VOL. III, NO. 2 JANUARY, 1924 BULLETIN OF THE Department of Elementary School Principals The Third Yearbook Officers of the Department The Elementary School Principal Among Educators The Elementary School Principal As a Leader Among his Teachers Three Posers for Principals The Management of a Library in the Elementary School.... The Use of the Curriculum by the Principal for Character Making What States Read the “ High Brow” Magazines? Supervised Play in the Elementary School from the Stand- point of the Principal The Application of Various Methods to the Teaching of Geography A Principal’s Obligations in Chicago Unit-Supervision vs Subject-Supervision The Teacher as a Student Arithmetic Technique Work-Study-Play Schools in Birmingham, Alabama Ethics for Teachers Roster of Principals’ Club Officers Constitution and Rules of the Department Program for Chicago Meeting Notes and Announcements PUBLISHED QUARTERLY BY THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS of the National Education Association of the United States 1201 SIXTEENTH STREET NORTHWEST, WASHINGTON, D. C. Entered as second-class matter November 20, 1922, at the post-office at Washington, D. C., under act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized December 18, 1922. BULLETIN of the DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Published quarterly in October, January, April, and July by the Depart- ment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Asso- ciation of the United States. Jessie M. Fink, Editor. The payment of $2.00 active membership dues entitles a member to attend all meetings of the Department, to hold office, and to receive the Bulletin quarterly. One dollar of each membership fee is for a year’s subscription to the Bulletin. Subscription to non-members is $2.00 per year; single copies, 50 cents; Yearbook, $1.50. Members are requested to report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. Entered as second-class matter November 20, 1922, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in Section 1103, Act of October 3, 1917, authorized December 18, 1922. Executive and Editorial Offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1923-24 President, W. 'T. LONGSHORE Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri First Vice-President, J. D. W1LLIAMs Woodlawn School, Birmingham, Alabama Second Vice-President, ELAZABETH BATES Sixty-Sixth Street School, Los Angeles, California Third Vice-President, GrorcE A. BEERS Clark School, 3925 West Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois Secretary, Jessie M. FINK Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan Treasurer, COURTLAND V. Davis J. E. B. Stuart School, Norfolk, Virginia Executive Committee J. W. ANTHONY 225 Hampton Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—term expires in 1924 Mary McSkKIMMON Pierce School, Brookline, Massachusetts—term expires in 1925 ANNA LAuRA Force Lincoln School, Denver, Colorado—term expires in 1926 LuisE H. Krauss Grattan School, San Francisco, California—term expires in 1927 THE THIRD YEARBOOK ArTHuR §. GIST Editor of the 1924 Yearbook and Principal, B. F. Day School Seattle, Washington ORK on the Third Yearbook is progressing in a most satisfactory manner. The responses to personal letters and to the tentative out- line in the October Bulletin have been helpful and inspiring. They show interest and confidence in the activities of the Department, due largely to the high standard set by the first two yearbooks. About one hundred letters have been received from professors of education in our leading insti- tutions, from city superintendents, and from elementary school principals, and we must meet their anticipations. To date, twenty-five elementary school principals have consented to make investigations and contributions, and are working on definite assignments. Two manuscripts have already reached the editor. It is hoped that the others will reach him on scheduled time. Principals are very busy people, too busy with petty administrative duties, but the time taken for professional study and research and for recording the results of such study contributes toward the professional growth of all principals. At the time this is written (December 20) the following topics are still unassigned : 1. The Principal and His Own Professional Growth. 2. The Principal and the Improvement of Instruction. This is the largest topic of all, and although contributions to this topic have been promised, it is earnestly desired that the subjects of history, civics, geography, and natural science may be selected by interested principals. 3. The Principal and a Democratic Régime. 4. The Principal and Educational ‘and Vocational Guidance. 5. The Principal and the Textbook. 6. The Principal and His Educational Program. We are anxious to have these topics treated in as thorough a manner as the others will be and sincerely hope that interested principals will commu- nicate with the editor at once regarding these topics. Mr. Longshore, our president, has requested the editor to be present at the Chicago meeting. In the interest of a valuable Yearbook, the editor is glad to comply with this request. It is planned to have conferences with our contributors and other educa- tors at this meeting, to direct definitely the investigations and reports, to secure additional contributors, and to receive suggestions generally. Principals planning to attend this meeting, should get in touch with the editor or the president immediately, in order that such conferences may be arranged in advance. The Chicago headquarters of the president and the editor will be announced as early as possible. Again let me urge all to help us by studying carefully our problem and making suggestions for a serviceable Yearbook. [67] NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT President—Principal W. T. Longshore, Kansas City, Missouri. Third Vice-President—Prin- cipal George A. Beers, Chicago, Illinois. Member Ex. Com.—Princi- es Anna Laura Force, enver, Colorado. First Vice-President—Prin- cipal J. D. Williams, Birmingham, Alabama. Secretary—Principal Jessie A Fink, Grand Rapids, Michigan. Member Ex. Com.—Princi- al Mary McSkimmon, rookline, Massachusetts. Second Vice-President— Principal Elizabeth Bates Los Angeles, California Treasurer—Principal Court land V. Davis, Norfoil Virginia. Member Ex. Com.—Princi- al John W. Anthony ittsburgh, Pennsylvania. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AMONG EDUCATORS’ H. H. MEcKER Principal, Patrick Henry School, St. Louis, Missouri HE purpose of this paper is to show how the principalship can be made more highly professional and to show its importance in relation to other educational positions. ‘There is a growing feeling that it offers an unusual opportunity for personal growth, advancement and satisfaction, and for social service. We frequently hear the statement that the elementary prin- cipalship is the most strategic position in the school system The new book, The Principal and His School, written by the famous educator, Cubberley, of Stanford University, brings this out forcefully. The famous fifty-seven varieties fade into insignificance when one considers the various duties and the versatility required of a principal. He is everything from assistant janitor to expert authority on classroom procedure and course-of-study making. To handle his duties efficiently requires a twenty-four day including the summer vacation. At least this conception must be accepted if the prin- cipalship is to develop into the kind of position which many of us would like it to be. The day has passed when the only requirement for the position is that of rewarding an efficient teacher. ‘The new conception requires the candidate to spend several years in a special kind of training. An efficient teacher may not necessarily become a successful principal and an efficient principal may not necessarily be an exceptional teacher. It is well that he possess superior teaching ability, but this should not be his chief requirement. After all, the teaching is to be done by the teachers while the supervision and inspiration is to come from the principal. ‘The biggest part of the job is supervision and professional inspiration although in many cases, we must admit, this has received only minor consideration. The main duties of the principal may be divided into the following heads: Supervision, curriculum construction, administration, community leadership, and clerical work. Unfortunately, the last named, always pressing and clerical help usually lacking, requires an undue amount of time. Supervision ought to occupy 75 per cent of our time, but usually 25 or even 15 per cent represents the true state of affairs. As long as this is the case we can hardly call ourselves educators, nor do we rank with educators. It would be well for all principals to keep an occasional record for a week of the disposition of their time for the purpose of checking waste and securing a better organi- zation of their efforts. Such a self-survey would enhance our efficiency many per cent. The plan of procedure toward which we must work if we 1 Given at the Missouri State Teachers’ Association, Department of Elementary School Principals, Dec. 6, 1923. [69] 70 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION are to exercise real educational influence is suggested by Cubberley in the following arrangement: 8.00 to 9.00 Building and yard inspection, school business, office work, and seeing parents, teachers, and pupils. 9.00 to 9.30 Pupil and attendance cases, parents, hasty glance over morning mail for anything of importance. 9.30 to 12.00 Classroom supervision. Only emergency calls for other work attended to. 12.00 to 2.00 Luncheon, building and yard oversight, office business, mail, pupil cases. 2.00 to 3.00 Classroom supervision. 3.00 to 4.00 Seeing parents and teachers, teachers’ meetings, and cleaning up day’s work in office. Leave building by 4.00 to 4.30. Rest and relaxation until evening. Evening Reading and study on the larger problems of the school. (Page 47, Cubberley, The Principal and His School.) Though this is difficult to accomplish at the present time, it is a goal toward which we must work. There are three contentions which I wish to make at this point. First, the elementary principalship ranks on a par with the superintendency of a school system, and in many ways lends itself to a higher type of professional service. Second, the elementary principalship is as dignified and influential as the high-school principalship and the traditional view of the greater desira- bility of the latter must break down. Third, the professorship in a univer- sity has no claims of greater educational influence than the position of the elementary school principalship. This is a large order and nobody admits more readily than the writer that we are far short of this conception at the present time. This makes it all the more necessary, therefore, for us to attempt to analyze our case in no uncertain terms. In taking up the first contention one needs only to point out the unfor- tunate “ political ” situations which most of our superintendents are subject to and frequently become the victim of, and the uncertainty of their tenure of office. The principal is fairly free of the former, and his tenure is many times more secure. As the superintendencies grow in size more and more of their work must be given over to others. The principalship, as a rule, has inherited most of the desirable features of the superintendency—namely, contact with the children, enough leisure time to do general and professional reading, supervision, teaching technique, and the making of courses-of-study. As conditions appear today boards of education will continue to be laymen not versed in educational matters but required to pass upon matters demand- ing more or less professional insight. To set them upon the right track is one of the chief functions of the superintendent and takes no small part of his time. By degrees he loses all intimate touch with classroom procedure and becomes an office man. Before the public, he becomes the chief representa- tive of the public-school system and in this capacity he is called upon to take part in all kinds of community affairs, of greater or lesser importance, which in a city of any considerable size takes up the greater part of the rest of his time and energy. Hence, the principal is looked upon as holding the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 71 strategic position and the superintendent must depend upon him to direct the real educational activities. In comparison with the high-school principal, the elementary principal has a greater direct influence upon his teachers and pupils. Since it is customary for high-school teachers to have a degree the high-school principal assumes that the training is sufficient and pays comparatively little attention to class- room methods and procedure. However, in many cases this training has been in subject-matter only and teaching may be as poor as in any elementary school. This is just where the elementary principal begins. The teaching corps, possessing a smaller amount of training, usually accepts help and guidance with better grace, and the principal (if he is making use of his opportunities at all) becomes a real trainer of teachers and in the long run will secure a more uniformly good degree of instruction. His influence upon the school is much more positive and definite. This in turn leads to much more definite influence upon the pupils, and after all, we must remember that this is the real reason for the existence of any educational position. The last contention is that the elementary principalship ranks with pro- fessorships in universities. In many ways they are much more exacting and require much greater versatility. According to an Associated Press report of November 19, Dr. Alexander Meiklejohn, former president of Amherst, is quoted as saying that “95 per cent of college professors have third-rate minds—they have their day in the classroom and that ends them.” Be that as it may, for the sake of argument we may assume that the other 5 per cent represent professors of education and may proceed with our comparison. We should be satisfied with nothing less. However, most professors of edu- cation are fulfilling their requirements if they teach several hours a week and carry on a limited amount of research work which, to be sure, is expected to result in articles or books. The more recent tendencies expect principals to fulfill these same duties to a greater or lesser degree with an addition of many more obligations requiring an enormous amount of versatility. The efficient principal is a real teacher of educational subjects in his teachers’ meetings and group conferences. He is constantly carrying on research work in one way or another, although the unfortunate part is that he rarely has time to put it down in black on white. His many clerical duties, relations with irate parents, clashes with uninformed janitors and insistent demands for interviews with book agents make this impossible. The addition of clerical assistance can help to remedy this situation very greatly, however. In drawing a conclusion on the basis of the last two comparisons and judging by the trend of the times it seems safe to say that the elementary principalship is becoming a dignified position on a par with the high-school principalship and the professorship in a college or university. As the require- ments by way of training and ability seem to be approaching a uniform basis it is fair to contend that the salary schedule should likewise be on a uniform basis—namely, equal pay for equal training, responsibility, and eficiency. Why should elementary principals constantly aspire to become high-school principals and both strive everlastingly for the coveted profes- sorship in a normal school or university? A uniform basis will do away with 72 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION this unnecessary and undesirable competition. An efficient principal often becomes only a mediocre professor of education and a great many famous professors would prove to be abominable principals. The various positions require different abilities and different kinds of training but all should be equally dignified and equally respected by both educators and laymen. Each type of position should constitute a distinct department in our profession and the workers therein should develop it to its utmost capacity. This day is coming. Like other positions, the principalship has been a growth and there is a divergence of opinion as to its real function. Though this paper may seem visionary, we may assume, however, that the position has come to stay and that it is now our business to define its limits, opportunities, and possibilities. We have reached this stage in the evolutionary process. A literature has been growing up during the last ten years which will help to clarify ow views in carrying on further thought and activity in connection with our work. Cubberley gives numerous references in his book referred to above. Others may be found in the Educational Research Circular No. 17, Vol. xx, of the University of Illinois. Sources of inspiration and enthusiasm are not lacking. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL AS A LEADER AMONG HIS TEACHERS Georce W. DiEMER Director of Platoon Schools of Kansas City, Missouri, formerly Principal of Henry C. Kumpf School, Kansas City, Missouri HE most crying need today in education is a higher type of professional! leadership. On the other hand, the most hopeful indication in education is the fact that we are gradually developing that leadership. The gradual improvement in educational leadership has been a result of the increasing], insistent demands which society has placed on the school for efficiency. Not so many years ago anybody with the equivalent of an eighth-grade education could be a teacher, a principal, or even a superintendent of schools. Toda) such is not possible in the progressive, enlightened communities of the coun- try. Standards have gradually been raised, and the indications are that in no distant future school teaching will become no longer a “ procession,”’ as some one has expressed it, but a real profession. The elementary principals of the country are taking a most important part in this development and one of the most hopeful signs for the improvement of the elementary schoo! today is the professional spirit which is being fostered and is steadily growing among the elementary school principals in our cities. Oh yes, we still have a few of the older type—the principal who believes that his chief business is that of a boss, to discipline his pupils and his teachers, who is opposed to all modern theories in education whether in classroom methods or in school organization, whose chief interest as a prin cipal is to hold his job, and who sometimes plays the political game to enhance ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 73 his own chances for advancement. As a member of the administrative staff in the system he is a Bolshevist, is rebellious toward the superintendent’s office and supervisors and does what he can to stir up the same resentment among his teachers. He is blocking educational progress in his community, and if he may be considered as a leader among his teachers at all his leader- ship is backward and not forward. Such, however, is not the typical elemen- tary school principal in our large cities. The typical principal is endeavoring to move forward at a rapid pace in order to keep up with the educational progress and maintain a position of leadership among his teachers. If he has been an elementary school principal for years, coming up from an older régime, he has kept himself abreast of educational progress and is steadily pushing forward fully in harmony with the best in educational thought. If he is new to the work of principal he has been placed in such a position because he has demonstrated a high type of professional leadership and has gained the confidence of those above him in authority. And so I believe that the elementary school principal is coming into his own and is beginning to occupy a most important position educationally in the country. Being in charge of the great common school of the country the tremendous responsibility of the position which he occupies is today being recognized by the educational world and most important of all, by the prin- cipal himself. In this position of trust and responsibility his most important relation is that of a leader among his teachers. As one who has had experi- ence in practically all fields of education, having been a country school teacher, elementary school principal in a small city, superintendent for a number of years, a principal in a large city, and now engaged in teacher training and elementary school supervision, I believe I am in a fairly good position to know some of the lines along which the elementary school principal should be a leader among his teachers. In the first place, the principal himself must have a real professional spirit. This means that he is not to be a Bolshevist, he is not to be against every new idea that comes along merely because it is new, but he must believe in the social aims of education and must be modern and up-to-date in his thinking. He must be alert and wide-awake, closely in touch with all modern move- ments in education and must be conversant with the best in professional literature. In short, his professional spirit and knowledge must be such that he is a continual source of inspiration to his teachers. If a principal is in the business merely for the money he can make out of it he can only expect that many of his teachers may have the same purpose. On the other hand, if the principal recognizes his work as that of social service and has as his ideal the good of the boys and girls and holds this thought continually before his teachers he can expect his teachers to have the same conception, at least if he has the influence among his teachers that he should have. The principal sometimes fails to recognize this tremendous influence which he has among his teachers. He must remember that he is the one individual in supervisory authority who is in constant and continual touch with every teacher in his building throughout every school day of the year. The supervisor comes around occasionally, the superintendent sends out an occasional circular 74 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION letter, the principal sees his teachers at work each day—knows all their problems, meets with them individually and collectively, both socially and professionally, and if he possesses sufficient strength of character, his teachers become thoroughly saturated with the things which he says and does. In the next place, the elementary school principal must set an example to his teachers in quality and quantity of work accomplished. Unless he is “on the job ” he cannot expect that his teachers will be “ on the job.” The elementary school