N 0 4 ] OQURNA NATIONAL EDUCATION ower ASSOCIATION ship . New Develop- ments, New LTreme be attache be ines Demands {bagi ace vag. ba QNi pote for bo fr ioctente ong. . . ) cael bor lath A= hed J ~~ gi \ AL; hd Faure feensat fa William H.Kilpatrick ed tae galas crotwaeed he Fipboun t Y y * poe aul pore ae e 4 - oe A Challenge to Ed- ucators Lotus D. Coffman The Story of an Ex- periment L. P. Benezet Wf fj Seven Adventures in Pioneering ae Harry A. Overstreet g “fauttee « yo Yy jie, , y SS Gi... XE i ee Yi. Sec Page A-115 for congue Tete ot = NOVEMBER + 1935 ° VOLUME 24 NUMBER 8 am, f 4 ee ue . ation Webster's Elementary | New | DICTIONARY FOR | | BOYS AND GIRLS ITS VOCABULARY OF 38,500 words was carefully selected from the material children actually read and study | ITS WORD ENTRIES are in new, large black type quickly seen and easily read | | Its DEFINITIONS WERE TESTED on thousands of pupils, and so clearly ex- THE DELIGHTFULLY CLEAR TYPE used in its definitions assures easy use and prevents eye strain | pressed that they are readily understood by children IT WAS PREPARED BY EXPERTS in dictionary making with the co-operation of hundreds of teachers 752 PAGES 1,600 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 162 FOUR-COLOR PICTURES LIST PRICE $1.20 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY New York Cincinnati Chicago Boston Atlanta Dallas San Francisco BOOK REPAIRING PROJECTS—In The School Libraries Thousands of books and thousands of dollars are being saved every day by school boys and girls using Gaylord Book Repair Materials and Supplies. REMEDIAL WORK IN READING Recommended: To accelerate progress with normal pupils—To aid slow pupils—To aid retarded pupils PRE-PRIMER AND FIRST GRADE Seatwork Activities—A Pre-Primer Workbook for any Primer, 64 pages Pre-Primer Seatwork, 64 pages Primer Seatwork, 64 pages First Reader Seatwork, 96 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book I, a phonic workbook for advanced first grade or second grade, 64 pages Classes in “Bookcraft” already estab- lished in many schools are rendering a splendid service by adding years to the lives of discarded volumes. Ask about the Gaylord Bookcraft Box— ,_.9: SECOND GRADE Second Grade Reading Seatwork, 96 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book II, a phonic workbook for advanced second grade or third grade, 64 pages... THIRD GRADE Third Grade Seatwork, 64 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book III, a phonic workbook for advanced third grade or low fourth grade, 64 pages.25c¢ SAVE MONEY—INSURE SUCCESS—Ohten the expenditure of a few cents per pupil invested in the right kind of reading activity work will save the school district hundreds of dollars spent annually to re- educate pupils who have failed in reading. The books listed have a nation-wide sale and are recommended for remedial work in reading. WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1808 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. the Handy Portable Repair Kit complete Sere with tools, materials and supplies. Reason- & ably priced. Gaylord Bookcraft, a booklet sent free upon request, tells how! It explains a method of Book Repairing adapted for use as an industrial art subject. GAYLORD BROS., Ine. Library Furniture and Supplies STOCKTON, CALIF. SYRACUSE, N. Y. —- | ~~ a ae NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION November 1935 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 8 Between Editor and Reader— Tianxscrvinc with its round of football and turkey dinners comes and goes. The fall sea- son lends itself well to exhilaration and gayety. The heat of summer is past and the rigors of winter are yet to come. But Thanksgiving has a deeper significance than this. Will Thanksgiving 1935 leave us better pre- pared or less well prepared to accept the tasks and opportunities of our day? Will we re- capture for ourselves and particularly for our children something of the humility andreverence of the men and women who observed the first Thanksgiving, grateful to Almighty God for blessings which they appreciated the more for the hardships and dangers amid which they lived? , (QURNAL Nid Thanksgiving is a good time to remember that we too face destiny and that in our grati- tude we should emphasize anew the values which are fundamental to the wellbeing of all. Let us rejoice that we are at peace with other nations; that we have been able and willing to feed the twenty million hungry among us; that the Republic still lives; that the hopes and ideals of democracy are not yet dead; and that the mighty work of the schools goes forward. Let us be thankful for the joys of ordinary living—the daily rhythm of simple tasks; the goodwill of neighbors, the companionship of friends; the love of dear ones; the inspiration of books; the beauties of forest, mountain, sea, and sky; and the serenity of common faith. Let us be thankful for the essential good- ness in the hearts of men and for the aspiration which makes them unhappy when doing less than their best. Above all let us be thankful for the children and let us keep on Thanksgiving day at least one quiet hour when we can talk to them about the meaning of the Thanksgiving . season and the significance of gratitude itself. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. AGNES SAMUELSON, President Wutarp E, Givens, Executive Secretary J. W. Crastree, Secretary Emeritus Mary J. Winfree, Accounts and Records Harriett M. Chase, Secretary’s Office H. A. Allan, Business S. D. Shankland, Secretary, Depart- Agnes Winn, Classroom Service ment of Superintendence, and Direc- Charl Ormond Williams, Field Service eof Renee Geena bck Gwladys W. Jones, Secretary, Depart- Joy Elmer Morgan, Publications . ment of Deans of Women T. D. Martin, Membership Eva G. Pinkston, Secretary, Dept. of William G. Carr, Research Elementary School Principals JOY ELMER MORGAN, Editor H. A. ALLAN, Business Manager In This Ilssue— EDUCATION AND FREEDOM Editorial 237 A CHALLENGE To EpUCATORS Lotus D. Coffman 239 THE Story OF AN EXPERIMENT L. P. Benezet 241 A PRINCIPALS’ CONFERENCE AT PORTLAND Edith B. Joynes 244 LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WoRLD Belmont Farley 245 EDUCATION IN EUROPE Philip W. L. Cox 247 Our AMERICAN HERITAGE OF LEADERSHIP 249 OxrorpD MEETING OF THE WorRLD FEDERATION Paul Monroe 257 SEVEN ADVENTURES IN PIONEERING Harry A. Overstreet 258 Dosry Ethel Blake 259 An EVENING WITH THE MAGAZINES Hazel Davis 260 NEW DEVELOPMENTS, NEW DeEMANDs William H. Kilpatrick 261 Do WE Know Our CHILDREN’s PARENTS? V. E. Jaster 262 THE RiIcHEST COUNTRY IN THE WoRLD 263 Firty-SEVEN CENTS A Day 264 WuatT THE AssocIATION Is DoING Lyle W. Ashby 265 St. Louis—THE CITY WITH A NEW VISION 267 A SKETCH WITH A PURPOSE Daisy Lord 268 Notes AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 269 Dick WetsH: A TRUE STORY R. Randolph Karch 271 Tue Honor Rott oF THE NEA 272 The payment of $2 active membership dues entities a member to attend all meetings of the Associa- tion and its departments, to vote for delegates to the Representative Assembly, to hold office, and to receive THE JOURNAL. The payment of $5 instead of $2 entitles an active member, in addition to the privileges of the $2 membership, to receive the Research Bulletins and the Annual Volume of Addresses and Proceedings. The payment of $100 gives the privileges of the $5 active membership for life. Subscription to nonmembers is $2 per year; single copies, 25 cents. Advertising rates on application. Please report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. THE JOURNAL is a member of the Educational Press Association of America. Published monthly, except June, July, and August, by the National Education Association of the United States, 120! Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. Entered as second-class matter October 23, 1920, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, act of October 3, 1917, authorized January 26, 1921. A-115 ooo a —_—-—— Webster's Elementary DICTIONARY FOR BOYS AND GIRLS ITS VOCABULARY OF 38,500 words was carefully selected from the material children actually read and study 2 = New Its WORD ENTRIES are in new, large black type quickly seen and easily read THE DELIGHTFULLY CLEAR TYPE used in its definitions assures easy use and prevents eye strain ITS DEFINITIONS WERE TESTED on thousands of pupils, and so clearly ex- pressed that they are readily understood by children I WAS PREPARED BY EXPERTS in dictionary making with the co-operation of hundreds of teachers 752 PAGES 1,600 ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT 162 FOUR-COLOR PICTURES LIST PRICE $1.20 AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Atlanta New York Cincinnati Chicago Boston Dallas San Francisco BOOK REPAIRING PROJECTS—In The School Libraries Thousands of books and thousands of dollars are being saved every day by school boys and girls using Gaylord Book Repair Materials and Supplies. REMEDIAL WORK IN READING Recommended: To accelerate progress with normal pupils—To aid slow pupils—To aid retarded pupils PRE-PRIMER AND FIRST GRADE Seatwork Activities—A Pre-Primer Workbook for any Phewecog, he: pages Classes in “Bookcraft” already estab- Pre-Primer Seatwork, 64 pages lished in many schools are rendering a splendid service by adding years to the lives of discarded volumes. Primer Seatwork, 64 pages First Reader Seatwork, 96 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book I, a phonic workbook for advanced first grade or second grade, 64 pages SECOND GRADE Second Grade Reading Seatwork, 96 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book II, a phonic workbook for advanced second grade or third grade, 64 pages... THIRD GRADE Third Grade Seatwork, 64 pages Eye and Ear Fun, Book III, a phonic workbook for advanced third grade or low fourth grade, 64 pages.25c¢ SAVE MONEY—INSURE SUCCESS—Often the expenditure of a few cents per pupil invested in the right kind of reading activity work will save the school district hundreds of dollars spent annually to re- educate pupils who have failed in reading. The books listed have a nation-wide sale and are recommended for remedial work in reading. WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1808 Washington Avenue, St. Louis, Mo. Ask about the Gaylord Bookcraft Box— the Handy Portable Repair Kit complete [3 with tools, materials and supplies. Reason- © ably priced. Gaylord Bookcraft, a booklet sent free upon request, tells how! It explains a method of Book Repairing adapted for use as an industrial art subject. GAYLORD BROS., Ine. Library Furniture and Supplies STOCKTON, CALIF. SYRACUSE, N. Y. OURNAL The of the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION November 1935 VOLUME 24, NUMBER 8 Between Editor and Reader— Tuanxservine with its round of football and turkey dinners comes and goes. The fall sea- son lends itself well to exhilaration and gayety. The heat of summer is past and the rigors of winter are yet to come. But Thanksgiving has a deeper significance than this. Will Thanksgiving 1935 leave us better pre- pared or less well prepared to accept the tasks and opportunities of our day? Will we re- capture for ourselves and particularly for our children something of the humility andreverence of the men and women who observed the first Thanksgiving, grateful to Almighty God for blessings which they appreciated the more for the hardships and dangers amid which they lived? Thanksgiving is a good time to remember that we too face destiny and that in our grati- tude we should emphasize anew the values which are fundamental to the wellbeing of all. Let us rejoice that we are at peace with other nations; that we have been able and willing to feed the twenty million hungry among us; that the Republic still lives; that the hopes and ideals of democracy are not yet dead; and that the mighty work of the schools goes forward. Let us be thankful for the joys of ordinary living—the daily rhythm of simple tasks; the goodwill of neighbors, the companionship of friends; the love of dear ones; the inspiration of books; the beauties of forest, mountain, sea, and sky; and the serenity of common faith. Let us be thankful for the essential good- ness in the hearts of men and for the aspiration which makes them unhappy when doing less than their best. Above all let us be thankful for the children and let us keep on Thanksgiving day at least one quiet hour when we can talk to them about the meaning of the Thanksgiving season and the significance of gratitude itself. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 PUBLISHED BY THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. AGNES SAMUELSON, President WILLarp E, Givens, Executive Secretary J. W. Crastree, Secretary Emeritus Mary J. Winfree, Accounts and Records H. A. Allan, Business Agnes Winn, Classroom Service Charl Ormond Williams, Field Service Joy Elmer Morgan, Publications T. D. Martin, Membership William G. Carr, Research JOY ELMER MORGAN, Editor Harriett M. Chase, Secretary’s Office S. D. Shankland, Secretary, Depart- ment of Superintendence, and Direc- tor of Administrative Service Gwladys W. Jones, Secretary, Depart- ment of Deans of Women Eva G. Pinkston, Secretary, Dept. of Elementary School Principals H. A. ALLAN, Business Manager In This Issue— EDUCATION AND FREEDOM Editorial 237 A CHALLENGE To EpuCATORS Lotus D. Coffman 239 THE Story OF AN EXPERIMENT L. P. Benezet 241 A PRINCIPALS’ CONFERENCE AT PORTLAND Edith B. Joynes 244 LIBERTY ENLIGHTENING THE WORLD Belmont Farley 245 EDUCATION IN EUROPE Philip W.L. Cox 247 Our AMERICAN HERITAGE OF LEADERSHIP 249 Oxrorp MEETING OF THE WoRLD FEDERATION Paul Monroe 25 SEVEN ADVENTURES IN PIONEERING Harry A. Overstreet 258 Dosry Ethel Blake 259 AN EVENING WITH THE MAGAZINES Hazel Davis 260 NEW DEVELOPMENTS, New Demanps William H. Kilpatrick 261 Do We Know Our CHILDREN’s PARENTS? V.E. Jaster 262 THE RicHEst COUNTRY IN THE WoRLD 263 FirTy-SEVEN CENTS A Day 264 Wuat THE AssocIATION Is DoING Lyle W. Ashby 265 St. Louis—THE CITY WITH A NEW VISION 267 A SKETCH WITH A PURPOSE Daisy Lord 268 NotES AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 269 Dick WetsH: A TRUE STORY R. Randolph Karch 271 THe Honor Rott oF THE NEA 272 The payment of $2 active membership dues entitles a member to attend all meetings of the Associa- tion and its departments, to vote for delegates to the Representative Assembly, to hold office, and to receive THE JOURNAL. The payment of $5 instead of $2 entities an active member, in addition to the privileges of the $2 membership, to receive the Research Bulletins and the Annual Volume of Addresses and Proceedings. The payment of $100 gives the privileges of the $5 active membership for life. Subscription to nonmembers is $2 per year; single copies, 25 cents. Advertising rates on application. Please report at once any change of address, giving old as well as new address. THE JOURNAL is a member of the Educational Press Association of America. Published monthly, except June, July, and August, by the National Education Association of the United States, 120! Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. Entered as second-class matter October 23, 1920, at the postoffice at Washington, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance for mailing at special rate of postage provided for in section 1103, act of October 3, 1917, authorized January 26, 1921. A-115 HEALTH EDUCATION— An Important Announcement The American Child Health Association has transferred to the National Education Association the stock and copyrights of its health education publications. This transfer is effective November 15, 1935. The National Education Association, in assuming responsibility for distribution and sales of this mate- rial, recognizes the effectiveness of the work done in the field of health education by the American Child Health Associa- tion and is hopeful that it may carry on the work with an equal degree of success. Listed briefly below are titles of the publications trans- ferred. A complete descriptive folder is available on request. These publications, combined with those of the Joint Com- mittee on Health Problems in Education of the National Edu- cation Association and the American Medical Association, enable the National Education Association to furnish com- plete source material for health education in schools. Orders and inquiries are solicited. a PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES IN SCHOOL HEALTH EDUCATION, 1935. The proceedings of Health Education Conference held at 1935. 363pp. Iowa City, Iowa, June 19-22, $1.50. ADVANCES IN HEALTH EDUCATION. The proceedings of the Health Education Con- ference held at Ann Arbor, Michigan, June 20-24, 1933. 306pp. $1.50. at the Health Education Conference, Sayville, L. I., June 17-22, 1929. 343pp. $1.25. REPORT OF EDUCATION $ .50. THE CHICAGO CONFERENCE, HEALTH June, 1925. 357pp. REPORT OF THE CAMBRIDGE HEALTH EDUCATION CONFERENCE, June, 1924. $ .75. A WORLD PANORAMA OF HEALTH EDU- CATION, Geneva, Switzerland, 1929. $ .50. 256pp. HEALTH SECTION REPORT, Denver, Colo., U.S.A., 1931. 299pp. $1.00. HEALTH TRENDS IN SECONDARY EDU- CATION. 16lpp. $1.00. DEVELOPING A SCIENTIFIC ATTITUDE AS AN ESSENTIAL IN HEALTH EDUCA- TION. By Anita D. Laton, Ph.D. 10pp. $.10. A FUNDAMENTAL DIFFICULTY IN ACHIEVING AN INTEGRATED SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM. By Anne Whitney. 12pp. $.10. AN INTEGRATION OF EDUCATIONAL EFFORT TO PROMOTE THE HEALTH OF THE SCHOOL CHILD. By Thomas D. Wood, M.D. 10pp. $.10. BASIC PRINCIPLES IN OGY OF LEARNING. onds, Ph.D. 9pp. $.10. CHILD HEALTH EDUCATION IN SOME OF ITS BROADER ASPECTS. By William H. Kilpatrick, Ph.D. 24pp. $.10. ESSENTIALS FOR THE SCHOOL HEALTH PROGRAM. By Thomas D. Wood, M.D. 9pp. $.10. CURRICULUM BUILDING SITUATION. By $.05. PLAY DAY—THE SPIRIT OF SPORT. 80pp. $.35. DRAMATIZING CHILD HEALTH. By Grace T. HALLOCK. 317pp. $1.50. HEALTH EDUCATION TESTS. 70pp. Paper bound, $.60; cloth bound, $.90. HEALTH EDUCATION TEST FORMS. Story, Matching, True-False, Five Rules, Time. Sample Set (without scoring keys) $.25. Each test may be secured in lots of 50 with scoring key as follows: Five Rules Test $.36 THE PSYCHOL- By Percival M. Sym- IN A RURAL Nettie E. Brogdon. 6pp. Matching Test 5d Story Test 1.80 Time Test 36 True-False Test 1.50 PHYSICAL MEASURES OF GROWTH AND NUTRITION. 138pp. Paper bound, $1.00; cloth bound, $1.25. PUBLIC HEALTH ASPECTS OF DENTAL DECAY IN CHILDREN. 136pp. bound, $1.00; cloth bound, $1.25. INFLUENCE OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC FACTORS. ON THE HEALTH OF THE SCHOOL CHILD. 160pp. Paper bound, $1.00; cloth bound, $1.25. AN EVALUATION OF SCHOOL HEALTH PROCEDURES. 144pp. Paper bound, $.90; cloth bound, $1.15. WEIGHING SCHOOL CHILDREN AND NUTRITIONAL STATUS MEASUREMENT. 12pp. $.05. CLASSROOM GROWPH RECORD. Wall chart for classroom records. Size 23°4” x 19”, $.03. SIGNS OF HEALTH IN CHILDHOOD. By Hugh Chaplin, M.D., and Edward A. Strecker, M.D. $.20. MY LITTLE CHILD’S HEALTH. HEALTHLAND FLYER FOLDER. $.02. MAP OF HEALTHLAND. Size 28 x 42 inches. $.15. POSTERS. Work. Play. Two wall runners. Size 50 x 9% inches. $.10 each. THE CHILD’S BILL OF RIGHTS POSTER. Size 12” x 9”. $.08. THE CHILDREN’S CHARTER. Available in two editions, suitable for framing. Size 17” x 39”. Paper $.05. RAILROAD On white paper in gold, blue and black. $.20. On ivory-colored stock, in Chinese red and black. $.15. All orders for publications should be accompanied by funds in pay- ment for same and must be so accompanied when orders for material amount to $1.00 or less. Orders not accompanied by funds in payment are subject to transportation charges. Make checks or money orders payable to National Education Association. quest. Prices are for single copies. The following discounts are allowed on quantities of the same book: 2 copies—25 percent; 100 or more copies—33% percent. Folder describing scope and subject of publications sent on re- to 9 copies—10 percent; 10 to 99 National Edueation Association of the United States 1201 Sixteenth Street, Washington, D. C. A-116 Mention THE JOURNAL when writing our advertisers The Journal of the National Education Association hat the tim for an mu era ma en. the pli wi fol diy tin ral ns- st. m- du- on, ym- ers ‘AL per MIC “HE _TH 90; ND Wall 9". By cker, ners. rER. le in a lowed to 99 tation Education and Freedom ICTATORSHIPS abroad and a D corporation-controled econ- omy in the United States have brought us face to face with the issue of human freedom. When times were good, we took freedom for granted. We now see that it is an achievement that must be won in each individual life. Liberty must be gained anew by each gen- eration. Every man has a right to the maximum freedom which can be enjoyed without interference with the freedom of others. Freedom im- plies the power to choose and the will to choose. Our whole system of education in a democracy is founded on the belief that the in- dividual is master of his own des- tiny and that whatever his in- herited limitations may be, the range of action is still so great as to allow for high aspiration and great adventure. Two sets of forces limit the freedom of the individual. First come forces within himself. These internal forces have their roots in the long stream of heredity and continue their development from birth. They include any inherited weaknesses of body or mind, any un- favorable habits that are allowed to grow up thru the carelessness or ignorance of parents and teachers. The freeing of young people from the restrictions which these internal forces place upon them is the peculiar task of homes, schools, and churches. This is the _ field in which teachers are most at home. ne ln il The other aspect of the limitation of freedom involves the reorganization of the social structure itself—in govern- ment and industry and in the relations between the two. Toward these changes the teacher can if he will make an in- creasing contribution because all these changes take place against a background of values. They all involve the habit of intelligent study and judicial opinion or the opposite habit of snap judgment and willingness to follow demagogs who will promise anything. It would be a wholesome practise if each of us would make a list of all the ways in which he finds his freedom lim- ited; and to divide the list, first into those matters which might be brought within the individual’s own control, and Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 T the nation is founded. We have gotten away from these principles and now we must find our way back to a better understanding of basic human rights, including the right of economic and social opportunity. The founding of our Republic is a part of the struggle for freedom and opportunity which have been the dream of prophets thruout the ages. Freedom and intelli- gence go hand in hand. Ignorance is the great enslaver. This editorial aims to call attention to the price which must be paid for freedom. second, the limitations which can be cor- rected if at all only thru cooperation. Undisciplined appetites and desires constitute perhaps the first and greatest interference with the individual’s free- dom. They are found at their worst in the drunkard and the drug addict, but in every life—even those which we con- sider normal—are these limitations on freedom which operate powerfully to hinder the finest development of that life. It may seem an easy course for the child’s parents, or for the child himself as he reaches the age of understanding and accountability, to neglect the task of selfdiscipline, but such neglect is far costlier in the end than to face the issues as they arise and to seek to establish habits which will be beneficial thruout the entire life of the individual. For, in spite of all the changes that have occurred thru the centuries and that are likely to occur during the cen- turies ahead, the good life is founded on certain fundamental habits, skills, atti- tudes, and appreciations. Human free- dom is limited far more by these forces that are within the control of the indi- vidual than by the forces that play upon him from without. Perhaps the second limitation on free- dom is in the field of human relation- ships. Certain negative emotional habits HE AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK THEME for 1935—the School and Democracy—em- phasizes the fundamental principles upon which tend to create barriers between us and our families and neighbors and to make it hard for us to come to grips with the human problems that must be met by anyone living in a complicated social order. We all feel at times that it is harder to deal with certain individuals than with others. The energy which should go into a consideration of the problem is wasted in irritation or friction of which we may even be unconscious. The case studies now going forward in the field of Individual Psychology should help us better to understand ourselves. Next come the limitations on our freedom which are associated with finance and debt. There are two major ways by which people limit their financial freedom. One is by habits which drain off in small amounts the money which should go into building a personal capital. Money spent for tobacco or liquor might well be eliminated in favor of pur- chases with a longtime social value. The second way by which people limit their financial freedom is thru failure to live within their incomes. The very act of discriminating thrift on a small income requires a discipline of the appetites which may be a powerful force in char- acter-building. Debt is one of the worst limitations on freedom and tends to lower the stand- ard of living. No one should enjoy the privilege of spending until he has learned the cost of earning. Instalment buying has developed to a degree which enslaves many people. An annual national total of six billion dollars in instalment pur- chases means an annual interest and finance charge of at least a billion dol- lars. By deferring these purchases until they could be made from savings, the money which now goes to exorbitant finance charges could flow into con- sumers goods. The schools might well develop a body of arithmetic problems around the theme of financing a life of seventy years on various income levels, teaching the child to observe the practises which he sees around him and to think of budgets in terms of decades as well as years. Finally there are the limitations that spring from planlessness. It would be a wholesome thing if each individual early 237 in his life, having made a fairly realistic analysis of his own powers and his situa- tion in life, would try to form an esti- mate of the maximum freedom which he could hope to enjoy and to work toward that end. Much of the unhappiness in the world comes from building expectations beyond possibility of realization. Planning is not a straitjacket. It is the gateway that opens upon the highway of freedom. We plan that we may make the best use of our resources, that we may conquer uncertainty, simplify routine, and save our time and strength for the higher freedom. It is easy to recognize the difference between a collection of primitive mud huts and a lovely well- planned town. There is the same differ- ence between a life that is left to chance and a life that is governed by high pur- pose, intelligence, systematic foresight, and sustained endeavor. Freedom from the limitations which internal forces impose on the individual can only be achicved thru education. To awaken within each individual life a sense of responsibility for its own im- provement and to bring it to the point of aspiration, discipline, and perspective is the major task of the school. If it can- not do this or, working with the home and other agencies, help to bring it about, the rest of its efforts must be largely lost. The forward march of civili- zation is measured by the awakening within the masses of the people of an enlarged sense of responsibility for their own lives. No one can be free until he has determined to be master of himself. Outside the individual are forces quite beyond his immediate control which tend to destroy freedom. Under dictatorships and despotisms, all individual rights are denied and the individual can only sur- vive by the most abject obedience to the sovereign. In a democratic country his freedom is greater but there are still limi- tations. One cannot enjoy the fruits of modern civilization and live unto himself alone. There must be sacrifices in the in- terest of cooperation and the common good. There has been too little emphasis on this side of democracy. Then, too, democracy is an ideal rather than a reality. No country, not even our own, has achieved it with any real fullness. The balance between per- sons and property is still heavily weighted on the side of property. Our court decisions and our system of high- salaried, private corporation lawyers have built up the whole fabric of legal control so as to put property first and people afterward. 238 This elevation of property interest above human interest is so universal that we take it for granted, and are uncon- MERICA was made by its system A of free education; in no other way could its soul—as a single soul—have gone marching on tri- umphant and unafraid. The Amer- ica of tomorrow is just as surely being made in the tens of thou- sands of schoolrooms where nearly one-fourth of all the inhabitants of the land are being taught who we are and why we are and that de- mocracy is for the average man the best form of government yet de- vised. There are things very wrong about some of the schools, some things that are wrong about all of the schools, but of them all it may be said that they are the living em- bodiment of the spirit that made us a nation, the very symbol of our freedom. We wish that they took into account some more deeply sig- nificant things—God, duty, neigh- borliness, social responsibility, world consciousness—but even without these they are the very core of the nation’s life——From an editorial by William Frederick Bigelow in September Good Housekeeping. scious of it even when it penetrates our own homes and turns upsidedown com- munities that would otherwise be stable. This becomes apparent in times like the present when vast numbers of people lose their property and employment. Plainly, having lost these, they have lost their freedom, and while we may respect them and guarantee them certain per- sonal rights thru relief or emergency em- ployment, this is a negative sort of com- fort and does not allow them the se- curity, initiative, and selfrespect which should go with the life of a free citizen. The very character of the machine age combined with the private control of money involves a serious limitation of personal freedom. If technology and giant finance take hold of agriculture, which they are already doing at an alarming rate, we shall find individual freedom still further destroyed. Our civilization must eventually substitute selfgoverning management for absentee- owned corporation dictatorships. There are wellinformed people who think that this preservation of individual rights and liberties will in the end re- quire force. They point out that no privileged class ever yielded without a struggle. There are many ways, however, in which the machine age multiplies the freedom and power of the individual. It affords the possibility of being informed to a degree hitherto unknown. That is why the selfish interests seek to control the machinery for the spread of infor- mation. Thus our journalism and our radio, which are the principal methods of distributing ideas to adults, are free to distribute only those ideas which do not interfere too seriously with the eco- nomic world as it has been in the past. This handicap to the spread of ideas and ideals among the adult population is being corrected by the growth of func- tional journalism among great groups which are organized for specific social and professional purposes. It is being offset, too, by the better preparation of teachers, the revision of the curriculum to include social studies, and the in- creased enrolments in highschools, col- leges, and adult classes. Another result of the machine age has been to multiply individual mobility, particularly in the United States. For a small amount the individual may cross the continent in his Own car. The entire population of America could be loaded into automobiles at one time. By a rea- sonable use of this power of communi- cation and transportation, it is possible today for citizens to understand what is going on around them and to take such political action as is necessary to safe- guard their personal freedom. In the end, education is the key to human destiny. The individual’s willing- ness and ability to discipline himself, combined with his willingness to master the political and economic forces about him and to participate in their control— these depend upon what is done in the schools. The suggestions presented in this edi- torial are just another way of saying that the time of the teacher has come. The warrior, the diplomat, the churchman, the statesman, the scientist, the indus- trialist, the banker—each in his turn has had a major responsibility for the leadership of civilization. Each of these forces still has important contributions to make but we believe that in the end they will be obliged to turn to the teacher and to rely upon the teacher and teach- ing to preserve freedom and to lay the foundation for a new advance.