PART ONE 


THE PHILOSOPHY IN GOOD 
ADMINISTRATION 


CHAPTER Goop ADMINISTRATION ANTICIPATES 
EpucaTionaL PRrRospLeMs 
Cuapter II. 


Tue Scuoot Reruects THE PrRIncr- 


PALS PHILOSOPHY 


PuriLosopny 1s THE WorKkiNG Basis 
oF ADMINISTRATION 


Cuapter III. 








INTRODUCTION TO PART ONE 


ALL OF US know at least two types of elementary 
school principals. There are those who manage their 


schools in an indifferently mechanical manner. 
Others seem to transmit vitality, economy of effort, 
and purposeful direction to everything they touich. 
What is that “ something” which distinguishes the 
master administrator from the routinized robot / 
Part One attempts to answer this question.—Fdi 
torial Committee. 





[ 160 ] 





mu 
to» 


ho 


col 


sel 


the 
im 
th 
pr 
th 
be 
ar 
ul 





CHAPTER I 
GOOD ADMINISTRATION ANTICIPATES 
EDUCATIONAL PROBLEMS 


Cuaries H. Jupp 
Director, School of Education, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 


I. Forestgnt—Tuer Essence or Errectrive ApMINISTRATION 


HE MENTAL EQUIPMENT of a successful school adminis- 
T trator must include as one of its most important elements 
imagination. In arranging the program for a school a principal 
must be able to foresee how personal and material factors are likely 
to react on one another, where incoordinations are likely to arise and 
how adjustments which often seem very trivial can be made in such 
a way as to facilitate the proper functioning of the school. A very 
concrete exhibition of the presence or absence of imagination in a 
school principal is always seen on the opening day of a school term. 
The principal who has adequately prepared for this occasion will have 
the satisfaction of seeing pupils and teachers promptly located and 
immediately beginning work. There will be no more confusion than 
there is in any well-ordered social function. On the other hand, the 
principal who has not taken the precaution to think out in advance 
the arrangements necessary for an efficient opening of his school will 
be confused and overwhelmed by difficulties that never should have 
arisen and will find that other people are equally distraught and 
unable to do their work properly. The essence of good administration 
is foresight. 


Il. Tur Apprication or Forrestaut to MarertAL PropLeMs 


The demand for foresight will be readily recognized with respect 
to buildings and supplies. A school cannot operate at all unless 
somebody has provided the building and the appropriate equipment 
within the building. Even here, however, there are many exhibitions 
of inadequate foresight. A great many schoolrooms are nothing but 
four walls and a collection of seats. There is a monotonous uniformity 
in the rooms used for the different grades which makes it perfectly 
clear that whoever has charge of those rooms has merely followed the 
practices of the past and has never set his mind to the task of seeing 
how each room can best be prepared for the particular activities that 


are there to be undertaken. 
2 [ 161 ] 








162 ELEMENTARY Scuoor PRINCIPALS 





Nothing can be more impressively in contrast with the lack of 
imagination exhibited by many school administrators in regard to 
classroom equipment than the practice which is fortunately becoming 
more and more common in the construction and furnishing of new 
buildings of trying to picture in advance what is needed in classrooms 
in order to make them comfortable and adequate. Even where an 
administrator has only very limited financial resources, he and his 
staff should prepare a list of the maps, pictures, book filing cases, 
and apparatus which are desirable. What is needed for a second 
grade is very different from that which is needed by a sixth grade. 
Preparation of lists of the kind suggested is stimulating to everybody 
concerned and even if the list goes far beyond the possibilities, the 
work of the school will be improved by getting the attention of 
teachers and patrons concentrated on the idea that various kinds of 
equipment are important helps in classroom work. In most cases 
the list of desirable articles will lead school officials to take steps 
toward better equipment and in the long run much of what is asked 
for will be given. Certainly no equipment appropriate to progressive 
work will be furnished unless somebody has the imagination to foresee 
the possibilities of bettering conventional arrangements. 

For a long time school officers have thought of seats for pupils as 
staple articles. These seats have been arranged in straight lines and 
have been fastened to the floor. It required some mental energy to 
reconstruct the conventional situation and to see that an entirely 
different arrangement of seats is often possible and advantageous. 
The kind of mental energy which was required was that which 
expends itself in reconstructing familiar images, that is, it consists 
of what the psychologist calls imagination. 

The psychologist draws a distinction between various types of 
imagination. Sometimes when one lets one’s thinking run on without 
any restraint, one reconstructs but in so doing arrives at a result 
which is wholly impractical. The psychologist calls this free uncritical 
imagination “fancy.” There is, on the other hand, a controlled, 
critical kind of imagination of the type exhibited by the engineer who 
plans a bridge or a tunnel. Such imagination produces something 
new and something highly useful. Constructive imagination requires 
more effort than does mere fancy. Indeed, constructive imagination 
ealls for concentration and for knowledge in a high degree. The 
school administrator has need of constructive imagination. 

One of the most common exhibitions of lack of imagination among 
educational administrators is seen in the inefficient management of 
supplies. On a number of occasions it has appeared in the course of 





ho 


of 
| to 
ing 
ew 
ms 
an 
his 
3e8, 
md 
de, 
dy 
the 

of 

of 
Ses 
‘ps 


ed 
e@ 


as 


nd 


=™ =r US 





Tur Nintru  Yrarsoox 163 





school surveys that the storerooms of school buildings are filled with 
books and materials which are not used. Several school systems have 
found in recent years that by redistributing supplies that had accumu- 
lated in storerooms, they were able to effect very notable economies. 
The lack of imagination on the part of a school principal who over- 
stocks his supply room or who accumulates materials which he does 
not use should be emphasized because most people when thinking of 
poor administration of supplies have in mind failure to get what is 
thought of as necessary. There is an unpardonable waste resulting 
from over-equipment which is quite as bad, if not worse, than the 
maladministration which comes from lack of foresight in securing 
that which is desirable. School boards are sure to react violently to 
oversupplies. Not only so, but the administrator who is guilty of 
overstocking his school is usually also guilty of lack of energy in 
stimulating teachers and pupils to do more than the mere routine of 
reciting what is written in textbooks. It requires imagination to keep 
supplies in circulation and to discover effective ways of routing 
them. Schools can learn from transportation companies. Some of 
the best brains in the transportation world are devoted to the task 
of keeping equipment in circulation and making sure that equipment 
is located at the point where it can be most effectively used. 


LT. Tue Ineivence or Foresigur in Personne, ApJUSTMENTS 


It is not, however, in the handling of material things that the 
administration has the best opportunity to exhibit constructive imagi- 
nation. The adjustment of human relations requires a type of sympa- 
thetic imagination which is much rarer and much more important 
than is the type of imagination that erects buildings and places seats 
in the classroom. Industry has coined a word which expresses the 
appreciation which employers are coming to have for the sympathetic 
imagination which solves problems of human placement. Industry 
speaks with respect of human engineering. 

Much of the ineoordination between human beings arises from the 
fact that it is very difficult for one person to put himself in the 
position of another person, that is, to exercise the imagination neces- 
sary to view the circumstances of life from a point of view other than 
one’s own. If this discussion were treating of the teacher’s tasks 
rather than of the tasks of the administrator, it would be possible to 
cite many simple examples. The teacher often fails to understand 
a pupil’s difficulties because the teacher takes a mature view of the 
world and one totally different from that of the pupils. Reference 
to simple types of incoordination between the thinking of teachers 








164 ELemMentary Scnoot Principas 





and pupils opens the way for a consideration of the more complicated 
task of the administrator. He usually has to deal in the cases which 
are referred to him, not with one other mind, but with two or 
sometimes several minds other than his own. 

There was once a school principal who found at the close of the 
school year that he had in his school of 1300 pupils, about 200 problem 
eases. He decided that it would be a good investment of a part of 
his summer vacation to do something by way of reclaiming some of 
these cases. He addressed notes to the parents of all the pupils who 
were not getting on well and suggested to each parent that he would 
be glad to have a conference about his child’s difficulties. 

