From *‘ Ali the Chiidren,”’ J 7 7 + Training in Habits of S&S apety becomes more and more necessary as the tempo of modern life increases You can give your puyails the best possible training through the new safety education series THE ROAD TO SAFETY Buckley—White—Ada ms—Silvernale ATTRACTIVE, appealing, delightfully illustrated books filled with stories of exceptionally high quality whose thrilling incidents impress their safety teaching on the pupil’s memory. The gruesome and tragic, however, have been omitted. The series is based on the extraordinarily successful safety program developed by the authors for the Cleveland public schools. covers the real life situations children meet daily. A Master Manual presents the facts and philosophy underlying a sound safety program; the activities suggested in the Workbooks center around various phases of safety. The series There are eight books for the first six grades. The titles are: AWAY WE GO, $0.20; HAPPY TIMES, $0.56; IN STORM AND SUNSHINE, $0.64; IN TOWN AND COUNTRY, $0.72; HERE AND THERE, $0.72; AROUND THE YEAR, $9.76; ON LAND AND WATER, $0.80; WHO TRAVELS THERE, $0.88. Send for Circular No. 3152 showing color illustrations and specimen pages AMERICAN BOOK COMPANY Cineinnati Chieago Atlanta Dallas Three reasons why you will find a happy teacher and happy pupils where you find THE UNIT—ACTIVITY READING PROGRAM by Nita Banton SMITH 1. Teachers are finding that they have fewer failures in reading. 2. The basic books are easy and are absorb- ingly interesting. 3. A wealth of easy related material makes it possible for every child to read at his level of achievement. SILVER New York BURDETT Boston COMPANY Chicago San Francisco San Francisco USEFUL ENGLISH- for First and Second Year High School by SHARP and COWAN Each, 128 pages List price 36c Both books are notable for the following excellent features: 7 The organization is by units, and accords with the best current practice. 2. Concise explanations of the principles involved together with examples illustrating usages add to the value of each lesson. 3, The rules and definitions are summarized in the back of the book and serve as a manual keyed for reference to the more complete treatment given with each lesson. 4, Optional exercises and activities provide for individ- ual differences. Each unit includes a diagnostic test and an achieve- ment test. The use of informational content in the exercises makes them intrinsically interesting and worth while. Eoth books are in strict harmony with the best courses of study and with the recent report of the National Council of Teachers of English. Every teacher of first and second year high school English can easily improve her teaching results by the use of these books. Write us for examination copies. WEBSTER PUBLISHING COMPANY 1808 Washington Ave. St. Louis, Mo. } Retwe BUBEN Presi gation, \sociatio ithe Sc: chool, PI athe pre nd in acl uation m qentativ Dr. Sh County, ¢ for thirtec | one-TOC wer fron vare, the keree fr ind his lennsylv: o Philad Dr. SI greatly it _ He espec * derness. For m:; a teach tional, A ton Asse fimpor' alaries, ervice, | ' Highsch ship in t las long Departny man of | ing Cha ubstant Congres ine unc ind the and ack 1 t The pay; end all ‘wt delegat ‘eelve TH ® active 1 | Slip, to re Addresses leges of 1 Members 4; | © applica ? 1 a8 wel “dueationa ine, July \cceptance section 1] VOLU etween Editor and Reader EUBEN T. SHAW, elected at New York to the A Presidency of the National Education As- giation, comes from Philadelphia, where the j sociation was organized in 1857. He is head ithe Science Department of Northeast High- dool, Philadelphia. He is especially interested athe program of teacher welfare, in federal aid, din achieving the 10 percent increase in Asso- ation membership—the goal voted by the Rep- wentative Assembly for 1938-39. Dr. Shaw was born on a farm in Delaware (unty, Ohio, October 8, 1884. His mother was orthirteen years a rural teacher and he attended :one-room red brick schoolhouse, graduating wet from the highschool in the town of Dela- we, the county seat. He achieved his B. S. kgree from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1905 nd his Ph.D. degree from the University of kansylvania in 1926. Since 1909 he has taught a Philadelphia highschools. Dr. Shaw is a man of powerful physique, geatly interested in sports and the out-of-doors. Heespecially enjoys exploring the mountain wil- " derness. For many years he has been actively interested teacher organization—local, state, and na- tonal. As a leader in the Pennsylvania Educa- ton Association he helped to secure the passage important legislation, bearing on qualifications, alaries, and retirement. In recognition of this ervice, his associates in the West Philadelphia ‘Highschool presented him with a Life Member- hip in the National Education Association. He tas long been active in the Association and in its Department of Classroom Teachers. As chair- nan of the Association’s Committee on Amend- ng Charter, 1934-37, he led in bringing about wbstantial changes in the Charter granted by Congress. He brings to his service as President a ine understanding of the Association’s mission ind the purpose to make 1938-39 a year of growth ind achievement. The Journal goes to all members of the National Education Association The Dayment of $2 active membership dues entitles a member to Mend all meetings of the Association and its departments, to vote ~ delegates to the Representative Assembly, to hold office, and to “tive THE JOURNAL. The payment of $5 instead of $2 entitles = active member, in addition to the privileges of the $2 member- laeee receive the Research Bulletins and the Annual Volume of | ese sses and Proceedings. The payment of $100 gives the priv- | me 8 of the $5 active membership for life. Subscription to non- vembers is $2 per year; single copies, 25 cents. Advertising rates application, Please report at once any change of address, giving Gane as new address). THE JOURNAL is a member of the lene oy Press Association of America. Published monthly, except the Weng and August, by the National Education Association of De ted States, 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, Pete red as second-class matter October 23, 1920, at the seeepten at Washington, D. C., under the act of August 24, 1912 section Ayal mailing at special rate of postage provided for in 3, act of October 3, 1917, authorized January 26, 1921 VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 “Tournal ofthe NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES JOY ELMER MORGAN, Editor H. A. ALLAN, Business Manager VOLUME 27 NUMBER 6 CONTENTS FOR SEPTEMBER 1938 The New York Convention . . . EDITORIAL 161 Federal Aid to the Fore Hod DUES SU Sea eta See Cee ee President Roosevelt Supports Federal Aid FRANKLIN D, ROOSEVELT 163 Into One Great Educational Brotherhood CAROLINE S, WOODRUFF = 165 Progress—Man’s Distinctive Mark Alone MARY E, WOOLLEY 169 Literature and Life PEARL BUCK I7I Fundamentals of Education HERBERT H. LEHMAN 177 Educational Opportunity FIORELLO H. LA GUARDIA 177 America’s Largest City School System HAROLD G. CAMPBELL 178 Committee Reports in a Nutshell . . . 2... 1. 1 1 1 eee IQ Resolutions Adopted at New York City . . . ...... . . 180 Let Us Continue To Go Forward REUBEN T. SHAW & WILLARD E.GIVENS 181 The Complete Enlistment of the Profession . . . . T.D. MARTIN. 182 Membership in Education Associations—1938 . . . . . . . . « 183 Officers for 1938-39, National Education Association . . . . . . 184 Feo Leading Gheakers 6 2. *. Sy “Sas For the Beginning Teacher . ...... MILDRED SANDISON 1560 Making a Picture Album Education for Tomorrow’s America LYLE W. ASHBY 185 The Meaning of Individual Guidance . . « HERBERT R. STOLZ 189 Elememtary-Scmpol Savice 2s 2 wt 6 te St OU OO Highschool Service . .... . ~ » Ge So ewe © eee, We, Oe Ool Notes and Announcements. . .. . . 192 The articles herein printed are the expressions; of the writers and not a statement of policy of the Association unless set by resolution Published by the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION of the UNITED STATES 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. REUBEN T. SHAW, President WILLARD E. GIVENS, Executive Secretar J. W. CRABTREE, Secretary-emeritus Directors of Divisions Accounts & Records Mary J. Winfree Business. . H. A. Allan Classroom Service Publications Research Joy Elmer Morgan William G. Carr Frank W. Hubbard Howard A. Dawson Harriett M. Chase Associate Director Rural Service Secretary’s Office Agnes Winn Field Service Charl Ormond Williams Membership T. D. Martin Secretaries of Departments Located at NEA Headquarters Deans of Women Kathryn G. Heath School Administrators S. D. Shankland Elem. School Principals Eva G. Pinkston Supvrs. & Dirs. of Instr. Mary F. Hazell Health, Physical Education, and Recreation N. P. Neilson Secondary School Principals Director, Discussion Group Project Walter E. Myer | A-113 AMERICANA SECOND CENTURY EDITION THE GREAT AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA 30 Volumes 24,000 Pages 10,000 Illustrations 100 Maps @ AUTHENTIC... For over 100 years the name @COMPREHENSIVE... While written from they ‘Americana Encyclopedia” has been synonymous with American viewpoint the ‘Americana’ is international dependable, authoritative, reference material. More in scope. Its 88,000 articles cover practically all? than 3000 contributors have given their best efforts in phases of knowledge and are presented with faithfule? ness and scholarly impartiality. i @ ECONOMICAL .. . At the present time the Ameri- 9 cana Corporation is offering a substantial discount toy schools and libraries. This reduced price policy has™ made it possible for many librarians to replace worn.) out or antiquated reference sets at a minimum cost. aa Americana Annual which is published in May of each |nformation regarding prices and terms will be sent on & year. request. building this monument to American scholarship. @ UP-TO-DATE . . . The editorial staff of the “Ameri- cana’ is striving constantly to keep pace with a swiftly changing world. The encyclopedia is kept up-to-date by means of constant revision of the text, and by the The AMERICANA ENCYCLOPEDIA is recommended by Subscription Books Bulletin of the American Library® Association, State Departments of Education, and is used and enthusiastically endorsed by schools and libraries throughout the nation. AMERICANA CORPORATION GAYLORD clenl frLeuina (tts & You don’t have to listen to the constant jangle of those old, hard-wheeled casters on your book trucks. Throw them away! Equip your trucks with the quiet smoothly-rolling Gaylord Pneumatic-Tired casters that move without a trace of noise. They‘re built like a modern automobile ‘‘bal- loon’’ tire—and can be inflated by any tire pump. These casters have ball bearing and ball swivel action, and are available in both fixed and swivel models. The tires are 5'4% inches in diameter and have 1 34 inch treads. Order a set of Gaylord Pneumatic-Tired Casters today at these special reduced prices. Easily attached to any GAYLO RD BROS int. wooden book truck. “7 THESE PRICES ARE FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY Estallished 1896 Set No. 1—2 Fixed and 2 Swivel Casters......000022. ooo eee $15.50 per set Set Me. 2—4 Swivel Costers...........-...-..-. nen nencecenceeoeeee $17.50 perset STOCKTON, CALIF. SYRACUSE, N. | ORIGINATORS AND MAKERS OF BETTER LIBRARY FURNITURE AND SUPPLI s | A-114 | THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOC > i h/ 4 : | | | ei j wv . Mig Sarr ee [*? ff my ‘ 4 : / y ; ¥ ? i ‘ , ae 5 a , = : ‘ oF j s on f De Meds a y: Je ~ hae Jf $y ke b VY th nags € Dy dee F .. . 5 t . ms : ; . 4 * r fez oe f “ d ‘ = * “see - : : \ - % 5 vi OR ban D ss; i sad iS eee Re ee Z : , ; z we : i ee CN . : ‘ ~ 7 if é | | | | 4 oc ) a ore ‘ . ; : } | | | | | | , é : 2 ‘ ‘ \ % . : : “ 5 " . | | | , \ { ; s : : : bs we ty & S | | : | “AS 4 . ie * : me | ; ; | | : c ; | | | ' we , : » =] : , * ; | Y x . | -~ = : : : s o apne << oe a. school officials know that student health as well as academic progress is their respon- sibility. How many of your pupils are sitting in seats of im- proper design? How many are acquiring schoolroom slouch —a habit due largely to improper seating and one which has a bad effect on both health and mental alertness? The American Seating Company provides at reasonable cost seats and desks built to make correct sitting comfort- able and habitual—seating that guards health and mini- mizes eye strain. With our cooperation any school can begin a reseating program even on a very limited budget. You will be gratified to know how economically and conveniently American this can be accomplished. Write for complete information. : Cee e may , e GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN America’s pioneers in comfortable public seating * Manufacturers of School, Theatre, Church, Auditorium, Stadium and Transportation seating » Branch Offices and Distributors in Principal Cities VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 THE me THE PROMISE OF TOMORROW | The Promise of Tomorrow by Walter £. Myer and Clay Coss | This book offers counsel to young people who will soon set out to make careers for themselves in an unstable and rapidly changing world. It is a text for classes in orientation, in guidance, in voca- tional civics. But it is more than a text. One who reads it has the impression of finding an experienced counselor sitting down with a young friend and talking about the sort of personality and char- acter which is essential to success and happiness; about the way to keep growing intellectually and culturally; about vocations which offer the best opportunities; about the hazards of national instability and unemployment and about the kind of citizenship which is neces- sary in order to maintain and increase opportunity in the land. WALTER E MYER CLAY coss civic enucaATion SERVICE Walter E. Myer is Director of the Civic Edu- of the Discussion the Department of Secondary eation Service, and Director Group Project of tional guidance literature. ducation. of five or more. School Principals of the National Education Asso- ciation. The chapters on occupations are distinct contributions to voca- The plan of this book conforms to the rogram advocated in the Report of the Advisory Committee on THE Promise or Tomorrow should be in the hands of every teacher, parent, counselor, and student. Price, $2.50 for single copy; $2.00 each, if ordered in quantities CIVIC EDUCATION SERVICE Clay Coss is Associate Editor of the Civic Edu- cation Service weekly publications: The American Observer, The Weekly News Review, The Junior Review, and The Civic Leader. 744 Jackson Place N. W. [Cont. from page 192] Peabody Institute of Professional Relations yy A MOST INTERESTING report covering this Institute will appear in THE JouRNAL for October. Persons interested in the Pro- ceedings of the Institute will find them in the September Peabody Journal of Edu- cation, for which send 40¢ in stamps to Dr. S. L. Smith, Peabody College, Nash- ville, Tenn. Executive Secretary Honored by His Alma Mater vy AT THE ANNUAL commencement of In- diana University on June 13, 1938, Wil- lard E. Givens received the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. In conferring this degree, President Wells said: The success of the University can be measured only by the success of its graduates. We glory in all of their achievements, but we take a special pride when one of our own rises to unusual heights in the educational world. Mr. Givens, you first dealt with the problems of the teacher in a one-room rural in this state. You were successful in that work, and, as a consequence, in school rapid succession came teaching experience in ele- mentary and highschools of urban centers, and in colleges and universities. You have occupied administrative positions of great importance not only in the school systems on the mainland, but also in the Territory of Hawaii. Now you hold a position of unparalleled prominence and power in the educational world as executive director of the nation’s most powerful organization of teachers. | A-116 | Publishers Washington, D. C. In a period in which educational leaders are striving to shake off outworn traditional forms of our school system and reshape it realistically in terms of present economic and social conditions, it is reassuring to know that a person with your breadth of training occupies such a strategic posi- tion. Willard Earl Givens, in recognition of your outstanding accomplishments and of the promise of your work for the future, your Alma Mater giadly confers upon you the degree Doctor of Laws, with all the rights and privileges thereto appertaining. Literature and Life yy Tuts appress by Pearl Buck (see page 171) was one of the most popular features of the New York convention. Born in West Virginia, Pearl Buck was taken to China by her missionary parents. She spent many years as a teacher there before returning to the United States. She is the author of the Pulitzer prize novel, “The Good Earth,” published in ‘1931. Rio de Janeiro To Be Host to WFEA in 1939 yy Paut Monrog, president of the World Federation of Education Associations, an- nounces that the 8th Biennial Conference of the WFEA will be held at Rio de Janeiro in August 1939. Scholarly lectures and stimulating discussions will be inter- spersed by programs of colorful entertain- ment typical of the rich cultural Portu- guese inheritance of the people of Brazil. It is the desire of the World Federation to encourage a mutual understanding and good fellowship between educators of South America and those of North Amer ica. Teachers in all parts of the United States and Canada will welcome an op- portunity to travel in South America dur- ing the summer months under the excel- lent auspices provided for the WFEA con- ference. Literature and full information regarding travel plans will be available thru the WFEA Travel Bureau, 1201 16th St., N. W., Washington, D. C. Write at once to World Federation headquarters so that adequate transportation arrangements may be made. Educational Policies Commission y& Mempsers of the Commission and con- sultants met with officers of the NEA Department of Classroom Teachers and affliated groups June 26 at the New York convention to discuss possible means of cooperation. The 350 persons in at tendance heard addresses by Mary D Barnes and Emily A. Tarbell for the De partment and John K. Norton and A. J. Stoddard for the Commission. Textbook Clinic y Unper THE auspices of the American Institute of Graphic Arts, a Textbook Clinic has been |Cont. on page A-113} THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION s VS ,. = &. Fe ation rand | s of mer nited 1 Op- dur- >xcel- con- ation ‘lable 16th ite at TS SO nents rican book | 118 | TION TWO NEW SERIES OF STECK WORKBOOKS valuable teaching aids. And like all Steck Workbooks they make teaching more interesting and education a fasci- nating pastime. ELEMENTARY MUSIC (Grades 3 to 5 inclusive) These are the finest and most thorough Music Workbooks available. standing music supervisor and public school music authority. Here are complete instructional aids for a full year’s course in music instruction and appreciation. Games and written work provide drills. Crea- tive efforts are encouraged. Tests and reviews are included. All material is pre-tested. These work- books follow recently adopted courses of study and are to accompany any text. Prices per Workbook: Third Grade—25¢ Retail; 20¢ Wholesale. Fourth and Fifth Grades—30¢ Retail; 24¢ Wholesale. ELEMENTARY SCIENCE (Grades 5 and 6) These new workbooks in Elementary Science have been created to provide text material with illustrations, exercises, activities and tests for a complete and integrated program of science. Each workbook supplies full material for an entire year’s course. There is a Handbook for teachers with practical suggestions and exhaustive material. The Teacher's Manual, also available, is a complete instruction book to accompany the ——-. for each grade. Prices per Workbook: Fifth and Sixth Grades—35¢ Retail; 28¢ Whole- "| Now Ready Designed to fill a long felt need in an educational field where teachers have been handicapped by a lack of adequate material, these new workbooks are in- = “4 STEOWORE BOR RIES ye MUSIC The author is recognized as an out- Write today for your FREE copy of the interesting Steck School Workbook Catalog. “Fit to Teach Ninth Yearbook (1938) sale. Science Handbook, 50¢ each net. Ju. STECK COu sige Department of Classroom Teachers By 13 S| iS : 276 pages $1.00 per copy | S Paul W. Chapman BN S| fire teachers healthy? y 5 | w How is the teacher’s health affected by the school ig environment and by factors outside of the school? S ;' i= WORKBOOK What is the responsibility of the community in iS . i™ promoting teacher health? also What can teachers’ professional organizations do available to promote the health of their members? These and many other pertinent questions on the health of the teacher are discussed in this new volume. ORDER YOUR COPY NOW. Funds should accompany orders for single copies. Discount on quantity orders. For samples and information, write TURNER E. SMITH & CO. 441 West Peachtree St. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 SIXTEENTH ST., N. W. WASHINGTON, D. C. Atlanta, Ga. 2. ” VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 [ A-117 | “It's the BEST handy- sized dictionary!” “because it defines for 7 me all the most _/ commonly used words in speaking, reading and writing.” TUDENTS agree with teachers, secre- taries, editors, that Webster's Colle- fork is the best desk-size dictionary, peas s from the “Supreme Authority” S NEW INTERNATIONAL DIC- TIONARY, rr, Becend Edition. 