— Joy Elmer Morgan. The Journal of the National Education Association id re- it no out a r, in s the al. It rmed lat is ntrol nfor- | our thods - free th do - eco- past. ideas on is func- ‘oups ocial veing yn of ulum » in- col- > has ility, ‘or a cross ntire aded rea- Wuni- sible at is such sa fe- y to jing- self, ister yout ol— the edi- that The lan, lus- urn the 1ese ons end her ch- lay ion A Challenge to Educators Lotus D. CorFMAN President, University of Minnesota; and Chairman, Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel T THE ANNUAL CONVENTION of the A National Education Association held at Atlantic City in Feb- ruary 1935, the following resolution was adopted: “We favor better preparation for citizenship—an improvement in the public-school program which will better prepare for citizenship in its broadest sense. The political, social, and economic problems are so complex today that only a well-informed and socially-minded citi- zenry can hope to cope with them. De- mocracy must justify itself by intelli- gence at the polls.” Those last words, “Democracy must justify itself by intelligence at the polls,” constitute a challenge to the teachers of America. They signify that it is the duty of the teacher to bring to the attention of students the problems which the nation is facing today, the necessity for their solution, and some knowledge of the measures towards a solution which are advocated. Not only that, but the teacher must also make the student realize that he will shortly be one of those to decide whether reforms shall be accomplished, and that it will be his duty to do what may be within his power to further them. Among the problems which face our country today, none is more pressing than that of creating a truly efficient govern- ment personnel. And there is no problem more in need of careful exposition in the classroom. Why is it so necessary that an efficient government personnel be created? What steps have been taken to survey condi- tions as they now exist? What specific reforms have been advocated? In an address delivered at the Atlantic City convention, the writer touched briefly upon presentday conditions in the field of government personnel. That ad- dress, entitled “Education and Public Service” was reprinted in the April 1935 issue of THE JOURNAL. My remarks at Atlantic City were based upon information gained while serving as Chairman of the Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel. The report of that Commission has re- cently been published, and this article will concern itself with the Commission’s recommendations. The Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel was a non-political, Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 non-partisan, and non-governmental body appointed by the Social Science Research Council in December 1933, to SOCIAL ORDER which over many A generations consistently drains off its best human resources from any of the essential social institu- tions, is in grave danger of serious dislocation. If, for many years, few men of capacity entered the law, or medicine, or finance, or industry, as surely as night follows the day there would ensue in the neglected field a condition of decay which would seriously weaken the entire struc- ture, and set up within it strains which might, if not corrected in time, bring a serious collapse to the entire institutional structure. Ap- parently this is the situation we face in governmental administration in the United States today.—Lotus D. Coffman in the April 1935 JouURNAL. examine the broad problems of public personnel within the United States, to outline a program for future action, and to present its findings and recommenda- tions to the American people early in 1935, The creation of the Commission, and the selection of its field of inquiry, arose directly from the recommendations of former President Hoover’s Research Committee on Recent Social Trends. In the report of that Committee, January 1, 1933, it was suggested that the Social Science Research Council pursue further some of the lines of inquiry there indi- cated, among them the problem of pub- lic personnel. In testing the timeliness of this pro- posal the Council consulted many per- sons, among them President Roosevelt and certain members of his cabinet. The President expressed his approval of the plan as dealing with a subject of “major significance in the life and welfare of the American people.” The members of the Commission were: Louis Brownlow, director, Public Ad- ministration Clearing House, Chicago; Ralph Budd, president, Chicago, Bur- lington, and Quincy Railroad; Arthur L. Day, vicepresident, Corning Glass Works; Charles E. Merriam, chairman, Department of Political Science, Univer- sity of Chicago; and myself as chairman. Dr. Luther Gulick, director of the In- stitute of Public Administration, Eaton Professor of Municipal Science and Ad- ministration at Columbia University, was selected as secretary of the Commission and director of research. At the request of the Social Science Research Council, the work of the Com- mission was financed by the Spelman Fund. Once established, the Commission be- came a temporary, independent body, responsible neither to the government, nor to the Social Science Research Coun- cil, nor to the Spelman Fund. Its report is made, not to any of the organizations which sponsored it, but directly to the American people. Not only is the Commission’s report addressed to the American people. The conclusions and recommendations con- tained therein were arrived at only after careful study of representative opinion on the subject thruout the country. The Commission conducted its investi- gations in three ways. It conducted hear- ings both public and private in the larger cities thruout the country. At these hear- ings men and women representing busi- ness, industry, and the professions, pre- sented information as to the present status of public personnel thruout the country and voiced their recommenda- tions as to what steps should be taken to improve it. The Commission also asked qualified persons to prepare monographs on the operation of the British, French, and German civil services; on the history of public employment in the federal and local services; and on certain other re- lated topics. The Commission likewise engaged a research staff to gather and lay before it other relevant facts. The Commission finds such civil serv- ice laws as are now in effect, predomi- nately negative in character. They en- deavor to correct certain abuses, but do not, as a rule, provide for any affirmative approach to the problem of making gov- ernment service a field that will attract the ambitious and the more than ordi- narily competent young men and women. 239 More deplorable than the negative character of such civil service laws as there are, is the fact that large sections of the federal government are not under civil service law, and few state or munici- pal governments provide for any form of civil service supervision. In these large, unsupervised areas of administrative gov- ernment, appointments are still made on the basis of favoritism, political expedi- ency, and pity. The result is that un- trained persons are appointed to jobs re- quiring specialization; taxpayers’ money is wasted thru inefficient administration; and the American people, for whose serv- ice the government exists, are not receiv- ing the type of administration that they have every right to demand. The “career system,” the establish- ment of which the Commission recom- mends as the solution of the problem, is simple in essence and practical of appli- cation. It provides that all governmental units make public service attractive to the highest type of youth, that they pro- vide paths of advancement for such youth in the service, and that they make it possible for the ambitious and the qualified to advance to permanent posi- tions of honor and responsibility. To put such a career service into effect the Commission of Inquiry on Public Service Personnel advocates that all gov- ernmental units take action to effect the following changes: [1] A career system should be estab- lished in the various governmental units thru the enactment and execution of ap- propriate laws, or thru the development of existing personnel or civil service ad- ministration. [2] An agency should be developed in each of the larger units to render con- structive personnel service, instead of de- voting its entire attention to policing of appointments, as has been all too com- mon under civil service. [3] All positions involving any com- pensation or fee from the public treasury should be divided as follows: [a] politi- cal or major policy-determining, [b] the judges, but not the court employees, [c] the military service, [d] the general service. [4] The general service should be placed on a career basis which will pro- vide for advancement at different rates of speed depending on proven ability, and for transfer from one section to an- other. [5] The career service should extend to all non-political top positions, includ- ing many posts not now covered by civil service in most jurisdictions. 240 [6] The general public service should be classified as follows: [a] administra- tive, [b] professional and technical, |c| T Is generally agreed by public I officials and employees, by busi- ness and civic leaders, by labor offi- cials, and by politicians, that the time has come for a new nationwide program for the improvement of the quality of the personnel of govern- ment.—From the report of the Com- mission of Inquiry on Public Serv- ice Personnel. clerical, [d| skilled and trades services, |e| unskilled service. |7| With the establishment of career services on the basis of competitive en- trance, and advancement on merit, the salaries of the top positions should be materially increased and adequate re- tirement provisions should be made for each group. [8] Recruitment to the services should be articulated with the American educa- tional system. [9] Certification by accredited pro- fessional associations and by legally es- tablished professional bodies should be a prerequisite for all professional and technica! positions. [10] A probationary period of not less than six months should elapse before an appointment becomes in any way permanent. [11] Evasions of the merit system thru temporary appointments should be prevented by stricter legislation and con- trol. [12] The first duty of personnel offi- cers, and of general administrators as well, should be to make sure that men of special capacity are discovered promptly, that they are given a chance to advance, and that the petrification of personnel in stagnant and forgotten places is pre- vented. [13] Public employees should be given security against dismissal or de- motion for trivial, personal, religious, racial, political, or other arbitrary or extraneous reasons. But, on the other hand, care should be taken to see that no job develops into a sinecure, and no employee be allowed to remain in the service who does not continue to per- form his work in a competent manner. [14] A financially sound pension sys- tem, based on contributions by the pub- lic and the employee, should be estab- lished to cover every permanent posi- tion, with provision for transfer of credits with transfer of the employee from juris- diction to jurisdiction. [15] Cooperation should be estab- lished between the federal personnel ad- ministration and the state and _ local administrations thru joint use of eligible lists, joint preparation and conduct of examinations, and development of tech- nical studies. [16] In the states, similar cooperation should be established between state and local personnel agencies. Central tech- nical services should be developed, avail- able to units of government which can- not maintain complete personnel units of their own. [17] The short ballot, already in use in federal government, should be adopted also in state and local units. [18] Uneconomic and unworkable small units of local government should be modernized thru consolidation of boundaries and positions. Local residence requirements should be abolished. [19] Public personnel officers thru- out the United States should undertake, thru their national association, far more extensive research in the technical prob- lems of personnel administration wher- ever possible in cooperation with quali- fied specialists in private business and in the universities. The desirability of enacting such re- form measures would seem to be self- evident. Nevertheless there will be much opposition from those persons and inter- ests who gain, or think they stand to gain, by a continuance of the present chaotic system of government personnel selection and regulation. It is therefore necessary that the teach- ers, the educational leaders of the coun- try, train the rising generation to realize how much depends upon creating effi- cient government administration. We must teach our students that upon good government administration depends the effective functioning of all other public measures which are.dependent upon en- . forcement of law. Consequently, they must realize that in the solution of this present problem the personal interest of one or many, cannot be suffered to take precedence over the welfare of all. Indeed we shall not, I think, be over- stressing the importance of governmental personnel reform, if we teach that upon its successful realization is dependent, to a great degree, whether democracy itself can survive. Is this not, then, a challenge worthy of consideration and of acceptance? The Journal of the National Education Association ib- d- le of le Id of ce whe a YY = j— | The Teaching of Arithmetic The Story of an Experiment L. P. BENEZET Superintendent of Schools, Manchester, New Hampshire D. Boynton, superintendent of schools at Ithaca, New York, and president of the Department of Super- intendence, sent to a number of his friends and brother superintendents an article on a modern public-school pro- gram. His thesis was that we are con- stantly being asked to add new subjects to the curriculum [safety instruction, health instruction, thrift instruction, and the like], but that no one ever suggests that we eliminate anything. His paper closed with a challenge which seemed to say, “I defy you to show me how we can cut out any of this material.”’ One thinks, of course, of McAndrew’s famous simile that the American elementary-school cur- riculum is like the attic of the Jones’ house. The Joneses moved into this house fifty years ago and have never thrown anything away. I waited a month and then I wrote Boynton an eight-page letter, telling him what, in my opinion, could be eliminated from our present curriculum. I quote two paragraphs: T THE spring of 1929 the late Frank In the first place, it seems to me that we waste much time in the elementary schools, wrestling with stuff that ought to be omitted or postponed until the children are in need of studying it. If I had my way, I would omit arithmetic from the first six grades. I would allow the children to practise making change with imitation money, if you wish, but outside of making change, where does an eleven-year-old child ever have to use arithmetic ? I feel that it is all nonsense to take eight years to get children thru the ordinary arith- metic assignment of the elementary schools. What possible needs has a ten-year-old child for a knowledge of long division? The whole subject of arithmetic could be postponed until the seventh year of school, and it could be mas- tered in two years’ study by any normal child. Having written the letter, I decided that if this was my real belief, then I was falling down on the job if I failed to put it into practise. At this time I had been superintendent in Manchester for five years, and I had already been greatly criticized because I had dropped prac- tically all of the arithmetic out of the curriculum for the first two grades and the lower half of the third. In 1924 the enrolment in the first grade was 20 per- cent greater than the enrolment in the second, because, roughly, one-fifth of the children could not meet the arith- Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 metic requirements for promotion into the second grade and so were forced to repeat the year. By 1929 the enrolment of the first grade was no greater than that of the third. Meanwhile, I was distressed at the in- ability of the average child in our grades to use the English language. If the chil- dren had original ideas, they were very helpless about translating them into English which could be understood. I went into a certain eighth-grade room one day and was accompanied by a ste- nographer who took down, verbatim, the answers given me by the children. I was trying to get the children to tell me, in their own words, that if you have two fractions with the same numerator, the one with the smaller denominator is the larger. I quote typical answers. “The smaller number in fractions is always the largest.” “Tf the numerators are both the same, and the denominators one is smaller than the one, the one that is the smaller is the larger.” “If you had one thing and cut it into pieces the smaller piece will be the bigger. I mean the one you could cut the least pieces in would-be. the bigger pieces.” “The denominator that is smallest largest.” “If both numerators are the same number, the smaller denominator is the largest—the larger—of the two.” “If you have two fractions and one fraction has the smallest number at the bottom, it is cut into pieces and one has the more pieces. If the two fractions are equal, the bottom number was smaller than what the other one in the other fraction. The smallest one has the largest num- ber of pieces—would have the smallest number of pieces, but they would be larger than what the ones that were cut into more pieces.” is the The average layman will think that this must have been a group of half-wits, but I can assure you that it is typical of the attempts of fourteen-year-old chil- dren from any part of the country to put their ideas into English. The trouble was not with the children or with the teacher; it was with the curriculum. If the course of study required that the children master long division before leaving the fourth grade and fractions before finish- ing the fifth, then the teacher had to spend hours and hours on this work to the neglect of giving children practise in speaking the English language. I had tried the same experiment in schools in Indiana and in Wisconsin with exactly the same result as in New Hampshire. In the fall of 1929 I made up my mind ° to try the experiment of abandoning all formal instruction in arithmetic below the seventh grade and concentrating on teaching the children to read, to reason, and to recite—my new Three R’s. And by reciting I did not mean giving back, verbatim, the words of the teacher or of the textbook. I meant speaking the Eng- lish language. I picked out five rooms— three third grades, one combining the third and fourth grades, and one fifth grade. I asked the teachers if they would be willing to try the experiment. They were young teachers with perhaps an average of four years’ experience. | picked them carefully, but more care- fully than I picked the teachers, I selected the schools. Three of the four schoolhouses involved [two of the rooms were in the same building] were located in districts where not one parent in ten spoke English as his mother tongue. I sent home a notice to the parents and told them about the experiment that we were going to try, and asked any of them who objected to it to speak to me about it. I had no protests. Of course, I was fairly sive of this when I sent the notice out. Had I gone into other schools in the city where the parents were highschool and college graduates, I would have had a storm of protest and the experiment would never have been tried. I had sev- eral talks with the teachers and they entered into the new scheme with enthu- siasm. The children in these rooms were en- couraged to do a great deal of oral com- position. They reported on books that they had read, on incidents which they had seen, on visits that they had made. They told the stories of movies that they had attended and they made up ro- mances on the spur of the moment. It was refreshing to go into one of these rooms. A happy and joyous spirit per- vaded them. The children were no longer under the restraint of learning multipli- cation tables or struggling with long division. They were thoroly enjoying their hours in school. At the end of eight months I took a stenographer and went into every fourth- grade room in the city. As we have semi- annual promotions, the children who had 241 been in the advanced third grade at the time of the beginning of the experiment, were now in the first half of the fourth grade. The contrast was remarkable. In the traditional fourth grades when I asked children to tell me what they had been reading, they were hesitant, em- barrassed, and diffident. In one fourth grade I could not find a single child who would admit that he had committed the sin of reading. I did not have a single volunteer, and when I tried to draft them, the children stood up, shook their heads, and sat down again. In the four experimental fourth grades the children fairly fought for a chance to tell me what they had been reading. The hour closed, in each case, with a dozen hands waving in the air and little faces crestfallen, be- cause we had not gotten around to hear what they had to tell. For some years I had noted that the effect of the early introduction of arith- metic had been to dull and almost chloroform the child’s reasoning facul- ties. There was a certain problem which [ tried out, not once but a hundred times, in grades six, seven, and eight. Here is the problem: “If I can walk a hundred yards in a minute [and I can], how many miles can I walk in an hour, keep- ing up the same rate of speed?” In nineteen cases out of twenty the an- swer given me would be six thousand, and if I beamed approval and smiled, the class settled back, well satisfied. But if I should happen to say, “I see. That means that I could walk from here to San Francisco and back in an hour” there would invariably be a laugh and the children would look foolish. I, therefore, told the teachers of these experimental rooms that I would expect them to give the children much practise in estimating heights, lengths, areas, dis- tances, and the like. At the end of a year of this kind of work, I visited the experi- mental room which had had a combina- tion of third- and fourth-grade children, who now were fourth and fifth graders. I drew on the board a rough map of the western end of Lake Ontario, the eastern end of Lake Erie, and the Niagara River. I asked them to guess what it was, and was not surprised when they identified the location. I then labeled three spots along the river with the letters “Q,” “NF,” and “B.” They identified Niagara Falls and Buffalo without any difficulty, but were puzzled by the “Q.” Some thought it was Quebec but others knew it was not. I finally told them that it was Queenstown. I then drew a cross section of the falls, showing the hard layer of 242 rock above and the soft layer eating out underneath, and they told me what it was and why it was that the stone was falling, little by little, from the edge. They told me how this process was going on. I then made the statement that in 1680, when white men had first seen the falls, the falls were 2500 feet lower down than they are at present. I then asked them at what rate the falls were retreat- ing up-stream. These children, who had had no formal arithmetic for a year but who had been given practise in thinking, told me that it was 250 years since white men had first seen the falls and that, therefore, the falls were retreating up- stream at the rate of ten feet a year. I then remarked that science had de- cided that the falls had originally started at Queenstown, and, indicating that Queenstown was now ten miles down the river, I asked them how many years the falls had been retreating. They told me that if it had taken the falls 250 years to retreat about a half mile, it would be at the rate of 500 years to the mile, or 5000 years for the retreat from Queens- town. The map had been drawn so as to show the distance from Niagara Falls to Buffalo as approximately twice the dis- tance from Queenstown to Niagara Falls. Then I asked these children whether they had any idea how long it would be before the falls would retreat to Buffalo and drain the lake. They told me that it would not happen for another ten thou- sand years. I asked them how they got that and they told me that the map indi- cated that it was twenty miles from Niagara Falls to Buffalo, or thereabouts, and that this was twice the distance from Queenstown to Niagara Falls! It so happened that a few days after this incident I was visiting a large New England city with five of my brother superintendents. Our host was interested in my description of this incident and suggested that I try the same problem on a fifth grade in one of his schools. With the other superintendents as audience, I stood before an advanced fifth grade in what was known as the Demonstration School, the school used for practise teach- ing and to which visitors were always sent. The home superintendent: Boys and girls, would you like to have Superin- tendent Benezet of Manchester, New Hampshire, ask you some questions about Niagara Falls? The children express pleasure at the idea. Mr. Benezet: [Drawing a map on the board] Children, what is this that I have drawn on the blackboard? Children: The Great Lakes. Mr. B.: Good. What lakes? A child: Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, Mr. B.: Good. What is this river? Child: The St. Lawrence River. Mr. B.: That is really correct. It is the St. Lawrence River. But they call it by a different name here. They call it the Niagara River. What have you heard in connection with the Niagara River? Another child: Niagara Falls are there. Another child: Niagara Falls are con- nected with Niagara River. Mr. B.: Oh! How are they connected? Child: The water trickles down the Falls and goes into the Niagara River. Mr. B.: I should call that quite a trickle. Have any of you children seen Niagara Falls? Three raise their hands. Mr. B.: How high are the falls? Have you any idea? Are they higher than this room? Children: Yes [dubiously }. Mr. B.: Well, how high is this room? Its height is guessed anywhere from 11 feet to 40 feet. The room is actually about 16 feet high. The question of the height of the falls is finally dropped. Mr. B.: Well, never mind how high the falls are. On this’ map here I have indicated one spot and marked it “NF.” and another spot and marked it “B.” What does “NF” mean? Children: Niagara Falls. Mr. B.: What does “B” stand for? Another child: Bay. Mr. B.: No. Remember that Niagara Falls is not only the name of the Falls, but the name of a city. Child: Baltimore. After considerable pause, the home superintendent, in the back of the room, tells the class that the name of the city is also the name of an animal. Child: Buffalo. Mr. B.: Yes. Now there is another town here that I am going to mark “Q.” It is not Quebec; it, is Queenstown. Peo-. ple who have studied this carefully tell us that once upon a time the falls were at Queenstown. Tell me now. What does it mean if I say that I show you the cross- section of an apple? Class is uncertain. Mr. B.: Suppose that you cut an apple in half with a knife. What do I show you if I hold up one-half? Child: Half the apple. Another child: The core of the apple. Third child: The inside of an apple. Mr. B: Tell me. Is the word “section” The Journal of the National Education Association a Tie, t is ll it the 1 in are on- ed? the ave his m? om ly the igh ive Peg G ira a new word to the majority of you? Enthusiastic chorus of “No.” Mr. B.: Well, a cross-section of an apple means a cut right thru an apple. Why have I said this to you? Meantime he has drawn on the board a cross-section of Niagara Falls. Child: Because that is a cross-section of the falls. Mr. Benezet now explains the two kinds of rock and asks which is the harder. They finally decide that the rock above is the harder. He then shows how the underneath rock rotted away, and that finally there was a shelf of hard rock overhanging. This became too heavy and fell off; and the falls have thereby moved back some ten feet. Mr. B.: Now, when white men first saw the falls in 1680 [placing this date on the board], the falls were further down the river than they are now, and it is estimated that since that time they have moved back upstream about 2500 feet. Now how long ago was it that white men first saw the falls? Child: Four hundred years. Another child: Two hundred years. Third child: Three hundred years. Guesses range anywhere between 110 years and 450 years. One boy says it was about the time that Columbus sailed to America; another says that it was about the time of the Pilgrims and the Puri- tans. Mr. B.: Well, how are we going to find out? General bewilderment for a while. Finally: Child: Take 1930 and subtract it from 1680. Mr. B.: Fine. He writes on the blackboard: 1680 1930 Mr. B.: Now take a look and tell me how many years that was. See if you can tell me before we subtract it, figure by figure. It is to be noted that not one child called attention to the wrong position of the two sets of figures. They guess 350 years, 200 years, 400 years. Mr. B.: Well, let’s subtract it figure by figure. Child: Zero from 0 equals 0. Three from 8 equals 5. Nine from 6 equals 3. Three hundred fifty years is the answer. Mr. B.: How many think that 350 years is right? About two-thirds of the hands go up. Finally two or three think that it is wrong. Mr. B.: All right, correct it. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 Child: It should have been 9 from 16 equals 7. Mr. Benezet thereupon puts down 750 for the answer. When he asks how many in the room agree that this is right, prac- tically every hand is raised. By this time the local superintendent was pacing the floor at the rear of the room and throw- ing up his hands in dismay at this show- ing on the part of his prize pupils. After a time, as Mr. Benezet looks a little puzzled, the children gradually become a little puzzled also. One little girl, Elsie Miller, finally comes to the board, re- verses the figures, subtracts, and says the answer is 250 years. Mr. B.: All right. If the falls have re- treated 2500 feet in 250 years, how many feet a year have the falls moved up- stream? Child: Two feet. Mr. Benezet registers complete satis- faction and asks how many in the class agree. Practically the whole class put hands up again. Mr. B.: Well, has anyone a different answer? Child: Eight feet. Another child: Twenty feet. Finally Elsie Miller again gets up, and says the answer is ten feet. Mr. B.: What? Ten feet? [ Register- ing great surprise ] The class, at this, bursts into a roar of laughter. Elsie Miller sticks to her answer, and is invited by Mr. Benezet to come up and prove it. He says that it seems queer that Elsie is so obstinate when everyone is against her. She finally proves her point, and Mr. Benezet admits to the class that all the rest were wrong. Mr. B.: Now, what fraction of a mile is it that the falls have retreated during the last 250 years? Children guess 3/2, 3/4, 2/3, 1/20, 7/8—everything except 1/2. The bell for dismissal rings and the session is over. It will be noted that the local super- intendent gave them a little hint at the outset, that was not given to the Man- chester children, when he said, “Niagara Falls.” They were prepared to identify my map. Also, the Manchester children who had not learned tables but had talked a great deal about distances and dimensions, recognized the fact that 2500 feet was about a half a mile, while the children in the larger city who were fresh from their tables, had little conception of the distance. ._ I was so delighted with the success of the experiment so far that in the fall of 1930 we started six or seven other rooms along the same line. The formal arith- metic was dropped and emphasis was placed on English expression, on reason- ing, and estimating of distances. One day I tried an experiment having to do with English expression. I hung before a 7-B class a copy of a painting by Frederick Waugh, representing a polar bear floating on a small berg of ice. This was a traditionally taught room in a school where there were very few chil- dren of foreign extraction. I asked the children to write anything which they felt inspired to put down as a result of seeing the picture. Three-quarters of an hour later I hung the same picture before another 7-B grade, one of the experi- mental groups this time, in a school where not more than three children in the room came from homes where Eng- lish was the language of the parents. I then called the seventh-grade teachers of the city together and read them the ten best papers from one room and the ten best from the other. I asked them if they saw any difference. One teacher re- marked that one group was about a year and a half or two years ahead of the other in maturity of expression, and there was general assent to this state- ment. I said to the teachers, “If I should tell you that one group came from the ‘A’ school and the other from the ‘B,’ from which school would you guess the better group of papers came?” “Oh, the ‘A’ school, undoubtedly,” said they, naming the school whose pa- trons speak English in their homes. “Well,” I said, “it was just the other way,” and there was a murmur of in- credulity. Then we analyzed the papers and counted the number of adjectives used by the traditionally taught pupils. There were forty all told: nice, pretty, blue, green, cold, etc. We then counted the adjectives used by the other group [the number of papers was approxi- mately the same] and we found 128, including magnificent, awe-inspiring, unique, majestic, etc. The little Greeks, Armenians, Poles, and French-Canadians had far surpassed their English-speaking opponents. I next tried a rather similar test. I hung the same picture—a landscape rep- resenting a river scene in the vicinity of Manchester—before ten different fifth- grade rooms. Five of them had been brought up under the old traditional cur- riculum and five of them were of the ex- perimental group. It was the same story: the experimental rooms far excelled the others in fluency of expression. They used words that the others had never heard of. Nevertheless, when we came to 243 test the papers for spelling, the poorest of the experimental rooms exactly tied the record of the best of the traditional groups. The most surprising result came in a certain room in which there was housed a 5-B grade and a 5-A. The younger pupils, the 5-B’s, had been brought up under the experimental cur- riculum, without arithmetic, while the other half of the room were traditional. The 5-A’s made the poorest record of all the ten groups while the 5-B’s, the younger group, were next to the top. For four months they had been taught by the same teacher but by different methods. Now we were ready to experiment on a much larger scale. By the fall of 1932 about one-half of the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grade rooms in the city were work- ing under the new curriculum. Some of the principals were a little dubious and asked permission to postpone formal arithmetic until the beginning of the sixth grade instead of the beginning of the seventh. Accordingly, permission was given to four schools to begin the use of the arithmetic book with the 6-B grade. About this time Professor Guy Wilson of Boston University asked permission to test our program. One of our highschool teachers was working for her master’s degree at Boston University and as part of her work he assigned her the task of giving tests in arithmetic to 200 sixth- grade children in the Manchester schools. They were divided fairly evenly, 98 from experimental rooms and 102 from the traditional groups, or something like that. These were all sixth graders. Half of them had had no arithmetic until be- ginning the sixth grade and the other half had had it thruout the course, begin- ning with the 3-A, In the earlier tests the traditionally trained people excelled, as was to be expected, for the tests involved not reasoning but simply the manipula- tion of the four fundamental processes. By the middle of April, however, all the classes were practically on a par and when the last test was given in June, it was one of the experimental groups that led the city. In other words these chil- dren, by avoiding the early drill on com-/ binations, tables, and that sort of thing, had been able, in one year, to attain the level of accomplishment which the tra- ditionally taught children had reached after three and one-half years of arith- metical drill. [This article will be con- tinued in the December issue. ] A Principals’ Conference at Portland HEN—July 6-17, 1936. \X / Where—At some university or teachers college in or near Portland. By whom sponsored—The Depart- ment of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association of the United States. Why—tThe work of the principal has always been complex. The position is strategic. His first allegiance is to the needs of the children, and the second to his faculty. He belongs to the commu- nity. It is to him that the commu- nity looks as the immediate interpreter of educational ideas and ideals. It is to him that parents, regardless of what may be the age or advancement of the child, feel they can go and ask for advice and guidance—and this is as it should be. This intimate knowledge of and con- tact with a community brings a large number of direct and inescapable re- sponsibilities. The elementary principal must know education. Beginning with the kindergarten and extending thru the university he should know what consti- tutes a real school. He should be able to distinguish between a creative teacher and a routine teacher. He should be able to comprehend, understand, and put into practise a thoro course of study with at- tendant activities reaching into the home and the community. The basic principles of child psychology, the understanding of the greatest of all arts and sciences— sociology—should constitute a part of his preparation, and these subjects should be constantly refreshed in his mind by new study and everyday appli- 244 cation. Such knowledge cannot be gained wholly by reading. Often the best re- sults are obtained by discussion of prob- lems with a group and receiving their reactions. The principal cannot be a chore boy and meet the requirements which are expected of him. He must have an understanding and appreciation of the problems of elementary education, and a willingness to help guide the prepara- tion of the child, for its school life con- stitutes not only a work but an obliga- tion that must be fulfilled if the educa- tion of the child is to proceed in orderly fashion. A questionnaire sent from headquar- ters to each teachers college and univer- sity revealed the fact that there are many classes each summer for most phases of education, but there is a dearth in courses pertaining to problems of directing elementary education. So that leaders may come together, discuss their common problems, and make plans for the future, President M. Emma Brookes of the Department of Elemen- tary School Principals appointed a com- mittee at the Denver convention to make arrangements for a conference to be held for two weeks following the meeting of the National Education Association next summer at Portland. The meeting will be conducted so that those attending will receive credit for the work they do. The following were appointed on the committe: Mrs. Edith B. Joynes, prin- cipal, Gatewood-Washington Schools, Norfolk, Virginia, chairman; Mason A. Stratton, principal, Brighton Avenue School, Atlantic City, New Jersey; Edythe J. Brown, principal, Kaley-Mar- quette Schools, South Bend, Indiana. Benefits derived—Those who have charge of elementary education—who spend part of their time teaching as well as administering to all the needs. of the school; those who do only supervisory work; those who are only administra- tive principals with no supervision; vice- principals; and teachers who are inter- ested in the work of the principal—all are urged to join us and help us confer together. The Department of Elementary School Principals is sponsoring the con- ference and the benefits received will be the improvement of the work of those interested in elementary education thru- out the nation. We ask principals to cooperate with us by attending this worthwhile meet- ing. Send to our Secretary, at head- quarters [1201-16th St., N. W., Wash- ington, D. C.] a list of the problems you would like to have discussed. We can make this conference one of the greatest educational meetings in our history, but it will take you and your help for us to do so. Unfortunately, the elementary school represents the entire education of a large percentage of the children of the nation. Help us improve this “first teaching” so that better citizens will be made. We believe this conference will be the means of helping us to improve conditions in our own locality and that this will be a beginning for something larger and better. The committee asks for sugges- tions and cooperation in this important undertaking. Let us hear from you.— Edith B. Joynes, chairman. The Journal of the National Education Association HE AMERICAN EpucATION WEEK program of “Our American Schools” will begin its journey to listeners down a short wave radio beam from the torch of the Statue of Liberty on Bedloe’s Island, New York harbor. The short waves will be transformed into those of the ordinary length in the engineering laboratories of the National Broadcast- ing Company across the Bay, and will thereafter travel by the usual route to the thousands of receiving sets which tune in on this feature of the nationwide observance of American Education Week, Wednesday, November 13, 7:30 p.M. Eastern Standard Time. This broad- cast is one of the regular series of “Our American Schools.”’ It will be made over the WEAF [Red] network of the NBC used each Wednesday evening at 7:30 for this series. This special program is particularly appropriate in the celebration of Amer- ican Education Week 1935, since the “Statue of Liberty Enlightening the World” on October 28 began the fiftieth year of her long vigil in New York har- bor. The program will be characterized by a patriotic note reminiscent of the struggles of our forefathers in establish- ing freedom for self-rule, and is in keep- ing with the theme of American Educa- tion Week for the current year—“The School and Democracy.” The dramatic portion of the program will portray the experience of a climb to the Statue’s head, from which the final portion of the broadcast will be made. This number of “Our American Schools” from one of the nation’s most popular shrines will not only attract the general public, but should be of great in- terest to all of the 30,000,000 children and young people enroled in our educa- tional institutions. Local preparation for the event may be made by giving it wide publicity, and the program may appropriately be preceded by school as- sembly and classroom discussions of the history of the Statue of Liberty and the significance of such a gift in the promo- tion of international goodwill. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 a The idea of the Statue of Liberty— the largest example of colossal art in the history of the world—came to M. La- boulaye and his guests at a dinner party at the famous Frenchman’s home in Glavigny, near Versailles, France, in the year 1865. A gifted young Alsatian sculp- tor, Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, was a member of the party. He was to spend twenty years of his life creating a monu- ment which, as a gift from the French nation to the United States, should com- memorate the centennial of American Independence and perpetuate the friend- ship which began between the two na- tions when Lafayette and other French- men cast their lot with the new-world colonies in the cause of freedom. The story of this monument has never been completely told. It is a story of two decades of persistent effort against what seemed to be insurmountable obstacles. The technical art and engineering prob- lems were such as had never before been encountered. The expense of construc- tion was much greater than anyone had estimated. Money for the gift was not appropriated by the French government. It came from the pockets of Frenchmen sou by sou as enthusiasm spread for a project based so completely upon the noble sentiment of friendliness and good- will as to be unique in the world’s history. In the beginning, Americans expressed little interest in the project. The proposal that money be raised by popular sub- Courtesy, National Geographic Society scription to build a suitable foundation and pedestal for the statue was coldly re- ceived by the public. Congress at first refused to appropriate any money. But Bartholdi went steadily on with the statue, which was to him not only a work of patriotism and of art but one of filial piety. His mother, a woman of imposing appearance, was the model for the great figure. The years passed until the statue was near completion. The skeptical began to realize that the project was more than Gallic sentiment. In 1884—eight years after the anniversary it was to com- memorate—it stood complete in Paris, towering above the housetops. On July 4 of that year it was presented formally to United States Minister Levi P. Morton. The American people were at last aroused to appreciation. The campaign for funds to build a foundation for the statue was led by the editor of the New York World, Joseph Pulitzer, to whom nothing was more precious than liberty. The statue was unveiled October 28, 1886, as the climax of one of the most spectacular celebrations ever held in New York City. Among those who par- ticipated were the great of both France and America. President Grover Cleve- land’s speech of acceptance best states the significance of the memorial: This token of the affection and consideration of the people of France demonstrates the kin- ship of republics. . . . We are not here today to bow before the representation of a fierce, warlike god, filled with wrath and vengeance, but we joyously contemplate instead our own deity keeping watch and ward before the open Gates of America, and greater than all that have been celebrated in ancient song. Instead of grasping in her hand thunderbolts of terror and of death she holds aloft the light which illumines the way to man’s enfranchisement. We will not forget that liberty has here made her home, nor shall her chosen altar be neg- lected. Willing votaries will constantly keep alive its fires and these ... shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until Liberty Enlightens the World. —Belmont Farley, assistant direc- tor, Division of Publications, National Education Association. Photo, John R. Scotford 246 Courtesy, International Journal of Religious Education Wicoms you set your name among the stars? Then write it large upon the hearts of children. They will remember! Have you visions of a finer, happier world? Tell the children! They will build it for you. : Have you a word of hope for poor, blind, stumbling human kind? Then give it not to stupid, blundering men. Give it to the children. In their clear, untroubled minds it will reflect itself a thousand fold And some day paint itself upon the mountain tops. G cecseees a Lincoln plays and learns and watches with bewildered gaze This strange procession of mismannered souls. Have you a ray of light to offer him? Then give it, and some day it will help To make the torch which he will use To light the world to freedom and to joy. —CLARE TREE MAJOR Founder and Director, Children’s Theater of New York. The Journal of the National Education Association Education in Europe Puiie W. L. Cox Professor of Secondary Education, New York University ow do you know that I’m mad?” H said Alice. “You must be,” said the Cat, “or you wouldn't have come here.” Most of the academic year, 1933-34, the writer spent in Europe. In Italy, Greece, Jugoslavia, Austria, Germany, Russia, and the Scandinavian countries he sought to discover the true social goals of each people and the place as- signed to education, both as an institu- tion in the emergent society and as a means for bringing that society about. Upon his return to America and after a half-year of reflection, he believes that men of sincerity and goodwill of the Western World are almost agreed re- garding final social goals and the role of education in securing them. Their dis- agreements are to be found in their inter- pretations of present economic forces and in their fears or faiths in people of their own and of other lands, races, or religious sects. Philosophically impor- tant but practically scarcely distinguish- able are the differences in their attitudes toward freedom and indoctrination of youth; whether blatantly or subtly, adults in all of these countries are ex- ploiting the activities of youths as means for indoctrinating them in the beliefs and methods favored hy dominant social- civic groups. Perhaps the Cheshire Cat’s assertion applies to the American liberal who seeks to orient himself to the Amer- ican wonderland by studying European “solutions.” In Italy, Fascism seeks to center au- thority and responsibility in a moral elite which will mobilize the intellectual, spiritual, and material-technical _ re- sources of Italy and, so far as they can be transferred to Italy, of the rest of the world. This mobilization will be so directed that Italy as a nation may be independent, that every Italian may be secure in his property, in his reasonable expectations of economic return and en- joyment of life, and in his protection against sickness, old age, and poverty. There will thus emerge an Italy of health, of disseminated culture, and of vigorous race. The elite which controls and instru- ments this mobilization seizes leadership which involves work, restraint, puritanic lives, rigid honesty, and great selfsacri- fice. To its ranks are admitted only those Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 who accept such discipline and who rec- ognize that efficient organization implies hierarchy. In their efforts to break thru the stupid selfishness and inertia of the age, as they view them, they feel it necessary to adopt a positive program that is often shocking to a democrat. Such a one may properly condemn their harsh treatment of liberals and radicals and their drama- tic demonstrations |“‘pure act and bally- hoo” the program has been called]. Nevertheless, he would be both unjust and undiscriminating if he did not give great credit to Fascism for its social accomplishments to date and for its pro- gram for the immediate future. Within the area of education we may debit Fascism with the introduction of medieval religious dogma and the distor- tion of social science to support their thesis of national mission. But one must credit it with the decrease of crime and begging, with the improvement of indi- vidual health and community sanitation, with the construction and staffing of hundreds of schools where never before in history have there been such institu- tions, with the stimulation and improve- ment of children’s expressive activities, and with the arousal of youths to take an active share in constructing better schools, homes, neighborhoods, and country. One must honor the physical, cultural, civic program of the Balilla and of the after-work program—Dopolavoro. One cannot but approve the carefully coordinated selection and training of the very best of the rising generation to teach the youths of tomorrow. Nazi Germany—The procedures and tactics of the Nationalist Socialist party in obtaining control have been not unlike those of the Italian Fascists. Whether more restrained and well-balanced lead- ers will find places of authority and re- sponsibility in Germany as the Revolu- tion proceeds, as they have done in Italy, remains to be seen. Meantime an- observer who seeks to understand the purposes and forces of the uprising must recognize how inevit- able it was. He must respond to its posi- tive action, to the boldness of its chal- lenge to what must have seemed almost inevitable and irresistible fate. A people crushed, impoverished and almost with- out hope, has rallied in its despair and defied the world. Since pride in nation and race has been its rallying cry, it is understandable that it crushes, without mercy, all who would compromise and all who seem to deny by their very pres- ence and survival the doctrine of the superiority of the Teutonic race. A whole people lashed by propaganda and shame into a mob does not constitute the equiv- alent of a sane and responsible society. To a far greater degree than in Italy, German youths are the kinetic force in the revolution. The postwar momentum of the German youths was such that some dramatic outcome was certain to result. The Nazi program offered march- ing youths a positive program, it per- suaded them that internationalists— socialists, communists, Jews, and the Roman Catholic hierarchy—were the enemies. To all who suffered, whether by poverty, by indignity, or by restlessness, this positive program offered release. They felt that they must do something to end the insufferable impasse. What more inevitable than that they should accept a distorted history and science and pronounce them “truths’’? What more natural than that they should welcome adherents to their cause without questioning too closely their intentions, their ethics, and their qualifications? What more certain than that they would remove from universities and schools all persons who refused to accept the dis- tortions or who counseled moderation? Surely we in America who taught school during the War and postwar period, who have ever since feared to offend the superpatriots, who have scarcely pro- tested when the American Legion has attempted to foist a frankly distorted history on the schools, who even now must take oath “to support the Consti- tion” in some states at the behest of vio- lent and ignorant men who themselves know not the spirit of the instrument they demand that we support—we can scarcely be harsh in our judgments of the German people, however revolting or ridiculous their actions and their beliefs may be! The formal educational institutions of Germany are quiescent—to a degree, acquiescent. Known socialists, interna- tionalists, liberals, and Jews have been 247 dismissed. There remain from the former staffs many who regret present condi- tions but who believe that discretion is the better part of valor, and that their protest and martyrdom would serve no good purpose. In the Union of Socialist Soviet Re- publics, the Communist party seeks to liquidate all actual or potential members of exploiting classes [as they interpret exploitation] to the end that a classless society of mew men will produce both material goods and cultural advantages for use and not for profit. It glorifies the potentialities of the human mind to create a world of equality wherein each will give according to his capacity and each will receive according to his need. Russia as a country has little meaning to party members. Their loyalties are to the world of toilers, their enmities to exploiters everywhere. Toward all who endanger the success of the Revolution, whether as counter- revolutionary plotters or as individualist entrepreneurs or as careless workmen, their scorn and their harshness are vio- lent and final. Tolerance is limited to those areas of thought and action which are nonpolitical or concerning which the party has made no pronouncement. The result is a very real and ever-present fear on the part even of thoroly loyal persons whose words or acts might be misunder- stood or misinterpreted. Conditions of espionage may not be worse than they were in America in 1917 and 1918, but the abruptness and the callousness of executions and exiles are much more terroristic. Education is affected both beneficially and maleficiently by these unhappy con- ditions; for the schools are directly con- troled as an instrument of social policy as they are in Italy. Because the Com- munist party, like the Fascist party, holds so high an opinion of the poten- tialities of public schools, the support of governments, factories, unions, teachers, and youths is given wholeheartedly to educational organizations and _ institu- tions of many kinds. There are creches, kindergartens, polytechnical seven-grade and ten-grade schools, technicums, com- binats, institutes, and universities—all of them directly controled by the Com- missariat of Education or of Heavy In- dustry in the case of technological tech- nicums and institutes. In addition there are many collateral schools or special institutions. The Pio- neers bear somewhat the same relation to the schools as do our Scouts but their civic-political program is far more vigor- 248 ous than that of the Scouts. There are “palaces of culture” maintained by trade unions for the esthetic education of youths; forest schools for anemic chil- dren; forest homes and parks of culture and rest, sports fields, museums, gal- leries, theatres, concerts and homes for amateur art, and many other oppor- tunities all planned and integrated so that every youth and adult may approxi- mate the educational advantages of peo- ple of independent income in the capi- talistic countries. This integration has been a natural re- sult of the struggle which the tiny Com- munist party, which even today includes less than 2 percent of the population of the Union, has felt it necessary to wage vigorously and ceaselessly against the social, political, and economic forces both within and outside of Russia which tend to defeat the party program. Hence, the control of education has amounted to a benevolent propaganda and a shaping of attitudes and modes of conduct in har- mony with those which it is hoped will be typical when Communism is realized. Communists do not approve coercion and conformity as an end. They do honestly believe that under the circumstances of a hostile world and at best of an inert peo- ple coercion and propaganda are neces- sary instruments for curing the ills of a very sick society. In Scandinavia, the socialist-demo- cratic program retains its vigor and its momentum. In all of these countries the party believes in socialism as the goal but in democracy as the means. Its suc- cess to date is the major inspiration and hope of democratic socialists of the rest of the world who hold that the attain- ment of socialism must largely be futile if we must sacrifice democracy to achieve it. It is to this “gradualist” philosophy x YOURSELF this question: If all the changes which you would advocate for the economic system were made, would you be satisfied with the American civili- zation? Would you not then come face to face with the stark fact that civilization is a slow growth, that culture requires long and pa- tient cultivation, and that those who believe in liberty in its truest sense must become advocates of a much more generous and farreach- ing education than we have yet achieved, an education that will include the entire adult population as well as children?