It may be remarked that the example here used is not an example 
merely of imagination; it illustrates also the characteristic of indus- 
try. Some may even go so far as to point out that the administrator’s 
contract does not call for such a sacrifice of free vacation time. The 
activity of this particular principal in the case cited was indeed more 
than is called for in ordinary routine, but the effectiveness of his 
plan in preparing for the work of the following year is the main 
point that is here emphasized. Industry and time were expended 
under the guidance of wise foresight. 

The plan of holding conferences was effective. The principal found 
out in the deliberate conferences of the summer a great deal that it 
would have been much more difficult to find out in the less leisurely 
conferences which are held when school is in session. What is far more 
important, the summer conferences were not embarrassed by the 
necessity of dealing with acute crises. The problem cases could be 
discussed in all their aspects without at the moment the necessity 
of treating them as disciplinary cases. The principal found that he 
could make many readjustments which during the following year 
relieved the school of an appreciable burden of incoordination. He 
persuaded a number of parents to make physical adjustments under 
the advice of physicians. He put some children in advanced grades 
on trial and secured a type of cooperation from the parents which 
he had never had before. Ile persuaded parents in some cases to be 
satisfied with a slower rate of progress for their children. He found 
out in some cases about home conditions which he could not remedy 
but which he and the teachers could take into account in dealing with 
the children from these homes. All told, the investment of time in 
the summer conferences resulted in a great economy of the principal’s 
time throughout the following year; and what is quite as important, 
the efficiency of the school was greatly improved. 





pri 
ela: 
sec! 
has 
ane 
des 
Th 
atte 
for 
abs 
sch 
the 
Fu 
wh 
pu 
to 

TOC 
pa 
me 
the 
ty] 
eqi 


dis 
is 
the 
or 


ex 
ar 
th 
th 


mi 
mi 


or 


pa 


ted 
ich 
or 


the 
em 


re 





Tur Nintu YEArBooK 165 


The question will perhaps be raised at this point whether it is the 
principal’s duty to deal with problem cases. Is it not a part of the 
classroom teacher’s duty to find out about home conditions and to 
secure the cooperation of parents? The answer to the question which 
has been raised will depend in part on considerations of expediency 
and in part on one’s definition of administration. It is certainly 
desirable to relieve the teacher so far as possible from distractions. 
The teacher has a number of pupils to deal with and must concentrate 
attention on certain subjectmatters which must be carefully organized 
for presentation to the whole group. A single unadjusted pupil can 
absorb so much of a teacher’s energy that the class will suffer. If the 
school can provide proper administrative agencies for the removal of 
the distractions, the teacher’s work will be much more efficient. 
Furthermore, if the teacher is supported by administrative agencies 
which help in making proper adjustments with homes and with 
pupils, it is much more probable that the teacher will be encouraged 
to give attention to outside conditions as well as to the regular class- 
room routine. It is not suggested in what has been said in preceding 
paragraphs that the principal assume responsibility for the adjust- 
ments of all of a pupil’s relations to his work. It is merely stated that 
the ptincipal be active in removing incoordinations of a personal 
type quite as energetically as in correcting deficiencies of material 


equipment. 


IV. Tur Importance or AvutTHuHority In FuRTHERING 
THE Principau’s PLAaNs 


Questions of the type referred to in the last paragraph cannot be 
disposed of fully until some satisfactory principle of division of labor 
is arrived at so that teachers and administrative officers will go about 
their several tasks without feeling that there is duplication of effort 
or conflict of authority. 

Evidently responsibility and authority must go hand in hand. An 
example will make clear what is meant by this statement. There 
are school systems in which teachers are held unduly responsible for 
the results of their work. If a test in arithmetic is administered to 
the teacher’s pupils and a low score results, the teacher is rated in 
keeping with the low score. Very often teachers object to the judg- 
ments passed on them on the basis of tests because they say that the 
machinery of administration has supplied them with ill-graded pupils 
or with impossible textbooks or with a crowded program which makes 
it impossible to give the time that they think should be given to a 
particular subject. When one considers how limited the authority of 








166 


ELEMENTARY Scnoot PrIncipas 


the classroom teacher is in determining the factors which contribute 
to high and low scores in an arithmetic test, one can hardly escape 
the conclusion that teachers are right in their contention that they 
should be relieved of responsibilities which they cannot discharge 
because of their limited authority. 

Administrative authorities who are responsible for promotion must 
be prepared to make adjustments when it appears that the promotion 
of a particular pupil is a cause of incoordination. Administrative 
authorities must be prepared to accept responsibility for the pre- 
scribed curriculum. Administrative authorities must be prepared to 
deal with the problems of time distribution within the instructional 
program. 

Much of the restlessness of the members of the teaching profession 
about their relations to administrative officers can be traced to a 
lack of clear allotment of responsibilities. Teachers are a part of a 
system and the system is the immediate and controlling cause of much 
which happens in every classroom. The teacher will attribute failures 
to the system whenever failures appear, and the system cannot answer 
the charge of the teacher in any arbitrary fashion. Responsibility 
and authority must be recognized as coextensive. 

The principal is the representative in a school of what was called 
in the foregoing paragraph the “ system.” Whatever the system does 
to the pupil is a part of the principal’s responsibility. To be sure, 
the principal is controlled in a measure by superior administrative 
authorities such as the school superintendent, the board of education, 
and the state department of education. In an important sense, how- 
ever, the principal is not so much the servant of these superior adminis- 
trative authorities as their representative. So far as a particular school 
building is concerned, the principal is the representative of the 
adopted curriculum, of the grading system, of the building program, 
and of the time program. 

It is perhaps superfluous to mention explicitly the reservations with 
which the definition of the principal’s duties and responsibilities must 
be qualified. As American schools are now organized, a great many 
principals are nothing more than head teachers. In some school 
systems the superintendent assumes the role of general principal of 
all the schools and thus limits the scope of activity of the building 
principals. Not infrequently supervisors of special subjects exercise 
the authority which was ascribed in the last paragraph to the princi- 
pal. In short, there is quite as much confusion in the distribution 
of administrative functions in school systems as there is in the 
delimitation of administrative and teaching functions. 





has 
of 

lon 
sch 
Th 
rer 


of 


qui 
mo 
int 
tra 
act 


ou 
in 
M: 
oft 
ine 
lec 


of 


SY 
in 
pr 
th 


th 
fa 
dh 


bute 
‘ape 
hey 


irge 


Lust 
tion 
tive 
pre- 
1 to 
mal 


ion 
0a 
f a 
uch 
res 
ver 
‘ity 


on 
he 





Tur Ninru YEARBOOK 167 





The fundamental reason for the existing situation is that there 
has been, until recently, no effort to arrive at a clear understanding 
of what belongs to administration as contrasted with that which be- 
longs to classroom management and classroom teaching. The original 
school was a place where the teacher was instructor and administrator. 
The “ system ” of education was derived from tradition or from some 
remote source such as the makers of textbooks. The whole process 
of conducting school was an undifferentiated routine. 

So long as the primitive undifferentiated school was accepted as ade- 
quate, there was no special attention to the refinements which the 
modern school has evolved. The school building was simple and 
innocent of such equipment as a library or even a playroom. Adminis- 
tration has become a necessity as a result of enlargement of school 
activities. Administration is the counterpart of complex organization. 

No one ean fail to recognize the fact that the modern school has 
outgrown the possibility of control by individual teachers. The grad- 
ing system which was introduced into the American school by Horace 
Mann and his contemporaries created the necessity of a coordinating 
officer. The growth of the curriculum from the early stage, where it 
included in the elementary grades only the three R’s, has inevitably 
led to the demand for some authority to rule on the many problems 
of adjustment that arise. 

While it is true that confusion exists in the present highly evolved 
system and while much of this confusion is the result of a slow and 
incomplete evolution, it will have to be admitted that a part of the 
present lack of clearness about administrative functions is to be laid at 
the door of administrative officers. Specifically, the confusion about 
a principal’s duties is in no small measure the fault of the principals 
themselves. This assertion is not made without full regard for known 
facts. There is scarcely a survey of schools, which has been reported 
during the last two decades, in which it has not been necessary to 
call attention to the fact that many principals are very little qualified 
for their offices. Too frequently a principal is a superannuated 
teacher who has come into his present office without any special 
preparation and without any understanding of his new duties. He 
does in many cases what any other untrained person is likely to do, 
namely, retires into inoffensive inactivity and allows accidental forces 
to guide the institution which he should direct. There will never be 
any clear definition of the principal’s duties until principals become 
students of their own functions. 

