 667. The total num- ber of delegates attending the convention, a new record for the American Federation of Teachers, was approximately 478. Results of Balloting The following national vice presidents were unopposed in the elections: Amelia Yeager, Local 35; Arthur Elder, Local 231; Mary J. Herrick, Local 1; Stanton: Smith, Local 246; C. M. Etheredge, Local 422, Mary Foley Grossman, Local 192; Charles J. Hendley, Local 5; and George E. Axtelle, Local 635. The other officers elected were: President - George S. Counts, Local 537..344 Jerome Davis, Local 204........320 Vice-Presidents Arthur Broetje, Local 336....316 Robert Iglehart, Local 401....346 Ruth Dodds, Local 358 Gertrude Luehning, Local “442 Paul Preisler, Local 420 John Woodruff, Local 462 Michael J. Eck, Local 279......296 R. E. Aberérombie, Local 479 Robenia Anthony, Local 484.343 John D. Connors, Local 263.320 coupon. suonBorqn) seysyqnd LAV |—S Peg wor) 14. Discuss Teacher Security Fourteen classroom teachers participated in the panel on “Eco- nomic Security of Teachers” which was held at the AF of T conven- tion in Buffalo. Paul Preisler, St. Louis, was in charge of the panel which was divided into three parts: tenure; credit unions, insur- ance and teacher-welfare; and pensions. Sara Walsh Explains Work The first section of the discus- sion was devoted to a considera- tion of tenure. Sara T. Walsh, chairman of the National Tenure Committee, explained the work of her committee during the past year. The Committee, after poll- ing AF of T Locals throughout the country, discovered that there was a national tendency to lower the coverage of people under tenure by lowering the age limit of those teachers who may continue in service and jacking up the initial service limits of those who go under tenure. Miss Walsh de- scribed the attack on married women teachers and the damage done to the Pennsylvania Tenure Law by the recent legislative attacks. Need for Tenure Legislation Jesse Cline, Bloomington, IIL, described the attempt of teach- ers of Illinois during the past ten | years to secure tenure. In her experience, Miss Cline said, some of the important problems were: educating teachers to the need for tenure legislation; overcoming the antipathy of teachers toward the rights of married and rural teachers; seeing that legislators are contacted personally; and using the labor movement «which has strength with state legisla- tures. John Woodruff, Goose Creek, Texas, gave his experiences on working for local tenure for pro- tection in working for state-wide tenure. panel who discussed teacher ten- ure were Frances Masteron, Low- ell, Mass.; Nathan Shrager, Phila- delphia, Pa.; Rose Olson, New York, N. Y.; and Pauline Kasa- koff, Philadelphia, Pa. Group Insurance Aids In the next section of the panel, a devoted to a discussion of credit | unions, insurance and teacher wel- fare, Walter Bergman, Detroit, Mich., stressed the advantage of | holding out to new members the concrete advantage of member- | ship in a group insurance plan as additional incentive to AF of T membership. Maurice Crew, Chi- | cago, Ill., discussed the health se- | curity plan used by the Chicago | Local. The Union has an agree- ment with the Civic Medical Cen- ter of .Chicago which furnishes Union members medical services for $18.00 per year for an individ- | ual or $30.00 per year for a fam- ily group. Walter A. Sidley, Law- rence, Mass., spoke on the work of the credit union as did Frank X. Henke, Chicago, Ill., who point- ed out that Union teachers in Chi- cago had been saved over $25,000 | in 1939. Pension Systems The last section cf the panel was devoted to “Pension Systems | Now in Operation.” Speakers on this subject were Erling Tholfsen, New York, N. Y., who described the pension plan which has been in operation for twenty-two years in New York City; Susan Scully, Chicago, Ill., who discussed the Chicago plan; and Mary Casad, Springfield, Ohio, who spoke on the Ohio Pension Plan which cov- ers all of me a1 ae ait sor the state, ‘both ‘Kitawe Ree lbi ie Al “Of Course We Believe in Education, But—" to Advance (Continued from page 1) Other members of the | 2. Reorganization and co-ordina- ‘tion of the tax structure of the /nation on the principle of levying |taxes according to ability to pay, | of taxing wealth where it is |found, and applying it where it is needed. 3. Establishment on the part of the school of the closest possible |relationships with the democratic forces of the community and the |formation of boards of education |representative of the people. | 4. Democratization of the or- | ganization, conduct and adminis- } tration of the school. | 5, Organization of the life and |program of the school to develop ‘in the pupil those traits and dis- positions essential to the demo- cratic way of living: a. A feeling of competence and |confidence to deal with life. b. An allegiance to the central | democratic principle of human ‘equality, brotherhood, dignity and worth. c. A loyalty to the democratic |process of free discussion, criti- |cism and group discussion. d. A mentality marked by fair- |mindedness, integrity and scientific spirit. e. A respect for and an appre- ciation of talent, training of character. f. A sense of the fundamental social obligation to work. g. An enlightened devotion to the general welfaré. 6. The establishment of all forms of vocational and special training on a broad cultural base. 7. The support of all education- ally sound measures, whether lo- cal, state or federal, designed to promote the education of adults. Il. The Teacher and the has bééi‘“in Sa thy ainsi age for those twenty years and, is, . upndas, which teachers deductions from tea and a’ matching conteanienhy from the boards of education. =‘ © may become dignified, honest and free, in the full awareness of theit ‘vital’ impoértancé' and ‘heavy re- Counts: Outlines Program for A.F.T Democracy in Crisis sponsibility in guiding children and youth in the ways of democracy. This requires: 1. Support of all measures, or- ganizational relationships and leg- islative enactments respecting the employment, promotion and dis- missal of teachers which will guard the deepest and most abiding in- terests of pupils, teachers and community. 2. Support of adequate retire- ment legislation for teachers and of general social security for all employees of the board of educa- tion, or educational institution. 3. Encouragement of teacher participation in the life of the community, defense of freedom of speech for teachers both as teach- ers and as citizens and, in short, demanding for the teacher all the rights of the citizen. 4. Struggle against all forms of discrimination against teachers be- cause of race, religion, politics, sex or marital status. Unwaver- ing stand for tenure based squarely on merit; re-emphasis on the principle of civil service for teachers. 5. General drive for mobiliza- tion of funds and resources for the defense of teachers unjustly dismissed or deprived of their rights. Ill. The Organization of Teachers We should build a vigorous and solidly unified organization which will draw into the American Fed- ;eration of Teachers all progres- sive forces in the teaching profes- sion. This ires: 1. Systematic cultivation throughout the membership of the spirit of independence, power of critical judgment -and. capacities for leadership. ’ 2. Defense of the principle that “membership is open to all teach- ‘ers alike, regardless of race, ‘reli- a1 ed t within the dip ca? of auto sinieete evaluations of all political pro- s grams, but commitment of the Union as a whole to no national party. 4. Recognition of the funda- mental principle that adequate | support of education requires the release of the productive forces | of our economy so that expansion | of the national income results. 5. Unification and democratiza- tion of the entire labor movement, co-operation of all democratic forces (including farmers and mid- dle-class groups) and participa- tion in the organization of pro- grams looking toward the _ in- crease of our productive ener- gies. The teachers must partici- pate in this unification and de- mocratization. 6. Expansion of the services of the national organization to the Locals and development of frater- nal relationships with other fed- erations of teachers on the Amer- ican continent. 7. The integration in the AMERICAN TEACHER of the practical and theoretical function- al interests of teachers. 8. Active cultivation of friendly and cooperative relations between the locals of the AF of T and central labor bodies and the na- tional organization of the Amer- ican Federation of Labor. Spencer Miller Addresses Delegates Spencer Miller, head of the Workers’ Education Bureau. of America, in addressing. the con- »vention, stressed: the importance of the fact that teachers are be- ginning’ to . concern themecives (sid cratic. way of life and to meet the community, thus finding a and | new- hang for cooperative relations. with representatives of labor in |}: -” U.S. "Ad = , Need WPA Program _College professors and WPA teachers stressed the need for providing the American people with a realistic adult education program in a panel discussion on “The. Education of Adults in a Democracy.” Joel Seidman, New York, presided over the discussion. The first speaker on the panel was Dr. George S. Counts who emphasized the point that the suc- cess of popular government de- pends upon the education of the people. He suggested that other members of the panel consider this question: “What is the knowledge’ necessary for free men in our time if they are to guard the freedoms they have and secure freedoms which as yet they only aspire to gain?” WPA’s Constructive Achievements Ned H. Dearborn, dean of the Division of General Education of New York University, discussed the constructive achievements of the WPA in adult education. He pointed out that the scope of the WPA included literacy education, naturalization, public affairs, aca- demic and cultural work, educa- tion for leisure-time activities, vo- cational and parent education and teacher education besides the work of the recreational projects. He gave a general analysis of the field of adult education, which includes the adjustment of per- sonal problems which deal with family «affairs—psychological, eco- nomic or educational from_ the_ standpoint of intellectual curiosi- ties; the adjustment of occupa- tional problems, which includes education for employment, re-edu- cation for adjustment and employ- ment and educational ‘resources of employment; the field of civic edu- cation; the field of general edu- cation to which people are attract- ed by reason of intellectual inter- ests; the field of fine arts; and the field of recreation, which includes indoor and outdoor sports, games and hobbies. Need for Relief Re-Certification Mrs. Sonia Poljar of Philadel- |phia summarized the work of the 'National Committee of the AF of | T on WPA in defense of the WPA program in the United States. She ‘urged non-WPA teachers of the | AF of T to use their influence to facilitate relief re-certification of those who have been dropped from the WPA rolls and to expedite the re-assignment of those who have already been re-certified. William Levner, president of the WPA Local of New York City, explained the work of the WPA in New York where free lunches are given to 120,000 children daily. The WPA Local in New York, ac- cording to Mr. Levner, distributed 3,000 leaflets to the people, appeal- ing to them on the basis of the service given to them by the adult education program. Viola Benson of Minneapolis de- scribed recent WPA strikes of the building unions in Minneapolis. Aims of Workers’ Education James Dombroski of Highlander Folk School spoke on develop- ments in the field of workers’ edu- cation and pointed out that work- ers’ education is partisan in its approach and is on the side of labor. It is more interested in developing and creating new facts than in memorizing old ones. It studies history to learn to con- trol the future. Other members of the cone were Evelyn Sholund of Chicago . who described the activities of * ve Union Study ‘Class of the Chi- about. the problem of .the demo- | Social AFT Members Discuss Organizational Methods Various reports and Seiten at the national convention indi- | cated that thére is a wide variety | of successful methods of organiz- ing AF of T Locals. Members of Reports Show | | the panel on “Organization of the | Urgent Need AF of T” indicated that the local | labor situation and the school and | community situation determine the method of organization. Stanton Smith, national vice for School Aid Reports by delegates from all president who spent last semes-|. YOU MIGHT LIKE SOCIALISM by Corliss Lamont. 1 you have prejudices, prepare to shed them now for Corliss Lamont’s book is addressed frankly to people with open minds. Dr. Lamont is a noted young philosopher, a member of the famous banking family, and a Radical. 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Amelia Yeager, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, pre- sented the following resolutions which were passed by the delegates to the national convention: That the AF of T condemn any system of segregation which re- sults in a denial of equality of educational opportunity to any student on account of race, creed or color; that it oppose differen- tials in teacher salaries based on race or color and that it cooperate with other state teachers’ associa- tions which are working toward these ends. That it denounce the general policy of racial segregation and specifically the discrimination by the Daughters of the American wis . ewe : ra RESOLUTIONS ADO} {|Rogers Bill for the admission of | 20,000 refugee children. | That it endorse a resolution on | women’s rights and that teachers |have the right. to marry without | prejudice to the tenure of their | positions. | That it urge liberalization and | broadening of the Dies Committee and urge that the committee in- | vestigate some 800 fascistic and ‘reactionary organizations in the | United States; that the committee grant the right to representatives of liberal and progresive organiza- tions to defend themselves and to |present their own evidence un- covering un-American activities. That it endorse the American Rediscovery Week of the Ameri- ‘can Committee on Democracy and | Intellectual Freedom, to be held of prevailing wages on all WPA projects. That it urge the extension of the WPA educational and recrea- tional programs and the rescinding of the prohibitive local sponsor- ship costs. That it endorse the Celler Bill which would place the recreational and educational WPA projects on a permanent basis. That it protest to the San Fran- cisco Board of Education concern- ing class quarters for WPA teach- ers in San Francisco. That it urge the Department of Labor to make available in more | popular form the research studies | and materials of the department and that it develop educational extension services which would |help teachers in their trade-union |from October 8 to 14 and urge all | educational work. | locals to arrange some appropriate activity. Revolution and the Schoolboard of | the District of Columbia against Marion Anderson in Washington, =, <4 That it oppose the widespread | boards ACADEMIC FREEDOM discrimination in the admission to | institutions of higher learning be- | cause of race or religion and urge all AF of T Locals to undertake a campaign to correct this dis- crimination, if necessary by se- curing legislation denying tax funds or tax exemptions or other privileges enjoyed by offending in- stitutions. The committee urged that Tom Mooney be invited to speak to the 1939 AF of L convention in Cin- cinnati. That the 1939 convention of the | A. F. of T. endorse the progressive policies of the national adminis- tration in regard to education and labor and urge Locals to support these policies. SCHOOL FINANCE Max Diamond, chairman of the Committee on Taxation and School Finance, presented the following resolutions which were passed by _. the delegates: That the AF of T urge the launching of an aggressive cam- paign in defense of the schools as a bulwark of democracy, that the National Committee on Taxation and Finance carry on a vigorous compaign for the extension and de- fense for the financial support of the public-school system and that | this committee work with the AF | of T Locals on this problem. That the AMERICAN TEACH- ER give special help by publishing factual material dealing with the attempt of certain organizations to attack the educational budget or to advocate a tax theory which shifts the burden of taxation from the rich to the poor, and Locals and State Federations work out a socially desirable tax program for their states and localities. That the National Committee prepare a bibliography on the sub- ject. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TRENDS Frances Comfort, chairman of the Social and Economic Trends Committee, submitted these reso- lutions which were passed: That the AF of T support a consumers’ boycott of all goods produced in Germany, Italy and Japan. That it urge the extension of life of the LaFollette Civil Lib- erties Committee and endorse the LaFollette Oppressive Labor Prac- tices Act. That it urge the speedy and final ratification of the Child Labor Amendment and that Locals and State Federations where the amendment has not been passed engage in a vigorous campaign to secure its ratification. That it. oppose any and all anti- alien legislation designed to per- secute aliens and abridge their civil liberties; and that it support such flexible interpretation of the immigration laws as will, permit the entry of the largest humber of refugees. That it endorse the Warner- Arnold Shukotoff, chairman of the Academic Freedom Commit- tee, introduced these resolutions which were passed: | That the A. F. of T. condemn |the dismissal of President Fisher as president of the Western Wash- |ington College of Education. | That it support Virginia Mac- Elhern and do everything possible to aid in her return to the Reit- |schans High School in Springfield, Il. That it deplore the action of the Board of Regents of the Uni- versity of Colorado in the case of principle that in matters of ap- |pointment and promotion appro- priate faculty recommendations be adhered to by boards of regents or trustees. | That it condemn the action of the Willoughby Rural School |Board and demand that Ruth Irene Adlard be reinstated. | That it designate the dismissal lof Dr. A. J. Kraus in the system of higher education in the City of | New York as a violation of proper | dismissal procedure and a marked |injustice; that it commend the Board of Higher Education for granting him a hearing on the case. TENURE Sara T. Walsh, chairman of the Tenure Committee, read the fol- lowing resolutions which were passed: That the amount set aside for | the defense fund of the A. F. of T. |be increased and that this fund |be used not only for defense, but also for subsistence of teachers unjustly dismissed; and that the Executive Council set up suitable procedures for dispensing such a fund. That the Tenure Committee act as a clearing bureau for informa- tion, make a study of the nature of the opposition to and the sup- |port for the tenure movement and that it prepare material to help | Locals in conducting tenure cam- | paigns. That the Tenure Committee be authorized to appoint a local com- mittee which will carry on the work under the direction of the standing committee. ADULT EDUCATION —WPA James Dombrowskj, chairman of the Adult Education and WPA Committee, recommended these resolutions which were passed: That the Twenty-third Conven- tion of the American Federation of Teachers oppose the abolishing, the merging or .the curtailing of the Workers Education Division of the WPA. ; That it endorse the principle of equal pay for equal work and call upen“the WPA ‘administration to correct abuses of this principle. That it condemn the Woodrum WPA Act and urge the restoration ithese contributions be increased; |interested organizations including That it urge state and city of veducation to grant teacher credit to recreational and 1, educational workers. That it support the continuance ‘and extension of the NYA. That it urge the rescinding of the eighteen-month employment limitation clause of the Woodrum Act. LEGISLATION These resolutions were brought up for consideration by Bella Dodd, chairman of the Legislative Committee, and passed: That the A. F. of T. endorse the plan of federal aid as recom- mended by the President’s Advis- lory Committee on Education and |}embodied in the Harrison-Thomas | Bill (S.1305) introduced into the | Dr. I. Krechevsky and affirm the 'Seventy-sixth Congress; and that | it include Puerto Rico in all de- mands for federal aid. That it endorse the principles involved in the Wagner Health Bill. That it urge all teachers to exert every effort to make the passage of the Gavagan Anti- Lynching Bill the first order of business at the next session of Congress. That it endorse the amendments to the Social Security Act pro- posed by the Social Security Board which were: (1) that maxi- mum benefits to the dependent child be increased; (2) that the Federal Government's share - in and (3) that for the child who remains in school, benefits shall continue until he is eighteen years of age. That it propose that a national board of education should be cre- ated to assume the powers of the Commissioner of Education who should become its executive offi- cer, and that this board should be composed of representatives of organized labor. That the Executive Council of the A. F. of T. study the Wagner Labor Act and what the position of the A. F. of T. should be; and make recommendations to the Locals accordingly. That the Legislative Commit- tee of the A. F. of T. recommends that a Washington office be estab- lished by January with a full-time legislative representative. ‘ That it adopt a legislative pro- gram early in the school year so that Locals may get committ- ments by Congressional candi- dates. ‘That a research bureau be es- tablished to prepare form bills to aid state federations and to pre- sent facts in support of legisla- tive campaigns; and that the re- search bureau concentrate on pen- sion, state aid, salaries, taxation, certification and sabbatical leaves. VOCATIONAL EDUCATION Morris Kassel, chairman of the Vocational Education Committee, presented resolutions which were passed as follows: : That the A. F. of T. suggest the application of the merit sys- tem to the certification of voca- tional teachers and urge that teacher-training institutions for vocational teachers offer a pro- gram equal in quality to that of- fered for other secondary-school teachers. That it approve of the revisions of the existing Smith-Hughes and George-Deen Acts and urge that the Education Committee of the A. F. of L. sponsor a national conference on federal aid to edu- cation with special emphasis on the issues confronting vocational education, and that all groups be given an opportunity to present their viewpoints. AFFILIATIONS The following resolutions, pre- sented by Lillian Herstein, chair- man of the Affiliations Committee, were passed: That the national Executive Committee of the A. F. of T. in- vestigate the expulsion of Locals from the Chicago Federation of Labor and attempt to have them reinstated. That the A. F. of L. be com- mended for its cooperative spirit in the recent peace negotiations 1; and that the A. F. of T. use every resource at its command to bring about the development of unity in the labor movement. That the A. F. of T. commend the work of the Mexican Federa- tion of Teachers and that a com- mittee of five be set up to develop fraternal relations with the Mexi- can teachers’ union. WORKING CONDITIONS Addie L. Weber, chairman of the Committee on Working Con- ditions, presented the following resolutions which were passed: That the AF of T urge all mem- | bers to work for better working conditions, that all Locals set up a standing committee on working conditions and that this committee consider the following four cate- gories: (1) physical conditions; (2) teacher load; (3) atmosphere of work; (4) security. That it work for legislation which ‘will provide for benefits to unemployed teachers under the provisions of the federal and state security acts. PENSION AND RETIREMENT A resolution was presented by Erling Tholfsen, chairman of the Pension and Retirement Commit- tee, that the convention endorse the principle that teachers in private schools and colleges, sub- stitute and cadet teachers and teachers deprived of tenure through retrenchment should re- ceive the benefit of social-security legislation; and that the Legisla- tive Committee of the AF of T be instructed to prepare suitable bills and do all in its power to see that these teachers are extended the same protection as other workers. EDUCATIONAL POLICIES Wanda Taeschner, chairman of the National Educational Policies Committee, presented these reso- lutions which were passed: That the. National Eduational Policies Committee publish a de- scription of the work which it is doing, of the work done by vari- ous locals and of the significant work which is being carried on by individual researchers. That the A. F. of T. initiate and support efforts