principal who uses every excuse for getting away from his building, perhaps to attend some lodge meeting, participate in some luncheon, go to visit some other school, and get away for this, that, or the other purpose is setting a dangerous example to his teachers. Not but what some of these things are of sufficient importance, but for the principal to form the habit of absenting himself from the building for all sorts of trivial excuses has the tendency of encouraging the same thing among his teachers and causing his teachers to lose respect for his sincerity and professional ideals. In fact, the most highly professional type of elementary school principal found in our cities today is seldom absent from his building and then only for something of vital importance to his school and to the cause of education. Again, the principal must be at school on time and must not be afraid to stay after school hours in the afternoon. Often he may find it necessary to be at the school on Saturday forenoon. The really successful principal today is the one who recognizes that he has a big contract and to take care of it requires not only that he put in long hours but that he see to it that the problems of his school are really worked out and solved. And when I say problems, I mean problems both big and little. Sometimes the principal fails because he does not gather up the loose ends in his work. Unless he is willing to take care of the necessary details he cannot expect his teachers to do so. I do not mean by this that the principal is to devote his time to detail work, but simply that he must see to it that all matters of importance neces- sary to the most efficient carrying on of the work of the school are taken care of. The most efficient principal in this regard is the one who can so organize his work that most of the details are taken care of by the office clerk, if he is fortunate enough to have one; or by his teachers and pupils. And lastly in the matter of example, the principal must exemplify the interest, enthusiasm, and optimism which he desires to find in his teachers. Unless he believes in his work and believes that there is a solution to every problem that arises he cannot expect his teachers to be happy and cheerful in their work. In the next place the principal must know how to do constructive super- vision. Perhaps the most important means through which he can do effective supervising is through the various teachers’ meetings and conferences. A general teachers’ meeting of all the teachers in his building should be held regularly, perhaps once in two weeks. These meetings should not be in the nature of the mere handing down of rules and regulations from the principal to his teachers but should be live conferences at which matters of vital impor- tance to the school and to the work of the classroom teacher are taken up and discussed. Many of these matters, of course, are problems of organiza- ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 75 tion. These are necessary in order that there may be the proper set up in the building conducive to the best work. Part of each meeting, however, should be devoted to the discussion of some professional problem, perhaps based on some recent article or book and led by some teacher. One very successful principal who has exerted splendid leadership has a committee of teachers who outline a program of professional topics to be taken up and discussed at his teachers’ meetings. Another principal is taking up in his teachers’ meetings methods in various school subjects. The teacher who is especially good in writing leads a conference on the subject of writing. Another who is especially good in geography leads a conference on the subject of geography, and so on. A pretty good ideal for the principal to have for his teachers’ meetings is that the teachers’ meeting shall be a clearing-house of ideas for the work of the school. In addition to the regular teachers’ meetings it is important that the principal conduct group conferences on specific subjects. Perhaps occasionally he will want to meet with his primary teachers, at which time the subject of beginning reading may be discussed. Or perhaps it is some other group of teachers who have classroom interests in common. There is no more effective method of getting ideas across and arriving at definite conclusions than for a small group of people to sit down at a table and talk “to the point ” on some subject of special interest. “The principal should also hold frequent individual conferences. At the beginning of the year he should hold conferences with each new teacher coming into the school. He should watch his teachers closely and at any time he feels a conference is necessary he should arrange for it. He should not go into such a conference, however, unless he has something worthwhile to offer and should never go in a faultfinding attitude. If the principal will use the doctrine of social approval in all of his associations with his teachers he will be able to exert a much higher professional leadership. If a teacher is to be adversely criticized, there are certainly some good things that the principal can always say along with the bad things which he may have to say. In fact, it is very seldom that he needs to couch his criticisms in the form of a positive statement. He can usually lead up to them through some ques- tion which he raises. Often the teacher raises the criticism as a topic of dis- cussion. A timely conference may save a teacher from failure. One teacher whom I have in mind was failing because she was slack in discipline, and she did not recognize the importance of a certain amount of routine in class- room management. As soon as I discovered the state of affairs I held a one- hour conference with her at the close of school. She made immediate improvement, and in a year or two was rated as one of the best teachers of the school. But it is not only the weak or inexperienced teacher with whom the principal should confer but he should have an occasional conference with his strongest teachers, even if for no other purpose than to express his appre- ciation of her services to the school. But certainly he can do more than this because the strong teacher is the one who is looking for suggestions and inspiration, and very often she can get such inspiration and suggestions through a conference with the principal. Or perhaps some idea which she has desired to try out but of which she is uncertain may be discussed and as a result she feels encouraged to go on and try it out. 76 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION The principal cannot hold effective teachers’ meetings or individual or group conferences unless he has come in close touch with the work in the classroom of the school. He should, therefore, spend considerable time visiting classes. He should not go into a classroom in the attitude of an inspector or of acritic. His attitude should be that of friendliness and help- fulness, and he should do everything that he can to make the children and the teacher feel comfortable and at ease while he is in the room. In order to sense the general situation in the school it is occasionally valuable for the principal to pass from room to room staying only a very few minutes in each room. He should occasionally, however, go in and stay through entire recitations. Usually these should be classes that he is visiting either because the teacher has asked him to do so or because of some particular work which he desires to see. An individual conference with the teacher should follow such a visit. For years I have made it an invariable rule to say something to the teacher following every visitation and, if I only have a word, it is always something which I have seen to approve. I have found that my teachers greatly appreciate this. As one teacher expressed it, it always left her with a more comfortable feeling if she could have one reaction at least on my visitation to her room. And usually when you make a comment the teacher herself will raise some question which may lead to further discussion and may give you an opportunity to make some constructive suggestion. “The principal should also occasionally hear a class himself. Sometimes he may do so in order to demonstrate some idea to the teacher. Again he may do so in order to gain the teacher’s viewpoint of the problems of the classroom. If he is doing it for the latter reason the teacher should be permitted to visit some other room while he is teaching. In conclusion the principal must not only have a deep insight into the problems of elementary education and have an intelligent grasp on the solu- tion of those problems but he must be, from every standpoint, a manly man or a womanly woman. In other words, he must have strength of character. He must have that strength of character which inspires confidence, respect, esteem, and a desire to follow. A number of years ago when I was just starting in administrative work a critic teacher under whom I was doing practice teaching made this state- ment to me, “ Above everything else as a principal or superintendent, be honest.” The statement rather surprised me, and I questioned her regarding it. She stated, ‘Do you realize we have very few men in administrative positions who are honest?”’ Perhaps she was pessimistic. I thought so then and I still think so, but nevertheless there was in it much food for thought. We need educational leadership today of a very high type and above all else we need men and women in positions of leadership who are absolutely honest and sincere, believing that to be a principal or superintendent is a sacred trust which calls for the best that consecrated, faithful effort can give. THREE POSERS FOR PRINCIPALS * OuiveE M. Jones President, The National Education Association, New York City LTHOUGH I hold in the highest esteem the training of teachers, the development of improved methods of teaching, and the scientific study of education, nevertheless, I do believe there are several things more imme- diately important for teachers to be busy about in a large way just now, and I do know that teachers everywhere are looking for guidance in at least three of these matters. Hence, I present them to you principals as your particular problems, not only as problems but as obligations upon us if, as principals, we are to fulfill the purpose implied in our title. We are really principal-teachers, you know, common usage having dropped the second half of our original title. It is as much our duty and our privilege to teach teachers how to meet some of the more personal and general dif_i- culties of their profession as to supervise their instruction of pupils. Because the problems referred to are more perplexing than the problems of classroom instruction, I have called them posers, possibly because I have so often been puzzled by these problems myself and am hoping that we can mutually help one another to find the solution. The first of these three perplexing problems is publicity. Publicity—We teachers do not generally understand how to procure or to appreciate publicity. In the first place, we are too apt to think of publicity as advertisement instead of regarding it as having a high aim, that of edu- cating the public, the average newspaper-reading citizen. In the second place, we all too frequently fail to understand that publicity is both a busi- ness and a profession in itself, that it has its own technique and its own rules of procedure, which cannot be abrogated or even modified at our behest. In the third place, we forget that the right kind of publicity is one of the most highly paid services in the world. Successful workers in the field of publicity must have a ready pen. They must bé able to tell the “ big story” in the first paragraph, else the second is never read. They must have a wide acquaintance in many fields, else they lack the right approach to the persons or papers or periodicals whose interest must be secured. In other words, they must have broad education and an established social position. Such people command large fees. To one familiar with teaching traditions and conventions it is easily explained why teachers have fallen into these errors about publicity, and I wish I had time to point out now the reasons as I see them. But this is not an address on publicity, except as publicity appears as one of the perplexing problems about which we principals must instruct ourselves and our teachers. Two little stories from my own experience will illustrate my point. In 1915, I was selected to act as chairman of publicity for the Federation of Teachers’ Associations in New York, partly because I had once run a magazine for teachers, partly because I had earned my own way through 1 Notes used for several addresses to various groups of principals in 1923. [77] 78 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION college by writing advertisements, partly because it was supposed that these past experiences had given me some knowledge of how to get a hearing and how to get space in the papers. Well! I wrote reams and reams of material and sent it all broadcast. None of that early work of mine ever appeared in the general news pages or received editorial comment. Being determined to succeed in my task for the teachers, I began hunting around for an “ inside line,” fully convinced that the trouble was a lack of the right “ pull.” After a long series of struggles and disappointments, I met at last a member of the editorial staff of one of our big dailies. He told me to send my material to him, marked personal. I assure you I never put so much effort into anything in all my life. I wrote and re-wrote that article up to the very hour he had stated as its time of arrival in his office. How eagerly I looked forward to next morning’s paper! I waited many days, but nothing happened. It took some courage to go back to see that editor, for somehow I knew the fault was mine. I never doubted his good faith for a minute. I wish | could make you see that editor and hear his contemptuous tones, as he said: ““ My paper prints news, not sermons or essays. We run a newspaper, not the Christian Advocate.” But I pleaded with him, and promised I’d write it over if he would tell me what was needed to make it right, and brought down more wrath on my head by saying that I had meant it for the editorial page. But finally he touched a bell and told a messenger to bring in Mr. Blank. Then in the presence of a very young man of the genus we disrespectfully call “ cub reporters,” he said: “ Because I believe in your cause, I’m going to give you another chance. Mr. Blank, take this lady’s stuff and show her how it ought to be done.” I learned my lesson in all humility (and humiliation!). I shall never forget some of that boy’s phrases, as he patiently tried to make news out of my “sermon.” He would say, “See here! Can’t you find some big guy who'll let you say he said this?” or again, “‘ Cut that stuff! it’s old style,” and best of all for my future work, “Climaxes and happy endings go in plays and books. In a newspaper you got to catch your bird in your heading or your first five lines, or else he flies off to some other part of the page.” But I’ve never had any marked success in passing his instructions on to my fellow-workers in the school world. Very few of the “big guys” in school circles understand, and so they will not let their names be used. If we use names of others not quite so high in rank but valuable for publicity pur- poses, their associates accuse them of a desire for the limelight and of self- advertisement. And I have often had to coax and argue to get permission to issue material, which “ caught the bird ” to be sure, but which violated precise rules of composition. As for permitting pictures! My second story illustrates that point. Our salary campaign was on its way. A newspaper man said to me: “ If you can get some principal to let us take a picture of classes being dismissed and children going home because there are no teachers for them, it will do ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 79 more good than all the columns of statistics we’ve been printing for you.” His own sister was a teacher and so he understood the whole situation. It is difficult to realize that with hundreds of classes without teachers, thou- sands of children untaught because of the lack of teachers, in all New York I could find but one principal who would permit that picture to be taken. Yet when it was published with that principal’s signed statement of the shortage of teachers, it opened the eyes of the public and the pages of all the papers and periodicals in the whole State. Thereafter cases were reversed ; it was the newspapers who sought the material. As helps towards the solution of this poser which I have so far procured, I pass on the following: (1) Secure a copy of Rollo G. Reynolds’ book on Newspaper Publicity for Public Schools. Address him at Teachers Col- lege, New York City; (2) Read the articles on public education by William McAndrew in the World’s Work, beginning September, 1923, absolutely the best popularly-styled presentation of public education I have ever read, replete with suggestions in every number; (3) Read and advertise the Journal of the National Education Association, already securely established as a professional publication of the highest type; the publications of the various State associations, especially your own, and Dr. Winship’s Journal of Educa- tion. All of them can supply you with suggestions about publicity. All of them are in themselves wonderful publicity agents if you, individual prin- cipals will talk about them, circulate them, interest people in them, and send them suggestions, questions, material, and information; (4) We must also remember and learn that one of the best forms of publicity can be obtained by mixing with people and talking “ shop.” Our school people too seldom join social clubs. Men do not mix enough in business men’s organizations; the women teachers ought to be encouraged and urged to join civic organizations such as city clubs, voters’ leagues, etc. If we make our “‘ shop” talk show the relationship between the interests of other mem- bers of these organizations and our own problems, they will listen to us. The “shop” talk they object to is complaint and whining about troubles and salaries. It will not be necessary to drive these points home to them, if you make them see the relationship between education and the interests of the school and the security of their own interests; (5) Arrange some small social functions with your local newspaper men as guests of honor. Pick out live, up-and-coming young men and women who are seeking a new field in which they can make their mark in the newspaper world. Get acquainted with them. Select the best one. Then trust him completely. Tell him everything he needs to know to be able to write up his material in accordance with the rules of the newspaper game, at the same time telling him what part of the information is confidential. If he betrays you, then you have used poor judgment in your choice. I have been badly used by newspaper reporters just three time in 20 years and I blame myself more than the reporter in each case, because of my poor judgment in talk- ing to a sensation-manager, a type of reporter who can never be trusted and who is in bad repute in his own profession; (6) and a last suggestion, which I am constantly violating myself, give the newspaper definite state- 80 ; NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION ments, typed copies of material, and then let them select and “ work up” as they know will best appeal to their class of readers. Why include publicity as a poser for principals? Because today, there is no doubt that efforts are being made by well-organized groups to defeat the purposes of public education. Such groups aim at the teacher. To offset these attacks the teacher must learn how to secure public support. ‘Teachers must either become propagandists of their own work, or they must employ a professional propagandist who will understand how to put their cause before the public. Principals must instruct their teachers concerning these difficulties and guide them in the solution. Teachers’ associations—I dread to introduce my second poser. I once talked about teachers’ associations at an N. E. A. meeting and was over- whelmingly voted down. I have learned since then that I was wrong in some of the things I then advocated. I am not at all so sure that I know the “last word ”’ about teachers’ associations as I was then, hence, I give you the organization of teachers’ associations as a poser. I am still convinced, as I was then, that the N. E. A. is the best model of organization which we teachers have yet produced. But in addition, we must have local and State associations, and these must be professional and democratic. It is with these that my interest is engaged just now, and they have too often been allowed to become unsolved posers, because we prin- cipals have failed to unite with our teachers in the discovery of methods of organization which will be both professional and democratic. The tragedy of it is in the fact that the least professional effort and the most disorganized conditions are found among teachers in our big cities. Space and time will not permit me now to explain my own views today other that I have already indicated. Instead, I leave with you certain questions, provocative of thought, which may stir some one to writing a full discussion of this subject. Have you found the answer to the following questions in the organization of your local and State associations? (1) Does an honest majority rule? (2) Has an organized minority run away with the association? (3) Does a defeated minority accept its defeat as possibly only temporary, or does it go out and organize a new association? (4) Have you found out how to strike a balance between losing the services of an extraordinarily able officer too soon and letting him remain in office until he carries the association around in his vest pocket? (5) Is your asso- ciation truly representative in its character? (6) Does any one group rule by sheer force of members to the exclusion of the rights of other groups? (7) Do political or professional aims control? (8) To what extent is your association assisting in meeting the educational needs of your schools and the profession and personal needs of teachers? Securing accuracy—My third poser is one of the serious problems of teachers today. It is the struggle between methods and accuracy of results. Sometimes I think that we have gone to an unwarranted extreme in our devotion to scientific method and have forgotten that in the last analysis results are what count. The necessity for a greater consideration of results is being forced upon our mind by the frequently reiterated complaint of ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 81 business men that the graduates of the public school are lacking in accuracy and in certainty of information. Possibly there is some truth in this accusation. If so, it is our duty as principals to show teachers how to meet it, and insofar as the fault lies within our province to correct it. For teachers of long experience and students of educational theory it is easy to see how this struggle between scientific method of teaching and the securing of accuracy of result arose. In the little old red schoolhouse of American early days, as well as in the traditional school of England, it was the practice to assign lessons for pupils to study and the teacher to “hear.’’ Except with the gifted teacher, there were few explanations, and there was much meaningless memoriter work by the student. A natural reaction arose. With the growth of the idea of equal opportunity for education for all children in a democracy, it became increasingly necessary to do something to interest children in their books. We were still thinking of books alone as the basis of education. This necessity for explanation and for interesting children was one of the influ- ences leading toward the development of much of our modern methodology. No one must draw the inference that I am belittling or condemning increased attention to method. It was an absolutely essential step in the development, not only of teaching as a profession, but of public education. Too much cannot be said in high praise of people like Frank McMurray, William C. Bagley, and others of our day, even making no mention of the great heroes in the development of our professional technique like Horace Mann, William T. Harris, and William H. Maxwell. No teacher can possibly accomplish her work successfully unless she studies, understands, and applies all that she can discover about the doctrine of interest, correla- tion of studies, the five formal steps of teaching, motivation, etc. But my, point just now is that teachers are becoming more and more apt to judge the quality of their work in accordance with the correctness of their application of these principles of education without sufficient consideration of whether the pupils will retain with-certainty and accuracy the subject matter they have so painstakingly taught. There is implied in this, of course, a neglect of that last one of the formal steps of teaching which we know as drill and which carries with it a connotation of difficulty and loss of the teacher’s own interest. To remedy this apparent struggle between method and results the first step, therefore, is a greater emphasis on drill. It is my humble judgment that if the time allotted for instruction compels the slighting or elimination of any part of our methodology, the one thing we cannot afford to slight is drill. There is a fundamental principle in the formation of habit involved in this point of drill. Only by repetition does a habit become automatic, only by frequent hearing, or repeating, or seeing does any fact become a permanent part of our knowledge. Slackness and inaccuracy in acquiring facts lead to the formation of most undesirable habits of thought and ulti- mately reflect in character. A second recommendation I would urge in the removal of this struggle between method and results in a greater consideration of the method in relation to the child, rather than in relation to the building of steps of , A 82 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION subject matter. I have known teachers to spend many hours in dividing subject matter into infinitesimal steps of progress, and then go ahead in the presentation of these, step by step, to a class of children. Their consterna- tion when their carefully prepared lessons break down is tragic and forms one of the great discouragements of teaching unless we analyze ourselves to find the cause. V I am re:jinded as I say this of the experience of a most earnest teacher in my own school. She came to me for help and made the statement that she plex could get absolutely no attention from the majority of her class during libr: a geography lesson. Inquiry showed that the lesson had been carefully 7 prepared. It was evident that the difficulty lay elsewhere. I advised her to to t have a “ family talk ” with all, or else selected members of her class, and tell vati them as frankly as she had told me that the lesson was a failure and that the she did not know why. She received a prompt and frank answer from her fit class. The boys told her that they knew all about the material in geography has that she was trying to teach, because they had seen it in the moving not pictures. Being the clever and able teacher that she is, she went to see those moving pictures herself, and made them her point of departure in the sch presentation of her lessons. pul Another way in which teachers permit too great a devotion to method ted to destroy accuracy is their inability to adhere to the aim of their lesson when their calculations as to method are upset by intrusions, interruptions, jol and conditions, not only unforeseen, but impossible to forecast. Of course, do the answer is that the teacher must have more than one method of arriving at her goal. In our training of teachers we have so emphasized their stud) lit of method that the teacher is apt to search for the best method, and then a use it alone, with insufficient consideration of the result. To conclude then, m my argument is that we have a step farther to go in our study of scientific al method and building up of professional technique. That step is to show or the teacher how to interpret all that she has learned of methods of teaching in terms of firmly fixed knowledge in the minds of her pupils. ti I hope I shall have some friends left among the principals after they ti hear my three posers. Most earnestly do I hope that some of them wil! F find the answers and tell them to the rest. ’ HE SUM spent on education sounds “ enormous.” But when reduced to its lowest terms—the cost to each individual—it seems very small. Taking the country over, it is about 3 cents per t person per day. It seems hardly fair to charge education with the excessive burden of which it is such a small part. We are able to | give without “ sorely taxing” our ability what is needed to provide | adequate school advantages for all, if only we regard the education | of our children as a primary duty of the State. It is a matter of priority of interest and not a question of ability—From Editorial in New York Times for September 10, 1923. to MANAGEMENT OF A LIBRARY IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Lutu A. SHELTON Washington School, Oakland, California ITH the passing of the old type elementary school with its limited activities and the ushering in of the present-day school \ ith its com- plexity of activities, no department is of more service than the elementary THE library. The broader presentation of subject matter, which is no longer confined to textbooks, the correlation of subjects, the socialized recitation, the moti- vation of work necessitates a vast source of material, which must be under the supervision of some one capable of directing its circulation for the bene- fit of the greatest number. Systematizing the wealth of knowledge that has been flooded upon our schools is imperative, hence the teacher-librarian, not a book clerk, becomes essential in every modern elementary school. Elementary school libraries have passed the experimental stage in many schools. So great has been the urge from the bottom, the teachers and the pupils, that lack of funds to finance elementary libraries has not deterred teachers from organizing and maintaining them on “ overtime.” A teacher’s job requires all her thought and energy and the librarian’s job is equally important. The work of the one or the other should not be done on “ overtime.” The first plan in organization is to collect all books from the libraries’ and assemble them in one classroom under the management of a teacher as librarian. This makes available for the school much valuable material hitherto limited in its use. Weak places in the supply of material are discovered and remedied by consultation with teachers from various groups. In the fall of 1920 I was assigned as half-time civics teacher and half- time vocational counselor and librarian. -On this assignment of one fourth time, our elementary library was organized in the Washington School, Oak- land, California. Our first problem was to collect the fiction and supplemental books from the third grade through the eighth grade. The only quarters available for a library was a closet 6 by 9 feet with no light, no ventilation, and no heat. This was christened “The Book Den.” This closet served as our headquarters until “‘ Children’s Book Week,” November 12-18, 1923, more than two years. The fine collection of books assembled from the eighteen rooms was roughly classified for more expeditious handling. After classification the teachers of each group of grades were invited, at a specified time, to examine the books and requisition those needed for immediate use. In this way every teacher had a better supply of material to add to, and to enrich the textbooks and also the knowledge of other material that was in the build- ing. All books were kept in circulation and did not repose on shelves as dust catchers. ‘ * room [83] 84 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION One teacher was delighted to find two dozen books to supplement the Greek period in her history class. Another uttered an exclamation of joy at the sight of the material on California history and geography. All of these books had been distributed among the “ room libraries” before the establishment of the central distribution station or “ Book Den.” Books were returned as soon as a given subject was completed. The next step was to call the teachers of each group of grades in consul- tation to decide on the purchase of the books best suited to the course of study and most needed in their particular group. In this manner each group was equally supplied. Books were charged to the teacher. She held the pupils responsible in any way she desired. For two years our “ library funds ” augmented by gifts from the Parent- Teacher Association and the Fathers’ Club, were spent for authorized non- fiction supplemental books. The service of the library expanded so rapidly during the first year that the teacher-librarian realized that the work could not be managed efficiently unless she had proper scientific knowledge. So a course in “ library craft, technique, and use” at the University supplied the necessary skill for the expeditious, accurate management of the library, as well as enabling her to instruct pupils in correct library use and habits. The expectation that the opening of a new primary building in our sec- tion of the city would reduce our school’s enrolment, so that the 6 by 9 closet would be superseded by a real room at the opening of the 1922 fall term, was doomed to disappointment because the increase in our school’s enrolment keeps pace with Oakland’s rapid growth. However, the teacher- librarian, keeping her mind’s eye open for an opportune time, continued to dream dreams and to carry on the work. In October ‘“ Children’s Book Week ” advertisements appeared in news- papers, magazines, and stores. Then a wise bird whispered: “ Children’s Book Week, November 12-18—that’s the psychological date.” ‘‘ Where’s the room? ” was the two-year old question, but ““ Where there’s a will there’s a way.” Our ever-optimistic principal called for consultations following which obstacles began to give way and every one gladly codperated. A science teacher was willing to spend all day in a shack, an English teacher was willing to move to the room vacated by the science teacher, thereby relinquishing the most desirable room in the building for the library; the art department planned the harmonious color scheme; the manual training department made our shelves ; every teacher in the building and many pupils gave service. The supervisor of school libraries, city and county librarians, the business department of our school system, even clerks in our book stores, in fact every person who knew of this proposed development of our project wanted “ to lend a hand.” Never did time fly as did the first twelve days in November! Never did the codperative spirit produce such magic results! Such impetus was given this phase of our work that on the first day of “ Children’s Book Week ” the library was ready for service and pleasure. Desks had disappeared, blackboards had been covered with wall paper, shelves had been built, ugly tables had been covered, chairs were collected, and an ordinary schoolroom was transformed into an attractive room and named “ The Book Nook.” ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 85 Most gratifying to the heart was the joy with which the children viewed the inviting room with its attractive rows of beautiful new books, many of which are illustrated editions. Class use of the library—All the classes, including the kindergarten, are given a regular assigned period in the library for reading. The length of these periods varies from half an hour to one hour a week. The pupils are given the privilege to browse among the books, while the class teacher and librarian are always at hand to give assistance when requested. This browsing among the books has transformed many a non- reader into a regular library visitor as well as cultivated a taste for good books. The efforts to bring the child and the book together have succeeded beyond our most sanguine expectations. Over 85 per cent of our pupils have read the required number of books. The importance of this percen- tage will be significant when we reflect that city librarians are delighted with a 20 per cent registration. Sometimes the Victrola is used for music or story records for a part of a period. The story telling makes a great appeal to the younger pupils. Visual education is aided by teaching the use of the stereoscope and stereo- graphs. All pupils are taught to respect the rights of others and library silence is observed. Monitors are appointed to see that the library is left in order. Instruction in use and care of books—Kindergarten and Grade One: These pupils are taught that clean hands are necessary in handling books, fingers must be kept off pictures, that when a book is placed on a shelf it should stand top up and the binding ow? not in. Grade Two: Here the children are required to give: (1) Title as the name of the book; (2) author as the person who wrote the book; and (3) to ask for the book by title. The books for the pupils in the above-named grades are kept on special shelves. This arrangement gives them ready access to books they can enjoy without having them lost among the other books. The books are placed on the tables as they leave the library and older pupils as library assistants reshelve them. Grade Three: The pupils in this grade readily learn the title and author of a book and the title page. They are so intent on reading that it becomes necessary to teach them the arrangement of books in the library. They are instructed that fiction or story books are arranged alphabetically by author. Pupils are asked to find a book whose author’s name begins with 4, M, W,, etc. From books previously put on a table pupils are asked to replace them on the proper shelves. They are then instructed that some books are non-fiction and the non-fiction cases are shown to them. They learn that non-fiction books are divided into groups but only two of these groups or families are explained to them. The name of the first of these families is 398 fairy tales, folk lore, legends. They are shown the 398 at the correct place on a copy of Anderson’s Fairy Tales. The 398 is the family name like Smith. Several pupils are asked to tell their family names. The 4 under the 398 is like their given names. They are taught 86 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION that all of the 398 family should be placed together and that our library has so many children in this family that several shelves are needed for them. The 590 family, animal stories, is taught in the same manner. Each pupil keeps a note book in which he writes the title and the author of a book so that he may select the same book to read at each library period until his book is finished. Credit is given for library and home reading. Grade Four: In this grade instruction in title is continued, calling atten- tion not only to title and author but to publisher, date, and occasionall; illustrator. Here also is explained that the non-fiction books are divided into nine tribes and in these tribes are different families arranged by subject (what the book is about.) Recall that they are already familiar with fairy tales and animal stories. All books on “ manners,” all books of poetry, and all other books have their special place in the cases which is shown to them. Each book has a number which represents its family in the tribe, because each family is a subject. Every book about that subject has the same number. They are shown that the numbers on the cases are in proper order like house numbers or the room numbers in the school building. A simplified Dewey classification is posted which serves as a key to the library’s books so any child may find the number of the desired subject and go immediately to the case where those books are located. Pupils in this grade are given by their teachers a simple outline for book reviews, which are kept in note books. Grade Five: Here instruction is given in comparison of tables of con- tents and indexes. In order to enrich the textbooks, especially in history and geography, pupils learn here the use of supplemental books. With the aid of the posted classification divisions for ready reference, and a little assistance they readily find the needed material. Pupils are taken to the public library and shown that the books are arranged there according to the same system used in their school library. Thus they learn that there is a correct library system. When pupils ask the teacher-librarian for a book, her reply always names the classification number. They soon become familar with the library vocabulary which enables them to locate quickly the book. Grade Six: In this grade begins the instruction in the use of the cari catalogue as to author, title, and subject card. They are taught that the “ call number,” if the book is non-fiction, is the number which is on the book itself; that when the card is found in the catalogue the book can be found in the case by the “ call number.” Pupils locate books by “ call number.” As the school work of this grade requires much supplemental material in history, geography, and biography, an excellent opportunity is afforded to teach in an elementary school many of the classes of the 900 division, which constitutes the largest as well as the hardest division of the Dewey Classi- fication. Pupils are taught the use of reference books—a general encyclo- pedia, World Almanac, Dictionary of Facts, or others, and that these books ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS which contain information about various topics in history, geography, etc., are not to be taken from a library. Grade Seven: As many pupils enter the seventh grade in Washington School, from sixth-grade schools which have no library, all the library instruction given in the lower grades is thoroughly reviewed. With a working knowledge of content of a book, indexes, title page, card catalogue, classification, and reference books pupils are able to find much information on many desired subjects. Pupils learn to take notes properly. Book reviews and other work in English are under the direction of the English Department. Much excellent work has been done by the pupils using the library for source material. Grade Eight: Much of the reference work must of necessity be done at the city library as, in all young libraries the reference books are limited. The pupils in this grade are taken to the nearest city library every week. The class and the school librarian report at the library at nine o'clock. On the first visit the pupils are seated while the city librarian explains the plan of arrangement of the books, the location and use of the card catalogue, and the location of purely reference books. Pupils are introduced to special enclycopedias—namely, history and literature ; to special dictionaries, Bible quotations; to books that have more than one index, as Stevenson’s “‘ Home Book of Verse.” The “‘ Readers Guide to Periodical Literature’ is thoroughly explained, and bound vol- umes of magazines are located in the cases. Previous to each visit to the city library, the teacher librarian supplies all pupils with a set of questions. the answers to which are to be found in the assigned reference books, so that pupils become familiar with various types of reference books. The method used in locating the required answers is given orally by the pupils when making a report. The method is most important because the lessons are planned primarily to teach the use of reference books. Four or five questions, the answers being in-as many different books usually con- stitutes an assignment for a forty-minute period with a class of from 35 to 40 pupils. Pupils are keenly interested in this research reference work. They know that much information can be found outside of textbooks, and they know the best and quickest way to secure that information. The library and its scientific use has become a vital part of their equipment for high school and good citizenship. The city librarian reports that this training makes the pupils most intelligent library users. This method of instruction has been in use for two years in our school so there has been an opportunity for “ follow-up.” The following questions are typical assignments: Special Dictionaries Hastings—Dictionary of the Bible Who was Queen Esther? Who helped her save her people ? Bryant—Dictionary of Painters What was the nationality of Benjamin West? Was he offered the honor of knighthood ? NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION Special Encyclopedias Bliss—Encyclopedia of Social Reforms What are “ sweat shops?”” Why so named? Harper—Encyclopedia of U. S. History How old was Benjamin Franklin when he arrived in Philadelphia? Give short account of his organization of the first circulating library. Readers’ Guide to Periodical Literature Find a magazine article on immigration by Secretary of Labor J. J. Davis. Is the article an argument for or against the present restriction law? Anthologies Stevenson—Home Book of Verse From Burn’s “ Cotter’s Saturday Night ” describe the evening worship. From what poem is this the first line: “ Up from the meadows rich with corn?” Literature Baker—Guide to Best Fiction Give the theme of Mark Twain’s “The Prince and the Pauper.” Library of World’s Best Literature From which of James Fenimore Cooper’s books is “‘ The Prairie Fire ”’ selected ? Miscellaneous Upton—The Standard Operas Describe the overture in “ William Tell.” Gordon—Flags of the World In what position should our flag be placed when hung on the wall? Sanchez—California names and Main