—J. E. M. that the Communists are so hostile; they assert that gradualism cannot succeed in the face of capitalistic-fascist violence. Nevertheless, the two countries where socialization has achieved stability— Sweden and Denmark—gradualism, edu- cation, voluntary collectivization, and political pressure thru the franchise have been the means. While the formal schools of the Scan- dinavian countries are not very unlike those of the rest of Western Europe, the more significant educational institutions are relatively unique. The Grundtvigian folk highschools spread from Denmark to Norway, Sweden, and Finland where they gave rise to the same collateral institutions—agricultural, gymnastic, workers’, cooperative, and other special- ized folk highschools. In all of these schools, teachers lead youths largely by means Of example and inspiration. The methods used are lectures, study circles, demonstrations, and social participation; with classwork only in fundamental processes. These schools reflect and reenforce the cooperations and tolerances of the friendly countryside. But they do more. They serve as a clearinghouse for ideas. They develop an intelligent determina- tion to affect community life positively. They foster in youths a-pride in the in- ternal resources of themselves and their people. To live for a while in Scandinavia free from terrors and coercion, among people who are intelligent and purposeful but friendly, hopeful, and internally at peace, is a striking relief for the traveler who has lived for months in Fascist or Communist countries, or in those which are in process of being terrorized. It prepares him to come back to America determined to throw his weight, however ineffective it may be, on the side of tol- erance, education, patience, and faith that a democratic people can work out its salvation by purposeful thinking. He may still admire the powerful drive for accelerating the social process typical of Fascist and Communist parties. He may believe that there are lessons to be learned by American educators and so- cial leaders from the study of the schools and of extra-school educational institu- tions of the Soviet Union, of Italy, and of Germany. But he feels certain that America need not surrender and hopeful that'America will not surrender to dis- torted and emotional groups of men and women who have lost faith in applied popular intelligence and therefore in the efficacy of persuasion and tolerance. The Journal of the National Education Association Swe EY ee 6h lh Our American Heritage of Leadership HE BUILDING of American democ- racy is a gigantic enterprise to which untold numbers of pioneer men and women have given their lives. A lasting record of their pioneering is to be found in the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, established in 1900 by New York University. As a contribution to the study of our national leaders during American Edu- cation Week 1935, THE JouRNAL pre- sents in the following pages the photo- graphs and biographies of the famous men and women in the Hall of Fame. The biographical notes and quotations are taken from an account of this great memorial to American leadership en- titled Your Hall of Fame, written by the director, Robert Underwood Johnson, and published by New York University in 1935. This material is used with the permission of the director. In the lives of these great leaders the schools have an immense resource for character education. The qualities of leadership fire the imagination and enthusiasm of youth. Democracy is born anew with each generation. The supreme need of the school is to quicken ambi- tion and to arouse worthy imitation. The American democracy was founded upon certain ideals and concepts, some of them unrealized but nonetheless a vital part of our national thinking. The following may be described as character- istically American ideals: The ideal of democracy—government of the people, by the people, and for the people. This includes the concept of liberty and equal justice under law. The ideal of equality of opportunity—that conditions of life and government shall give each individual a chance to rise as far as his talents and efforts warrant. The ideal of universal free public educa- tion—so managed as to prepare responsible citizens for their place in a democracy. The ideal of pioneering—illustrated at every stage in our history, in the constant pushing on to new frontiers. It finds expression today in a thousand forms of inventive genius. These are the ideals advanced by the best minds and the noblest spirits of each generation. The story of their lives as given in the following pages is essen- tially the story of America in the mak- ing. Their leadership is a heritage which should be built into the life of every American. In our recognition of leadership, it is important to give proper place to men and women who worked on edu- Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 cational and spiritual frontiers as well as to those who worked on military or political frontiers. There is no more authoritative or careful selection of the American heritage of leadership than the New York Hall of Fame. The story of the Hall of Fame— Early in 1900 New York University an- nounced a gift for the building of a col- onnade at the University, on University Heights, overlooking the Palisades and the Hudson and Harlem River Valleys, to serve as a Hall of Fame for Great Americans. There are 150 panels pro- vided for memorial bronze tablets. Six- ty-nine leaders have now been elected, of whom seven are women. By the year 2000 the inscriptions will be complete. Every five years the University in- vites every citizen to send names worthy to be inscribed in the Hall of Fame. Each name that is seconded by any member of the University Senate is submitted to a College of Electors consisting of one hundred or more persons of dis- tinction thruout the country. No name is inscribed unless approved by a ma- jority of the electors. No name may be inscribed except that of a person who has been deceased for twenty-five years. How to study the Hall of Fame— “Every American is a shareholder in the Hall of Fame.” The names of its members should be familiar to every citizen. A good plan would be for each student working independently to make out his own list of nominations for the Hall of Fame with reasons for choosing each. The class might then come to- gether to see which Americans are in- cluded in all lists and to check the selec- tion with the Hall of Fame itself. Let the class act as a College of Elec- tors to decide upon the names to be inscribed in the 1935 selection. What has been the contribution of each to our American ideals and civilization? Beyond the names honored in the Hall of Fame is a whole group of new leaders some of whom are still living; others like Thomas A. Edison have but recently passed off the scene. Make a list of living Americans who have con- tributed to our civilization. A sympo- sium entitled A Century of Progress, [Harper, 1933] suggests the names of many outstanding Americans, such as Henry Ford in industry, Jane Addams in social reform, Charles H. Judd in edu- cation, and Charles A. Beard in govern- ment and law. Make a similar list of leaders who could claim a place in a community or even a school Hall of Fame. Who are the five or ten strongest leaders in your community? In your state? In what field does each work? What fields of human need are without leadership? Note how unmet needs offer opportunity for pioneering and achievement. By what other memorials are the names of leaders perpetuated? How are candidates selected for the Hall of Statu- ary in the Capitol at Washington, D. C.? Education for democracy thru biography—An important outgrowth of this study will be an appreciation of biog- raphy as a source of information and pleasure. Many progressive highschools have introduced biography as a study. Thirty-nine colleges have introduced courses in the subject. Carleton College, Minnesota, established a chair of biog- raphy in 1920; Dartmouth in 1924. There is such a wealth and variety of rich material on American leaders that the most the school can do is to intro- duce the student to it, encouraging him to cultivate a taste for it, so that he will begin building up his library and plan a continued program of reading. There are excellent reading lists in this field to which teacher or librarian can turn. Among them are three which are available at most libraries: [1] Background Readings for American History. Published in cooperation with the School Libraries Committee of the ALA. H. W. Wilson Co., N. Y. 1935. 35 cents. [2] Reading with a Purpose Courses, pub- lished by American Library Association, Chi- cago, Ill. 25 cents each. No. 29 “The Westward March of Civilization” and No. 31 “Founders of the Republic.” [3] Bibliography of American Biography by Florence H. Wilson and Howard E. Wilson. No. 5, National Council for the Social Studies. McKinley Publishing Co. Phila., Pa. 75 cents. [4] Thirty Great Americans, Reading Course No. 9; and Heroes of American Democracy, Reading Course No. 12. U. S. Office of Educa- tion, Washington, D. C. 1935. Free. Why not gather a number of these books within easy reach of your class, asking each student to prepare a list of American writers and writings in the fields in which he is particularly inter- ested? In this study he will become a critical searcher with a sense of re- sponsibility for his own estimates.— Joy Elmer Morgan. 249 [Order reprints of this eight-page feature from THE JouRNAL of the National Education Association; single copies, 10¢; discounts for quantities : 2-9 copies, 10 percent; 10-99 copies, 25 percent; 100 or more copies, 3314 percent. ] EDUCATORS HORACE MANN 1796-1859 Horace Mann was born at Franklin, Mass., May 4, 1796. He served in the Massa- chusetts legislature and in Congress. In 1837 he became secretary of the Massa- chusetts State Board of Education, the first in America. His work here earned for him the title of ‘Father of the Public Schools.” He aided in found- ing the first normal school in America. He later became president of Antioch College. “The common school is the greatest discovery ever made by man.” MARY LYON 1797-1849 Mary Lyon was born at Buckland, Mass., February 26, 1797. She began teaching when 18 years old and devoted her life to founding Mt. Holyoke Female Seminary— now Mt. Holyoke College—a place where girls could obtain an education at a low price. She was president of the Seminary for twelve years. She wrote many books on educational teaching and methods. “There is nothing in the universe that I fear but that I shall not know all my duty or fail to do it.” EMMA WILLARD 1787-1870 Emma Willard, a pioneer in the education of girls, was born at Berlin, Conn., Feb- ruary 23, 1787. She was principal of two girls’ academies and helped found girls’ seminaries in Waterford, N. Y., and at Athens, Greece. She was the author of schoolbooks which have been translated into many languages. “Reason and religion teach us that we too are primary existences, that it is for us to move in the orbit of our duty around the holy center of perfection, the companions not the satellites of men.” "4 r MARK HOPKINS 1802-1887 Mark Hopkins was born at Stockbridge, Mass., February 4, 1802. He practised medicine, but gave it up to become a pro- fessor at Williams College; he was presi- dent at Williams for 36 years. He was a lecturer and author. “What higher con- ception of virtue can we have than that at every point of a man’s life his conscience should demand and he should render that love which is the fulfilling of the law?” ALICE FREEMAN PALMER 1855-1902 Alice Freeman Palmer was born at Coles- ville, N. Y., February 21, 1855. She was president of Wellesley College; nonresi- dent dean of the Woman’s Department of the University of Chicago; and member of the Massachusetts State Board of Edu- cation. She lectured on educational and municipal topics. “The smallest village, the plainest home, give ample space for the re- sources of the college-trained woman.” 250 STATESMEN JOHN ADAMS 1735-1826 John Adams was born at Braintree, Mass., October 30, 1735. He was a member of the First and Second Continental Congresses, signed the Declaration of Independence, was the first American minister to Great Britain, the first Vicepresident and the second President of the U. S. “As a government so popular can be supported only by universal knowledge and virtue, it is the duty of all ranks to promote the means of education as well as true religion, purity of manners, and integrity of life.” THOMAS JEFFERSON 1743-1826 Thomas Jefferson was born at Shadwell, Va., April 13, 1743. He drafted the Dec- laration of Independence, was Vicepresi- dent and third President of the United States. During his administration, the Louisiana Purchase was made. “We hold these truths to be selfevident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” BENJAMIN FRANKLIN 1706-1790 Benjamin Franklin, editor, author, diplo- mat, scientist, public teacher, and _phi- losopher, was born in Boston, January 17, 1706. He made important discoveries in electricity. He helped draw up the Dec- laration of Independence and the Consti- tution and helped negotiate the treaty recognizing the inde- pendence of the United States. “This Constitution can end in despotism, as other forms have done before it, only when the peo- ple shall become so corrupted as to need despotic government.” HENRY CLAY 1777-1852 Henry Clay, Representative, Senator, and Cabinet member, was born in Hanover County, Va., April 12, 1777. He was noted for his efforts to settle the slavery ques- es tion thru compromise measures. He was ; three times defeated for the Presidency. “That patriotism which, catching its inspiration from the immortal God, animates and prompts to deeds of self-sacrifice, of valor, of devotion, and of death itself—that is public virtue.” ABRAHAM LINCOLN 1809-1865 Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin Co., Ky., February 12, 1809. He served in the Illinois legislature and in the House of Representatives. As President of the United States during the Civil War, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation. “With malice towards none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in.” The Journal of the National Education Association n y 1) GEORGE WASHINGTON 1732-1799 George Washington, “The Father of his Country,” was born in Westmoreland County, Va., February 22, 1732. He was a colonel in the French and Indian War, a member of the First and Second Conti- nental Congresses, Commander-in-Chief of the Army of the Revolution, presiding officer of the first Consti- tutional Convention, and first President of the United States. “Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge.” DANIEL WEBSTER 1782-1852 Daniel Webster was born at Salisbury, N. H., January 18, 1782. He practised law in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, served in the House of Representatives % Loe Fi and the Senate, and was Secretary of State during three administrations. Considered the greatest political orator of his time, he was an exponent and defender of the Constitution. “J profess, in my career hitherto, to have kept steadily in view the prosperity and honor of the whole country and the preservation of our federal union.” JOHN QUINCY ADAMS 1767-1848 John Quincy Adams was born at Brain- tree, Mass., July 11, 1767. He was gradu- ated at Harvard and abroad. He served in the Massachusetts Senate and in the U. S. Senate, was successively Minister to The Hague, to Prussia, to Russia, and to Eng- land, was Secretary of State under Monroe, and sixth President of the United States. “J live in the faith and hope of the pro- gressive advancement of Christian liberty and expect to abide by the same in death.” JAMES MADISON 1751-1836 James Madison was born at Port Conway, Va., March 16, 1751. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention and one of the chief framers of the Constitution, a member of the Continental Congress, Sec- retary of State under Jefferson, and twice President of the United States. He was the author of ‘Virginia Resolutions.” “Governments do better without kings and nobles than with them; religion flourishes in greater purity without than with the aid of government.” ANDREW JACKSON 1767-1845 Andrew Jackson was born in Waxhaw set- tlement, S. C., March 15, 1767. He served in the House of Representatives and the U. S. Senate, and was a supreme court judge in Tennessee. He commanded the U. S. forces at the Battle of New Orleans. He subjugated Florida and became its military governor. He served two terms as President of the United States. He was the successful opponent of nullification. “Our federal union! It must and shall be preserved.” Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 ALEXANDER HAMILTON 1757-1804 Alexander Hamilton was born in the West Indies, January 11, 1757. He originated the national system of taxation, served in the Continental Congress, the Constitu- tional Convention, and the New York legislature. He was the first Secretary of the Treasury, and chief author of “The Federalist.” “The estab- lishment of a constitution in time of profound peace by the volun- tary consent of a whole people is a prodigy to the completion of which I look forward with trembling anxiety.” PATRICK HENRY 1736-1799 Patrick Henry was born in Hanover Co., Va., May 29, 1736. In the Virginia House of Burgesses he made notable speeches. He represented Virginia in the first Conti- nental Congress and commanded the Vir- ginia troops in 1775-76. He served four terms as Governor of Virginia. He offered a series of resolutions declaring the Stamp Act unconstitutional and was an eloquent supporter of the Revolution. “Give me liberty or give me death.” JAMES MONROE 1758-1831 James Monroe was born in Westmoreland County, Va., April 28, 1758. He fought in the Revolutionary War, served in Con- gress, was Minister to France, Governor of Virginia, and served two terms as Presi- dent of the U. S. He was the author of the Monroe Doctrine. “The cause of liberty . . . animated my youth- ful days; it has engaged the zealous attention of my maturer years; it will command my best efforts in its support so long as I shall be permitted to live.” AUTHORS RALPH WALDO EMERSON 1803-1882 Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and essayist, was born in Boston, May 25, 1803. Among his chief books are “Representative Men,” : “English Traits,” and “Conduct of Life.” \ Because of the wisdom and philosophy of lm 4 his essays, poems, and addresses he was known as “the Sage of Concord.” “The unstable estimates of men crowd to him whose mind is filled with the truth as the heaped waves of the Atlantic follow the moon.” NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE 1804-1864 Nathaniel Hawthorne, writer of romance, was born in Salem, Mass., July 4, 1804. He showed indomitable energy for writ- ing, altho he failed to receive encourage- ment until 1831. The first series of his “Twice-Told Tales” appeared in 1837. “The Scarlet Letter” and “The House of the Seven Gables” at- tained immediate success. Later he was United States Consul at Liverpool, England. “Living in solitude till the fulness of time, I still kept the dew of my youth and the freshness of my heart.” 251 WASHINGTON IRVING 1783-1859 Washington Irving, historian and essayist, was born in New York City, April 3, 1783. His works include “The History of New York by Diedrich Knickerbocker,” ‘The Sketch Book,” “The Life of Washington,” “The Life of Columbus,” and “The AI- hambra.” He was appointed minister to Spain in 1842. “The inter- course between the author and his fellowmen is ever new, active, and immediate. Well may the world cherish his renown. It has been purchased by the diligent dispensation of pleasure.” HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW 1807-1882 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, poet, was born in Portland, Me., February 27, 1807. He was a professor at Bowdoin and pro- fessor of modern languages and literature at Harvard. He translated Dante into Eng- lish verse. Much of his poetry, which has wide popularity, has been translated into foreign languages. “The heights by great men reached and kept were not attained by sud- den flight, but they, while their companions slept, were toiling upward in the night.” JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL 1819-1891 James Russell Lowell, poet and critic, was born at Cambridge, Mass., February 22, 1819. He was editor of the Atlantic Monthly and of the North American Re- view; published many poems and essays; was a professor at Harvard; was United States Minister to Spain and England. He was chosen Lord Rector of Saint Andrews in 1883. “No power can die that ever wrought for truth; thereby a law of nature it became and lives unwithered in its blithesome youth when he who calls it forth is but a name.” EDGAR ALLAN POE 1809-1849 Edgar Allan Poe, poet and writer of short stories, was born in Boston, January 19, 1809. He was editor of many papers and magazines. His romantic poetry and prose are among the classics of American litera- ture and he ranks with Hawthorne as an imaginative genius. His better known works are “The Raven,” “Tales of the Arabesque and Grotesque,” and “The Murders in the Rue Morgue.” “A poem deserves its title only inasmuch as it excites by elevating the soul.” GEORGE BANCROFT 1800-1891 George Bancroft, historian, was born in Worcester, Mass., October 3, 1800. He was Secretary of the Navy under Polk. He was Minister Plenipotentiary to Great Britain and Germany. He wrote a History of the United States and many other works. He was instrumental in founding the U. S. Naval Academy. “History interposes with evidence that tyranny and wrong lead inevitably to decay; that freedom and right, however hard may be the struggle, always prove resistless.” 252 WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT 1794-1878 William Cullen Bryant, poet and editor, was born at Cunningham, Mass., Novem- ber 3, 1794. He was editor of the New York Evening Post. His poems include ‘Thanatopsis” and “The Flood of Years.” “So live that when thy summons comes . thou go not like the quarry slave at night scourged to his dungeon, but, sustained and soothed by an unfaltering trust, ap- proach thy grave like one who wraps the drapery of his couch about him and lies down to pleasant dreams.” JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER 1807-1892 John Greenleaf Whittier, poet, was born at Haverhill, Mass., December 17, 1807. He was the editor of several newspapers and magazines, a member of the Massa- chusetts legislature. He preserved in nar- rative and ballad poems many American legends and traditions; he wrote many anti-slavery poems. He is called “The Quaker Poet.” “Making his rustic reed of song a weapon in the war with wrong, yoking his fancy to the breaking plough that beam-deep turned the soil for truth to spring and grow.” JAMES FENIMORE COOPER 1789-1851 James Fenimore Cooper, writer of ro- mance, was born at Burlington, N. J., September 15, 1789. He shipped on a mer- chantman and later won a commission as midshipman in the navy. His “Leather- stocking Tales” immortalized the Ameri- can Indian and his sea stories revolutionized the literature of the sea. “J now feel mortified and grieved when I meet with an Ameri- can gentleman who professes anything but liberal opinions as re- spects the rights of his fellow-creatures.” OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES 1809-1894 Oliver Wendell Holmes was born in Cam- bridge, Mass., August 29, 1809. He was a doctor; his works on medicine are still regarded as authoritative. His poem “Old Ironsides” brought him national fame. He is the author of “The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table” and of three novels. His “Chambered Nautilus,” “The Last Leaf,” “The Iron Gate,” and one or two hymns gave him high rank as poet-philosopher. “Build thee more stately man- sions, O my soul, as the swift seasons roll!” JOHN LOTHROP MOTLEY 1814-1877 John Lothrop Motley, historian, was born at Dorchester, Mass., April 15, 1814. He was U. S. Minister to Austria and Great Britain. He was eminent as a historian of Holland, his best-known works being “The Rise of the Dutch Republic,” “History of the United Netherlands,” and “The Life and Death of John of Barneveld.” “7 venture to hope that the lovers of human progress and the admirers of disinterested virtue may find encouragement in the deep-taled history of an heroic people in its most eventful period.” The Journal of the National Education Association the eri- re- Me ee us,” ave nan- n of gress ment nt ful ation FRANCIS PARKMAN 1823-1893 Francis Parkman, historian, was born in Boston, September 16, 1823. He dedicated his life to the writing of American history. He was professor of horticulture at Har- vard. He wrote “The Oregon Trail,” “The Conspiracy of Pontiac,” “France and Eng- land in the New World,” “Montcalm and Wolfe,” and “A Half- Century of Conflict.” “The narrator must seek to imbue himself with the life and spirit of the time. He must himself be, as it were, a Sharer or a spectator of the action he describes.” SAMUEL L. CLEMENS 1835-1910 Samuel Langhorne Clemens _ [‘‘Mark Twain”] was born at Florida, Mo., No- vember 30, 1835. He served as a pilot on the Mississippi, was a reporter and editor, and traveled extensively. He was one of the first seven members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His better known works are “Tom Sawyer,” “Innocents Abroad,” “Huckleberry Finn,” “A Connecti- cut Yankee at the Court of King Arthur,” and “Joan of Arc.” “Loyalty to petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul.” HARRIET BEECHER STOWE 1811-1896 Harriet Beecher Stowe was born at Litch- field, Conn., June 14, 1811. When her “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” first published as a serial, was issued in book form, more than half a million copies were sold within five years. It became a powerful factor in the anti-slavery agitation. Other stories by her were “The Min- ister’s Wooing,” and “Agnes of Sorrento.” “J would write some- thing that would make this whole nation feel what a cursed thing slavery is.” WALT WHITMAN 1819-1892 Walt Whitman was born at West Hills, L. I., May 31, 1819. His first literary work was in journalism. His first volume of poems, “Leaves of Grass,” made a sensa- tion in England and America for its free- dom of method and expression. He is one of the most eloquent American poets. “/n this broad earth of ours, amid the measureless grossness and the slag, enclosed and safe within its central heart, nestles the seed Perfection.” ENGINEERS JAMES BUCHANAN EADS 1820-1887 at Lawrenceburg, Ind., May 23, 1820. He early designed useful boats for raising sunken steamers, and during the Civil War built ironclads for the Union forces. He built an arched bridge over the Mississippi River at St. Louis, improved the delta of the South Pass of the Mississippi, and planned the deepening of that river. “J cannot die; I have not finished my work.” Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 James Buchanan Eads, engineer, was born | PREACHERS, THEOLOGIANS JONATHAN EDWARDS 1703-1758 Jonathan Edwards was born at East Windsor, Conn., October 5, 1703. He served for twenty-three years as Presby- terian minister at Northampton, Massa- chusetts. His sermon, “God Glorified Man’s Dependence,” started a religious revival in the colonies and Great Britain. His most famous work is the “Essay on the Freedom of the Will.” “God is the head of « universal system of existence, from whom all is perfectly derived and on whom all is most absolutely dependent.” HENRY WARD BEECHER 1813-1887 Henry Ward Beecher was born at Litch- field, Conn., June 24, 1813. After serving as pastor of two western churches, he be- came, pastor of the Plymouth Congrega- tional Church in Brooklyn, where his rare eloquence drew large audiences. He spoke for freedom, temperance, civic honesty, and the Union. “Jt mat- ters little to me what school or theology rises or falls, so only that Christ may rise in all his father’s glory, full-orbed upon the dark- ness of this world.” WILLIAM E. CHANNING 1780-1842 William Ellery Channing was born in Newport, R. I., April 7, 1780. He became the leader of the movement in the Con- gregational Church in New England known as Unitarianism. He was an ardent abolitionist and championed temperance and education. His writings have been translated into many for- eign languages. “J think of God as the Father and Inspirer of the Soul—of Christ as its Redeemer and model; of Christianity as given to enlighten, perfect, and glorify it.” } ae Be gr * PHILLIPS BROOKS 1835-1893 Phillips Brooks was born in Boston, No- vember 13, 1835. He was rector of two churches in Philadelphia before becoming rector of Trinity Church in Boston where he served until he became Bishop of Massachusetts. As a pulpit orator he was almost unrivaled. He was the author of many books, “Jf you limit the search for truth and forbid men anywhere, in any way, to seek knowledge, you paralyze the vital force of truth itself.” ROGER WILLIAMS 1607-1684 Roger Williams was born in Wales, prob- ably in 1607. He came to this country in 1631 after trouble with the ecclesiastical and civil authorities in England. He founded Rhode Island, opening the col- ony to anyone seeking religious freedom. “To proclaim a true and absolute soul freedom to all the people of the land impartially so that no person be forced to pray, nor pray otherwise than as his soul believeth and consenteth.” Nh wat w DISCOVERERS AND INVENTORS WILLIAM T. G. MORTON 1819-1868 William Thomas Green Morton was born at Charlton, Mass., August 19, 1819. He was the first to give to the world a demon- stration of the use of sulphuric ether as a practical surgical anesthetic, in a major operation performed in the Massachusetts General Hospital, in 1846. “J leave it to surgeons and physicians to speak the praises of ether in the various operations in which it is now universally used whenever the relief of pain is an object.” ROBERT FULTON 1765-1815 Robert Fulton, inventor of the steamboat, was born in Lancaster County, Pa., No- vember 14, 1765. His first steamboat was launched on the River Seine, but was un- successful. In 1807 he launched the ‘‘Cler- mont” on the Hudson River. The first steam-propelled warship was built from his plans. “To direct the genius and resources of our country to useful improvements, to the sciences, the arts, education, the amendment of the public mind and morals, in such pursuits lie . . . the nation’s glory.” SAMUEL F. B. MORSE 1791-1872 Samuel F. B. Morse was born at Charles- town, Mass., April 27, 1791. He was the inventor of the recording electric tele- graph, which was exhibited in 1837, and the originator of submarine telegraphy. He was the first president of the National Academy of Design. He was a professor in New York University. “T am persuaded that whatever facilitates intercourse between the different portions of the human family will have the effect... to promote the best interests of man.” ELI WHITNEY 1765-1825 Eli Whitney was born at Westborough, Mass., December 8, 1765. In 1792 he in- vented the cotton gin, which revolution- ized the cotton industry. He failed to enjoy the fruits of his invention because of a robbery. He later manufactured fire- arms. “The machine, it is true, operates in the first instance, on mere physical elements, to produce an accumulation and distribu- tion of property. But do not all the arts of civilization follow in its train?” ELIAS HOWE 1819-1867 Elias Howe, inventor of the sewing ma- chine, was born at Spencer, Mass., July 9, 1819. He began life as a machinist. He secured his first patent in 1846 but it was not until fourteen years later that he reaped any benefit from his invention. “Be it known that I have invented a new and useful machine for sewing seams in cloth and other articles requiring to be sewed, and I do hereby declare a full and exact description thereof.” 254 SOLDIERS, SAILORS JOHN PAUL JONES 1747-1792 John Paul Jones was born in Kirkcud- brightshire, Scotland, July 6, 1747. During the Revolutionary War he had a romantic and brilliant career of distinguished serv- ice. In 1778 with the “Ranger” he cap- tured the “Drake,” a British sloop ef war. September 23, 1779, as Commodore, in the “Bonhomme Richard,” he captured the “Serapis” in one of the greatest naval engage- ments in history. “He hath made the flag of America respected.” DAVID GLASGOW FARRAGUT 1801-1870 David Glasgow Farragut was born near Knoxville, Tenn., July 5, 1801. He served in the War of 1812, and in the Civil War commanded the fleets that forced the sur- render of New Orleans and defeated the Confederate forces in Mobile Bay. He re- ceived the rank of Admiral in 1866. “As to being prepared for defeat, I certainly am not. Any man who is prepared for defeat would be half defeated before he commenced. I hope for success, shall do all in my power to secure it, and trust to God for the rest.” ULYSSES SIMPSON GRANT 1822-1885 Ulysses Simpson Grant was born at Point Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822. He was lieutenant-general of the Union forces which defeated Lee. He served two terms as President of the U. S. His ‘““Memoirs” are a valuable historic record. During his last illness he was made General of the Army. “J determined, first, to use the greatest number of troops practicable ; second, to ham- mer continuously against the enemy until by mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to him but submission.” ROBERT EDWARD LEE 1807-1870 Robert Edward Lee was born at Stratford, Va., January 19, 1807. He won a colonelcy in the Mexican War, was superintendent of the West Point Military Academy, guarded the Texas frontier, and captured John Brown. He resigned his commission to take command of the Virginia forces when that state seceded, and later became commander-in-chief of the Confederate Army. After the Civil War he became president of Washington College. “Duty then is the sublimest word in our language.” WILLIAM TECUMSEH SHERMAN 1820-1891 William Tecumseh Sherman was born at Lancaster, Ohio, February 8, 1820. He fought at Shiloh and Vicksburg and Chat- tanooga, invaded Georgia and led the march from Atlanta to the sea. He was made lieutenant-general and later general. “War is cruelty and you cannot refine it. I] want peace and believe it can only be reached thru union and war, and I will ever conduct war with a view to perfect and early success.” The Journal of the National Education Association qd.” ge- Ma ve ct ACTORS, PAINTERS, SCULPTORS GILBERT CHARLES STUART 1755-1828 Gilbert Charles Stuart was born at Narra- gansett, R. I.. December 3, 1755. He be- gan the painting of portraits before he was fifteen years old, but it was not until 1788 that he received recognition. Among his subjects, besides George Washington, were Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and John Quincy Adams. His portraits are notably faithful. “The portrait of George Wash- ington was undertaken by me. It has been indeed the object of the most valuable years of my life to obtain the portrait.” CHARLOTTE SAUNDERS CUSHMAN 1816-1876 Charlotte Saunders Cushman was born in Boston, July 23, 1816. She made her first appearance in opera in 1834 and appeared as Lady Macbeth in 1835. She toured the United States playing Shakespearean roles. Her repertoire included Romeo, Hamlet, and Nancy Sykes. She is in the front rank of American tragedi- ennes. “To be thoroly in earnest, intensely in earnest in all my thoughts and in all my actions, whether in my profession or out of it, became my one single idea.” AUGUSTUS SAINT-GAUDENS 1848-1907 Augustus Saint-Gaudens was born at Dublin, Ireland, March 1, 1848. In 1871 he produced his first figure, called “Hia- watha.” Among his better known works are the President Lincoln statue in Chi- cago; the Shaw monument in Boston; the Adams figure in Rock Creek Cemetery, Washington; and the Sherman and Farragut statues in New York City. He was one of the first seven members of the American Academy. “Too much time cannot be spent in a task that is to endure for centuries.” EDWIN BOOTH 1833-1893 Edwin Booth, actor, was born at Belair, Md., November 13, 1833. As Hamlet, Richard III, Iago, Shylock, and Cardinal Richelieu he made memorable success. He is usually considered the foremost Amer- ican tragedian. In voice, carriage, intel- lectuality, and dramatic resource he was notable. “Hamlet was the epitome of mankind, not an individual, a sort of magic mirror in which all men and women see the reflex of themselves.” JAMES ABBOTT McNEILL WHISTLER 1834-1903 James Abbott McNeill Whistler was born at Lowell, Mass., July 10, 1834. He is best known by his portraits and etchings of Venetian scenes, and his nocturnes. His portrait of his mother is one of his finest works. “Nature contains the elements in color and form, of all pictures, as the keyboard contains the notes of all music. But the artist is born to pick and choose and group with science, these elements, that the result may be beautiful.” Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 , SCIENTISTS JOHN JAMES AUDUBON 17851-1851 John James Audubon, naturalist, was born at Aux Cayes, Haiti, April 26, 1785. Altho nominally engaged in commercial ven- tures, his time was spent in ornithological investigation. He published “Birds of America” and “Ornithological Biogra- phies.”” Many European art and science societies made him an honorary member or foreign associate. “The productions of nature soon became my playmates. I felt that an intimacy with them not consisting of friendship, merely, but bordering on phrenzy, must accompany my steps thru life.” ASA GRAY 1810-1888 Asa Gray, botanist, was born at Paris, N. Y., November 18, 1810. He was curator of the New York Lyceum of Natural His- tory, was professor of natural history at Harvard, received academic honors from Edinburgh, Cambridge, and Oxford, and was president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “I confidently expect that in the future even more than in the past, faith in an order, which is the basis of science, will not be dissevered from faith in an Ordainer, the basis of religion.” LOUIS AGASSIZ 1807-1873 Louis Agassiz, zoologist, was born at Motier, Switzerland, May 28, 1807. He was professor of zoology at Harvard. He founded a summer school for the study of zoology. He ranks as the most influen- tial of American naturalists, and is re- garded as a great teacher and inspirer of scientists. “Scientific investigations should be inspired by a purpose as animating to the general sympathy as was the religious zeal which built the Cathedral of Cologne and the Basilica of St. Peter.” JOSEPH HENRY 1799-1878 Joseph Henry was born in Albany, N. Y., December 17, 1799. He perfected the magnetic telegraph. He was secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, an authority on acoustics, and president of the National Academy of Sciences and the Philosophical Society of Washington. “J may say I was the first to bring the electro magnet into the condition necessary to its use in telegraphy and also to point out its application to the telegraph.” MARIA MITCHELL 1818-1889 Maria Mitchell was born at Nantucket, Mass., August 1, 1818. She was librarian of the Nantucket Atheneum and pro- fessor of astronomy at Vassar. She dis- covered a comet in 1847. She was an honorary member of the American Acad- emy of Arts and Sciences, president of the American Association for the Advancement of Women. “Every formula which expresses a law of nature is a hymn of praise to God.” MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 1806-1873 Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Spottsylvania County, Va., January 24, 1806. He was an important scientist in the fields of hydrography, meteorology, and oceanography. The fundamental principles which Maury enunciated are the ground- work upon which hydrographic activities are carried on to this day. The security of vessels at sea is still enhanced by aid of the investigations made by him. He was largely responsible for the establishment of the U. S. Naval Academy and of the Weather Bureau. “Pathfinder of the Seas.” LAWYERS, JUDGES JAMES KENT 1763-1847 James Kent was born in Putnam County, N. Y., July 31, 1763. He lectured on law at Columbia College, was chief justice of the New York supreme court, was chan- cellor of the state of New York, and the author of “Commentaries on American Law.” “We ought not to separate the science of public law from that of ethics. States or bodies politic are to be considered as moral persons having a public will capable and free to do right and wrong.” JOHN MARSHALL 1755-1835 John Marshall was born in Fauquier Co., Va., September 24, 1755. He served as an officer in the Revolution, was U. S. envoy to France, a member of Congress, and Secretary of State. He was a Judge of the Supreme Court for thirty-four years. “The Constitution and the laws made in pursuance thereof are supreme ; they control the constitution and laws of the respective states and cannot be controled by them.” JOSEPH STORY 1779-1845 Joseph Story was born at Marblehead, Mass., September 18, 1779. He served in the Massachusetts Legislature and in the House of Representatives and he was as- sociate justice of the United States Su- preme Court. He was a prolific writer of works that rank with the highest authorities on law. “The found- ers of the Constitution, with profound wisdom, laid the corner- stone of our national republic in the permanent independence of the judicial establishment.” RUFUS CHOATE 1799-1859 Rufus Choate was born at Ipswich, Mass., October 1, 1799. A distinguished orator, he served in the House of Representatives and the Senate. “The profession of the Bar has seemed to possess a twofold na- ture. It has resisted despotism and yet taught obedience. It has recognized the rights of man, and yet has reckoned it always among the most sacred of those rights to be shielded and led by the divine nature and immortal reason of law.” 256 PHILANTHROPISTS, REFORMERS PETER COOPER 1791-1883 Peter Cooper was born in New York City, February 12, 1791. He founded the Canton Iron Works, where the first locomotive engine in America was built. He was presi- dent of the first Atlantic Cable Company. He founded Cooper Union in New York City. He ran for the presidency of the United States in 1876. “The great object I desire to accomplish is to open the avenue of scientific knowledge to youth, so that the young may see the beauties of creation, enjoy its blessings, and learn to love the Author.” GEORGE PEABODY 1795-1869 George Peabody was born at Danvers [now Peabody], Mass., February 18, 1795. He established the banking house of George Peabody in London, founded the Peabody Institute and Library of Balti- A more, and financed scientific expeditions. His greatest gift was the “Peabody Fund” for education. “Look- ing forward beyond my stay on earth I see our country becoming richer and more powerful. But to make her prosperity more than superficial, her moral and intellectual development should keep pace with her material growth.” FRANCES E. WILLARD 1839-1898 Frances Elizabeth Willard was born at Churchville, N. Y., September 28, 1839. She was professor of esthetics in North- western University and dean of the women’s college there. She was secretary and later president of the Women’s Chris- tian Temperance Union. She founded the World Christian Union and was a strong supporter of equal suffrage. “Were I asked to define in a sentence the thought and purpose of the Women’s Christian Temperance Union, I should reply it is to make the whole world homelike.” EXPLORERS DANIEL BOONE 1735-1820 Daniel Boone, explorer, was born in Berks County, Pa., February 11, 1735. He ex- plored the headwaters of the Tennessee and Kentucky River valleys and made it possible for pioneers to settle the land by his work among the Indians. He fought in ' the Revolution with the rank of Colonel. In his later years he explored what is now the state of Missouri. “May the same Almighty Goodness which has turned a cruel war into peace banish the accursed monster War from all lands.” > <> When Thomas Jefferson was an old man he wrote his own epi- taph. The three things by which he wanted to be remembered were: First, that he had been author of the Declaration of Inde- pendence; second, that he was the author of the Bill of Rights in the Virginia Assembly which separated church from state; and third, that he was the founder of the University of Vir- ginia. He regarded his life as made up of three great contribu- tions to human freedom: political freedom, religious freedom, and freedom from ignorance—Harry Woodburn Chase. The Journal of the National Education Association 6. of he he c- Lg mn Ss *°o em Oxford Meeting of the World Federation HE SIXTH BIENNIAL MEETING of [ne World Federation of Education Associations was held in Oxford, England, August 10-17, 1935. This occa- sion was notable because it was a joint meeting with the two international bodies that find their chief support on the conti- nent of Europe. These are the Interna- tional Federation of Education Associa- tions [elementary classroom teachers] and the International Federation of Associations of Secondary Teachers, which includes the leading secondary- school associations of practically all European countries. Both organizations have their headquarters in Paris from which they issue bulletins of informa- tion. The latter organization has a well- established periodical. It has been considered desirable, by the leaders of the three organizations which are international in scope, that they should be brought together. This joint meeting was the first step to that end. A tentative agreement was drawn up between each of the two organiza- tions and the WFEA looking toward a close affiliation, if not amalgamation. The constitution of the WFEA provides for membership of national bodies and local bodies and even of individual mem- berships—the goodwill memberships cul- tivated by Dr. A. O. Thomas; but the constitution makes no provision for the affiliation of international bodies. Two such bodies of international character have long participated most effectively in the work of the Federation, as sections of that organization. These are the parent and teachers or home and school section, and the health section. A notice was given to amend the constitution of the WFEA at its next meeting, which will provide for the affiliation of international bodies practically as sections of the Fed- eration. Such a proviso is made in the tentative agreement with the two conti- nental associations. Such an affiliation or amalgamation will not prevent these spe- cial organizations from holding their own meetings on the years intervening be- tween the meetings of the WFEA and also on the years when the WFEA meets at such a distance that the various Euro- pean organizations cannot well be rep- resented. There are other international educa- tional associations that are interested in making similar relationships with the Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 World Federation of Education Associa- tions. The Oxford meeting was notable for several other features, particularly for the excellent display of the educational work of England and Wales. Three large exhibits of school work drew many visitors, to their great enlightenment and enjoyment. It was said that never had there been such a fine exhibition in Great Britain. Certainly few more creditable exhibitions of school work have been held anywhere. The exhibition was note- worthy for its superior organization and arrangement and furnished an education in itself, both to the foreign visitor and to the English teacher. Quite as satisfac- tory were the various meetings of the Federation and of the numerous sectional meetings. The four general sessions filled the Sheldonian theater with distin- guished audiences. Speakers from many lands participated. The addresses were of a high order but related to no common theme beyond that of international good- will, emphasis upon the part which teachers might play in furthering inter- national amity and the cause of peace, and appreciation of the management and organization of the Oxford conference. The entire conference elicited much favorable comment for its excellent or- ganization, involving as it did the con- current sessions of the three largest in- ternational educational organizations. The executive staff and special commit- tees of the National Union of Teachers [England] were responsible for the or- ganization and management. Special credit is due to Fred Mander, the presi- dent of the WFEA 1933-35, who is also secretary of the National Union of Teachers, and a member of the direc- torate of the International Federation of Education Associations and the Inter- national Federation of Associations of Secondary Teachers. The social activities in connection with the sessions were numerous and en- joyable. The city of Oxford, the Uni- versity, and several Colleges, as well as the Board of Education and the National Union of Teachers which jointly acted as hosts of the conference, provided re- ceptions and teas; so also did the Eng- lish Speaking Union, other organizations, and some private parties. The United’ States was well repre- sented at the conference, as it should have been, as the originator and the chief proponent of the Federation. The Na- tional Education Association was repre- sented by some 150 delegates, tho, as in the past, these delegates had the privi- lege of casting only 50 votes in the dele- gate assembly. Among these delegates were the President of the Association, Miss Agnes Samuelson, and the preced- ing President, Henry Lester Smith. The American Federation of Teachers was represented by Selma M. Borchard, a director of the World Federation. The National Education Association was rep- resented on the directorate, by Uel W. Lamkin, president of the State Teachers College, Maryville, Missouri, and by the writer. At this meeting Mr. Lamkin was chosen secretary-general, Dr. Smith was elected, and Annie C. Woodward, re- elected, to the board of directors. One of the most interesting decisions made at the conference was the accept- ance of the invitation of the Japanese Education Association to meet with them as their guests in the summer of 1937. Probably no more suitable place or more courteous or hospitable hosts could be found. It is hoped that many American teachers will begin to plan immediately to avail themsetves of this opportunity of seeing Japan under the best of cir- cumstances and also of extending their visit to other parts of the Orient. As a means to better international under- standing, it is particulafly appropriate that the educators of the West should accept this opportunity of meeting with the educators of the Far East and of coming to know Japan and the Japanese first-hand. There is misunderstanding on each side of the Pacific which can be cleared up by a more intimate acquaint- ance and particularly by a personal visit to Japan where the teachers of our youth may see for themselves the beauties of the country, enjoy the courtesy and fine qualities of the Japanese, and become familiar with their notable achievements. From time to time this JouRNAL will make known the essential matters con- cerning transportation, cost of travel, op- portunities for further sight-seeing trips in the Orient, and items of interest con- cerning the program. Information on these points is not yet available-—Paul Monroe, president of the World Fed- eration of Education Associations, and director of the International Institute, Teachers College, Columbia University. 257 For American Education Week Speakers Seven Adventures in Pioneering f ‘HE HISTORY of the American people might be described as seven adven- tures in pioneering. The textbooks, for the most part, with their careful concern about dates, battles, treaties, political controversies, and territorial expansions, tend to obscure the grand simplicity of our career. But when we disregard the complexity of historical details and hold ourselves strictly to the more fundamental movements of our life, we gain a sense of major directions. The seven adventures—Our career as a people may be said to have begun in an act of spiritual pioneering. The Pilgrim Fathers left their homeland be- cause they demanded for themselves the right to worship the God in whom they believed in the way in which they be- lieved. Our essential history, in short, began in a protest against spiritual tyranny. The second stage of our career was marked by a second act of pioneering. We demanded the right to be duly repre- sented in the government of our life. . .. In the third act of pioneering we regis- tered a protest against another kind of tyranny—that of ignorance. We realized that no people could be politically free and at the same time, in large numbers, ignorant. So, against strong forces of op- position among ourselves and in the face of the incredulity of an aristocratically conditioned world, we established edu- cation for everyone. The fourth act of pioneering is still remembered as one of the bitterest pe- riods in our national history. We emanci- pated the slave. We declared that for all time racial enslavement was not to be tolerated in our midst... . In the fifth act of pioneering .. . we addressed ourselves to the conquest of the hitherto uncontroled and unutilized forces of Nature. . . . The development and organization of technological skills made such rapid strides in America— particularly following the Civil War— that we were soon well in advance of the rest of the world in the enterprise of opening up new material possibilities for the relief and enrichment of life. There followed the sixth act of pioneer- ing—the conquest of sex-tyranny. .. . Despite the leadership of other nations, there were in America age-old forces of male conservatism that required decades of pioneering for their overcoming. . . . 258 Finally, there was the seventh act of pioneering. . . . The rank and file of Americans sincerely believed, during the Great War, that they were called upon to ‘make the world safe for democracy.” In that spirit, they gave their substance and their lives. . . . If we now register cynicism at the self-delusion . . . we must nevertheless recognize in the kind of re- sponse given to the call to arms a spirit akin to all the other pioneerings—in brief, a wish to oppose tyranny and a desire to make the world genuinely free for the habitation of free individuals. The seven defeats—Seven acts of pioneering. In them, it may be said, lies the essential history of America. But now a disappointing aspect of this history be- comes apparent. Each of these enter- prises was one of which a nation might justly be proud; but like many another enterprise undertaken in a spirit of cour- age and good faith, each of them failed to carry itself to completion. Thus no sooner did the Pilgrim Fathers plant their freedom-seeking feet upon this continent, than they proceeded to in- stitute a spiritual tyranny of their own.... Thus our first American venture in freedom turned into a kind of defeat, one that still meets us thruout the land... . One need merely recall the anti-evolution activities in the southern states, the anti- Catholic activities of some of our wide- spread organizations, the notable fact that a Catholic nominee for President was campaigned against on the ground of his religion, and the still more notable fact that disbelief in a monotheistic god is in many cases a disqualification for Office. ... A similar reversal seems to have fol- lowed the establishment of political de- mocracy. A nation conceived in the spirit of government of and for and by the people became a government of and for and by a privileged minority... . In the third place, the promise that seemed to lie in the education of every- one did not materialize as fully as might have been expected. The little red school- house . . . helped to rescue the major portion of the population from illiteracy. . .. But it is in the truth-seeking and truth-transmitting function that public education came largely to fail. The school, instead of becoming a place of free and generous inquiry, became in- stead a place of indoctrination of a par- ticular political and economic culture. ... The fifth adventure in pioneering had likewise its nemesis. We no sooner freed the slave than we re-enslaved him. . . We face among us today a caste system that is an ironical commentary upon our constitutional theory of being a free and democratic people. Our conquest of nature has likewise had its defeat. Ostensibly, by means of the machine, we were to liberate man. As a matter of fact, we have permitted him, in quite unprecedented ways, to become further enslaved. . . . With re- markable powers at our command for the release of life, we have permitted life to be bound in new fetters. Our sixth adventure has hardly fared more happily. The freeing of women from ancient servitudes .. . has thus far en- abled them to enter the sphere of men’s activities as a kind of tolerated subordi- nate. Whether in business or politics or education, the major opportunities are still reserved for the hitherto ruling sex. We have already intimated the failure of the seventh adventure . . . the effort, by force of arms, to make the world safe for democracy, has resulted in new, be- wildering tyrannies. Even within our own land, most of the privileges of a free people have been abrogated—particu- larly those of free speech and assembly. The new adventure—There is, in- deed, a grand simplicity about our Amer- ican history. It is the simplicity of re- peated efforts to achieve, in one way or another, a release of life from its various tyrannies. But there has likewise been this curious inability to carry efforts thru to triumph. At the present time we are obviously on the threshold of a new adventure. . . . Today there is the plea among us for a more than verbal justice, the plea for a new viewing of the possibilities of life. . . . It is a plea that begins to be made thruout the world. The spiritual revolution in our American thought and institutions is being duplicated among civilized peoples everywhere. As it gains in momentum, it is due to carry to some measure of completion the older enter- prises of emancipation—From We Move in New Directions by Harry A. Overstreet, by courteous permission of W. W. Norton and Co., N. Y., pub- lishers. The Journal of the National Education Association NLY A FEW pays before the NEA () began its annual convention in Denver last June, the yearly con- ference of the American Library Asso- ciation was held in the same city. One session of the ALA conference has come to be of special interest to children’s librarians, teachers, and others who are familiar with the John Newbery medal, awarded each year for “the most distin- guished contribution to children’s litera- ture.”” The winning book is kept a secret until announced at this special session. A committee of children’s librarians of the ALA has made the selection from all the juvenile books published the preced- ing year. The author of the prize book is always invited to receive the medal in person. The occasion is a gala one. Monica Shannon of California re- ceived the Newbery medal this year for her book, Dobry, the story of a Bul- garian peasant boy who wanted to be- come an artist. It would be more correct to say that he was an artist born. Early in the story, when Dobry is a small boy, his love of the beautiful is evident; also his ability to draw, carve, and model without encouragement or training from teachers or friends. His good humor and sturdy speech help to endear him to the reader. His mother, hard working and prac- tical-minded, is bewildered by her son’s interest in drawing. She said to him: “Dobry, now you are a little peasant, but the big peasant you must grow up to be will have no time for picture mak- ing. Don’t you know that? The fields are there and what are fields without a peas- ant to give them the energy of all his days and the thought of all his nights? These fields have been handed down over so many centuries that nobody knows whether we belong to them or they belong to us.” Dobry’s grandfather is a picturesque character and the best story teller in the village. Monica Shannon knows how to use effectively the device of a story within a story in the tales told by the grandfather. As Dobry grows from childhood to youth, his experiences and development form the narrative of the book. Along with the story, the reader gets a vivid picture of Bulgarian village life—the strength and stability, the friendliness and wholesome character of a people Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 The John Newbery Medal Book Dobry who live close to the soil. Adults who read this book may contrast the influ- ences that shape Dobry’s life with the The Viking Press Monica Shannon artificial amusements and the absence of responsible work which characterize the lives of many American boys and girls. One of the most beautiful incidents in this prize book occurs on Christmas day, a few months before Dobry is to leave home to study art in Sofia. “The dream he had carried for months in his mind and heart had been born, and born alive,” when he models a Nativity in the snow. “He massed and packed all the snow he could, until it piled high above his head, a small mountain of snow, immaculate, glittering with crys- tals of ice. Standing on a short ladder, he cut out an open stable and with great slow tenderness made the manger and the Holy Child, Mary and Joseph. Only youth could have brought the freshness Dobry brought to his Nativity, and only a primitive genius, Indian or a peasant like Dobry, could have modeled these figures with strength, assurance, sincer- ity—untaught in any school.” These same qualities of strength, as- surance, and sincerity which Dobry mod- eled in his figures, Monica Shannon em- ploys in describing the scene. The book, Dobry, would make an appropriate gift at Christmas time. Monica Shannon was born in eastern Canada and spent her childhood on a large ranch in the Bitter Root Moun- tains of Montana. A second mountain home was in the Sierra Nevadas of Cali- fornia. At present, she is living in Santa Monica. She says that “the first Shan- non, a scholar in the north of Ireland, and his sons followed the river with their harps chanting ballad histories at castles along the way, until the river itself was named after them.” The book, Dobry, is quite different from Monica Shannon’s fairy tales and poems for children but it, too, is an ex- ample of her creative imagination. Many of the incidents in Dobry are based on the experiences of Atanas Katchamak- off, a wellknown sculptor, Bulgarian born, now living in California and illus- trator of Miss Shannon’s prize book. She has made these experiences her own as shown by the reality of the characters and life she has created. John Newbery, a London publisher and bookseller of the 18th century, was the first person to publish books for chil- dren. Frederic G. Melcher, editor of Publishers’ Weekly,established the New- bery award and named the medal in honor of the man who has been called the “father of children’s literature.” Perhaps no one who has received the Newbery medal wrote his book with the award in mind. But the medal is doing much to call attention to the fine books for children that are being written by American authors. There are now fourteen Newbery medal books: The Story of Mankind [Liveright] by Hendrik Van Loon: The Voyages of Dr. Doolittle {Stokes] by Hugh Lofting; The Dark Frigate | Little: Brown] by Charles Boardman Hawes; Tales from Silver Lands | Doubleday, Doran| by Charles J. Finger; Shen of the Sea [Dutton] by Arthur B. Chris- man; Smoky [Scribners] by Will James; Gay-Neck [Dutton] by Dhan Gopal Mukerji; The Trumpeter of Krakow [Macmillan] by Eric P. Kelly; Hitty, Her First Hundred Years | Macmillan] by Rachel Field; The Cat Who Went to Heaven |Macmillan] by Elizabeth Coatsworth; Waterless Mountain | Long- mans, Green] by Laura Adams Armer; Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze |Win- ston] by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis; Invincible Louisa {Little, Brown] by Cornelia Meigs; and Dobry [Viking Press} by Monica Shannon.—Ethel Blake. 259 bess Br rT ee cf ig Py a de a PMGSY LOS ite BE Nin. Se A Pay The National Parent-Teacher, September 1935 HE NATION AND THE SCHOOLS —‘‘Whatever it is that is wrong with this country of ours, the public schools cannot be charged with the responsibility for it.” William F. Bigelow thus states his faith in the pub- lic schools in his September editorial in Good Housekeeping. He does not claim perfection for the present system, but even as it stands, the schools are the very core of the nation’s life. “Our schools must go on; we never needed them more than now. They must be progressive, they must change to meet changing conditions, they must claim no privilege they cannot justify, but—they must go on.” Mr. Bigelow upholds the proposition that the federal government must share the cost of a minimum program of edu- cation for every boy and girl of America, saying: “It is no longer possible for every section to bear the cost of the schools that it should have; it becomes necessary therefore for the common purse to be used for the common good. Ignorance knows no barriers; this is one country.” Fired from a Hick College—Wen- dell Brooks Phillips has been discharged from the “hick college” of which he has written affectionately from time to time in the Atlantic Monthly {March 1932; April 1933]. In the October 1935 issue he tells of his dismissal and calls atten- tion to problems faced by such colleges. “The question of academic freedom, not unknown thruout the country gen- 260 erally, is especially acute in the south, where strong pressure is brought to bear on college presidents and trustees by constituencies who have not the faintest notion as to what a liberal education is. An opposite kind of pressure is exerted by the Southern Associa- tion of Colleges and the various other agencies who demand that intellectual standards be raised... . The only faculty member who could fulfill both re- a quirements would be an , intelligent and highly trained scholar on the one hand and a consist- ent fundamentalist on the other... . “The essence of my own teaching was simple enough, and may be summed up in one brief paragraph: that man’s spirit should be sincere, courageous, and serene; that gentle irony should be poured over bigotry and smug compla- cency wherever they are found; that a sense of beauty should have high place in our scheme of values; and that the entire pattern of conventional American life, with its shallow standards of suc- cess, with its petty and silly round of bridge parties, Kiwanis clubs, and mech- anized churchgoing, should be sharply questioned. I passionately believed in these things, and thought such teaching especially needed by the young people around me.” Is Man Improving P—This question —‘Is man improving?”