to introduce into the schools a system of gen- uine consumer education. That it combat the use of the public schools for the spreading of anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic, anti- Negro or anti-alien sentiment and that the Policies Committee work outa positive teaching program on racial and national equality and religious freedom; that this | be done through assembly pro- grams, essay contests and in the conduct of school organizations, clubs and social functions. That the Policies Committee prepare a bibliography of .mate- rials suitable for assembly pro- grams, a list of radio programs, a list of Locals, school systems and organizations carrying on ex- perimental work on education for tolerance, and a description of the nature of the work. That the A. F. of T. urge the use of schools as recreational cen- ters, centers of evening education _|for adults, forums for open dis- cussion and meeting places for community organizations con- cerned with social problems. That it favor in university ad- ministration democratic determi- nation of departmental and di- visional affairs by staff members, the inclusion in the faculty of members of the sub-professional ranks, in cases of dismissal the iright to written charges, a hear- ing with counsel before one’s col- leagues and the right to summon witnesses, and faculty representa- tion on boards of trustees; and that for elementary and secondary education it favor wider partici- pation of teachers in the formu- lation of educational policies in the following manner: teacher representation on school govern- ing boards, representation on cur- ricula-forming bodies and demo- cratic procedures in department and faculty meetings. ————___—@ Reports Show— (Continued from page 3) mended to the Board of Education a new salary schedule. At that time, Miss Philley explained, there were five teacheTS’ gro but the Union had representatives in all five groups urging them to work as one. The Union also hired an accountant to check the valid- ity of the figures given out by the board. As a result of the Union’s work, school essentials have been saved and the teachers are getting higher salaries. A member of or- ganized labor is now president of the school board. U. F. Hughes, Springfield, Ohio, told how his Union was formed when 37 per cent salary cut was received. By organizing a citi- zen’s committee which applied for ;|a two mill levy which was in turn voted by the town, the Springfield teachers’ salaries were restored 100 per cent. Max Diamond, New York City, told the story of the Union’s fight against the recent $10,000,000 cut in New York. Lyle NATIONAL DUES During the months of Sep- tember, October, and Novem- ber (1938), the membership of the AF of T dropped to 27,600, 25,300, and 27,400 respectively. It is extremely important in planning the national work of the Union to have the dues for these fall months collected and turned in to the national office. Wolf, Chicago, stressed the ad- vantage of cooperating with other educational organizations. Michael Eck, Cleveland, Ohio, explained the Ohio State Founda- tion program which is financed by a sales tax, cigarette tax, and a liquid fuel tax. The Union has been successful in Ohio in secur- ing legislation which will guar- antee full financing of state aid for the next two years. Samuel Drasin, Philadelphia, pictured the under-schooled dis- tricts in his state and urged teach- ers to build an organization pow- erful enough to defend their in- . terests on both the economic and political front. William Card, leg- islative representative of the Wis- in Gary, - bears, “ae = sg OR 5 vee Pee P \ ce a “Oh yes, we discuss democracy in our schools a great deal.” British Union Head Warns . Teachers to Defend Rights Bringing greetings from 155,000 teachers, President George Chip- perfield of the National Union of Teachers of . England, urged teachers to unite on a program of child welfare and to defend the civil rights of teachers. Speak- ing before convention delegates he stressed the absolute political freedom which the union claimed for teachers. He told of two re- cent cases in which the NUT had been victorius. Chipperfield indicated that teachers Trenylami have the right to choose their own textbooks, se- lect their methods of teaching, and admit visitors to the class- room. In some countries on the continent, Mr. Chipperfield ex- plained, teachers have lost their positions for allowing visitors to see what was being done. The National Union of Teach- ers representatives meet with the powerful Association of Education Committees, according to the speaker, and reach decisions. Text- books have been produced under | their joint sponsorship and recent- ly the association agreed to finance more adequate apparatus in the schools. President Chipperfield said that in England children do not go to the school to learn, but they go to school to learn to learn. “It is not our business to turn out | * mathematical machines or class- | ical scholars,” Chipperfield said. “We want our students to learn to think for themselves and to be prepared for life’s great ad- venture. We all desire peace and are prepared to make great sacri- fices in order to preserve the democratic nature of our govern- ment and, as teachers, we are determined to maintain the free- dom we enjoy, both as teachers and as citizens.” S Dr. Reeves Writes the | ! ‘Congratulate Dairy Farmers Congratulations to the New York farmers on the substan- tial gains won for decent work- ing conditions in their recent strike were sent by telegram to Archie Wright, president of the Dairy Farmers’ Union, in accordance with a_ resolution passed at the AF of T conven- tion. Personnel Report Suggests Standards tor Em ployment In a report submitted to the | Executive Council, Kermit Eby, | chairman of the Personnel Com- |mittee, considers some of |problems which the AF of T faces in the selection and reten- tion of Union employees. In selecting organizers, editors or executive-secretaries, the re- port suggests that as many can- |didates as _ possible be __inter- |viewed; if possible successful | teachers be employed; and yability of the person to carry out the policies of the organiza- | tion be considered. The report stresses decent work- ing conditions for Union em- ployees, especially since one of | the basic aims of the AF of T is |decent working conditions for its |members. For the same reason |methods of tenure for Union em- | ployees must be considered. The chance for _ professional growth in Union work is the final point in the report. It is in the professionalization of Union work that Mr. Eby sees the hope of avoiding political choices in se- lecting employees. A talking book for the blind, contributed to by the Executive the | the | Union Defends Right to Teach; Fight 48 Cases Headlining the Academic Free- dom report submitted by the Na- tional Academic Freedom Commit- tee of the AF of T was the victor- ious Rowe-Keeney case of the Uni- | versity of Montana. The Supreme | Court of the State of Montana in | June sustained the verdict of a lower court and ruled that Pro- fessor P. O. Keeney’s dismissal was a violation of the University’s | tenure regulations and ordered his reinstatement. Professor J. P. Rowe was put |on a month-to-month tenure at the time of Keeney’s dismissal | but was restored to permanent tenure in April, 1938. A month | before the verdict on the Keeney case was rendered, President Sim- mons. announced to the faculty that if Keeney were reinstated the entire staff wou'd have to take a salary cut in order to pro- vide the money for Keeney’s back salary. It was immediately point- ed out, however, that the presi- dent exaggerated the amount and that since no one had been hired to replace Keeney, the salary owed him should be on hand. In connection with the Keeney case, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction of Montana praised the report which was pub- lished by the National Academic Freedom Committee and compli- mented the Union on its efforts “in making academic freedom a reality.” Chairman Arnold Shukotoff’s report dealt with 48 specific cases which the Committee during the past year. The Com- mittee has compiled a_ bibliog- raphy on academic freedom, sub- | mitted a questionnaire to all |locals on restrictive legislation }and dismissals, prepared a state- ment on “Principles of Academic Freedom,” which. was .-discussed by many AF of T Locals, and con- tinued building its cooperative work with other educational and civic organizations. Complete copies of the report may be had by writing to 235 Fourth Avenue, New York City. = ee es — 4 eg \Mead Caut “a : 7" AFT to Fight Demagoguery Convention Host Anthony J. Bernard, chair- man of the Committee on Ar- rangements, welcomed the delegates to the convention in behalf of the Joint Council of Teachers of Erie County which is made up of the Buffalo In- dustrial Teachers Association Number 39, the Buffalo Teach- ers Union Number 377, the Adult Teachers Federation of Erie County, N. Y., Number 547, and the Erie County Teachers Union Number 609. The Council was responsible for “The Buffalo Teacher” CONVENTION BOOK, Two Amendments to Constitution Voted by Locals The results of the balloting on the two amendments to the AF of T constitution which were sub- handled mitted in May were announced at | the convention as follows: There ; were 5,628 votes “for” and 3,098 votes “against” the addition to | Article III stating that ‘“no- dis- ‘crimination shall ever be shown 'toward individual members _be- cause of race, religious faith or political activities or belief.” The addition to Section 6 of Article IV, for which there were 5,142 consenting and 3,379 nega- tive votes, reads as follows: “A charter issued to any Local or State Federation may be revoked by the executive council when the existence of such Local or State Federation is detrimental to the | development of democracy in edu- |cation; such revocation to be sub- ject to the approval of the nation- al convention upon appeal. No such charter shall be revoked if appealed, nor shall any Local be suspended or expelled unless for |/nonpayment of dues, except by a two-thirds vote of the national convention.” re ies. enthailis Copies of the abridged proceed- ings of the twenty-third annual convention of the American Fed- eration of Teachers which was held in Buffalo, N. Y., August 21-25 may be secured from the national office for $1.00. Delegates Hold Panel on Higher Education }cation in a Democracy” was the |subject of a panel held Friday ;}morning at the AF of T conven- |tion. Vice President George | Axtelle was chairman of the dis- cussion which included the fol- “The Function of Higher Edu- | versity of Wisconsin, who spoke ‘on the classics and their meaning 'for democracy; Joseph W. Cohen, | University of Colorado, who dis- |cussed the role of philosophy in ja democratic society; Bernhard |lowing participants: Abraham | Stern, Columbia University, an- Edel, | York, who discussed democratic | administation; Hugh Wing, Uni- versity of Pittsburgh, who spoke jon literature in a democracy; | Margaret Schlauch, New York the City Colleges of New | thropology and sociology; Dor- othy Douglas, Smith College, eco- nomics and history; and John De | Boer, Chicago Teachers College, who spoke on teacher education. This panel will probably be | University, who discussed the} published in full in the Novem- | teaching of modern languages and; ber issue of the AMERICAN linguistics; Alban Winspear, Uni- TEACHER. _ EXTRA COPIES OF THE Urging teachers to help meet the threat of demagoguery which America faces today, United States Senator James Mead from New York, an ex-railway switchman, spoke to the delegates of the national convention of the AF of T. “I have felt,” Senator Mead stated, “that the educational fra- ternity of America, in an attempt to increase the ethics of politics, might shame the politician who would attempt to ride into office by devious methods which might be termed pure demagogism.” Senator Mead berated candi- dates for office who ran on a “balance the budget” program and at the same time championed the Townsend Pension Plan. He point- ed out that recently a candidate was going to balance the budget for president announced that he but was also for “a liberal housing program, work relief, home relief, and more adequate pensions for old folks.” Teachers, Senator Mead stressed know that balancing the budget usually means that employees assume the burden they weré carrying in 1932 and 1933. Mead concluded his speech with a his- tory of the New Deal and urged | all progressives to unite in 1939-40 to support it. - +e — Attention AFT Editors Mats of the cut, “The Growth of the Union,” on page 11 of this issue may be secured from the American Teacher, 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, after October 10. WHAT EVERY Well Informed Teacher SHOULD KNOW The How and Why of the A. F. of T. The following publications answer in con- venient form questions concerning the aims and organization of the American Federa- tion of Teachers. They are well snited for distribution to prospective ntembers. Samples will be sent on request. — nr 1. Information about the A. F. T. 25c per hundred 2. Six Major Purposes 25c per hundred 3. Can Teachers Unions Be Called Out on Strike? 25c per hundred 4. Why | Am a Member of the Teachers Union 35c per hundred 5. Six Reasons for Joining A. F. T. (Jerome Davis) 25c per hundred 6. Questions and Answers 35c per hundred 7. The Historical Setting of the FA eZ (Ruth Gillette Hardy) £ 35c per hundred 8. Why I Am Glad to Be a Mem- ber of the A. F. T. (Goodman Watson) . 35c per hundred 9. The Constitution of the A. F. T. (Correct as of Oct. 1, 1937) $2.00 per hundred 10. A Program of Action for Class- room Teachers $2.00 per hundred 11. A Critical Evaluation of the A. F. T. (Aileen W. Robinson) We per copy % x a |Council, will be presented to the | Joint Council of Teachers of Erie | County who will in turn present it to the Board of Education of | SEPTEMBER NEWSPAPER Buffalo. This gift is being made | for distribution at open meetings of your Local, state or local by the Executive Council as a| meetings of state teachers’ organizations, or to teachers in token of appreciation to the local) your city school system may be purchased at the following Committee on Arrangements and | prices: the Buffalo Locals of the AF of T. HAVE YOU YOUR AFT PINP Small, simple and attrattive, it will indicate to others your concern for “Education for Democracy and Democreacy in Education.” Order it now. 50c each,.$5 per dozen, $38 per hundred In order to avoid detailed bookkeeping cash must accom- pany your order. Mail it to: 12. Accomplishments of the A. F.T. 60c per hundred 13. Teachers Should Organize (Frank Baker) $2.00 per hundred 14."A Golden Opportunity (Irvin R. Kuenzli) $2.00 per hundred 15. Facts $2.00 per hundred 16. Organized Labor and the Public School s (Irvin R. Kuenzli) 75¢ per hundred 17. Power—Participation and Union Organization (Elmer A. Benson) 50c per hundred 18. A Challenge to Class-Room Teachers (Blotter) $1.00 per hundred 19. hig National Union of Teachers (Elsie V. Parker) $1.00 per hundred eee ah rr aA for AFT Journal The October issue of the AMER- ICAN TEACHER will include an article by Dr. Floyd Reeves, new- ly appointed director of the American Youth Commission and member of the AF of T, entitled “Youth in a Changing World.” The same issue, which will be published in magazine form, will include Dr. Bernard Stern’s “Culture in a Democracy.” The November issue will fea- ture a symposium on “Propaganda and Indoctrination” which will contain a lead’ article by Dr. Wil- liam Heard Kilpatrick, and com- ments by a number of outstand- ing authorities on the subject. The December issue of the Amer- j ic&h'Teacher will contain a sym- | # posium on “The Function of oy Higher Education in a Democ- racy.” Less than 500 500 1,000 (or more) Order Today— Only 20,000 Copies The American Teacher, 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ti. re The American Federation of Enclosed please find $ for. copies of the Sep-, Teachers tember newspaper. é »4o-30 19981 506 S. Wabash Ave. Name , een - Fin = Caieage, Local No. City < ae Herrick Axtelle Wilkerson Luehning _ Anthony Yeager MARY HERRICK Vice president from the Illinois- Indiana Area ...a member of the AF of T since 1922 and president of Local 3 from 1933 to 1936... former vice president of Local 1 . . has served as student YWCA secretary at Ohio State, recrea- | tion and camp director for several | institutions and organizations, so- cial worker and executive secre- tary of the Girl Reserves. Miss Herrick has her B.A. from Northwestern University and her M.A. from the University of Chi- cago ... has served as teacher in several high schools and is now teaching in the social sciences at DuSable High School, Chicago. GEORGE E. AXTELLE Vice president from lege Section... and former president of Local 460; now president of Local 635 . editor of the 1940 Yearbook the John Dewey Society and member of the editorial com- mittee of the AMERICAN TEACHER. Degrees - of from University of Washington, University of Hawaii | and University of California . principal and superintendent Oregon, 1920-24; in Honolulu, 1924-30; principal, Oak- land, Calif., 1930-35; Northwest- ern University School of Educa- tion 1935—, STANTON E. SMITH Vice president from Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi . . . joined the AF of T in 1932, helped to organize Local 246 and has been its president since organization . organized three locals in Ten- nessee and Alabama and _ helped in getting several others started . served four-year term as labor member of the Electric Power Board of Chattanooga which op- erates the new municipal distri- bution system there. Denison University gave Mr. Smith his A. B. and he took fur- ther work at the Universities of Wisconsin and Chattanooga... has taught mathematics in the Chattanooga High School for the past nine years .. . was on leave of absence last year in order to work as a full-time AF of T or- ganizer in the South. ARTHUR ELDER Vice president from the Mich- igan Area .. . formerly president of the Michigan Federation of Teachers and now its executive secretary . . . promoted the Mich- igan tenure law, lobbied on tenure legislation in 1937 and did more to get it through than, anyone else. Mr. Elder is at present teach- ing in the Detroit schools. the Col- | charter member | head of training | school and experimental schoo] in | |C. J. HENDLEY | Vice president for the New York |Area ... AF of T member since 1919 . . . for ten years treasurer of Local 5 and its president since 1935. | Mr. Hendley has his A.B. from | the University of North Carolina jand his M.A. from Columbia Uni- | versity . . . taught seven years ee the South, for several years 'in Pennsylvania mining towns |and seventeen years in New York |City ... history teacher in George |Washington High School, New | York City, since 1921. | DOXEY A. WILKERSON Vice president at large |president of his own Local, Num- |ber 440, Howard Teachers Union |. . . Serves as a member of the research staff of the President’s | Advisory Committee on Educa- ition . . . member of the National |Advisory Committee on WPA Education Program and of the editorial staff of the “Journal of | Negro Education” . chairman of the Sub-Committee on Guid- ance Manual of the National Vo- cational Guidance Association, di- ‘rector of a WPA research project and consultant on the radio series, “Americans All—Immigrants All.” A.B. and M.A. from University of Kansas and graduate work at ithe University of Michigan... |was at the Virginia State College \for eight years and for the past ifour years associate professor of education and director of the sum- mer school at Howard University . . now on leave of absence to be a member of the research staff of the Carnegie Study of the Negro in America . . . has just completed a staff study of the Advisory Com- mittee, “Special Problems of Ne- gro Education.” MARY FOLEY GROSSMAN Vice president from Pennsyl- vania, New Jersey, Maryland and Delaware . . . national legislative representative of the AF of T and former member of the National Educational Policies Committee . . . appeared before the Presi- dent’s Advisory Committee as one of the AF of T representatives. Pennsylvania and graduate work at Columbia University; later certified for library practice, Drexel Institute . . . has taught at Vare Junior High School, Phil- adelphia, for the past 11 years. IRVIN R. KUENZLI Secretary-treasurer .. . presi- dent of the Springfield, Ohio, Fed- eration of Teachers 1934-35; presi- dent‘ of the Ohio Federation of Teathers 1934-36; national vice president 1936-37 .. . president of the Ohio Classical Corference for four years; president of the |tary and, Degree from University of] . Etheredge The Executive Council of the American Federation of Teach- ers is composed of fifteen vice presidents, the national presi- dent and the national executive secretary. Under the AF of T constitution, the executive sec- retary does not have voting power. Springfield Teachers’ Association; member of the permanent Educa- tion Committee of the A. F. of L.; member of the International Com- mittee on Education, Paris Ex- position. Mr. Kuenzli received his A.B. ‘land M.A. from Wittenberg Col- lege and was head 6f the Latin department of the Springfield high schools for fourteen years. GERTRUDE LUEHNING Vice president from Southwest | charter member, secre- | this year, president of | Local 442 as well as treasurer of | the California State Federation. . serves as vice president of the lo- cal Consumer Cooperative Society, officer of the local Credit Union and council member of Western Consumers Union. A. B. from Chicago State Teach- ers College with graduate work Area... at the University of Washington |; for the past nine years Miss Luehning has taught home eco- | nomics in the Palo Alto Junior High School. ROBENIA ANTHONY Vice president from New Eng- land ... helped to establish the Union in Springfield, Mass., and was vice president of the State Council for two years ... former president of the Teachers’ Club and twice president of the High School Women Teachers’ Club, Miss Anthony has recently been fighting for the right of married women to work .. . member of committees for Spanish relief and Chinese relief; Civil Liberties Union and of Com- mittee for forums in Hampshire County. Graduate of Boston University . has taught all grades and done adult education work for several years . . . English teacher in the Classical’ High School, Springfield, for the past twenty- five years. S. AMELIA YEAGER Vice president from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska . . . has been secretary-treasurer and pres- ident of Local 35 and president of the Wisconsin Federation of Teachers ... served eight years as delegate from Local 35 to the Madison Federation of Labor... also member of | Abercrombie Iglehart i\member of Credit Committee of 'the Madison School Employees Credit Union. B. A. from University of Wis- consin . . . Phi Beta Kappa... taught Latin in Decorah, Ia., and Riverside High School, Milwau- kee, Wis. . . . now teaching Latin and ancient history in Central High School, Madison, Wis. JOHN WOODRUFF Vice president from _Arkansas, Texas, Louisiana, Kansas, Mis- souri, Oklahoma . . . treasurer of Local 462 . . . educated at the University of Texas and the Na- tional University of Mexico . spent six years in Mexico, Central and South America with oil com- panies and two years in Mexico and Texas as newspaper reporter. Taught four years in Goose Creek junior high school and adult vocational] classes ... this year will be assistant to supervisor of ‘adult vocational education in eastern Texas, specializing in vo- leational training for oil-field : | workers. CHARLES M. ETHEREDGE Vice president from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia . . . president 'of Local 422 in Richmond County, | Ga. . served as secretary and is now a member of the Board lof Trustees of the Augusta Cen- |tral Labor Union. Received his A.B. from New- berry College and did graduate work at the University of South Carolina . . . served as principal of three rural schools and for the past twelve years has_ taught mathematics at The Academy of Richmond County in Augusta... is also athletic director there. RAY E. ABERCROMBIE Vice president from Ohio, Ken- tucky, West Virginia .. . charter member and first and only presi- dent of the Cincinnati Local to date ... former vice president and now member of the Executive Committee of the Ohio Federation of Teachers delegate and chairman of the Educational Com- mittee of the Central Labor Coun- cil of Cincinnati. Graduate of Stout Institute and took graduate work at the Uni- versity of Cincinnati . . . indus- trial arts teacher in Cincinnati public schools since 1913. ROBERT IGLEHART Vice president from the North- west Area ... attended Baltimore City College, Maryland Institute of Fine Arts and Johns Hop- kins University ... was award- ed a scholarship in 1934-35 on which he went to Europe... taught at the Maryland Institute of Fine Arts, was an assistant at | Teachers College, Columbia, and is now at the School of Art, Uni- versity of Washjngton .. . also worked as a commercial