110,000 Entries. of Illustrations; 1,300 Pages. $3.50 to ding on bindings. Purchase kdealer or direct from pub- lishers, Write for FREE Quiz and Picture Game. G. & C. Merriam Co., 139 Broad- way, Springfield, The New WEBSTER’S COLLEGIATE -oiicn Bestereopticon $23.00 Write For Trial Offer BEST SALES SERVICE 217 Film Building Cleveland, Ohio BOOK MANUSCRIPTS Wanted — All subjects, for imme- diate publication. Booklet sent free. Meador Publishing Co. 324 Newsury Sr., Boston, Mass. NEW TRENDS— in occupations as reported in technical literature are easily found through the Occupational Index. Write for free sample. OCCUPATIONAL INDEX, Inc. 551 Fifth Avenue New York ete education for teaching og 7 lementary grades, kinder- 5b md garten and nursery school. Chil- dren’s demonstration school and observation center. Special summer classes. Beautiful resident hall. Located Chicago’s lovely North Shorenearlake.Culturaledu- | us vocational training. B.E. degree conferred ‘ yr? , also 3-year diploma and 2-year certificate. Vrite for list of successful alurnnae. National College of Education EDNA DEAN BAKER, PRES. son 816-L EVANSTON, ILL. cation | A-r18 | [Cont. from page A-116] formed with the purpose of promoting greater interest in improved textbook design and of providing a common meeting-ground for people in- terested in the writing, publishing, illus- trating, designing, manufacturing, and use of textbooks. For information, write to Blanche Decker, executive secretary of the Institute, 115 East 40th St., New York, N. Y. Pedagogy thru Pictures vx THE PRESENTATION on page 187 of a teaching unit by means of a series of pic- tures with explanatory legends is made possible thru the cooperation of the Santa Barbara, California, public schools: Curtis E. Warren, superintendent; Lillian A. Lamoreaux, director of instruction; Clara F. Peterson, art supervisor; and Francis W. Noel, director of visual education. Other schools are invited to send to THE Journat similar sets of teaching units told thru photos. Dr. Stoddard to Philadelphia vx A. J. Sropparp, superintendent of the Denver, Colo., schools has accepted the superintendency of the Philadelphia public schools, to take office in the fall of 1939. Dr. Stoddard was formerly superintendent at Providence, R. I. A former president of the American Association of School Administrators, Dr. Stoddard is chair- man of the Educational Policies Commis- sion. Empire State at Top sx New york State won double honors in 1937-38. She had the largest total NEA membership of any state in the Union, 23,616. She also made the largest per- centage of increase, 107 percent more than in 1936-37. Cleveland Convention, AASA s& THE sIXTY-NINTH annual convention of the American Association of School Ad- ministrators, a Department of the NEA, will be held in Cleveland, Ohio, February 25-March 2, 1939. All the large downtown hotels were reserved to capacity before the end of July. As usual, single rooms are exhausted. The chairman of the Hous- ing Bureau is Mark Egan, 1604 Terminal Tower, Cleveland. Pension Facts for Teachers yy TEACHERS INTERESTED in learning im- portant facts about sound actuarial retire- ment laws will find answers to numerous questions in Pension Facts for Teachers [American Book Co., 1938]. The author, Ida E. Housman, is president of the Coun- cil of Teachers’ Organizations of New Jersey. THE JOURNAL OF The NEA on the Air sv Four times each week thruout the 1938-39 school year, programs sponsored by the National Education Association will be broadcast on the nationwide radio chains of the Columbia Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The series will begin on each network during October after the change to Standard Time from Daylight Saving Time. Columbia Broadcasting System The broadcasts on CBS will be for re- ception in the nation’s classrooms, espe- cially adapted to social science, literature, and music classes. Printed helps for the teacher in connection with these programs may be obtained free in advance. Write to the National Education Association, Washington, D. C. Tuesday—“THIS LIVING WORLD.” Suit- able for upper elementary grades, junior and senior highschools. This program is a continuation of “EXITS AND ENTRANCES,” broadcast in the school year of 1937-38. Programs will be one-half hour in length, dramatic in character, originating in the United States and foreign countries, and will present H. V. Kaltenborn, dean of radio commentators, in an interpretation of the events dramatized. Friday—“SONGS AND STORIES FROM FAR AND NEAR.” Especially adapted to ele- mentary grades; will include music, litera- ture, and dramatic stories of the peoples of the world; to originate in the United States and foreign countries. National Broadcasting Company Wednesday—A continuation of the series known as “OUR AMERICAN SCHOOLS” will be broadcast each Wednesday even- ing to interpret the needs, aims, and achievements of the American schools and the current problems of teachers and the profession. This program is especially adapted to the general public. Saturday—The Saturday morning pro- gram on the National Broadcasting Com- pany will be broadcast as “FLORENCE HALE’S RADIO COLUMN,” and will con- tinue as it has for a number of years to discuss intimately with parents and teach- ers the educational problems of youth. Past-president Florence Hale will be in charge of the series. Especially adapted to the home. Announcements of the NBC programs for distribution to the public may be ob- tained free in quantities, upon request to the National Education Association, Wash- ington, D. C. All four of the [Cont. on page A-120]| THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Tk 16m Thi mm one sig! por the in | exc are Ho RE Bé the ins ind “he ing ard the ms rite on, lit- ior the YM. ele- Ta- of ites ries ” en- ind ind the lly rO- ym- i CE ms ob- to ish- 20 | ON Projector Speaker and Only 32 Ibs. Amplifier 28 Ibs. 15x9x 13% 184/2x9x13% THE NEW HOLMES 16mm all sprocket Projector This newly designed 16- mm projector is the only one that has been de- signed to make it truly portable and practical for the many uses required in schools and colleges. Holmes Always A Step Ahead These features (many exclusively Holmes) are the reasons why PORTABLE TWO UNITS TO CARRY Weight 60 Ibs. THREE UNITS TO USE (Interchangeable) Holmes Projectors are favored by the world’s most noted lecturers and motion picture enthusiasts. REAR PICTURE SHUTTER Has been on Holmes Projectors since 1922. BALL BEARINGS—For long life and smooth running. ADJUSTABLE APERTURE GATE—Absolutely essential for perfect projection. DECIMITTENT SPROCKET MOVEMENT—No claw. The electric turntable can be used to advantage for dancing and _ teaching music appreciation. ALL SPROCKET—Insures maxi- mum film life. NEW TANGENTIAL SOUND APERTURE—Latest develop- ment in sound reproduction. DIRECT BEAM OF LIGHT ON SOUND TRACK AND PHOTO CELL—No prism or reflected light. HOLD BACK SPROCKET—Ab- solutely essential for perfect sound. FILTERED SOUND SPROCKET —Same as used in theatre ma- chines. GOVERNOR TYPE MOTOR—- Silent and sound speeds. THREADING—Simplicity itself. HIGH FIDELITY SOUND LENS. EXCITER UNIT—Instantly re- movable for lamp change. LAMPHOUSE—Adaptable to 500, | 700 or 1000 watt lamps. DYNAMIC SPEAKER. AMPLIFIER REELS—400 to 1600 feet. NEW LOW PRICE Larger production and simplified mechanism make possible a lower | price on Holmes quality equip- ment. Write for full information. HOLMES PROJECTOR CoO. 18185 ORCHARD ST., i “ HOLMES QUALITY COSTS NO MORE | CHICAGC VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 10 Watts output. LET FATHER HUBBARD TAKE YOUR CLASSES WHERE THE SALMON &&Ve . .". >. % : Father Bernard Hubbard, S. J., well known as the Glacier priest, made for us this gorgeous motion picture, “ALASKA'S SILVER MILLIONS” Here’s a film admirably correlated to conform with classroom work in history, geography and social science. From start to finish it’s a fascinating picture...telling the epic story of salmon... portraying the scenic grandeur of our little- known possession. Pick your date...and tell us when. We will loan you a reel with or without sound... at no cost to you except return postage. AMERICAN CAN COMPANY @ WE MANUFACTURE CANS . . . WE DO NO CANNING HOME ECONOMICS DEPARTMENT JN-9, AMERICAN CAN COMPANY 230 PARK AVENUE, NEW YORK, N. Y. Please send me, free of charge, your motion picture film ‘‘Alaska’s Silver Millions’’. ee | Date film will be returned--...--------.---- No. of projectors in School. ..--....-.-.--------- Send film checked © 35 m.m. Silent © 16 m.m. Silent ®©35 m.m.Sound © 16 m.m. Sound Pe en Teachers’ Guides. I promise to return the film to you on the date specified above and will prepay the return postage. Name of school Address of school Yrimulate | N T — a E ST | |Cont. from page A-118] radio programs sponsored each week by the Association, as Teachers throughout the country are telling us these Geography ‘Text-Workbooks “do this and more” for | it enters its eighth year in nationwide their classes. | P = Z They offer opportunity for self expression. Chal- } broadcasting, will be found helpful as sup- lenge initiative. Stimulate systematic study and " research. plements to local programs of educational HOME JOURNEYS & : en sc 2cncian 56¢ interpretation. These broadcasts are an Study of home _ environment. . ° e . . ’ Every day life interpreted on important feature of the Association’s geographical relationship. ° . . . . WORLD JOURNEYS work in keeping the public interested in ee, cae cla Ee 56¢ c A study of the home life and the problems of the teacher and the school. activity of people the world over WESTERN CONTINENTS _ Continuous Service with tests ..... -. - 6¢ Relates and compares huma yy THE FALL ISSUES OF THE JOURNAL are sent to former members of the Associa- activities of continents as a whole EASTERN eiptehnanenaedl with tests .... Studies of ‘regions. resources tion the first of each month, pending re- and home life of this group. . - . . JR. HIGH SCHOOL ceipt of dues. This policy has been adopted | ea 72¢ | in order that former members may re- Comprehensive treatment of | : world geography. | ceive each issue of THE JourNAL without Get the full set of these prac- ° ° interruption. tieal helps now. OUTLINE MAPS Correlate with Geography series. Over 500—write for catalog. McKNIGHT & McKNIGHT Bloomington, Illinois | PRIMARY | TO | COLLEGE Association Platform yx AT THE NEW YORK CONVENTION the platform, which appeared in THE JouRNAL for September 1936, was readopted as there published except for minor changes, chief of which was a plank urging that “the Constitution of the United States _ should be amended to provide for the | prohibition of child labor.” Selected subjects of unique material in 16mm. Sound and Silent Films for Audio Visual Instruction, suitable for all grades. Department of Art Education vy THe FoLLow1nc orFicers of the NEA Department of Art Education were elected at the New York convention: President, Clara MacGowan; vicepresident, Jane 3etsy Welling; secretary, Mrs. Annabel J. Nathans; treasurer, Dora Hatfield; direc tors: Grace Baker, Elizabeth W. Robert- son, William E. Warner, J. B. Smith, and Sally B. Tannahill. A Department com- mittee will be at work during the coming year on research for determining teacher qualifications in art. MEARE | onevets of Provogand vy “Wuar Is TRULY vicious,” observed The New York Times in an editorial, Septem- | ber 1, 1937, “is not propaganda but a monopoly of it.” This monopoly is seen most clearly in totalitarian states where all channels of communication are con- trolled by the government. The extent to which the propaganda machinery of a country has been brought under the con- trol of one organization or a group of | related organizations is a useful measure | of the degree to which absolutism domi- | nates it, of the extent to which democracy | has been eliminated—From Propaganda | | Send for catalog of over 1200 Entertain- ment and Educational Films for rental or sale—just off the press. WALTER 0. GUTLOHN, Inc. 35 West 45th St., Dept. A-9, New York @ Thousands of schools through- out the country are using HYGEIA, The Health Magazine of the American Medical Asso- ciation, to enliven and augment health teaching. Every issue sup- plies new, live material for out- side reading, oral topics, special reports, health projects, etc. School and Health Department by J. Mace Andress. 4 to 6 page modern picture section every month. Always authentic! SPECIAL. OF FER 6 months introductory sub- scription to HYGEIA (regular price $2.50 a ers and the new 48 page booklet, “Health Teaching Analysis for May 1938, issued by the In- stitute for Propaganda Analysis, Inc., 132 Ideas, “eer | Morningside Drive, New York, N. Y. for Pecorns ee ee et Early Birds AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSN. 535 N. Dearborn St., Chicago, Il. 1 enclose $1.00. Send HYGEIA for 6 months, and the new booklet, ‘‘Health Teaching tdeas.’’ yy Earty PAYMENT of dues increases the strength of the Association. It eliminates 0 eter | the expense of mailing notices regarding ee eee dues to members and makes it possible THE JOURNAL OF BALOPTICONS AB & L Balopticon will prove the most econom- ical as well as the most efficient means of teach- ing visually. There is a B & L Lantern Slide or Opaque Balopticon for every still projection purpose. Write for a catalog. Bausch & Lomb Optical Co., 684 St. Paul Street, Rochester, N. Y. 400 WATT Super Intensity $ SPOTLIGHT Color Wheels $1.75 up Write today for complete information and folders BEST SALES SERVICE 217 Film Building Cleveland, Ohio Oun A Happy Home in ORANGE COUNTY Live longer and better in beautiful Central Florida. You will find a friendly, happy people and many retired teachers your neighbors. You are in- vited to enjoy ~< this more abun- dant life with us. Fish, hunt, swim, rest or Have your own & flower and vege- 4: ‘y table gardens, orange and grapefruit trees. Everything your heart desires. Orange County Chamber of Commerce, Dept. JNE-9, Orlando, Florida Gentlemen: Pleas » send FREE Illustrated Booklet I celncins dei deahieihvensiciintti eps iin snes stasis tbiionletiil IN eiisiscckins Siiscleaspintessnscis esta tcindctninaialicd iniicicdiase til aetsodandiiatbamaeae City & State__ THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION lis] Wi for THE JouRNAL mailing list to be kept uptodate in the case of members who have moved to new addresses. When you for- ward dues, please indicate your old ad- dress as well as your new address if you have moved recently. Resolutions Committee tv J. O. Powers was chairman of the Re- solutions Committee which reported at the New York convention. W. F. Hall was vicechairman; Helen Bradley, secre- tary. The resolutions appear on page 180. New National Records yy Two NEA RECORDS were broken last year: The total membership, 195,605, was the largest in the history of the Associa- tion, 14,377 more than in 1936-37; and the 15,075 registrations at the New York City convention also set a new alltime high record. Former Superintendent at Cleveland Dies yw Rosinson Goprrey Jones, former super- Pp intendent of the Cleveland schools, who was president of the NEA Department of CE Superintendence, 1921-22, died August 19 hic at the age of sixty-six. New | APublications The Structure and Administration of Education in American Democracy, pub- lished June 1938 by the Educational Poli- cies Commission, outlines guiding policies with reference to the scope and structure of public education and administration at local, state, and federal government levels. The Commission sees the common-school system meeting the needs of youth from four to twenty years of age. The plan includes a program of general education extending from nursery school and kinder garten thru the tenth grade, and a varied program of secondary education including vocational and college preparation as well as terminal courses carrying the youth thru the junior college years. Federal financial assistance to the states for education, with- out federal control, is declared to be sound policy and necessary to the provision of equal educational opportunity. In a discussion of the relations of private edu- cational enterprises to the common-school system, the Commission reafirms the prin- ciple of complete secularization of tax- supported public education. Obtainable “To Promote the Cause of Education’. . . Bulletin 1938, Misc. No. 2 A pictorial presentation of the functions, activities and services of the Office of Education. A valuable working tool for educators. 80 pages, adequately illustrated. Price 20 cents. Send orders, with remittance, to Superintendent of Documents, United States Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C. Ask for Bulletin 1938, Misc. No. 2. UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR It’s the day the postman brings your T.C.U. check when you are disabled by sickness, accident or quarantine. Unexpected bills have piled up all around you. You hardly know which way to turn for help. But just when you are feeling the worst, a friendly Air Mail letter comes to you from the T.C.U. and with it the “Check that Cheers.” You had hardly missed the small amount you paid for T.C.U. protection while you were well, but now—what a glorious feeling comes over you as you hold in your hand the check that your own foresight has brought you. Yes—that’s one “Pay Day” you can’t afford to miss. Be Safe—Be T.C.U. Protected For the small cost of as little as a nickel a day, you can be assured of an income, when you are sick or quaran- tined or accidentally injured. Why take the risk of being compelled to use up your savings or to run into debt, when the T.C.U. stands ready to help bear that burden? Send the Coupon Today! Find out how you, too, may be sure of a “Pay Day” you can’t afford to miss. Send the coupon today! TEACHERS CASUALTY UNDERWRITERS 672 T.C.U. Bidg. Lincoln, Nebr. OFFICE OF EDUCATION to meet your need ALL CHECKS SENT BY FAST AIR MAIL A Member for 24 Years “Thanks so much for adjust- ment of my claim on account of injuries resulting from a fall on an icy sidewalk I have been a member of the T.C.U. for nearly 24 years In that time I have received every attention and always satisfactory adjustment when illness or accident occurred.’’ —Ethel G. Childs, Buffalo,N.Y. Paid in Full “While playing kittenball on playground duty, I fractured and dislocated the little finger of my right hand. The doc tor’s bill was twelve dollars and it would have had to be paid out of my last month's check. However, T.C.U. came flying to my rescue by air mail. They paid the bill in full, and now I have my last check complete to apply to ward my summer vacation __ Esther Ewald, Arcola, III. ALL THESE BENEFITS from the Commission, 1201 16th St., WILL BE YOURS FREE INFORMATION COUPON 000 to $3.00: accidental } f To the T.C.U., 672 T.C.U. Bidg., Lincoln, Nebr. T W W: shi D eC tie " $1,00 fo $3,000 for accidental loss o : . hep sie N. 9 as ington, . 4*9 at 50¢ per life; $333 to $3,000 for major acci- I am interested in knowing more about T.C.U. dents; $50 a month when totally dis- Protective Benefits Send me, without obligation, copy. abled by confining sickness or acci the whole story dental injuries (including automobile) ; > < ic $50 a month when quarantined and — ° U salary stopped. Additional Hospital Dh) ee ace r F yperati Benefits. Policies pay- Horace Mann at Antioch, by Joy Elmer ry laroer ‘benefits will be iecued. you Address Morgan—608 pages, clothbound, with 26 illustrations, most [Cont. on page A-123] if you so desire. All claim checks sent by fast air mail. ON VOLUME 27, NUMBER 63; SEPTEMBER 197% Ameriean Edueation | Week 1933 The material prepared by the National Educa- tion Association to assist you in planning your observance for 1938 is NEW IN CONTENT NEW IN FORMAT A new procedure plus a new goal has resulted in an un- questionably superior type of materials to assist you in con- ducting your American Education Week program in 1938. Each packet listed below contains six 5% x 8% inch loose- leaf folders of 16 pages each or a total of about one hundred pages of practical, usable material prepared by the field com- mittees as described on p. 188. The first folder in each packet consists of general administrative suggestions. Each of the remaining five are built around one of the daily topics for the five school days of American Education Week. The folders are attractively printed by the offset process with colored covers and well illustrated. Adaptations in the topics for the observance listed on page 188 have been made where necessary to better suit the ma- terial to the needs of the various school levels. LIST OF MATERIALS Combination Packeis Each of the four packets listed below contains posters, leaf- lets, and stickers plus six 54% x 8% inch folders of 16 pages each as described on page 188: The Kindergarten-Primary School Packet The Elementary School Packet The High School Packet The Rural School Packet A Teachers College Packet has also been prepared which carries a special 24-page folder and some of the folders from other packets for use in training schools of these institutions. Price of Packets: 50¢. No discounts for quantities. The six folders in each packet sell separately at 10¢ each and in addition each packet carries an average classroom supply of posters, leaflets, and stickers. Separate Items Poster—i1% x 17 inches in three colors. Price: 40¢ per package of ten. Sold only in packages of ten. Leaflet—“How Your School Helps Your Child.” Four pages, 3 x 5 inches, built around the report of the Educational Policies Commission, The Purposes of Education. Illustrations and text on the four major areas of objectives proposed. In two colors on white stock. Price: 35¢ per package of 100. Sold only in packages of 100. _ Leaflet—“The School and Democracy.” Four pages, 3x5 inches, black ink on white stock. Has been available in previ- ous years. Price: 25¢ per package of 100. Sold only in pack- ages of 100. Leaflet—“The American School.” Four pages, 3 x 5 inches, black ink on white stock. Has been available in previous a Price: 25¢ per package of 100. Sold only in packages of 100. Sticker—1% x 2 inches in three colors on white stock. Use on report cards, letters, menus, etc. Price: 25¢ per package of 100. Sold only in packages of 100. Discounts on more than one package of above separate items: 2-9 packages, 10% ; 10-99 packages, 25%; 100 or more pack- ages, 3344%. Send your order today to THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W. Washington, D. C. [| A-122 | NEWER PRACTISES IN READING IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL | 1938 Yearbook Department of Elementary School Principals 480 pages $2.00 per copy What It Contains—Reading is recognized as the keystone of the elementary school pro- gram; therefore this 1938 Yearbook presents | a distinctive and useful picture of the prob- | lems and effective practises of elementary schools in teaching children to read. More than fifty authors have contributed approxi- mately 500 pages of vital material. Discounts on quantities as follows: 2-9 copies, 10%; 10-99 copies, 25%; 100 or more, 33144 %. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1201 Sixteenth Street, N. W., Washington, D. C. Tim @—Hours spent on various operations are major factors in the cost of PRINTING. Through care- ful planning and advanced pro- duction methods we have reduced the time element to a minimum. Consult us—any size job interests the “Master Printer” JUDD & DETWEILER IN THE NATION’S CAPITAL THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION (Cont. from page A-121] of them full-page —is published on the eve of the year 1939 which marks the rooth anniversary of the first public normal school in America. The book tells the dramatic story of Horace Mann’s life and tragic death at Antioch College, and includes all of his important addresses as President, two of which have never before appeared in print. On Horace Mann’s contribution to higher education, the author writes: “It is usually said that the distinctive thing about the Antioch of Horace Mann’s time was its liberalism in opening its doors to all, regardless of race, sex, or creed, and in doing what not even Oberlin had yet done—placing women on its faculty on the same basis as men. “We believe that even more distinctive than this liberalism were other phases: First, the conception of higher education as being folk education, responsible di- rectly for meeting the needs of the people. Second, the experimental attitude toward higher education which had become so crystallized in set patterns that it needed then, as it does today, a willingness to ques- tion tradition and to try new things. Third, the supreme emphasis placed upon moral and religious feeling, exemplified in right conduct as the basis of higher education.” Order $2 postpaid from the Horace Mann Centennial Fund, NEA, 1201-16th St. N. W., Washington, D. C. » « The 17th Yearbook of the Department of Elementary School Principals, “Newer Practises in Reading in the Elementary School,” will be available September 15. Sent to Department members without charge, the Yearbook sells for $2 to non- members of the Department. The October National Elementary Prin- cipal will contain a report of the meetings of the Department of Elementary School Principals held in New York, June 26-30. » « Recent reports of the Committee on Tenure are: Court Decisions on Teacher Tenure, Reported in 1937 which points out, among other important facts, that in 1937 the proportion of decisions against teachers continued in about two cases out of every three. An Analysis of State Statutes for Six Professions, the purpose of which was to determine what restric- tions are put upon admissions to and ex- pulsions from certain professions as com- pared with teaching; the report is being issued as the Sept. 1938 Research Bulletin. Analysis of Schoolboard Rules is a study of printed schoolboard rules and regula- tions dealing with employment conditions _ of teachers. Status of Teacher Tenure is a "ION trevision of the Handbook on Teacher Tenure. Price, 25¢ each. The Research Bulletin for May 1938, “Why Schools Cost More,” shows clearly that the gross expenditure, over a period of years, for public education does not show the true trends in school costs. Ac- count must be taken of increases in pupil attendance, improvements in school serv- ices, and decreases in the purchasing power of the dollar. The real ability of school- boards to purchase facilities for the chil- dren in attendance has not increased as rapidly as the total expenditure would seem to indicate. The widespread under- standing of this fundamental fact is of supreme importance at the present time. The report develops an index of the school expenditure dollar, believed to be more satisfactory than indexes based upon gen- eral trends in costs of living. Price, 25¢. » « The National Association of Deans of Women, an NEA Department, published in June 1938 the first issue of its new quarterly Journal. This publication will take the place of the Yearbook, which has been a convention proceedings issued an- nually since 1923, and the informal Bual- letins. Under the new plan, more articles and studies of special interest to deans will be published. > « New mimeographed publications in- clude “Teacher Welfare Legislation, Jan. I, 1937, to May 1, 1938,” a 13-page sum- mary, single copies of which will be sup- plied on request; “Retirement Legislation, 1935-38, a 17-page summary of state legislation between Jan. 1, 1935, and June I, 1938, single copies supplied on request; and “Educational Interpretation,” a list of 190 references, price 10¢. » « The Review of Educational Research for April 1938, “Finance and Business Administration” represents the third cycle | of treatment of finance and _ business administration. $1 to nonmembers of the AERA. > « Status of the Married Woman Teacher is a report of the Committee.on Equal Opportunity which offers principle of merit in the employment, promotion, and retention of teachers. Another report of this committee is Varia- tions in Personnel Practices Affecting Teachers, which points out discrepancies in support to | school authorities and others who oppose | discrimination and are dedicated to the | personnel practices. Price of each, 15¢ per | single copy. Discounts for quantities on NEA publications are as follows: 2-9 copies, 10 percent; 10-99 copies, 25 percent; 100 or more, 33% percent. Send orders to the NEA, 1201 16th St., Washington, D. C. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 | | | } | | HE new Filmosound 138 contains many new refinements and advance- ments which make this compact, conve- nient projector more desirable for school use than ever before. Yet with no change in the recently reduced prices! A new, more powerful amplifier gives Filmo- sound 138 twice its for- mer sound volume. Now this projector can be used not only in classrooms, but in most auditoriums as well. New features provide additional film protection and simplify operation. ‘‘Flexo- matic’ sprocket guards prevent threading errors. Send the coupon. You'll learn that i every way Filmosound 138 best meets the requirements for theater-perfect projec- tion of your visual education films. Selected and Specially Edited Shorts and Features on 16 mm. Film from Big Hollywood Studios for Fall Semester Movies The Filmosound Library has obtained ex- clusively hundreds of recent features and shorts from Universal, R. K. O., M. G. M., Gaumont-British, Grand National, and other leading producers. Ali were care- fully selected and specially edited to in- sure their suitability for visual education and entertainment of school children of all ages. Send coupon for complete list. Bell & Howell Company, Chicago, New York, Hollywood, London. Established 1907. Send Coupon Now! \ BELL & HOWELL COMPANY JNEA 9-38 § y 1854 Larchmont Ave., Chicago, Illinois i i Please send (_) Filmosound 138 catalog; a a¢ Complete list recent Hollywood features § § and shorts. 1 : Bd dineigie aad is cwinvsnnd attendee : : SINE cciss ninsnosaalapipri ca hiadbaliatesiiecsleasaaatadiins . T ML A Ackatcenichseeetaxntuchentigetatinetd a a City State : BELL & HOWELL [ A-123 | THE TRUTH ABOUT JOHN JONES... Ditis JONES is one of millions of American wage-earners, salaried and professional workers whose annual income is more than $1,000. He occasionally purchases articles on the instalment plan. His critics would have you believe that he fosters heedless buying of luxuries, promotes extravagance, piles up debt and contributes to or prolongs a business depression. They believe that his instalment purchases are a huge proportion of all retail purchases, which is not at all true. I believe it is my duty as head of a national organization, with 4,500 employes, specializing in financing instalment sales, to tell you the truth about John Jones—sound in- stalment buyer—and to offset much misinformation which has been and is being spread about him. Depressions are not caused by people’s purchases. Purchase and consumption create more business, more jobs, more wealth, more pros- perity. Depressions are caused when people stop normal purchas- ing. To blame any depression on the instalment purchasers means that instalment buying must drop off in much greater proportion than cash or short term credit buying. *A symbolical name, not that of any person. by A. E. DUNCAN Chairman of the Board COMMERCIAL CREDIT COMPANY The facts shown by the recent report of the United States Bureau of Foreign and Domestic Commerce are that the estimated total instalment sales during 1937 were only 12.2% of total estimated retail sales, compared with 11.8% for 1936, 10.9% for 1935, and 13% for 1929; also, that the average amount of credit outstanding on retail instalment accounts during 1937 was about $2,900,000,000. Total retail sales during 1937 approximated $41,000,000,000, of which only 12.2%, or $5,000,000,000, were instalment sales and 87.8%, or $36,000,000,000, were for cash or on open credit. A 40% drop in all retail sales, during a depression, based on 1937 figures, means a drop of 4.88%, or $2,000,000,000, on allinstalment sales; but it would also mean a drop of 35.12%, or $14,400,000,000, in re- tail sales made for cash or on open credit. It must be obvious, then, that the drop in volume of sales for cash or open credit, and not the drop in instalment sales, causes and prolongs a business depression. A total retail instalment debt of $2,900,- 000,000, which is reduced during a depression, need not cause concern. Systematic saving is one of the basic principles of accumulating wealth. Sound instalment buying encourages the budgeting of fam- ily income and systematic saving for investment in durable family possessions. It produces mass buying power and makes mass production possible, which results in much lower prices on articles generally sold on the instalment plan. It has helped build great in- dustries—the automobile, refriger- ator and radio industries. It keeps factories busy and labor employed. It has raised America’s living standard far above that of any other nation. It has made yester- day’s luxuries today’s necessities. Upon the above facts, I believe that all reasonable persons will find that John Jones—sound instal- ment buyer—is not a menace. He is a worthy and valuable contributor to the prosperity of American business and to the happiness of American life. KEeceany COMMERCIAL CREDIT COMPANY BALTIMORE Credit Bankers to America’s Families Capital and Surplus over $64,000,000 Wholesale, Retail Instalment and Open Account Financing, Factoring and Credit Insurance through subsidiaries SERVING MANUFACTURERS, DISTRIBUTORS AND DEALERS THROUGH MORE THAN 200 OFFICES IN THE U. $8. AND CANADA [ A-124 ] THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ath, ie ournal VOLUME 27 of the NATIONAL * EDUCATION * ASSOCIATION OF * THE * UNITED * STATES—SEPTEMBER 1938 NUMBER 6 SSCSASSSSASSSSSSASSSSSASSS TSS SHSAS TESTS SSRSSSSRSSSESSSSSSSSAKSAASRSSESSSSS SE SESSS ARASH SESE SSSSST ESSE SSSS SSS SS SHEESH SHEARS ESSER Ree ees eEES | The New York Convention SING THE THEME, “The Responsibility of Edu- cation in Promoting World Citizenship,” President Caroline S. Woodruff presented at the New York convention one of the most distin- guished and helpful programs in the Association’s history. It was distinguished: For the sustained emphasis given to problems of world understanding at a time of increasing and imperative need for cooperation among all nations. | For President Roosevelt’s address with its encourag- ing statements on federal aid for general education and on freedom to learn. For the grace, dignity, and force of President Wood- tuffs presiding and the farreaching vision of her oficial address, which appears in full in this issue. For the number and importance of leaders in public life who took part—President Franklin D. Roosevelt, French Ambassador De Saint-Quentin, Colombian Minister Pumarejo, United States Senator Elbert D. Thomas, Congressman Noah Mason, Governor | Herbert H. Lehman, Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia. For the hospitality and cooperation of the educa- tional and civic authorities of New York City and State. For the excellence of the printed committee reports submitted to the Representative Assembly. For “Skylines, a Pageant of Education thru the Ages”—a brilliant and inspiring presentation of man’s struggle upward, of which three performances were ably given in the Brooklyn Technical High- school Auditorium. For a most inspiring Life Membership dinner pro- gfam. For the excellence and variety of music furnished by the city’s schools under the leadership of George _ H.Gartlan, director, and his associates. For attention given to the problems confronting youth during this period of farreaching transition. For the spectacular demonstration of their efficient Work by the Police and Fire Departments of New je OLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 York City in the final program at Madison Square Garden. For the variety and strength of the programs of NEA departments and allied groups. For a registered attendance of 15,075, with an all- time high of 1672 delegates to the Representative Assembly. For the comprehensive and instructive exhibit of the work of all the children in all the New York schools, which attracted great crowds to its four acres of floor space. For the NEA Exhibit, which was attractively set up and well attended in the air-conditioned rooms of the Pennsylvania Hotel. For the contribution made by Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt in presiding over the great meeting at the World’s Fair Grounds. She was presented and graciously accepted Life Membership in the Na- tional Education Association. For the widening interest in radio, both for conven- tion publicity and as an instrument of instruction. For the comprehensiveness of newspaper and radio coverage of the convention. For the fine condition of the Association’s finances as reported by Treasurer Offenhauer and Chairman Saunders of the Board of Trustees. For the farreaching services performed by the Asso- ciation for its members as recorded in the annual report of Secretary Givens, which indicated the largest membership in the history of the Association, a total of 195,605. A FULL REPORT of the convention including addresses, committee reports, and minutes of the Representa- tive Assembly may be had early in October in the 1000-page volume of Proceedings, which is available without cost to Life Members and $5 members and to others at $3 per copy. Certain addresses and reports will appear in later issues of THE JouRNAL. Joy Elmer Morgan | 161 | EDERAL HID to the fore HE MAJOR IssuE before the New [York convention was the impera- tive need for immediate legisla- tion providing for federal aid to equal- ize educational opportunity. Especially significant is the clear encouragement given by President Roosevelt in his address (see next page) looking toward such aid. Distinguished speakers who addressed the convention on this important topic included representatives of both houses of Congress—Senator Elbert D. Thomas of Utah, chairman of the Senate Com- mittee on Education and Labor and co- author of the Harrison-Thomas-Fletcher Bill, and Congressman Noah Mason of Illinois, a former president of the Illinois Education Association. “It is in keeping with the necessities of the time that we turn to federal aid for education,” declared Senator Thomas before the first general evening session. Answering critics who assert that federal aid is contrary to our states’ rights theory, that it means federal con- trol, or is unconstitutional, the Senator traced the “evolving theory of coopera- tion between state and nation” and pointed out that the federal aid of the past has in no sense harmed the local control or marred our Constitutional spirit. He continued: “Tt is in keeping with the growth and development and the meaning of Ameri- can citizenship and the relation of that citizenship to the theory that education is basic in American democracy that we ex- tend now the cooperative spirit and justify federal aid on the score that all persons born in the United States shall have an equal opportunity in the attainment of the fundamentals of education. “American democracy, resting upon the theory of a trained citizenry, a citizenry growing into more complex activities as time goes on, conscious of the worth of that American democracy both to himself and to the world, marches on with the growth and development of our Constitu- tion. Thus, federal aid, viewed as a co- operative activity, cooperative on the part of the state and the nation; cooperative on the part of the state, the nation, and the citizen; cooperative in the development of | 162 | our constitutional scheme in harmony with Marshall’s great notion that the Constitu- tion was set up to endure thru the ages, and in harmony, too, with our presentday enlightened concept of that Constitution as the instrument of the people in the ac- complishment of their objectives—I repeat, federal aid for education viewed in this sense finds its place and keeps its place in the development of American democracy. We may even go farther—it is a base upon which that democracy rests. Both reason and purpose underlie American democ- racy; both reason and purpose will pre- serve it, but it is only thru the medium of trained minds and trained persons that reason and purpose, and therefore democ- racy, can be maintained. Fellow teachers, that is your mission. That you may better fulfill your mission thru federal aid will be our task.” Congressman Mason presented before the tenth annual Life Membership din- ner the “viewpoint of a school teacher from Capitol Hill.” “Having been a school teacher for over thirty years, naturally I see everything thru a school teacher’s eyes. . . . When Con- gress appropriates one billion dollars each year as a defense fund against imaginary enemies from without, possible but not probable enemies, the school teacher part of me can’t help wondering how much better it would be if Congress would take one-tenth of that amount—the amount called for in the Harrison-Black-Fletcher Bill last year—and set it aside as a defense fund against real enemies within, such as ignorance, disease, crime, poverty, and the many isms that trouble us today.” The Congressman called the report of President Roosevelt’s Advisory Com- mittee on Education “one of the most comprehensive reports ever made in the field of education in the United States” and urged that teachers give united sup- port to the Harrison-Thomas-Fletcher Bill, which seeks to translate into law the recommendations of this commit- tee. He concluded his address with this challenge: “There is a real battle in the offing be- fore Uncle Sam can be persuaded to as- sume his fair share of the educational load. Therefore, the teachers of America should present a united front if they want to cop. vince doubting Congressmen on the ij that such legislation should be passed, What are you going to do about it?” | In the first of the eighteen resolutions adopted at the convention, the Associa.| tion again expressed itself in favor of federal aid for education: “The Na. tional Education Association recom.’ mends increased federal participation in the support of public education without federal control of educational policies” At the semi-annual meeting of con. sultants exofficio to the Educational | Policies Commission, held during the| New York convention, attention wa called to the Commission’s newest docu- ment, The Structure and Administration | of Education in American Democracy, prepared in collaboration with George| D. Strayer, which deals with the sub-| ject of federal relations to education, This document—the second in the Com- mission’s trilogy on education in Amer. ican democracy—may be secured from the Commission, 1201 16th St., N. W, Washington, D. C., for 50¢ per copy with discounts on quantity orders. | “Report of Advisory Committee on Education and Impending Legislation’ was the subject of a round table before | the second session of the National Coun- cil of Education, with George F. Zook, president of the American Council on Education, discussion leader. The Association’s Legislative Com-| mission, which during 1937-38 has been actively engaged in “sponsoring legisl-| tion to provide federal assistance to the| states in the financial support of public schools thru the Harrison-Thomas | Fletcher Bill,’ met during the conven-| tion to discuss plans for a steady cam- paign of information and organization to the end that federal action will be taken by Congress in 1939. In the re| port of this Commission, Chairman) Sidney B. Hall, state superintendent 0!) public instruction, Virginia, stated that “at the opening of the next session 0! the Congress the legislation will b brought forward again. . . . During the) next few months campaigns preceding) the general election in November wi! be under way. During that time a col centrated effort should be made in every | state and Congressional district to 0” tain pledges from candidates for the) Congress favorable to federal aid for public education.” THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION “Lal Wit to ar NE. Gro and Roo. ecut Stat duce in I pro} sinc the fort grat ing tim ove as ser ita a | go’ we to tie Ne W ar e on tion” efore | oun- look, il on Com- been gisla- | o the ublic | ymas- | nven- cam- ation II be ie re: | rman | nt of - that yn ol Il be ig the eding | - will | | | CON ever | 9 ob-| y the’ d for| {TIO “LaDIEs AND GENTLEMEN, the President of the United States!” With these words Mrs. Franklin Delano Roosevelt introduced to an audience of 20,000 educators the chief speaker before the NEA “International Program” at the New York World’s Fair Grounds on June 30. In appearing before the nation’s teachers and reaffirming his faith in American education, President Roosevelt was following a precedent set by.other Chief Ex- ecutives. “Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States!” —it was probably thus that James Buchanan was intro- duced to the convention which he received at the White House in 1859, the first President to recognize the organized teaching profession. Of the imposing body of Presidential statements since Buchanan’s day, none have shown a clearer recognition of the significance of education in a democracy and none have set forth more clearly the responsibility of the government for a pro- gram of action than the following words of President Roosevelt: r. Wooprurr, members of the National Education D Association : I am glad to come here today to this great meet- ing, and I am especially happy that, I think for the first time in my life, I was introduced by my wife. If you have followed the arguments of financial experts over the last few years, you have guessed that they have as many theories of keeping books as there are ends to serve. They do not always agree on the definition of cap- ital, and they even disagree on what is an asset and what is a liability. That is true both in private business and in government. But whatever differences bookkeepers and financiers may have over the rules of their professions, no man or woman of commonsense can forget, or allow government to forget, what are the true and ultimate assets and liabili- ties of a nation. The only real capital of a nation is its natural resources and its human beings. So long as we take care of and make the most of both of them, we shall survive as a strong nation, a successful nation, and a progressive nation— whether or not the bookkeepers say other kinds of budgets are from time to time out of balance. This capital structure—natural resources and human VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 International News Photo Supports Federal Aid beings—has to be maintained at all times. The plant has to be kept up and new capital put in year by year to meet increasing needs. If we skimp on that capital, if we exhaust our natural re- sources and weaken the capacity of our human beings, then we shall go the way of all weak nations. Before we can think straight as a nation we have to consider, in addition to the old kind, a new kind of govern- ment balance sheet—a long-range sheet which shows survival values for our population and for our democratic way of living, balanced against what we have paid for them. Judged by that test, which is history’s test, I venture to say that the long-range budget of the present Administration of our government has been in the black and not in the red. For many years I, like you, have been a pedagog—of course many people who are not strong on spelling will get that word mixed up with demagog—striving to incul- cate in the youth of America a greater knowledge of and interest in the problems which, with such force, strike the whole world in the face today. In these recent years we have taught the prudent hus- bandry of our national estate—our rivers, our soil, our forests, our phosphates, our oils, our minerals, and our wild life. Along these lines we have made mighty strides—come further than in all the years before in knowledge of how to grapple with the problems of maintaining the estate that our forefathers handed down to us. With the dissemination of this knowledge, we have taken action. Few men begrudge what that action has cost, because it has been based on operations physically large and spectacular, dramatic, easy to see. I am thankful that I live in an age of building, for it is far easier to dramatize to yourself the importance of the object if you see it while it is coming up, than if you come along later and see it only in its completed stage. And so we are fortunate today in seeing the New York World’s Fair of 1939 in the construction stage. This glimpse will make it mean more to us when we come back and see it completed next year. The other half of the preservation of our national cap- ital is likewise a problem of husbandry—the conserving of health, energy, skill, and morale of our population, and especially of that part of our population which will be the America of tomorrow. This also is a problem of the fullest use, the fullest de- velopment of precious resources of ability, human ability, which cannot be stored and will be lost if they remain un- used. No nation can meet this changing world unless its people, individually and collectively, grow in Ability to understand and handle the new knowledge as applied to increasingly intricate human relationships. And that is why the teachers of America are the ultimate [ 163 | guardians of the human capital of America, the assets which must be made to pay social dividends if democracy is to survive. We have believed, we have believed wholeheartedly, in investing the money of all the people on the education of the people. That conviction, backed by taxes and backed by dollars, is no accident, for it is the logical application of our faith in democracy. Man’s presentday control of the affairs of nature is the very direct result of investment in education. And the democratization of education has made it possible for out- standing ability, which would otherwise be completely lost, to make its outstanding contribution to the common weal. We cannot afford to overlook any source of human raw material. Genius—genius flowers in most unexpected places; “it is the impetus of the undistinguished host that hurls forth a Diomed or a Hector.” No government can create the human touch, the self- sacrifice which the individual teacher gives to the process of education. But what government can do is to provide financial support and to protect from interference the free- dom to learn. No one wants the federal government to subsidize edu- cation any more than is absolutely necessary. It has been, and, I take it, it will continue to be, the traditional policy of the United States to leave the actual management of schools and their curriculums to state and local control. But we know that in many places local government un- fortunately cannot adequately finance either the freedom or the facilities to learn. And there the federal government can properly supplement local resources. Here is where the whole problem of education ties in definitely with the natural resources of the country and the economic picture of the individual community or state. We all know that the best schools are, in most cases, located in those communities which can afford to spend the most money on them, the most money for adequate teachers’ salaries, for modern buildings, and for modern equipment of all kinds. We know, too, that the weakest educational link in the system lies in those communities which have the lowest taxable values, therefore, the smallest per capita tax receipts, and, therefore, the lowest teachers’ salaries and the most inadequate buildings and equipment. We do not blame these latter communities. They want better educational facilities, but simply have not enough money to pay the cost. There is probably a wider divergence today in the stand- ard of education between the richest communities and the poorest communities than there was 100 years ago; and it is, therefore, our immediate task to seek to close that gap— not to close it in any way by decreasing the facilities of the richer communities, but by extending aid to those less fortunate. We ail know that if we do not close this gap it will con- tinue to widen, for the best brains in the poorer communi- ties will either have no chance to develop or will migrate to those places where their ability will stand a better chance. To continue that parallel between natural and human resources, it is well to remember that our poorest com- munities exist where the land is most greatly eroded, where [ 164 | THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION where flood and drought have done their work, where transportation facilities are of the poorest, and where cheap electricity is unavailable for the home. All of this leads me to ask you not to demand that the federal government provide financial assistance to all com- munities. Our aid for many reasons, financial and other. wise, must be confined to lifting the level at the bottom rather than to giving assistance at the top. Today we cannot do both, and we must, therefore, con. | 9% fine ourselves to the greater need. In line with this policy, the federal government during | the past five years has given relatively more assistance to the poorer communities than to the rich. We have done it thru direct relief and thru work relief, thru the Resettlement Administration and the Farm Se. | curity program, the National Youth Administration, and _ thru the rehabilitation of flooded, or