—goes to the heart of what the schools are trying to do. A strongly affirmative answer comes from Robert Briffault, European novel- ist and scientist, in the July Scribner’s. He believes that the disillusion and be- wilderment of the modern world are only the signs of a healthy awakening from old follies. And, with the disillusion, comes a new sense of strength, a confi- dence that modern intelligence can pro- duce better social conditions. The human mind has become rebellious toward evils which even brilliant cultures of the past tolerated with indifference. ; The discovery which has transformed the whole idea of human progress has An Evening with the Magazines come so gradually that no one person’s name is associated with it. It is the dis- covery that the human mind is a social product. ‘““Man’s congenital mental en- dowments include none of the powers of control, none of the equipment, none of the social sentiments and emotions, which make it human. It is made human by incorporation into the social struc- ture and by the acquisition of the ac- cumulated heritage handed down by that structure. ... “The human race is now entering upon a new phase of its growth. It is being compeled by bitter, painful experience to learn that such a growth cannot take place in the individual human being, with reference to his own personal good, his happiness, his individual power and in- terests, without taking into account the social whole of which he is a product and a part. . . . He is human, a partaker in the powers of humanity, by virtue only of the social organism. . . . “The achievements of individualistic cultures will have to be reinterpreted, re- molded, kneaded anew, before they can serve as material for a social culture which shall surpass them. It is to be hoped that we shall continue to love and admire Homer, Dante, and Goethe. But we can no longer subscribe to the blood- thirstiness of Homer, the monkishness of Dante, the self-centered hedonism of Goethe. ... “T should perhaps be charged with being extravagantly paradoxical if I de- clared that modern America is an im- provement on ancient Athens, Rome. Florence, or Paris. But I believe that I am within the realm of sober statement in saying that it possesses the potential power to surpass them all. . . . That power, the power [of man] to control his destiny and his life by means of an equipped intelligence free from stunting and intrinsically base and mean illusions, was never greater than it is today. Even in the midst of the confusion and the sense of defeat of this age of transition, it imparts a higher dignity to modern man. And in that increased power of con- trol of the human faculty over the mani- fold conditions of his life lies the only meaning of human improvement.” —Hazel Davis, Educational Re- search Service, NEA. The Journal of the National Education Association ~_ ao ee & cP @e 85 on’s dis- cial en- Ss of e of ons, man ruc- ac- that pon Ping nce ake vith his in- the and r in nly stic can ure and But od- 1eSS . of rith de- me, t I ent tial nat his ing ns, en the on, mn yn- ily .e- ion LREADY in many places a better curriculum outlook has _ been achieved, and the general pros- pects for advance were perhaps never brighter. But much remains to be done. Our aims need to be clarified; appro- priate content needs to be conceived: and the compeling reasons more firmly grasped; while all of us, including the many who still hesitate, need to be surer of the road to take. The chief reason for a new curriculum and educational procedure lies in the fact that our modern social and thought world has brought forth significant new devel- opments which in their turn make de- mands on the school that intelligent and conscientious educators can no longer disregard. The customs and institutions of any well-ordered civilization should form one consistent and balanced cultural whole. Amid quiet and abiding conditions the culture of any normal group does tend in time to develop such a balance. With us, however, science and technology have in recent years grown so rapidly that the remaining cultural arrangements now fall behind in failure to make adequate and just use of the possibilities thus of- fered. We need institutional changes. The acutest lag, perhaps of all, lies in the failure of social thought and moral effort to grapple adequately with these new conditions and possibilities. Meanwhile our civilization suffers. [1] Most inclusive of the new devel- opments now demanding attention is the fact of modern rapid change, much dis- cussed but still tragically disregarded in social thinking and educational practise. A modern notion of change has emerged. Affairs develop in ever novel fashion. New situations continually con- front. New aims arise. Old knowledge and habits are reworked in with the new conditions, and new results appear. Culture thus accumulates: ever new knowledge, distinctions, attitudes, and technics. Efficiency thus increases and social intelligence grows. Individual in- telligence sharing the new cultural prod- uct should grow correlatively. Amid ever novel conditions, thinking is stressed, mere habit could not suffice. Each new situation is a problem, de- * All rights reserved by the author. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 manding its study and thought. We try out our best thought plan; we watch whether it works. Each new program is thus an experiment. Amid thanging con- ditions, we live experimentally, must do so. Education ceases then to be mere acquisition of something handed down. It too becomes experimental. Otherwise, it were no adequate preparation for a changing and experimental life. An a rapidly changing civilization new social problems thus continually arise, with ever new solutions proposed. These new solutions, democracy demands, must be passed upon by the people. Citizens must then be continually studying, criti- cizing their institutions to improve them. Social education thus must become a life long process. This must begin before twenty-one, or the person is sadly handi- capped and probably biased against study and intelligent criticism. The schools must accept the new task. The pupils must learn ever better, with their increasing years, to study and criti- cize our institutional life in order, intelli- gently, to help improve it. The alterna- tive is unintelligent indoctrination in the Status quo. [2] Recent science presents a second development, probably more subtle, cer- tainly more direct in its attack on a com- mon type of curriculum construction. The recently discarded Newtonian science outlook analyzed the world ulti- mately into small material particles. These and their motion constituted all phenomena. Opposed to matter, mind was spectator only, no actual factor. From these, scientific method followed: [1] Banish the subjective and personal; it can only disturb; [2] analyze every complex thing into its “elements,” study these. Whatever is found true of them in separation, holds still true in any com- plex whole. Education, trying to be “scientific,” imitated this method. Tho concerned primarily with actual living persons, the extreme advocates tried, in order to be “objective,” to banish from the educa- tive process both personality, and life. They analyzed life into small separate pieces as impersonal as possible—facts, habits, skills; and studied these in sep- aration, as if they could put them back together and get persons and life. They The New Curriculum New Developments, New Demands WiLuiAmM H. KiLpatrick* Teachers College, Columbia University, New York called these small pieces “educational objectives,’ and would make a curricu- lum out of them. They memorized non- sense syllables, as if that would tell them how persons learn in life. Some of the “scientific’’ were more humane, but their essential logic was still Newtonian— dualistic, atomistic, and analytic. Leading physicists now reject this old logic of dualism, atoms, and mere anal- ysis. Still more must psychologists and educators reject it. Thus drops the bot- tom from under this kind of curriculum making. |For a fuller discussion see the forthcoming dissertation of William L. Petty. | [3] The third new development is within psychology itself, especially as re- lated to education. Until recently our psychology was mainly trying to be “scientific” in the Newtonian sense just discussed. It was atomistic, the small element being the S—R bond or the conditioned reflex. It was dualistic, preferring matter to mind: it built itself on physiology [body] and ultimately on chemistry or physics; it sought to limit and banish mind and thinking, preferring as the basis for education impersonal habits to personal thinking. It seized avidly upon “standardized tests” as permitting an education founded on atomistic objec- tives as interchangeable as Ford parts, and as allowing besides a non-thinking type of evaluation. It tried to make edu- cation mechanical, to have it more easily controled from without and above. In direct contrast with all this, psy- chology is now moving perceptibly away from physiology, which seems but body non-thinking and mechanistic, to biology which gives full sway to all the organism can do; away from atoms like S— R or conditioned reflex to the organism act- ing as a whole, with thinking, feeling [emotion], impulse, physical moving, glandular action, etc., etc., as aspects [not separable parts] of one organic action. In particular, this better psy- chology rejects such an analytic pro- cedure as grants the same behavior to small pieces in separation as when in living contents. Learning is increasingly seen as creative of its own subjectmatter, not simply an acquisition of what was already there. 261 Education thus becomes primarily the conscious pursuit of personally felt pur- poses with ever more adequate selfdirec- tion as the goal. The unit of curriculum construction likewise becomes an_in- stance of selfdirected purposive living, not as formerly a selected portion of sub- jectmatter—set-out-to-be-learned. |4] Last comes the latest and most urgent development, that of our unfortu- nate social-economic situation. There was an American dream. As Lincoln phrased it in 1860, any poor but healthy man might “look forward and hope to be a hired hand this year and the next, work for himself afterwards, and finally to hire men to work for him.” This dream no longer holds. It was founded on selfsufficient farming and adequate free lands. Today there is neither. America is now industrialized, _ Even the farmers sell to industry and buy from industry the most of what they raise and use. The rest of us are still more dependent on industry. Equality of opportunity has likewise gone. Lincoln’s scheme gave substantial equality: there were enough farms to go around. Industry now denies it. Most of the factory workers must remain factory workers, and so with most of their chil- dren. There is not enough room at the top for all, or factories enough to go around. On the present basis, security also has gone and effectual selfdirection. Most of us are slaves to a system which at times refuses to work. As matters stand we often can do little more for ourselves than hope or fear. The present bad system, however, is not necessary. Properly planned, our eco- nomic system would give security and comfort to all. Life could be not only secure, but far finer and richer. The present system pits man against man to the hurt of all in almost every way. This need not be. For making changes we wish to hold— and forever so, I hope—to democracy and the way of reason, and not instead to dictatorship or violence. Democracy as a way of thought and life can yet serve to bring us to peace and comfort, to sweetness and light. But democracy will not so serve us unless the most of us become more in- telligent about the situation which now holds us captive. This situation calls for an educational program, not of propaganda and indoc- trination, but to build social intelligence among the people, including as was said above the rising generation. Widespread adult education on the one hand is called for, and a new cur- riculum and school procedure on the other: [Successive articles will study these new developments and their demands to see in closer detail what school cur- riculum and procedure we should hence- forth seek. The next article will treat of the Recent Psychological Developments and Curriculum Making. ] Do We Know Our Children’s Parents? OW MANY administrators have in- H wardly quaked at the possibility of a tactless teacher’s visiting the home of the child. The teacher who visits the home of a pupil is not an in- vestigator as many seem to think; she is a salesman selling the school and the whole program under which she works. A certain very successful young man is an aluminum salesman who takes great care to assure himself a welcome in the homes of his prospective cus- tomers. Most readers of this article will be aware of the method he uses. He in- vites the ladies whose acquaintance he should like to make to a dinner in which he demonstrates his wares in the most favorable way. When he then calls upon his prospective customer, he comes as a friend rather than as an intruder. Educators generally accept the theory that we should know the parents of all the children in our rooms. But teachers realize that it takes considerable tact to make a call to any home, especially if they have never met the parent on pre- vious occasions. Parents might feel the teacher is out as an investigator and meet her with the question, “What has John done wrong now?” All our departmentalized teachers felt the need of a better acquaintance with the parents of the children, and there- fore an experiment was tried at the Brea Grammar School recently. 262 Preparatory to home visits on the part of the teacher, the need was felt of meet- ing these parents in a social way. After such a friendly meeting, they might feel free to invite us to come to their home some time, or we could stop in for ten minutes after school and remark, “TI just dropped in for a few minutes to see how you were, on my way home from school.” The teaching staff, with the home- room students, was careful to pave the way for this home visit. A parent- teacher acquaintance program was set up whereby a mothers’ party was planned for just one home room, and every two weeks a similar party was held in another home room. The teacher’s purpose was to bring mothers to school, and acquaint them with its activities, to make personal con- tacts with these mothers and fathers, and to make possible a future visit to the home. The children’s purpose was to entertain mothers at their school home and to tell them about their school work. The following procedure was used: [1] Teacher suggested to the children the idea of wanting to know all of their mothers. [2] Discussion on how best to meet them. [3] Result—mothers to be invited to school party. [4] Committees appointed for entertain- ment, refreshments, decorations, invitations, and reception. [5] Children reported to class all ideas dis- cussed in their committee meetings. Mother comes to school—As soon as the mother arrives, the child takes her to all the rooms, playground, audi- torium, etc., showing and telling her about the school and what they do. As mothers return from a general open house visit, they are met at the door by a reception committee of girls who in turn introduce them to all the teachers and other guests. As the program begins, the student master of ceremonies gives a short welcome talk and outlines the general program and school activities. Then a complete school picture is given by running the daily program with five- minute periods, and children of the classes selected to be teachers presiding over the periods in the same manner in which their regular teachers do. After the program cranberry ice, cookies, and tea, made in the cooking room by the children with the help of the home eco- nomics teacher, are served. Under this plan it was possible to become personally acquainted with 65 percent of the room parents instead of the 20 percent who attended the regular PTA meetings. Thus a greater parent- teacher relationship was developed, as well as a higher interest in the activi- ties, purposes, and functions of their modern school home.—V. E. Jaster, principal, Brea Grammar School, Orange County, California. [Reprinted from Sierra Educational News, June 1935.] The Journal of the National Education Association d et se to T- e- of ts THE RICHEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WHITE SQUARE—ALL THE LAND IN THE WORLD BLACK OBLONG—AREA OF THE UNITED STATES THE REST OF THE WORLD _ POPULATION ———~- Sere EEL ELGG sts, Oo, aE HA DA On 4 ¥28 a WHEAT =—7-7TT7 Wi in VINYL Res RRS MELE mesnonls xen as =~ EEREELLELE M{tttt -——-—- om —---- TUTTI it AAbddddd-———- LUMBER ——-——— Abdddahs Gees -———— corTroN. —-~—- GHeaeee YIIVHHy -———- CORN ----- Ud ARMARAARARA ————— oO. ----- MARA HE COUNTRY in which we live is the richest country in the world. It is rich not only in terms of dollars and cents but, what is more important, it is rich in all those things that are necessary for the making of dollars and cents. We occupy only about one-twentieth of the land on the earth. For every person in the United States there are sixteen people in other countries. All these people—about two billion in all must get their food and clothing and shelter in the countries where they live. As a matter of fact, there are several countries where there is not anywhere near enough to go around. It is said that three-fourths of the people in the world never get enough to eat. We can understand why that is when we look at the picture above. You see there that one man, Uncle Sam, represents all the people in the United States, and the sixteen little men represent the people of all the other nations. Now look what Uncle Sam has. And in comparison, see what the other sixteen men must divide among them! SES LS a TS SAS AA ANG TSS ECG TESS 9 SS ERASE SIERRA WEES SS 6 8 ER RRS EE Gags ctu we The material on this page is from a book entitled Rich Man, Poor Man (Price, $1] by Ryllis Alexander Goslin and Omar Pancoast Goslin, published by Harper & Brothers, 49 East 33d Street, New York, N. Y. This material is reproduced thru the courteous permission of the publishers. Use this page on your bulletin board Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 263 FIFTY-SEVEN CENTS A DAY PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF AMERICA in account with Jonn Jones, dr. ie child for one day: dered in educating or Special services. « « A Textbook and sup! lies Administration. National Education‘ Association Costs for School Services Per Day Per Child, 19392 UPPOSE all children brought home from school each day an itemized bill for services ren- dered. What would be the important items in such a statement ? Thirty-three cents would pay for the services of the teacher, with enough left over to pay for the work of the principal and other supervisors as well. It would make possible the employment of 893,000 teachers, principals, and supervisors. Seven cents would cover the cost of keeping the school warm, lighted, clean, safe, and in good repair. An additional 5 cents would pay for new school buildings. Since many new school buildings have been built with borrowed money, the bill would include 5 cents for interest on such debts. This charge, however, would be enough to take care of rent, : insurance, pension payments, and other fixed charges. 2,500,000 children by 66,000 school buses. superintendents and their administrative staffs. of enrolments or on the basis of 365 days a year. The material on this page is typ an understanding of educationa Use this page on your bulletin board = _-m —_a =... fi .:~ i Three cents would be all that would be charged for such important special services as health work, school nurses and doctors, attendance officers, visiting teachers, recreation programs, school libraries, and transportation. The last item alone would involve the daily transportation of some Textbooks and teaching supplies of all kinds would cost only 2 cents a day. Afother 2 cents would cover all costs of administering the school system, including all state, city, and county school The total bill, an average for all children, rural and urban, elementary and highschool, would be 57 cents. This figure is based on days attended; it would be even lower if calculated on the basis LLL LLL LLL LLL LL LLL LLL ET LL ical of the work which the NEA is constantly doing on a large scale to spread among the people conditions. It is from a booklet, Schools and Taxes, which may be had from the Association at 25c per copy; discounts for quantities: 2-9 copies, 10 percent; 10-99 copies, 25 percent; 100 or more copies, 33% percent. Cash must accompany all orders for $1 or less. You may wish to present copies of this poster to ministers, editors, and other civic leaders. The Journal of the National Education Association amt G2 6 2 &§© ff aoe &....ll se = ww - oa 20 ssose 8. 3D eee oD ~—— -_ rn eee eee eo on an What the Association Is Doing Education and the Federal Government EADERS of THE JOURNAL will recall R the publication in the September issue of the article by Secretary Willard E. Givens entitled ‘““New Deal a Raw Deal for Public Schools.” This arti- cle criticized the New Deal administra- tion’s policies with regard to public schools. Following the publication of the article, Secretary Givens wrote President Roosevelt this letter: September 14, 1935 The Honorable Franklin Delano Roosevelt President of the United States The White House Washington, D. C. Dear President Roosevelt: Under separate cover I am sending you a copy of the September number of THE Jour- NAL of the National Education Association of the United States. On page one hundred and ninety-eight of this magazine I have tried to state clearly and fairly the situation in which public education finds itself with relation to the present national administration. I am interested in making an effort to see that public education gets its rightful place in our democracy. Many of us believe that there are some fundamental principles which we should enunciate and stand for in behalf of public education. In a democracy it is essential that the citizens be given educational opportunities that are ap- proximately equal. Therefore, the federal gov- ernment should share in extending financial support to the public schools of the states. We believe that the educational activities of the federal government which have to do with the public schools and public institutions of higher learning in the states should be concen- trated in the federal Office of Education. This office should work directly with state depart- ments of education. State departments should work directly with local school districts. We believe that needless paralleling of exist- ing educational agencies should cease, and that all educational matters of national scope should be dealt with by the federal Office of Educa- tion. All educational activities sponsored by the federal government thru the several states and localities should be administered thru the Office of Education. We believe that the Office of Education should possess important profes- sional responsibility for the federal govern- ment’s educational activities in the Civilian Conservation Corps, the educational program of the Federal Emergency Relief Administra- tion, the National Youth Administration, the education of handicapped children, the provi- sion of educational facilities in construction camps for public work projects, etc. In order to deal with such matters adequately, the funds, personnel, and prestige of the Office of Education should be commensurate with its responsibilities. The reasons for concentrating educational functions in one office in the federal govern- Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 ment are apparent. Duplication and paralleling of existing educational agencies result in ineffi- ciency. Education in a democracy must be kept on a professional basis and not made subservi- ent to partisan control of any kind. Assuring you that our organization is deeply interested in preserving the place of the public schools in our democracy, I am Very cordially yours, Willard E. Givens. Upon its release the article referred to received wide attention in the press thru- out the nation, both in news stories and in editorials. Editorials noted were gen- erally sympathetic with the firm stand taken for public schools. Correspondence from educational leaders thruout the country leaves no doubt as to their ap- proval of the attitude expressed. School building projects—Early in September it was announced that the Works Progress Administration had re- jected building projects already ap- proved by the Public Works Administra- tion. Many of these were school projects. Our Association, after making a careful investigation of the facts in the case, sent the following telegram to President Roosevelt at Hyde Park, New York, on the afternoon preceding the conferences he held with Mr. Ickes, director, Public Works Administration, Mr. Hopkins, di- rector, Federal Emergency Relief Admin- istration, and others. SEPTEMBER 11, 1935 DEAR MR. PRESIDENT: WPA HAS AL- READY REJECTED SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS THRUOUT FORTY-SEVEN STATES AMOUNTING TO MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED THIRTY SEVEN MIL- LION DOLLARS STOP THESE HAD BEEN SUBMITTED IN KEEPING WITH PUB- LISHED FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS RE- LATING TO PUBLIC BUILDING PROJ- ECTS STOP MOST OF THESE PROJECTS HAD FINAL APPROVAL AND THE OTHERS TENTATIVE APPROVAL OF PWA STOP REJECTION OF THESE PROJ- ECTS BY WPA AFTER APPROVAL BY PWA SERIOUSLY DISARRANGES PLANS ALREADY MADE THRUOUT THE COUN- TRY BY BOARDS OF EDUCATION AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS STOP AC- COMMODATIONS EXPECTED BY HUN- DREDS OF THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN ARE BEING DENIED THEM AND THEIR PARENTS JOIN WITH SCHOOL OFFI- CIALS IN PROTESTING THIS ACTION WHICH LOOKS TO THEM LIKE A BREACH OF FAITH ON THE PART OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STOP THIS POLICY IF CONTINUED WILL RE- JECT SCHOOL BUILDING PROJECTS AMOUNTING TO APPROXIMATELY FIVE HUNDRED FIFTY MILLION DOLLARS STOP WE APPEAL TO YOUR FAIRNESS AND JUSTICE TO CHANGE THIS POLICY AND GIVE TO THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS OF AMERICA WHAT THE FEDERAL GOV- ERNMENT HAD PREVIOUSLY PROM- ISED RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED, WILLARD E. GIVENS, EXECUTIVE SEC- RETARY, NATIONAL EDUCATION AS- SOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES. Congress approved the allotment of as much as $900,000,000 for PWA projects. On September 17 it was announced that this amount had been reduced by the Administration to $425,000,000. Later the sum was still further reduced and until September 27 the amount allotted to PWA projects totaled only $116,- 300,000. A change of policy adopted as a result of widespread protest was an- nounced September 27 and on that date an additional $200,139,037 was allotted for 3340 PWA projects. Of these proj- ects, 1942 were for educational buildings including public schools, colleges, and libraries. The federal government’s share in these educational building projects will be $102,000,000 which is slightly over 50 percent of the additional $200,- 139,037 being spent on all public build- ing projects. CCC educational programs—The entire educational program of the Civil- ian Conservation Corps including the selection of personnel, the determina- tion of courses of study, and the mate- rials to be used in the educational pro- gram has been turned over recently to the United States Office of Education to administer. The changes in policy indicated above are changes in the direction of the prin- ciples which should govern the relation- ship of the federal government to the public schools of our country. Emergency adult education pro- gram—United States Commissioner of Education John W. Studebaker had conferences with President Roosevelt, both at Hyde Park and in Washington, before the President left for his western trip. From newspaper reports it appears to have been agreed at these conferences that the administration of the emergency adult education program would also be turned over to the United States Office of Education to administer. At the time of this writing, which is after the Presi- dent left Washington for his westward trip, the transfer has not been made. Committees Committee on Amending Charter Reuben T. Shaw, Northeast High School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and chairman of the Committee on Amend- ing Charter of the National Education Association, spent the last weekend of September in Washington. In addition to conferences with members of the head- quarters staff, he called upon Senator William H. King of Utah and Represen- tative Vincent L. Palmisano of Mary- land, chairman of the House Education Committee, who agreed to sponsor, in their respective branches of the next Congress, bills to amend the Associa- tion’s Charter. The Association appreci- ates deeply the assistance these mem- bers of the national legislature have promised to give. Senator King offered to prepare a bill for introduction in the Senate calling for the changes desired in the Charter. Representative Palmisano asked the Committee on Amending Charter to prepare a draft of the House bill before November 1. The Committee then expects to present this draft of the proposed bill to the Executive Commit- tee of the National Education Associa- tion when it meets in Washington on November 30, 1935. Proposed revisions of the Charter were published in the May 1935 JourRNAL. The Report as pre- sented at Denver contained some further modifications by the Committee. The Representative Assembly accepted’ unan- imously all the recommendations of the Committee except those in regard to Sec- tion 7. A complete statement regarding the purposes of the charter revision com- mittee, the discussion of its report, and the action taken on it at the Denver con- vention of the Association, may be found in the 1935 Volume of Addresses and Proceedings which is just off the press. Equal opportunity—Gertrude Mal- lory, librarian, Franklin High School, Los Angeles, California, and active in the High School Teachers Association of that city, has accepted the chairman- ship of the committee called for by the Representative Assembly at Denver “to make a thoro study of discrimination be- cause of sex, race, color, belief, residence, or economic or marital status with par- ticular reference to the teaching profes- sion.”’ Committee on Academic Free- dom—The members of this Committee had been selected at the time this article was written but could not be announced because the chairmanship was still pend- ing. The Notes and Announcements sec- 266 tion goes to press about ten days later than the text section. It may be possible to announce the entire committee at that time, Committee on Bylaws and Rules —Cornelia S. Adair, principal, Franklin School, Richmond, Virginia, and past president of the National Education As- sociation, has been appointed chairman of the Committee on Bylaws and Rules. This is a new committee recommended by the Committee on Reorganization at the Denver meeting and approved by the Representative Assembly. The fol- lowing statement of personnel and pur- pose of this new committee is taken from the report of the Committee on Reorgan- ization and is now Section 6 of Article VI of the bylaws: Sec. 6. There shall be a committee on bylaws and rules which shall serve as an advisory and interpreting committee. The committee shall consist of five members appointed by the presi- dent as follows: In July 1935, the retiring president shall appoint two members, one to serve for three years and one to serve for four years. The incoming president shall appoint three members of this committee, one to serve for one year, one to serve for two years, and one to serve for five years. In July 1936, and in each July thereafter, the pres- ident shall appoint one member to serve for five years. All proposed amendments to the charter and to the bylaws shall be re- ferred to this committee for comment. This committee shall be responsible for recommending and presenting rules of pro- cedure to the Representative Assembly from year to year. This committee may render decisions on any points referred to it by the Executive Committee, the Execu- tive Secretary, or the President of the As- sociation. American Education Week Are your plans for American Educa- tion Week, November 11-17, 1935, com- pleted? Have you ordered all the special American Education Week materials you will need from the National Educa- tion Association? There is still time to do so but it will be necessary to act promptly. A complete list of materials and an order form appear on A-119. The daily topics for the week are on A-120. Probably ten million people will visit the schools during American Education Week this year. This occasion should be the high spot in the year’s program of educational interpretation. Each year its observance has become more widespread. In 1934 more than 4000 communities participated actively as evidenced by the fact that they ordered materials for American Education Week from the Na- tional Education Association. The general theme for American Edu- cation Week, “The School and De- mocracy,” is a timely one. What place have the schools had in the development of American democracy? What role are they to have in the future of democracy? Is the federal government to have any part in the financing of education? Or are the public schools to continue to be largely ignored by the federal adminis- tration? Are state and local school sys- tems so organized as to best fulfil the educational needs of presentday de- mocracy? Many of the states still at- tempt to finance and administer educa- tion by the ox-cart method of leaving the whole problem to the local community, These are some of the problems that will be brought to the attention of the profes- sion and the public during AEW. American Education Week is spon- sored jointly by the National Education Association, the United States Office of Education, and the American Legion. It is the belief of the sponsors of this ob- servance that there is no more pressing problem confronting educators than that of an interpretation of the schools ade- quate to give the public an understand- ing of the needs of the schools and a vision of the increasingly fundamental part that they must play in a democracy. They hold that such a program of educa- tional interpretation should be continu- ous, but they also believe that there is a place once each year for a special focus- ing of the attention of the people upon the schools. American Education Week offers this opportunity. Enrolment Membership reports are rolling in at NEA headquarters in encouraging num- bers. In most schools the fall is the logi- cal season for teachers to join profes- sional associations. While the vacation period has often depleted the teachers’ financial resources, various plans have been developed for making early enrol- ments possible. Budgets of professional dues, coinclusive enrolment cards, de- fered payment arrangements, and post- dated checks are proving popular devices for meeting this situation. Enrolment lists must be forwarded early if the teachers are to receive the publications promptly, but the actual payment of dues can often be postponed until after the teacher has received fall salary checks. Other Association activities are re- ferred to in Notes and Announcements. —Lyle W. Ashby. The Journal of the National Education Association e- sa us- on 2ek ition St. Louis—the City with a New V in downtown St. Louis. Longtime planning, civic enterprise, and large expenditures have wrought this transformation. In 1923, the city voted an $87,000,000 bond issue. Of this sum, $15,000,000 was allotted to the develop- ment of the Memorial Plaza, which oc- cupies six city blocks, bounded by Twelfth, Fifteenth, Market, and Pine Streets. Around this Plaza are many fine build- ings, including the Municipal Audi- torium which will house the meetings and exhibits of the Department of Superin- tendence, February 22-27, 1936. The illustration above was taken from a point in the Memorial Plaza looking east. From left to right, the principal build- ings are the Civil Courts, the Federal Building, the City Hall, the Municipal Courts, and on the extreme right the Municipal Auditorium. Other parts of the development project, not shown in the picture, are a parkway connecting the Memorial Plaza with the Public Library and a program of slum clearance Bee spots have succeeded slums Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 Courtesy, Alexander Piaget, St. Louis Where the Superintendents Meet Next February in front of the Union Station. Sketch plans have been made for the further treatment of this entire area. Work is soon to begin on the erection of a sol- diers’ memorial, to be located in the Plaza and built somewhat along the lines of the Lincoln Memorial near the Po- tomac River in Washington. The new St. Louis of today presents a picture of progress—an old city with new ideals. Its very physical appearance and the conditions of yesterday are being so rapidly transformed that the outside world little realizes what is there evolv- ing. Those who knew St. Louis as it was when the Department of Superinten- dence held its last meeting there in 1912, will scarcely recognize it as it is now. Frequently, in years gone by, the of- ficers of the Department of Superin- tendence considered St. Louis as a con- vention city, but always they were con- fronted with the lack of an auditorium. Now this need has been met. Several fine auditoriums have been at the disposal of the Department of Superintendence for The Memorial Plaza at St. Louis. At the right is the Municipal Auditorium, headquarters for the Department of Superintendence convention. its sessions in recent years, but at St. Louis the Department will enjoy the use of a new structure with points of ex- cellence surpassed by none. The first na- tional convention to meet in the huge arena of the new Municipal Auditorium was that of the American Legion in Sep- tember. The school authorities of St. Louis are making elaborate preparations for the comfort and entertainment of the visi- tors. The Housing Bureau, under the direction of Philip J. Hickey, 911 Locust Street, St. Louis, reported that over 3400 hotel reservations had been completed by the first of October. Superintendent A. J. Stoddard of Providence, Rhode Island, president of the Department of Superin- tendence, is building a program suitable to presentday needs. Superintendents and their guests may look forward to a convention which no school executive can afford to miss, and one significant of the new “Spirit of St. Louis.” ~ i) oO A Sketch with a Purpose ct I—July—It was following the dinner of the Department of Classroom Teachers in Denver that the president of a county association “way down in Virginia” approached a Department officer and said, “Could you come down to Virginia this fall and speak to the teachers of our county at their first meeting?’’ The officer replied, “I'd like to come; I love Virginia and the Vir- ginians, and the officers of our Depart- ment are glad to accept such invitations. Write to me or to headquarters, and it can be arranged.” Act Il—August—The postman de- livered a letter to the officer from the county president in Virginia telling her the time and place of the meeting, and the best way to get there. Act III, Scene I—September— The officer of the Department reached Washington and, stopping at NEA headquarters, collected some materials to distribute: News Bulletins, American Education Week posters and _ leaflets, some JOURNALS, reports, and other pamphlets and folders that would inter- est teachers. Act III, Scene II—Aboard train en route—thoughts and observations of the officer: ‘“‘This is a splendid train with excellent service; every attendant is so courteous. How red the earth is and what wonderfully rich soil Virginia has, in order to produce such fields of corn. What extensive apple orchards! Such attractive villages Virginia has with their stately old columned homes. Now I see the homes of the colored folks and how contented those two old mammies look on that front veranda, with the bed of gorgeous blue flowers in the foreground. The train is climbing the mountains— we are near the top—what a splendid valley dotted with rich farms. Across is another range of mountains and then another.”” Now a group of teachers gets on board. “Are you going to have a new supervisor this year?” “How many chil- dren do you expect?” “When did you get your contract?” The officer’s thoughts return to the view. “What lovely wild flowers. Virginia must sell lumber and cattle. What a rich state it is—every way. This is my station—thank you, porter.’ The porter smiled as his hand closed on the coin and he waved a cheery, “Goodbye.” Act III, Scene I1]—The feachers of the county are gathered in the audi- torium of the largest school. The super- intendent gives information and then the county president whispers, “‘You speak now.” The officer stood before those earnest teachers. She realized that a school year was before them and said a little prayer for divine inspiration and help. Then the officer told them of the work of the National Education Asso- ciation and its Department of Classroom Teachers, of the need of teacher partici- pation today, of what it means to be a real teacher, and how the national or- ganization can assist them all. “Your talk made me so proud of my profes- sion.” “I never realized about the Na- tional Education Association before.” ‘I am starting to save now in order to at- tend the next convention.” “Please have your News Bulletin sent to our school.” “Come back to us again.” Act III, Scene [V—With true state pride and southern hospitality, the teach- ers took the officer to see one of their universities, and the officer stood rev- erently beside the tomb of the south’s greatest general. Later she was awed by the sight of the bridge that nature made in Virginia. Act IIT, Scene V—Reluctantly the officer said, “Goodbye,” and journeyed back to our nation’s capital, seeing and enjoying anew on the homeward trip all the loveliness that is Virginia. Purpose—Is the foregoing written to furnish you with a few scenes in a de- partment officer’s life? No. Is it.to fur- nish you with lesson material for your Virginia project? No. Then what is its purpose? To suggest to Classroom teach- ers in all parts of the United States that, if vour organization would be helped by such a conference, write to your officers or to headquarters ——Daisy Lord, Past President, Department of Classroom Teachers of the National Education Association. A MEssAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM Tracners—To the educators of our broad land is given the privilege of train- ing the citizen for tomorrow to meet effectively the problems of everyday life. He must be given a broader outlook on life and a better understanding of his fellowmen. He must be taught his relationship to the community. He must be made to realize that he is truly a part of all life about him and that his decisions must be based on knowledge, not prejudice. § There is a deeper purpose in life than merely earning a living. This high purpose iricludes service and contributions to the lives of others. We must hold our torch of service aloft so that all may see the brightly gleaming light. Q The rural teacher must be helped to find her economic status and to extend her usefulness. Our purpose is to help her surmount the rough places, to carry thru her ideas and ideals in spite of obstacles, and thus to be of service to the world and to reach her highest goal. § This will be our task for the year: to prepare our- selves for our maximum capability, to keep on keeping on, and to find what we can give to others as well as to ourselves. If we can accomplish this, then our work will yield not only a cultural wage to us but a service to the world. Such is the purpose of the Department of Classroom Teachers for the year 1935-1936.—Mary Calvert Ralls. 268 The Journal of the National Education Association — a ‘” —_— SS eee Notes A POEM FOR ARMISTICE DAY War I abhor, And yet how sweet The sound along the marching street Of drum and fife, and I forget Wet eves of widows, and forget Broken old mothers, and the whole Dark butchery without a soul. Without a soul—save this bright drink Of heady music, sweet as hell; And even my peace-abiding feet Go marching with the marching street, For yonder, yonder goes the fife, And what care I for human life! The tears fill my astonished eyes And my full heart is like to break, And yet ’tis all embannered lies, A dream those little drummers make. O it is wickedness to clothe Yon hideous grinning thing that stalks Hidden in music, like a queen That in a garden of glory walks, Till good men love the thing they loathe. Art, thou hast many infamies, But not an infamy like this; O snap the fife and still the drum, And show the monster as she is. -RICHARD LE GALLIENNE. Each September brings forth ex- ceptionally fine editorials in connection with the opening of the schools. The following from The American-News, Aberdeen, South Dakota, for September 10, 1935, will be recognized as a realistic description of a common experience: He stood at the foot of the big, stone steps, a forlorn little figure with brimming eyes and trembling lips, trying desperately, manfully to check the tears making dirty streaks down his chubby cheeks. The first day of school and his mother’s re- treating footsteps deepened his loneliness as he stood there with forefinger hooked pathetically in a drooping mouth. The imposing brick structure he had heard called “school” looked grim and forbidding. The big boy with the freckled nose who “made faces” at him and called him a “little sissy” and Announcements was terrifying. The big bell, sounding the half hour, made his heart leap in sudden fear. But as he stood there with a pencil clutched tightly in a little fist, an understanding hand caressed his head and a sweet voice said “good morning.” Looking up into the sympathetic face, fear fled, confidence returned, inherent manliness reasserted itself. And extending a trusting hand he walked thru the portals of the institution of learning—with his teacher. God will reward such teachers—and boys will cherish them in memory as long as life lingers. For they are the “salt of the earth.” New frontiers—Like our pioneer forebears who did not sit on the banks of the stream waiting for all the waters to rush by before attempting to cross, we should move on to new frontiers. We must sharpen our thinking and get ready for the long pull ahead. We must seek new answers. It has been said before that new occasions teach new duties. It is time to declare a moratorium on some of our academic debates and engage in an assiduous program of education that will reach every inch of the land.— President Agnes Samuelson in School Executives Magazine. A California plan—The enrolment of teachers in their professional organiza- tions—local, state, and national—is re- ceiving renewed attention this year. Local conditions vary so widely that no single plan will meet the needs of every com- munity. However, there is a growing rec- ognition of the need for some coinclusive plan that will facilitate handling this im- portant work. Most teachers really de- sire to be members of their professional associations all along the line, but they sometimes become irked by numerous re- quests for dues. In order to meet this situation the California Teachers’ Asso- ciation, Southern Section, is this year using the budget blank below. A SUGGESTED BUDGET FOR TEACHERS Submitted by California Teachers’ Association, Southern Section Your Executive Committee, C. T. A—S. S., recommends that every faculty give 100% support Many faculties adopt a budget ioe to Local, State, and National professional organizations. similar to the one given below. Bureau of Welfare, C. T. A.—S. S. (supports the Southern California and beneficences directed by the rustees).......... Board of T: ) io |. ERR RTE fe See he nO UTE: ee Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 A new name with the same objec- tives—The Wisconsin Journal of Edu- cation announces that the Wisconsin Teachers Association, so named in 1855, has changed its name to Wisconsin Edu- cation Association, Book Week Poster, 1935— Book Week will be observed No- vember 17-23. \! The colored “Sige poster and leaflet of suggestions for Book Week ex- hibits and _ pro- grams may be secured for 25c from the Na- tional Association of Book Publishers, 347 Fifth Avenue, New York, N. Y. READING FUN Glynn County, Georgia, adopts coinclusive membership plan—The following letter indicates progress toward the integration and coordination of the work of local, state, and national asso- ciations: It gives me genuine pleasure to enclose herein my check post-dated January 2, 1936, covering dues for all the teachers of Glynn County, Georgia. At our first faculty meeting last Satur- day morning, I proposed to the teachers of Brunswick and Glynn County that we form the Glynn County Teachers Association, with an all-inclusive membership fee covering dues in our local association, the Georgia Educa- tion Association, and the National Education Association. Never before in my entire ex- perience as a school superintendent have I re- ceived a more spontaneous approval of a sug- gestion and it made me genuinely happy when the proposal was unanimously adopted by our teachers. I am indeed proud that Glynn County is the first county in the state with 100 percent membership in local, state, and national associations—Geo. W. Wannamaker, superintendent of schools, Brunswick, Georgia. Comments on Secretary Givens’ article [“New Deal a Raw Deal for Public Schools” in the September 1935 JourNAL]—The following editorial is typical of many similar expressions: “Jittery” school aid—Most observers will agree that the criticism of the National Youth Administration—one of the administration’s pleasant little $50,000,000 side excursions in search of the more abundant life—by Willard E. Givens, executive secretary of the National Education Association, is well-merited. Mr Givens does not deny the laudable purposes of the administration’s move to help the desti- tute youth of the country in obtaining an 269 education. But he levels justified ridicule at the methods chosen to make such aid effective. The youth project is characteristic of other such ventures. For many years the government has maintained a bureau, and now an Office of Education, in the Interior Department, equipped with personnel and by experience to administer funds in aid of education. But when Mr. Hopkins allotted $50,000,000 for the youth administration, another organization had to be created, more government service duplicated, more people hired, and probably at higher salaries, to do the work which an existing government agency is already prepared to do. The waste, the conflict and duplication, the extravagance and aimless rushing around in a circle are the inevitable accompaniments of such methods. Mr. Givens also points out the anomaly of a condition which finds the established schools of the country pleading for aid, which is ad- vanced by a beneficent government in the form of “plain and fancy schooling, managed in a way to give the jitters to educators whose policy is to shun waste,” all springing from a bureaucracy in Washington set up without re- gard to civil service and inviting the criticism that political jobs and not the improvement of existing educational facilities is the objec- tive—From The Evening Star, Washington, D. C., September 19, 1935. The national highschool debate topic for 1935-36 is “Resolved: That the several states should enact legisla- tion providing for a system of complete medical care available to all citizens at public expense.” Material on this topic for use by de- baters may be secured from the National Forensic League, University of Denver, and the H. W. Wilson Company, 950 University Avenue, New York, N. Y. Last year the topic of “Federal Aid to Education” proved of unusual inter- est and resulted in a revival of interest in debating. The Ellen M. Guiney Observa- tory, Elm Place School, Highland Park, Illinois. This elementary school is one of the few in the country — perhaps the only one—with its own observatory. Astronomy has been taught in Highland Park for thirty years. THE JOURNAL would appreciate hearing from schools that have worked out Christmas greet- ing cards as a cooperative project be- tween art departments and school print shops. Why do I enjoy school?—One of the many themes sent to the National Education Association headquarters as a result of the “Our American Schools” broadcast of September 11, is the fol- lowing by Arnie E. Ahonen, Thomas W. Harvey Highschool, Painesville, Ohio: I enjoy school because it is a relief to come back after spending a whole vacation without doing anything. It gives me a chance to excel in different subjects and to enjoy all of the school social activities and sport events. In the school band and orchestra I will play in many places and enjoy good music. The most important fact is the realization that I am getting a good education, which I will need when I am out of school. A challenge to educators—Presi- dent Coffman’s article on public service personnel, p 239, calls attention to the iy: Courtesy, Scholastic A case of metalwork which appeared in the International Scholastic Art Exhibit for 1935 at Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. All of these pieces were designed and executed by highschool students of the United States. 270 need for putting all public service on the basis of merit, as is done in well- organized public-school systems. Seventeen new life memberships were issued during September. One of these was especially significant. The letter of application reads: In November 1931, you sent me this invita- tion, but at that time I couldn’t accept. Now, it is different and I am delighted to send my check for my life membership in the NEA, and this is how it happened—this summer I was appointed a delegate to the A. C. E. and intended to fly from New York to Denver to the NEA. Unfortunately my sister’s health did not permit me to leave her. She is well now, however, and I saved enough to be a life member! ’Tis an ill wind that blows no good! The Life Membership Dinner at the Denver convention was dedicated to Secretary Emeritus J. W. Crabtree. [See September 1935 Journal, p203.| After the tributes—by J. Y. Joyner, Willis A. Sutton, Florence Hale, Louise W. Mears, Joy Elmer Morgan, and Willard E. Givens—Mr. Crabtree responded by telling the following simple but beauti- ful story. We are printing it here at the request of life members and others: I do not have words to express the apprecia- tion which I feel on this occasion. Had I words I am sure I would not have the voice. Yet I feel that I ought to say a few words at - least. For some reason or other my mind goes back to an incident sixty-four years ago this summer. My mother had sent me to a nearby spring for a pail of cool water because we had company for dinner. When I returned, Aunt Sally discovered pebbles in the bottom of the pail and asked me about them. I told her I put them in. I thought they looked nice. I said it was fun to see them go down thru the water. She was not pleased and called my mother’s attention to them. My mother looked into the pail and then with sympathy at me. I tried to explain. “I am sorry,” she said, “but I know you meant all [Continued on page A-120] The Journal of the National Education Association oe eS his by ad int all on Dick Welsh: A True Story R. RANDOLPH KARCH Instructor, November 1928 HE TWO sat in silence. The youth, st slouched in his chair, hands plunged in trouser pockets, heels on the floor, bumped the toes of his soiled boots together, and shot uneasy glances at the other. The man stared out the polished window across the school playground, and absently stroked his bald spot with a moist palm. “What shall I do with this boy?” he asked himself again. He reviewed the case, mentally. Richard, the boy sitting beside him, was a “problem child,” a failure in most of his studies—Latin, English, science, algebra. His conduct in classes made him a veritable Franken- stein monster to his teachers. His mother, with whom the principal had conferred only last night, wanted him to remain in school. “I’ve talked to him time and again,” she had said. “I’ve tried every- thing. He can’t, or won’t, get his lessons. He just isn’t interested. But I don’t want him out of school,” she added. “I know he is safer in school—goodness knows what he would get into with noth- ing to take up his time.” The principal smiled grimly, and quoted under his breath: Poor Dick, bad Dick . . . wayward son— Idle, turbulent, restless one. Only a mother’s heart could be Patient enough ... “What?” asked Richard, startled. “Nothing, Dick—Richard,” answered the principal. Then, sternly, “Richard, for your mother’s sake I have decided to give you one more chance. I intend to change your class schedule. I shall assign you to a half-day in industrial arts. Come to my office in the morning,” he added with a final sweep of his hand. The principal leaned back and sighed as Richard clumped out the door. He gazed out the window, thought a moment, and repeated aloud: “He just isn’t inter- ested.” Then his eyes fell upon the col- ored covers of books in the case beside him. “John Dewey,” he muttered. “. . . causes of drop-outs . . . interests not challenged by school activities . . .” February 1929 Principal Jones raised his voice above the clanking of printing presses. “Mr. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 {rsenal Junior Highschool, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Leach, how is Richard coming along?” The printing instructor marked a hur- ried “OK” on a proof, placed it in a basket, and answered: “You mean Dick? Why, he’s my right-hand man!” Then, wrinkling his forehead, “Checking up? Dick in any trouble upstairs?” The principal shook his head. “No, no; I just wondered,” and with a parting glance at Richard, bent over a form at the other end of the shop, the principal went out smiling. “Richard is barely passing,” said Miss Finch, looking up at Mr. Jones over her glasses. ‘““He’s improved, yes. He is attentive at recitations, but in our study time I have to watch him closely. If I don’t, he will bring out a catalog, or printing magazine to read rather than study his assigned work.” “T am glad to learn that Richard is improving,” said the principal, “and that Richard has found himself—found some- thing interesting.” May 1930 “T know I haven’t been so good in school in some things,” said Richard to his principal, “but if you'll just write a letter to the Globe Printing Office and recommend me. . The smile on Mr. Jones’ face answered him. “Surely I will, Richard. Have you seen Mr. Leach about recommending you?” “Mr. Leach won’t write,’ answered Richard, his face lighting up. “But he is going down to see the foreman! He wants to talk to him about my getting some time off from my apprenticeship.” McClymonds Highschool, Oakland, California June 1932 Richard was troubled. “If they work me any less than three days a week, Mr. Leach, I'll quit and start up a shop of my own. Dad said he’d lend me the money.” Mr. Leach looked thoughtfully at Richard Welsh. Turning over the troubles of Dick in his mind, he thought to himself: “‘Will he become just another bedroom printer? A ‘cut-throat’ on prices, barely getting along? And if he does, will he become disgusted with his trade thereby, quit his work, and become another floater in industry, idle and rest- less again?” “Dick,” he said aloud, ‘“‘you are a good mechanic in printing, but not a good business man. It takes a lot of money and experience in business to go it successfully alone. Take my advice; hang on. They know you are a valuable apprentice. I do not think they'll lay you off. Just now it’s tough. Try to be satis- fied. Times will change.” October 1935 Jasper, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1935. Dear Mr. Leach: I haven’t seen you for some time now. I have been working steadily since I fin- ished my apprenticeship, am married, and have a little baby girl. I think it was the wisest thing I ever did to take a course in printing while in school. It certainly did equip me with the fundamentals that are necessary to obtain and hold a position. I have since learned that my name, followed by the word “experienced,” was placed at the head of about fifteen other applicants. From that first day in printing I knew that was the trade I was made for, and I say it today. This month will finish six years of the real thing for me and I’m still looking for something new in print- ing. My time could have been cut to four and one-half years had it not been for the depression. I completed my corre- spondence course with the union with an average of 95 percent. Some day I’ll come back and tell your boys about it. Yours sincerely, Richard Welsh. 271 Builders of Our Profession The Honor Roll of the NEA ing: SUCCESS of medicine and surgery as a profession in the United States has been due in a large measure to the local, state, and national organizations which the medical men of this country have organized and maintained. Thru the leadership and vision of these organizations, the present high position of respect which the profession en- joys today has been reached. In like manner, if the teaching profession is to rise from a mere job to a real profession, we must organize and maintain local, state, and national organizations for the purpose of setting the proper standards for admission to our ranks, cooperating with the state depart- ments of public instruction in preparing and promoting a progressive modern program of public education and in protecting our pro- fession from the corroding influences which affect it both from without and from within. —Ben G. Graham, superintendent of schools, Pittsburgh, Pa. New Life Enlistments TS NUMBER of life members enroled in the National Education Association on October 1 was 5435. The following life members have been reported since the list was published in the October JoURNAL. CALIrorNta—Ronald W. Cox, Mrs. Ruth G. Sumner, Edith G. Whitley. Co_orapo—Edith M. Henry, Craig P. Minear. FLoripaA—Mrs. Clara M. Olson. Georcia—L. H. Davis. ILtinois—Mary R. Earnest, Luther G. Hester. Missour!