and in- dustrial designer. Mr. Iglehart teaches art’ theory and industrial design and is inter- ested in the relationship of the artist to the machine and the ef- fect of this relationship upon art history . . . feels that a strong trade-union movement is necessary jto build a culture worthy of a great democracy-— NED H. DEARBORN WPA vice president . . . mem- ber of Local 537 and of the New York State Teachers Association . is on the boards of directors of the “Social Frontier,” “Current History,” Council of One Hundred of the American Association for Adult Education and Institute for Propaganda Analysis; member of the John Dewey Society; on the Advisory Committee of the New York City Board of Education on WPA Projects in Adult Educa- tion, the Yearbook Committee of the Adult Education Department of the NEA and on the Advisory Board of Radio in Adult Educa- tion, Adult Education Project, Board of Education of the City of New York. Dr. Dearborn received his B.S., A.M. and Ph.D. degrees from Co- lumbia ... after extensive teach- ing experience in Pennsylvania and New York State, became di- rector of the Division of Teacher Training, State Education De- partment, Albany, 1925-29; direc- tor of the Institute of Education, 1929-34; professor of education, New York University, in 1929 and is now dean of the Division of General Education there .. . he is the author of a number of articles and books. Protest Cale” A strong reconsinedistions that the full school program in New York City be continued until all means have been exhausted for obtaining a supplementary bud- get was made in a telegram sent to the New York City superin- tendent of schools. The message stated that such action “seems very reasonable to us since a new session of the legislature will meet next January.” A large number of graduate stu- dents during the past year have prepared theses and seminar stu- dies on the AF of “T and other phases of the labor movement. Re- quests for information on the growth, history, program and ob# jectives of the Union have cone into the national office from matty states, indicating dn increase of interest in the history of nae and education. September, 1939 THE AMERICAN TEACHER ES oe aren Segtagre? wos SURES |<. Report of the Educational Policies Committee Children Need Greater Freedom in Grade School - by ROBERT K. SPEER New York, N. Y. (Local 5387) CARTOON APPEARED in the me- tropolitan press just a few years ago in the month of June. It showed a young June graduate coming down from the academic halls dressed in academic garb with a scroll under her arm. On the side of the cartoon was Old Man World. He was looking on-with a great deal of concern at the enthusiasm of this young June graduate. From the legend you discovered that as he said to her, “Why your great enthusiasm?” It ends by asking, “And what is that you have under your arm?” The young June graduate says, “This is my graduation day and this under my arm is my A.B.” Old Man World replies, “Now, young lady, you come along with me and I'll teach you the rest of the alphabet.” It is tragic that after sixteen years of systematic education a great many people have come to believe that the young June graduate is about to be foist- ed upon a world for which he or she is almost totally unprepared. Lack of Training Brings Recent Citizenship Impasse It is an interesting and important fact that in this country we have upwards of thirty million boys and girls who are between the ages of six and seventeen and these boys and girls are going to have to meet the problems of an eco- nomic, social and political world. These problems ‘are becoming increasingly great. In recent years they have brought about what almost amounts to an impasse in citizenship. This impasse is frequently and significantly revealed by a lack of trained intelligence on the part of the rank and file of our people in dealing with their collective affairs. I intend to lead off with a series of questions, for which most of the teacher groups in this country do not have an- swers. Let us start with posing a few questions. Should education be a factor in social regeneration ? Should education contribute its mite to social improvement ? May schools as one agency of educa- tion be expected.to assist other agencies to the end of beneficial social change? Are young people to be trained to ac- cept current society or are they to be so educated that they will be impelled to modify it? Are they to accept criticize it intelligently ? Are educators obliged to investigate the merits and deficiencies of our cur- rent order? Are we to question even our institu- tions and to lead our charges (our pu- pils, our children) to discover and to question social injustice? I think all decent-minded people and socially enlightened people really wish to have education so organized that we and our children may be impelled to im- prove the social, economic and the po- litical conditions under which we live. I could go on with a great many ques- tions: Are controversial matters to be intro- duced into the curriculum or are our young people to be shielded from the problems and issues of current society? it blindly or to Should Schools Guide Young Citizens in Solving Problems? These are the very problems with which our older high-school boys and girls will have to wrestle almost immediately. Are the schools to guide them to the means by which they may for themselves build a deep understanding of the fundamen- tal problems and crucial issues of con- temporary civilization? I.want to spend a little time on the reactions of some youngsters to a study made several years ago by Hyman Melt- zer on children’s conceptions of certain nouns. On “Trade Union,” which is ap- propriate to us, the highest common con- ception was: “Pay dues, have set wages, eonditions.” The second highest concep- tion was: “Trade with different coun- tries.” The third was: “Union that trades AST YEAR the National Educa- tional Policies Committee gave the convention an analysis of events in this country as they related to’ the curtailment and reduction of Amer- ican public education; not only the curtailment and reduction of. it, but the re-direction of it in this country as well. Then we described for you a pro- gram which we asked you to in- troduce in your communities so that intelligent support could be developed and coordinated for a new education to meet present needs. In other words, we were asking you to assume in your communities the leadership for that re-direction of education which we saw taking place. We wish to practice on you that program which we are asking you to initiate and to develop in your com- munities. The members of this panel desire to excite your interest and to implicate you as you are to implicate A Panel Discussion led by WANDA TAESCHNER, Chairman National Educational Policies Committee the members of your community in a re-examination of the program and the practices going on’in the class- rooms throughout the public schools in the United States. We hope to-show you one of the techniques that the National Educa- tional Policies Committee recom- mended for exciting and implicating the people of your community in this big problem of formulating a pro- gram by and for the people. We hope, moreover to do this by raising the issue of the role of subject matter in the classroom and a practical classroom program for developing this demo- cratic pattern of life that we have all been talking about at this convention. Thirdly, we hope to indicate to you what successful committees have done throughout the country in doing this job that we are talking about at the same time that we are raising an issue with you. a lot.” The fourth was: “Union for people who do commerce.” Only one in twenty had the concep- tion of “Cooperation of men for wages.” Only one in twenty had the conception of “Regulate hours of pay.” Only one in twenty had the conception of “Pro- tect workers—set wages.” Just as many had the conception of ‘Men in business (stores) bound together.” In the treatment of children’s con- ception of labor and the essential con- ception to life and understanding, among the ten most frequent conceptions of “Division of Labor” appear the following: “Kinds of work”; “Don’t know”; “Divi- sion of places where industries are”; “Different kinds of labor in different places”; “Difference between union and non-union.” Among the ten most frequent concep- tions of “Open Shop” appear the follow- ing: “Don’t know” (that’s first); “Door open for business” (that’s second); “Shop open and working” (that’s third); “Booth in street” (that’s sixth); “Position open —no distinction as to.color or race” (ninth); “Work on outside” (tenth). Child Conceptions Reveal Lack of Social Understanding Among the ten most frequent chil- dren’s conceptions of “Large-scale Pro- duction” are: “Don’t know”; “Making scales in large quantities”; “Weighing large things”; “Sell great deal of scales.” And listen to this! The most frequent child conception of “Industrial Revolu- tion” is the one word “Strike.” Maybe this is not as tragic as it ap- pears at first glance. We can agree we are not going to expose young children to crucial adult problems which they cannot in some way or other affect; but, just as there is an arithmetic in elementary school that is important in a building up that one may understand and learn, certainly there is a background in economic and _ political thinking that is necessary as a _ back- ground when children are more mature. What is the background in the elemen- tary school for understanding of the so- cial, economic and political problems in the high school? We certainly could agree that even with our little babies on the lower-school level we can do much in developing certain social attitudes— activities that are crucial to living to- gether in a democracy. Different people have published re- ports but I will quote from the pub- lished report of Rugg and Krueger. They list the following typical attitudes which they consider the course should develop and which they feel are crucial to living together: “First: Respect for personality; willingness to let other persons de- velop their own personalities.” In addition to that, an admiration for the fine qualities of “self” in other people. “Second: The scientific attitude of mind which constantly questions, ‘Have I all the necessary facts?’ ‘Are my facts reliable?’ ‘Is there more to be said on the other side?’ By that is meant a sane, constructive but questioning attitude toward “au- thority.” “Third: Receptiveness to change; expectation that modes of living will change in one’s own time more rap- idly than in the past; willingness to consider criticisms of established ways of living and to permit the experimental trial of new ways. “Fourth: Respect for achievement; the achievement of other persons and groups within the school, the com- munity, or the national respect for the achievements, cultures and ways of living of other nations and races.” On the elementary level we are now restricted to method, process and atti- tude. We are developing a synthetized content. There is an inclination on the part of high-school and college people, however, to think that when it comes to reconstructive thinking and the demo- cratic thinking there is little to be done on the elementary level. We have much to contribute on an elementary level. You cannot take a docile youngster from the sixth or eighth grade and expect him to be suddenly analytical, critical and democratically in- clined in the high school just as you cannot take a docile youngster from the twelfth grade and expect him suddenly to be analytical, critical and democra- tically inclined in the college. There is a great deal that we can do in the ele- mentary schools and I think that prob- ably the process begins in the kinder- garten, or I hope in the future, in the nursery schools. REPORT OF THE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES COMMITTEE Children Need Greater Freedom in Grade School Democratize High School, Axtelle Urges Emphasize Student Needs in Training of Teachers................ John J. De Boer STREAMLINING SUBJECT MATTERS Robert K. Speer George E. Axtelle ..Amelia Yeager ........k%. W. Marshall COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR © by Maurice C. Crew by Meyer Case by Sara T. Walsh LOCAL POLICY COMMITTEE REPORTS New York Local Describes Work of Policies Body Philadelphia Develops Study on Making of Curriculum _ Local 437 Holds Policies Meeting for Community Democratic Classroom Aids Child’s Learning by Gertrude Luehning............................... Robenia Anthony Samuel Wallach Goldie Ervin Addie Weber Paul Trilling ee ee eee Se ee nn. a by Arthur Broetje —............. iiaiebeicieie : ee ore +--+ Democratize " High School, Axtelle Urges by GEORGE E. AXTELLE Evanston, Ill. (Local 635) : NY EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM creates the mentality, habits, atti- tudes and dispositions that are essential to the perpetuation of a peculiar society of which it is an integral part. There is no question but that it does. A fascist society, a communist society, an_ aris- tocratic society moulds the schools in ‘order to create the kind of personalities that is essential to perpetuate the order in which those schools find themselves. We pay allegiance to the democratic tra- dition. The motto of the American Federation of Teachers has undoubtedly expressed the sentiment of American education but, unfortunately, American education has been very much confused about that sen- timent. We have failed to recognize the fact that American education in tradi- tion is aristocratic. Our system of edu- cation was borrowed from aristocratic societies and has maintained the struc- ture in selection of subject matter or indication procedures that were involved in an aristocratic society. May I point out, for example, that the secondary school is commonly referred to as a preparatory school. Preparatory for what? Preparatory for higher in- stitutions. What has been the function of these higher institutions? Historically, their function has been to train the people for the ministry, for the law and for leisure-class occupations. Maintaining Democratic Culture Is Important Task of Schools Democracy in the schools, however, must take seriously the problem of creating the mentality, attitudes and dis- positions that are essential to the’ main- tenance of a democratic culture. In the first place, we must create the kind of a school which will produce chil- dren with self-confidence, self-respect, in- itiative, originality; youngsters that have sufficient confidence in themselves as per- sons to assume initiative, to be original, to have a sense of responsibility to com- mon ends; a sense of communality; the capacity to identify one’s self in common purposes and pursue those common pur- poses; the capacity to translate the self into terms of ideals that are common to group interests; a conscientiousness, a sincerity, directness, straightforward- ness. That can come only from children who have self-confidence, who have self-re- spect; in whom there is not the fear of discipline—that is, of an external disci- pline—but rather a sense of obligation to one’s fellows and one’s own ideals; a respect for the personalities of others; a generosity, a sympathetic understand- ing of widely differing positions as in- tensely as a person may feel one’s own position. It is imperative in a democracy that we develop a vigorous tolerance of others’ positions without at the same time weak- ening the aggressiveness of our OWh ac- tion. Obviously, it involves in a society such as ours a flexibility, a capacity to re- adjust, to take new positions, to criticize, to re-evaluate old positions. It means an open-, critical-mindedness. This is not an exclusive list. I have not named them all by any means, but I have to move on. Finally, I would say it is neces- sary to develop a critical, flexible system of values in terms of which one’s basic thinking is guided, and also his action. Democracy’s schools must do these things if they are to achieve those ends, if they are to be schools for democracy. In the first place, they, must reorganize themselves in terms of their own admin- istrative relationships. The administrative relationships within school must be, themselves, democratic. In the second place, the educative proc- ess must likewise be democratized. If we are to secure critical-mindedness, if we are to secure initiative and experi- mental, sensitive outlook, then obviously — the, situation in: the classroom must be enethat is experimental (Third, we must democratize the sub- ject matter of the schools. May I point ~ ; | (Continued on page '8) , THE AMERICAN TEACHER Emphasize Student Needs in Training of Teachers by JOHN J. DE BOER Chicago, Ill. (Local 1) E HEAR a great deal these days about how bad the schools are, but I suppose they have improved some since the days when I attended high school and wrote reams upon reams of conju- gations of unconjugable verbs and wrote a biography of the stag which was re- puted at eve to have “drunk his fill where danced the moon on Monan’s rill.” But we still have a long way to go and I think that the malady that afflicts us most seriously is a fear of life and of the issues that life presents. Somehow or other, we always retreat from the burning issues, from the im- portant issues, and I take some illustra- tions from literature. We teach Whit- tier’s “Barefoot Boy,” but we don’t teach Whittier’s “Clerical Oppressors,” the poem he wrote after a congress of min- isters passed a resolution condemning the abolition movement; when Whittier admonished them “to thank the Lord that from the toiling bondsman’s bitter need ye pile your own full board.” We don’t teach that. We teach the pretty little things about the daffodils and the sunbeams, but the things that are im- portant we neglect, we omit. I don’t say we do so intentionally. I simply say that it is part of the psy- chology of the school program to avoid things that are significant. We like to teach Browning’s little poem from “Pippa Passes,” in which he describes an eight- - year-old working girl on her only holiday of the year as singing: The year’s at the spring, The day’s at the morn, Morning’s at seven, The hillside’s dew-pearled; God’s in His Heaven, All’s right with the world. But we don’t teach Mrs. Browning’s poem: Don’t you hear the children weeping, Oh, my brothers! Ere the sorrow comes with years, They are weeping in the playtime of the others In the country of the free. We are afraid, just a little afraid, of that kind of poetry. , We teach Hazlitt’s pretty essay on the fight, telling about his boyhood experi- ences when the children from across the tracks threw stones at each other, but we don’t teach them to read Paul An- derson’s description of the Memorial Day massacre near the Republic Steel Cor- poration in Chicago. And did it ever occur to you how pretty these little progressive education units are? We like to take them from the South Sea Islands, from Alaska and from the Eskimos. Take the one on Spain: the description of the senoritas and the costumes and the dances and all the colorful life of Spain. You can go through a whole unit on Spain and never discover that it was a land drenched with the blood of patriots defending their homeland against fascist invaders. You could go through a complete unit on China and never get beyond the kimono and the chop sticks. You would never learn that within the last month a school filled with children was bombed by Japanese bombs, or that hospitals, libraries, universities and schools were destroyed. More Significant Subject Matter Is Schools’ Need We talk a great deal about the subject matter and its place in education, and there is an opinion afoot that what we need is less subject matter in progres- sive schools. It isn’t less subject matter that we need; it is more significant sub- ject matter. In the case of the education of the teacher, the subject matter is the child. That is his job. The-job of the prospec- tive teacher is to study the child. Let’s consider a moment what is the subject matter he learns. The teacher who is going into the high school to teach English or science studies for four years or more in his special field, takes a few hours of education (and swears un- - der his breath while he does it) because the state legislature or somebody re- quired it, and goes into the classroom. One administrator of a high school said recently —this happened: to be, a junior college but the problem is ,very much the same—that he had no trouble getting Ph.D.’s for his faculty, but when he interviewed a Ph.D. in English he found that this person was expert in the discussion of Chaucer documents but didn’t have the slightest notion about what young people in the junior-college level like to read. He could get Ph.D.’s in science who knew all about the res- piratory system of the grasshopper but who didn’t know the problems that young people had in taking care of their health. Imagine the situation that would ob- tain if medical students were required to take only fifteen hours of professional work in preparation for their profession. Any horse doctor takes more professional work than a teacher, and what profession is more important than that which has to do with the personal, mental and emotional development of children. We read a great deal these days about training teachers to do remedial reading, and I have seen teachers attempt to do remedial reading with children who come from homes in which there are no books and in which no one else reads. These same children spend their time in schools where there are no bocks except the uniform textbooks that all the children are supposed to read under compulsion. Then the pupil is referred to a remedial reading teacher or to a psychologist, to give more drills in the very type of thing that produces the reading casualty. I am painting a dismal picture, and I think there is another side to it. I think that excellent work has been done in many places in the United States, notably at New College, unfortunately deceased. At Broad Oaks in Michigan, in Milwau- kee and many other places promising experiments are going forward in the reformation of the education of teachers, but we need a program which will be centered about the job of preparing young people for life in a democracy. It isn’t enough simply to know and to understand the children. It is important also to know what the aim, what the purpose of all of this is. It seems to me that we can very well adopt as our fun- damental purpose the development of democratic attitudes to life in a demo- cratic society. I think there has been a great deal of dispute, and still is a great deal of dis- pute as to what we mean when we say, “training for democracy,” and I want to take two couplets from Whitman which I think summarize in general the genus of democracy. The one runs like this: To be servile to none, to defer to none, Not to any tyrant, known or unknown; To confront with your personality All the other personalities of the earth. And then there is another factor which he describes in his “Hymn to Democracy” in these words: I will plant companionship thick as trees along all the rivers of America, and along the shores of the great lakes, and all over the prairies, I will make inseparable cities with their arms about each other’s necks, By the love of comrades. By the manly love of comrades. September, 1939 Axtelle— (Continued from page 7) out again that the subject matter of the schools as we now know it is the subject matter of an aristocratic society. His- tory and social sciences are largely ra- tionalizations of things as they are rather than being an effort to discover the roots of contemporary problems, to trace their developments and to see the possibilities that lie within the present situation for achieving our deepest needs and interests. For democracy’s schools the languages and literature must help young children to gain a sympathetic appreciation of people in relation to their cultures. But it must be the kind of appreciation of people that is not an idle, decorative, leisure-class possession. It must rather be one which helps them to analyze their own immediate life problems more in- telligently and more effectively. It en- ables them to understand human nature as they meet it day by day so that, as Bob Speer says, they don’t go to school sixteen years and then come out upon an unsuspecting world—or, at least, unsus- pectingly on the world—but that they have been living in that world all the time. * Finally, the sciences and mathematics have sort of become a leisure-class sub- ject matter, or a subject matter for spe- cialists. They are organized as though these little children or young people were themselves to become specialized experts in these various fields. These materials have to be organized in terms of their significance to laymen. Latin STREAMLINING SUBJECT Social Sciences by AMELIA YEAGER Madison, Wis. (Local 35) - WOULD APPEAR to many people that Latin and ancient history would be excellent targets for anybody who is out gunning for subjects to eliminate from the curriculum, but I have no fear for either of those subjects if they are in the hands of a teacher who has a social conscience. The