The subsequent chapters of the yearbook are conscious efforts to 
define the duties of the administrative officers of schools by giving 








168 ELEMENTARY Scuoout PrRINcIPALS 





concrete examples of the way in which progressive administrators 
have solved the problems which they encountered in the conduct of 
their institutions. The purpose of this preliminary discussion is to 
arrive at certain broad general conclusions regarding the nature of 
administrative responsibility. 


V. Tue Funcrionine or THe Princrpau’s Auruoriry 
IN THE SoLuTION or Scuoot PrRoBLEMS 


Starting with the general statement which has already been made 
that administration has to do with the system as a whole, we may try 
to work out some of the meanings of this statement. 

Let us come back to the case which was discussed earlier when it 
was said that a teacher often objects to being rated on the results of 
an arithmetic test. What should the principal do in this case? Te 
should make a careful study of the causes of the low score. It may 
be that the pupils of the class with a low score had a poor teacher 
the year before and are now exhibiting the results of poor preparation. 
The principal should recognize it as clearly within his authority to 
take the class and the present teacher back a full step in the prescribed 
curriculum and repair the deficiency which was permitted to occur 
the year before. 

Perhaps the principal finds on examination that the textbook being 
used in the class is not suitable. Here the principal may find himself 
in serious difficulty with the system which is above him. The textbook 
may be prescribed by the state or by his board of education. What can 
he do? There are two steps which he can take and certainly should 
take. He should make vigorous representations to the officers of the 
system above him. These superior officers are dependent on him for 
advice which will guide their action. If the principal fails in his duty 
to the system through inertia or timidity, the unfortunate situation 
which has led to failure within his school will continue and he will be 
responsible. The second step which the principal should take without 
waiting for the system as a whole to move is to supplement the pre- 
scribed textbook with materials which will make instruction more 
effective. In doing this the principal has a right to expect the coopera- 
tion of the classroom teacher, but the principal should understand 
that he must furnish much of the initiative in the matter because the 
system was at fault and he is more responsible for the system than 
is the individual teacher. 

Incidentally the principal will find that he can secure the coopera- 
tion of his teachers in no way so readily as by frankly assuming the 
responsibility which belongs to him. If he says to the teacher that 





he 
tra 


fré 


itors 
t of 
is to 
e of 


ade 
try 


n it 
3 of 
Tle 
ay 
her 
on. 
mc) 
ed 


sur 


ng 
elf 
Ok 
an 


ld 


re 





Tue Nintu YEARBOOK 169 


he finds on careful study that the low score in the arithmetic test is 
traceable to unsatisfactory curriculum conditions, he lifts the blame 
from the teacher and puts it where it belongs. He brings into his 
school a feeling on the part of his teaching staff that he respects their 
rights, and he creates an enthusiasm for objective diagnosis of diffi- 
culties which will raise the morale of the whole group. Furthermore, 
the principal in assuming responsibility for the curriculum puts him- 
self in the right relation to the special supervisors. He can now say 
to the special supervisors that his diagnosis of the difficulty is thus 
and so. He ean invite further examination of the situation and can 
ask for advice. The supervisors can thus begin to operate in the 
school building with the principal instead of over him. 

Another possible cause of the low score in the arithmetic test may 
be that several pupils have been promoted into the class when they 
were not ready for the work of that grade. Or what is often still 
worse, it may be that several pupils have been held back in the grade 
when they should have been promoted, Two adjustments are possible. 
The unadjusted pupils may be transferred to some other grade or 
the teacher may be helped in some temporary or permanent readjust- 
ment of the class so that pupils are dealt with in subdivisions or even 
individually. There is no more striking example of the necessity 
of administrative authority than that which appears when mistakes 
in grading need to be corrected. The individual teacher has no 
authority outside of his or her own classroom; the principal has 
authority to coordinate the various rooms and is therefore in a position 
to make interclassroom adjustments when they are necessary. 

The human engineering which has been discussed up to this point 
has been thought of as including parents, pupils, and to some extent 
teachers. There are, of course, other personalities which contribute 
to the suecess or unsuccess of the school. Where a school is large, the 
staff will include not only teachers but clerks and assistant adminis- 
trators such as assistant principals. There is alway a janitor to be 
reckoned with when the management of a school is under discussion. 
In adjusting these personalities to one another, the principal must 
very often exercise authority which no one other than the representa- 


tive of the school system can assume. 
VI. Tue Importance or SusstiruTiIng SCIENTIFIC 
ror Ruie-or-THumsB PROCEDURES 


In exercising authority the principal who has had experience is 
always at an advantage because in the course of his experience he 


has had opportunities to experiment in dealing with almost every 








170 ELEMENTARY Scuoont Principats 


possible kind of personality. A principal who has served for a long 
time in a given district gains a knowledge of the community and of 
the pupils which is invaluable as a basis for organizing the work of 
the school. 

In recognizing the value of experience, one lays the foundation 
for a demand that the principal shall go beyond the collection of mere 
accidental experiences. The step from experience to a scientific study 
of the problems of administration is logically a very short step. 
Practically, experience and science are often far apart. The principal 
who has been successful in dealing with problem cases among his 
pupils is not unlikely to be satisfied to let matters drift in the belief 
that he can deal adequately with cases when they arise. An experi- 
enced principal will often scoff at the suggestion that he ought to 
keep elaborate cumulative records of pupils. Why go to the labor 
and expense involved in keeping such records or studying such records 
when the typical cases of incoordination are so easy to deal with and 
are so comparatively few in number ? 

The answer to all who think of school administration as a kind of 
benevolent paternalism in which some kindly personality sits in the 
offices and adjusts matters when accident brings them to his attention, 
is that administration has as its major obligation an aggressive fore- 
handed prevention of incoordinations rather than a slow patching up 
of breaches after they have occurred. There are very few incoordina- 
tions in schools which do not follow premonitory symptoms which 
might have been detected and diagnosed long before disaster occurred, 
if administration had adopted the methods of penetrating examination 
known in every progressive modern organization. Modern business 
does not wait for panies to effect retrenchments. Physicians do not 
wait for epidemics before taking measures to improve public sanita- 
tion. Modern navigation provides itself with devices for warning 
ships of coming storms. The school will never be in step with modern 
progress until it supplements personal experience with that perfectly 
legitimate supplement to experience, scientific foresight. 

The school administrator is not unlikely to encounter some re- 
luctance on the part of the community to the proper equipment of 
his office. The fact is that communities have not been accustomed 
to scientific administration of educational institutions. Too often the 
public has been led to think of schools as places where personal influ- 
ence will provide difficult pupils with special privileges. Even in 
so special a matter as the appointment of teachers, schools have often 
shut their eyes to records of training. As was indicated earlier, schools 
originally were staffed entirely by teachers and saw no need of central 
administrators. 





in 
in 
n0 
or 


pr 


m 


of 


Ww 
th 


al 


0) 


p 


SC 


ong 
l of 
: of 


it mn 
ere 
udy 
ep. 
pal 
his 
ief 
T1- 
to 
or 
ds 


nd 





Tue Nintru YEARBOOK 171 








The result of the history recited in the foregoing paragraph is that 
the public often thinks of a principal as an ornamental social addition 
of doubtful importance to the community. In order to justify the 
principal’s existence, the public feels that it must find him at all 
times ready to accommodate the personal convenience of anyone who 
has a question to ask or a trivial complaint to register. The principal 
is often thought to be a public servant with nothing to do but attend 
to citizens. 

The day will come when the public will learn that a human engineer 
in charge of a school is a person occupied with investigations that 
increase the efficiency of schools to such an extent that it is uneco- 
nomical for him to be disturbed every few minutes on the telephone 
or by personal callers. That day will not come, however, so long as 
principals are willing to be imposed upon and so long as they live 
from hour to hour with no more insight into the problems of school 
management than that which is forced upon them by the emergencies 
of institutional life. 