stranded, or dust- | 7 blown areas. We have provided schoolhouses, colleges, | 7 libraries, educational equipment, and sanitation in every | © state in the Union, and I include “sanitation” because it | has always seemed to me that good health and good edu- cation must go hand in hand. We have placed many millions of dollars in the field of adult education thru the Works Progress Administration, and, here again, most of the money has been expended in the poorer communities of the land. I have spoken of the twin interlocking assets of national and human resources and of the need of developing them © hand in hand. But with this goes the equally important | ; and equally difficult problem of keeping education intellec- | tually free. Freedom to learn is the first necessity of guar- | Preside anteeing that man himself shall be selfreliant enough to | be free. farming does not pay, where industries have moved “| nt Such things did not need as much emphasis a genera- tion ago; but when the clock of civilization can be turned back by burning libraries, by exiling scientists, artists, \W musicians, writers, and teachers, by dispersing universities, and by censoring news and literature and art, an added burden is placed upon those countries where the torch of free thought and free learning still burns bright. If the fires of freedom and civil liberties burn low in other lands, they must be made brighter in our own. a If in other lands the press and books and literature of ace all kinds are censored, we must redouble our efforts here wager to keep it free. Tod: If in other lands the eternal truths of the past are threat- lil i ened by intolerance, we must provide a safe place here for their perpetuation, Yes, there may be times when men and women in the turmoil of change lose touch with the civilized gains of centuries of education; but the gains of education are never really lost. Books may be burned and cities sacked, but truth, like the yearning for freedom, lives in the hearts of humble men and women. The ultimate victory, the ultimate victory of tomorrow, is with democracy, and thru democracy with education, for no people can be kept eternally ignorant or eternally enslaved—An address before the New York convention, NEA. June 30, 1938. ‘tducatic ot edu world « what is ‘a distin bowed those | guests ‘there ( bloody of mo | Nation |~slau | (empt \each It saw VOLU i ‘Into One Great : Educational Brotherhood lec. | to “ra- ned sts, ies, ded 1 of in of ere eat- | for th 5 of ever b oO i=] a= row, rion, vally tion, [TION Presidential Address by CAROLINE S. WOODRUFF ) E HAVE come together here this WP morning from all over this great land in the interest of public tducation to discuss the responsibility education in bringing about better world conditions. If I were to ask you what is the one great objective of edu- ation, one that embraces all others, most of you would say in words that signify ‘to bring about a better world.” Today [June 27, 1938] on the battle- lield of Gettysburg there is assembling |idistinguished group, a handful of men towed with years, all that are left of ithose boys, the blue and the gray, the |guests of the nation this week. They are there on the 75th anniversary of that ‘bloody battle which alone cost the lives of more than 30,000 young men of this /Nation—from the North and the South ‘~laughtered and wounded in an at- ‘"mpt to settle a great national question, ‘ach side struggling for a principle as It saw it. International News Photo President-elect Reuben T. Shaw greeted by President Woodruff They are there to dedicate a monu- ment—not to the youth, their comrades who fell there. They have come to con- secrate a shrine symbolizing peace and human brotherhood. On that battlefield a new white shaft will be dedicated this week, topped by an ever-burning torch, the eternal light of peace, to show to all the world that the people of this nation are committed to eternal peace and that no internal disagreements shall ever again call forth the life blood of its youth. Today, also, the representatives of the nation’s teachers are assembling here to dedicate themselves anew to a faith in human cooperation and brotherhood that was lighted long ago. Six years be- fore the struggle at Gettysburg, eighty- one years ago the 26th day of next Aug- ust, a handful of teachers—forty-one men and two women—from the District of Columbia and twelve of the thirty-one states then belonging to the Union, met VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 at Philadelphia, for the purpose, in the words of the principal speaker at that first gathering of the nation’s teachers, of organizing “those who believe that the time has come when the teachers of the nation should gather into one great educational brotherhood.” It was a sig- nificant hour. That was the birth of the National Education Association and those baptismal words are the title of my message this morning—Into one great educational brotherhood. In the seventy-five years since the battle of Gettysburg, the National Edu- cation Association of the United States has grown from a membership of 187 to an association numbering almost a quarter of a million, representing every field of educational effort from the pre- school thru the university, and repre- senting every state and territory. In these seventy-five years America as a nation has seen momentous periods of growth and development—social, in- dustrial, and commercial. In the years since Gettysburg, years which parallel the development of the National Educa- tion Association, this nation has grown also to such moral and spiritual stature as to bring about the situation we are wit- nessing at Gettysburg this week. Sev- enty-five years ago a peaceful people knowing no other way of settling a dis- pute but thru shedding the life blood of its youth, today meet on that same spot to pledge eternal peace. Time alone has not brought about this change; other forces have been at work. In this development, the nation’s teachers have played a significant part. It is fitting that we join those who honor themselves this week at Gettysburg in our own rededication to the cause of peace and educational brotherhood— not alone to the internal peace that has long ago cemented us into a great, for- ever-united country, with our 3000 miles of frontier unfortified by a single gun— but a rededication to that understand- ing which contributes to goodwill among all the peoples of the world. We have, therefore, selected as the theme of this convention week—T he re- sponsibility of education in promoting world citizenship. Treaties and peace pacts have been made but they have not settled the ques- tion. Nor have tribunals, nor confer- ences, nor even the church. As yet edu- cation has never wholeheartedly at- [ 165 | tempted a solution and so we are daring this year to center our thought upon this theme, wholly conscious that we have chosen the long road and that building is a slow process. Early in the year a questionnaire was given wide distribution from our Na- tional Education Association headquar- ters, asking: [1] What, in your opinion, constitutes world citizenship? [2] What can education do about it? [3] Are you willing to be quoted in your reply? This was sent to the officers of hundreds of national and international organiza- tions; heads of universities and colleges; to lay, professional, and_ technical groups; to leaders in all countries of the world. Excerpts from these replies, which constitute a great body of opin- ion, are given in the official program of this convention. They may be used as a guide in developing a practical, work- ing program. The National Education Association has indorsed all movements leading to world peace since 1899, when, meeting in Los Angeles, it tendered officially its congratulations and support to the first peace The Hague, and it has so recorded its atti- tude by resolutions year after year, ever since. As long ago as 1907 the following crisp sentiment was expressed in formal resolution: “The forces of this world should be organized in the interests of peace and not of war.” But in 1920, when the world was still trying to make secure the peace pro- claimed at Versailles, a more than verbal expression was made. A plan of action was launched—the first one. The Asso- ciation at Salt Lake City created a com- conference in session at mittee of five on foreign relations “which shall have authority, under this Association, to cooperate with like com- mittees from other countries . . . for the purpose of finding a way of promoting world understanding for coming gen- erations thru the children of today.” This was action. The committee was formed and, along with the committees of other na- tions, began at once to function, with the result that there assembled in San Francisco in 1923 more than six hun- dred persons representing the leading countries of the world. And out of this conference came the World Federa- tion of Education Associations with an American, Dr. Augustus O. Thomas, | 166 | then state commissioner of education in Maine, as president. Provision was made for meeting biennially, and each of the biennial conventions since, including that in Tokyo last year, has more than justified the existence of the organiza- tion by focusing the attention of the countries of the world upon the obli- gations of the school to create attitudes of friendship and cooperation with the children and youth of other countries. Again and again has this Association officially expressed its determination to aid in seeking ways of settling national and international differences other than thru war. In 1931 the Association recom- mended that the Peace Pact of Paris be taught in every school in this country. In 1934 it recommended also a program of education which would include the study of the history, interests, and prob- lems of other nations, with the purpose of preparing both children and adults for cooperative living in the community of nations. The dream of peace is not new; it is an age-old dream. Seven hundred years before the Christian era the prophet Isaiah foretold that the people of the future “shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into prun- inghooks.” Isaiah’s prophecy is a living faith, a living hope today. Only a little way from where we sit this morning— over the entrance to the International building in Rockefeller Center where every passerby may see—an American sculptor, Lee Lawrie, has cut into gray limestone in enduring form the words and the symbol of that long-ago proph- ecy of Isaiah. Yes, and is it a coincidence that to make more vivid today that prophecy of 3000 years ago, a remark- able sculpture stands in the Metropolitan Art Museum here in this city—a bronze figure by Jules Butensky—of a powerful man holding an armful of swords on an anvil as he beats them into plow- shares. These are but suggestions, ges- tures if you will, of the hope and the faith that dominated these artists and led them to portray their dream that should reach out to catch the thought of the multitudes. This desire for peace and stability from earliest times has been more than a hope. It has been expressed and is being expressed in our political, eco- nomic, and social institutions, as will be seen in reviewing some of the great THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION movements to establish peace in the world’s history. The first great peace was maintaing by the Roman legions and for two hyp! dred years the Pax Romana helped { for mankind the ideal of peace as; “way of living.” It was an enforce peace, to be sure, and fell in utter cop! fusion when Caesar’s legions becam ineffective. Then, too, the religious leaders of th! Middle Ages compelled their followen) to refrain from war during certain se sons. This was not an armed peace by it was an enforced peace, with penaltic prescribed for its violation. And then on to “1648, ‘after a thin’ years’ war had crippled.a generation o| European peoples, the first treatise or international law was compiled, bu since there was no court thru whid these laws might be applied in regu lating the conduct of nations, it too we ineffective. And we come on to modern times The Pan-American Union has suc ceeded, since 180, in settling amicabl questions largely to do with trade in| volved in the international relationship of the two Americas. | In 1899 the International Court « Arbitration was established at The Hague, an institution which at least ha kept alive among the nations a sense 0 responsibility for peaceful settlement 0’ their disputes. And following the greatest conflic of all times, the war-sick nations met @| Geneva, to organize a League thn which wars might be made forever um necessary. Its story we all know. Ye! and since the Treaty of Versailles, th principal nations of the world have me again and again in conference to lim armament, to effect trade agreements and to exchange peace treaties. All thes| are signposts in man’s efforts to estab, lish and to preserve the peace of th! world. Notwithstanding these peace mort} ments, as we assemble here this mort ing war clouds hang low over mall nations and mankind finds itself tod far from the destination pointed to b} these signposts on the road to peace. li the final analysis, peace does not ft upon the intervention of authority, up resort to courts, to treaty agreements, huge armaments, all of which may and have been defied and ignored. I rests will and pose to th orak ago, spiri hop our a Sl the foul T City toh peo He to < “Tf cou of auc the on swe less gra an i no’ int wh cot vel tio Wwe ed tri th th to al of th ed ur T ch ar to | the inet hun J fi as { rced con came f Aq Wers| | sea, e bu altie hirn on oi e ot bu vhich regu: ) Was ‘mes suc icabh le in ships Irt ' The st has nse ol ent oi onic; net a thn er un} . Yes! ss, the| re me » limit ments | these estab} of th mor mort! mati toda’ to bi! ice. 18) yt resi , upon nts, OF) ray be red. It) ATION rests upon the spirit of individual good- will which arises from understanding and cooperation toward a common pur- pose. President Roosevelt made it clear to the whole world, when in that mem- orable address at Buenos Aires a year ago, he said: “Peace comes from the spirit, and must be grounded in faith. ... That faith arises from a common hope and a common design given us by our fathers in differing form but with a single aim—freedom and security of the individual, which has become the foundation of our peace.” Those of you who were in Atlantic City last February and were privileged to be among that vast audience of 15,000 people who had met to do homage to Helen Keller will never forget her reply to a question from one in the audience. “If today,” he asked, “one wish only could be granted you, the greatest wish of your life, what would it be?” The audience sat hushed in rapt attention for the reply which was not slow in coming —each person anticipating a certain an- swer. Instantly she replied, in utter self- lessness, “If I could have one wish granted, I should wish for world peace and brotherhood!” All wars have their beginnings in eco- nomic selfishness—in the ambition, the intolerance, the prejudice, the hatred by which one or both of the parties to the conflict were swayed. In selecting for the theme of this con- vention, “The responsibility of educa- tion in promoting world citizenship,” we recognize that it is the business of education to deal with those human at- tributes from which war springs. It is the province of the schools to temper these human emotions with intelligence, to inculcate a spirit of tolerance, to lay a basis for appreciation of the rights and of the achievements of all peoples. It is the mightiest privilege of the school to educate its children for peace thru an understanding of human relationships. This teaching must begin with little children in their relations with one another—in their play and their work together in the schoolroom. World citizenship does not imply an impractical idealism nor does it mean docile submissiveness; neither does it countenance for a moment indifference to the interests of one’s own country. On the other hand, a desire for perma- hent peace between nations is the sound- RESIDENT WooprurrF—And now, mem- bers of the National Education Asso- ciation, whose official representative I am, we turn to the one who has generously presided over this closing session of the seventy-sixth annual convention; whom we know today as the gracious First Lady of the Land; but today, yes- terday, and tomorrow, one known to all as an understanding humanitarian, a world peace advocate; one who has one opened up a new way for women, who has risen above non-essentials, free and unbound; one who fearlessly follows her own convictions with tolerance for opposing views, who has the common human touch, who has shown herself a master of time unhurried, a seeker of actuality, practical idealist; and one whose record in this profession of ours is significant as a teacher. Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, in the name of the National Education Association, and with the authority vested in me as its president, I present to you this key, symbolic of the highest honor in the power of this Association to bestow, the key of honorary Life Membership in the largest organized body of educators in the world, which will admit you to all the rights and privileges and give to you the official entree to all the activities of the National Education Association of the United States for the rest of your life. The Association is honored by your acceptance. Mrs. Roosevett—Dr. Woodruff, | am deeply honored to receive this key, and I thank you and the members of the Association for the privilege and honor which has come to me today. 1 am very happy to have been a teacher, and | hope I may continue to be in the future. Thank you. est kind of patriotism. Freedom from war makes possible that cooperation necessary to achieve a more abundant life for one’s own people and for all other peoples of the world. Peace means opportunity to satisfy man’s material wants, to devote time and energy to the advancement of human culture and of spiritual welfare, and it means opportunity to worship God as each human being may choose. All this may be acquired with a prac- tice of world citizenship. Constructive peace is more than an opportunity; it is an obligation upon every individual to serve the ends of human existence. And it is the province of the teacher to impress that obligation upon children and upon youth, and to prepare them for cooperating in that service with other youth, the youth of all lands. The only lasting peace is a positive peace, a living peace, founded upon action, upon cooperative effort. This concept has few words that seem fully VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 to express it. The term “citizenship” in- cludes the obligations of an individual to his own community, to his own state, and to his fellow citizens. Therefore, to express the idea of an individual’s re- sponsibility to all nations and to their citizens everywhere, we have used the term, “world citizenship.” Out of the excerpts from the replies to our questionnaire, none more clearly expresses our ideal of world citizenship than the statement of Dr. W. W. Bauer, a member of the joint committee of the National Education Association and the American Medical Association, who said: “In the history of medicine thru the ages, there is to be found an excellent example of what constitutes world citizen- ship. There are no international medical treaties, no formal pledges; but actions speak louder than words. The progress of medicine against disease is a truly inter- national achievement spurred by healthy rivalries and seldom marred by nation- alistic quarrels.” [ 167 | What is true in medicine is true in all the great achievements of the human race. The things that have contributed most to our physical and spiritual wel- fare have seldom been national in char- acter. They have been attained thru the collaboration of citizens in one or more nations, and have crossed political boundary lines to relieve the peoples under every flag. There is no French way of curing tuberculosis. No nation has a monopoly of the automobile, the telephone, the radio, the electric light, the music of Wagner, or the Iliad of Homer. As- tronomers of every nation look at the stars with the instrument designed by Galileo. The fruits of science, agricul- ture, invention, sculpture, the most use- ful and desirable things of the world, bear the mark of no flag. The great masterpieces of literature have no na- tional trademark. Shakespeare and Goethe, Tennyson and Moliére, Emer- son and Vergil—their words will live forever in all tongues. And the true artist, scientist, educator, or statesman retains that pride and ap- preciation in his own field even in the face of adverse circumstances. An act of Toscanini, whose symphony concerts were broadcast each week last winter from this great radio center, illustrates this devotion to culture and to real achievement in spite of prejudices. He was loyal to his native Italy during the Great War and gave benefit concerts for charitable purposes during those tragic years. He conducted a military band even under fire at Monte Santo, while it was being stormed by the Italian troops. He did not hesitate to lead his orchestra in German music and in Rome played the Gotterdammerung funeral march over the protests of his friends. Great art, as we have said, belongs to all peoples and all ages, and the joy of the artist in its beauty is not dimmed by political animosities. In response to the second question, “What can education do in promoting world citizenship?” there were many replies, most of which can be summa- rized in such words as “understanding,” “appreciation,” “cooperation.” The freedom of learning and teach- ing which is a characteristic of educa- tion offered to an individual for his own growth and not for some other indi- vidual, is emphasized in the reply of [ 168 ] the Secretary of the Interior, Harold L. Ickes: “Education can best develop world citizenship by inculcating the free interchange of ideas. The world has much less to fear from the spread- ing of evil than from the suppression of good.” The ideal of cooperation included in world citizenship is suggested in the statement of Ruth Bryan Owen Rohde, former minister from the United States to Denmark, that education should en- courage “the recognition by the indi- vidual that he is a component part of a world community, to the welfare of which he owes definite duties, and from which he is entitled to receive protec- tion.” Our schools may show war as it is, with all its horrors, but the knowledge of what man has done to promote peace and to practice its arts is of far greater importance, The world has seen many war-threat- ening differences between nations settled amicably since 1918. Of these we have perhaps thought too little: The Tacna- Arica dispute which was settled by arbi- tration thru the President of the United States, the Argentine AntiWar Pact, the Balkan Pact, and others. We should take courage from the fact that thru the League of Nations, handicapped as it is, we are told that more than thirty controversies that seemed to make war inevitable have been settled by peaceful means. Yes, human attitudes do change. We are making no study here of the fundamental causes of war but, as a step toward a knowledge and understand- ing of the peoples of the world, educa- tion should recognize the fact that eco- nomic security is an aspiration of all peoples, and that there will be no last- ing peace or long-continued pursuit of the arts of peace until all the peoples of the world have at least food and clothes and shelter. Of these there is enough in the world for all and a balanced produc- tion and distribution waits alone for the knowledge and skill of men and women whose genius has grown with rapid pace thru the years. Let the schools create a sense of obli- gation for service of man to man—of nation to nation—yes, to mankind, which we have called world citizenship. Let them teach the drama of human life which began on the gigantic stage of the world ages ago, the conflicts of THE JOURNAL OF which are the struggles for food and warmth and shelter, for beauty, for health and spiritual perfection—the struggle to develop the latent capacities of man himself and the struggle of man to understand his God. Let them teach the children of the world to engage to- gether in those struggles with that feel. ing of human brotherhood so beauti- fully expressed in the words of Quintus Aurelius Symmachus 1500 years ago. He said: “Why should we not all live in peace and harmony? We look up at the same stars; we are fellow-passengers on the same planet, and dwell beneath the same sky. What matters it along which road each individual endeavors to find the ulti- mate truth? The riddle of existence is too great that there should be only one road leading to an answer.” Some will call this year’s program but a gesture. A gesture, yes—but many gestures must be made before a thing crystallizes into a reality. We have no thought that out of this year’s discussion of education’s responsibility in building world citizenship will come peace be- tween nations now at war or that other wars will not arise. But if the centering of our thought upon the responsibility of the members of our profession in building a concept of world relation- ships—be it world understanding, world citizenship, or world brotherhood—thru the children and youth who are en- trusted to us—if this stimulates a bigger emphasis in the classroom, thence out into the homes, we may think of the year’s program culminating in the dy- namic presentations, on many programs this week, of thought and opinion as something more than a gesture. And now in closing and as we go back to our homes to the work in edu- cation that is ours, may we ask ourselves in the words of that opening address in Philadelphia eighty-one years ago, when the National Education Association was born, if we who are assembled. here today really believe “that the time has come when the teachers of the nation should gather into one great educational brotherhood.” If so, the building of a vital, dynamic world citizenship will ultimate in an active thing, in some- thing more than words, and this con- vention of 1938 in New York City will have a place in history unsurpassed by any other. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION A: re that a and tl “The Prom« magni cussio: differe thoug The an in: wond compe of the ing w furled influe consic of the a ster these to dit We ing, the d any s hesit times may hidec speak and mani ties; freed ernn just t hatic light the War forte tion of t] agor amc no ¢ hun VOL CC + TO CF CD CD Vo —- OF WN \y ‘ ON PROGRESS —Man's Distinctive Mark Alone MARY E. WOOLLEY President-emeritus, Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Massachusetts A CHEERING aspect of a day in which one is not invariably tempted to use that adjective, is this great gathering and the subject which it has chosen. ‘The Responsibility of Education in Promoting World Citizenship” is a magnificent theme and out of the dis- cussions of this week, approached from different angles, will come food for thought for many a day. The choice of the subject is, in itself, an inspiration. Do you fully realize, I wonder, what it means to have an army, composed of thousands upon thousands of thoughtful men and women, march- ing under the banner that you have un- furled? It is impossible to compute the influence of this factor alone, that you consider world citizenship a necessity of the day in which we live and—to go a step further—a possibility. It is along these two general lines that I should like to direct your thought. World citizenship, world understand- ing, world-mindedness, a necessity of the day in which we live? Is it? Can any sane observer of existing conditions hesitate as to the answer? There are times when one wonders whether there may not be an awakening as from a hideous nightmare, to find that the un- speakable cruelties in Spain and China and Ethiopia; the depths to which hu- manity has sunk in its racial animosi- ties; the arrogant denial of individual freedom on the part of dictatorial gov- ernments; all these are not reality, but just the wanderings of a distorted imagi- nation. It is hard to believe even in the light of the last five or six years; against the background following the World War it is incredible. I often think it fortunate for our sanity that imagina- tion fails to picture fully the suffering of the day in which we are living, the agony of body and the anguish of soul among human beings, a great army that No one can number. But it is not only human suffering that makes the situa- tion serious. The undeclared war in China, the aggression in Ethiopia strike at the foundation of human relation- ships, the keeping of faith. The question before the world is a crucial one for the future of humanity, namely, can a treaty be entered into with a mental reservation, to be kept— or broken—at the convenience of the signer? “Unless there is faith, there can be no human relationships,” said Gro- tius. The keeping of faith is funda- mental to civilization, the cornerstone upon which it rests. Without it, the future spells the rule of might, the battle to the strongest, and ultimate chaos. It is easy to understand the mood of the cynic in this day when “realism” is “in the saddle” and seems “to ride man- kind.” But cynicism is not the banner under which to set forth for conquest. Humanity is not caught in a net from which it cannot escape; never was there a more mistaken interpretation of world tragedy. There are calamities overtak- ing human beings in whose grip they seem helpless—floods, earthquakes, tor- nadoes, relentless seas—the cataclysms in which the individual is like a leaf in the wind. But it is not violent explosions of physical nature that are responsible for the crisis in which we are living. The tragedy of today is both man-made and preventable. It is a human crisis, due to the failure of human beings to realize their higher possibilities. The causes of this crisis are fundamental; for the cure we must turn to the funda- mental, namely, to that which has to do with the human mind and the human spirit. The world will never be saved by formulas. The signing of pacts, the forming of organizations, are not effec- tive in themselves alone. In order to endure the strain of human passions, they must have within them the power of thought, to solve human problems; the power of the spirit, to inspire right human attitudes. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 And here enters the teacher! World citizenship is not only a necessity if civilization is to endure, but also a pos- sibility. Again we encounter the cynic. There is a strangely persistent fallacy, even among otherwise intelligent per- sons, that man is a fighting animal and that we cannot expect anything more rational than force in the realm of in- ternational relations, He was at one time a cannibalistic animal, but in polite so- ciety that custom is no longer consid- ered good form! In other words, “prog- ress is man’s distinctive mark.” Educa- tion is based upon that theory. Dismiss it as untenable and the very foundations of our profession are undermined. The progress of the day along me- chanical lines has been so rapid during the last fifty years that the preceding years seem primitive by contrast. But when we turn to another phase of life— its human relationships—it is another story. We are not thrilled by the movy- ing forward; on the contrary we are appalled by the falling backward. Are we on the verge of another Dark Ages? Is it possible that humanity is “on the downfall”? I do not believe it and you do not believe it. But the simple statement of our belief is not enough. Let us show our faith by our works. And when I make that plea, I make it preeminently because of the audience which I am facing. I suppose that there is no group of human beings today having greater opportunity to shape the future than the group of which you are the representatives. “Every time I enter my schoolroom, with hardly a pupil whose name sug- gests American ancestry or American traditions, I am impressed by the fact that these boys and girls are citizens in the making,” said a teacher in this city many years ago. Today it has become a question of world citizens in the making. Generalities are easy. In the minds of many of my hearers there must be the question: “But what can I do?” There will be a multitude of answers in the wealth of suggestion from speakers in this week’s program, experts in various fields. Already much is being attempted, encouraging because it indicates a new aim in education and a new attitude among educators. Many states have [ 169 | valuable syllabi on international under- standing, emphasizing the importance of a world outlook and the understand- ing of other nations, the existing ma- chinery for peace, the causes and results of war, the efforts that various organi- zations are making to build world peace and to develop the international mind. The syllabi vary both in their spirit and in their emphasis. Also it is interesting to note that comprehensive and prac- tical suggestions are not confined to any one section of the country. The Middle- west and the Far West, the South and the Atlantic states, share in this forward movement. As a New Englander, I am pleased that the syllabus of a state in my own native sphere is characterized by its emphasis on world events, stating as its “modest aim . . . the building of a better world thru world knowledge.” I am saved from a temptation to “put my hat on with a shoe horn” by observing that it is a state quite far west that pre- sents one of the most understanding in- sights into the purpose of a course on international relations: “The most important task in the world today is the creation of a new attitude of mind that may transcend national bound- aries. To be effective in the promotion of peace among nations, knowledge must be translated into modes of conduct on the part of individuals composing the nations. Education as provided by the schools and their cooperating agencies is a slow process by which changes in civilization may be effected, but it has proved to be the surest and most permanent. We need teachers trained in the command of these concepts.” Again, a Southern state offers an ad- mirable unit on “The League of Na- tions.” But syllabi are only guideposts, point- ing the way. It is the human factor that counts and here—as all along the line— it is the internationally-minded teacher who makes the internationally-minded pupil. It is not an extravagant statement that “the curriculum may be barren, the textbook negative or even positively nationalistic, but if the teacher himself is an internationally-minded person, he can counteract the unfavorable influence and do much to develop in his pupils an international outlook.” In this phase of education, as in all others, the teacher is the secret of success—or failure. I sometimes wonder that we teachers are not more “cocky” than we are! [ 170 | Education for International Cooperation It seems to me that education will succeed in molding world citizens if it endeavors to develop in individuals, not what differentiates them, but what brings them nearer to each other, if it emphasizes less their par- ticular or national character than what in them is common to all human beings. Allow me to recall how French thought, from Descartes up to our days, strove to bring out the universal character of human mind. Such is the reason for the importance placed upon general culture in French education. America. I know the importance you also attach to it in The future physician, the future electrical engineer, the future wood-engraver will learn, while studying the history of their technic, that the edifice of science or art was slowly erected in the course of centuries and that each scientist or artist has contributed his stone. It would be a vain task, most of the time, trying to determine which man or nation should be endowed with the honor of a discovery. Gen- eral culture gives access to the common heritage of thought and science, toward which all nations have an equal right and duty. From a convention address by the Ambassador from France COUNT DOYNEL DE SAINT-QUENTIN It goes without saying that back of the teacher is teacher-training. Is there any institution of more vital concern to the future of humanity than the one which plays so large a part in framing the point of view of the human being, to whom will be entrusted the citizens- of-the-world-in-the-making ? The task is not an altogether easy one. My audience knows that better than the speaker. There are even in this land of freedom, narrow-minded communities. But there has been no change in pub- lic opinion so marked as in the case of international relations. The National Committee on the Cause and Cure of War, representing millions of women, citizens of the United States, in its “Declaration of Faith,” announces “that after thirteen years of conscientious re- search and study, it concludes that the universal abolition of war is not only possible, but certain.” The Declaration adds: “The human race commands its own destiny and as soon as enough men and women are intelligent, determined, and courageous enough, they will together find methods to settle their differences, thru conciliation, arbitration, and legal proc- esses, and will relegate war to oblivion as an ancient and outworn relic of barbarism. . . . The destiny of the human race is to climb upward and onward.” Never did the educational Moses have more Aarons to uphold his hands- strong organizations of men and women, fertile in suggestions, prolific in programs and publications, adding spice to life in the variety of their meth- ods but united in their determination that brute force shall give way to the law of reason. This spirit of progress is not limited to the United States of America. Let us not labor under that delusion. When the day of eclipse shall have passed in Geneva, there will be brought to light one of the most valuable parts of the work of the Conference on the Reduc tion and Limitation of Armaments- that of the Commission on Moral Dis armament, the disarming of the mind. fundamental to progress in internationd relations. An outstanding danger of today is the nationalistic menace, the inordinate de sire of nations to be first. There is 4 desire to be “first” which carries withia it not the undoing of others, but theif more complete realization. “Americ first?” asked Woodrow Wilson, and at swered: “Yes, first in moral leadership. To you, the teachers of America, is give! preeminently, the opportunity to help in the realization of this ideal. THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION I I T’ t —so |. defini two le and What tain Ff invita’ ter as world live ir citizel and n if any the is how 1 Th of cor Is lite what popu! Are west inclu we h how are V ture dead Tk Ame ing. liter eral a go Japa even sist eXpo cons too, muc relat cour witk auto com boo! to b larg Vo! have and vlific ding reth- ition the rited et US Then d in light r the duc: nts— Dis nind, ional is the e de is 2 ‘ithin their erica dat hip.” given help \TION Literature aad Life By PEARL BUCK been asked to speak this evening is the contribution of literature to life —so large a subject that to say anything definite about it is like trying to hold two large separate stars in the universe and show their cosmic relationship. What is this cosmic relationship? A cer- tain phrase was used in your letter of invitation for tonight. “What,” that let- ter asked, “can literature contribute to world citizenship?” To know how to live in the world is to know how to be a citizen of it. Our topic seems to me best and most simply expressed thus: What, if anything, can literature contribute to the individual to enable him to know how to live in his environment? The answer to this question depends, of course, on our definition of literature. ls literature what most people read, or what a few people have written? Are popular magazine stories literature? Are detective stories, romances, wild west tales, true heart confessions to be included in literature? And is that what we have to think of when we consider how literature contributes to life? Or are we to limit our definition of litera- ture to a few books written by a few dead ? This we do know—most people in America know the mechanics of read- ing. We are not, of course, the most literate nation on earth. There are sev- tral nations where the literacy ratio is a good deal higher than ours, notably Japan. But somewhere along the way, even tho formal education does not per- sist beyond the grades, we have been exposed, tho very slightly, to what is considered great literature. We know, too, that most of us do not read very much after all, or if we read, it is in telatively small numbers. There is, of course, the much-talked-of competition with reading—radio, motion pictures, wtomobiles, and soon television all combine to keep people away from books and literature. A sort of life seems to be coming in which books could be largely eliminated and their loss scarcely Ti suBJEcT upon which I have We ought when we put down a book to feel a deeper sense of completion of self, not of escape from it. noticed. Indeed it is already here for many people. All this is true. And yet it does not, I think, matter so much that the mass of the people are never going to read literature. The bits of Shakespeare and Browning and Tennyson—or whatever children have in school nowadays— are not going to affect them one way or the other. No, we have to acknowl- edge that literature is never going to contribute to most lives at all. Most people are going to the movies instead, not to a particular picture, but just to the movies. They will turn on the radio, not to a special program, but just turn it on. They will read newspaper head- lines probably, and make a desultory choice out of the lurid array of popular magazines on the stand at the street corner or in the drugstore. If a book is talked about a great deal, as a few books a year always are in the United States, they may look into them curiously just to see what it is everybody is talking about. That. is all. I will confess this surprised me at first, since having lived so much of my life in a country where go percent of the population was illiterate, I had come to value literacy and to think people would read if they knew how. I see now, after four years of watching my fellow countrymen, that knowing how to read has little to do with reading. People learn to read in order to read advertisements, bills, sports announce- ments, and news—altho printed news does not matter so much since we are getting so many pictorial magazines. Of course, in the old days of silent pic- tures to know how to read was neces- sary, because of the captions, but now we have talking pictures—and we will have talking newspapers, they tell us, before long—and the radio gives us love and crime and wisecracks. Practically, literature does not con- tribute anything to most people’s lives. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 63; SEPTEMBER 1938 This must be faced. Our system of edu- cation teaches average children a little of everything, from the essentials of mathematics and biology to how to make a dress or hammer nails. But it does not teach them there is anything in literature which is essential to their life. Knowing how to read is simply know- ing how to use a tool. If there is no de- sire to use that tool, then the tool is not used. And by and large, the crowd neither hungers nor thirsts after litera- ture. But not all of us belong to that radio-turning, movie-going, unthinking crowd. What concerns me is that the intelligent people, the leading people, the people who have brains and what- ever we possess of culture and very often of means—they do not read; or if they do, they read too often digests of books and essays and stories rather than the works themselves. Even quite in- telligent people, who would be shocked to think they have no touch with litera- ture, do not realize what a menace to literature a digest is. They pick up a digest magazine because they are busy, and by it are deceived into feeling they have read the best articles of the month. Indeed, I believe digest magazines are the more serious enemies of true litera- ture, because their readers are among the more intelligent and think that in the digests they are keeping up with contemporary literature. Yet the habit- ual readers of digests inevitably lose the appreciation of style and grace in language, just as we would lose appre- ciation of food, its taste and color and texture, if we should take it in the form of chemical pellets. Our physical nour- ishment might be adequate, but mere physical nourishment from food is not enough. Fo get the plain meat out of a book or story or essay is to live on dull fare, so insidiously dull that we do not know what we are missing. So it is not enough to get the bare meaning out of a piece of music or of a painting or of a great book. Mona Lisa digested is nothing but a woman smiling. A di- gested symphony is nothing but a group of themes which can be played in five minutes. Of Human Bondage is a book without a plot, one which no magazine would accept as a serial, and which could be digested in a few pages of a small magazine. When these digests are made of lit- [ 171 | Events are backing out for us a new indi- vidualism. erature, people read them and think they know what it is all about. Yet they do not know what it is about. For they have missed that which makes litera- ture. The blue pencil reduces every- thing to the dead tastelessness of a chemically prepared pellet. That grace- ful fleeting fancy, that individual qual- ity which is the inherent mark of genius upon every material which it chooses to work upon is lost. People say they are busy. J say, if you have only half an hour, use it not for a hurried survey of the bones of books and magazines, picked for you by someone you do not know, who may have overlooked en- tirely the one incident, character, or quality which would have most enriched your reading, but use that valuable half- hour for reading entire, and as it was really written, one thing—a few real pages from a book, or one actual story or essay. You will have more in the end —more real food for thought, and your literary palate will not be dulled by a succession of small dishes prepared by the same cook in the same pot and all tasting alike. Yet these people who read digests are the very people to whom literature would contribute much. They are, too, and this particularly perhaps of women, the ones who in their leisure pick up a book or a magazine to amuse or divert them instead of a book or a magazine to read. There is no harm in amusement and diversion. That is a legitimate rea- son for literature. What concerns me is that educated people are amused and diverted by the ephemeral, passing book or story or the smart, silly patter of a columnist, and not by literature. I am not surprised or concerned when Mrs. Jones, the janitor’s wife, begs the li- brarian for a nice book with a lot of things happening but everything turn- ing out all right. But I am concerned when Mrs. So-and-so in Sutton Place, a graduate of the finest schools of our country and wife of one of our leading men, uses her scant leisure, after all the worthy enterprises in which she engages, from Spanish relief to a rally of repub- lican women, to read—what she does read. That lady once undertook to up- [ 172 ] braid an author for writing in a certain popular magazine. Said she, “I picked up a copy of Purple Shadows the other day and was astonished to find a story of yours in it. How can you write for such magazines?” Said the author, “How can you read such a magazine?” Said she, “My dear, I only do it for relaxation.” Whereupon I began to ponder why when she wants relaxation, she reads what even she considers trash. Why does the cheap, the ephemeral, the highly colored, the falsely romantic, re- lax and amuse the educated mind in- stead of boring it? Education, to be sure, has left this mark—it has taught people a sense of shame, so that they know they should have on their tables the great names and books of literature. But these are not what they really read. The reason for this is that educated and uneducated, we Americans all want escape from reality. We dislike so much of what life is, we shrink so much from knowing more about it, that one still hears different people say, tho comic papers have made it a joke for twenty years, “I suppose that’s a fine book, but I have enough troubles without reading about more,” or, even more frequently, “When I go to the theater I want to be amused.” Now I have no complaint against escape literature. It is natural to want to escape from ourselves and the immedi- ate circumstances of our lives, some- times, but how can such childish stuff as is read afford any escape to the rea- soning mind? How can the educated mind so often enjoy what is false in all its proportions and premises? How can it fail to appreciate and lose itself in what is true to life? No, the threat to literature, the check upon its develop- ment, is not from the low standards of the many ignorant, but from the low standards of the few intelligent, who too often demand of literature that it shall not be true art rather than that it shall. There are reasons, of course, for this state of being. Foremost, perhaps, is our often boasted youth. I was talking about this the other day with a wellknown painter who said that during the war it was interesting to him to see the differ- ence between the way the American soldiers and the French ones relaxed. The Americans wrestled and raced and played jokes; the Frenchmen talked. “What are those fellows doing?” one of the Americans asked him. “Exercising,” he replied, “just as you are.” “Talkin’? That’s no exercise!” the American said incredulously. “Only for the mind,” the painter re. plied gently. “Try it,” he added. “It’s fun, too.” The same difference appeared in their letters, which it was his duty to read. The