very fact that Latin is a dead language makes it in- creasingly alive every day. That sounds rather paradoxical and I am going to explain it in this way: The very fact that Latin is not spoken in its real form means that the children do not spend a great deal of time acquiring a vocabulary which will enable them to say, “Pass the salt and pepper,” or “Pass the bread and butter,” or something of that sort, but instead they acquire a vocabulary which enables them to read stories even in simple Latin, and cer- tainly in Latin literature, which deal with the fundamentals of human nature. I am convinced that Latin literature is an energizing force in character building and in making for good citizenship. Again and again the pupil is made aware that the Rome estate not only idealized but demanded in practice of the individual responsibility and the subordination of selfish interests to the common good. One has a chance to tell the story of Gaius an Tiberius Gracchi, by what names they are known when they grow up, because these characters are not fic- titious characters; they are real char- acters. There a mother had _ instilled them with a sympathy for people who were less fortunate than they and with a desire to help them. At this point I usually stimulate the interest of my pupils by saying that the story of these two boys always reminds me of this comic strip; “Born thirty years too soon.” Again in the study of word derivation, take, for example, the word “radical” which is in disrepute. It is derived from the Latin “radix,” which means root, and, therefore, the noun really means a person who gets to the bottom of things, who traces an effect to its real cause. Latin is far more than case endings and verb terminations. It enables a per- son to contrast such subjects as these: Roman and American political parties; voting in Rome and America; representa- tive government then and now; agrarian measures; the concentration of wealth; the relief problem; the dole; official trips at government expense; foreign invest- menfs in time of trouble; fear of electing a radical; proposed suggestions for meet- ing the financial situation. Again I may say, however, that the attitude of the teacher is of great im- portange. The subject matter must be made realistic to the child. The child must be shown how to interpret his pres- ent situation in the light of the past. MATTERS by R. W. MARSHALL - Chicago, Ill. (Local 571) S A HIGH-SCHOOL TEACHER in the social-science field, I want very briefly to call attention to a problem we all face, but of which the teacher of social science is bound to be especially aware and which he perhaps is in a po- sition to do more about than others. You believe in democracy—at least I would back this group against any group that gathers in America today as be- lievers in the democratic way of life. So it is natural to ask, What are you doing in your school to see that democracy remains the basis of our form of govern- ment? What are you doing besides at- tacking other rival ideologies and those who believe that they are to be pre- ferred to democracy ? I maintain that the continual attack- ing of any or of all of the so-called foreign “isms” and the exhibiting of a very pro- nounced and obvious fear complex in re- gard to them, is not calculated to instill into the young people of today confidence that democracy is the best form of gov- ernment. I believe that I have detected the re- © action against these continual attacks and that if you will do a little probing you will uncover the same reaction. If I know the way young people react, they are getting suspicious—suspicious that if we must be at such pains to attack rival ideas there must be some merit in them. In love, if you are trying to advance your cause, it is not considered—by ex- perts—to be good, effective technique to spend all your time disparaging your rivals. None of you would do it. Better build up a case for yourself as the great American lover! In business you get sus- picious of the merchant and his wares who devotes too much time to pointing out the flaws in the merchandise of his competitors. It has always seemed to me that one mistake we make more than any other is that we assume too much about the young people we teach. In every subject and at every level we assume, for in- stance, that they know more than they do, or that they accept certain concepts just because we do. When you get back to your classroom, take pains to learn whether your stu- dents are as sold on democracy as you have been thinking they were—or as you are. You will get, I predict, a shock. If you tell them that democracy is worth fighting for—again—they won't get it. They know that democracy is sort of traditional in these parts but they want to know what is so valuable about it that makes it worth fighting for. And they are asking you. And then at that point you start to attack the governments of Italy, Russia and Germany. Is that the only or the best technique for teaching democracy? That is the question I want to leave with you. English by ROBENIA ANTHONY Springfield, Mass. (Local 484) Y SUBJECT is English composition and literature—high school. For three minutes [| will -tey -te-skew -you how in teaching that subject I try at the same time to train for good demo- cratic living. First I try to develop a critical judg- ment. I try to arouse intellectual curi- osity so that my students will ask perti- nent questions. I try to teach them to respect the opinion of experts because in their naive way they think we are all equal, our opinions are equally good, “No one knows any more than I do.” In teaching them to respect the opinion of experts I try to break down the authority of the spoken and written word—the fact, “I saw it in a book, it must be true” —all the time stressing social and econ- omic conditions, In literature, in character develop- ment, we study the effect of an environ- ment on character and the effect of environment on crime. We study peo- ple’s motives so that we can understand why they act that way. In composition we paraphrase. We paraphrase in order to discriminate among connotations, because it is the connotations that get us. That is how the propagandists get us. Patriotism and fighting—the same thing. CIO, Communist, Russia—the same thing. We use modern essays—Lord Bryce’s especially is a good one; American char- acteristics as molding public opinion. They must always give present-day ex- amples—not his. The second thing I try to work for is to have them learn the contributions of foreign cultures. We read foreign litera- tures in translation. We explode or ex- plain away the myth of racial superiority. We stress the accident of birth. There- fore, we teach tolerance. In composition we examine our prejudices. The third thing, and I think the most important, that I try to work for is to train them to have a belief in common humanity. I try to fight the cynicism that gives lip service to democracy and distrusts and despises the poor. Of course, we speak of Shakespeare’s opin- ion of the masses. We speak of Haw- thorne—in the House of the Seven Gables the beautiful passage of the power of the dead hand. ‘ In composition we summarize edi- torials. That gives us a chance to define terms that we see all the time and have to hear—the social, economic and politi- cal terms. We have spontaneous dis- cussion, with a chairman chosen by themselves. We write and talkon these questions: “Is the majority always right?” “If it is not right; why isa democracy better than a ‘beneficent pot?” Then we learn it is. that it is better to-learn from our mistakes than to be guided in every > * September, 1939 New York Local Describes Work of Policies Body by SAMUEL WALLACH New York, N. Y. (Local 5) N EDUCATIONAL POLICIES com- mittee in any Local has a dual task. First, it has to help to formulate edu- cational policies; secondly, and just as important, it must carry on an active campaign to see that these educational policies actually become realized. I think that as it tries to effectuate these educational policies it begins to learn more about how to formulate these policies, because it learns a very interesting lesson in democracy. It learns that an educational policies committee cannot sit down in a quiet room and think up an interesting educational pol- icy and then go out to the community and try to put it across. It is almost impossible. It learns very quickly that if you want to effectuate an educational program, the thing to do is to enlist in the very formulation of this educational policy as many people as you possibly can, because only when people help to make educational policies will they ac- tually fight to put these policies into effect. I would like to describe the work of the Educational Policies Committee of Local 5 in New York City. I do this for two reasons. I hope first that the dis- cussion will bring out some of the things we. might have done better. Secondly, I do it in the modest hope that many of the delegates will get inspiration and ideas and suggestions which they can take back to their own Locals. Activity Program Brings Teachers to Union for Guidance and Aid The Educational Policies Committee of Local 5 in New York contains a number of subcommittees: the Elementary School Subcormmittee, the High Sctrool Subcom- mittee, the Social Studies Subcommittee and the Conference Subcommittee. Then a very interesting thing hap- pened two years ago. It seems that the board of education in New York City decided that the activity program was a good thing, and so some magic words were said and a number of ele- mentary school teachers who had been teaching in the old fashioned way sud- denly became activity-program teachers. They turned in all directions for help. They wanted to know what an activity program really meant, and they wanted guidance and courses. They came to the Teachers Union. The Union offered a course called “The Activity Program” and the first of the year 250 people enrolled in that course. I venture to say it was one of the most successful courses in education in New York City. Teachers themselves actually gave the course. Labor classes were held, and so on. In short, the Union be- came established as the authority on the activity program in New York City. Last year we continued to give this very popular course in the activity pro- gram. An extension was made for peo- ple who had taken it the first semester and that second part was called “The Child and the Curriculum,” where ad- vanced work was taken up. The High School Committee, in re- sponse to the request of a good many people in the high schools who were troubled about curriculum revision, con- ducted a seminar which was attended by over twenty representatives from va- rious high schools in New York City. Parents Join Teachers in Discussing School Problems In the fall the Elementary School Committee conducted a fall conference on “The Child and the Curriculum,” in which teachers and parents and super- visors discussed various problems. The most ambitious project of the Edu- cational Policies Committee was its an- nual Spring Conferenée. As chairman of the Conference Committee it has been my job all through the year to excite peo- ple about our annual conferences. I want you to try to visualize one of the largest ballrooms in the United States, in the Hotel Astor, with two tiers. I want you to try to’ visualize about. 3,500 people seated in this grand ballroom. After they spent two hours «gn the morning at ten forums discussing & various. educational problems, they sat -24m the grand: ballroom following lunch :wlistening to various outstanding speakers. I want to assure you that the enthusi- asm and the interest of public-school THE AMERICAN TEACHER teachers, of parents, of labor represen- tatives, of youth representatives, of civic officials, was something that it is impos- sible to describe or to capture. You actually have to be there to feel the enthusiasm, the emotion, the real spirit of that audience of 3,500 people. It was really an inspiring thing and we had the feeling that we were actually accom- plishing the thing that the National Ed- ucational Policies Committee had urged us to do. We believed that we had a true cross-section of the community, democra- tically discussing and formulating edu- cational policy. It makes a world of difference when all of these people do the formulation, because it means that all of these people will sincerely believe in and fight for the carrying out of these policies. The various morning forums were on topics such as: Jobs for Youth; Culture in a Democracy; Curriculum Revision in the Elementary, Junior and Senior High School; Questions of Opportunities for Negroes. There were ten very vital, very important topics, in which all of the people are very much interested. I would like to see this type of con- ference become a model for all of the locals. I think it offers a splendid op- portunity to do two things: first, to get all of the committees coordinating their work and pointing their work towards an annual conference; secondly, and most important, such a conference becomes a people’s conference. It actually involves the various organizations in the com- munity in a discussion of educational problems. Last year we initiated an annual award. We set up a Judges Committee, made up of Bishop McConnell, Floyd Reeves, Jr., Raymond Walsh and a num- ber of other outstanding citizens. After long deliberations, they took the various nominees for the award and selected Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt. Philadelphia Develops Study On Making of Curriculum by GOLDIE ERVIN Philadelphia, Pa. (Local 192) E BELIEVE that the preservation and extension of democracy rests upon educators. We know that we will have completed our task only when a belief in and a respect for democracy is developed not only in teachers but in administrators, parents and children. To do this job we dared not continue to theorize. We had to take our philosophy out of the conference rooms of our union hall into the hearts and minds of the people of Philadelphia. Only in a system where democratic procedure is exhibited daily before both teachers and pupils is it possible to develop a belief in democ- racy. Our Professional Problems Com- mittee therefore initiated a conference of teacher organizations on democratiza- tion. In our committee meetings teachers told of their experiences—their successes, their failures. We felt that these ex- periences were priceless and so the Workshop was born. It is published twice annually. We can proudly say that the Workshop offers specific techniques for providing our children with experiences that will lead to logical thinking and cooperative living. It also happens that Union teachers in Philadelphia intend to be in the fore- front in curriculum revision. So that we might be prepared, we made a detailed study of the process of curriculum-mak- ing. From this study came a “Union philosophy” of curriculum-making. Administration Must Lead Fight on Spread of Fascism Early in the year it became evident that various fascist groups were making great headway in their efforts to spread anti-Semitic and anti-Negro propaganda in our schools. In one junior high school several near race riots occurred—one in- cident might very well be called a race riot. In another, a petition was circu- lated to boycott Jews. We took the petition that the administration must play a leading role in combatting this situation. We sent a committee of five to discuss the problem with our acting superinten- dent. We told him that we believed that he could dramatically bring before the teachers of Philadelphia the necessity of teaching racial and religious tolerance through: (1) vital changes in school cur- ricula; (2) establishment of forums; (3) radio programs; and (4) holiday letters. As a result of this meeting, Dr. Louis Nusbaum, acting superintendent, issued a very fine statement in regard to cele- bration of Armistice Day. A few weeks after this meeting the board of education sponsored a series of radio broadcasts dramatizing contri- butions of various racial and national groups. I cannot close without relating the facts of the Freelon case. I feel that this is one of the greatest services rendered in the cause of democracy by our Local in the past year. We have a peculiar set-up in Philadel- phia, in that we have ten solid Negro schools manned and the entire popula- tion Negro. Seventeen years ago Allan Freelon, a promising young artist, passed the ex- amination for supervisor in art education. He was appointed but he was not as- signed as the other supervisors were as- signed. He was told to skip all over town to these ten Negro schools. This he did for fifteen years. Two years ago we began to open our vocational schools. Mr. Freelon was the only supervisor among nine who was capable of supervising certain subjects. By the end of that term it was decided that we might try this strange man in a district, and so he was assigned to a district. Before he was allowed to go out, he was re-assigned, this time to supervise all junior high schools and vocational schools in Philadelphia. The Negroes of Philadelphia were just- ly proud. The Negro press all over the country carried the story. We felt we had really won a victory. But, of course, some of the members of the art depart- ment felt very differently. They felt that a Negro had been promoted over eight whites, and they began a rumbling campaign. Race Discrimination Foiled by AFT Coordinating Group A petition was circulated to go back to the old field of distribution. They were clever enough not to bring in the Negro angle, although one supervisor when angered said: “If this Negro was allowed to supervise junior high schools, in future years all of the art of Phila- delphia would have Negroid tendencies.” We have an active artist group in the American Federation of Teachers and the petitions were circulated among them. Mr. Freelon, who had been a member of the Union for five years, came before the local executive board and told us his story. His story was as follows: That he had been assigned to this job and at the time he had been praised very highly by the members of the Department of Superin- tendence and the board and that he felt that the department and the board would back him in that appointment. We hoped it would, but were not cer- tain. In about a month the board began to get skittish. Then we discovered that since the first petition was ‘circulated they had had a committee studying this problem. When the committee brought in their report, the report read something like this: Mr. Freelon had never been ap- pointed to this job which was only tem- porary. They therefore scheduled an ex- amination for a job he had held for over a year. Speakers were sent to Negro organiza- tions and progressive white organiza- tions. We called many small meetings, many larger conferences. The press, both Negro and white—the white dailies not so much as the Negro—carried our side of the story. Negroes all over Philadelphia became aroused—290,000 in all. We were nearing an election, and our numbers gave us a strong voice. Thousands of letters poured in to mem- bers of the board of education. One youth organization spent their whole day calling them on the telephone. I can assure you members of the board realized we meant business. We led them to know one of two things: either they would have an open hearing on this case and allow us and Mr. Freelon to present his side, or they had better hold a fair ‘examination: As a result of the pressure brought by the coordinating committee, which ‘was led by the American Federation of Teach- ers, Mr. Freelon passed first. Snow in Philadelphia we have an assistant — a Negro assistant—to the directér of art education, in charge of junior high schools. and vocational schools. Local 437 Holds Policies Meeting for Community by ADDIE WEBER Trenton, N. J. (Local 437) HE EDUCATIONAL POLICIES committee of Local 437 has made only a beginning, but an important begin- ning, we feel. As in so many places, there are great difficulties which our Local has to face: the general weakness of the local union movement and the division in its leadership, resulting in ignorance and in- difference to labor on the part of the gen- eral public; the increasing opposition on the part of the employer groups to all progressive moves; a reactionary news- paper, which is a virtual monopoly. While there are some encouraging signs, these difficulties make constructive work slow. What Local 437’s Educational Policies Committee was able to do this spring is one of the encouraging signs. Working as a subcommittee of the IWew Jersey State Federation of Teach- ers, the Local’s committee drew up a call inviting “the people of our commu- nity through their civic, fraternal, re- ligious and professional organizations, and through their unions and other groups, to participate in the discussion and formation of educational policies in a local conference” on the general sub- ject of education for democracy. When a sufficient number of repre- sentative individuals in the community had signed the call, they became a com- mittee who sponsored the conference. Additional names were obtained, making the total number of signers twenty-eight. The group represented one or more leading individuals in the AF of L and the CIO, the YWCA, the College Club, the clergy, professional groups. There were also the editor of the local news- paper, leaders of Negro, Jewish, Hun- garian and Italian groups. Educators were represented by professors from the Lawrenceville School and Princeton Uni- versity, the county and city superintend- ents, the presidents of the Teachers As- sociation and the Teachers Union. While the two superintendents and the presi- dent of the Teachers Association signed the call for the conference, they balked and tried to sabotage the conference when they learned the conference plan. The conference, as planned and exe- cuted, began with a luncheon in one of the hotels, followed by two speakers: Clara Leiser, author of Lunacy Becomes Us, and Dr. Clyde Miller of the Insti- tute for Propaganda Analysis on the gen- eral subject of “What Is Democracy?” The assembly then broke up into three groups for panel discussions; one on “Democracy and Tolerance—How Shall the Schools Teach Tolerance?”; a second on “Democracy and the Curriculum— What Shall the Schools Teach?”; the third on “Democracy and the Adminis- tration—How Shall the Schools Be Ad- ministered?” Finally, the three groups met in a general assembly to hear re- ports of the chairmen of the three panels. Permanent Organization Results from Local Educational Conference In spite of the sabotage, there were more*than 160 in attendance on a very warm Saturday afternoon. Practically everyone remained throughout the entire session, which lasted until after five o’clock. The reaction was very fine, and .it resulted in a resolution submitted to the assembly, and adopted, that the con- ference, to be known as the Trenton Con- ference on Education for Democracy, be made a permanent organization. Probably the most influential person at the conference made this statement the day after the conference: “I consider this conference the most important thing that has ever happened in Trenton. Never before has a group of people represent- ing as many interests in the commu been brought together. This committee must continue.” This is the crux of the matter; I be- lieve. There are those in our commu- nities whom we usually regard as con- servatives who can be interested in edu- cation for democracy and can be really helpful in making our schools democratic, and until the whole community becomes interested and concerned with the prob- lems of the schools, our schools will not be truly democratic. "The educational policies committees, » national and local, can do an exceedingly Variportant wotk in educating the people land making’ the schools the means of ' maintaining democracy. It’s a big job, but it must be done. 4 10 THE AMERICAN TEACHER Democratic Classroom Aids Child’s Learning by PAUL TRILLING Bergen County, N. J. (Local 522 AM A TEACHER of problems of American democracy and that puts me on the spot right away, I know, but I think I have a few suggestions as to how to inculcate democratic ideals that are very practical. The question has been asked as to how to sell students on democracy. I am of the belief that the best way to sell students on democracy is to let them live democratically in the class. I should like to use my class as an illustration. The first thing that we decided was that you could not have students live democratically in a classroom if you had a textbook to discuss problems of Amer- ican democracy, so we substituted for the textbook a well-equipped library in the community itself. We felt that a text- book in and of itself was an undemocra- tic imposition upon students. Teacher Talks Less, Class Assumes Study Organization The next problem was to organize the class democratically, and the first thing that both the students and I discovered was that we should have less talking by the teacher, that, too, the students Should have a right to determine the units and areas studied in the classroom. We developed a program in my class which would permit the students to