A true representative of the school system in charge ot a school 
will so organize his duties and so organize the records of the school 
that he can assume direction of all the agencies and material supplies 
and insure efficiency, not merely correct defects. The statement has 
been repeatedly made in this paper that good administration depends 
on imagination or foresight. The discussion has now reached the 
point where it is evident that imagination and foresight depend on 
scientifically arranged information quite as much as on mere experi- 
ence. In order to imagine in a constructive way, the administrator 
needs to have facts which will carry the weight of a constructive policy. 

Let us consider a few examples. The New York State Ventilation 
(‘ommission has shown by records that the amount of absence due to 
respiratory illness is less in schoolrooms with natural ventilation than 
in schoolrooms ventilated by forced ventilation. This finding is con- 
firmed by the United States Public Health Service. The facts with 
which these two research agencies dealt were accessible to hundreds 
of school principals. One would think that a comparative study of 
attendance records would long ago have interested school adminis- 
trators. When one estimates the amount of money which has been 
spent on forced ventilation, one sees immediately the lack of system- 
atie, scientific administration of which schools have been guilty. 

Every investigation which has been made of the results secured by 
teaching has shown that there are great individual differences among 
pupils. The investigators who have accumulated the records showing 
individual differences disagree as to the extent to which these differ- 








172 ELeMENTARY Scunoont Principaus 





ences are traceable to methods of study. No one has such easy access 
to large bodies of data which would throw light on the problems of 
individual differences as school principals. 

Other problems calling for solution are those of class size, the 
desirability of various types of home study or occupation outside of 
school, the effects of extra-curriculum activities, the desirability of 
library periods, and the effects of various types of school organization 
such as departmental teaching and platooning. 

Doubtless principals confronted with such lists of problems calling 
for investigation will be disposed to answer, first, that they have no 
time for research, and second, that it is not the duty of an administra- 
tive officer to solve such problems. 

The only justification for a paper in this Yearbook written by a 
representative of the research interests in education is to bring as 
vividly as possible to the minds of practical administrators the im- 
possibility of solving school problems unless administration becomes 
a system of scientific insight. The number of persons in this country 
who are engaged in scientific studies in education is small, and ordi- 
narily research students operate in schools which are very special in 
their clientele and in their equipment. In the special centers where 
pioneering in research is done, it is possible to perfect methods of 
recording facts and of tabulating them in such ways as to make 
productive comparisons possible. The research centers that have been 
operating in a pioneer way during the last twenty years can, however, 
affect practice in school systems at large only when public schools 
realize clearly that research is a phase of administration. 

There ought to be in every school system experimental centers in 
each of which one problem is attacked at a time by the whole school 
staff under the guidance and leadership of a competent principal. It 
may be that the problem will be one of curriculum reconstruction 
such as the better organization of reading or arithmetic. It may be 
that the problem will be one of departmental teaching. Not only 
should there be vigorous experimentation along the chosen line, but 
there should also be a rigid critical evaluation of the results of the 
experiment. If such a program is adopted, it will result in a better 
attitude toward record-making because records will be seen to have 
a real purpose. The enthusiasm which attaches to the particular 
problem under investigation will spread to all of the undertakings 
in the school. Cooperation with other schools will be made possible 
in a new way because the experimental school will have something to 
give as well as a desire to receive. Administration will be recognized 
by the community as productive and worthy of liberal support. 





mt 
ni 
lin 
so 
its 
ae 
al 
g1 
in 






Cess 
s of 


the 
» of 
of 


ion 








Tue Nintru Yrarsook 


175 


The plea for scientific studies by principals is based, however, not 
merely on considerations of the advantages which will result. The 
more fundamental basis for this plea is that administration has very 
limited scope if it does not so organize the school that administration 
solves in advance the problems of education. Administration has as 
its purpose coordination and preparation for economical and efficient 
action. Administration calls for wise anticipation of needs, material, 
and personnel. Administration is the organization of the system as 
a whole so that all the parts of the system shall be recognized and 
given their respective opportunities to contribute to a long interlock- 
ing series of activities. 





| es practices illustrating many of Dr. Judd’s points the 
reader should turn to Chapters IV, V, V1, VII, and 
VIII. Particular attention is called to Chapter 1V dealing 
with the principal’s time budget and work habits. In advo- 
eating the doctrine of foresight the principal’s first efforts can 
Editorial Committee 





well begin with his own procedures. 




















CHAPTER II 


THE SCHOOL REFLECTS THE PRINCIPAL’S 
PHILOSOPHY 


Susan M. Dorsey 
Former Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California 


Il. InrropuctTion 


OOD ADMINISTRATION in any school, of whatever rank, 
G requires the setting up of a central, controlling aim and the 

holding to a definite, dominating purpose to attain results 
through the realization of that aim. 

The character of the aim, or the lack of any aim reflects the phi- 
losophy of the administering head. Not often enough is the principal’s 
philosophy of the elevated type necessary to achieve good administra- 
tion. Nor is this a matter for wonder when one stops to consider the 
varied motives that sometimes influence the aspirants to principal- 
ships. Among such motives the following are fairly representative: 
weariness of the teaching routine, a desire for larger compensation, 
an ambition to “ get on” in the profession, an inclination toward 
management and possibly some evidence of aptitude for that type 
of professional activity, a plan to use the position as a stepping stone 
to some other profession or political job, or an honest desire to be in 
a position that permits of broader service to children and adults. 

Some of the above motives reveal a self-seeking attitude and a 
materialistic turn of mind on the part of principals. Their philosophy 
will be one of individualism, a philosophy of the market, and will 
never result in good administration. Fortunately, not all of those 
who attain principalships, though actuated by indifferent or unworthy 
motives, pursue their work on the same low level. To many whose 
original purpose was not of the best, the responsibility of the task, 
as it opens up, brings a revelation of the true value of the public 
school and the real import of this great institution of democracy. 
Duties assumed in a spirit of indifference or self-seeking are per- 
formed in the light of a new vision of a better world. Helping man- 
kind to attain this better world is the business of every principal. 


[ 174 ] 





I] 
‘T 
ides 
tha 
con 
for 
inv 
\ 
am 
gel 
spl 
eq 
eat 
ty] 
les 
pu 
of 


thé 


ph 
low 
set 
of 
an 
m 


er 
se 
Ww 
th 
in 
of 





Tur Ninru YEARBOOK 175 


Il. Tus Principar’s Puttosopuy Is Ipeanistic AND HuMANE 


The philosophy of good administration in an elementary school is 
idealistic. The principal believes that there are higher values in life 
than those which can be mathematically measured. He is, therefore, 
content to leave to others the pursuit of the shekels, for his search is 
for ways and means to increase human excellence. His philosophy 
involves an unwavering faith in the improvability of human nature. 

What is more pertinent, he expects to see progress in his own school 
and community in the direction of finer desires, a deeper and more 
general appreciation of the nobler arts. He looks for a growth of the 
spirit of social justice, which will react among other ways in the 
equalizing of the opportunities of school children, with all the impli- 
vations of community contributions, financial and of many other 
types, which an educational program of this character calls for. Un- 
less the principal believes that such progress is possible, that the 
public school exists to secure these ends, and that it is the business 
of the administrative officers to so guide its activities that these aims 
shall be realized, then his philosophy, whatever it may be, is not one 
that can result in good administration. 

ITowever important the acquiring of learning may be, the philoso- 
phy back of good administration is never woodenly pedagogical. It 
looks beyond the imparting of knowledge and the use of methods, and 
sees that the reason for all study and learning lies in the right use 
of the knowledge attained, namely, in the relating of it to the business 
and art of living. Knowledge is power, but power for the better- 
ment of the individual and equally for the upbuilding and enriching 
of the common life of all. 