Americans wrote letters of pure in- cident. “It rained today. Jimmy got caught awo . I saw a fellow from Stock- ton yesterday.” The French letters were full of thought and reflection upon in- cidents. Well, culture is after all a matter of time and long mellowing age. And col- lectively we are not old and individually we cling to childhood and its enjoy- ments. We don’t want to grow up. | saw a film the other day. The theme was a sound democratic theme—that the joy of living is to do what you like. But in this film what was liked was only one thing—drinking tubs full of beer, getting very drunk, and running away from it all to a South Sea island. It exemplifies exactly what I mean—a lim- ited and essentially immature form of enjoyment. And the reason for this is that the average person in America is not yet interested in life. That is, he is not interested in human nature and its true character. Or perhaps it would be truer to sav he is interested in the ac tivities of life, but not in its meaning or its philosophy. He is instinctively fright- ened of anything like a view of himself and why and how he is. And yet that view, of course, is what literature is. What do we want when we read? We approach literature with a strange impossible sort of expectation. We ask, on the one hand, to be supplied with unrealistic romantic ideals so earnest as to be naive, which have, it seems to me, no reality of any kind, either actual ot desirable, and on the other hand, we have this childish wish to be amused, or rather to escape from the very tt strictions to which we cling. We ask to be uplifted and, or, amused—if possible, a little of both at the same time. Yet literature, it seems to me, has nothing essentially to do with either of thest things, except incidentally. Literature cannot have as its function the satisfac THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION is tion Oo! from 1 as it 1S. what | want | where —whe the pc beaut: punist and tk Ion the ed beggir happy added love, t an adi ing. | youth. suffer: a cert are treme and ; whole point ested Th to m«¢ disco letter, We terpri acort zine | We popu But book Is suy lisher sells if it 1 a yea —boi Passi vogu few man avoic worl safe- Was Ir assic I fir beer est uni VOL 1¢ dU he | Vat ke, ily a y - OF rht- self hat ann — ee tion of moralism or the wish to escape from it if it must deal simply with life as it is. And yet, at present, life is exactly what most people do not want. They want to read about a dream existence, where everything is as they wish it were —where all marriages are happy, where the poor, ugly girl becomes rich and beautiful, and where all evil persons are punished, or at least lose all the money and the girl. I once had an impassioned letter from the editor of a certain popular magazine begging me to write her a story, a happy, cheerful, sweet story. “And,” she added, “oh, if it could be about young love, that would be wonderful.” Now to an adult, young love is not very interest- ing. It is a part of adolescence and youth, an experience which everyone suffers and recovers from. While it has acertain touching quality, its symptoms are so universally alike as to be ex- tremely uninteresting. It is evanescent and almost purely biological—on the whole, quite a stupid business from the point of view of one primarily inter- ested in the working out of character. Then, a day or two later, I happened to meet a friend, also a writer, and I discovered that she too had received this letter, asking for stories of young love. We concluded, therefore, that this en- terprising editor was trying to establish acorner on young love so that her maga- zine might have a new record of sales. Well, you may say, these are only popular magazines. What about books? But Americans, as a whole, don’t read books. In this country where everybody is supposed to know how to read, pub- lishers consider a book successful if it sells four thousand copies, and excellent if it reaches ten thousand. Once or twice ayear a good many people read a book ~books sweeping into popularity and passing away again. There has been a vogue for historical novels in the last few years. But this is only another manifestation of the desire to evade and avoid life by taking refuge in another world where all endings are known and safe—and also where incidentally there Was plenty of action. Iread modern American novels rather assiduously, as a matter of interest, and I find further evidence of what I have been trying to say, in the lack of inter- est in life. The characters are almost universally subordinated to the incident VOLUME I 27> and environment. That is, what appar- ently interests readers is how much characters hop, skip, and jump, and not how they feel and are. Characters are instantly recognizable types. “Good,” “bad,” “funny,” “pretty” are about all the adjectives needed to describe them. Especially there is evident this poverty of character analysis and development in the socalled regional novels—very properly socalled, too, for they are nov- els of regions: the weather of the re- gions, the storms, the crops, the ani- mals, the shootings and crimes, and so forth, but never, deeply, the people. There seems in our American literature especially to be no real relationship de- veloped between the region and its peo- ple. Yet it seems to me only when that relationship is thoroly understood and portrayed can the result be even called regional literature. I have recently come back from a journey thru seventeen central states of our country. As part of my preparation for this trip I read some of the regional novels. I was able to get a good idea of the landscape, of the weather, and of the history of various regions, and par- ticularly amazingly good local color, but absolutely nowhere an adequate idea of the people. In all the books the people were the least interesting part because the most slightly developed and the least understood. Yet, even in a journey, it was the people who impressed me. The landscape, for instance, of South Da- kota, is in some ways the finest I have ever seen in the world—the most amaz- ing and the most strange, and the most beautiful. It is on such a scale and so peculiar, as well, that I cannot blame a writer for dwelling upon its shapes, its weather, and its devastations. But to me far more vivid than that terrific land- scape are the people who live there. It seems to me they are the most mag- nificent people I have ever seen, dream- ers, all of them, those who are left, peo- ple held to the country in spite of abject poverty, people who live in the dream of a tomorrow, believing still in the country they cannot but love. They are not really subordinated by the land- scape. They tower above it, poor as death and as triumphant. What litera- ture lies there, unwritten—and probably never to be written, because young love is not of primary importance and there is very little action! Outwardly people NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 We are afraid, we Americans, of tragedy. seem static—they suffer and wait and dream, but what tremendous inner ac- tion there is in those three words! Not many people see the romance in a man’s loving dry, black soil that will not yield him food and holding to it grimly be- cause if there were water it would yield enormously, and tomorrow it may rain. Yet there is the essence of romance in it. But the ending may not be happy. We are afraid, we Americans, of tragedy. I mean tragedy in the deep fundamental sense of the Greeks, who understood that life is tragic in its whole course from its unexplained beginnings to its unknown end. Even comedy in that Greek sense had its foundations in tragedy—a butterfly fluttering in gaiety over a dark and bottomless river. So long as we shrink in fear from acknowl]- edging we are what we are—beings brought into this brief consciousness which we call life—and from accepting this, and from proceeding to the living and understanding of this life, we can have no great literature. That is not to say that literature must always be sad, any more than that life is always sad. Indeed, life ceases to be sad when we accept its facts and know its limitations. It becomes, then, a time for enjoyment. To know that one day a joy will end is to make the joy in- finitely sharper and more precious. The day is not less beautiful because night comes—no, day and night together com- prise life, and literature must deal with all if it is to be an art, and not only with that brief moment of morning when everything is fresh and new. Noon comes, and heat and trouble and strength and freedom, and evening falls, and everything passes, and it is all life and therefore the stuff of literature. And there can be no appreciation of litera- ture until there is appreciation of life entire. Until we do appreciate life entire and as it is, we will go on demanding that literature give us for a few dream- ing moments what we wish life gave us all the time and never will—and that is not literature. Literature contributes to life only the awareness of life itself. If its function is to teach, it is to teach men what they [ 173 | are and help them to understand their own lives by showing them themselves. It cannot, or so I believe, teach ab- stractly or apart from life as it is. Litera- ture cannot have a moral purpose in a primary form, tho it may follow that a lesson is taught. A writer, for instance, does not produce literature if he habit- ually writes propaganda. It may be that at some time in his life he writes propaganda which is literature. If the life which he is then living and por- traying because he is living in it, ex- presses itself in some ardent declaration of faith, it may be propaganda and yet be literature, since it is mot a cause which he sponsors, but the life which he is then living. Never ask, “What does this book teach us?” but ask, “What does this book show us about life?” if the book be literature. To say, then, that literature can never be propaganda is to speak as arbitrarily as to say litera- ture must always carry a thesis and teach a lesson. But in all propaganda literature, the human beings must be more than ordinarily alive in order to carry the extra burden of propaganda, and the writer who goes out seeking causes about which to center his novel prostitutes his art as surely as does the one who writes merely for money. What I am trying to say is, if one’s life is embroiled in some social storm for the time and he writes out of his own life, then he may safely write as sharp propaganda as he likes. I will put it this way: What literature contributes to life is simply a clarifica- tion of life. We ought, if we read litera- ture and learn to love it, to know our- selves and others better, and to have some little further idea of why we be- have as we de. And we ought to wel- come many books, and differences in authors, and variety even in the same author, Yet why do we Americans not really welcome change, but only the same old romance? We love above all things the romance of a person’s springing from unknown beginnings to sudden fame and fortune. It is as good, we say, as a movie. We are all generous in help- ing the unknown writer, or actor, or the newly elected president even. We take pride—very properly, too—in the fact that among us people can rise from the bottom to the top, and with incredi- ble speed. But when they reach the top, . [174] the story is ended. I cannot think of our treatment of Theodore Dreiser, for in- stance, without anger. I do not see any body of work in American letters to equal the body of his work. Yet how shamefully we neglect him! With a de- light almost equal to that with which we raise people up we forget them. We have so little appreciation or under- standing of individual genius. It is an- other manifestation of our lack of in- terest in life. Our interest is in the romance and the action which a career affords us as a story. To welcome to our shores a Thomas Mann or an Ein- stein is a romance. We are all charmed with it, especially since in it the hero is not Einstein or Mann, but America. What we shall do with them is an- other matter—probably forget them if they are quiet, and turn against them if they say anything we don’t like. But we won't pay any attention to them as individual geniuses. For we are not taught to be detached and catholic in our interests. Even our literary critics too often judge a book on some personal ground—whether they personally like the main character or not. I remember hearing a nice lady say of a recent character in a certain book, “I shouldn’t like my son to marry such a woman.” ‘The finality of her tone was terrific. And she was a symbol of most readers of books, who limit the contribution of literature to their life by their prejudices and preconceived ideas and have no desire to know what life really is. One ought to approach a new book as one approaches a new country, with curiosity and expectation, not wanting to find only what one knows and likes, but with the zest of learning about some- thing new. Such an attitude would be the greatest boon to literature. What, then, literature can contribute to life depends to a large degree on what is demanded of the writer. The demands we make today are practically nothing. I have chosen to take my subject in a practical sense, rather than to de- scribe the abstract benefits of literature to the human being. You know those benefits as everybody knows. You teach that Shakespeare is great literature. “So what?” they say today. “So nothing,” is what I reply. That is the whole trouble—so nothing. The abyss between literature and the average person today is bottomless. Why is this? Why does life so terrify us that we need this con. stant escape from it? I think it is be. cause as a people we have no philosophy with which to live. We do not know how to understand and enjoy life. We are really afraid all the time—afraid of what is happening and may happen— afraid most of all of death. We do not know how to accept whatever comes in the spirit of gaiety which a philos ophy of life gives. There is a constant hue and cry over our economic chaos, — ee ee but no one says anything about our | chaotic lack of any sort of philosophy of life, tho if we had such a philosophy, our very economics would improve, be- Se | cause we would know what life is and what it is reasonable to expect of it. And yet I feel nothing is stronger in our American people than the desire to find some sort of philosophy with which to face life. The desire is inartic- ulate, and it expresses itself in all sorts of ways, from swing music to theosophy. There is such an earnest blind longing to know what to make of life as it is, and it is coupled at the same time with a sort of fear of knowing, so that when anything serious comes near, it is evaded by the jazz touch. And so even litera ture is evaded, as something too serious, tho if they would only see, they would know that literature contributes to the understanding they want of what life is, and can help them to know, there- fore, what their attitude toward life should be, as reasonable creatures. The contribution could be continuing and enormous, if it were only understood and wanted, since literature crystallizes and expresses for many what they only vaguely see and feel in their own lives and the life about them. Is there any hope for the establish- ment of an American philosophy to ward life which would result in a de- mand for real literature and an increase in its production? I think there is, by a difficult, half-blind, negative sort of process, being forced on us against out wills and almost without our conscious ness, by world events. These events are hacking and turning out for us anew the shape of an individualism first planned for us in its simplest form centuries ago. I am reminded of that huge sculpture now being done at Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota by Gutzon Borglum. There on THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION the m emer Wash Theo does made studic The | hands mite | the li plain Dyna shape ton’s of te worlc oppos indiv out f turity tion smot Bu and ture’s ture two | life « sion is th ing ¢ yet struc not and arid be u Ti slow will do r writ also liter kno few the bod ing of of 1 ing sor are Out: Tre Cle tou ist Vo th our yus- are 1ew first orm that at uth » on ION is — ain ———— the mountain top from a rocky cliff are emerging the enormous figures of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt. But the sculptor does not do it himself. He has only made the model, now standing in his studio—an inch to a foot, the scale is. The final sculpture is done not by his hands, but by dynamite. Sticks of dyna- mite laid by ingenious workmen deepen the lines in Lincoln’s face and make plain the idealism of Jefferson’s eyes. Dynamite blows tons of rocks away to shape the determination of Washing- ton’s profile. So dynamite, the dynamite of terrifying events elsewhere in the world, is forcing us to define our own opposite philosophy, the philosophy of individualism, and this may bring us out from the childishness and imma- turity of our present retreat in the isola- tion of dreams, which has so nearly smothered our literature to death. But a philosophy needs to be enriched and explained, and that again is litera- ture’s function. Philosophy and litera- ture are closer together than any other two of the arts. They have their roots in life and their flowering in the expres- sion and explanation of life. Philosophy is the skeleton, literature the beautify- ing covering flesh, dependent upon and yet shaping and shaped by the inner structure of philosophy. The flesh can- not stand alone without the skeleton, and without the flesh the skeleton is an arid collection of dry bones. They must be united. Today literature seems to me to be slowly dying of uselessness, just as sight will fade if the eyes are never used. I do not mean only that presentday good Writing is not often much read. I mean also that the established body of past literature—the only literature which we know is sure—is being neglected. So few people read today the literature of the past that it may as well be said no- body reads it and great books are com- ing to be only great names. There are, of course, motion pictures. But the sort of motion pictures which are now be- ing made of works of literature are something worse than neglect. They are travesties and foolish parodies and outrages of Tom Sawyer and The Travels of Marco Polo, Antony and Cleopatra, and what not. The vitiating touch of silly and impossible romance is ruining even great books of the past, pe has its permanent marks. It is a connected growth, and its life-history is unbroken. Masterpieces have never been produced by men who have had no masters. Reverence for good work is the foundation of liter- ary character. The refusal to praise bad work, or to imitate it, is an author’s personal chas- tity.—HENRY VAN DYKE as it ruins everything, and high and true romance is almost gone. Worst of all, people, seeing these pictures, imagine they need not read the book, since they have “seen the picture.” Every parent and teacher ought to in- sist that no child see the picture made from a great book until the book has first been read. The book at least can- not spoil the picture. And yet when it comes to ending what I have to say on this note, I find I am not willing to do so. I hope this is not contamination by popular taste. I hope I am not just demanding a happy ending, too. But I keep feeling this is not the true end of what literature is contributing and can contribute to our life. Literature is at once the purest of all the arts and yet the most easily de- filed, because more than any art its source is in human nature, that is, in life. And so when human nature be- comes defiled, as in certain periods in history it is beyond other periods, litera- ture is defiled with it. There are times when the course of man is so corrupt that all minds become confused by that corruption. Then musicians can retire into their own seclusion and out of themselves alone draw pure melody. Painters can point the sea and the sky and the hills and those elements of the universe which never change. But writers cannot retire from life. Whether they will or not, they are forced to draw their material from human sources. If these are defiled, they are defiled with it, because the materials with which they work are defiled, and because the demand made upon them at such times is for a corrupt enjoyment. We are in such an age now. In many VOLUME 27, NUMBER 63; SEPTEMBER 1938 parts of the world pure literature is impossible to produce because of the dictation of political charlatans who have an absolute power for the moment. It seems a proved fact that creative writ- ing is impossible in the totalitarian states. Nor is there any greater freedom in the Orient. China is too torn for any- one there to be able to write with the perspective necessary to literature, and the same is true of Japan. It is chiefly in the English-speaking nations and in France that any sort of freedom of mind exists for the creative writer. Yet in America at least the dread of the realiza- tion of life among the reading public is so strong as to be an actual and serious limitation which any writer is forced to consider, whether he will or no. All rumination upon this seems to bring us back to the same dead end. And still I am not willing to leave the matter so. For in spite of everything, I believe in the enormous and deathless energy which produces literature some- how and anyhow in any age. It must be somewhere, even in this age. I am watching with interest the WPA writers. The federal theater at least is showing an independent vitality which is hopeful. The genuine creative writer is not usually greedy for money. He wants to have freedom of mind not to think about money; that’s all. He does not want elaborate living because it interferes with his work. He wants security so that he can work, and work at what he thinks worth doing. It is not true that genius will out. It will not. Genius can be as easily crushed as any other delicate and sensitive thing by too extreme poverty, by discouragement, by foolish and blind criticism, by being born in an age unsuited to it. Perhaps under the care of the WPA, as rude as it is, the writer may find relief—that is, freedom to do his work, which is all he wants—together with masons and car- penters and tenant farmers and all the others who have been thrust out of the economic machine. I am not suggesting that writers should be removed from life as it is—only that they should not be compelled in order to live to write of a life that is not and never can be, a life of impossible, cheap romance. It would be easy for me to do what many have done—simply shrug my shoulders at the mass of popular writ- ing and say that it has nothing to do [ 175 | with literature. But I cannot. I keep going back to it. It is what most people read—then it must have its importance somewhere in relation to literature. One cannot dismiss lightly a magazine bought and read by three million people or a book bought and read by thou- sands. It is important. It is a serious thing for literature if three million read —not literature, but something else which gives them greater satisfaction. I have put the blame on the people in the first half of what I had to say. But there is always the possibility that there is something wrong with literature. Jazz, so despised once, we have now come to think of as contributing some- thing very especial to music. What it is we do not know, and shall not know until jazz is dead and its vitality has become merged into the great body of permanent music. Swing—is it fad or new rhythm? Who knows or can know in our generation? It must run its course until we see it take its true place in what is past. If it has a definite value for human beings, something will re- main which no amount of scorn or ignoring can kill or even displace. Perhaps it is literature which today has become devoid of philosophy—so devoid that it has no inner light, so that people, reading, have caught no real illumination of the life which most of us live so blindly from day to day. The vogue for historical novels has been, perhaps, because the novels of present- day life cast no glow. Perhaps people are not afraid of tragedy, after all, if it is their tragedy—that is, tragedy which they recognize as beyond mere sordid living. The greatest books have always been tragedies. Madame Bovary is one of the most tragic books ever written. So is Resurrection. So is Of Human Bondage. So is Vanity Fair. The list is long, and most of these books when they first appeared were met with criti- cism. People did not immediately like them. It took time to get over the first revulsion against sadness and see be- yond into the light. But the books that people have kept on reading are the books with that inner warm light which makes them have a sort of timeless rightness and accord with life which is happiness in itself, as distinguished from amusement and a mere happy ending. These are the books which give life in the full—not slantwise