par- ticipate in the organization of the areas of study and to decide for themselves what those areas of study should be. The way we did that was by organiz- ing the class into various committees. These committees elected their own of- ficers. They decided how they should go about studying the various units deter- mined ahead of time. These are some of the experiences that they had. They went out into the com- munity and interviewed the mayor, the councilmen and labor leaders. They in- terviewed people of all sorts, even bank- ers and manufacturers. We were dis- cussing the problem of unemployment, for instance, and they had learned in many of their other classes that there is a great deal of unemployment because there are so many people who just do not want jobs. We decided to find out how many jobs there were available in our area. They wrote to the various indus- trial managers in our area and found to their surprise that there were extremely few jobs available to them. In that way they were able to get firsthand knowl- edge, not from a textbook, of what: the world was like outside. Fewer Restrictions Are Impetus to Gain Firsthand Knowledge When they began working in their com- nittees and presenting their units they lid a great number of things. They made murals of the things they were thinking about. Some of them wrote poetry and shocked the students with whom they were working. Other fellows who had never received good grades in their lives suddenly found themselves de- veloping. They became very spirited in this work because they felt that I was not imposing my will upon them all the time, but that they were planning their work within their own committees. I want to mention general experiences. It was a difficult job to keep up with them, really. There should have been three or four teachers in the class work- ing on their various things because they. did not wait until they got into their English classes to write a letter to an editor in a town that lived near to us. They wrote those letters when they dis- agreed. They did not wait for the art ‘ercher to come down to teach them to vak> murals. They called on the art a cher and he advised them. They did tot wait until they got to the chemistry iboratory to study the value of some of the products that they were buying, but they read Consumers Union. COMMENTS FROM THE FLOOR This one particular incident I think is especially remarkable in indicating how conscious they became of the idea of democracy. They went on strike one day because they felt that I had imposed my will upon them too strongly. This was when I was just learning. In get- ting the groups together I had been a little arbitrary. I had, for my own com- fort, decided where each one should be allocated. It happened in this particular group that I forgot that one boy was particularly fond of one girl. Everybody else in the class knew it, but I did not. This had a very profound effect upon the group because the girl and the boy were in separate groups and they both wanted to be together. They created such dis- satisfaction in both of their groups that they found the units that they studied were not at all interesting to them. So one of the groups got the idea that perhaps they could be most effective by going out on strike. They wrote out a pe- tition that said, “We are no longer in- terested in this unit,” and eight or ten of them in the group signed it and pre- sented it to me. There was quite a bit of nervousness within the class itself because they really thought I was going to spoil all of the ideals I had set up for them, that I was trying to tell them were democratic ideals. This was a test for me. When I received the petition I said, “This is not merely my business; it is the busi- ness of the class, so we had better all discuss it together.” The class then told me what. the situation was. I had to make the necessary revision and after the necessary revision was made and they were all satisfied, they got back to their jobs. Grading by Groups Makes ‘A’ Students Help the ‘D’s’ ‘. In this sort of endeavor, all kinds of things will happen, but it is important to maintain your democratic process, too, while you are evaluating the work of each of the students. The work in class might be very democratic, but I might very autocratically impose.a mark upon the students. We may not think so, but marks to the students and parenfs are extremely important. So the class and I decided that this process would be a good way of evaluating. the marks of the group: We decided that, after all, the valuable thing was how the unit was presented to the class. The class did not care how much work the individual unit presented. All they cared about was the general result. The class decided, after setting up certain objectives, it would mark the group and every member of the group would receive that mark. Those who were A’s individually were concerned about some of the D’s right next to them, and this had the general effect of raising the level and marks of the whole group. That counted as one- half of its mark. We did find that when we used that process there were a cer- tain few people who were getting away with things. The group found it out themselves. Now it became their prob- lem, not mine. They did not want people to be shirk- ing and they figured that if they let this proceeding go on without a check there might be individuals who would shirk in their work and destroy the whole ef- forts of the group. They decided that the group itself would evaluate the mark of every individual in the group and that would take care of the shirkers and would count as the other half of the mark. I did not go into the evaluation process at all. The marks were much more care- fully made, I think, because of all of this activity in the class, with much better markings than any I could have achieved. I felt that even if some people did get A’s who really deserved B’s, the whole thing was satisfactory as long as every- one in the class understood the demo- by GERTRUDE LUEHNING | Palo Alto, Calif. (Local 442) AM A TEACHER of home économics, and principally a teacher of consumer education. I feel that that subject is closely allied with those factors in which we are so very much interested. It gives possibilities in speaking for democracy because in one of its phases it makes for student and adult awareness. There are five phases to consumer education. Our home economics depart- ment happens to take over one primarily, and that is to teach better buyingship. We start out by sending our student into the community, to stress its stores, its facilities and the kind of trade that is available. We also go into the very few factories that we have in Palo Alto. Our students say, “Where can I get some technical information? After all, I can’t test socks. I can’t find out very easily in a junior high school what is in poultry. I can’t find out what is in soap.” So right away we are carried into how to give those people technical informa- tion. Our laboratories are very limited. I think the laboratories in most public schools are. So we have brought into our schools in Palo Alto a_ non-profit organization called the Consumers Union. It gives to its members—and it has a huge membership—monthly reports, tech- nical reports on the consistency and the breaking strength and the makeup of articles. by MAURICE C. CREW Chicago, Ill. (Local 1) UITE A NUMBER of schools in the United States are teaching con- sumer knowledge in various departments. In the Austin High School where I am, for four years I have been slowly ad- vancing that idea. At the last meeting of the Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers of Chicago an ex- tensive report was made on that sub- ject. It is written up in the June issue of the magazine. I refer to that because in the article there is a bibliography that should be of interest to chemistry and home economics teachers. There is one place where science can be made effective and become a part of the pupil’s life. The pupils are not going to grow up and be chemists; they are going to be consumers and buy goods. by MEYER CASE New York, N. Y. (Local 5) I WISH TO emphasize briefly two points, first in connection with the whole problem of teaching the student to appreciate the need for and the desir- ability of democracy. There is connected with that the whole question of the attitude of the student himself toward schools and the things he learns. I face this problem in school, as I am sure almost everybody else does. We have had discussions in my classes about “Why is it that you students are not so much interested in what we are taking up?” It so happens that I teach mathematics. I received this reaction from one stu- dent. “I had two brothers that went to vocational school. One of them learned something about the jewelry trade. When he got out the best he could do was_to get a job as a WPA laborer. The other studies plumbing and he hasn’t any job at all now. When I saw what happened to them I asked myself the question, ‘What is the point of going to school and what is the use of studying?’” As part of the whole problem of teach- ing the student an appreciation of democ- racy, if we are going to take the first step of getting him to like school and wanting to study the things that we teach, we have to take up in a serious manner what we can do to get these students jobs after they graduate. The question of the NYA is a partial solu- tion along those lines, but the problem is much broader than that. I have thought a good deal about it and I don’t know what the answer is. My second point is, I have had a little experience in. adult education, teaching workers in the trade-union movement, and I have wondered about this fact: that many workers now who are becom- ing good union members know very little about parliamentary procedure and almost nothing about the history of the trade-union movement in the United States. I would like to ask, Why didn’t these people, who went to high school, learn these things that we are teaching them now? It seems to me, if we have al- ready come to the point in this country where we accept the fact that collective bargaining is a good thing, where we understand the fact that the trade unions are an essential part of our democfacy, then we ought to carry this principle one . step further. We ought to ask the boards of education to institute in the schools a course on trade unionism, on the history of the labor movement and on parlia- mentary procedure. by SARA T. WALSH | Philadelphia, Pa. (Local 192) TEACH in a junior high school in the industrial district of Kensington in Philadelphia. In the past two years we have had an experience which was amaz- ing to me. One of the difficulties in the junior high school is that everyone complains about the roster. You do not get the as- signments you want and you think that the people on the roster committee do not teach enough, and it is a constant source of irritation. We talked about it with some of our teachers and we thought that possibly it would be a good idea to get a set-up where» these criticisms and suggestions of the»teachers could be made openly. Then when we received our roster assign- ments if they could be reviewed by the teachers and the roster committee every- one perforce must.be satisfied. We had a teachers’ council and we had the prin- cipal, who was agreeable, decide that we could see the roster arrangement in ad- vance and make any applications we wanted for certain positions. Some of the teachers were concerned with this because those things which are’ extra- curricular ,activities_are frequently step- ping-stones.to higher positions nd those who were not in the intricate business of making a roster very frequently were eliminated from the things which have a great deal to do with one’s rating. We found out that when the teachers were given an opportunity to get their suggestions before the committee it was rather successful. We had four new people introduced into special activity work. We found that some of the people on the roster committee were rather tired of the job and we made the ar- rangement whereby it was rotated. The most valuable thing that we have learned is this: We have a group of teachers now who have been given a certain amount of training in the admin- istrative end of the school. As a result of that we have one of the nicest faculty groups in the school. These questions did more toward re- vitalizing a faculty and getting teachers, who were not really interested in the job of teaching, more alert to the job than anything I have ever seen in one particular school. | by ARTHUR BROETJE Bremerton, Wash. (Local 336) AM a teacher of the social studies. As you know, Bremerton, Washing- ton, is the scene of the Puget Sound Navy Yard and most of the people living in the city are employed there, I would say that about 75 per cent of the men who are working in the Navy Yard are also members of organized labor. We have no large industries aside from the Navy Yard. Hence, we have no large indus- trialists who are attempting to tell us what to teach. We can teach labor prob- lems, the history of labor unions, the various questions which young people are going to face. It is a fine arrangement and one of the difficulties which we have is sort of brought out in the question, “How can we implicate the people and excite their interest so that they will take an active part in formulating educational poli- cies?” The difficulty we have is how to stay ahead of the people and their in- terest. Fa KUENZLI 76 Locals Chartered; 2,500 Members Added HE PHENOMENAL GROWTH of the American Federation of Teach- ers during the latter part of the de- pression—growth in numbers, power and prestige- -is one of the most significant steps in thé history of the teaching pro- fession in America. While many other social and educational organizations have struggled to maintain their respective memberships, the membership of the AF of T has been multiplied six times since the beginning of the depression in 1929. The present membership is nearly five times the membership of January, 1934, and is more than double the mem- bership at the time of our annual con- vention in Philadelphia in 1936. Organ- ized in 1916, the AF of T experienced a rapid growth to more than 10,000 mem- bers in 1920, only to meet such bitter opposition that the membership had de- creased to 3500 in 1925. After 1925 the membership gradually increased to 5000 in 1929, but as late as January, 1934, the actual paid-up membership was only approximately 7500. Pennsylvania Leads with 12 Locals Added During Year During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1939, 76 locals were chartered, repre- senting 13 more locals than had been chartered during the preceding fiscal year. Included in this number are 6 locals established where locals previously existed. Of these the largest number was in Pennsylvania with 12 new locals; Ohio ranked second with 11 locals; New York ranked third with 10 locals; Illinois fourth with 8 locals; Indiana fifth with 6 locals; and Washington State sixth with 5 locals. Three locals were char- tered in Texas and 3 in Wisconsin. Two locals were chartered in each of the states of Minpesota, California and Virginia. One local was chartered in each of the states of Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Iowa, Tennessee, Michigan, Kansas, Georgia, West Virginia, Colorado, Con- necticut. One local was chartered in Washington, D. C., and 1 in Puerto Rico. State Federations were chartered during the year in New Jersey, Illinois, Michi- gan, Pennsylvania, Washington and West Virginia. In spite of vigorous and well-organized opposition and in spite of losses in mem- bership in some sections, the Union has made a gain of approximately 2500 members since the last convention. It should be noted that all statistics quoted in the report are based on the number of members actually paid up at the national office. These are, therefore, minimum figures ‘which, for various rea- sons, lag considerably behind the total membership of the Union. Thig lag is characteristic of all organizations in the labor movement. Since more than one- half of the present membership of the Union did not exist three years ago, it is important that we review briefly the various phases of progress during the last three years. Today the financial condition of the AF of T is sound and its credit estab- lished. We are happy to welcome any rival organization which wishes to in- vestigate us. At the time of the 1937 convention in Madison, Wis., all back salaries and other debts had been paid and for the first time in the history of the AF of T there was a substantial balance (approximately $9000.00) in the treasury with all bills paid. At our last convention at Cedar Point there was a balance in the treasury of $19,000.00. At the close of the fiscal year June 30, 1939, the balance in the treasury was approxi- mately $6000.00 with all bills paid. AFT Balances Own Books, Gives Helping Hand to Others Not only has the AF of T met its own obligations during the last three years, but it has extended a helping hand by donating several thouands of dollars to other organizations which were having serious financial difficulties. The largest amount was a sum of $800.00 donated to the Religion and Labor Foundation which was in serious financial condition. In addition to paying its debts and sisting other organizations the AF of T been able,to build up a defense fund several thousands of dollars. For many years the Union attempted unsuc- cessfully to create a defense fund by means of voluntary contributions in addition to regular per capita. Since the 1937 convention it has been possible to set aside 1c per month per member for defense purposes. This sum is equal approximately to 6 per cent of she national per capita, and the balance on hand at the end of the fiscal year was $4069.92. Since this fund was established two years ago approximately $2300.00 has been expended in defending teachers who were unjustly dismissed. The AF of T is the only teachers’ organiza- tion in America providing this kind of service for public-school teachers. The restoration of the AF of T to a sound financial condition; the payment of several thousand dollars in back sal- aries; the establishment of a defense fund; the increase of the AMERICAN TEACHER magazine from a bi-monthly to a monthly publication; and the greatly enlarged services of the Union have been accomplished on per capita payments which average 17c per member per month — approximately 4c per ‘week. Many union leaders have stated that it is absolutely impossible to operate an international union on dues of only 17c per month but the AF of T is doing it and the services rendered have been greatly enlarged. In 1938 one of the in- ternational unions made a study of per capita payments of unions affiliated with AF of L. The report of this study showed that the AF of T had the lowest dues of the 67 international unions reporting and the AF of T dues are less than one-fourth the average of the 67 unions reporting. Furthermore, these unions have an average initiation fee of $5.68 per member; the AF of T has no initia- tion fee at all. New State Federations Bring Current Total to 12 As pointed out above, charters have been granted to 6 state federations dur- ing the past year making a total of 12. State federations are a compara- tively new development in the AF of T. There has been some difference of opin- ion among leaders of the Union as to whether state federations would be an asset or a liability to the Union. Some leaders were of the opinion that the pro- grams of state federations would come into conflict with the program of the national organization, and that dues in atate federations would conflict with the Budget of the International Union. It was argued that state federations would tend to divide our membership rather than to unite it in a strong, active Inter- national Union. The first large successful state federa- tion was established in the State of Ohio in 1934—more or less on an experimental basis. The Ohio Federation undoubtedly has had much to do with the outstanding success of our Ohio Locals and the main- tenance of a membership of several thousand over a period of five years. The predictions of those leaders who oppose state federations have come true only in a small way. In a few instances there have been conflicts between the program of the national organization and the state federations. In one instance the state federation insisted that all of the funds allocated to the national vice president should be turned over to the state fed- eration. In a number of instances Locals have found difficulty in meeting pay- ments to both the state federations and the national organization. Some states have carried on active organization pro- grams without requesting assistance from the national organization; others have de- manded large grants from the national funds for organization work in their respective areas. The State of Ohio, which for several years was the best organized state in the Union, was or- ganized at practically no cost to the national organization. For several years the Ohio Federation of Teachers assessed 10c per month per member and carried on its own organization program with practically no assistance from_ the national funds. On the other hand, these locals are paying into the national or- ganization approximately $8000 a year. The result of the experiment with the Ohio Federation seems to indicate that the establishment of strong, active state federations should be a valuable asset to our International Union in co-ordinat- ing the Union program in the various states, in assisting to prevent the rapid turnover of the smaller locals, in cooperat- ing with the national organization in chartering new locals, and in making possible effective legislative programs in state legislatures. The combined gain in New York City of more than 1600 members on the part of these three locals represents the largest numerical gain in the Union. In mem- bership of new Locais, the Illinois Locals showed by far the largest gain with a total of approximately 300 members. The most significant growth of any Local in the nation is that of the West Suburban Local Number 571, near Chicago. The Local, chartered in June, 1938, has already become one of the largest and most active unions in the nation. Recently, the paid-up membership has increased to nearly 400, and applications pending indicate a membership of over 500 next year. This Local in one year became one of the 10 largest Locals in the nation, In the State of Ohio, the new Local at Antioch College is one of the most interesting developments of the past year in that the Local was formed to give, rather than to receive, union serv- ice. The institution was already using the democratic methods advocated by the AF of T, and the faculty organized for the purpose of assisting others in re- ceiving democratic working conditions. Equally important is the new Local chartered at Miami State University in Oxford, Ohio. This Local chartered in February has maintained an activity pro- gram of exceptional merit and has ar- ranged AF of T meetings in the summer school. Ohio’s Three College Units Offer Union Strategic Posts A college section of our Cincinnati Local has also been established at the University of Cincinnati. Thus three col- lege units have been established in Ohio during the past year, all of which fortunately are in strategic positions to assist in building the Union. Illinois has now succeeded Ohio as the best organized state in the nation. More than 50 per cent of the teachers in cities of more than 5000 in population are members of the Union. The Chicago Local is now paying per capita on more than 8,000 members. In Springfield, I11., the-.capital city, separate Locals were, chartered last year for men _ teachers. ahd Women teachers. “These twé Locals have now combined to form Local 601 which already represents more than two-. thirds of the teachers of the city. The Rockford Federation of. Teachers char- tered last year now has a pai mem- bership of 162, representing. one- half of the teachers of the-city. 224, Educational Secretaries of Chicago, | TRACES AFT GROWTH FOR 1938- 39 Union Organizes _ Six State Federations has trebled its membership during the past year—now enrolling 200 members. The Bloomington, Ill, Federation has maintained an active membership of more than 90 per cent for several years. This Local has an extraordinary record of achievement in solving practical school problems. In Indiana, the Indianapolis Local chartered in July, 1938, has already grown to 133 paid-up members. The Local has rendered valuable assistance in the legislative program in Indiana. The Local at Anderson, Ind., now has 130 members representing more than two-thirds of the teschers of the city. This Local deserves especial commenda- tion because its leaders have established two new Locals during the past year— one at Seymour, Ind., and one at Frank- fort, Ind. ' Reports from Pennsylvania indicate that the Locals in that state have been faced with one of the most serious bat- tles in the history of the Union. In spite of overwhelming opposition, more new Locals were chartered than were lost, and there was a gain in