Such a philosophy sees in the principal’s work no perfunctory pro- 
gram or a mere succession of the commonplace routine incidents. It 
sees the work as a great engineering project, the constant problem of 
which is to build into the life of the community those ideas and ideals, 
those attitudes and purposes, that will make continuously for the 
improvement of the social outlook and conditions and the upbuilding 
of all other worthy institutions, as well as the school. 

This philosophy concerns itself with worthy home membership for 
the home’s sake, as well as for the indirect good to the school; it is 
interested to conserve the public health for the sake of the many, as 
well as for the school child; it sneers at no form of genuine religious 
expression and does not belittle the contributions to society made 
by religious institutions—the church and kindred organizations. 








176 ELEMENTARY Scroort PrInctIPaLs 





The philosophy of the elementary principal that results in good 
administration is that of human helpfulness. The schools are the one 
universal means to which the state and society must look to secure that 
continuous improvement in human attitudes and behavior which will 
enable successive generations to maintain civilization at the level it 
has reached and advance it to yet other and higher levels. 


I1l. low roe Principaw’s Purtosopuny INFLUENCES 
Pracricat Lire 


(a) Through the teachers—The philosophy of good administra- 
tion calls for the creating of a spirit in the instructing personnel which 
will be understanding and in accord with the great social purpose of 
human improvement as the ultimate aim of public education, and 
will desire to contribute to its realization. To secure this spirit and 
cooperative effort is often most difficult even when the principal is 
fully conscious of the comprehensive function of the schools and of 
his own responsibility. One must face the constant pressure of many 
requirements of superior officers, some absurdly trifling, the inter- 
ruptions and distractions in every working day, the baffling annoy- 
ances from unsympathetic and ill-tempered parents and other citizens, 
the sheer physical weariness and exhaustion from daily buffetings, 
the hunger for time in which to live just a bit and realize one’s own 
ambitions and personality. Such demands and hindrances at times 
dull the keenness of perception of what the real aims and accomplish- 
ments of the public school should be. 

The principal is, therefore, not to be too severely censured if he 
sometimes grows disheartened and falters in his attempts to secure 
in his staff a more liberal understanding of the benefits which the 
school should render to society and a commensurate response in en- 
deavor. The teachers themselves sometimes present the most for- 
midable obstacle to the right spirit in this great undertaking of public 
education. The inertia of some is most disturbing; one wonders why 
they chose this noble profession to pursue it so lethargically. The 
positive unwillingness of others to interpret their calling in terms 
of social service prevents the spirit of noble adventure necessary to 
make the school function consciously as an institution for human 
betterment and not simply as a place for formal lessons and drills, 
the place of the daily job. Some teachers—happily not many 





are 


chary of their hours and measure their tasks in terms of day-labor 
service—so many hours for so much pay. One such person in a school 
constitutes an unbearable burden and makes it difficult for the princi- 
pal, especially if the teacher has a contentious spirit, to carry his 
faculty with him in any enterprise that evolves extra hours and effort. 








A 
diff 
que 
mus 
teac 
im} 
He 
and 
and 
ers 
is 1 

( 
phy 
to | 
var 
Do 
wil 
day 


co 
tu 








Tue Nintu YEraArnook 177 





Admitting that with some teachers an understanding spirit is 
difficult to attain and that good administration is for that reason fre- 
quently hampered, it still remains that in some way the principal 
must secure not only a spirit, but also a procedure, among both 
teachers and children that will realize the ultimate aims of human 
improvement through all the instruction and activities of the school. 
He may never stop short with a perfunctory imparting of knowledge 
and rest easy with the formal discipline of an autocrat, for knowledge 
and formal discipline may, or may not, improve humankind. Teach- 
ers do their best work when knowledge is interpreted and discipline 
is rationalized. 

(b) Through the pupils—Unquestionably, wherever the philoso- 
phy of good administration may finally lead, the first obligation is 
to the child and to the child’s present needs. Those needs may be 
variously interpreted, and herein lies the crux of the whole matter. 
Do his needs require that only the tools of learning shall be taught, 
with a maximum of repetitive drill to insure mastery? Even in this 
day the principal meets those who object to taxation for what they 
term unnecessary accomplishments involving unwarranted costs. The 
tools of learning at least must be mastered, but they may be taught in 
so human and social a way that the very process remains as a part 
of that learned. The child may even become eager for their mastery 
by being helped to understand how they came to be, what a rich 
heritage they are for him, how much of human effort has gone into 
their perfecting, and that their mastery is essential to all future 
learning. Children, as well as adults, appreciate having a difficult 
requirement rationalized. 

The present needs of the child do not stop short with the funda- 
mentals. Here is where the philosophy of the utmost of helpfulness 
will begin to do its perfect work, so that all human excellence may 
increase. The elementary: principal (perhaps at the price of his own 
leisure, ease, and profit) will crave and, if possible, secure for his 
charge every advantage of instruction and environment that will bring 
added understanding and appreciation of the amenities of life, of 
arts, of literature, of crafts; an understanding, also, of those matters 
that bring a strengthening of health and the enjoyments of play. More 
than that, his view of what the schools are set to do will impel him 
to see that obstructions of poverty, hunger, and lack of clothing, ad- 
verse home or other social conditions, are removed, so that every child 
may enter into his rightful heritage of the abundant life. Inelastic 
courses of study must yield to the needs of the child. The other insti- 
the church, the home, the courts, the community 





tutions of society 





178 ELEMENTARY Scuoot PRINCIPALS 


chest—will be impressed, if necessary, to clear the way for the child. 
Archaic notions and methods of school discipline will yield to a new 
and better way, the humanizing, social way, in which the child is 
made conscious of immediate participation in the great project of 
helpful living and of his privilege and obligation to assume at once 
that measure of responsibility for the common good for which he is 
already fitted. 

The child’s fair share of betterment is not limited to instruction 
in the tools of learning, in the care of the body, and in the arts of 
living and of life. His needs make it desirable that he have, also, 
attractive and wholesome surroundings. So long as the wealth of the 
nation increases faster proportionately than the costs of education, 
the public should not grudge or withhold attractive and wholesome 
surroundings for its children. The people will not practice an unwise 
economy if they fully understand the noble aim of public education. 
That the rich must pay more taxes than the poor to secure these good 
things for all the children is the simple and inevitable working out 
of that great democratic principle of equal opportunity for all, on 
which our nation rests. No apology is due any man for the use of a 
fair portion of his wealth for the schools, and happily in most cases 
none is desired, since this philosophy, that public education must 
be directed to secure all human betterment, is gaining ground even 
with the heaviest taxpayers. 

(c) Through the course of study—In working out his philosophy 
of human betterment, the administrator is obliged to make provision 
in his school curriculum for the future. Only in this way will his 
pupils be able to enter progressively into the fuller, more complex 
adult life of the community and the world, and especially to under- 
stand that constant learning will be necessary if they are to keep 
abreast of changing conditions. Many educators have in recent years 
become hesitant about regarding the school as a place of preparation 
for life. Yet, that function is exactly what the school is for. This is 
true, not in the sense that the present life and needs of the child for 
activities appropriate to his complete living now are to be disregarded, 
but in the large and real sense that preliminary learning and training 
are necessary for any calling, and surely for none more than for the 
great project of living the community life happily, helpfully, and 
successfully. 

While the higher schools must undertake the more advanced learn- 
ing that should fit youth for the responsibility of leadership and for 
making the contributions of the expert, it must not be overlooked 
that many young people, unfortunately the larger number, leave 








scho 
this 
intr 
acti’ 
in tl 
stan 
by @ 
men 
utili 
man 
gres 

T 
the 
gral 
vari 
that 
the 
requ 
hely 
nee 
nee 
shou 
insu 
lear 
that 
witl 

} 
of s 
first 
be £ 
the 
life 
is I 
to | 
the 
cou: 
fini 


post 





Ss 
bilit: 
carry 
prog 











Tue Nintu Yrearsook 179 


school at the end of the elementary or junior high school years. For 
this reason it becomes urgent that even the elementary principal 
introduce into his course of study some subjectmatter and many 
activities ‘ that serve as preparatory disciplines for sharing as adults 
in the community life. Such experiences as these involve an under- 
standing of the very same principles of conduct as those practised 
by adults in the operations of the larger community life. Good ele- 
mentary administration will take cognizance of this similarity and 
utilize every opportunity that permits children to take part in the 
management of school affairs as a first step in preparation for pro- 
gressive participation in the more extended community life. 