from the [ 176 | viewpoint of region or vogue. These are the books which have laid hold upon life and have had a philosophy to expound. A lesson is a glib thing—easy to teach, easy to learn and gabble off. But a philosophy is something wrought out of experience. It can be accepted or rejected but never learned by rote. So this relation between human life and literature is more mutual than I first said it was. We should read litera- ture—but only if literature satisfies some primary need of ours. If people must have a philosophy of life with which to appreciate literature, literature must also have a philosophy with which to satisfy the reader. I do not need to say, I am sure, that by the word “philosophy” I mean no dry abstractions with no relation to human daily lives. I mean those questions which every creature capable even of simple thought asks himself in times when he is alone—hours which he may hate and dread and from which he seeks all sorts of escapes, but which, nevertheless, exist—those hours when he asks, who am I and why was I born and what is it all for? Who are these others and what have they to do with me and what have I to do with them? To ask these questions is to seek the essentials of some sort of philosophy of life. And to answer them in one way or another is the meaning of literature. Whenever a book, thru the direct voice of poetry or thru the voices of characters in a novel, recognizes these funda- mental questions of the human heart, that book is read and lives on and on. And whenever a book ignores them, tho it achieves a momentary popularity, it passes on and is forgotten. Light upon the deep and primitive inquiry of the human heart is the primary contribu- tion, then, of literature to life. It may seem a curious contradiction to say on one hand that people demand nothing but amusement, from _litera- ture and then to say that literature which only amuses does not satisfy them. But such indeed is the case. The American public is peculiarly consti- tuted and full of contradictions. With all our childlike love of a good time, we never really have a good time unless we feel we are improving ourselves, too. The moral sense is very strong in us. It may be it is only that wellknown and famous puritan conscience, which, THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Gov FU I" keep us from doing anything we want to do, but only strong enough to keep whatever we do from being pleasant, We may be trying, in all our desire for . . . . ' it is said, is never strong enough ’ escape, to escape not from the realities | of life, but from the reality of ourselves, | If so, of course, escape is impossible, and | 1 4! yet, if it is impossible, the effort is al] | ™4 the more frantic. But none can escape We that “Hound of Heaven”—his own | " #! self. And real literature has nothing to | YS!02 only to do with the pursuit, and it theref shows that the end of that pursuit is | the St only the deeper and fuller understand- of the ing of that self. I know from an old Buddhist book the story of the monkey who wanted to escape God, who had him in His hand. He was a great jumper, this monkey, and so he made up his mind to jump as far as he could and he did. When he came to himself after a stu pendous leap, he found himself on a mountain top somewhere in a strange country. “Ah,” he thought exultantly, “T have escaped!” Then he heard God's voice, very near, speaking. It said, “You have only jumped to the base of my thumb. You are still in my hand.” So there is no such thing possible as this escape which occupies so much of the reading of today. So long as we breathe we are in this world which it closes us. Literature does offer the only real escape—but deeper into the world and not away from it. And that is what it contributes to life—more life, mort understanding of that life. Any good do with that attempt to escape. It has basica book is like a microcosm where in 4 small compass we can see how life func tions. In our daily experiences we are lost in the largeness of all around us. We cannot understand all that is going buildi them | on. But a good book catches a part | what is going on and holds it for us | { :.. and we can see relationships there, and ' You causes and effects which escape us 10 and of ful ser munit to the It is System IN sor compl and fr the en At lentior the flying by of actual time and events We ought when we put down a book to feel a deeper sense of completion o self, not of escape from it. We ought to understand that self better and feel in closer accord with it and more com tent with it. If we do, then the book is literature, and literature has made its contribution to life—An address befort the New York City convention, NEA June 28, 1928. YOLU) in- nly orld | hat ore ‘ood in a unc: are | us. oing rt of r us, and 1s in ents. book on of yught 1 feel - con 0k 1s Je its yefore NEA. ATION Governor Lehman on FUNDAMENTALS OF EDUCATION ET ME as citizen and as Governor, [ cnmerat some of the funda- mental principles which character- ize and, in my judgment, dignify our management of public education. We have determined by long prac- tice and by court action that the super- vision and direction of education is basically a state function. We have, therefore, called upon the treasury of the state to bear a considerable portion of the cost of maintaining schools and Mayor LaGuardia on have adopted measures to bring a satis- factory minimum standard of educa- tional opportunity, both on the elemen- tary and secondary level, within the reach of every child in the state no mat- ter what the wealth of the school dis- trict in which he lives, We are committed to the principle that the growing science of education Left to right: Mayor LaGuardia, speaking; President Woodruff; Governor Lehman International News Photo EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY E ARE very proud of our chil- dren. Please don’t tell the people back home that you saw high buildings or big streets, but do tell them about the affection of this big city lor its children. . ; You certainly have a rare privilege and opportunity of rendering much use- lul'service, not only in your own com- munity but thru this great organization, 0 the entire country. ... ee. It is not enough to have a perfect ystem of education in large cities and ‘some communities. We must have a ‘mplete and perfect system of public Nd free education for every section of the entire country. At this very moment, when the at- ation of the country is focused on your convention, when editorials and newspaper articles will speak of our great educational systems thruout the country, I would like to have published a map of the United States with big black blotches showing the sections and the communities where education is in- sufficient or utterly lacking. Education, as I see it, is like public health. We have a great health depart- ment in this city. Our neighboring cities have health departments. We have an extensive service of preventive medi- cine, but what good does all that pre- caution do if other sections neglect their health and people with infectious dis- eases travel from one section to another? Just as we need preventive medicine, just as we need health forces, just as we ‘ SLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 and the fine art of teaching demand a high level of academic and professional training on the part of every teacher. We pledge the state to provide oppor- tunity for such training, and we permit no person to teach in the public schools who does not meet the minimum stand- ards set by the state for certification. Believing that the laborer is worthy of his hire in every walk of life, we have established by law minimum salary scales for all public-school teachers. Recognizing the high public service of the teacher, we have established in this great city and in the state at large teachers’ retirement systems which give assurance of security in old age. Believing that the faithful and com- petent teacher should be free from ap- prehension of security in his position, we have enacted tenure laws which protect our city and village teachers and which will in time, I believe, be ex- tended to teachers in rural schools. Being a conservative people, we have slowly and even reluctantly come to the realization that the one-room country school, so useful in earlier days, no longer satisfies our educational needs. A farreaching movement is under way which will eventually, and I hope speedily, centralize our rural schools. It is to a state committed to these principles thru constitution and statute and practice to which I welcome you. —From an address before the New York convention, NEA, June 27, 1938. need proper health departments all over the country to protect the entire popu- lation, so we need education. . . . In addition to nearly 100 highschools, we have four colleges maintained and supported entirely by the City of New York, because the time is coming when no American child will be deprived of a college education because of the eco- nomic condition of his family. Therefore, in addition to the little local problems that come up from time to time in our schools, as I see it, the great mission of the American teacher is to press forward that we may have the benefit of our system of education for every American child, and life, lib- erty, and the pursuit of happiness. I would say that with life, liberty, and education, we are sure of the pursuit of happiness.—From an address before the N. Y. convention, NEA, June 29, 1938. [ 177 | 177 AMERICA’S LARGEST CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM HAROLD G. CAMPBELL Superintendent of Schools, New York, N.Y. HE TASK assigned to me is to tell "T about the largest city school sys- tem in the United States. We do not boast of the fact that it is a large school system, but we do boast that within that large school system not one of our wonderful teachers forgets the individual child. Out of this great mass, we are trying to carry on, not mass edu- cation, but real education. Our organization is not only the larg- est—it is the most heterogeneous organ- ization to be found anywhere in the world, heterogeneous as to race, social outlook, economic condition, and out of this, we are trying to make good American citizens. Not only have we this large popula- tion, but we have a population that is always shifting from one part of the city to another. For example, in a recent committee study of maladjustments and delinquency in schools of this city, we found one school which started in Feb- ruary with a register of 1ooo children. It closed the term at the end of June with a register of 1000 children. But during that term, there had been 1000 transfers out and 1000 admissions, so that at the end of the term, there was not one there who had been there at the beginning of the term. I think school people will realize the difficulty that teachers have in handling such a problem. The thing we are proud of is the fact that our teachers are able to handle this type of situation. New York City’s million and a quar- ter individual school children, housed in more than 1000 buildings (represent- ing an investment of half a billion dol- lars), constitute the sixth largest city in the United States. If all the children might pass in review before us in parade formation, it would take five days and five nights for them to pass. Our system extends beyond the city’s borders. There are classes for handi- capped children and others in day camps, convalescent homes, hospitals, and institutions on Long Island and in | 178 | neighboring counties along the Hudson River. About 1,110,000 of our children are in regular day schools. The others are in parttime continuation, evening, and Americanization classes. We have 612 elementary schools with approximately 669,000 students; 80 junior highschools with approximately 130,500 students; 47 academic and tech- nical highschools with an enrolment of 255,000; and 24 vocational highschools with an enrolment of about 60,000 stu- dents, of whom 45,000 attend fulltime and 15,000 parttime. There are 44 evening elementary schools with a register of 27,500; 23 evening highschools with a register of 56,000; and 11 evening trade schools with a register of 12,000. Staff—Our teaching and supervisory staff numbers approximately 39,000. There are nearly 27,000 teachers in the elementary and junior highschools; ° g300 in the senior, academic, and tech- nical highschools; and 2128 in the voca- tional highschools. We employ more than 300 attendance officers to enforce the compulsory education law. Our schools range in size from Public School 2, in the Borough of Richmond, with one teacher and 14 children, to the New Utrecht Highschool, in the Borough of Brooklyn, with 347 teachers and 9965 children. The smallest school is, in reality, a typical rural school with grades from 1A to 6B all in the same classroom taught by the same teacher. The average size of our elementary- school classes is 34.7. In our senior high- schools the pupil-teacher ratio is 31.5, and in the junior highschools we are organized on a basis of 36 pupils per teacher for regular classes, 25 in adjust- ment classes, 18 in industrial classes. Costs—To finance our educational program there will be spent this year more than $152,500,000, of which about $54,350,000 is contributed by the state and about $97,800,000 by the city. Fed- eral aid amounts to approximately $350,- 000, exclusive of the cost of WPA proj- THE JOURNAL OF ects. Our per capita cost of instruction is $103.05 in elementary schools, $113.99 in junior highschools, and $144.30 in senior highschools. Last year every $100 spent for education in New York City was spent as follows: ' For instruction and the agencies auxiliary thereto including the cost of playgrounds, recreation centers, and other items. For physical maintenance of the school plant including the cost of replacements and repairs For physical operation of the school plant including the cost of heat- ing and cleaning the buildings. For administration and miscellane- ous expenses. $88.74 2.91 5-40 2.95 Trends in register—As in other parts of the country, our elementary-school register is declining, due to the lower birthrate and restricted immigration. We had 23,800 fewer pupils in our ele- mentary schools this April than in April 1937. A gain of 3000 or so in the junior highschool hardly offsets this loss. Regis- tration in senior academic and technical highschools, while it has grown enorm- ously, is now leveling off. In the voca- tional highschools last year there was a gain of nearly 8000. Experiments—Thruout our school system numerous experiments are being conducted, notable among them «the experiment with the activity program which emphasizes the development of the child thru participation in actual experiences. Sixty-nine representative schools—60,000 children—are engaged in this experiment. At the special Speyer School, which we are conducting in co operation with Teachers College, Co- lumbia University, an effort is being made to devise more effective courses of study for slow and rapid learners. From among our 612 elementary schools we have selected 70 in under- privileged neighborhoods, and assigned to them additional teachers so as to bring class registers down to 30 and in some cases to 25, and thus permit mort individual instruction. Remedial pro- grams have been instituted in these schools both in the tool subjects and in health education. The children are taken on trips to other parts of the city and every effort is made to overcome advers effects of unfavorable environment— From an address before the New York City convention, NEA, June 27 193°. : -_ ; regents and her freedom from all school Pumarejo, Minister from Colombia. iF ; control by any political official whatsoever. Wor tp WELLBEING can be brought nearer It seems to me, fellow members, that you by the teacher. From the smallest and re- must have found it exceedingly refreshing motest red schoolhouse to the greatest city to find a governor, then a mayor, point out educational institution, the power of the that they not only have no power or re- teacher ts a mighty current. Let it sweep on sponsibility in matters educational but do thru the years, till boys and girls every- not even wish to have, believing that these where are ambassadors of goodwill and affairs should be left to those who are world understanding and friendship—E. independent of politics and who have a A. Hardy, representing teachers of Canada. distinctive educational outlook. Of this, I am very, very proud, and it seems to me Let us boldly face the future, determined that in this respect alone possibly, New that we will hasten the dawn of “World York comes the closest to being unique.— Peace.” Let us implant within the heart of Frank P. Graves, state commissioner of | every child love of justice, love of honor, education of New York. More RAPIDLY im education than in any other area of human endeavor the Negro has made progress within the last two gen- bation is made up a trifles, But Saitubion is no = oe” AUTUMN a hundred thousand new teachers enter the schoolrooms of America. We are happy to wel- come these newcomers into the fellow- ship of the teaching profession. With the hope of aiding the beginning teacher to help herself or himself succeed in the always challenging but sometimes per- plexing business of teaching, the follow- ing checklist has been prepared. Let each beginner ask not once but often: PERSONAL I. Is my appearance as attractive as I can make it? Are my clothes suitable, becoming, and of sufficient variety to avoid monotony for the students? Am I wellgroomed, with my hair neat, my nails clean, my clothes pressed, my shoes in good repair? Do I stand erect rather than leaning and lounging on the desk? Is my carriage graceful? Do I avoid mannerisms such as fidget- ing, twirling a pencil? And, for the woman teacher: If I use cosmetics, do I do so conservatively and skilfully? Il. Have I the buoyant strength that comes from good health? Are my health habits sensible and reg- ular: Do I get sufficient fresh air and sun- light? Do I have proper eating habits? Do I have adequate rest and exercise? Am I free from health defects that are remediable? LJ Do I avoid habits injurious to my health? L] Do I have my “nerves” under control, rather than using them as an alibi? [] Am I maintaining enough reserve strength to go thru the year without devel- oping chronic fatigue? Have I the cheerfulness and radiance of spirit that bespeak good mental and spiritual health? ca III. Do I make a good impression when I speak? Have I ever had my voice tested thru a recording so that I really know whether it is low-pitched and pleasant? i If I have a voice defect such as mum- bling, nasality, or inarticulation, am I ap- plying proper remedies? LO FOR THE BEGINNING TEACHER Am I always seeking to increase my vo- cabulary? Do I consistently consult the dic- tionary as to pronunciations about which I am uncertain? CT Am I constantly on the alert to improve my English, to keep it worthy of i imitation by my pupils? oO IV. Do I have a pleasing personality? Do I refrain from overuse of “I,” “me,” and “mine”? Have I a sense of humor? Am I able to remain calm and poised in spite of provo- cation, avoiding self-pity, refusing to have my “feelings hurt,” and profiting by criti- cism and suggestions? Have I at least one hobby and a versa- tility of interests? Am I well enough informed in current events, music, literature, sports, and other fields that my conversation is not limited o “talking shop”? Oo PROFESSIONAL I. Am I making professional growth? Am I a participating member of my local, state, and national educational asso- ciations? Ba Have I studied and do I abide by the code of ethics of the profession? Am I proud of my profession and ac- quainted with its history? CJ Do I read regularly at least two profes- sional magazines? CT Am I building a personal library of well- chosen books, spending at least 1 percent of my salary for this purpose? CJ Am I a thoro student of an important area of human welfare, such as the coop- erative movement or world peace? ‘_ II. Do my classes proceed smoothly and profitably? Do I plan the work definitely in advance of each class? CO Am I familiar enough with my sub- jectmatter that I have a reserve margin of information? Cl Are my instructions and assignments clear and reasonable? Do I treat my students as friends, yet maintain reserve and dignity so as to keep their respect? Do I have a real interest in my pupils that makes itself felt in fair treatment? Do they have opportunity to discuss grades and other problems with me? CT Do I secure good order thru interesting class activities, to which each child makes a definite contribution, rather than thru enforced obedience? CT) Do I handle difficult children individ- ually outside of class, without calling class attention to their misbehavior? By selfrating, supervisors’ suggestions, and in other ways do I discover my [ 186 | THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATIO® teaching weaknesses and try to conque| them? Do I experiment with new methods, {| avoid getting into a rut? O} Ill. Are my relationships with my “C colleagues satisfactory? Be Do I cooperate with administrators and ™ teachers? pl Am I doing my share of duties outside the classroom—lunchroom and playground supervision and the like? " Am I generous in congratulating 5 colleagues on their successes? Do I make reports and records pug tually and accurately? i Do I look upon faculty meetings as an} opportunity to learn? gf Py Is it an inflexible rule of mine never make disparaging remarks about a f teacher? IV. Am I a “good neighbor” in community? Do I really dive here, or am I a suit case teacher, whose main interests and activities are centered outside this lo cality? E Do I participate in community activitie such as church? Do I vote? E Am I visiting the homes of my studé so as to understand their backgrount needs, and problems? Do I show the pa ents that I am genuinely interested in the boys and girls? Am I an active worker in the pare teacher association? Do I vitalize my teaching by relating it to the life of the community? Do I maintain a social and moral stand ard worthy of my profession? Am I pm dent in my choice of out-of-school asso ciates? Have I made a wise choice for 4 rooming and boarding place? Dp) *- Do I endeavor to interpret the schools to the public? LU REFERENCES The teacher who wishes to make this fy’ selfanalysis most effective will find specif }\ help in the following: \ [1] “Ethics of the Teaching Profession’ }¥ — Journat of the NEA, Mar. 1935, p90. | [2] “Fit to Teach,” Ninth Yearbook df ay the Department of Classroom Teachets Washington, D. C.: NEA, 1938. 276p.9 [3] Gray, Lillian. “Suitable Dress Professional Women.” Journat of t NEA, Jan., 1932, p3. [4] Lowth, Frank J. “The First Days¢ School.” The Grade Teacher, Sept. 193) p38. See also “The Rural Teacher, Advict about Her Social Life,” p74. [5] Meyer, Nathan G. “Personality Be Cultivated.” Journat of the NEA, Sept 1937, P205. [6] Ridout, Albert Kilburn. “The Teacher’s Voice.” Journat of the NEA Sept. 1937, p207. —MuILpreED SANDISON a Uit- and lo- Q 1e: E UU ent E ig it 0 nd- pru aSs0- or a 8 Geis Ge eC). O} MAKING A PICTURE ALBUM () ' OPedinod thru Pictures “One picture is worth a thousand words.” The public schools of Santa Barbara, California, are cooperating with THE JouRNAL in presenting teaching units told by photographs. Other schools are urged to send photos illustrating “pedagogy thru pictures.” 