membership of 110. The Philadelphia Local during the past year enrolled the largest member- ship in the history of the Local. The Pennsylvania Federation of Teachers has adopted an active program of restoring the Locals which were unable to with- stand the onslaughts of the past year. Because of the critical situation in Penn- sylvania, a full-time national organizer was employed in the territory for several months. In Florida, the Local at Jacksonville, Number 516, chartered in June, 1937, has a membership of nearly 300. In the South—east of the Mississippi River, we now have a number of large Locals which should serve as excellent centers of organization—New Orleaiis; Atlanta; Chattanooga; Washington, D. C.; Jacksonville, Florida; Birmingham, Alabama. The Birmingham Local, chartered in April, 1938, has made ex- cellent progress. A promising Local was chartered in December, 1938, at Fisk University in Nashville. South’s Membership Scattered, New England Charters Locals The membership of the Union in the South—between the Mississippi River and California is very sparse and widely scattered. In this whole area including Arkansas, Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Colorado, Kansas and Missouri, the total member- ship is less than 400. At Boulder, Colo., a very active college Local has been es- tablished. Chartered in February, 1938, this’ Local has become the fifth largest college Local in the nation. In addition the Local has been successful in organiz- ing a public-school Local in Denver. The Pueblo County Local has become active and plans have been made to establish a Colorado State Federation of Teachers. The importance of this development in Colorado in the center of a large un- organized area is obvious. In the New England area a new public- school Local has been chartered at Provi- dence, R. I.; and a private-school local at West Fairfield, Conn. A charter has been granted to the state colleges of Massachusetts. The Yale Local has in- creased from 15 to 42 members during the past year. At Kenosha, Wis., Local 557, chartered in March, 1938, is building a splendid Local. For reasons peculiar to the Local, the officers are selecting the membership very carefully. A promising Local has been established at Michigan State College at Lansing in the very heart of southern Michigan. In Iowa, the State Federation of Labor has cooperated in laying the groundwork for organization in ‘that state. An en- thusiastic Local has been established at Des Moines, and the teachers of several other cities are definitely interested in the AF of T. One of our most successful Locals is that of Butte, Mont., which now reports an enrollment of 92. per cent of the teachers in the city. In three short years, therefore, we have led our mémbership;’ pea off our debts of several th of dollars; - sisted a number of other organi- _the hardships of the de- ; baie atone a of several <“Dousssde of . rere. en- larged the services O'S$ Sl teed }XeU JOj jaSpnq 2AT}e}UI3 — __——_—_——_ —— a Teachers Must Be Free to Educate Youth — Boas HE REVOLUTIONS in foreign lands with their ever widening as- sault upon the cultural values which we have gained through centuries: of slow and arduous labor and their repercus- sions in our own country have made all of us conscious of the necessity of a vigorous defense of our ideals. We are not willing to give up individual freedom for serfdom, to let the State become a monster that swallows up our manhood and compels us to give up our intellectual and moral integrity to the authoritarian will that knows no law and that can thrive only by keeping the masses in a constant state of turmoil by attacking one after another the ideals that stand in its way. Society Restricts Actions, but Minds Must Remain Free We must not confuse intellectual and spiritual freedom with the necessary restrictions of our activities that are brought about by the complexity of our secial life. Under simpler conditions the individual had the right to actions that ‘#uld nowadays endanger the well-being of his fellow citizen. The economic ac- tivities of one person may endanger the very sources of existence of many of his fellow citizens. We all recognize that there are problems of social adustment undreamed of fifty years ago which must be solved if our society is to survive. It is not likely that these will be solved without much experimenting and much Suffering. Untouched by these problems is that of intellectual and spiritual freedom. Even if our actions must be restricted by the demands of society, our minds must remain free, if for no other reason but that free minds are needed for the solution of our problems. Freedom of the mind presupposes equal rights for all, that is, a democratic organ- ization. It must be understood that dem- ocracy alone will not guarantee intellec- tual freedom, for a bigotted democracy can be as oppressive as an authoritarian state. Not so an enlightened democracy. It is not sufficient to free the intel- lect. We know that unless the emotional life is disciplined by the intellect and the intellect stimulated by emotional stress our efforts may be barren. The Committee for Democracy and In- tellectual Freedom.has grown out of the Manifesto of Scientists and the Mani- festo of Educators defending democracy and intellectual freedom and has declared our devotion to these principles on the oecasion of Lincoln’s Birthday of this year. We reaffirm these principles and pledge ourselves to combat all attempts to deny man’s rights to express his opin- ions freely and to share in the choice of his government; to resist the dissemina- tion of false racial theories which deny the equality of man’s birthright and set man against man according to the color of his skin or the name of his grand- father; to insist that foreign-born aliens receive equal protection of the laws that the Constitution guarantees them, for the infringement of their rights is a stepping- stone to the destruction of the rightful immunities of all persons. Let Public Know Issues, Then Work Constructively It is not enough that the issues on which we have taken a stand be brought to public attention and that a body be assembled to defend our liberties. It seemed to the Committee on Democracy and Intellectual Freedom that construc- tive activities are equally necessary. Thus a careful inquiry has been under- taken to see in how far textbooks teach unproved theories as facts. The most obvious case is the abuse of the term race and the repetition of the fallacy of pronounced and biologically deter- mined mental characteristics of so-called races. This matter seemed most urgent on account of the political importance given to the question by the present gov- ernments of Germany, Italy and Spain, and by the increase of race prejudice in our own nation where the survival of social customs among recent immigrants and the presence of a large Negro popu- - lation living under the pressure of un- favorable social conditions bring social differences forcibly into popular con- sciousness. It seemed to us a worthwhile engines 3 to help to an understanding ‘of:. the meaning of existing differences. Wey have also -taken occasion: to expose a’ vicious report brought out by the Cham- ber of Commerce of the State of New York, giving a mass of misinformation on the behavior of descendants of various nationalities in the United States. It seems curious that Mr. Winthrop W. Ald- rich, whose organization issued this re- port, should appear at the same time as vice chairman of the Congress on Edu- cation for Democracy which has just closed its sessions, the more so as the day before the opening of the Congress a committee of the Chamber published a report on education which is so entirely opposed to what a democratic education means that it contradicts the very name of this Congress. To quote from the re- port: “As we see it the great purpose for which the schools were founded was to preserve and strengthen the State by making better and abler citizens. Other benefits derived from it are secondary. There are many of them and they are important, but the preservation and strengthening of the State is the big objective.” This is fascist and Nazi ideol- ogy. It asserts that the individuals com- posing the nation are there for the sake of the State to whose interest the indi- vidual must be sacrificed. In a demo- cratic nation the State is a means to further the well-being and happiness of the individuals. If I were to summarize the recommendations of the Chamber of Commerce in a crude, exaggerated form I might say they demand as aims of edu- cation the teaching of humility so that the poor may accept with gratitude what is given to them—health that they may be able to-work effectively for their em- ployer, ignorance that they may not ask questions. It is the fascist attitude of the soulless corporation to its employees transferred to the. corporate State. I presume this crude statement would be rejected by the signers of the document, but it is implicit in their recommenda- tions. Denounce Fascist Attitude in C of C Recommendations Religion is placed first in their de- mands. I should be the last to deprecate the importance of attempting to give to the young an understanding of the great- ness of all religious leaders, of all those who suffered for spiritual and intellectual freedom and for humane ideals, but I doubt whether it can be done by system- atic instruction. It is rather an idea that must pervade the school. There is too great a danger, foreseen by the founders of our educational system, that the teaching of dogma cannot be avoided and will create dissension and strengthen prejudices. Nobody will gainsay the demand that the health of the child should be prop- erly guarded by the schools, but if this is to be done effectively, the provision for additional medical supervision, for nursing and social service, will frustrate the desire for retrenchment of expendi- tures which the committee recommends. The strongest objection should be raised against the proposed abridgement of the school course. It is true enough that many children are pressed into an academic curriculum for which thay are not fitted, but the remedy is not shorten- ing the course but establishment of work to which they are fitted. Still worse is the recommendation that high-school education should be reserved to those who can pay for it, a negation of the whole principle of democratic educational opportunities. However, here is not the place for a detailed discussion of this report. I cannot refrain from some remarks on the Congress on Education for Democ- racy which was called by Dean William F. Russell of Teachers College in New York. The coincidence of our meeting and the closing of the Congress makes these remarks unavoidable. We all applaud the desire expressed in this Congress te bring teachers and the lay public into closer contact. If the teacher is to fulfill this function satisfactorily he ought to be familiar with all the cross currents of our social life in order to prepare adequately the youth with whose education he is charged so that he may be able to meet the mani- fold conflicts to which he will be ex- . The life and the exacting duties of the teacher bring it about that he becomes somewhat isolated from many parts of! the community. Ordinarily he is not inmclose contact with the world of business, with manufacture, with agri- culture. At least those sides of our com- a P ~ ~ 4 po ies - ~< Picme —e 2 ~ Z Ww be it further The following resolution on American Rediscovery Week of the Committee ~ for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom headed by Dr. Franz Boas was pa at the convention of the AF of T in Buffalo: RESOLVED: That the Twenty-third National Convention of the hein can Federation of Teachers endorse the appended proclamation of the American Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom calling for the celebration of American Rediscovery Week, October 8 to 14, 1939; and RESOLVED: That the National Executive. Committee and all Locals of the American Federation of Teachers be urged to take steps to arrange some appropriate activity for that week. Copies of the complete proclamation have been sent to all Locals by the national office. More information and material about the work may be had ‘by writing to the Committee at 519 West 121st Street, New York City. aa te re ey — na plex life with which he becomes familiar by his own experience depend upon the character of the community in which he lives, and upon the home environment of his pupils. Therefore a systematic effort to bring about a closer relation between all sides of our public life and the teaching profession seems eminently proper. It is also appropriate that stress should be laid upon the contribution that such cooperation may bring to the de- velopment of our democratic institutions, to the training for intellectual freedom and for strength of character that en- ables man to stand up for his convictions and not give way to the temptation to subordinate himself unduly to convention. It is obvious that such an aim cannot be attained in one short session, for the problems are manifold and intricate and require long continued cooperation and careful study. For these reasons we wel- come the Congress just held as a begin- ning of an arduous task and it should be the business of all the various organiza- tions of teachers to see to it that this beginning should be followed up and de- veloped. This thought has been vigorous- ly expressed in the summary reports of the meetings of the’ Congress. It is perhaps unavoidable that the first meeting should not quite adequately fulfill the requirements to be set for such con- tinued discussions, Conceived and organ- ized by an energetic mind, the Congress on Education for Democracy itself lacked too much the democratic character that would seem to be the essential founda- tion for such an undertaking. We should have liked ‘to have seen a free participa- tion of our professional organization, in- stead of the personal selection by the president of the Congress of the par- ticipants. We should have liked to have seen in the list of lay organizations more stress laid upon a variety of groups rep- resented. Probably on account of the centralization of organization on one hand, and, therefore, lack of democratic procedure, the selection was such that the inclinations of the organizer appear too clearly in the organization. A Con- gress of this kind must avoid the danger of becoming liable to endorse a precon- ceived policy rather than lead to a thor- ough discussion of a serious problem. It is a healthy sign that notwithstanding the arbitrary selection of organization represented and of educators requested to participate, many conflicting points of view were represented and found ex- pression in the summary reports. Restrictions May Turn Organizer into Dictator The restrictions which made attend- ance at the seminars difficult, the fear of heated discussion expressed by the pre- cautions taken to keep order with the help of the police, detracted from the value that an otherwise laudable enter- prise would have had. To be effective, a Congress on Education for Democracy must be organized in a thoroughly demo- cratic manner. Otherwise there is danger that it may turn into its very opposite. It might unwittingly become a means of putting the organizer into the undesir- able position of seeming to harbor the desire of becoming an educational dic- tator. I hope that my criticisms will be taken in the way they are meant, as constructive suggestions for the conduct of future meetings. I think it is only just to express our thanks to Dean Rus- sell for launching an idea that will un- doubtedly lead to fruitful results. One of the most curious features of the Congress was, at least as far as the tration of large schools, colleges and even universities, a system which precludes a healthy development of intellectual and spiritual freedom, It has come about that in many an institution the subjec- tion of the teacher has gone so far that if the faculty were given the opportunity to decide on issues of policy they would not know what to do. I do not wish to be misunderstood. In the development of our educational sys- tems we owe much to the foresight of earlier generations and to the liberality of benefactors. We are only too glad to acknowledge our obligation to them. The necessity of taking care of the funds that were given to schools by communi- ties or by individuals has brought it about that those in charge of the funds have taken over the function also of di- recting the policies of the school; or they subordinate their judgment to that of the president, superintendent or principal in whom they have confidence and who, unless a person of strong democratic con- victions, becomes the authoritarian head of the school. To add to this power, as Dean Russell is doing by adding to the Board of Trustees a Lay Council selected by himself, can only lead to an increase of the authoritarian character of the school and undermine whatever traces of a democratic government remain. Intellectugi Freedam_"%s ~~ Key to Democracy’s Success It seems that it is our business to express ourselves clearly and emphatical- ly and say that these methods are not conducive to the advancement. of intel- lectual freedom without which a democ- racy and a representative government are | inconceivable. If democracy is to sut- ceed our whole body politic must become saturated with the idea of intellectual freedom, and the organization of our government, business and school must be such that action results from the co- operation of free men who respect one another’s opinions and needs. If such is our view, we may ask what should be our policy. I believe it is clear to all of us that the groups that favor authoritarian control in the school sys- tem are united, while those who would liberalize conditions are altogether too often hopelessly divided by issues that have nothing to do with their main ob- jective. It has always seemed to me that, if I agree with a person in regard to one specific problem in which we wish to cooperate, his political, religious or social views in regard to other matters are irrelevant. The Teachers Union, of which I am glad to be a member, has a well-defined task—to develop the effi- ciency of our schools and to protect the teaching profession against unwarranted interference in their work. There is no reason why political or religious differ- ences should interfere with our united work in this field in which we agree in regard to the main issue. Differences of opinion in regard to other questions not germane to the field to which the Amer- ican Federation of Teachers is devoted should be fought out in those fields to which they belong. By coneentrating our attention upon the main issues of our program and stoutly declining to have other issues brought in we shall grow in unity and in power. Let us not under- estimate the meaning of attacks like those of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York. Let us forget outside issues and work for the purposes for which the Teachers Union was found- ed. I trust that our discussions may be guided by due consideration of the neces- sity of unity in our efforts on behalf of the schools. out referring to the attacks that have been made by over-anxious souls agai: ee > v we. \ Davis Stresses Building Union AEE RTE OAS to Resist Attacks on Public Sehools Cites Work of AFT Locals During 738-39 ODAY we in the United States are confronted with the same struggle that our forefathers met in the early days of the Nineteenth Cen- tury. The depression has resulted in launching attacks on American educa- tion which, if successful, would undermine the very foundations upon which free public schools have been built. There are those today who question whether free public schools are worth the cost. Others would abolish free tuition, and introduce the fee system. This proposal, of course, emanates from those so comfortably situated economically that their children would not suffer. Others charge that we are padding the curriculum with all sorts of useless courses. “Away with the fads and frills of education,” they say. Often- times the attack is masked under the charge that children should be introduced to the fundamentals and the gateways of knowledge. The mayor of one large city in favoring economy in education even neglected to include reading in the list of fundamentals of our educational process. In the State of Connecticut a reactionary Republican governor tried to close two of the state teachers’ colleges, but so violent was the reaction of the trade unions, and the common people, that he was unable to effect this so-called “economy.” In Michigan, Minnesota, Wis- consin, Ohio, Pennsylvania and New York, to mention just a few, attempts were made to pass restrictive school legislation. The results in Pennsylvania meant that 6,000 teachers received no salary for months. In Georgia, schools in forty-one counties closed. New York State, supposedly the leader in public- school education, cut state aid $10,000,- ooo in 7355- Ths arent a loss of about 1,000 teachers in New York City alone. AFT Must Mobilize Against Campaign Restricting Schools Against this campaign the American Federation of Teachers must mobilize all- its forces. This means that the Federa- tion should stand united against all at- tacks from without. This is no time to quarrel or differ among ourselves about extraneous and _ inconsequential mat- ters. The efforts to array one group against another or the whispering cam- paign charging individuals with com- munism is a grossly mistaken one. We should all take to heart the resolution adopted by the New York State Federa- tion of Labor just four days ago which reads: Whereas, There is being spread_in this State the poison of Anti-Semitism in an at- tempt to divide the ranks of labor, and hereas, Such tactics, using the pretext of “Bolshevism” and the poisonous propa- ganda directed against people for their religi- ous beliefs, and Whereas, Such fascistic movements, begin- ning at fitst with attacks against labor or- ganizations as ‘‘Communistic’’ and spawning religious prejudice in order to. divide the population, have wound up in Italy and Ger- many by crushing the entire labor and trade- union movement, and Whereas, An alert trade-union movement, benefitting from the experience of European workmen, must be on guard against such union-wrecking attacks from the first moment they come into view, therefore be it Resolved, That the New York State Federa- tion of Labor, in convention assembled, con- demns such agitation whether done by any individual, a newspaper, an association or any other agency, as un-Christian, anti- democratic, anti-labor and detrimental to the interests of the bona fide unions, whose func- tion it is to afford protection to working men and women, regardless of race, color or creed. There is no one who believes in Americanism or democracy more whole- heartedly than does your president. I would do anything within my power to protect the principles of democracy and * the basic rights which Washington, Jefferson and Lincoln have handed on to us; namely, liberty, equality and fra- ternity. But our major enemies are, first, the forces of fascism which would destroy democracy entirely, and, second, those forces in each community and state which would curtail or throttle education. I am certain that there is not a delegate to this convention who does not favor standing shoulder to shoulder in opposition to retrenchment in public education, who does not be- lieve that we must go forward towards new and better schools, with better pro- visions for meeting the needs of the childhood of the nation. In this pro- gram, we can all unite solidly together, no,matter what our differences of race or creed or political belief. If American democracy is to endure, ‘we must provide equality of educational JEROME DAVIS, AF of T president, 1936-1939; started oldest college local at Yale University. Gilder Fellow at Columbia, 1920-21; taught at Dartmouth and for 13 years at Yale. opportunity for all. Today over a mil- lion children of school age have no school. The fact that business is poor is no reason for penalizing children. Every child in every state is a future voting citizen with equal political rights. At present some groups such as Negroes and poor whites are discrimi- nated against. In many states we now have blighted areas where schools are closed and libraries non-existent. In the rural areas of most of our states mental starvation can be found. Here schools are open only a few months a year. In these areas children tend to fall victims to child labor. Only Fed- eral aid to education can bring equal- ity of educational opportunity to all. It is sometimes charged that America will be bankrupt if expenditures are not drastically reduced. But education is the last field which should be cut. We are actuaHy spending one hundred mil- lion dollars on a single battleship; yet schools are infinitely more important to the nation than battleships. In a single year we spend more money on chewing- gum than on education. If we believe in perpetuating democ- racy then we believe in a society that consciously seeks the widest possible de- gree of