—Isabel Leighton Hull. New Jersey—Barton W. Gaskill. PENNSYLVANIA—Harry D. Berkey, Grace Todd Elliott. Texas—Arthur Maberry. Completed Enrolments 4 gee FOLLOWING SCHOOLS have completed their 100 percent enrolment in the Na- tional Education Association since the list was published in the October JoURNAL. Sixteen Years ILLinois—Decatur, Roach. Fourteen Years ILLtinois—Decatur, Oglesby. Thirteen Years ILimNois—Decatur, Roosevelt Junior High. New YorkK—Rome, Jay Street. Oun10—Cleveland, Mt. Auburn Training. PENNSYLVANIA—Manch Chunk, First Ward. Twelve Years MassacHuseETts — Brookline, Lawrence; Medford, Osgood. New Jersey—Fair Haven, Fisk Street, Willow Street. Onio—Warren, Roosevelt. PENNSYLVANIA—Mauch Chunk, Mauch Chunk Public Schools, High, Asa Packer. SouTH CaroLtina—Laurens, Watts Mills. WYoMING—Sheridan, John S. Taylor. Eleven Years New Jersev—Fair Haven, Fair Haven Public Schools, Knollwood. TENNESSEE—Springfield, Springfield High. Ten Years ILurnois—Decatur, Dennis, Mary W. French, Gar- field, E. A. Gastman, John Hill Junior High, Oak- land, Riverside, Ullrich, Warren; Wood River, nN ~r to HE DEATH of Dr. William John Cooper on September 19, 1935, at the age of fifty- three, emphasizes again the terrific pressure under which our educational leaders have been working in recent years. Dr. Cooper came up thru the ranks to the highest educational office in the country. As Commissioner, he gave to the United States Office of Education an able and inspiring leadership, including the plan- ning of much-needed national surveys in the fields of secondary education, teacher prepara- tion, and school finance. Dr. Cooper embodied in his own life and character the best gifts of the teaching profession. He was a fine example of a cultivated and responsible citizen. Wood River Public Schools, Lewis-Clark Junior High, Lincoln Building, Washington Building, Wood River Building, Woodrow Wilson Building. Vircinia—Norfolk, Ocean View. Nine Years Arizona—Holbrook, Holbrook Public Schools. ILLinois—Decatur, Centennial Junior High, H. B. Durfee, Grant, Lincoln, Pugh, Washington. Kansas—Lawrence, Lincoln, Woodlawn. MICHIGAN—Fremont, Fremont Public Schools. MINNESOTA—Rochester, Rochester Public Schools, Central, Edison, Folwell, Hawthorne, High, Holmes, Lincoln, Northrop, Special Teachers and Supervisors. New YorK—Rome, Thomas Street. : Onio—Piqua, Bennett Elementary, Bennett Junior High, Spring Street, Staunton Street, Wilder Ele- mentary, Wilder Junior High. TeExAsS—T exarkana, Grim. Utran—North Summit District, North Summit Dis- trict Public Schools, Echo, Henefer, Hoytsville, North Summit High, Upton, Wanship. Eight Years ILLiNois—Decatur, Decatur Public Schools, Decatur Senior High; Rockford, Kishwaukee. Kansas—Lawrence, Pinckney. On10o—Pigua, Piqua Public Schools, Favorite Hill, North Street, Senior High, South Street, Special Teachers & Supervisors. Seven Years CALirorNiA—Fortuna, Union High. Kansas—Lawrence, Junior High. MASSACHUSETTS—Malden, Pierce. PENNSYLVANIA—Philadelphia, Shawmont. VERMONT—Rockingham-Westminister District, Wells Street. Six Years Kansas—Holton, Holton Public Schools, Colerado, High. MASSACHUSETIS—Waltham, Thomas Hill. Missourt—St. Louis, Mallinckrodt. Central, Five Years lowA—Ottumwa, Adams, Agassiz, Douglas, Fairview, Franklin, Garfield, Hedrick, Irving, Jefferson, Lin- coln, Orchard, A. W. Stuart. Kansas—Lawrence, McAllaster, New York. Missouri—St. Louis, Benton, Dumas, Hamilton. New Mexico—Hot Springs, Hot Springs Public Schools. On10—Canton, Belle H. Stone. PENNSYLVANIA—Bucks County, Falls Township. WISCONSIN—Superior, Bryant. Four Years ILLiNnois—Decatur, Special Teachers and Supervisors, Woodrow Wilson Junior High. INDIANA—I ndianapolis, Public Number Sixty-one. Iowa—Cherokee, Cherokee Public Schools, Garfield, Lincoln, Webster, Wilson High. MASSACHUSETTS—Newton Upper Falls, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Missourr—St. Louis, Carondelet, Special Number ree. West Vircinta—Slab Fork, Slab Fork. WISCONSIN—W auwatosa, Jefferson. Three Years DeLawarRE—Kenton, Kenton. ILLINOIS—Danville, Edison. INDIANA—I ndianapolis, Washington Irving Number Fourteen; Whiting, South Side. s Kansas—Lawrence, Cordley. MASSACHUSETTS—Gloucester, Babson. MICHIGAN—Dowagiac, Dowagiac Public Schools, Cen- tral, County Normal, Junior High, McKinley, Oak Street, Senior High. Missourt—St. Louis, Central High, Cottage Avenue. New Jersey—lIrvington, Augusta Street. On1o—Montgomery County, Jefferson Schools. PENNSYLVANIA—Philadelphia, Allen. Texas—Burkburnett, High. Township Two Years ALABAMA—Birmingham, Wylam. CoLorapo—Eagle, Eagle High. lowa—Ottumwa, Ottumwa Public Schools, Ottumwa High, Washington Junior High. Kansas—Hays, Junior High, Senior High; Lawrence, Lawrence Public Schools, Senior High; Towanda, Towanda Grade. MARYLAND—Washington County, Downsville. Missourt—St. Louis, Bellefontaine Farms, Harris Teachers College, Penrose, Stowe. NEBRASKA—Woo0d River, Wood River Public Schools, Grade, High. Ou10o—Monclova, Monclova. PENNSYLVANIA—Snyder County, Monroe Township Consolidated. SouTH CAarRoLinaA—Walterboro, Walterboro Public Schools, Grammar, High. West Vircinita—Harrison County, Monticello; Law- ton, Glendale. Current Year ALABAMA—Bremen, Cold Springs; Foley, Swift Con- solidated; Pell City, Pell City Public Schools. CALiroRNiA—Westwood, Junior-Senior High. ILLiINoIs—Bowen, Community High. Iowa—Mason City, Jackson. KaNsAs—Hiawatha, Central; Rosalia, Rosalia Grade. Maine—W estbrook, Prides Corner. Missourr—St. Louis, Hadley Vocational. NeBRASKA—Kearney, Whittier. On1o—Cincinnati, Raschig; Collinsville, Collinsville Public Schools; Greenfield, Greenfield Public Schools, Elementary, Junior High, McClain High; New Lyme, New Lyme; Wood County, Lark [Ross Township]. OxLtaHoMA—Marlow, Oak Grove [District Number 40]; Oklahoma City, Star. 6 OrEGON—Boardman, Boardman Community Senior High. PENNSYLVANIA—Philadelphia, Carnell, Ellwood, C. W. Henry, W. F. Miller, Nebinger, Newton. West Vircinta—Beckley, Lincoln; Grandview, Grandview Grade. WISCONSIN—A shland, Beaser. The Journal of the National Education Association Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 November 11-17, 1935 ASH OR CHG, RADIOGRAM R.C.A. COMMUNICATIONS. INC Send the following Radlogram "7/iz RCA subject to terms on back herect, which are hereby agreed to NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 SIXTEENTH STREET WASHINGTON DC PLEASE SEND AIR MAIL WITH BILL FIVE THOUSAND AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK STICKERS SUPT OF SCHOOLS DARNESTOWN H0 Quick Orders Prepaid telegrams or long distance telephone may be used for orders 5 5 » of one dollar or above. Bills for your supplies will be sent with your shipment. The list of helps is repeated here for your convenience: American Education Week An- Kindergarten and Primary Packet nouncement Poster. Packet of 10,50¢; (50¢). 50, $2: 100, $3; 250, $7; 500, $12; Elementary School Packet (50¢). 1000, $20. High School Packet (50¢). The School and Democracy—1935 mes- Teachers College Packet (S0¢). nae te ie tee, Paes of 168 Te College and University Packet (50¢). tie 41 ONT. cockate Leahen Newspaper Packet (50¢). packet of 1000, $1. No packets broken. peWSPQPEr | ~ wl | a). f i l—message to the . The American Schoo 96 Ge gl Be sure you have on hand all the supplies ?— fgets a 25¢5 packet of 1000, von ceed Sot siiniied shaven. OF von ve Sa have not already sent your order, DO IT Gummed Stickers. Packet of 100, 30¢; TODAY! Address the National Educa- packet of 1000, $2. No packets broken. tion Association, Washington, D. C. Speedy Delivery! A-119 . opportunity for a vacation. En route to or from Portland on the Northern Yellowstone and Rainier National Parks may be included at slight addi- Pacific, tours of +) Gateway to Alaska! May we help you plan for next summer? Northern Pacific's new pictorial album, ‘‘WEST,” tells the story. Send for a free copy. Address » E. E. NELSON, Passenger Traffic Manager 790 Northern Pacific Railway St. Paul, Minn. Route of the Completely Air-Conditioned LIMITED [Continued from page 270] right.” A moment later she handed me a piece of pie which somehow I could not eat just then. I heard my aunt say on the side, “Sarah, you are certainly spoiling that child.” Finally, my mother thought she needed another pail of water and told me to run and get it. This was my opportunity. I soon returned and this time without the pebbles. I could then enjoy my pie. I cannot help thinking that if Aunt Sally were here tonight to hear all these praises and to hear not one word about my faults she would say right out, “All you big educators, you are certainly spoiling that child.”’ The pail I have brought you, up to this eve- ning, has the bottom covered with pebbles. But, Mr. Chairman, I beg you to give me the chance my mother did. I do wish you would send me to fetch another pail of water. The daily topics for American Edu- cation Week follow: Monday, Nov. 11—The School and the Citi- zen Tuesday, Nov. 12—The School and the State Wednesday, Nov. 13—The School and the Nation Thursday, Nov. 14—The School and Social Change Friday, Nov. 15—The School and Country Life Saturday, Nov. 16—The School and Recrea- tion Sunday, Nov. 17—Education and the Good Life The American Child Health As- sociation is transferring to the National A-120 Patland...in 1936! What an Opportunity f for N. E. A. Delegates. nw Oregon ‘“‘City of Roses’’ and the surrounding Pacific North- west Wonderland have so much to offer the summer visitor that dele- gates to National Education Association conven- tion next summer will have an exceptional tional cost. Overnight from Portland, is Seattle, COMPLETE PRINTING SERVICE JUDD & DETWEILER INCORPORATED WASHINGTON, D. C. Education Association the sales and dis- tribution of its valuable line of school health publications. These include thirty- two titles which undoubtedly make the most comprehensive group of health edu- cation publications prepared under the auspices of a single organization. A com- plete list of titles will be found in the advertising section of this issue. The transfer of this activity is due to the de- cision of the American Child Health Association to terminate its work. For several years this organization has car- ried on a program of educational, medi- cal, health relationships and research services that have been most effective. The closing of its work is greatly re- gretted by school people, and the Na- tional Education Association welcomes the opportunity to take over the respon- sibility of distribution and sale of its publications. Ten outstanding articles in recent periodicals—The following articles in recent periodicals have been selected by Eleanor Craven of THE JOURNAL staff. Readers are invited to send to THE Jour- NAL references to articles which they have found most helpful or which they would like to suggest to other readers. [1] The Labors of Congress, by Charles A. Beard. Current History, October 1935. “Sel- Mention THE JouRNAL when writing our advertisers The Journal of the National Education Association dom, if ever, in the long history of Congress had so many striking and vital measures been spread upon the lawbooks in a single session.” [2] Widows and Orphans, Inc., by Paul Y. Anderson. Survey, October 1935. “Appeal to sympathy and emotion—not to reason. Tell them about the widows and orphans . . . whose earnings would be wiped out.” The head of the lobby against the Wheeler-Rayburn bill [to eliminate useless utility-holding companies] thus candidly describes his methods. [3] John Marshall’s Long Shadow, by Max Lerner. The New Republic, September 18, 1935. The centenary of John Marshall’s death finds the country facing the same issue as it faced in Marshall’s time, “between national control of business enterprise and no control at all.” [4] Unfinished Business, by James Truslow Adams. Yale Review, September 1935. The three predominant notes in presentday feeling are: first, fear; second, intensity of political and economic thought; third, helplessness. [5] The Future of States’ Rights, by Peter Odegard. North American Review, September 1935. Recent Supreme Court decisions have again sharpened the old issue of state rights. We must recast our political boundaries if we hope to solve what Justice Brandeis calls the “greatest problem before the American people, “the problem of reconciling our industrial sys- tem with political democracy. [6] The Twilight of National Planning, by David Cushman Coyle. Harper’s, October 1935. “The great plans are not plans for regimenting the people and making them brush their teeth and put on their rubbers. They are policy plans that will make it easier to work in ways that are good for the national prosperity.” ~~ = Ww ‘7s $e =— Ww ¢ [7] A Realist Looks at Ethiopia, by Carleton S. Coon. Atlantic Monthly, September 1935. The author went to Ethiopia as an anthropolo- gist but he reports background factors in the Italo-Ethiopian conflict as an economist and sociologist. He accents the roles which England and France have been playing behind the scenes. [8] British See Menace to Trade of Empire. American Observer, September 30, 1935. Is there any basic difference between the motives which forced England to go to war with Ger- many in 1914 and those which are today making her take a stand against Italy ? [9] Schoolhouse in the Foothills, by Ella Enslow. Reader’s Digest, October 1935. This condensation will make you want to read the entire book. “When I went down to teach school in the mountain community of Shady Cove I had no notion of what I was in for... .” [10] Exploring the Ice Age in Antarctica, by Richard Evelyn Byrd. National Geographic Magazine, October 1935. The story of the sec- ond Byrd expedition to Little America. “Man will never cease exploring until he can answer every question about this globe we live on.” A milestone in popular education —The address by Senator Nye which appeared in THE JouRNAL for Septem- ber 1935 [p185] has proved to be one of the most timely and popular features ever presented by THE JouRNAL. There has recently been issued by the Foreign Policies Association, 8 West Fortieth Street, New York, a little book entitled War Tomorrow: Will We Keep Out? It is edited by Ryllis Alexander Goslin. The price is 35¢. The colored poster for American Education Week is unusually attractive. See page A-119 for price of this poster. Student Leader, 1201 Sixteenth St. N. W., Washington, D. C., would like to be placed on school mailing lists to re- ceive copies of school newspapers, maga- zines, and handbooks. It would also like to receive contributions of pictures and articles of general interest to schools thruout the country. Freedom of speech—TuHeE JouRNAL has again and again pointed out that the spearhead of the drive against the proper financing of the schools and against free highschool opportunities is centered in the power trust and its high-salaried cor- poration lawyers. It is equally plain that this group of American Fascists has not hesitated to seek places on important educational boards for themselves, their henchmen, or even for their wives in order to make sure that teachers of eco- nomics or the social sciences will not tell the truth about electric power, one of the major issues of our day. The real facts almost never get into the newspapers for obvious reasons. They didn’t in the Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 cident or quarantine. homes in the neighborhood. come—because “Between the Two ye oe | a Between the Two Stands T.C.U. What provision have you made for the unusual risks of your profession? Sta- tistics show that each year one out of every five teachers meets with sickness, ac- Remember that “all diseases come to school” from all the So, to usual health hazards, many more are added. Surely the risk is far too great for any teacher to carry alone. That is why T.C.U. was founded and why so many thousands of your co-workers are already under the T.C.U. Umbrella. Even when the gloomy days come, sunshine and cheer can also Stands T.C.U. BENEFITS $50 a Month when you are totally dis- abled by confining sickness. $50 a Month when you are totally dis- abled by accidental injuries (including automobile accidents). Which side will you be on when Sick- ness, Accident or Quarantine Come? Will you be forced to watch your hard-earned savings dwindle away? Will you have to give up plans you have made for a happy vacation? Or will you have to experience the embarrassment of asking financial aid from friends? Why not be prepared to help yourself by including in your budget the very small amount it takes to enroll with T.C.U. Be Safe—get under the T.C.U. Um brella. You owe it to yourself to find out at ounce how little it costs to enjoy all the protective benefits of this great organization of teachers for teachers. Remember that T.C.U. believes that help given quickly is doubly valuable. That's why air mail service is used in delivering T.C.U. $11.67 a Week when you are quarantined and your salary has stopped $25 a Month for illness that does not con fine you to the house, but keeps you from your work 20 Percent increase in sick benefits for two months when you are confined to an es tablished hospital $333 to $1000 for major accidents, or for accidental loss of life. These indemnities are increased 10 percent for each con secutive annual renewal of the policy for not to exceed five years. Double these benefits for travel accidents sustained in railroad, street car or steam boat wreck Operation benefits in addition to other bene fits after your policy has been maintained in force for one year Policies paying larger benefits are issued Claim Checks. cost you dearly. Why not write today it is too late. Use the convenient coupon. No | agent will call. Infor- mation will be mailed you. Teachers Casualty Underwriters 653 T.C.U. Building | Lincoln, Nebr. Tcy | Thoughtlessness or delay | Address if you desire. may before FREE INFORMATION COUPON | To the T.C.U., 653 T.C.U. Building, Lincoln, Nebraska. I am interested in knowing about your Protective Benefit Send me the whole story and booklet of testimonials. | Name-- (This coupon places the sender under no obligation) school case about which the following is highly revealing: To THE Eprtors or The Nation: That the dismissal of President W. E. Sea- lock of the Municipal University of Omaha was to some extent occasioned by James E. Davidson, president of the Nebraska Power Company and chairman of the University Board of Regents, seems clear from a letter which Dr. Sealock wrote to Senator George W. Norris a few hours before committing sui- cide. The letter was printed in part in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. While religious bigotry and a desire to pre- vent expansion of the university were probably the most important motives behind Dr. Sea- lock’s dismissal, it is clearly evident that his Mention THe JourRNAL when writing our advertisers defense of professors who touched upon the controversial power issue in class was also used against him. That Dr. Sealock refused to ac cept the dictates of the power trust as laid down by James E. Davidson is made plain by a few quotations from Dr. Sealock’s letter to Senator Norris: “T have been ousted from the Municipal Uni versity of Omaha, while absent on university business, and no reasons have been given, or apparently will be given, by the Board of Re- gents. This being true, it behooves me to state to the public at large the truth about the mat ter. Shortly before this, Mr. Davidson had called me informing me that my minister, the Reverend Laurance R. Plank of the Unitarian Church, had referred to the Nebraska Power [Continued on page A-122 [Continued from page Company gested to him that he should have a talk with A-121] in an uncomplimentary way. I sug- Dr. Plank if he felt that Dr. Plank had re- ceived information which was not correct, and set him right. In other words, I refused to call Dr. Plank down for making a statement about the Nebraska Power Company, for I did not know whether it was true or not. I assumed, of that Dr. Plank had made a fair effort to get at the truth, for he is a scholar as well as an outstanding minister. “Mr. James E. Davidson, who is president of the Nebraska Power Company, is the presi- dent of our Board of Regents. On April 4, 1935, while I was in his office discussing matters relative to the university he took rather violent exception to what he termed unjust and unfair teaching in the university by Dr. V. Royce West, one of our professors. . . . I wrote Mr. Davidson the next day, telling him exactly what had been done and calling attention to the fact that the TVA project and numerous other matters, eco- nomic and governmental, of necessity had to be discussed in university classes. I am confident that my defense of Dr. West was, in a large measure, the reason for Mr. Davidson’s taking exception to my administration. Further it should be noted that the meeting of the board at which I was ousted was a secret one, held in the office of the Nebraska Power Company. You will thus see why I look upon the work of the Nebraska Power Company, with Mr. Davidson at its head, as the chief factor in my dismissal after a service of four years and a record of which I am proud. “In brief, here is the situation in a nutshell. Mr. Davidson, as president of the Nebraska Power Company and president of the Board of course, Regents, is going to see to it, if possible, that no facts are presented in economics or govern- ment which will be unfriendly to the power trust. I am confident, as are my friends, Paul L. Martin, who has resigned from the Board of Regents, and William C. Ramsey, who also has resigned as a protest, that my defense of academic freedom and the right of professors to teach the truth in their classes is the reason for my ouster. I prefer dismissal to subservience to the power trust... .” In the light of Dr. Sealock’s letter the writer and other friends of the University of Omaha can only retain and strengthen their conviction that Dr. Sealock was dealt with unjustly by the regents and particularly by Mr. Davidson— FRANKLIN M. BUXTON. —The Nation, Sept. 25, 1935, p354. Lay magazines are presenting to their readers an interpretation of educa- tion with which teachers want to be familiar. These recent articles will in- terest you: The Nation and the Schools, William Frederick Bigelow. ing, September 1935, p4. A City Goes to School, by William Corbin. American Magazine, October 1935, p63, 139-42. Private Fortunes and the Public Future, by Abraham Flexner. Atlantic Monthly, August 1935, p215-24. Back to “Town Meetings,” by Frank Ernest Hill. New York Times Magazine, September 15, 1935, p9, 17. Getting Away with Murder, by Harold G. Hoffman. American Magazine, September 1935, p64-66, 125-27. an editorial by Good Housekeep- Tolerance, Hutchins. pli. Half Slave, Half Free, by George R. Leighton and Richard Hellman. Harper’s, August 1935, p342-53. From a Young Man, by Anne Bryan McCall. W oman’s Home Companion, October 1935, p32. I Was Fired From a Hick College, by Wen- dell Brooks Phillips. Atlantic Monthly, October 1935, p396-403. Sports For Your Girl, by John R. Tunis. Country Gentleman, September 1935, p21, 62- 64. a guest editorial by American Magazine, Robert M. October 1935, These and other articles are described and abstracted in the special Research Service publication, Education in Lay Magazines, which is sent regularly to schools with 100 percent membership in the National Education Association. Miss Adair to head Richmond youth program—Cornelia S. Adair, past president of the National Education Association and principal of the Frank- lin School, Richmond, Virginia, has been appointed director of the Richmond out- of-school youth program to be organized under the National Youth Administra- tion. Each issue of THE JOURNAL this year carries a special feature of much more than immediate interest and signifi- cance. One of these special features con- tains in compact form,more information and after THANKSGIVING comes C HRISTMAS! A Life Member writes: “For years I wished for a Life Member- ship in the National Education Association but never felt that I could afford it. One Christmas my wife suggested giving me a The deferred payment plan enabled us to fit the cost into our financial budget. That was ten years ago. lars final payment. Christmas present.” { | Life Membership as a ten-year Christmas present. | Enclosed please find check for ten dol- My Life Membership continues as a lasting LIFE MEMBERSHIP IN THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES A valued symbol of professional spirit among educational leaders. MR. WILLARD E. GIVENS, Executive Secretary 1201 Sixteenth Street, Washington, D. C. Y Ay Tes Adonis Me tized Aalig f Ahtuce, ae olawya Fane. Shue ‘ hay 3 $l, he viey Faw wohin be Got Wii abd f- beh fy thar poof Coewer-s °p bent W Gaeta tot puwed by -ahne G4 fe. We (2 < in pabifse bye bey 4a? Olin bo phone ere heczore Né pee he trofith i cotonty ae Po ed gt ems A honest bs carespedy alae ox, a Ba” 2 Oe gett A a DEAR MR. GIVENS: Please send information regarding Life Membership in the National Education Association of the United States on the deferred payment plan, ten annual payments of ten dollars each to me at the ad- dress indicated below. ee ee ee A we ee I wish to secure one for myself or (I wish to present one as a Christmas gift). eee ee eee eee eee eee eeeeeeeeeeeeeee RT eC CP Es. i eee ee ee ere Mention THE JOURNAL when writing our advertisers The Journal of the National Education Association on Bonk © bed irch Lay to » in ynd air, ion nk- een ut- zed his ich ifi- on- ion { | BOOK MANUSCRIPTS WANTED on all subjects. Write for free booklet. MEADOR PUBLISHING COMPANY 470 Atlantic Ave. Boston, Massachusetts Dept. J RAH! OUR SCHOOLS The National School Song A modern interpretation-march and tionally used by bands and orchestras Should be in every school room and home Students—teachers—musicians really like this number. One trial will sell itself. Order your piano-vocal copy from your dealer or send $.40 direct to JOSEPH PUBLISHING COMPANY 316-18 U. S. National Bank Bidg. Kenosha, Wis. pep song Now na- CIENCE su RVEY The University Series HicHiicuts of MopERN KNOWLEDGE High School — College — Normal For further information write THE UNIVERSITY SOCIETY 468 Fourth Ave., New York, N. Y. than would ordinarily be found in an entire book. Special JourNnat features— “The Munitions Investigation,’ Septem- ber, and “Preserving American Democ- racy,’ October—have brought many let- ters of appreciation. The Hall of Fame feature in this issue fits admirably with the American Education Week theme. The December JourNat will give a full presentation of our national need of housing. And there will be some surprises for 1936. The Reconstruction Finance Cor- poration has recently issued Circular No. 20 relating to loans for the refinanc- ing of public school indebtedness. Loans will be made by the Reconstruction Fi- nance Corporation under the authority of the Terry-Robinson Act which was supported before Congress by the Na- tional Education Association. Copies of RFC Circular No. 20 may be obtained by writing the Association. Character and Citizenship thru Student Government, by Lillian Wy- man [| Winston; $1.65], will be helpful to student government organizations. The book is recommended by the National | Self Government Committee, 80 Broad- way, New York, N. Y., and by Student Leader. Our American Heritage of Lead- ership—-Photographs in this feature [p249-56] were made from the statues and busts of the great leaders which are placed either in the Museum of the Hall of Fame of New York University or in the Hall itself. Other important momen- toes of each leader are also preserved in the museum. On Nov. 1, 1935, the five new additional names will be announced for the Hall of Fame. An account of these new additions will appear in a later issue. Volume 24, Number 8; November 1935 MOVIES 16MM sound-on-film — 16MM silent Write immediately for FREE lists (This ad may not be repeated) ELV ae A B&L Balopticon will prove the most economical as well as the most efficient, means of teaching visually. There is a We are determined to maintain the lowest rates in B &L Lantern Slide or Opaque Se Balopticon for every still projec- the U. S. A. All programs are unconditionally ion ymin Write Sor 4 cata- guaranteed. We are also able to supply you with log. Bausch & Lomb Optical projector equipment. THE MANSE LIBRARY Elmore, Ohio Co., 684 St. ester, N. Y. Paul Street, Roch- ‘EXCEPTIONAL SALES OPPORTUNITY for Men and Women—Calling on educators with Fox Blox. Write: “MOTION PICTURES OF THE WORLD” World Peace Foundation says: ‘‘A veritable film library of the world’s culture and customs .. . | invaluable reference work . . all subjects.”’ Send 3 FOX BLOX COMPANY, INC. P. O. Box 145, East Pasadena Station, Pasadena, California. 5e subs. (2 issues) + adv. to INTERNAT’L EDUCAT’L PICTURES, INC. 40 Mt. Vernon St., Boston, Massachusetts HEALTH EDUCATION A program for Public Schools and Teacher Training Institutions Third Printing of Second Edition 251 pages This Report of the Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education of the | Paper bound, $1.25 each | Cloth bound, $1.75 each | the Nat ional Educ ation Association and American Medical Association is one of the outstanding publications It has been Discounts as follows: 2 to 9 copies, 10 percent; 10 to 99 copies, 25 percent; 100 dealing with this subject. or more copies, 3314 percent. used successfully as a textbook by some Orders not accompanied by funds are subject of the best educational institutions of to transportation charges. America. ORDER NOW American Medical Association National Education Association 535 North Dearborn Street 1201 Sixteenth Street Washington, D. C. Chicago, Illinois An important announcement on health education See page A-116 THE Mention when writing our advertisers JouRNAL A-123 Research Bulletins Pur TEACHER'S EconomMk Vol. XIII, No. +. September, 1935. 104pp CREATING SOCIAL INTELLIGENCE. Vol. XIII, No. 3, May, 1935. RIN a> cc bdo alin x adeno oa SALARIES OF SCHOOL EMPLOYEES, 1934-35. Vol. XIII, No. 2, March, 1935, 32 pp THE NATION'S SCHOOL BUILDING NEEDS. Vol. XIII, No. 1, January, 1935. 36pp MopERN SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL TRENDS Vol. XII, No. 5, November, 1934. 48pp NATIONAI POSITION. ee DELIBERATIVE COMMITTEES IN EDUCATION, Vol. XII, No. 4, September, 1934. 92pp............... EpUCATION FOR CHARACTER, PART II. IMPROVING THE SCHOOL PROGRAM Vol. XII, No. 3, May, 1934. 64pp EpUCATION FOR CHARACTER, ’SYCHOLOGICAL BACKGROUND. Va. ee, Be. B, BRAECU, BOGS; QOD iviosc vn sic kkk wiccinwws ou Five YEARS OF STATE SCHOOL REVENUE LEGISLATION, 1929- 1933 Vol. XII. No. 1, damuary, 1904. G0np. <.. woe ccc nes CURRENT CONDITIONS IN THE NATION’S SCHOOLS. Vol. XI, No. 4, November, 19338. 24pp CONSTRUCTIVE ECONOMY IN EDUCATION. Vol. XI, No. 3, September, 1953. 36pp SALARIES IN CITY SCHOOL SYSTEMS. Vol. XI, No. 2, March, 1933. 16pp THE ScHooL BoarpD MEMBER. Vol. XI, No. 1, January, 1933. 48pp Part I. THE SOCIAL AND ee Health Education HeaLtH Epucation—Second Edition. A program for public schools and teacher-training institutions, 1930. 251pp. Paper Bound Cloth Bound ScHoo! HEALTH Potictes. A preliminary study of group opinions, 1934-35. 64pp ee ee eee ee ee ee eee HEALTH INSPECTION OF SCHOOL CHILDREN, 1955. 22pp HEALTH SERVICE IN CITY SCHOOLS. Onn. Pow BiemGred, BiB ands ko. 5 vi ciccisicsswesien ss ATHLETICS FOR GiRLS—A digest of principles and policies for administrators and teachers in Junior and Senior High Schools. 14pp *N furthe eeoeoeresr eres eceeee eet eeese ese eeeeeees r discount. Departmental Yearbooks Classroom Teachers TEACHER AND PUBLIC: "TEACHERS. Bight Tenrocs., BOGE, BAO: oie. coc sisi cscs wausicss Tue CLASSROOM TEACHER AND CHARACTER EDUCATION. Seventh Yearbook, 1932. 272 pp... .....cccwsesevcess THE EconoMic WELFARE OF TEACHERS. Sixth Yearbook, 1931. 244pp.......... (Special Price). A HANDBOOK OF INTERPRETATION FOR PUBLICATIONS OF THE N. E. 20 1.25 1.75 20 10 A. P Pri Superintendence Ser thee SocIAL CHANGE AND EDUCATION, Thirteenth Yearbook, 1935. 384pp..........cccccccece $2.00 CRITICAL PROBLEMS IN SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. Twelfth Yearbook, 1934. 384pp EDUCATIONAL LEADERSHIP: PROGRESS AND POSSIBILITIES. Eleventh Yearbook, 1933. S44pp...........ccccccesess 2,00 CHARACTER EDUCATION. Tenth Yearbook, 19382. 536pp. ee ee ee FIVE UNIFYING FACTORS IN AMERICAN EDUCATION. Pema Wearbouk, WG. BOR... s ke cdc ccccescac cer 2.00 THE SUPERINTENDENT SURVEYS SUPERVISION. Pienth Yearbook, W900. 4720p. ..