The acquiring of knowledge, however, must not be minimized in 
the philosophy which regards public education as an unending pro- 
gram for increasing human excellence. The imparting of much and 
varied knowledge to children is essential. Equally important is it 
that they be introduced to those procedures which are necessary to 
the acquiring of more complete and additional knowledge as needs 
require, so that the young may become increasingly understanding and 
helpful members of society. Never has knowledge been so much 
needed for the successful life; never has so much knowledge been 
needed. The knowledge-imparting function of the public schools 
should therefore magnify its own importance by definite effort to 
insure the carrying over into adult life of the habit and practice of 
learning. The minds of the young should be cleared of any thought 
that study, learning, and reflection are to cease as a conscious process 
with departure from school. 

From all these considerations it becomes evident that the course 
of study and its skillful use by principals and teachers are matters of 
first importance in elementary administration, so that knowledge shall 
be gained not for its own sake alone, but for that greater, nobler aim, 
the use to be made of it in the improving of individual and community 
life. There are difficulties here, for the making of the course of study 
is in danger of being so overweighted with cumbrous machinery as 
to become an object in itself. In these times it even happens that 
the extended studies, so necessary to the writing of even a meager 
course, are not completed in the term of one administrator. The un- 
finished work is passed over to a successor and becomes an incomplete, 
posthumous publication, sometimes with the point of it all missing. 


*Such as participation in the actual management of the school, group responsi- 
bility for the appearance in certain particulars of the buildings and grounds, the 
carrying out in part of safety measures and of thrift activities, and the incidental 
programs of special days and events. 





180 ELEMENTARY Scuoot PriIncipaus 








More expedition, more dependence on the findings of experience and 
on actual first-hand knowledge of needs, a minimum of questionnaires 
and collations with other tedious details and occasional unreliable 
findings, a definite purpose set forth at the outset toward which 
subjectmatter, instructional procedures, and supplementary activities 
converge, might produce courses of study more appropriate to the 
needs and ultimate purposes of public education and surely more vital 
and energizing than some compiled (I use the word advisedly) in 
recent years. 

But the elementary principal urges that the course of study is pre- 
pared by his superiors, the superintendent or the state department 
of education, and that as a rule inexorable requirements of adoption 
and use are imposed on schools. This is unfortunately true in too 
many instances, but generally the elementary principal is given a 
large place in the preparation of the instructional program for the 
school. Here is his opportunity to influence the character of the course 
and impregnate the whole with that philosophy of human helpfulness 
which will make good administration possible. If in the last event 
he must use an inept instructional program, still even the worst course 
of study, when administered by an alert, farseeing principal and by 
teachers of vision and zeal for human betterment, can be made an 
effective instrument for the teaching and training of children for the 
finer life. 

It is not the province of this chapter to discuss methods of adminis- 
tering the course of study. Perhaps, however, the writer may be 
permitted to say in passing that to secure the utmost of profit from 
any course through instructional procedures, the principal must him- 
self, in a spirit of helpfulness, see that teachers understand the socially 
educative purpose and possibilities of the curriculum content and 
supplementary activities. Teachers must be aroused to the new place 
of knowledge and its vast importance in a world in which the very 
substance of earth is pronounced other than it seems and the heavens 
are almost yielding up the secret of infinity. Teachers need to mag- 
nify their own profession, and principals must not shirk their 
responsibility of weeding out the sluggish minds and self-seeking 
personalities from among the instructors, for the time has come when 
these must give way to the ones who see clearly that the mass of men, 
the beloved of the public school, must have knowledge and under- 
standing or become subject to those who know and to the experts. 

(d) Through the extra-curriculum activities—The elementary 
principal has the rarest of chances to demonstrate the educative suf- 
ficiency of his course of study for the improvement of behavior and 











the 
wit 
cur 
ace 
cut 
int 
pre 
dut 
to” 
rea 
rat 
ad 
am 
rea 
is 1 
if ] 
sen 
at « 
cha 
on 
visi 
ove 
wh 
gen 
late 
EXE 
all 
( 
of 
mil 
Wo! 
dis 
the 
pri 
enc 
asp 
anc 
‘ 
in 1 
pal 
tea 





Tur Ninru Yrarsnoox 181 





the cultivation of good citizenship through contacts and conferences 
with the children. Such contacting of child life comes in the semi- 
curriculum activities which mean so much or so little in the school, 
according to the spirit and understanding with which they are prose- 
euted. No matter what the responsibility intrusted to children in the 
interests of the school group, the principal should never fail to hold 
preliminary conferences with his committees, anticipatory of the 
duties to be assigned. On these occasions suggestions may be made as 
to plans and procedures and, above all, a clear setting forth of the 
reasons for all things. 

Education so often fails just at this point. It holds aloof from 
rationalizing its proceedings. It still depends too much on the fiat; 
a deplorable mistake, especially for the young, who respond with an 
amazing comprehension and eagerness to the thing that is made 
reasonable. For instance, the child quickly understands, because it 
is reasonable, that his own conduct must be an example of orderliness 
if he may hope to induce similar behavior in the group. He is keenly 
sensitive himself to the subtle meanness of partiality and responds 
at once to the suggestion that in a system of student control those in 
charge must show no favors to friends and inflict no unfair penalties 
on those not well liked. Many a principal who has the intelligent 
vision to take the trouble to hold frequent conferences with children 
over the problems that arise in their individual efforts at self-control 
when engaged in activities for the group, as well as over the more 
general problems that concern the group, will be rewarded by learning 
later on, that in the estimate of the child grown to adulthood, those 
experiences were the ones most truly educative and valuable for 
all life. 

(e) Through the community—Let us pass now to another phase 
of the principal’s activities, namely, his efforts to achieve good ad- 
ministration through the release of public education to do a larger 
work beyond the limits of the school grounds. The community of the 
district is entitled to more than the educational crumbs that fall into 
the homes through contacts with school children. The elementary 
principal needs to have a definite policy of helpfulness in community 
endeavors, a purpose and determination to raise the standards of 
aspiration, and should help in releasing the latent power that can 
and will bring about communal improvement. 

Schools are inclined to lag behind their possibilities of leadership 
in this general work of human advancement, which means that princi- 
pals and other administrative officers are inept in imparting to the 
teaching personnel a full comprehension of what public education is 





182 ELEMENTARY Scuoort PRINCIPALS 





really set to do and inducing among teachers a spirit of daring and 
enterprise adequate to the undertaking. Even the training schools 
fall quite short here—and this is said in no spirit of unfriendly 
criticism. Much time must be given to the study of the theory, to 
the practice of teaching and to the technic of measuring results. All 
of this is necessary, but equally important—in fact, fundamentally 
important—is it that teachers while in training acquire an under- 
standing of that larger service which educators must render through 
helpful contacts of various sorts with the community outside the 
schools. The community is still entitled to be the recipient of educa- 
tional ministrations. That larger group has a right to look to the 
schools for a wider distribution of knowledge than that confined to 
the limits of the school site. Who, if not the educators, are under 
obligations to see that the vast stores of new knowledge that increase 
daily with amazing volume are not hoarded by the few, but passed 
out to the many and made of use through adequate interpretation / 

It is granted that this phase of educational work lies more especially 
in the fields of the high schools and colleges, but the elementary 
principal, too, cannot afford to be indifferent to the needs of the adult 
community for ever increasing knowledge. If he inspires the forming 
of one class of adults to study one phase of one subject, especially if 
that subject be related to their own problems, he has made a worth- 
while contribution toward the distribution of knowledge. Knowledge, 
like goods, to be of any value, must be distributed to those who need 
and can use it. It should not be overlooked that such efforts produce 
also a valuable byproduct, since the enlargement of the principal's 
own personality can be insured in no better way than through his 
efforts and experience in community education. 