responsible participation and in- telligent self-direction. Unfortunately many, even in America, do not believe that all should participate in our demo- cratic process. They would shut out the Negro and the propertyless. They be- lieve in the rule of the upper class. To this group, democracy means merely certain forms of government, certain ex- pressions in the Constitution, which are all right as long as they do not inter- fere with their profits and privileges. Faith in the intelligence of the common people they call nonsensical and dan- gerous. Any democratic process which means responsible control by all the peo- ple they oppose and brand its advocates as “reds and bolsheviks.” Naturally the man who believes that democracy gives the unrestricted right for the powerful to exploit his neigh- bors does not believe that education - should probe into the methods and prac- tices by which the powerful rule the masses. Ban Controversial Subjects in Current Events Class Let me cite a concrete example from my own home town. In the school at- tended by my daughter they have a cur- rent events class. When my daughter was called she told of the efforts of the mayor of New York City to install public electricity and reduce the rates to the people. This threat had forced the private corporations to lower their rates. The teacher immediately called her up and said that the discussion of such questions might™get the class and the teacher in trouble. The children were told not to bring up such controversial questions again. The unrepresentative character of the board of education in New Haven is shown by the privileged status of its members: It includes the manager of the Winchester Manufacturing Company, the manager of the G. & O. plant, the president of Cowles & Company; three others, all of whom hold high posi- Urges Federal Aid for Needy Schools pret democracy in terms of changing conditions. This means that we must make youth feel its responsibilty for self-direction, self-control] and purpose- ful participation in social change. The school has a responsibility to help students and society to examine critical- ly and to weigh its practices. In fact, unless the schoo] does this, society stag- nates or decays until severe crisis or ex- plosion occurs. Society should there- fore protect the school in its critical and analytical functions. Now, if the schoo! should help stu- dents to take an active part in securing social progess, then I believe this proves the absolute necessity of affilia- tion with organized labor, for it is or- ganized labor which has usually cham- pioned change for the better. We must remember there has always been change in every society and there always will be. The crucial question is the rate of change and the kind. In the dictator countries the rate of change has been rapid and revolutionary, but inimical to freedom. Can the democratic countries keep up a high enough rate of progress to. preserve economic well-being, social justice and liberty? On the answer to this question hinges the fate of the world. Much will depend on what educa- tion does. We are living in a kaleidoscopic world. We have new standards, new styles, new techniques. We cannot afford to use old, discredited methods in any field. But we are still in danger of teaching for an individualistic economy in a_ socialized age. Too often we teach children to be- lieve that the person succeeds who out- distances others. In reality, we should inculcate the thought that the individual succeeds who pulls up the group most effectively. The child who gets indi- vidual high grades for himself alone may be developing a selfish individual- istic attitude which will mean that he exploits his ability and his fellow men when he graduates. Now it is precisely at this point of education for social change that I believe the work of the American Federation of Teachers is so effective. Let me illustrate by telling what some of our Locals are doing. Laud Chicago Federation in 1915, Again in 1939 Chicago has done notable work. Here is a quotation from Harper’s Weekly: “The work of the Chicago Teachers Fed- eration has put millions into the city treasury ... and out of it all has come a better, finer Chicago, and a school sys- tem so much better than the old that comparison fails.”» The date when this was published was 24 years ago in 1915. And the Chicago Union is doing notable things today. To begin with it has enrolled a majority of all the teach- ers in Chicago. In the political field it helped to elect Paul Douglas to the City Council. This year for the first time Mayor Kelly and President McCahey decided to stop opposing the Union and recognized it as the bargaining agency for Chicago teachers. The Union secured the restoration of Mr. Cook and Mr. Wolf to the Teachers College. They also secured the right to use school buildings for Union meetings and to distribute Union literature. The Teachers Credit Union has grown in membership from 500 to 1,300. Full medical care has been made available to all teachers for $18 a year. A Study Class meets semi-monthly, featuring dis- tinguished speakers. Besides the Union Teacher a News Bulletin is published every week. To New York State we must hand the banner for the largest membership in- ' crease during the past year with a total net gain of 1,734. They also organized six new public-school Locals, two new college Locals and one new WPA teachers Local. Besides a state-wide bulletin, the Union Teacher, they have issued frequently during the legislative session a news letter and have actually distributed over 2,000,000 leaflets against curtailment of the educational budget. The State Federation of Teachers has established a state office with a _ full- ‘ion to a state per capita of 2c they levied a special assessment of $1 per member A en ee someinnin eumen S84 They h ge < a ee y have to meet a trenched drive ‘by a Republican’ ture to cut state aid by 25 per cent. The actual cut made was 10 per cent. They also defeated a measure to reduce . the sajaries of New York City teachers. They are waging a strong fight to secure a supplementary appropriation for edu- cation at the next session of the legis- lature in 1940. The New York College Teachers Union, the largest union of its kind in the world, has the highest membership in its history, over 1,100. It has gone far towards democratizing: higher edu- cational procedure in New York City and has been complimented for its ac- tivity in this regard by Ordway Tead, chairman of the Board of Higher Edu- cation in New York City. Here is an extract from the report of the Pittsburgh Loc ‘With the shift of Pennsylvania to con.:ol by reactionary Republican machine politicians, our work this year has been almost exclu- sively concerned with holding the gains made under the liberal Democratic regime. The first attack was made upon tenure. Our first move was to make a careful, analytical, objective study of the tenure question, backed by careful research. We got out a study, had it mimeographed, sent it to every senator in the legislature, and to over 500 important individuals and organiza- tions throughout the western part of Pennsylvania. Locals Defend Gains Against Reactionary Regimes Atlanta, Ga. has _ continued her notable record. We are all proud of what Vice-President Allie Mann and the other officers have accomplished. With over 95 per cent of the teachers of the city in the Union, her record is second to none anywhere. Other locals in Georgia have also been active. For instance, the Augusta Local writes: “Because of the failure of the General Assembly of Georgia to provide adequate funds for the operation of our seven months’ school law, our board was faced with a deficit of $93,000. The Finance Com- mittee of our board, faced with this sit- uation, met and decided that it would be necessary to reduce teacher’s salaries 10 per cent. A meeting of the Execu- tive Committee of our local was called immediately. We invited the president of our board of education and the chairman of the Finance Committee to this meeting. We had a complete dis- cussion of the financial condition of the local board. Within three days time, the Finance Committee met again, and decided that the board would negotiate a loan so as to maintain our salary schedule.” The Erie Federation of Teachers writes: “During the past three months we have been fighting locally the Erie County Branch of the Pennsylvania Economy League. We have defeated their retrenchment program here in Erie and have succeeded in having a budget adopted by the board of educa- tion which included no salary cuts. The guiding force behind this league in Erie is the General Electric Company; not officers of the company but the com- pany itself. In Pittsburgh, the guiding force has been Westinghouse Electric.” New Jersey Group Defeats Permissive Pay-cut Action The Essex County Federation of Teachers in New Jersey writes: “I con- sider our outstanding achievement dur- . ing the past year to have been the de- feat of permissive pay-cut legislation. The president of the State Teachers Association had knowledge of political plans to push through this bill ten days prior to its introduction (for immediate action), but neither said nor did any- thing about it, hence acquiesced. We learned of it the last minute; organized a telegram campaign from 9 till 11 the very night the bill was to be reported out; we contacted all sorts of associa- tions all over the state, and the bill was buried under the avalanche of protest.” The Cambridge University Union in four years has increased its administration and a majority of the faculty. This year a departmental chair- man and the president himself has con- 26) 8 KE YaAHOVAL AFL AIDS AFT ORGANI ING DR Highlights The American Federation of Labor is determined to make one of the primary labor issues in every political campaign throughout the Educational Aid Is Election Issue AM HAPPY to have the opportunity of attending this convention. I dppre- ciate the fine hospitality of your local. committee; but above all, I appreciate the opportunity of associating during the past year rather closely with the officers of your international Union, because it has given me a great insight into the problems and the difficulties with which the officers of your great national or- ganization are constantly confronted. I want to speak to you of some of the accomplishments of this particular affili- ated national union. Your president men- tioned the fact that I represented the American Federation of Labor upon the President’s Advisory Committee on Edu- cation. Due to no fault of the American Federation of Labor there -was not a direct official of AF of T on the Presi- dent’s Advisory Committee; however, because of the American Federation of Labor’s interest in this organization, the chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee, one of the most outstanding educators in America, Dr. Floyd Reeves, is now an active member of the American Federation of Teachers. Adopt AFT Resolutions at Houston Convention Due to some concern by the officers of your international Union, particularly with some of the recommendations of the President’s Advisory Committee and the first draft of the federal aid bill this committee recommended to Congress, at the last convention at Cedar Point de- tailed consideration was given to the question of federal aid. Your delegates were instructed to present the matter to the American Federation of Labor’s an- nual convention at Houston last October. As a result of the contribution made by the delegates from this national Union to the American Federation of Labor convention, the secretary of the organi- zation being on the Educational Commit- tee, resolutions presented and _ policies presented to the American Federation of Labor convention by this organization were adopted by the American Federa- tion of Labor’s convention unanimously. Upon the recommendations of your organization, a Permanent Committee on Education was re-established by the American Federation of Labor. Your international secretary, being the full- time executive in administrative matters of this organization, was appointed by President Green to the Permanent Com- mittee on Education of the American Federation of Labor. Following this fact a meeting was held of the committee in the headquarters of the American Federation of Labor in Washington and a proposed bjll on federal aid was redrafted by your representative on that committee and the other mem- bers of the American Federation of Labor’s Permanent Committee on Educa- tion. Then, of course, we consulted with the chairman of the President’s Advisory Committee, Dr. Reeves. We called in rep- resentatives of the National Education Association and all other educational groups, and we succeeded not only in having approval of the President’s Ad- visory Committee to the proposed changes and redrafting of. the bill for federal aid, but we succeeded in acting as the coordinating agency in getting the other leading educational associations to agree to the redrafted bill. Demand Legislators Aid Public Education We often wonder what we can do in this country to organize completely the school teachers, particularly the class- room teachers of this nation. You have some job even from the standpoint of the teachers being able to pay the small amount of dues necessary to finance a local Union and to finance this national Union. You must realize that thousands of teachers receive in compensation for their services only $25.00 per month and that is not a twelve-month period, but only for six-, seven- and eight-month school terms. I know that I express the determina- tion of the president of the American Federation of Labor when I state to you ~ and to the officers of this organization that the American Federation of Labor is determined to make one of the primary labor issues in every political campaign throughout the country federal aid” to our public schools. We shall insist in coming campaign that ‘every candidate for Congress and every candidate for th United States ‘Senate declare himself a country federal aid to education. o We are trying to make as effective as possible a strong trade-union movement in this country, divorcing it from religious and political intolerance and certainly divorcing it from all racial intolerance or discrimination. e We realize that the enemies of progress, the enemies of freedom, the enemies of social security, the enemies of democracy are on the rampage in America, and as much as we do not like to admit it, the pendulum has been swinging back to the conservative side. There is only. one way to preserve the gains we have made under the great humanitarian leader of this nation, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and that is for all the progressive forces of this country to get together, par- ticularly the labor movement, in a united program. pledge himself to support labor and the American Federation of Teachers’ union policy and program and legislation and appropriations for federal aid country. May I add this fact, that when the pending bill drafted in the headquarters of the American Federation of Labor and sponsored by the President’s Advis- ory Committee was up for a hearing before the Senate Committee on Labor and Education, the presentation on the part of the proponents of this act was conducted by the President’s Advisory Committee. Chairman Reeves had control of the presentation of those who were in sup- port of the measure. The American Fed- eration of Labor appointed three men to speak for it in support of this measure— the chairman of the Committee on Edu- cation, the secretary of the committee (who is your secretary-treasurer) and myself. I wish to state to this convention and for the record that the American Federa- tion of Teachers paid in per captia tax into the special organizing fund of the American Federation of Labor during the past twelve months $3,000. Of that fund there was donated to the American Fed- eration of Teachers headquarters $700, and a total paid in salary and organizing expenses for representatives of your council, two of them vice presidents of your Union, of over $3,300. AFT Guides Educational Policies of the AFL I think one of the most striking con- tributions this Union has made during the past year specifically has been the tremendous influence it has had in shap- ing all of the educational policies of the American Federation of Labor. The American Federation of Labor is a great national federation of sovereign, inde- pendent, international and_ national unions, and has looked to the American Federation of Teachers for leadership, for guidance, in all policies of education. I want you to carry back home some of the things the American Federation of Labor has been doing in recent years that I dare say some of your member- ship are not acquainted with. We have a most difficult situation in the southern states, but I wonder how many delegates to this convention know that in the southern states alone we have over 200,- 000 colored members of organizations affiliated with the American Federation of Labor, working under closed-shop con- tracts. I am sure it would be of interest to those who are not familiar with the development in the trade-union move- ment in the southern states in the past year or two, to Know that in the state conventions we have a much larger per- centage of colored, active delegates than we have in this convention. I must em- phasize that fact for this point, and this point alone, that the American Federa- tion of Labor is actively trying to put into practice the things that it has been preaching. We are trying to make as effective as possible a strong trade-union movement in this country, divorcing it from religious and political intolerance and certainly divorcing it from all racial intolerance or discrimination. I am sure that the. delegates from Georgia who are here could make a most comprehensive report of progress in that state. They have succeeded, with the help of the American Federation of Labor in recent months, in organizing everybody in the State Department of Educatign of Georgia; including the por- ter and on up to every person not in an executive position. The Atlanta teach- in this ers, in conjunction with the other locals, have met the campaign to carry on a state-wide organizing drive, and whether it may be trade-union tactics or not, it is most practical to have all of the State Department of Education’s field su- pervisors out, actively assisting the Teachers Union to organize the school teachers in Georgia. And we think that the state federation of teachers in Georgia which will be organized in the very near future, will come to the next convention with at least a third of all public-school teachers in the organiza- tion. America’s Future Depends Upon Educational System In a conference with Vice President Allie Mann and the president of the Teachers’ Union, Miss Ira Jarrell, the superintendent of schools and the as- sistant superintendent of schools and the heads of the various departments a few weeks ago, we were assured that with the teachers doing their part and assisted by the American Federation of Teachers if we didn’t have all the teachers or- ganized in Georgia, it would not be the fault of the state department or the fault of the people at the state capital. I would be unfaithful in paying a tribute where tribute belongs if I did not take this opportunity to say.that Miss Mann and the Atlanta teachers under the direction of Miss Mann have been of material benefit to the American Fed- eration of Labor and to the teachers, particularly in instructing the American Federation of Labor how to assist the teachers in their activities in the south- © ern states. That brings me to one of the unfortun- ate situations confronting the teachers, particularly in the South. In June of last year a group of “cour- ageous teachers obtained a charter from the Union and succeeded in organizing over 400 public-school teachers in the Jacksonville Union in a year’s time. They succeeded, with the assistance of the labor movement, in getting a bill passed through the Florida legislature last spring, giving local tenure to the Jack- sonville and Duval County school teach- ers. But due to the reactionary influence of the predatory interests in Jackson- ville, Fla., which control the board of education, the board of education and the reactionaries throughout the entire State of Florida brought such pressure on Gov- ernor Cohen that he was conscience- stricken and vetoed the tenure law for Jacksonville. What was the immediate reaction? A month ago when the board of educa- tion met, they fired the officers of the Union and forty of the leading members of the Union. Some of those teachers had held their positions for as long as thirty-three years. And the board of education took this action to destroy the Teachers’ Union not only in Jackson- ville, but throughout the state, because they knew if there was a strong Union of teachers in Jacksonville, the organiza- tion of teachers would sweep through the entire state. Miss Mann has been in Jacksonville for a couple of weeks, leading the fight for the school teachers to have these teachers reinstated. As soon as this con- vention adjourns I am going to Jack- ville, and the entire force of the labor movement, not only in Jacksonville, but throughout the entire state of Florida, will be marshalled as they. have never been marshalled in any fight for teachers in the history of this great national or- ganization. Every si person gor for the legislature in or for the 9 Stresses Labor U nity to Defeat Reaction state senate, or for the board of educa- tion in Jacksonville, will be contacted, and the main issue will be the right of civil liberties for the public-school teach- ers and the reinstatement with full back compensation of the Jacksonville school teachers. We will either have the’ board of education reinstate these teachers in . the next few days, or we will be suctess- ful in having a recall vote and removing the board of education in Jacksohville. The Américan Federation of Labor ap- pointed a committee that met in Decem- ber, 1937, with a similarly appointed and authorized committee from the CIO. They met for many days and an agree- ment was reached that would bring about unity in the labor movement. After this agreement was reached it was vetoed by the head of the opposition organization. The American Federation of Labor’s executive council approved the proposed and agreed settlement. The American Federation of Labor stands ready at this hour to put that agreed settlement into operation if it would be acceptable by the head of the opposition to the American Federation of Labor. I do not ask your delegates to take my word as an official ~ responsible to the American Federation of Labor, but I do ask you to do this. One of the largest and most progressive and militant international unions in America had its president as a member of that Committee. I speak of the Inter- national Ladies’ Garment Workers Union. He was a member of that com- mittee. When this agreement was ac- cepted by the AF of L and vetoed by the head of the opposition movement, this great international union withdrew from the opposition and that internation- al union’s executive board a few months ago voted unanimously to recommend to their next convention return to the fam- ily of the American Federation of Labor, because they realize that the American Federationof Labor. po Lesger,cap be suc- cessfully lamed for a diviSion in the labor movement in this country. When ‘the President of the United States in February called upon the head of the American Federation of Labor and the CIO to appoint committees again to try to negotiate peace in the labor move- ment, the president of the American Fed- eration of Labor named a committee to meet with the dual movement within three hours after the President submitted the request to the American Federation of Labor. The American Federation of Labor’s committee met at the first op- portunity. After the opposition move- ment appointed their committee, they proceeded to negotiate. The negotiations were temporarily halted at the request of the head of the opposition movement. Then later the negotiations were called off completely because of one fact and one fact alone, that the head of the op- position movement will not permit the committee representing his group to meet with the American Federation of Labor’s committee. AFL Wants Solidified Labor Movement in This Country The American Federation of Labor has a committee now ready and anxious to meet to negotiate harmony and a solidi- fied labor movement in this country. I am sure your organization can make a contribution to unity in the labor move- ment as have numerous other organiza- tions, but I trust that in your activities you will be sure you thoroughly under- stand the situation. The American Federation of Labor is more interested in the deliberations of this convention at this particular time than at any time in the history of the American Federation of Teachers, because we realize that the future of America de- pends upon the future of the educational: system in America, and the American Federation of Labor of necessity must de- pend upon this organization, the delibera-: tions of this convention, to set the sail, to map the course for public education in America, I was directed by President Green to consult with the officers of this Federa- tion, for the sole purpose that, when this convention adjourns, I might report to the American Federation of Labor the ’ methods by which it may render more assistance to, and may be more. help’ ful in the support of, this great nationa®: organization. mo eh eH, “ “ The Supreme Court decision of December 12, 1938, in the case ¢ of Lloyd Gaines, a Negro student, vs. University of Missouri. The Court not only ordered the University to accept the application of Mr. Gaines for entry into the law school; it also declared unconstitu- tional the system of tuition scholarships whereby Negro students have been sent out of their states to study. The action of the American Historical Associatidn in refusing * to meet at the University of Pittsburgh in 1940 because of the many dismissals of professors in violation of the principles of academic freedom. The action of the American Association of Teachers Colleges ¢ in amending its standards for accrediting teachers colleges and normal schools to include a section requiring that teachers who are to be dismissed be given a statement of reasons in writing and the right of hearing if the teacher requests it. Also the action of the association in investigating the circumstances under which President Charles H. Fisher was ousted from his post at the Western Washing- Academic Freedom Honor Roll for 1939) S The action of the AAUP in amending its 1925 statement of Prin- * . ciples of Academic Freedom and Tenure to bring it into conson- ance with the present situation in education. 