Places Give origin of the name “ Golden Gate.” Debate Books Select a subject for debate. Outline a “ brief.” The last assignments are given without reference books being designated to test the pupils on their ability to find information. Who was called the “ Bard of Avon?” What is the Christ of the Andes? Give meaning of the expression “he’s true blue.” What is Babe Ruth’s latest record ? The Library’s Correlation: The library books have been a great source of information to enrich all textbooks, geography, history, science, and English subjects being best served. A well-selected collection of imaginative stories is always available to create a desire in pupils to cultivate their own imaginativé powers and through this stimulation much original imaginative writing has been pro- duced. The English teachers find their complaint of the lack of source material for pupils is practically a thing of the past. The close correlation ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 89 of the library with its splendid literature as a model for all composition, whether written or oral, gives the pupils the proper inspiration. Book reviews are required in a more or less degree by the teachers accord- ing to their plan of work, and credit is given for a required number of book reviews. Other teachers have had wonderful results by merely encour- aging pupils to read any book in the library, as all books are selected from authoritative lists. Several reading circles have been formed in various rooms. One splen- didly organized reading club has been conducted by its officers with the teacher as adviser. Without “ graded” lists the reading habit has been cultivated. A fifth-grade girl who had never read a book was delighted with “‘ Pretty Polly Flinders,” and wanted to take it home to read. “ Pretty Polly Flin- ders” would have ceased to give joy had she realized that its “ listed ” place was first or second grade. Many a fourth-grade pupil with the read- ing habit will select books usually suggested for eighth-grade reading, hence no lists of books are “ graded,” but lists of new books are posted arranged alphabetically by author. The beautifully illustrated paper covers on the new books are most effec- tively used as posters in the library. Several similar subjects are grouped advantageously on 24” x 30” poster sheets. Under the supervision of our drawing teacher the posters are made, our picture collection is mounted, and fresh flowers are arranged in the library. With the assistance of our manual training teacher the boys have made and stained our bookcases. ‘Through the penmanship teacher the best penmen are selected to write the book cards. Many girls and boys have become most efficient library helpers. The charging desk is managed by the student librarian and her staff, thus free- ing the teacher librarian to advise pupils in making selections. “ Reserved ” books are found by this student help and they reshelve books that have been returned to the charging desk. . As elimination of delay in charging a book is the prime essential in a school library, our charging system is very simple. Many girls and boys have become quite expert in the craft work of preparing books for the cases. Another elementary school of Oakland that has succeeded splendidly in cultivating the reading habit, holds a “ Library Assembly ” each year at which time a beautifully designed “ certificate of merit’ is presented to each pupil who has read the required number of approved books. Book reviews are most effectively dramatized as a part of the program before the certificates are presented. Robin Hood, Moni the Goat Boy, Gulliver, A Mexican Twin, Joe from Little Women, Robinson Crusoe, Judy from Daddy Long Legs, a Spartan Twin appeared from the third, fourth, and fifth grade pupils. What child would not have a desire to read the books so interestingly reviewed. Then the series of living pictures pre- sented by the sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade pupils showed scenes from Treasure Island, Penrod, Little Lord Fauntleroy, Ivanhoe, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, Robin Hood, and others. This delightful manner of 90 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION reviewing books not only impresses the reader but by the scenes in these living pictures arouses an enthusiastic desire to read the books. The general objectives of our library have ever been kept in mind: (1) To bring pupils in close contact with books as a recreational and cultural influence; (2) to expose pupils to beautifully illustrated books thereby tending to create an interest in the beautiful; (3) to teach children by inspirational and recreational methods to love to read books and to look upon a library as a place of enjoyment; and (4) to teach children intelligently and appreciatively to use any public library. The elementary school library should be recognized as an essential part of our educational system and should minister to the child during his early years in the school library by making lessons more interesting, by providing training in the use of books and by cultivating the reading habit so that a preparation for the best use of the higher school or public library as a means of education through life may be obtained. Has our library been a success? Have the results paid for all the “ over- time ” made necessary because of the added work to an already busy teacher? For the answer just watch the eagerness with which every pupil enters “The Book Nook,” finds his book, and is lost to the world about him; or note the disappointed faces if a class misses its library period; or just “ hap- pen in” on book day and see the long orderly line of pupils at the charging desk where a pupil serves as charging librarian. Aladdin touched his magic lamp and our dream of an elementary library has been realized. LEDGE TO THE FLAG—Sixty-eight National organiza- tions at a recent conference on the Flag adopted the widely used Pledge of Allegiance in a slightly modified form. As revised the pledge will be used generally in the public schools and on all patri- otic occasions. It is the practice in many schools to use Washington’s birthday as an occasion for instructing pupils in the meaning of the pledge and of the flag as a symbol of the great Republic. The revised pledge follows: “TI pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.” Y FLAG—born in the days of the revolution—baptized in days of civil strife, rededicated to the cause of human freedom in the great world conflict; in peace and war it has ever floated as the symbol of liberty and justice. May its stars never grow dim, and its stripes never fade. And may the children in the schools over which it shall float be so taught to love justice, to hate evil, and to do good, that they may forever protect the flag and the ideals for which it stands.—Randall J. Condon, Superintendent of Schools, Cincinnati. THE USE OF THE CURRICULUM BY THE PRINCIPAL FOR CHARACTER MAKING Mary McSkimMon Principal, Pierce School, Brookline, Massachusetts HOEVER the group of experts may be to determine the content, grade limits, and method of the curriculum, the principal must hold fast to his prerogative to determine the ethical factors it may reveal, with which to build up the ideals of life and conduct whereby men live. Indeed the curriculum must be so malleable that it can yield itself to meeting the needs of all the elementary schools in the community it serves, just as fast as each one discovers its own particular needs. Here is where the principal can make his best contribution to the ethical life of his community. Here is where he can best lead his world to realize today’s great demand for “A bigger, an’ a finer, an’ a truer type of man.”’” He must know what crop he wants to raise and take complete possession of the curriculum as occasion arises, to enrich his school as to content and method, and interpret both of them to teachers, parents, and pupils in order to gain that precious harvest. In those communities where the gracious inheritance of the English Bible has a place, however restricted, in the curriculum, there dwells a power beyond estimate to awaken and enlighten the sensitive consciences of young people. The Massachusetts school law demands that school shall begin each day with the reading of the Bible, by the teacher, ‘“ without written note or oral comment.” Here is the great opportunity of the prin- cipal in his morning assembly. In the noblest of English he glorifies high friendship in the story of David and Jonathan; the bitter consequences of family jealousy strike home in the story of Joseph and his brothers; the struggle between greed and craft in Esau and Jacob; the price of loyalty to his word that Jephthah paid; and then there is the story of Gehazi! Gehazi whose lust for money and fine raiment led him into such tempta- tion, and such punishment! For with the prophet’s curse upon him, he went forth from that austere presence, ‘“‘a leper white as snow.” No lecture on honesty will ever accomplish what this story does, fire-tipped, arrow-aimed, straight to the heart. In a school of my intimate acquain- tance this story is read to a breathless audience every year, and it never fails in its effect. For weeks thereafter a special drawer in the principal’s desk is filled with treasures returned by their unlawful possessors. Most of the knives, tops, balls, coins, pencils, harmonicas, and marbles are “ finds.” Some have reposed in pockets peaceably for long weeks, but the story of Gehazi turns them all to molten fire, and the relief from the burning pain of unlawful possession is akin to what Naaman himself must have felt when his flesh came to him again “ as the flesh of a little child.” And the principal must be free to select the great literature for his school as its special demands may determine. This is the golden key of feeling, for the unlocking of wills to achieve noble deeds, through admiration, hope, and love. What treasures are at our disposal for kindling young hearts and [91] 92 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION minds to high purpose! To have been a playmate from one’s earliest school years with those children in “ A Child’s Garden of Verses.” To know Robinson Crusoe, and Hiawatha, Midas, and Jason, and the King of the Golden River, Tom Sawyer, the Village Blacksmith, and Paul Revere, Sir Ralph the Rover, Ulysses, Evangeline, Marmion, Ivanhoe, and Rebecca, the people in Snow Bound, in Captain Courageous, and in Robin Hood, Little Women, and Arlo, and Heidi, Hans Brinker, the Highwayman, and the Jungle Book folks! With such a gracious company in the blessed imagination of childhood and youth, life can never be empty and mean, but adorned with gracious presences, each one of whom has enriched the life of those who know and love them. Through this goodly fellowship the boys and girls go forth with the key to unlock many of life’s problems. With his hand on the living realities of great books, the principal may choose the permanent friendships through which the lives of all his pupils may be forever enriched. But literature is not the only high priestess in the service of the principal for developing character. He may make the social studies of history and geography yield training for the new citizenship he is nourishing through the day’s work. Of far more value than the record of the life of mankind, or the growth of the exchange of earth’s products, are the opportunities for training in leadership and self-direction, for participation in the arrange- ment and solution of class problems. The principal will see to it that histor) must not be taught as if our country were always right in her dealings with other nations. He will lead his boys and girls to see that nothing is ever settled till it is settled right. He will see that his geography classes have a chance to find out that the men who toil to produce the things that make life strong and beautiful, are as worthy of appreciation as the men who can pay for them. The principal with his hand on the steering wheel of the curriculum will strive through his course in civics to make his pupils conscious of the debt of gratitude we all owe to the Public Library, the Art Museum, the Board of Health, the Police and Fire Departments, and the School Board. He will see to it that his school clubs not only improve the debating, the music, the public speaking, the radio, and photography groups, and the nature study of birds, flowers, and trees, but he will use these to help round out the type of leadership that the larger group consciousness will respect and follow. No curriculum can be of value to the elementary school prin- cipal which does not allow itself to serve in stamping into the consciousness of the pupils that noble character should be the ultimate attainment, the highest star of desire to every child in our land. But the great visions of life must be allowed to grow dim and fade away because of any failure on our part to tie up these glimpses in the daily practice of each day’s living. Before the shades of the prison house of convention and indifference blur their outlines, we must make them realities by linking them up with vital experiences hour by hour. They will be ready to bring enlightenment to the problems where “Just beyond tomorrow’s gates Alert and strong the battle waits ” ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS by tackling each problem that living and working together with varied abilities and temperaments entails upon today. Let pupils try out as traffic officers in halls and corridors, both in daily management of lines and in fire drills. Let them practice their passion for the square deal by looking out for the smaller children on the playgrounds. There is no teaching so potent as what is learned by putting into practice the consideration a boy is always so desirous of having dealt out to him. And after all has been gained in strength of character through the power to lead wisely, or to follow loyally, there remains the great task of making our future citizens through the hourly experiences of the classroom. We can no longer wash our hands of responsibility by assigning tasks and testing their accomplishments. Our boys and girls must take their own share of responsibility as members of the group, in working. out the problems and projects of their own education. The challenge of the unit of achievement will put heavier demands upon each of them than we should deem wise to impose. But in assuming responsibility for his own contribution the child shall learn to command the uses of his own soul and be filled with a divine discontent until he has realized in achievement the utmost limit of his own powers. When principals of the elementary schools all realize the magnifi- cent possibilities through the common branches of the curriculum, a new hope shall be born for this our land of promise and opportunity. WHAT STATES READ THE “HIGH BROW” MAGAZINES? Warp G. REEDER Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio ECENTLY I presented data showing the ranks of the several States of the Union in reading ten of the largest magazines of general circula- tion. The magazines used in the aforementioned study were, in order of size of circulation, as follows: The Saturday Evening Post; The Ladies’ Home Journal; The Pictorial Review; The American Magazine; The Woman's Home Companion; The Cosmopolitan; The Literary Digest; The Country Gentleman; The National Geographic Magazine; and The Red Book Magazine. The ranks of the several States on these great National magazines were so provocative that out of curiosity I undertook to gather similar data for the various States on some of the perhaps more “high brow” magazines of general circulation. Fortunately, through codperation of the Audit Bureau of Circulations, a codperative agency for the verification of circu- lations of periodicals, I was able to secure the circulations by States of each of the following thirteen magazines, the most of which, I should guess, appeal to a more “ high brow” reading clientele than do most of the ten larger ones aforementioned :* American Review of Reviews; Asia; Current 1 Which States Read the Most? School and Society, Vol. 18, No. 452, pp. 235-2403; also yo Our States Read and Why? Journal of the National Education Association, Vol. 12, oO. 9; 2In t p. 377: - ‘ . : - e study on the ten larger magazines both the mail and news-stand paid circulations were available in every instance, but in the case of the thirteen “ high brow ” only those magazines starred (*) had both types of subscriptions available. Those not starred (*) made available only mail subscriptions. 94 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Opinion; Judge; North American Review; Popular Science Monthly; * Scientific American; Scribner’s Magazine; The Atlantic Monthly; The Nation; * The Outlook; Vanity Fair; * and World’s Work. Audit Bureau circulations were not available for a few other magazines wanted such as The Smart Set; Life; and Harper’s Magazine. The list presented is thought to be fairly representative of the “ high brow ” magazines; obviously, though the basis of selection is only a subjective one of the writer and finality is not claimed for it. Table 1 exhibits the ranks of the several States in reading these arbitraril; selected and styled “high brow” magazines. The rank of each State was computed, as in the study on the ten larger magazines, by finding the per cent which the total circulation of the thirteen magazines in the State was of its population according to the Federal Census of 1920. For the sake of comparison, corresponding data for the ten larger magazines are presented in the same table. The ranks of the States on the two groups of magazines (twenty-three in all) are presented in the last column of the table. A casual examination of the table evinces that the ranks of the States on the two groups of magazines are very similar (coefficient of correlation is .93). The ranks of thirty-six States are not displaced more than five posi- tions on the two groups. On both groups the Southern States are over- whelmingly at the bottom of the rankings, while the far Western States head the rankings on both groups. The Eastern States, on the contrary, improve their rankings on the “ high brow ” magazines over those on the ten larger, while the Western States in general, which lead all on the ten larger, fall down slightly on the “ high brow” group. Table 2 shows the ranks of the nine groups of States of the Union, together with their percentages, in reading each of the two groups of magazines. It is observed that the ranks of the various States and sections of the Union on the twenty-three magazines are almost identically the same as those on the original ten, the thirteen “high brow” magazines not having circula- tions different enough and large enough to affect the rankings on the original ten. It is worth noting that the total circulation of the thirteen “ high brow ” magazines is approximately only one-thirteenth that of the ten larger. In view of the recognized importance of reading in raising the level of intelligence of our people the questions of how much the people read and what they read is worthy of consummate research. The types of investigation herein reported should be continued urnul we know conclusively just how much the people read and what they read. It would be worth while to know what States and sections of the Union excel in reading other types of material such as the cheaper mail-order magazines, the trade and technical publications, agricultural and other class publications, the daily and weekly) newspapers, and books. But we shouldn’t be content with a mere discovery of how much the States read and what they read, for of greater moment are the questions of why there should be these differences and the utilization of means to stimulate the people of all States to read more voraciously and discriminately. Are the ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 95 TABLE 1.—RANKS OF THE VARIOUS STATES IN READING THE THIRTEEN “ HIGH Brow ” MaGAzINnes; ALSO THEIR RANKS ON THE TEN LARGER MAGAZINES Aso THEIR RANKS ON BoTH Groups OF MAGAZINES Per cent that circulation of the thirteen “high brow ” magazines is of population | Per cent that Rank circulation of rise the ten larger magazines is of population * on the thirteen ‘‘ high | brow ” maga- | zines Rank on the! Rank on both ten larger groups of magazines magazines 29 4.36 47 49 49 I.1I 15.28 21 20 20 27 5-69 48 45 45 2.34 25.83 2 2 2 1.29-+ 17-97 14 8 | 9 Comis) ss53 1.61 17.27 10 10 10 Del. 85 12.32 33 34 | 34 D.<: 2.72 31.76 I I I Pla. cscecs] 1.07 13.61 23 26 27 Ga. 33— 5-12 46 47 46 Idaho ... 1.15— 17.09 20 II 12 Ill. 1.07— 14.43 24 24 24 -go+ 16.33 29 16 17 80 14.77 35 22 23 .go— 13.60-++- 30 27 28 +39 5:97 43 +2 42 51 6.49 40 41 41 15.99 12 17 16 93 10.67 27 35 35 17-89 9 9 8 16.43 19 15 15 15.54 22 19 19 5-15 49 46 47 12.47 32 33 33 18.56 15 7 7 15.81 . 26 18 18 21.25 3 5 5 16.48 y 4 14 II 13.60— , 13 28 25 9-42 36 38 37 14.66 I! 23 22 5-86 42 44 44 + 13-59 34 29 29 OR .255 16.84 17 12 14 ORR. ius ¥ 10.05 38 36 36 Oregon... é 24.99 6 3 3 13-34 25 30 30 15.15 16 21 21 4-77 44 48 48 13.92 31 25 26 5-94 45 43 43 9-43 41 37 38 13.08 18 31 31 16.52 7 13 13 8.02 39 40 40 24.10 8 4 4 9.00 37 39 39 13.04 28 32 32 20.85 5 6 6 2 In my previous articles, (see footnote 1 of this article) giving the data on the ten larger magazines, the rank of Mississippi should have been 46 instead of 49 and her per cent 5.15 instead of 4.03. I regret that this error occurred. NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION TABLE 2.