To support sympathetically and to participate, when possible, in 
betterment projects initiated by the community itself, such as clean- 
up days, tree-planting and patriotic days, pageants with local histori- 
eal settings, extends the service of the schools in a most convincing 
way and produces a sentiment of solidarity in the prosecution of the 
great enterprise of enriching the common life. 

The less facile the community in bringing about its own educational 
advancement, the more need for help from the school. Often the 
plaint comes, and sometimes with good reason, that requests for such 
help are too frequent and the numerous interruptions to regular school 
work intolerable, because the required subjectmatter of the year ean 
not be covered. The principal must, of course, protect the formal 
education of the children against interference that is destructive of 
serious and sustained effort and mastery of necessary tasks. Still it 








is é 
ap] 
anc 
I 
the 
pri 
hay 
abo 
he 
Pei 
of 
im} 
in : 
life 
Th 
the 


isst 


eon 
tha 
cea 
is 
‘k 
econ 
tur 
tio} 
to | 
lati 
tod 
Th 
tio! 
7 
to 
con 
cos 
cor 
ne\ 
ane 
the 
ing 
bee 


ves 








Tue Ninrun YEARBOOK 183 





is a striking evidence of good administration, when a principal on 
appropriate occasions can secure cheerful cooperation of children, 
and especially of teachers, in community projects. 

From timidity and self-distrust, from outright fear of expressing 
themselves in the presence of prominent citizens, well-intentioned 
principals sometimes fail to give their full measure of service. Per- 
haps the principal needs only to remind himself that he knows more 
about his own profession than even the prominent citizen. Perhaps 
he needs to learn more, in which case there is cause for self-distrust. 
Perhaps he only needs to discipline himself sternly in the organizing 
of projects and the forms and language of publie address. All this 
improves his own personality and should be cheerfully undertaken 
in an effort to further the great project of improving the community 
life. Meanwhile a few discouraging experiences are not wholly bad. 
The criticisms of the captious need not be taken too seriously, but 
the support of those in sympathy with striving always for the finer 
issues of life should be cherished as priceless. 

An urge to principals to keep the education of their adult clientele 
constantly in mind, is the almost universal aeceptance of the tradition 
that formal education and active study of subject matter properly 
cease with graduation. The unfortunate sequence of this false notion 
is that parents often lag behind their children, and in despair of 
“keeping up with the times,” content themselves with futility. A 
condition that makes the continuance of formal education into ma- 
turity a matter of first importance is the striking paucity of informa- 
tion that existed in the schools of twenty years ago in a form available 
to be given out, as compared with its rapid increase and vast aceumu- 
lation during these same years. The mass of mature men and women 
today are confused and almost hopeless in their efforts to understand. 
They need encouragment to attempt educational projects and direc- 
tion to insure a profitable issue. 

Why recent vears have been prolific of knowledge is not difficult 
to understand, for both war and science have been at work. Wars 
confer one benefit—of doubtful value, in view of their murderous 
cost—their pressure calls for the exercise of all the wit of the race, 
consequently in their wake there always remains a large modicum of 
new knowledge, especially in the fields of medicine, applied mechanics, 
and the organization of human endeavors and activities. Added to 
these advances growing out of the travail of human intelligence dur- 
ing the World War, science and also philosophy and psychology have 
been making contributions of amazing proportions in these same 
years. The mass of adults have a right to a share in these new riches. 





184 ELEMENTARY Scuoot PRINCIPALS 





The principal is not expected to have mastered, or attempted to 
master, a large part of all this new knowledge. He is expected to be 
entirely conscious of its existence, to be an appreciative student him- 
self of some phase of learning, and, being an educator, in a pivotal 
position, he is expected to be active in efforts to secure a wider distri- 
bution of knowledge. There are always those in every community 
who enjoy telling what they know if another provides the audience 
and provokes an interest and enthusiasm to know. The principal's 
opportunity for community service comes in arousing interest and 
securing of audiences. 

When one seriously thinks of the futile employment and even sheer 
waste of the leisure hours of the many, of their sodden attitude toward 
the cultural and spiritual life, of their blank unknowingness of what 
is going on in the world, of the narrow, warped, and stupid interpre- 
tation of events of mighty significance, of the avid consumption of 
organized propaganda, one becomes almost breathless in his eagerness 
to help the many to see and enter into their rightful heritage of know!- 
edge and enlightenment. Surely so long as there are numbers of the 
crookedminded and the illiterate in every community, so long as there 
are those who take a promoting interest in such events as pie-eating 
and melon-eating contests, and endurance feats in dancing, rocking, 
and flagpole sitting, there is no question that public education has 
still a great work to do through its enlightening, humanizing, and 
refining ministrations. 

These paragraphs are not intended to lay another heavy burden on 
a group already beset with responsibilities of vast importance and 
endless detail. They are only meant to suggest the way to a larger 
opportunity in educational service, a way by which the good adminis- 
trator may see the fruition of his philosophy. 

As hinted above, the alert elementary principal will find citizens 
in his district willing to sponsor and promote an adult class if its 
improving possibilities are made clear; in any case, it seldom happens 
that there are not some intelligent women with a fair degree of leisure 
who can be induced to help in educational projects of this type. The 
particular subjects studied will, of course, depend on many considera- 
tions, such as the intelligent and intellectual homogeneity of the 
group, their particular occupations and interests or current events 
commanding general attention, urgent community problems or some 
cultural phase of literature, music, art, or handiwork. The matter of 
great importance is to push adults out once more into the great stream 
of intellectual and spiritual effort and progress. 








J 
whi 
Up 
in | 
can 
don 
in ] 
ful 
OF | 
me 
to] 
as 
eX] 

; 
wo 
wa 
adi 
an 
Th 
an 
act 
ho 
tal 
thé 
scl 
int 
an 
an 
Vi 

in 
TI 
wl 


pr 


W: 
in 
er 
gr 


in 








Tue Ninru YEARBOOK 185 





IV. Tue Evementary Princrpatsuip: A CHALLENGE 
AND AN OpportTuNITY TO SERVE MANKIND 


The elementary principal holds the most important place in the 
whole line of educators because he receives and trains the recruits. 
Upon him rests the great responsibility of educating the children 
in the use of the tools of all learning. The importance of his task 
‘annot be overestimated, nor can it be lightly regarded, neglected, or 
done in half-hearted, slovenly fashion. The very practice necessary 
in learning to use these tools confirms the young life in habits of care- 
fulness, accuracy, facility, and satisfaction in good workmanship, 
or dooms it to be content with mediocre achievement. Upon the ele- 
mentary principal rests another great responsibility. He must see 
to it that the ideals of our civilization are transmitted to the young so 
as to win reasonable respect for, and acceptance of, that which the 
experience of the race has found to be good. 

The elementary principal has also this advantage, that he usually 
works in a district small enough to permit of frequent contacts in 
ways that may be made of educational value, with very many of the 
adults, particularly with the parents and guardians of the children, 
and with that most helpful group, the parent-teacher association. 
These contacts, through personal interviews, through visiting days 
and public school events, permit of constant interpretation of school 
activities. The visiting day may be made invaluable as an occasion 
not for showing off, but for showing why—why certain subjects are 
taught rather than others and why taught through one process rather 
than another. An opportunity to explain the perplexities of public 
schools that must ace»pt all children, good or bad, intelligent and un- 
intelligent, those weli environed and those from tawdry, impoverished, 
and vicious homes, the difficulties in the way of securing attendance 
and improvement where poverty and poorly-adjusted homes prevent. 
Visiting days also furnish an opportunity to secure help for children 
in need, so that the noble project of universal education may not falter. 
These contacts frequently reveal understanding and helpful spirits 
whose assistance in extending the service of the school will aid the 
principal greatly in realizing his philosophy of human enrichment. 

This is the day of the educator, for “ not by might nor by power ” 
will salvation come to the world, but only by the subtle, pervasive 
influence of humanizing thought. The agency for setting this influ- 
ence in motion is public education. The elementary school has the 
greatest opportunity and responsibility of all, that of reproducing 
in the young and perpetuating the good of the past and of creating 
ideals that shall make possible a new, greater, and more universa! 