6 The reinstatement of Professor Philip O. Keeney at the Uni- ¢ versity of Montana after more than two years of activity; the reinstatement of Mr. Raymond Cook at Chicago Teachers College after more than seventeen months of activity; the defeat of the effort to dismiss Professor Eric Beecroft from the University of California and numerous other reinstatements and thwarted dis- missals in which the AF of T played a significant role. The revitalization of the National Advisory Council on Academic ¢ Freedom which is composed of representatives of the American Federation of Teachers, American Civil Liberties Union, the National Council on Religion and Higher Education and the Department of Classroom Teachers of the NEA and its launching of new activities to promote cooperation of all organizations concerned with the prob- ton College of Education. 4. The work of the Committee for Democracy and Intellectual Freedom, under the national leadership of Professor Franz Boas, in combatting the teaching of racism in school textbooks and in rallying American educators to a defense of intellectual freedom. lem of educational freedom. The work of the American Federation of Teachers in providing ¢ the greatest local activity on academic freedom throughout the country—according to a survey just completed by the National Ad- visory Council on Academic Freedom. Teacher’s Rights Is Year’s Objective Says Shukotoff (The following is an interview with Arnold Shukotoff, chairman of the National Academic Freedom Committee, conducted at the na- tional convention in Buffalo.) How many cases did the National Academic Freedom Committee of the AF of T handle during the year? There were some 48, as the national report shows, involving the dismissals of some 119 teachers in 21 states. Would you say that there has been any change in the type of dismissals since last year? No. The largest number of cases arose this year as last in connection with the efforts Or adminstrators © tu™ prevent teachers from organizing or to halt their efforts to improve conditions. There were 15 such cases. The next largest number of cases came in connection with unexplained and arbitrary dismissals. There were 14 such cases. Eight cases involved dismissal for a labor, liberal or radical point of view. Three cases in- volved the rights of teachers as citizens. Two resulted from the arbitrary applica- tion of petty regulations. One case in- volved discrimination for race and another discrimination because of sex. Since you raise the question of the type of dismissals, perhaps I had better indi- cate that a number of administrators created some new types. In Indiana a teacher was ousted for reading to stu- dents from Stars Fell on Alabama by Carl Carmer and A New American His- tory by W. E. Woodward. In New Jersey a teacher was dismissed for telling hor- ror stories to her students. In Penn- sylvania a teacher was dismissed, but later reinstated, for serving beer in her husband’s beer parlor after working hours. ; In general, would you say then that this has been a good or a bad year for academic freedom? It is incontestable that, from the stand- point both of the number of dismissals and the introduction of repressive legisla- tion, academic freedom has been under unusually severe attack in the last twelve months. The NAFC handled almost twice as many cases this year as last. The AAUP’s committee on academic freedom similarly found that its past year’s work was more extensive than any in the past fiye. It is not the severity of the attack, however, that distinguishes the past year so much as its pervasiveness. I wonder whether you’d be good enough to amplify your statement. "There are two that I would like to speak about briefly. One problem that has really become national in scope is discrimination because of sex and marital status. Now the ouster of women teach- ers because of marriage is certainly not a new phenomenon in American educa. tion. Within the past year, however, at- tempts have been made to oust married women teachers through the passage of state -laws. In. fact, such laws were in- troduced in the legislatures of 22 states. Fortunately none of these bills. passed. When you began talking of discrimina- tory. legislation against women teachers, during the year: in character, I’d like to tell a little story. The president of one of our universities, I am told, was discussing the question of tenure at a faculty meeting. He indi- cated that, while he was not opposed to tenure, he felt that the absence of it kept faculty members on their toes, At that point a rather courageous member of the faculty arose and said: “I think we understand what you mean Mr. Presi- dent, but I believe you have made a slight error in anatomy. The absence of tenure not only keeps teachers on their toes; it also keeps them on their knees.” During the past year, the attempts of teachers to rise from their knees have been attacked in all parts of the country. What steps can we take to promote our right to organize and our right to parti- cipate in the formation of educational and administrative policy? There are.several. First, we can. strive to remove the unwise secrecy which may surround the work of some of our locals —we should request schoolboards to pass resolutions recognizing the right of teachers to organize and of teacher or- ganizations to hold meetings, distribute literature and post notices in the schools. Insofar as our locals become recognized forces in the educational community, we fortify ourselves against attack and make it impossible for reactionary administra- tors to misrepresent our activities. Teachers, labor and the community have a common stake in the fight for intellectual freedom and democracy. We should recognize that fact by transform- ing formal relationships into vital ones. Democracy in educational affairs does not come after legislation; it usually pre- cedes it. The teacher group that does not seize whatever opportunities are available now for participating in the formulation of educational policy and that does not create opportunities for such participation, will very likely not attain democracy in the hereafter. To what do you attribute these two national attacks on educational freedom? *~ * * These developments are most directly attributable to the national retrenchment drive in education. The achievements as shown in the 1939 Honor Roll indicate that the forces striving to protect educational freedom in America have been immensely Strengthened and have made great strides in clarifying their objectives. We have still to find a means of unit- ing in cooperative effort all the agencies concerned with the defense of academic liberty, for only such united effort will prove formidable enough to withstand the increasing attacks on teaeher free- dom. Let us leave this convention with the determination to do all in our power to bring together all the forces of educa- tion, labor and the community for this significant purpose. Let us regard as our keynote activities (1) fighting for the right of women teachers to carry on their work without discrimination be- cause of marital status; (2) blocking dis- semination within the schools of anti- democrati¢ ideas of race; and (3) éstab- lishing the right of teachers to organize, , of teacher organizations to carry on their work freely and of teachers as a body to participate in the formation of’ edu- cational and administrative policy. © r Davis— (Continued from page 13) ning a new contract; gave effective fi- nancial and other support to the Cam- bridge Taxi Cab Company drivers. Union members also played a leading part in Labor’s Non-Partisan League. It also arranged the third annual conference of the State Federation of Teachers at Harvard with some 400 people attending. I could go on for hours quoting from Minneapolis, St. Paul, Ohio, California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and all the other locals. But perhaps the samples given prove beyond doubt the constructive struggle of the Federation even where numbers are small. In closing may I remind you again that we are struggling not for ourselves, but for the continuation of democracy itself in these United States. Democracy, according to Thomas Jefferson, is a so- ciety dedicated to the proposition “that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happi- ness.” Again to use the definition of Lincoln, democracy is “a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” With fascism on the march in Europe, with the outbreak of a world conflict possible at any moment, we must stand guard against retrenchment in education, and for advance in the school system. The fact is the perpetuation of democracy demands a program both of defense and offense. All parties in the United States have recognized the ne- cessity of protecting our material de- fenses. They have not recognized the necessity of protecting our spiritual de- fenses. This is primarily the task of the schools. If democratic ideas, values, standards, are to be embodied in the thought life of America, it is the schools which will achieve this end. We must train the rising generation to recognize that democracy is impotent unless it is implemented in an economic life which is democratically organized. Democracy means opposition to every form of special privilege; it means the promotion of racial and other forms of tolerance; it means promoting under- standing and brotherhood, not only within’ cur own country, but between races and nations; it means unrelenting war on poverty ahd unemployment; and of course it means a perpetuation of liberty and freedom both for the teacher and the student. As teachers, engaged in the quest for democracy in education, we must never permit ourselves to be fooled into at- tacking bogey men instead of the real enemy. Wasting time on inconsequen- tial internal disputes while education is being throttled is criminal. Let us stand unitedly loyal to our great Federation. Every democratic organization must have within its ranks differing political faiths, differing methods of work, but surely we can all be united in the struggle to perpetuate. democracy and education. Naturally any organization dedicated to democracy and freedom will be, attacked. by ,,sinister' forces, who, ‘would like, to, control. ,it..Qur member- ship will resist any ,sinister influanee; no: ter ity. ro}'t.’ p> Sea Boas— (Continued from page 12) interpreted as unwarranted radicalism that encourages the use of force for the attainment of ill-defined ends, and as a threat to intellectual freedom from the side of radicalism. There are no facts that justify this assumption. We know from experience that the position of the teacher who is suspected of radical, often even of liberal tendencies, or who dis- cusses the social forces that are at work in our times, is most insecure on account of the timidity of his superiors who do not understand that free citizens, to ex- ercise their civic rights intelligently, must know the problems that confront our society and which cannot be solved by shutting our eyes to their existence; but who has ever heard of insecurity of a teacher because he disregards all social problems and leads the youth in his charge to think that all is well, and that all we have to do is to think that if our institutions were stable there would be nothing to worry about. Let us realize how much the social outlook has changed during the last thirty years. Social secur- ity, which is at present recognized as a fundamental necessity, would have been considered as an intolerable attack upon individual liberty thirty years ago, as in early days compulsory schooling was con- demned as contrary to individual free- dom. We shall always insist on the right to educate our youth to a clear understanding of the problems of our times, and in order to be able to do so we demand fullest freedom for the teach- er. We shall be prepared to defend it against all attacks, no matter from what side they come. If a radical party should try to restrain us in the same way as is now done altogether too often by those who do not understand that society is always changing, they would find us as unalterably opposed as we are now to the forces that fear in every free word a danger to the public weal. Googe— (Continued from page 14) deeply concerned, as are the delegates at this convention, with the future of Amer- ica. We realize that the enemies of progress, the enemies of freedom, the enemies of social security, the enemies’ of democracy are on the rampage in America, and as much as we do not like to admit it, the pendulum has been swinging back to the conservative side. There is only one way to preserve the gains we have made under the great humanitarian leader of this nation, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and that is for all the progressive forces of this country to get together, particularly the labor movement, in a united program. We must of necessity in every single local Union in this tion, in this great national Union itself, and throughout ~ every organization in Ameriéa, unite on a program. We must put aside per- sonal aggrandizement, petty likes and islikes, and make the cause of : and freedom and humanit : democracy’ the supreme issue in all of our thoughts and. activities. ¥ fe) The AMERICAN TEACHER Published Monthly except June, July and August, | The American Federation of Teachers, 506 S. Wabash Ave., Chicago, Ill. No. 1 Vol. XXIV George T. Guernsey, Editor Kermit Eby, Consulting Editor Members of the Executive Council GEORGE S. COUNTS, President IRVIN R. KUENZLI, Sec’y-Treas. 420 Riverside Drive 506 S. Wabash Avenue New York, N. Y. Chicago, Illinois VICE-PRESIDENTS Cc. J. HENDLEY The Teachers’ Union 114 East 16th St. New York, N. Y. MARY HERRICK 5529 University Ave. Chicago, Ill. RCBERT IGLEHART Roanoke St. Seattle, Wash. GERTRUDE LUEHNING 1590 California Ave, Palo Alto, Calif. STANTON E. SMITH 201 Ferger Bidg. Chattanooga, Tenn. DOXEY A. WILKERSON 43 West 66th St. New York, N. Y. JOHN WOODRUFF Goose Creek, Tex. S. AMELIA YEAGER 1523 Madison St. Madison, Wis. Entered as second class matter October 18, 1933, at the post office at Chicago, Illinois, under the act of March 3, 1879. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of February 28, 1925, authorized November 3, 1926. Subscription: $2.50 per year—Foreign, $2.60. RAY E. ABERCROMBIE 286 Mystic Ave. Cincinnati, Ohio. ROBENIA ANTHONY 312 Union St. Springfield, Mass. GEORGE E. AXTELLE 723 Emerson St. Evanston, Ill. NED H. DEARBORN 468 Riverside Drive New York, N. Y. ARTHUR ELDER 1604 Burlingame Detroit, Mich. CHAS. M. ETHEREDGE 202% Forest Ave. Augusta, Ga. MRS. MARY FOLEY GROSSMAN 2302 Delancey St. Philadelphia, Pa. Freedom to Teach Because of the increased threats to academic freedom which any war hysteria brings, we are printing the statement on academic freedom which was prepared by the National Academic Freedom Committee last year and submitted to a number of AF of T Locals for criticism and revision. It is the purpose of the National Committee to circulate this statement throughout the United States. However in its final form it will contain a section on proper dismissal proceedures. HE PROGRESS OF CIVILIZATION has at all times depended upon the discovery of new ideas to meet changing conditions. Among the purposes of education is the promotion of such discovery and the creation of an atmosphere in which the reception of new ideas will be facilitated. The preservation and extension of American democracy particularly involve the maintenance of a school system that will foster freedom of thought, freedom of in- quiry and freedom of expression. e e e We in the American Federation of Teachers pledge our- selves to organize the teachers of America to protect and extend: 1. Freedom to present and discuss fully in classrooms, lectures, publications, or in other media of expression, rele- vant materials of a controversial nature, including problems in the fields of labor, international relations, the natural sciences and the social sciences. We shall defend the right of a teacher to express his own opinions in the classroom, provided that he exercises proper discretion with regard to age levels and clearly indicates that these are personal opinions. 2. Freedom of the teacher to live his personal life and ed WASH National Legislative Representative OU HAVE BY NOW all read the President’s message to the extraordinary session of Congress. I think all of us are in hearty accord with the President when he states his desire to keep the United States of America out of the European War. There are many forces at work, however, in Congress who, though they may give a superficial support to this program, are nevertheless bent upon a path that would involve us. They hope to substitute for real national security a mirage of “war prosperity.” Already val- uable labor legislation is theat- ened. Such forces ignore the need of a fight against war profiteering. Fortunately we have in Congress progressive elements that are gen- uinely concerned about the fate of American workers. A meeting of the House liberal bloc has already been called by Representative John Coffee to map plans against war profiteering and in defense of labor. One of our own mem- bers, former president of the Los Angeles Local, Representative Lee Geyer of California, is active with Congressman Coffee in this cam- paign. What is our concern as teach- ers? Ne by MARY FOLEY GROSSMAN 1. As leaders of youth and pro- ponents of democracy, it is our great responsibility to protect the children of America from the rav- ages of war and hunger due to inflated prices. We must also redouble our efforts for increased state and federal aid to schools to extend democracy. 2. As teachers whose salaries are fixed by law, our living stand- ards will decrease as prices in- crease. The Department of Agri- culture and Secretary of Labor Perkins have just issued statistics which show an average increase in food prices of 10 to 15 per cent since August 15, although there are large surpluses which prevent any justification for this increase. In many places the increase has been higher. 3. As trade unionists we must bend every effort to protect the hard-won rights of organized labor. 4. Already there have been at- tempts in various school systems to invoke “gag” rules against the teaching profession, presumably to prevent war hysteria—actually to strike the first blow, through public employees, against civil lib- INGTON RELAY mre ure 5 IIMA Soo erties for all citizens. We must be on our guard against such cur- tailments of academic freedom un- der no matter what cloak they appear. In the face of these threats all members of the American Federa- tion of Teachers should be clear and firm. Armed with facts and with judgment untinged by emo- tionalism, we should carefully plan and promptly act to protect the children of the nation, the rights of labor and the dignity of our profession. What can you do? 1. Write President Roosevelt in- dicating your support of measures for keeping America out of war, such as denial of war credits, pre- vention of profiteering, mainte- nance of civil liberties and labor rights. 2. Send copies of your letter to the President, to Congressmen Geyer and Coffee. 3. Send copies also to your own Representatives and Senators. 4. Release statements to the press on your’ action. 5. Please send copies of letters and resolutions to Mrs. Mary F. Grossman, 2302 Delancey street, Philadelphia, Pa. : accepted, verified fact ... and mere rumor... : ; Wane the war is on in Europe, objective analysis of current propaganda is of vital importance to Americans if we are to serve America’s best interests. Responsibility for this rests squarely upon the shoulders of our adult-minded critically-thinking citizens and teachers. President Roosevelt recently warned Americans to beware of those who “talk in terms of glittering generalities” and urged “the utmost caution to distinguish between .’ He particularly emphasized the need for straight thinking to make sure that the youth of this country will not succumb to false propaganda, and urged the establishment of “citadels of truth.” Teachers and Students —Attention! You will find PROPAGANDA ANALYSIS specially challeng- to democratic freedoms. Our Job—To Unmask Propaganda Our job is to help the intelligent citizen to propaganda and to determine whether or not it conforms Our monthly Bulletins reveal the sources, agencies and techniques used in the propaganda that floods us from the warring capitals of Europe, as well as from within our own borders. conduct himself in private with the freedom accorded other citizens. 3. Freedom to participate in community life and particu- larly in the political life of the community with the same rights and privileges as other citizens. 4. Freedom of the teacher to conduct research and to publish the results of such research in any field of his choice. 5. Freedom to join any organzation, group or association of his own choosing, whether it be concerned with social, political, economic, religious or other affairs. * * e We believe that Education for Democracy cannot be ade- quately realized without achieving Democracy in Education. We shall therefore work to establish and extend the rights of teachers: 1. To effective participation in the determination and modification of educational policies and curricula of the school system, division and department in which they teach. 2. To effective participation in the selection of presidents, deans, department heads, superintendents, principals and others in supervisory or teaching positions, except where such positions are filled from civil service lists or on the basis of competitive examinations. 3. To effective participation in the determination of budgetary policies affecting their -institutions, schools or departments. 4. To effective participation in the formulation of criteria determining the procedures of appointment and promotion as well as the application of criteria. 5. To effective’ ‘Gon ‘in’ fhe actsndtion of their working conditions. ing now. It ties in with Social Studies, English, Science, Home Economics. Methods for adapting it to school use have been worked out by scores of teachers cooperating with the Institute. These are now avail- able in the Group Leader’s Guide to Propaganda Analysis. — advantage of our special offer. Join the Institute—Subscribe Today Send $2.00 today for your subscription to PROPA- GANDA ANALYSIS, beginning with the current issue. With it you will receive FREE a copy of The Fine Art of Propaganda—A Study of Father Coughlin’s Speeches. This book gives an amazing and searching analysis of one of the most effective propagandists in America today. It is factual, unbiased, revealing, fascinating. The supply is limited, so send the coupon now to be assured of your copy. Most helpful to teachers are Vol. I and Vol. II of Institute studies in bound book form. These reveal propaganda tech- niques being used in peace time INSTITUTE FOR PROPAGANDA ANALYSIS A Non-Profit Educational Organization Dept. AT 40 E. 49th St., New York, N. Y¥. Enroll me as a subscriber-member and send publications checked below. me an 0 Next 12 Bulletins and Special Studies. $2.00 With a free copy of The Fine Art of a ganda—A Study of Father Coughlin’s Sp —regularly $1.50. 0) Group Leader’s Guide to Propaqeate Ansiyels (regularly $2.00) eacher’s price $1.00 O Vol. I and Vol. II of Institute studies—regu- larly $2.00 each. Special to subscribers, eachs._$1 I enclose....2.........check................money “order, § x. Address. : & tenn nen - Be In writing advertisers please mention AMERICAN TEACHER Sta =