—RANKsS OF THE NINE GROUPS OF STATES IN READING THE Two Groups OF MAGAZINES | | | | | | a ula- ” Group Per cent that circu lation of the thirteen Rank on both groups of magazines “high brow” maga-| larger magazines is zines | of population | Per cent that circu- | lation of the ten |Rank on the thirteen larger magazines “high brow | zines is of pop tion Rank on the ten Pacific: California, Oregon, and Wash- ington New England: Connecticut, Maine, Massachu- | setts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont Mountain: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Mon- tana, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming East North Central: Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michi- gan, and Wisconsin West North Central: Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Mis- | souri, Nebraska, North Da- | kota, and South Dakota Middle Atlantic: | New Jersey, New York, and | Pennsylvania West South Central: Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, | and Texas South Atlantic: Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, | North Carolina, South Caro- lina, Virginia, and West Vir- | ginia | 62 East South Central: Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee | 32 5.26 9 9 unusually high correlations between the ranks of the States on the Army mental tests, their ranks on school efficiency as determined by Colonel L. P. Ayres, their ranks in productivity, and their ranks on reading herein reported. a mere coincidence or is there a casual relation? SUPERVISED PLAY IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A PRINCIPAL ANNA LAUvuRA FOorcE Principal of the Lincoln School, Denver, Colorado LAY in childhood, as Groos has abundantly shown, “ is concerned with everything. Emotions, feelings, thoughts, imaginings, speech, all begin their career under its subtle influence and the really genial among adults never lose in science, art, and literature the play which makes it a joy to live and use life.” Never has man lived in civilized or uncivilized state without some form of play. Until recently no one regarded play as essential, alike to physical and mental development. Now, we believe that no child can develop nor- mally unless he has opportunities for a large amount of diversified play. Organized play is much more necessary in American life today than it was fifty years ago when the majority lived in the country. The city tends to repress play activities. Old traditional games suited for the country cannot be played under city conditions. In the properly equipped and supervised playgrounds the natural rights of the boys and girls which have been taken from them by modern municipal conditions are protected. . “ As well tie down tight the cover of a boiling tank and not expect an explosion as to prevent a boy from getting into mischief if he has no outlet for his energy.” H. E. Downer says, ‘“‘ One person can take care of a playground, while it would take eight or ten policemen to see to them in the street.” Some boys dug a cave in a neighborhood where there was vacant ground. They were reported to the Juvenile Court. When the matter was investi- gated, the boys said to the principal of the school, “ Where shall we go? If we play in the street we are too noisy, and when we go under the ground they send the policeman after us.” Some one has said that a bad man is really “a good man who has expressed himself wrongly.” This is often true of juvenile criminals. If children have no way to work off their energy they are bound to get into mischief. In a survey of different cities made by Rolland Haynes, field secretary of the National Playground Association, he found that in certain cities over one half the children are doing nothing after school hours, neither playing nor working, and 63 per cent of the children were on the street. Much of the millions of dollars invested in our school systems is not used to the best advantage owing to the fact that outside of the school and home children form wrong habits due to unwholesome play conditions and develop traits of character which make much of their school training useless. A city of homes means a city of children. We ourselves need relaxation from toil, and the children need places wherein to frolic in the fresh air. The slums of any great metropolis are breeding places for crime. Provide play- grounds that are supervised, give the young people the right chance, and there will be less for the police courts to do. [97] 98 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Play is nature’s short cut to experience. It teaches lessons which were beneficial to the races of past ages. The play is the interpreter of past race conditions. By supervised play our traditional and folk games may be revived and the best that has been gleaned may be preserved and passed on to new generations. Play is instinctive to normal children and by supervision and wise guidance they are led to better purposes of recreation rather than toward the demoral- izing features of meaningless play. Unsupervised play is spasmodic and irregular. Some children are timid or indifferent and don’t like to play. Such children need encouragement. Supervised play finds a place for ever; child according to age and strength. Every child is given a chance to play, and there is no danger of the stronger and more aggressive children crowding out the weaker and slower ones. Some people argue that a director is unnecessary and say, “ Give the children a place wherein to play and they will play all right.” This is true only in a general way, for very few moments, great or small, will go on for any length of time or accomplish much without a leader. During the first year that playgrounds were maintained in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, they were kept open with no one in charge, but were provided with equipment. The authorities concluded that they were not a success. They said, “ We will get the best young college athlete we can find and send him around to organize the games on the different playgrounds.” For a while, it worked beautifully. He went to the first playground and taught the children several games, then he said, “ Now children, you stay here, I have to go to the next playground.” The children went with him and the same process was repeated until he had nearly all of the children of the city behind him and he became a regular Pied Piper. Then they concluded that this was not a success and placed a director on each playground. The usefulness of the playground is seriously limited by lack of efficient supervision. The moral effect is reversed. Instead of a child learning to take his turn he learns that “ might makes right and to the victor belongs the spoils.” Without a leader, the weaker one’s play is controlled by the stronger and vicious habits of the street are simply transferred to the play- ground. The bully element is in evidence. Under supervision these con- ditions do not exist. The director interests himself in every child, weak or strong, good or bad. When every child is active and interested in games on the school grounds, there is no room for thoughts of evil. There is no smoking, bad language, or fighting in the activities of a well-supervised playground. In reality the recess period and intermission offer possibilities for both teachers and pupils that are among the greatest in the whole round of schoo! life. The school yard in the city or rural school can be put in good condition by the pupils themselves. Equipment can be easily obtained. If it is not fur- nished a little effort on the part of the teacher will make almost anything possible. The boys and girls will gladly coéperate in providing necessar) equipment. Organized team play has no place for the coward or cheat. In team pla) each child learns that he is a part of a definite whole and that strength lies onk to | Th oth acq life pla wil Th tall pri uni ing Soc cip gal an op pl; th de CO ta su di ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 99 only in the proper coérdination of that whole. He learns to subordinate self to the interests of the team. This is the fundamental of good citizenship. The game develops a sense of fair play and consideration for the rights of others. A boy or girl who has learned to take defeat with good grace has acquired the power of self-control which will be of advantage to him through life. The development of the star athlete is not the business of the school. The play activities should be so correlated with the work of the school that they will result in better classroom work, better deportment, and better health. The supervised play should develop every child in the school physically, men- tally, and morally. At one time a questionnaire on supervised play was submitted to the principals of Denver. All who had given organized play a fair test were unanimous that supervised play is valuable in both physical and moral train- ing. The following reasons were given for supervised play on school grounds: (1) It develops a wholesome school spirit; (2) it establishes pleasant social relations between teacher and pupils; (3) lessens the problem of dis- cipline on the yard and in the classroom; (4) teaches fairness and justice in games governed by rules; (5) promotes the spirit of fair play; (6) culti- vates self-control and regard for others; (7) encourages the timid and indif- ferent; (8) eliminates bullying; (9) interests children who would be other- wise unemployed and in mischief; (10) breaks up gossiping groups of boys and girls in the yard; (11) trains in alertness and promptness; (12) de- velops the power of inhibition and volition; and (13) it affords excellent opportunity for ethical training and character building. In this report all agreed that the supervisor should see that all children played, should teach new games; teach indoor games for the home to enhance the value of the school to the community; settle disputes that arise over decisions of the umpire; see that games are suited to particular ages, physical condition, and to peculiar community Conditions; see that games already taught are understood and played correctly. Formal education will not suffer, but on the contrary by broader contacts it will be vitalized and dignified. HIS GREAT conception of America that every man should be given an equality of opportunity to take that position in the community to which he is entitled by virtue of his character and ability, is the keystone of our structure. We must preserve it as the most precious thing we possess, for when all is said and done the finer flowers of civilization do not grow from the cellars of poverty any more than they grow from the palaces of extravagance. They grow from bettering the comfort and well-being of the whole of great peoples.—Herbert Hoover, Secretary of Commerce, in the “ Nation’s Business,” June 5, 1923. THE APPLICATION OF VARIOUS METHODS TO THE TEACHING OF GEOGRAPHY MARGARET STRAHAN Principal, Lexington School, Grand Rapids, Michigan HERE was a time when the teacher would say, “ Children, close your books, and we will have our geography lesson.” Books would be closed, hands folded, and the memory recitation would begin. States would be bounded, capitals named, peninsulas and islands defined, places located, by the unthinking memoriter method. There are four methods used in the geography textbooks of today and to analyze and find the best one is our problem. The topical outline method—A topic is a content nucleus about which the subject matter may be arranged in an orderly, coherent, and comprehen- sive manner. The systematic topical organization of content presents a definite body of material. One sub-topic after another can be taken up, discussed, and definitely disposed of, also successive classes will be able to use the same organization and the work is reduced to a system. With the improvement in the technic of teaching has come a careful scrutiny of the topical outline, not only as a basis for the organization of content but as a means for economically giving the child that development as a social being which he ought to have. A common method is to place in the hands of the pupils an outline for his general guidance. Pedagogically it makes a difference how the outline is evolved. The best way is to have the outline presented and the pupils with the help of the teacher analyze, evaluate, improve, and use it. The topical outline is much abused by the study of the topics in relative isolation. For instance, in the consideration of climate, little or no attempt is made to establish control of climate on man’s activities. If a close relation can be made between the topical outline and the problem and if the pupils approach the study of a country from the life side and not isolate the physical factors, then we have the best use of the topical outline method. The type study method—Type study in geography means the selection of representative topics or features of the subject for special emphasis or detailed study, for the purpose of using them as illustrations of their class. A type should involve a wealth of detail but equal emphasis should not be placed upon all facts of geography. To make the work concrete and vivid the selection of a few situations for intensive study should be made. A liberal use of types in teaching will go far toward vitalizing the course of study. There are, however, some shortcomings to type study. It is not misleading if it describes an actual condition. It, however, becomes misleading if pupils believe that exactly the same conditions prevail with respect to all members of the class. To secure even a moderately complete and correct picture of the world requires time. As much as can be expected is to have pupils, through a type study, correctly imagine a concrete situation. [100] ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 101 The problem method—Not only for self-realization but for the social welfare, it is the business of the schools to emphasize problem work in geography teaching. A pressing practical question among teachers concerns the relation of problems to the information necessary for their solution. Among the viewpoints presented are the following: (1) The pupil should study the information first and then should be confronted with a problem that will test his ability to use the information required. (2) The pupil should have a problem first, which can be used as a motive inducing him to secure the needed information. (3) The problem should be so far related to the acquired experiences of the child that he can use them, but its solution should also involve the securing of additional information. While there may be occasions that justify the application of the first two viewpoints the third viewpoint is educationally the most promising, since the child in the same problem not only relates the problem to some of his past experiences but at the same time supplements his experiences. It has been very difficult for many teachers to get away from the topical outline. An examination of various courses of study developed from the problem standpoint indicates that the old detailed topical outline has been retained and capped with a problem, generally in the form of a question, thus the topical method has been sugar-coated with a problem. The problem method seeks to substitute scientific advancement for acci- dental advancement. True problem solving, being the most intellectualized form of action, is the most exacting work that an individual can experience, for it arouses a desire to follow out each geographic lead to its logical end ; it teaches where to seek geographic information and how to use it, and it creates an interest in all things geographic. The project method—Pupils are roughly classified into ear-minded, eye- minded, and motor-minded groups. Some learn quickly through what they hear, others by means of what they see,.and still others through what they do. By means of projects the subject of geography is vitalized, because projects involve the active and motivated participation of the pupils in carry- ing them to successful conclusions. The treatment of topics is formal, in which teachers do most of the thinking and the pupils the absorbing. Projects can originate through the problem method. It is the real need for objective illustrations that makes the problem vital. To supply the wants and needs of the pupil in an objective manner is one of the interesting missions of geography, and projects not only serve this purpose but they also help to vary the instructions. The progressive teacher of today, if she has the proper textbook, says, “ Children, open your books and we will have our geography lesson.” Prob- lems are formulated by the pupils; maps, pictures, and texts are constilted:*” and geographical facts are learned through the interpretative method. From the time of Socrates to the present day the problem method has served as the basis of clear thinking and sound reasoning, and by this method we who are interested in the teaching of geography hope to approach our ideals of training the child in a definite power to interpret the effect of geographic principles on human life. A PRINCIPAL’S OBLIGATIONS IN CHICAGO Morcan G. Hocce Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, Illinois RINCIPALS of schools are the responsible administrative heads of their respective schools and are charged with the organization, super- vision, and administration thereof. They shall establish and enforce such rules, not contrary to the rules of the Board of Education or the regulations of the Superintendent of Schools, as may in their judgment be needful for the successful contact of their schools. The above is a quotation from the Rules and Regulations of the Board of Education of the city of Chicago, now in force. They are based upon the theory that each school is an educational unit, different, perhaps from every other school in the city. It is intended that the course of study and rules adopted by the Board shall be operative in all schools, in so far as they may be applicable to the school. The children and the environment differ greatly in different parts of the city, ranging all the way from the Gold Coast, silk-stocking district, to the Ghetto, one-suit-of-underwear-all-the-year-round district. We are trying to make self-supporting, self-respecting American citizens, with initiative, force, and character in all the schools, but the differences above noted make it the opportunity, as well as the duty, of the principal to adjust the course of study and the regulations in such way as to make them most effective in the individual school. The power to establish and enforce such regulations, as may in their judgment be needful for the successful conduct of the school, is granted in order that individual initiative and responsibility may be developed and exercised. The supervisors of special subjects, such as music, physical education, household economics, and manual training who visit the schools, do so as the representatives of the superintendent, but in an advisory capacity only. They visit and inspect the work of the individual teachers and give such advice as may be helpful to individual teachers, but their official connection with the individual school is with the principal only. They are responsible to the principal while in the building. They have no administrative or execu- tive responsibilities connected with their service in the school. The princi- pal of the school is the sole person who is responsible to the superintendent of schools for the conduct of the school, not only for the way in which it carries out the course of study and the general policies of the superintendent and the board, but also as to the amount, character, and quality of the activi- ties of the school which are carried forward under the rule granting power to the principals to use their judgment. In this respect, Chicago schools differ materially from those of other large cities. Nowhere, so far as the writer knows, is so much responsibility and power placed with the principal. The principals, as a body, respond intelli- gently and sympathetically to this grant of responsibility and power. The teachers recognize the principal in this capacity, and in few cases are there any contentions or dissatisfactions arising out of what might, in some systems, be dual or triple authority in a school building. [102] UNIT-SUPERVISION VS. SUBJECT-SUPERVISION * Don C. RocGErs Special Secretary, The Chicago Principals’ Club, Chicago, Illinois Definition—Supervision is “ the direction and guidance of teaching policy and practice ”; “it is the oversight and direction of classroom activities ” ; it is ‘‘ the organization and improvement of instructional service.” In subject supervision, a corps of specialists operates on a city-wide basis. In unit supervision the principal is supervisor and his school is the unit. Purpose—The purpose of supervision is the improvement of classroom instruction, i. e., “the affording to those taught, the widest educational opportunity.” Need—(1) To integrate the work of the school ; (2) to provide training- in-service for teachers, since there are no real “ clinics”’ in normal schools and colleges of education; (3) an experiment in supervision of geography by S. A. Courtis, of Detroit, showed a 20 per cent improvement for super- vision over non-supervision. His conclusion was, “ This and similar studies show that both supervision and measurement pay big dividends,” By whom?—Principals should be responsible for the supervision work in their schools. Supervision is the principal’s most important work. Expressions by Educators John Dewey, American educational philosopher: The trouble with supervision is that there has been too much “ super ” and too little “ vision ”—too much of the “ over” and “above ” over the heads of the teachers, and much overlooking of most they are doing. Ernest Horn, professor of education at the University of Iowa and ex-president of the National Society for the Study of Education: “© As the principal is, so is the school’ is my motto.” He is responsi- ble for the morale of the school. Specialists should be available on call, and the principal needs to know when to issue a “ call.” If you cannot solve your problem through the principal, then you cannot solve it at all. The principal should head his teachers by codpera- tion and by convincing them that he is competent and sympathetic. Jesse Newlon, superintendent of schools at Denver: The supervisor must work through the principal. The principal must be a leader of his faculty in administration, professional thinking, and experimentation, and not a rubber stamp. J. F. Hosic, professor at Teachers College, Columbia: Who is the supervisor? The principal is nine tenths of the time, and rightfully so. * Condensed outline of and excerpts from a talk given before the Chicago Principals’ Club. The items in the outline represent a digest or composite of the statements of many educators, as found in the educational journals of the last two or three years. [103] 104 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION J. Cayce Morrison, of the State department of public instruction, New York: In a questionnaire to teachers, he found that teachers claimed that of the four types of supervisors—namely, assistant superintendents, heads of departments, subject supervisors, and principals, they got the most help from principals. Paul C. Packer, dean of the College of Education, University of Iowa, and ex-assistant superintendent of schools at Detroit: Supervisors should work through the principals. The principal is of longer tenure; he is there long enough to carry out a program; he can see that there is a rounded-out development; he is in charge of a building and its esprit de corps (one cannot conceive of a subject esprit de corps). T. W. Gosling, superintendent of schools at Madison: If supervision is to be adequate, it must be done by the principals. The most effective method of securing adequate supervision is to exalt the office of principal, to invest the principal with greater responsibility, and to exact in return a larger measure of initiative, of leadership, and of helpfulness. Under a system of special subject supervisors, principals tend to ga stale and lose their enthusiasm. Charles L. Spain, deputy-superintendent of schools at Detroit: Principals are the officials responsible for instructional conditions within a building. No principal is expected to have as expert knowledge of the content and teaching technique of the various subjects as a supervisor or to be able to train teachers as well in their uses. However, principals are expected to have such general knowledge of the teaching technique and of the content of the various subjects as to give’ general direction and assistance to teachers, to judge of the quality of work done, and to direct the teacher to the sources of information, or examples of good teaching within the building, or within the district. Charles D. Lowry, district superintendent, Chicago: The policy (in Chicago) is to leave in the hands of the principal the putting into action of the policies of the school system. This freedom imposes great responsibility and makes large demands on the energy of one who accepts it. This freedom has its disadvantages, but, the total result we believe to be good. Out of it has developed a high degree of initiative, an elastic organization, and a fine spirit of codperation among all grades of the school. In case of subject supervision, the teachers in each high school will cease to owe allegiance to the principal. . Cubberley, dean of the College of Education, Stanford University: The best supervisory organization cannot make strong schools where principals are weak and inefficient, while a strong and capable principal can develop a strong school even in cities where the general supervisory organization is weak and the professional interest of teachers is low. The mere fact that helpful supervision is so predominantly personal in its nature and methods gives to the office of school principal large poten- tial importance. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Worth McClure, assistant to the superintendent of schools, Seattle: The trouble with subject supervision is that the balance of emphasis amongst the various subjects is more apt to be determined by the com- parative ability of the supervisor than the educational demands of the community or the individual school. It is not expected that the principal shall be equipped with the tech- nical training for supervising “ special” branches; his is a broader type of service. M. B. Hillegas, professor of education at Teachers College, Columbia: There should be no necessity to interpose supervisory officers between the principal and the teachers in his school. Good policy requires that the principal be held responsible for the achievement of his school. If the school is a success it should be an evidence of his success; if it is a failure it should likewise indicate his failure. Training for supervision—Formerly there were few collegiate courses in supervision. Now most colleges of education and many normal schools offer courses in supervision as part of their regular work during the academic year and during the summer session. It is better for the principal’s training in supervision to be broad, rather than minute. His training will enable him to see when it ‘is necessary to call in experts for advice. He must maintain a balance, a symmetrical devel- opment, in the educational efforts of his school. Relation of supervising-principal to central office—There should be no hide-bound hierarchy—superintendent to district-superintendent, to princi- pal, to teacher, to pupil—with formal red-tape exactions. Rather, as Mr. Hosic has said, it should be a “ codperative undertaking,” a voluntary arrangement spurred on by common purposes and common needs. Some guidance and suggestions from the central office may be helpful, but too much tends to paternalism in the school system and destroys initiative and morale of the individual schools. Some sort of records should be avail- able for use at the central office. Summary—(1) Supervision pays big dividends; (2) principal-supervision is much more effective than subject-supervision; (3) supervision is the principal’s most important work; (4) the best supervisors are well trained ; and (5) the administrative side of supervision should be the result of a “ codperative undertaking.” ‘The initiative lies in the hands of the principal. He is the leader. HE SUPPLY of the First Yearbook, The Technique of Supervision by the Elementary School Principal, is entirely exhausted. The headquarters office in Washington still receives occasional requests from libraries and students for this Yearbook. The Department will pay the list price, $1.25 each, for copies of this Yearbook in good condition. Address Courtland V. Davis, Treasurer, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. THE TEACHER AS A STUDENT James F. Hosic Associate Professor of Education in charge of Extramural Courses Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City PROFESSION, according to Palmer, is an occupation upon which one enters only after a long period of rigorous preparation. Judged by this standard, teaching in America is still, for the majority of those employed in the common schools, only a job. By comparison medicine is a long way in advance. The average physician is said to be about thirty-seven years of age. He completed five years of college work. He earns over four thousand dollars a year. He has had eleven years of practical experience. Even the humblest of his colleagues was required to pursue a college course for at least one year before beginning his professional study, to say nothing of the professional training itself. ‘The chances are at least equal that he is a member of the American Medical Association, and he is certain to be a subscriber to one or more journals of medicine. Comparison with teaching is not complimentary. The majority of the teachers in our public schools entered upon their work with no professional training at all other than that acquired by being themselves pupils in the schools. The average salary earned by them is between six and seven hun- dred dollars. The average practical experience is less than five years. At least one teacher in nine is a beginner. Only a minor fraction of our teachers belong to the National Education Association or subscribe to a professional journal. The fact that it is the teaching population of the rural schools that brings the average down to such figures but serves to emphasize the gravity of the situation. The inference to be drawn is obvious. A vast army of young persons enter upon the work of teaching year by year who are inadequatel) equipped for their task. If the lack is ever to be made up, it must be while they are in service. But the necessity of study and improvement ‘is not confined to the raw recruits. America is not a land where “ custom slowly broadens down from precedent to precedent,” but rather a country wherein “ nothing constant is but ever change.”’ The pace is rapid. Scientific investigation and experi ment, together with the transformation of social conditions, is ever ushering in the New Education. The new school demands the new schoolmaster. The teacher and the school officer alike must invest new capital, no matte! what degree he holds nor from what alma mater, each must still play the student. He can not justly say, “ I have completed my preparation. Behold the finished educator!” This is now generally recognized. Since the turning of the century an amazing development has taken place. Summer schools are now as common as blackberries and enormous in attendance. During the school term whole school systems are organized into study classes. Extension departments rival [106] ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 107 resident apartments in enrolments. Lecturers go everywhere. Meetings multiply. There is a very fever of activity. The era of training in service need no longer be prayed for. It is here. , The problem of the hour is not to induce teachers to seek improvement ; it is rather to provide more effective means. Continuity—Programs of improvement are at present too spasmodic and too fragmentary. We live from day to day. We hold revivals. We run after the most advertised nostrums and lose balance and perspective. There is confusion of values and cynicism sometimes follows upon a naive enthusiasm. Leaders must plan ahead. Instead of mass meetings, with miscellaneous programs, each chairman vying with his predecessor in the brilliance and variety of imported “ talent” which he secures, carefully unified programs should be prepared in sequence from year to year. Serious study of educa- tional problems and policies should replace the all too common annual brain- storm and periodical miscellany. This reform is needed at each stage, from the individual teacher’s own plan of self-improvement to the work of the National Association itself. I will venture but one definite suggestion—namely, how the State educa- tional association might function. Assuming that there is a central body of representatives, | would urge that these representatives with the help of experts and the codperation of the State school officers, lay out a program of study and improvement for the year. This should be fully set forth and interpreted in the State educational journal. Here the specialists should assist. A systematic follow-up should be instituted through district meeting and local circles. The State secretary and editor of the State journal has in such a scheme an opportunity of leadership unlimited in its possibilities, as some have already demonstrated. Orientation—We must strive to see education steadily and see it whole. In our eagerness for a technique which shall have a scientific sanction we must not neglect to cultivate an educational philosophy, a central viewpoint to which all details may be related and subordinated. Are children living or only preparing for life? If they have now the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, how shall that life be characterized? How shall it be controlled? And is the ideal of democracy so clear and so settled in the minds of all teachers that it needs no exposition? We cannot honestly say yes to all of those questions. Better orientation is everywhere needed, more emphasis on foundation principles, wider knowledge of the steps by which we have come out of the past into the present. Such knowledge cannot be grasped early. It is “ years that give the phil- osophic mind.” Even in the more favored centers the normal colleges can hope to make only a beginning of orientation. The nature and purpose of education requires life-long study. The newer educational psychology is comparatively simple, objective, and verifiable. Familiarity with it is, however, by no means universal, and even if it were, the application of it to the actual life of the school requires a long period of constant effort and experiment. 108 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION Upon these two, philosophy and psychology, the theory of method must mainly rest. Without them method is but rule of thumb, unanalyzed habit, imitation, or a mere set of devices and procedures whose real value is unknown. Recently, moreover, the educational laboratories have developed a very considerable body of objective measures of ability and attainment. Their use is rapidly becoming general. What place should they in fact occupy? What use should the classroom teacher make of them? Precisely what significance should be attached to the results obtained by them. These are current ques- tions. They grow more troublesome every day; soon every teacher will feel obliged to face them. Add to all of this the ferment over the selection of subject matter and its embodiment in courses, books, and material which is always among us, as well as a constantly growing insistence on extra-curricular activities, and you have a truly serious and imposing task, which only such continuous policies as have been already suggested can cope with. Differentiation—But we must also differentiate; more and more the teacher becomes a specialist. Side by side with the opportunity to master principles capable of general application must be created opportunity to gain a firmer grasp of the problems peculiar to pupils of different ages, different capacities, different interests, different environments. Nor should all teachers be lumped together as in need of the same instruc- tion, assistance, and opportunity for improvement. Recognition, as several have proposed, of ranks through which teachers might pass is at least worthy of trial. The beginner would thus be distinguished from the experienced worker. The master teacher or expert would rank still higher and might become an expert trainer of those less cumpetent. Many school systems, many supervisors, and a few summer schools observe these distinctions, but there is still too much herding in flocks regardless of actual needs. Balance of academic and professional study—In general, teachers are quite as much in need of more scholarship as of better aims and better technique. The tendency on the part of teachers in service is clearly away from subject matter courses. They want to study education, particularly method. Obvi- ously a person of limited experience with life is in no position to lead others into a deep and rich experience with it. American teachers in general are undoubtedly clever and superficial, rather than scholarly. Now that the need of professional training is widely felt and is rapidly becoming required, we can afford to stimulate renewed attention to subject matter. Failure to do this will certainly result in a harmful reaction against the study of the processes of education. Indeed, proper attention to the processes which the student himself employs in the study of history, geography, science, and the arts will often afford a better grasp of method than a more direct but isolated attack. Caution in commending the results of scientific investigation—Research is the hope of the future. It alone can give us a science of education. But the way of science is long. Experiments must be tried again and again before we can be sure of their significance. Too many investigators in education ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 109 forget this. They rush into print at the first opportunity, not in a sober, scientific way, but with the zeal of reformers. Instead of reporting tentative conclusions for other scientists, they write propaganda for teachers. The effect is bad. Teachers are urged one year to teach no silent reading in the primary grades, while the next year they are advised to the contrary. Some of our young savants are too cocksure. If they had more practical experience, they would be more cautious. Those concerned with the improvement of teachers in service, however much they may favor research, must help to check some of these young enthusiasts. Otherwise there will be confusion, waste, and reaction. “Teach- ing will always be an art, and art requires imagination, sympathy, and skill born of long practice. It can never be reduced to a formula. Supervision, the chief agency—Of the numerous agencies for the improve- ment of teachers now in action supervision is far the most important. Indeed, upon it depends in large measure the effectiveness of all the others. For the supervision is closest to the situation. He can best decide what help is most needed. He can best provide for continuity and for individual needs. Above all, he can harmonize academic with professional interests and insure the putting of new equipment to good use. Fortunately supervision is becoming recognized as a separate and distinct function. Its importance is generally conceded. It is becoming a profession and definite qualifications are required for it. The technique demanded is of the same type and rests upon the same principles as the best of modern teaching—namely, the technique of group management. The true supervisor is a leader. He arouses enthusiasm for the goal. He inspires and directs the search for the sure and direct road toward it. The continued growth and well-being of his colleagues is his constant care, nor does he ever forget that example is more powerful that precept. Hence he is always himself the judicious student. Coéperation between teachers and supervisors and the wise use by them of books and periodicals, summer schools, extension classes, opportunities for travel and observation, conference, and investigation, these are the means by which the too general lack of maturity, scholarship, and professional train- ing among teachers of which we are all so conscious, shall be made up. The principal and supervisor are pivotal. ‘The immediate future of teaching is largely in their hands. And even if we had all the training schools we could wish for, their work would needs go on. The question of academic degrees—Recently many administrators have thought it wise to reward the attainment of academic degrees by salary increases. The practice involves grave perils, especially where degrees are given undue weight in determining the teacher’s desert. Already we hear of young things from college going upon the schedule far in advance of mature teachers whose efficiency is unquestioned. This reflects a childlike faith in the value of college training as a preparation for teaching. At the least it passes on to the college the responsibility for judging the merit of the teacher. It certainly places the principal outside of the picture. 110 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Let us at least invoke the saving grace of the phrase, “ other things being equal.” It will certainly prove as unwise to rate teachers according to their academic standing as to classify wholly by an intelligence test. All existing factors must be taken into account. All the teacher’s study will be vain if it does not deepen his devotion. Professor Palmer declared that he could afford to pay Harvard College for the privilege of teaching in it. Such loyalty alone can make the greatest teachers possible. Somehow we must commend our profession to the ablest in every community as a career. We must induce the choicest spirits among us to dedicate their lives to the work of education. And we must all of us year by year renew our vows. We must study to serve. ARITHMETIC TECHNIQUE D. E. McCracken Principal, Manierre School, Chicago, Illinois O THOSE of us who have labored through long nights of waiting, the promise of relief through the Britten-Ladd bill, now before Con- gress, which provides for the gradual adoption of the metric system in the United States, seems like the dawn which we have so anxiously awaited. Individually and collectively, we who are vitally interested in the improve- ment of our mathematics and who would lift from it a large part of the heavy burden it has borne so long and patiently should get behind this measure, support it, push it, and boost it to the finish. The pressure on our educational system is so great and increasing that there can be no justifiable excuse for loading down our mathematics, which at best requires a considerable portion of the school day, with the heavy bur- den of an antiquated, illogical system of tables of weights and measures, which make the achievements in mathematics fall below normal, and at the same time militate against other studies in the curriculum by demanding time that should be spent on them. Like the helpless child for whom we have suffered and borne so much, and who, therefore, is the dearest of all, this mathematical moron has endeared itself to many’of us through our commu- nion of labor and suffering; but all morons, even mathematical morons, are due for labelling and disposition, so now is the auspicious time for concerted and aggressive action to put ourselves on a par with Continental Europe in the field of mathematics, wherein we are admitted laggards. There has been a general feeling abroad that the teaching of mathematics or at least the achievement in mathematics is below that of other studies. Personally, I think this is not so. Mathematics being an exact science, we have been able to determine therein exactly how much the pupils do not know, which, in any study, continually shocks the uninitiated, but which cannot be so definitely and exactly labelled as in mathematics. Further- more, in no other study is the system, so often used in arithmetic, of marking problems according to answers only, followed. If one should write a credit- able thesis and be marked zero because of having misspelled a few words or ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 111 even having made some grammatical errors we should be horrified, but we take it for granted that zero should be given if an addition is not correct. Now, I am not entirely certain that zero should not be so given, but I do feel that, therefore, we must establish different mark standards in arithmetic, to be specific, from what we have in English, geography, and history. Prob- ably 50 should be adopted as a passing mark with 70 as a good mark and 85 as excellent; then we could establish some uniform system of grading which does not now exist. At present a pupil who is expected to pass is given 75 through some vague means, which, in a definite study like arithmetic wherein he estimates himself mathematically, he soon begins to despise. Let us put our mark down to where we can expect some measure of attainment and then enforce some measure of responsibility therefor; thus we might develop a real sense of self-evaluation. Standard achievement in the fundamentals and reasoning ability are the two aims of our arithmetic. These, while interdependent, should be kept to a large degree independent. Although we teach long division, even with remainders, in the fourth grade, thought problems should not require such complications ; and although pupils can do fractions and divide decimals that do not come out exact and figure interest in days, and so on: ad nauseam, thought problems involving such numbers should not be given, at least at first, end never to any considerable extent. Children will do mathematical stunts, so to speak, in the way of exercises, and get more or less enjoyment out of them, but even the proficient ones are averse to wading through a mire of figures in a problem which requires thought. They feel, and rightly so, that they have accomplished the purpose in view, and won the game, when they have mastered the thought, and are little interested in the aftermath. Problems should be alive, founded on the experience content of the pupils, and embrace simple combinations of numbers, so that one can easily tell whether the thought or the mathematical complications are troubling the failures. The interest wanes as the thought lags, and even the thought is impaired by intermittances, just as we have found, in silent reading, that the slower reader is usually the poorer of comprehension. Formal methods of presentation and answers can be and are largely over- done, thus: ‘‘ If 2 apples cost 5 cents, what will 4 apples cost?” Answer: “Tf 2 apples cost 5 cents, then 4 apples will cost 10 cents.” Quick, alert, active minds rebel, perhaps somewhat unconsciously, at this. The thought outruns the form, and if a child, after being given a certain form of state- ment of any problem, refuses mentally to accept it, but can solve the problem for himself, he should not be persecuted with a set form