186 ELEMENTARY Scuoont PrRINncIPALS 





good in the future. If educators shirk this responsibility or dally in 
performance, democracy will fail and the many who know not will 
pass under the control of those who know. On the other hand, “ a 
little more light for the common man this year, next year, a hundred 


years from now, and the battle for humanity, for democracy, and for 


brotherhood is won.” 


HE vision discussed by Mrs. Dorsey is exemplified par- 

ticularly in Chapters IX, X, XI, and XIV. In these 
chapters one may see that many schools are exerting a buoyant 
influence upon their respective communities. Principals are 
seldom satisfied with the “‘ educational crumbs ” which fall ac- 
cidentally to the school’s patrons. In many places, home-school 
cooperation is a vital foree for good.—Editorial Committee 

















CHAPTER III 


PHILOSOPHY IS THE WORKING BASIS OF 
ADMINISTRATION 


A. J. Hamitton 
Principal, University Elementary School, Berkeley, California 


N THE OPINION of the writer there is no such thing as a 

philosophy of administration. Administration seeks to provide 

an environment in which pupils under the wise guidance of 
teachers can attain the objectives embodied in a philosophy of educa- 
tion. All administrators, therefore, have, or should have, a philoso- 
phy of education. This philosophy is built out of the experiences 
of the administrator. How fundamental it is depends, of course, 
upon the nature and extent of his experiences, and his ability to 
interpret life through them. Experiences and ability to interpret 
them are personal and, therefore, differ widely as individuals. It 
must follow then that there are a great many philosophies of educa- 
tion. Moreover being influenced by experiences they are never static. 
They are as changeable as time. This accounts in part, if not en- 
tirely, for the ever changing conceptions of education. 

The inadequacy of language and the inexhaustible number of 
philosophies make a recounting of them an impossible task. The 
justification for a brief article on the subject, however, happily does 
not depend upon such a recounting but rather in the belief that there 
are sufficient common elements in our varied conceptions to enable 
us to think together, and to provide us with an opportunity for 
emphasizing the need of an educational philosophy before we can 
intelligently administer. 

Two sketchy and fragmentary points of view regarding the mean- 
ing of education are hereafter set down with purposely an emphasis 
on one that indicates the camp to which the writer is attached. While 
brief they are sufficiently divergent to eliminate the possibility of 
mistaking one for the other. An effort to state in such a way as to 
carry over a philosophy of education so that it could serve as a 
working basis for a school, would of course require much more space 
than is here allotted. And an attempt at validation would amount 
almost to rationalization. Establishing the validity of one’s phi- 
losophy involves more than a statement, more than administration, 
more than supervision; it involves all these plus the time element. 

[ 187 ] 








188 ELemMentary Scrnoont Primncipars 


[t is a matter of education. It is one phase of training in service : 
is the paramount duty of an administrator. 

The traditional educational philosophy influences administration 
one way—One philosophy emphasizes subjectmatter in compart- 
ments hermetically sealed. Many schools are still, and will continue 
to be, organized and administered on this subject-centered basis. 
A knowledge of subjectmatter logically arranged and properly filed in 
neat mental pigeon-holes for future use is thought to be the all impor- 
tant thing. When this is one’s philosophy of education the school will 
be so administered. The curriculums will be traditional subject cur- 
riculums. The program will be set off in 30 or 40 minute periods. 
The bell will ring and the teacher will “ switch off”? the children’s 
geographical interest and turn on the historical. Iron desks will be 
nailed to the floor in such manner as to make roll call easy. Supplies 
will consist of pencils, paper, and books. Teaching will be easily 
standardized, and the outcomes can be readily measured by true- 
false, completion, or multiple choice tests. There will be order. 
There must be. The principal will be rated Class A; all teachers who 
conform will be retained and receive the usual yearly stipend; and 
all pupils who succeed in curbing their natural enthusiasm will be 
rewarded by a certified statement that they have been moved up 
ward (‘) one notch. This, of course, is a brief and somewhat gen- 
eralized statement of the case but will be readily recognized as fitting 
many present day situations, and they are not confined to any par- 
ticular region. 

A freer philosophy makes for informal administration—Edu- 
cation is no longer conceived by some as a body of subjectmatter 
dictated by adults and set up for children to learn and give 
back without adequate understanding. It is no longer preparation for 
life. It is life. Education to be effective must begin with the needs, 
interests, and experiences of the child on the plane on which he is 
living. It must grow and keep pace with his mental development, 
but not so fast that he is unable to feel the need for the wider experi- 
ences and activities in which he is required to take part. If we criti- 
cally examine life on any level we soon discover that it consists of a 
continual process of solving problems. These problems are varied as 
life itself. They make up life. Moreover, they are in no way geo- 
graphically or historically bound around. That is, they are not in 
any sort of water-tight compartments. The solution of any problem 
of importance involves some knowledge and understanding of prac- 
tically all so called subjectmatter. Isolated subjectmatter does not 
function in one’s life. Only such learnings as we use in the integra- 
tion of our experiences stay with us. 








W 
Dew 
Th 
by th 
insig! 
educ: 
coinc 
resul 
A 
edu 
vireo 
tabl 
the 
tive 
sile 
pat 
free 
me 
con 
wil 
to 
nee 
tiv 
act 


the 
po 
Wi 
fac 
im 
vi 
lu 
ap 
ad 
it 
ti’ 
yy 
ne 
ti 





U 





Ture Nintu Yrarnoox 189 


We have not yet in our general educational practice caught up to 
Dewey’s creed published in 1897. At that time he said: 

The only true education comes through the stimulation of the child’s powers 
by the demands of the social situations in which he finds himself... .. Without 
insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual, the 
educative process will, therefore, be haphazard and arbitrary. If it chances to 
coincide with the child’s activity it will get a leverage; if it does not, it will 
result in friction, or disintegration, or arrest of the child nature. 

A school organized and administered by one who holds the above 
educational philosophy will seek to provide an entirely different en- 
vironment. Rooms will be larger; fixed desks will give way to work 
tables ; supplies will no longer be confined to pencils, paper, and books ; 
there will be an abundance of these plus all possible media for crea- 
tive expression. Silence will no longer be golden, unless it be the wise 
silence of the teacher. Children will have an opportunity to partici- 
pate in determining the activities. Teachers will be allowed to 
freely and frankly examine and evaluate all administrative require- 
ments. These evaluations will be heard and they will influence the 
conelusions of the administrator. Individual and group activities 
will be in order. There will be drill but only when drill is needed 
to fix what the child understands and feels to be valuable to his 
needs. In general the school as well as each group will be a coopera- 
tive undertaking appreciated by all personalities involved in its 
activities. 

A philosophy of education is essential—Whether you agree with 
the writer’s philosophy or with the one previously stated is unim- 
portant. Many who read will agree fully, and many will not; some 
will sit in both camps. We always have with us those who find satis- 
faction in a cautious attitude. One fact, however, continually 
impresses itself upon us as we get older, and that is, that those indi- 
viduals who make an impression on educational practice are never 
luke-warm. They know what they stand for and will defend it. It 
appears to the writer, therefore, that an important factor in all 
administration is that the administrator have a philosophy, and have 
it so clearly in his mind with all that it involves in the way of objec- 
tives that he ean wholeheartedly sell it to his teachers and patrons. 
This does not mean that a sound fundamental philosophy is not 
necessary, but it does mean that a false one clearly stated and unques- 
tionably understood by teachers and patrons is better than none. 

It would make for progress in every community if the administra- 
tor of the school were required to present to his teachers in written 
form every year a statement of his educational philosophy and per- 
mit it to be evaluated in the light of whether or not it was the guid- 





190 ELEMENTARY Scuoot Principars 





ing principle of his administration. If this were followed there 
might be some enlightening comments. 

The statement of a philosophy of education is as necessary for the 
central administrative office as it is for the principal. No school sys- 
tem can make progress when led or driven by an administrator with 
a foggy notion of where he is going or what it’s all about. 





HE Editorial Committee calls your attention to the ques- 

tionnaire printed on page 135. The blank on that page 
offers you an opportunity to improve the Department’s year- 
books