of statement. Even the language gained therefrom is questionable as the whole affair is so stilted and unnatural. Arithmetic should be directed more toward geometrical ideas of space and measurement than to mere abstract numbers. The graph can be made practical and useful, and scale drawing can be used both as an end in itself and as an entrance into the idea of calculating by scale, which is frequently very practical. The scale notion is one of representation and so is the father of the equation and the formula, all of which cen be introduced very wisely 112 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION in the seventh and eighth grades. With the advent of the metric system, and a trend to the geometrical side of mathematics alongside of the purel) arithmetical, much happier classes will result and much better achievements in less time. Again, the big thing is the metric system, alongside of which all else appears small. WORK-STUDY-PLAY SCHOOLS IN BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA J. D. WitiraMs Principal, Woodland School, Birmingham, Alabama HE work-study-play plan of organization in Birmingham had its begin- ning in the South Highland school in 1919. J. H. Phillips, then super- intendent of schools, and Principal T. C. Young, of the South Highland school, finding the building crowded and seeing no immediate prospects of additional classrooms, made a careful study of the Gary and other plans of organization. The result was a reorganization of the school along the lines of the Gary plan modified to suit the building and other conditions found in the South Highland school. As in most cases, the plan brought many new problems and did not work smoothly at first. Principal Young was not discouraged and Dr. Phillips had faith in the plan. The second semester the work was much more nearl) satisfactory than the first, and both principal and superintendent were assured of the success of the plan in the South Highland school. During these four years the plan has steadily grown in favor and now pupils, teachers, patrons, principal, superintendent, and friends are united in their opinion that this is a better plan of organization than the conventional form. Last year a vote of the people indicated that they were not ready to issue bonds to raise money to erect new school buildings, and enlarge and remode! the old ones. Superintendent C. B. Glenn, successor to J. H. Phillips, in his efforts to take care of the increased enrolment without an increase in class- rooms, began talking work-study-play schools. A number of the principals became interested and began a careful study of the plan at once. Principal H. Conway Smith reorganized the Martin school on the work- study-play plan at the beginning of the second semester. Three of the Bir- mingham principals attended the meeting of the Department of Superinten- dence which met in Cleveland, that they might be present at the conference on work-study-play schools, called and planned by U. S. Commissioner John J. Tigert. These principals also visited schools in Akron and Detroit. They returned to Birmingham more interested than ever and made it a point to interest other principals. Superintendent C. B. Glenn was interested all the while. He, too, attended and had a part in the conference called by Commissioner Tigert. He knew, however, that our buildings were not adapted to the work-study- play plan and only encouraged the principals in their study. He realized ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 113 that many difficulties would arise because of the ill-adapted buildings. He also knew that if a principal came to him with a request to be permitted to try out the plan, that principal would come nearer making a whole- hearted success of it than he would if the order went out from the superin- tendent’s office. He wanted the plan sold to the principal before it was adopted in the school. As a result of this interest and study, fourteen additional principals asked the privilege of reorganizing their schools on the work-study-play plan on the opening of school in September. Many of these principals had spent their summer at universities preparing themselves for the reorganization. At this time sixteen schools, fifteen white and one negro, have the work- study-play plan in operation, although not one of the buildings was erected with this plan in mind, and very few of the buildings had auditoriums and not one had an adequate gymnasium. Not one of the schools is in any measure discouraged, or ready to consider a return to the conventional form of organization. , Many teachers were discouraged the first week or two. Many of the patrons thought that the schools had gone wild even under experienced prin- cipals in whom they had confidence. The change was so great that it was a real shock. A pupil had been accustomed to one teacher all day. He re- ported to her in the morning, recited to her all day, and came to feel that to him his teacher was almost the whole school. Under the new plan he had six or seven teachers. He spent one period with a teacher and then passed to another. The teacher who kept his record of attendance and was with him at the opening exercises of the day taught him only one subject. He passed and repassed down the halls. He was allowed to talk to other pupils in passing. He had half an hour a day extra free play. Is it any wonder that some were almost drunk with freedom and mistook it for license? Is it any wonder that some began to give trouble and that parents became disturbed ? This condition did not last. Most of the pupils appreciated the change at once. They were ready to shoulder the responsibility that goes with liberty. They not only entered heartily into the spirit of the movement and the plan, but made it clear to the troublesome fellows that they were going to help keep them in line. The new school was not nearly so tiresome. There was more action, more interest, more play and very little, if any more, work. At least they were satisfied to give the plan a trial. This plan of organization does not remove the troublesome pupils. They are always with us and probably always will be. But with this plan we are going to be able to enlist the codperation of more pupils than in the conven- tional plan for the very reasons mentioned. The number of troublesome fellows will be reduced. Pupils will readily see that we are doing more to prepare them for active participation in community, State, and National affairs. This probably is the greatest benefit arising to the pupils from this organization. We are all beginning to realize that school is life and not a preparation for life. Certainly we find it easier to get the pupils to see that the school is for the pupils and not for the teachers. 114 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION We have scarcely two schools using the same schedule. Every principal has tried to adapt the plan to the teachers assigned to him and to the other con- ditions. We have all the way from ten to twenty-four sections in the platoon according to the size of the school. The senior first may be included or as high as the senior third may be left out. It is generally conceded, however, that the plan works better when the first and second grades are not included in the platoon or the regular schedule of the work-study-play plan. Again various combinations are made. In some schools, auditorium and library are combined under one teacher; in some, library with literature. Music with drawing is one combination, also music with literature, and drawing with literature. Combinations are made to suit the teachers available. In the Woodlawn school, with an enrolment of 650 pupils, we have twelve sections in the platoon or work-study-play plan. The first, second, and junior third are not included, We combine auditorium with library under one teacher. She has only one section at the time and gives three periods a week to auditorium and two to library. We combine music with literature and drawing with literature. Music and drawing are taught in the mornings on alternate days. Literature comes every afternoon, one teacher having the lower grades and the other the higher. One teacher has charge of the physical education, but is assisted by the manual training and by the domestic science teachers. All sections report to the gymnasium twice every day, except on the days they take manual training and domestic science, and when a teacher finds that a class needs time for study. Frequently the upper grades spend one of these periods at supervised study. This plan calls for two classes to be under the one teacher the greater part of the time. She arranges to have one class in the gymnasium and the other at free play in the yard when the weather is at all suitable. In bad weather one of the classes reports to the lunch room for study. Nor do we spend the whole period in the gymnasium with the class. We give them a short period of formal exercise and then take them to the yard or give them a play period inside. With us school opens at 8.20 and the work begins at 8.30. We close at 3.00. This gives us thirteen periods of one half hour each, or twelve periods for work and one for lunch. In order to accommodate all of our pupils in a small lunch room we let the primary pupils go to lunch at 11.25, the odd sections of the platoon at 11.30, and the even sections at 12.00. The even sections are with the special teachers when the 11.30 bell rings. These pupils return to the home room and the pupils who are in home rooms pass out to lunch. The special teachers lunch at this time also. At 12.00 these special teachers and pupils return to work and the even numbered classes go to lunch with home-room teachers. At 12.30 all the school is back at work. The work-study-play plan has its disadvantages but it certainly has some outstanding advantages. One of these I have already mentioned—the training in self-control and the sharing of responsibility. Many teachers have never given their pupils any part in the control and government of their classes. It is much easier to control than to guide and direct pupil control. and det dev ope beg 3.01 upc eve pro the the see r gol we see! abc by abl ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 115 This plan of organization provides the opportunity and the necessity for this student participation. The auditorium period provides the finest kind of opportunity to develop the kind of organization that will carry over into community life. Education Week, Safety Week, and Clean-Up Week are auditorium subjects that should develop into community interests. A second distinct advantage arises from the time given to physical exer- cise and free play. The plan provides definite periods and much more time than has been devoted to this subject in the conventional school. Five or six hours spent in one seat with very little opportunity to move around or even to have a stretching exercise, is enough to give many children nervous prostration. Children need exercise and lots of it. Teachers forget that a child has “ A thousand nerves to make him wiggle and not one to help him keep still.” We plan definite physical education, definite exercises with definite ends and lots of free play. We are getting results. Then we have added new subjects not included in the conventional school. Literature, science, library, and auditorium are new subjects, or most of them are. When well worked out and teachers prepared with material in hand the curriculum will be greatly enriched. To provide the time for these new subjects the day was made longer. Realizing that much of this work must be done by inexperienced teachers and that some of it is still in the experimental stage, the superintendent determined to find time for these subjects without encroaching upon the time devoted to the major subjects. The schools formerly opened at 8.30, held the opening exercises and began class work at 8.45. Now we open at 8.20 and begin work at 8.30. Before the change we closed at 2.00. Now we close at 3.00. We have gained seventy-five minutes a day. Nor is this day harder upon pupils or teachers. We have arranged a rest period each day for every teacher which is a genuine relief for her. The more interesting program with the play and other changes has made the day seem shorter to the pupils. A representative of one of the local papers asked a boy how he liked the longer day. The reply was, “ The day is really longer but it does not seem near so long.” The manager of a motion picture theater came to me and asked if we were going to continue to hold school till three o’clock. He said that he might as well close up as the late hours would ruin his business. Another manager, seeing the superintendent passing, remarked that he was the man who was about to put the motion picture business out of Birmingham. We believe that by combining our visual education with science and auditorium we shall be able to give the pupils just about the motion pictures they need. We realize that in adopting the work-study-play plan we must not swing too far. The personal interest of the teacher in her own pupils and of the pupils in their own teacher is a real and valuable thing. It must not be lost. Pupils must not become mere numbers. The teacher knows every pupil in her class. She knows the homes, the friends, the interests. She watches them as they leave her, as they go on to high school, as they go into life’s activities. This knowledge and interest and love is a constant incentive to success for 116 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION those pupils. In the work-study-play school the home-room teacher holds this place. True she has them but half of each day but she has them a whole year instead of half a year as before. She is the steady, strong, fine character who will follow them to their special classes and check up on their work and conduct throughout the day and the year. It will take us some time to convince all the patrons that the plan is good. Some will always contend that, “ the good old days are the best.” Some are well-established against any reforms of any kind. A member of a school board once said to a superintendent who was contemplating introducing manual training into the schools, “ You teach my boy the regular school subjects and I'll teach him to work in the shop.” After visiting the schools of a nearby city with a committee and seeing the success attained in that department he said, ““ Mr. Superintendent, I’ll help you now. I have been against you, I’m for you now.” We shall find it necessary to show many of the patrons and some, though convinced, will be of the same opinion still. We are probably not in a position to pass judgment as to the success of the plan in Birmingham yet. However, the teachers of the Woodlawn school are satisfied already that we are getting better results than we were under the conventional plan. We were told that there would be a considerable loss of time in the organization, probably nearly half a year. We feel that we have lost much less than half a year. One of the best and most dependable teachers told me a few days ago that her pupils had lost nothing by the change, that they are fully as well prepared with the work as any other class she has had. Another teacher who was not at all enthusiastic over the change at first said, “ It is going to be a success. I would not be willing to return to the old plan of organization.” This is not only the feeling of the teachers but of the pupils and most of the patrons. ETHICS FOR TEACHERS HE Missouri State Teachers’ Association adopted the following code of ethics in November, 1921, according to a letter from its secretary, Mr. E. M. Carter. The Committee on. Professional Standards and Ethics of the Missouri State Teachers’ Association has prepared this code as an application of fun- damental principles to the teacher’s relation to the profession, individually, and to the community and to fellow-teachers professionally. As teachers in the various school districts of Missouri, we must pledge ourselves faithfully to live up to the standards that are set up and approved by our State association. 1. We hold that the profession of teaching stands for ideals, service, and leadership. Any teacher’s position is ‘more than a work of personal remuneration. 2. We believe that the highest obligation of every member of the teach- ing profession is due to those who are under the teacher’s professional care. 3. We insist that every teacher should be a progressive student of educa- tion and should regard teaching as a profession and a career. The “ one- ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 117 year” teacher is not to be commended—that is, the “ I-am-going-to-teach- just-one-year-so-it-does-not-matter-whether-I-succeed-or-fail ” type. 4. We hold that teachers in act and conversation should so govern them- selves that the profession be given the confidence of the public. 5. We regard the schools as a democracy in which there is coéperation in the management of the schools on the part of the school board, superinten- dent, principal, supervisor, and teacher. The superintendent should be recog- nized as the professional leader. Each teacher should have the opportunity to assist in solving professional problems. When a plan is decided upon it should be given the loyal support of all. 6. We recommend “ equal salarics for equal service to all teachers of equivalent training, experience, and success.” 7. To attain the maximum efficiency to enable the teacher to live upon a scale befitting his place in society, to permit the necessary expenditures for professional improvement, and to make proper provision for those depen- dent upon him, and for himself in his old age. 8. We believe that a teacher should take no steps towards a specific posi- tion until he knows the position is vacant. 9. We hold that it is unprofessional for a teacher to violate a contract. Unless the consent of the school board is obtained releasing the obligation the contract should be fulfilled. 10. We believe that every teacher should loyally support the State-wide movement to secure a new constitution for Missouri and that every effort be put forth to secure constitutional provision for the pensioning of teachers who have given years of faithful service to the cause of education. 11. We hold that no teacher should apply for, or accept a position, the former occupant of which has been dismissed without just cause. 12. Finally we hold that every progressive teacher should not only be a member of his community organization, district and State associations, but also of the National Education Association. ‘This fellowship tends to encour- age growth and makes for that codperation and understanding which char- acterize teaching as a real profession. ROSTER OF PRINCIPALS’ CLUB OFFICERS'* Buffalo, New York—Elementary School Principals’ Council President, Milford Kleis, School 28, Abbott Road and Triangle Canton, Ohio—Canton Principals’ Club Correspondent, Katharine Mansfield, Cedar School Cedar Rapids, Ilowa—’* Principals’ Association . President, Estelle Swem, Roosevelt Junior High School Chicago, Illinois—Chicago Principals’ Club President, Rose A. Pesta, 64 East Van Buren Street Vice-President, Daniel J. Beeby, 64 East Van Buren Street Treasurer, W. J. Harrower, 64 East Van Buren Street Secretary, Robert G. Jeffrey, 64 East Van Buren Street Special Secretary, Don C. Rogers, 64 East Van Buren Street Cincinnati, Ohio—Elementary School Principals’ Club President, C. H. Porter, Washington School Vice-President, D. L. Runyan, Hoffman School Secretary, Edith A. Hill, Horace Mann School Treasurer, C. F. Hanselman, Washburn School Cleveland, Ohio—Principals’ Club President, M. Emma Brookes, Chesterfield School Vice-President, Clara Mayer, Milford School Secretary, Martha A. Stewart, East Madison School Treasurer, Alice Carothers, Union School Collingswood, New Jersey— Principals’ Association President, Carl M. White, 230 Knight Avenue Columbus, Ohio—Principals’ Club President, Carl D. Washburn, 11th Avenue Junior High School Dallas, Texas—Principals’ and Supervisors’ Association President, L. V. Stockard, 5315 Fremont Street Vice-President, Mamie Boone, 132 East 12th Street Secretary, Stella Buckmaster, 4924 Bryan Street Treasurer, John M. Fouts, 123 North Rosemont Street Denver, Colorado—Principals’ Club President, Jessie M. Hamilton, Morey Junior High Vice-President, J. W. Ellison, Gilpin School Secretary, Elizabeth S. Feltner, Teller School Treasurer, George M. McMeen, Elmwood School Detroit, Michigan—Schoolmen’s Club President, James Lake, 9917 Waterloo Vice-President, Warren Bow, 2927 W. Grand Boulevard Secretary, Herbert Schell, 155 Tyler Treasurer, Casswell Munro, 2903 Montgomery Detroit, Michigan—Women’s Principals’ Club President, Alice Robison, 103 Hazelwood Vice-President, Mabel Redman, 75 Avalon, Highland Park Secretary, Irene Marshall, 71 Garfield Treasurer, Anna Charbonneau, 2942 Cass Dorchester, Massachusetts— Presidents of Local Principals’ Association President, Leonard M. Patton, Master, Edward Everett School, Pleasant Street El Paso, Texas—Principals’ Club Correspondent, Alma Swann, 806 N. Ange, Apt. 6 1Compiled by Don C. Rogers, special secretary of the Chicago Principals’ Club. ?-Mr. Arthur Gist gave data on cities marked “?”. an two cases members of clubs with whon correspondence had been carried on are given as “ Correspondents.’ af In a few cases when the exact title of the club was not given, the words “ Principals’ Club” were used. [118] ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Grand Rapids, Michigan—Principals’ Club President, Mrs. Jeanette Brown, Diamond School Secretary and Treasurer, Miss Carrie Plank, Pine School Indianapolis, Indiana—Principals’ Club President, E. U. Graff, Superintendent of Schools, 150 N. Meridian Street Vice-President, Ellsworth Lowry Secretary and Treasurer, J. F. Thornton, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 150 N. Meridian Street Kansas City, Missouri—Elementary School Principals’ Association President, Lucy J. Smoot, Norman School, 36th and Summit First Vice-President, M. J. Patterson, Irving School Secretary, B. T. Ritter, Mount Washington School, Mount Washington Corresponding Secretary, Anna H. Egan, Webster School Treasurer, Victor J. Chedester, Martin School Los Angeles, California—The Principals’ Club of the Los Angeles City Elementary Schools, 413 Lissner Building President, Mary C. Flynn Vice-President, W. F. Hughes Treasurer, Charles J. Fox Secretary, Ethelda A. Drake Louisville, Kentucky—Presidents of Local Principals’ Association President, George T. Ragsdale, Louisville High School Milwaukee, Wisconsin—Principals’ Association President, Reinhard H. Ruhnke, Mineral Street School Vice-President, Mae Moffet, Hartford Avenue School Secretary, Edwin G. Luening, Maryland Avenue School Treasurer, Annette Kottnauer, Walker Street School Newark, New Jersey—Public School Principals’ Association President, Warren A. Roe, Belmont Avenue School Vice-President, George A. Brinkerhoff, Webster Street School Secretary, Harry F. Stauffer, Franklin School Treasurer, John B. Hambright, Washington Street School Financing Secretary, John S. Herron, South Market Street School New York City—New York Principals’ Association President, Sara L. Rhodes, Public School 28, roor Herkimer Street, Brooklyn Vice-President, Rufus A. Vance, Public School 148, 185 Ellery Street, Brooklyn Secretary, Mary Conway, Public School 15, Grant Street and Park Avenue, Tompkinsville, S. I. Treasurer, Henry E. Hein, Public School 40, 1385 Prospect Avenue, Bronx Philadelphia, Pennsylvania— Presidents of Local Principals’ Association President, Thomas Groetzinger, Principal, William Cullen Bryant School, 6oth and Cedar Avenue Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania—Pittsburgh Principals’ Club President, E. W. Cober, 1419 Elm Street, Wilkinsburg Vice-President, Louise Blessing, 4837 Lytle Street, Pittsburgh Secretary, Mark X. Young, 3829 Wealth Street, Pittsburgh Treasurer, Joseph A. Schartung, 554 Dawson Avenue, Bellevue Portland, Oregon—Portland Principals’ Association President, C. E. Ferguson, 829 77th Street, Northeast Vice-President, H. B. Blough, Portsmouth School Secretary, N. A. Baker, 343-46th East Treasurer, Cornelia J. Spencer, Portland Hotel San Diego, California—Principals’ Club President, C. H. Shellbach, 1653 Sixth Street Vice-President, Adele M. Outcalt, 3738 Tenth Street Secretary-Treasurer, Frank Y. Van Valin, 4354 Witherby Street San Francisco, California—* Presidents of Local Principals’ Association President, J. P. Nourse, Superintendent of Schools 120 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Seattle, Washington—Seattle Principals’ Association President, Frank D. Mcllravy, Gatewood School Vice-President, Jessie M. Lockwood, John Muir School Treasurer, Roy S. Lipscomb, I. I. Stevens School St. Joseph, Missouri—Principals’ Club President, Emma O. Mumm, Hosea School Vice-President, Mabel White, Sherwood School Secretary, Cecil Crawford, Noyes School Treasurer, Clarence Carpenter, Neely School St. Louis, Missouri—Elementary School Principals’ Association President, J. S. Nants, 3810 Shaw Avenue Vice-President, William H. Schlueter, Fremont School, 2840 Wisconsin Avenue Secretary, Mary A. Thompson, 1111 McCausland Avenue Treasurer, Nellie K. Lewis, 3863 Juniata Avenue Superior, Wisconsin—Superior Principals’ Club President, A. T. Conrad, East High School Secretary, John H. Andrews, A. J. Webster School, Itasca Station Treasurer, Agnes Bury, William Cullen Bryant School, Station B. Washington, D. C:—Principals’ Association of the Graded White Schools of Washington, D. C. President, M. Florence Gore, Corcoran School Vice-President, Helen G. Nichols, Brightwood School Financial Secretary, R. A. Dugan, Pierce School - Treasurer, Mary Lackey, Dennison School Recording Secretary, Viola Offutt, Eaton School CONSTITUTION AND RULES OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS— ADOPTED 1921 Preamble GREAT majority of our future citizens receive all their formal edu- cation in the elementary school. To it is intrusted the physical, mental, and moral training of the child during its tenderest years, and to it we must look for that basic training upon which all future education must rest. Educators everywhere, our Federal, State, and local governments also are realizing more and more the responsibility placed upon the elementary school, but primarily it is the elementary school principal who must face these responsibilities intimately. In order to meet these responsibilities with a united mind and purpose, to study the problems of the elementary school with a broad and sympathetic outlook, to enlist the aid of educational forces everywhere, and in general, to give to the elementary child the advantages of united effort, we do hereby form the Department of Elementary School Principals and adopt the following Constitution. Constitution Article I. Name—The name of the organization shall be the Depart- ment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association. Article II. Membership—Membership in the Department of Elementar) School Principals shall be defined to include State, county, and city super- visory principals of elementary school classes who are members of the National Education Association. Chai retir first tivel Dep Con A to t mitt Pre non floo of | not ple: the upc sha rec dey ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 121 Article III, Officers—(a) The officers of the Department shall be the President, three Vice-Presidents, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Executive Committee. (b) The officers of the Department, with the exception of the Executive Committee, shall hold office for a period of one year from the date of election. (c) The Executive Committee shall consist of four members besides the Chairman. These members shall hold office for four years, one member retiring each year. Ihe member receiving the largest number of votes at the first election shall serve four years, and the others three, two, and one respec- tively, according’ to the number of votes received. The President of the Department shall be an ex officio member and Chairman of the Executive Committee. Article IV. Method of amending the Constitution—(a) An amendment to the Constitution or By-Laws may be proposed by the Executive Com- mittee or by a petition of at least ten regular members of the Department. (b) The proposed amendment shall be read in regular session at least 24 hours before a vote is taken upon it. (c) Two thirds of the votes of the members present in a regular session will be necessary to make the proposed amendment part of the Constitution. Article V. Elections—(a) Elections of officers will take place in business session, which shall be held during the meeting of the National Education Association. (b) Election shall be by ballot. (c) Active members only are entitled to vote (see By-Laws). (d) A nominating committee of five members shall be appointed by the President at the first session of the July meeting. This committee shall nominate one candidate for each office to be filled. Nominations from the floor shall be permitted. Article VI. Duties of officers—The President shall preside at all meetings of the Department and of the Executive Committee, appoint all committees not otherwise provided for, call meetings of the Executive Committee at his pleasure or upon written request of three of its members, sign all orders on the treasurer and perform such other duties as may from time to time devolve upon him. He shall be ex officio member of all standing committees. The Vice-President, in the absence of the President of the Department, shall perform all the duties of that office. The Secretary shall keep in the minute book of the Department a careful record of the proceedings of the Department and of all its committees and departments; and he shall be responsible for their preservation. He shall be custodian of the seal of the Department. He shall be the Secretary of the Executive Committee. Within 30 days after any: meeting of the Depart- ment and within 10 days after any meeting of the Executive Committee, the Secretary shall furnish a copy of the minutes of such meeting to each member of the Executive Committee. He shall prepare and keep an accurate list of the members of the Department with their postoffice addresses, countersign all orders of the Treasurer, and perform such other duties as may, from time to time, devolve upon him. His compensation shall be such as the Department may direct. before assuming the office. 122 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION The Treasurer shall give bond, approved by the Executive Committee, jn amount fixed by such Committee, the expense of such bond to be paid from the funds of the Department. He shall collect and have the custody of all the funds of the Department, which shall be deposited in the name of the Department in an institution approved by the Executive Committee. He shall pay out such funds only on orders signed by the President and the Secretary, He shall be ex officio member of the Enrolment Committee and shall give his receipt countersigned by a member of such committee to each member of the Department for payment of dues. He shall keep the accounts of the Depart- ment and his accounts shall be audited by the Commitee on Audits before the annual meeting of the Department, and at such meeting he shall make an itemized report in writing of all receipts and expenditures. He shall perform such other duties as may, from time to time, devolve upon him. His com- pensation shall be such as the Department shall direct. The Executive Committee shall be regarded as the Administrative Body of the Department, subject to the call of the President, except as otherwise provided for in the Constitution. To supplement and assist him in the conduct of his office, the Executive Committee shall, by a majority vote of all its members, fill all vacancies, except that of President, which is provided for in the Constitution. The Executive Committee shall prepare an advance program for each annual meeting of the Department not less than 30 days before such meeting convenes. The Executive Committee shall prepare an annual report of the Department and shall send a printed copy of same to each member of the Department. The annual report shall contain a list of officers and committees of the Department and its departments; a list of members of the Department, together with their addresses and such other matter as the Department and Executive Committee may direct. All bills before being paid shall be approved by the Executive Committee, and such action shall be placed in detail on the minutes of the Committee. Rules Article I—There shall be the following standing committees and such other special committees as the President may appoint: Committee on Fdu- cational Progress, Committee on Resolutions, Committee on Enrolment, Committee on Codperation with Civic Bodies. Article II. Organization and Conduct of Committees—The first meeting of a committee shall be called by the first-named member thereof. All com- mittees shall organize by the election by ballot of a Chairman and a Secre- tary unless otherwise provided for and may make rules for the conduct of their business not inconsistent with the Constitution and By-Laws. Minutes of the proceedings of each standing committee shall be kept in the minute book of such committee, and a copy thereof certified by the chairman and secretary shall be promptly furnished to the Secretary of the Department. All standing committees shall report to the Department in writing at the annual meeting. Vacancies in all committees except the Executive Com- mittee shall be filled by the President of the Department. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 123 Article III. Committee on Educational Progress—The Committee on Educational Progress shall consist of one member from each State. This committee shall bring before the Department such features of educational progress as it may deem worthy of consideration. Article IV. Committee on Resolutions—All resolutions offered at an Annual Meeting of the Department shall be referred to the Committee on Resolutions, unless otherwise ordered by the Department. This committee shall submit to the Department for its consideration such resolutions as they may deem advisable. Article V. Committee on Enrolment—The Committee on Enrolment shall consist of not less than one member from each State, but additional members may be appointed by the President of the Department. This com- mittee shall secure members for the Department, collect the annual dues and pay them to the Secretary, furnishing him therewith a list of the names and postofice addresses of members from whom such dues have been collected, and giving each member the Secretary’s receipt, countersigned by a member of the committee. Article VI. The Committee on Codperation with Civic Bodies—The Committee on Codperation with Civic Bodies shall enlist the support and cooperation of such civic organizations as shall increase the influence and scope of the Department. Article VII. Books, Records, Papers, and Property—SECTION 1. The records and accounts of the Department and of its officers, committees, departments, sections and divisions, shall be kept in books provided by the Department, which shall be the property of the Department. Sec. 2. All books, papers, records, and accounts of the Department and its officers, Committees, departments, sections, and divisions shall be open at all times to the inspection of the Executive Committee, or any member thereof. Src. 3. Every officer, member, committee, department, section, or division of the Department having funds, papers,. books, records, or property of any description belonging to the Department shall give up the same on demand to his or their successors in office or to the person authorized by the Depart- ment or its Executive Committee to receive the same. Article VIII. Fiscal Year—The Fiscal Year of the Department shall begin July first and end June thirtieth in each year. Article IX. Roberts’ Rules of Order—The rules and orders of Roberts’ “Rules of Order,” not inconsistent with this Constitution shall govern the meetings of the Department and its committees. Article X. Rules on Debate—The Department shall be governed by the tuling of the National Education Association that debates shall be limited to five minutes unless otherwise ordered during the year. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FROM A MEMBER OVERSEAS KRUCZA 29, WARSAW, POLAND, October 12, 1923. Mr. Worth McClure, Seattle, Washington. DEAR PRESIDENT: I am very anxious to receive every publication and the Year- book of the Department of Elementary School Principals. I notice another number of the BULLETIN is due this month. I am sending my membership fee in American dollars. It may interest you to know how far the influence of our organization extends. My work this year, on the invitation of the Polish government, is to advise and assist in the reorganization and planning of the educational system in new Poland. There is a federal department here, headed by a Minister of Education, who is a member of the President’s Cabinet. In my work here, I can use the newest statistics and all new printed matter in education. My address for the next eight months will continue to be Krucza 29, Warsaw, Poland. I shall try to get a representative from Poland to attend the International Section of our National Association at the next convention. Hoping to hear from you soon, I am Sincerely yours, MARTHA MAZUROWSKA Formerly Principal of School No. 13, Buffalo, New York. DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Chicago Program President, W. 'T. Longshore, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Missouri Secretary, Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan Monday Afternoon, February 25, 2:15 o’clock Ball Room, La Salle Hotel STANDARDS BY WHICH THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL MAY JUDGE CLASSROOM Work: Franklin M. Underwood, Supervisor of Elementary Schools, St. Louis, Mo., formerly Principal, Rose Fanning School, St. Louis, Mo. THE PLATOON SCHOOL: ITs ORGANIZATION AND ADVANTAGES Rose Phillips, District Principal and Director of Platoon Schools, Detroit, Mich. A Motion Picture, THE CHANGING WORLD, ILLUSTRATING THE WORK DONE IN THE PLATOON SCHOOL Tuesday Afternoon, February 26, 2:15 o’clock Ball Room, La Salle Hotel The Shortening of the Elementary School Course of Study: or is there Anything Sacred in the Eight-Year Course of Study that has been Handed Down to Us? REPORT ON AN INVESTIGATION CONDUCTED COVERING SEVERAL STATES C. A. Ives, Dean, Teachers College, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, La. REPORT ON THE SEVEN-YEAR COURSE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL COURSE OF STUDY 0! Kansas City, Mo., WHERE IT HAS BEEN IN OPERATION FOR Forty YEARS George Melcher, Assistant Superintendent and Director of Research and Efficiency, Kansas City, Mo. CasE STUDIES AND DISCUSSION Charles H. Judd, Director of the School of Education, The University of Chicago, Chicago, III. Hon ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Tuesday Evening, February 26, 6:30 o’clock Ball Room, La Salle Hotel Banquet This is to be a great get-together occasion. All branches of educational endeavor are to be represented and all the speeches are to be short and snappy. The speakers are Dr. Edwin L. Broome, Philadelphia; Charl O. Williams, Washington, D. C.; and Olive M. Jones, New York City. Wednesday Morning, February 27, 9.30 o’clock Ball Room, La Salle Hotel The Right Relationship of Codperation between the Elementary School Principal and Supervisors A Case Stupy oF How IT Was WorKeED OvuT AND How It 1s WorKING: In MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. Maria R. Porcher, Principal, Bancroft School, Minneapolis, Minn. In DETROIT, MICHIGAN ; George Birkham, Principal, Barstow School, Detroit, Mich. In SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Frank D. Mcllravy, Principal, Gatewood School, Seattle, Wash. In CHICAGO, ILLINOIS Margaret Madden, Principal, Doolittle School, Chicago, IIl. Wednesday Afternoon, 2:15 o’clock A METHOD OF PROCEDURE IN SUBJECT MATTER Rose Wickey, Principal, Whittier School, Kansas City, Mo. THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL FROM THE STANDPOINT OF A CITY SUPERINTENDENT Fred M. Hunter, Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, Calif. A MESSAGE TO THE DEPARTMENT FROM ONE OF ITS REAL FRIENDS J. W. Crabtree, Secretary, National Education Association, Washington, D. C. THE CHALLENGE TO THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPAL Olive M. Jones, President, National Education Association, and Principal of Public School 120, New York City. REPORT ON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS Ide G. Sargeant, Principal, Public School Number 10, Paterson, N. J. There is being planned an official breakfast for Tuesday morning, eight o’clock, Hotel La Salle. The purpose of this breakfast is a frank discussion of the things that are important to the Department of Elementary School Principals. EWSPAPERS throughout the country wish to give full pub- licity to the Chicago meetings and can do so only in propor- tion as speakers do their part. Each speaker who has not already done so is requested to send immediately a three-hundred-word abstract or summary of his address, giving the main points in popular form to Mr. Joy E. Morgan, 1201 Sixteenth Street North- west, Washington, D. C., who has charge of the general publicity for the meeting. NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION NOTES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THE CHICAGO MEETING, FEBRUARY 24-28 RESIDENT W. T. LONGSHORE, of the Department of Elemen- tary School Principals, has scheduled four meetings for the week— Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday afternoons, and Wednesday forenoon. The programs for these meetings promise to be of unusual interest. Those who attended the meeting in Cleveland last February and the Oakland meeting in July are convinced of the great benefits derived from these con- ferences. The large attendance, the interest, the stimulating addresses from authorities, and the good fellowship of the days made them stand out as milestones in educational direction. Plan now to attend the Chicago meeting. Your friends from all over the country will be there and will need you. The headquarters of the Department of Elementary School Principals will be in the Hotel La Salle Ballroom. The Official Breakfast According to custom the official breakfast will be Tuesday morning, 8 o'clock, February 26, at Hotel La Salle. At this time officials of the Department will discuss matters pertaining to its welfare. It is the only time available for the officers to formally present in person progressive plans of procedure. The traditional banquet will take place under the auspices of the Depart- ment of Elementary School Principals on Tuesday evening, at six-thirty o'clock, in the Ballroom of Hotel La Salle. A most interesting program is promised. Speakers from all groups of education will give of their best on this festive occasion. Forget your troubles; relax for an hour; imagine you are on Mt. Olympus where your struggles and endeavors have at last been appreciated. Meet your comrades of old and greet those who are strangers—but still your friends. BE THERE! TrmE—6:30 Pp. M. PLAcE— Hotel La Salle. Directory of Elementary School Principals Organizations Please send to Mr. S. D. Shankland, our executive secretary, 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C., the name of your organiza- tion and its officers, and also those of any organizations of which you know that may not as yet be affiliated. We are desirous of compiling a directory of all organizations. Such information would be of incalculable value. President W. T. Longshore is giving the “ Bugle Call” to this Depart- ment to step forward and occupy, by merit, the great field that the educa- tional world is allotting to them. May we rise to the occasion as a unit and bring to the cause all the things which we have so ably discussed; may we contribute to education the results of our devotion and continue our endea- vors to further progressive policies. We have put our shoulder to the ploughshare. There is no turning back. ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 127 Tickets for the banquet of the Department of Elementary School Prin- cipals may be reserved by addressing Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, secretary, Palmer School, Grand Rapids, Michigan, or Miss Rose A. Pesta, president, Chicago Principals Club, 64 East Van Buren Street, Chicago, Illinois. Price per plate, $2.75. Elizabeth Bates, second vice-president of the Department of Elementary Schools Principals, has been elected associate superintendent of the schools of Los Angeles, California, and will assume her new duties. in June. Miss Bates will remain as principal of the Sixty-sixth Street School in Los Angeles until February 11, when she undertakes university work until the middle of June. FEW COPIES of the Second Yearbook, The Problem of the Elementary School Principal in the Light of the Testing Movement, remain in stock. The price is $1.50 each. Make check payable to Courtland V. Davis, Treasurer, and address to 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W., Washington, D. C. REMITTANCE FOR MEMBERSHIP Mr. CourTLaAnp V. Davis, Treasurer 1201 Sixteenth Street Northwest Washington, D. C. My dear Mr. Davis: I am a member of the National Education Association. I inclose my fee of $2.00 for membership in the Department of Elementary School Principals during the year 1923-24. One dollar of this fee is for a year’s subscription to the Department Bulletin. Kindly send all publications, including the Third Yearbook, to be issued in June, 1924, to me at the address given below. Name (Typewrite or print) Mailing address (School or street) (City and State) My present position is .