2—Choosing a Mexican album 4—Laying out and cutting stock s—Cutting the design 10—T ying the very last knot 11—Voted a good job, well done. 1—A< store window oy ; Luh! inspires creative interest “EDUCATION FOR TOMORROWS AMERICA“ THE GENERAL THEME FOR AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK, 1938 SUNDAY, NOV. MONDAY, NOV. TUESDAY, NOV. WEDNESDAY, NOV. THURSDAY, NOV. FRIDAY, NOV. The Poster SATURDAY, NOV. ROUND this topic is to be built the A cisbsecnth annual observance of American Education Week, No- vember 6-12, 1938, sponsored by the National Education Association, the American Legion, and the United States Office of Education. Elsewhere in this issue of THe Jour- NAL, President Roosevelt points out that an educational program adequate to the times for all citizens is imperative if democracy is to succeed. Since education is so vital to American democracy, it is highly fitting that annually during American Education Week there be nationwide consideration of our educa- tional system and its relation to the democracy it serves. American Education Week serves as a time when the teaching profession, parents, and citizens thruout the entire nation, join in a consideration of the schools—what they are doing, the mod- ern methods being used, how well the schools are meeting the needs of the times, and what may be required to make them more effective. American Education Week in 1938 as a national observance will be successful, however, only to the extent that it suc- ceeds in local communities. The National Education Association has again prepared materials to assist schools in the observance. Many of the materials are of an entirely new type. Items such as posters, stickers, and leaf- lets will be continued. Replacing the handbooks and manuals of previous years, however, will be a series of loose- leaf folders. These will be carried in the kindergarten-primary, elementary, high- school, and rural packets. In addition to the posters, leaflets, and [ 188 | DAILY TOPICS 6— Achieving the Golden Rule 7—Developing Strong Bodies and Able Minds 8— Mastering Skills and Knowledge 9— Attaining Values and Standards : 10— Accepting New Civic Responsibilities 11—Holding Fast to Our Ideals of Freedom 12—Gaining Security for All. stickers, each of these packets contains six of the 54% x84 inch looseleaf folders. Every folder contains 16 pages, making a total in each packet of about one hun- dred pages of practical, usable material prepared by field committees. The first folder in each packet consists of general administrative suggestions. The remain- ing five are built around the daily topics for the five school days of American Education Week. The folders are attrac- tive, well illustrated, with colored covers. Committee chairmen for the kinder- garten-primary packet: Ella Ruth Boyce, director of kindergar- tens, Pittsburgh, Pa., public schools; Chloe E. Millikan, director, Kindergarten-Pri- mary Education, Northwest Mo. State Teachers College, Maryville; Josephine C. Foster, principal, Nursery School and Kin- dergarten, University of Minnesota; Anne DeBlois, director of kindergartens and pri- mary grades, Evansville, Ind., public schools; Winifred E. Bain, Teachers Col- lege, Columbia University. Chairmen for the highschool packet: Thomas P. Pfaender, physical director, New Ulm, Minn., public schools; Eugene K. Robb, supervising principal, Bedford, Pa., public schools; Bertie Backus, princi- pal, Alice Deal Jr. Highschool, Washing- ton, D. C.; A. Q. Bennett, instructor, Urbana, Ill., highschool; R. M. Bole, in- structor, East Highschool, Superior, Wis. Chairmen for the elementary-school packet: William J. Jones, principal, Whaleyville, Va., highschool; Mrs. Irene Huss, ele- mentary grade supervisor, South St. Paul, Minn.; Mrs. Leversia L. Powers, director, Primary and Special Education, Chester, Pa., public schools; Mary Margaret Roach, principal, Roach School, Decatur, IIl.; Olive K. Funk, principal, School No, 45, Indianapolis. Chairmen for the rural-school packet: Godfrey M. Elliott, principal, Oakvale, W. Va., public schools; Edna I. Murphy, supervisor of rural schools, Grand Rapids, Minn.; Martha E. Dewey, Eastern Mon- tana State Normal School, Billings; Gene- vieve Bowen, director, Rural Education, State Teachers College, Duluth, Minn.; Neola Skala, acting secretary, Nebraska State Teachers Association, Lincoln. In addition to the work of the com- mittees, each folder carries a_ special 1000-word article on the topic of the folder by an authority on the subject. Adaptations in the topics listed above to better suit the materials to the needs of various groups have been made where necessary. Examples: In the elementary- school materials the topic, “Holding Fast to Our Ideals of Freedom,” was changed to “Developing Independence of Thought and Action”; in the rural packet, “Improving Our Rural Schools” was substituted for the Friday topic. In addition to the packets described above, there is a special teachers college packet. It contains posters, leaflets, stick- ers, a special 24-page folder, and certain of the folders from the other packets. You will find an abundance of prac- tical help in these folders—general sug- gestions, playlets, hints for exhibits, materials for speeches, plans for parent- teacher meetings, and other types of as- sistance. The material in the American Education Week folders carried in the packets will be useful thruout the year as well as during American Education Week. With these folders at hand any teacher or school official can plan and carry out an effective American Educa- tion Week program with a minimum of time and effort. All packets are now available, 50¢ each. Order early while the stock is plen- tiful and there is ample time for you to make the most effective use of them. See prices of individual items on page A-122. “New and different” is the best way to describe the American Education Week materials that have been prepared to help you plan your 1938 observance of this o¢- casion. Let them help you make AEW count in your school system.—L. W. A. THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION The I] WE HA being n have n | because Now ct vidual | of Hert sight ar child as to tell f him th in theo The cember sidered Commi teacher others | person schools page 1 The to the ] York c ithas 1 publica enlist | the fir month! tical ag | publist cation educa portar and v title Does reach ment: can cl exact pare Of ual G of th woul artic] the y many vagu conv; indiy teach VOL! $e a The Meaning of INDIVIDUAL GUIDANCE WE HAVE TALKED much about children’s being more important than subjects but we have neglected many important matters because of pressure to cram the mind. Now comes an NEA Committee on Indi- vidual Guidance, under the chairmanship of Herbert R. Stolz, a man of unusual in- sight and practical sense, to emphasize the child as the central figure in education and to tell from actual experience how to make him the central figure in reality as well as in theory. The Committee was appointed in De- cember 1937, the result of a carefully con- sidered decision of the NEA Executive Committee to attempt to assist classroom teachers, principals, superintendents, and others to provide an increasing degree of personal guidance for the pupils in our schools. Committee members are listed on page 192. The Committee submitted its first report tothe Representative Assembly at the New York convention. As one of its first tasks, ithas undertaken to formulate material for publication in THE JourNAL, designed to enlist the widest interest. This article is the first of a series which will appear monthly this year—one of the most prac- tical and valuable series THE JourNaL has published.—]J.E.M. HAT IS INDIVIDUAL GUIDANCE and why are people talking about it? Is it just a new name for edu- cation? Does it mean that swivel-chair educators have just rediscovered the im- portance of good classroom methods and wish to dress them up with a new title to make them more attractive? Does it imply that at last we have teached such proficiency in testing the mental capacities of children that we can chart in advance for each child the exact course of training which will pre- pare him for vocational efficiency ? Of course, the Committee on Individ- tal Guidance thinks the answer to each of these questions is “no”—otherwise it would not have sponsored this series of articles. However, we recognize that the word “guidance” is used to include many different meanings and that this vagueness has led to skepticism. We are convinced that when the meaning of individual guidance becomes clear to teachers and principals, skepticism will Herbert R. Stolz Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Oakland, California give place to a belief that such an em- phasis is both important and useful. In this and the succeeding articles we shall try to describe individual guidance in terms of specific illustration in the hope that from these examples you will see the general meaning. In your class of forty children have you a boy who is so noisy that he dis- turbs other pupils? Do you know whether he is like that at home, on the playground, at the movies? Have you tried to understand what makes him do it? Have you talked it over with him as you would talk over something inter- esting with a friend? Have you and your principal tried to find ways in which this boy can feel important with- out interfering with other people? When something has to be done toward controling him in class do you use disciplinary measures appropriate to his motives? Have you made a point of praising him when he has achieved greater selfcontrol during a limited pe- riod? Then you have been practicing individual guidance. In similar fashion, individual guid- ance might be illustrated for a girl who does not get along well with the other children, for a boy who stammers, for a boy who comes from a home where English is not spoken, for a girl who is delicate and easily fatigued, for a boy who is always fighting, for a girl who holds fast to the teacher’s apron strings. Of course, individual guidance in- cludes much more than this. It uses technics of individualized instruction in school subjectmatter; it includes health inspections, examinations, and the fol- lowup for correction of health handi- caps; it uses individual and group tests of academic capacity and achievement. It involves teacher, principal, parent, and others in cooperative planning and action. It means fitting the whole school program to a child as well as helping a child to profit from the program. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 Works Progress Administration But individual guidance as an em- phasis in education means more than collecting test data, urging parents to have a child’s tonsils removed, giving a child special help in reading, or setting up a cumulative record form. All these things may be useful, but it is the atti- tude and understanding of the teacher and the principal which will make or defeat the effort. To make education fit each child we must get away from the idea that guidance is the exclusive do- main of the specialist. We must start with a teacher who thinks of each of his pupils as an interesting young friend whom he wants to understand and help. He gathers information about each child and puts it together into a pattern which seems to explain why he behaves as he does. If the teacher needs more in- formation or help in interpreting it, he seeks the assistance of the principal or parent, or seeks the aid of a specialist, if available. Even without any other assist- ance, he can go a long way in carrying out individual guidance which may be of great importance in his pupils’ lives. We see, then, that individual guid- ance is a part of education; that it stresses the differences among pupils rather than the likenesses; that it em- phasizes warm, personalized feeling to- ward each pupil as well as systematic effort to understand him; that it in- cludes all those procedures which are directed to meet the needs, not of chil- dren in general or of the class in general, but of some particular boy or girl. , [ 189 ] IDEAS, SUGGESTIONS, AN ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL TEACHER—Some four years ago I was awarded an M.S. degree. I happened to finish when times were hard; any job was difficult to find and the ideal job almost impossible to locate. I had aspirations—yes, plenty of them. I had hopes of a principal’s job and I wouldn’t have turned down a job as superintendent. With some years of experience behind me and the best train- ing offered in one of our state institu- tions, I felt I was competent to handle most school problems. But all the time this was going on | had a family. They were healthy, happy youngsters and I had a hankering to keep them that way. So I took the first job that came my teaching fifth grade in an elementary school. It was quite a come-down to what I expected but it meant security for my family. The years have slipped by and I’m still at the same job. I have gotten more kick out of this job than I could express with a mere typewriter. In a number of cases I have been able to enter the lives of these children, to give way, them a more enjoyable attitude toward school and sometimes toward life in general. But all the time there has been a draw- back to this job of mine. Oh, I don’t mean the salary. It is pitifully small but it isn’t the chief drawback. Occasionally I meet people whom I knew of old, with whom I went to school or under whom I studied. And almost invariably when I tell them I am teaching in the elemen- tary school, I hear an “Oh”—the kind used when someone doesn’t turn out well. I can’t help feeling that perhaps I have failed in gaining the goal I should have attained with my training, and yet I can’t see why. I have taught in college, substituting for my major professor ; I have t taught in highschools and junior highschools; and this job I have—these little people of ten and eleven years— calls for as much or more skill than any other age of citizens except those younger. Why then should not the ele- mentary-school teacher be rewarded with equi al rank and salary? For after all it is he, or she, who lays the founda- tion for all that is to follow, and edu- cation like houses must rest on solid footing, if it is to endure—Gilbert H. Andrews, Logan, Utah. | 190 | . AND AIDS UML Z VMs ELEM MENTARY= SCHOOL SERV. TC | YY Wi WW MTU OD UU | WHat bo you TARY SCHOOLS? —We teach boys and girls. TEACH IN YOUR ELEMEN- In the elementary school we boys and girls should: Learn to read well. Learn to write legibly. Learn to use the English language easily and correctly, both written and spoken. Learn how to spell common words. Understand the meaning of numbers and use them skilfully in four fundamental processes to solve simple problems. Understand the world about them— flowers, birds, trees, sky, insects, animals. Understand the importance of and strive to keep health and to be safe. Learn to play and work together—know and accept pleasantly rules of the game. Know the important places of the earth and gain an appreciation of their peoples. Understand something of the growth of our own country. Engage in many types of plastic and graphic arts for selfexpression. Know the great literature, poems, stories, and nonfiction of their maturity level. Learn to sing and enjoy music individu- ally and together. Have opportunities to develop individual aptitudes and expand special interests. —Pauline G. Staats, supervisor of ele- mentary schools, Pittsburg, Kansas. believe that ARE YOU ENCOURAGING THE CHILDREN in your classes to play the simple games that give children diversion, activity, and companionship within the home en- vironment? Why not make a list for class discussion of the games the chil- dren in your room play at home? Edu- cation for leisure begins with the whole- some activities people already enjoy. ScHooL Movirs—A series of 16mm. silent curriculum pictures covering several grade levels and a number of subjects may be rented at low cost from the Li- brary and Visual Service of the Pasadena schools, 581 Garfield Avenue, Pasadena, : THE JOURNAL OF FOR ELEMENTARY TEACHERS Calif. Subjects include “We and Oy Health,” “The Romance of Explors.| tion,” and others. Pupils are the actors: settings are classrooms and playgrounds, Why nor try THIs?—To encourage inj. tiative and responsibility, a county school in Meshawville, S. C., posts the following list of duties each week on the bulletin board. Each child is assigned ; different duty for a week: Keep the room clean, Myrtle. ee - [2] Keep the room in order, John. 13] Dust the furniture, Ann. 14] Arrange the flowers, Amy. |5] Water the plants, Henry. |6| Fill in attendance chart, Joe. |7| Fill in weather chart, Mary. |8] Feed the pets, Robert. Wuat ts your cHorce?—The September book-of-the-month-for-elementary-teach- ers is suggested by Mrs. Marion E Hawes of the Enoch Pratt Free Library. Tue Journat will appreciate hearing from others who wish to name worth. while books for elementary teachers Mrs. Hawes writes: “Let’s Go t School: Integrative Experiences in 4 Public Elementary School” by A. Horrall (McGraw, 1938, 434p) reports the change of teaching from the old pro- fessional methods to progressive integra tive teaching. Details of planning for | the new curriculum and establishment of objectives and aims are discussed. Three units are present in detail.” Con | tains numerous photographs, complete | references, and lists of material. For YOUR HEALTH-EDUCATION NOTEBOOK— “Select any ten children from almost any schoolroom in the country and examine their mouths. Nine of those children wil have one or more decayed teeth.” Se states the 68-page pamphlet, Mouth} Health of School Children, recently published by the Joint Committee o Health Problems of the NEA and the American Medical Association, telling what the teacher can do in the schoo dental program. Order from NEA, 25¢ May WE HEAR FRoM Yyou?—Everett RB. Erickson, of the Alaska Education Asst | ciation, suggests that teachers exchangt ideas for school programs—holidays birthdays of national heroes. THe Jou® NAL will be glad to serve as a clearing house for worthwhile learning units. THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION — iaieniage TO — AMERI project page 1 terials carry ¢ PERSON in the sonal | by the was is! copies gradu: series | is NOV used and ir ity of factor: sist to the ex these Leafle attrac of 16 quant than order YouT a stu of yo the a ducte Inissi were trates the s can ( D. ¢ THE Was parti NE: dres: of §, part! teacl may to / St., Stu: Nev of | of 2 gra ant Vol Jur ira. Irs; ids, INi- tr) the the da orts Dr0- gra for rent sed, ‘on lete inge lays, OUR ing: ‘JON TO PERFECT AND ENRICH AMERICAN EDUCATION WEEK is a vital project for every highschool. Turn to page 188 for information concerning ma- terials available to help you plan and carry out your observance. PERSONAL GROWTH LEAFLETS—Your Life in the Making, first in the series of Per- sonal Growth Leaflets to be published by the National Education Association, was issued last spring. More than 100,000 copies were distributed during the graduation season. The second in the series entitled Your Mind in the Making is now available. These leaflets may be used in homerooms, guidance classes, and in other ways. Despite the complex- ity of the times there are certain central factors in an individual’s life which per- sist today as in earlier generations when the exterior world was simpler. Toward these essentials the Personal Growth Leaflets are directed. The leaflets are attractively printed 3 x 5 inch booklets of 16 pages each. One cent each in any quantity but no orders accepted for less than 25 copies; cash must accompany orders for $1 or less. YouTH TELL THEIR story is the title of a study of the conditions and attitudes of young people in Maryland between the ages of sixteen and twenty-four con- ducted by the American Youth Com- inission. More than 13,000 young people were interviewed. An attractively illus- trated book of 273 pages based upon the study may be had from the Ameri- can Council on Education, Washington, D. C, for $1.50. THE FORGOTTEN PUPIL IN THE HIGHSCHOOL was the theme of meetings of the De- partment of Secondary Education of the NEA at the New York convention. Ad- dresses will be published in fall issues of Secondary Education sent free to De- partment members. Any highschool teacher who is a member of the NEA may join the Department by sending $1 to Association headquarters, 1201 16th St, N. W., Washington, D. C. Stupy arps—Teachers in the Rochester, New York, schools have tried a variety of how-to-study devices. From a study of 2000 pupils from the 7th to the 12th grades, Charles E. Finch, former assist- ant superintendent of schools, recently found that the pupils like assignments with “clear, concise, interesting require- ments accompanied by full directions and explanations.” Encouraging are the reasons the pupils gave for studying: To get high marks 14.9 To please the teachers 6 To be able to take part in the reci- tation 4.6 To win honors or scholarships 8.4 To learn things I want to know 28.3 To please my parents 6.9 To improve my mind 43-3 THE NEW CONSTITUENCY—A generation or two ago the primary function of the highschool was to prepare a selected and relatively homogeneous group for fur- ther study at the college or university level. The obligations of the highschool today, however, are not confined to the selected few; they extend rather to all the youth of the community. Many of the pupils who enter highschool at the present time have little or no interest in the older curriculum offerings. The cur- riculum of the highschool must be sub- jected to a thoro reorganization in order that it may be made to serve the inter- ests of its new constituency—From The Problems of a Changing Population, report of the National Resources Com- mittee issued in May 1938. THE INTERNATIONAL FRIENDSHIP CLUB of Roosevelt Highschool, Wyandotte, Michigan, encourages the writing of let- ters to students in foreign countries and sponsors international festivals including motion pictures, dinners, exhibits, and entertainment by foreign students. Helpful material for such groups and others interested in education for world goodwill may be found in the recent re- port of the Committee on International Relations of the NEA. Copies may be secured from the NEA for 25¢ each. VOLUME 27, NUMBER 6; SEPTEMBER 1938 OUR EDUCATION OF YOUTH Furur— TEACHERS cLuBs—Local groups of Future Teachers of Armerica may secure without charge a set of suggestive programs to aid in planning meetings. Attractive sterling silver FTA pins are now available for members. The price is 50¢ each. For programs or pins write to the National Education Association, 1201 16th St., N. W., Washington, D. C. A JUNIOR SCIENCE FAIR will be held at the New York World’s Fair in 1939. From ten to twenty young people from the New York City schools will be con- tinuously engaged on various scientific and engineering projects of their own choosing. Each pupil will spend a week in the project and more than one thou- sand will take part at the Fair during the year. SCHOOL MOTION PicruRES—Have you made a motion picture in your school? The Committee on Standards for Mo- tion Pictures and Newspapers of the National Council of Teachers of English is holding a conference by mail so that all interested may learn from one an- other. Hardy R. Greenwich Highschool, Green- wich, Connecticut. Communicate with Finch, CONSUMERS’ COOPERATION is a course of study recently issued by the Minnesota State Department of Education, includ- ing activities for junior and senior high- schools. Discussion GRouP pRoyEcT—The state and district coordinators of the Discus- sion Group Project of the Department of Secondary School Principals will hold a meeting’ in Chicago on October 3 and 4 to exchange experiences and discuss plans for the coming year, The purposes of this project are: First, to secure active and effective consideration of the reports of the Committee on Orientation en- titled Issues of Secondary Education and Functions of Secondary Education; sec- ond, to develop a permanent organiza- tion whereby workers in secondary edu- cation may meet regularly in local groups to consider their problems. SuGGESTIONS WANTED—If you have an idea, interesting fact, or reference suita- ble for this page, send it to THE JourNAL, 1201 16th St., N. W., Washington, D. C. [ 191 | Secretary, Health Department N. P. Neilson, professor of hygiene and physical education, Stanford ary ye who has been serving as president of the American Association for Health, Physical Education, and Recreation. On September 1 Dr. Neilson gave up the presidency to become executive secretary of the associa- tion, with offices in the NEA headquarters building in Washington, D. C. Since the merger in July 1937 of the American Phys- ical Education Association and the De- partment of School Health and Physical Education of the NEA the new Depart- ment has held two meetings. The first was the convention held at Atlanta, Georgia, April 20-23, 1938. At this four-day meeting 1800 conventioners listened to discussions that sought closer cooperation between health specialists and classroom teachers. The Department also held sessions in con- junction with the NEA at the New York convention, June 26-30, 1938, where special emphasis was placed upon the recreation problems of rural areas. The Department enrols a membership of about 9000. Publi- cation of its magazine, Journal of Health and Physical Education, wéll be continued with Elmer D. Mitchell, University of Michigan, as editor. The Meaning of Individual Guidance yy CALL THE ATTENTION of your friends and associates to this article on page 189. The NEA Committee on Individual Guid- ance is seeking to promote individual guid- ance thru addresses to groups of teachers, principals, and superintendents at local, state, and national meetings. Program- makers desiring speakers are invited to write to the chairman or members of the Committee for suggestions. The Commit- tee also desires to learn of elementary schools which are now placing special emphasis upon individual guidance and which might furnish practical suggestions “ ANNUAL = CLASSROOM TEACHERS «, yéNEA =~ The Annual Banquet of the Department of Classroom Teachers marked the climax of the New York City convention. The princi- pal address, “Some Aspects of Education for Citizenship,” was given by Katherine F. Lenroot, chief of the United States Chil- dren’s Bureau. for other schools and other teachers. members of this Committee are: Harriepay M. Allyn, academic dean, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.; Edwin A@ Lee, director, National Occupational Con9 ference, New York, N. Y.; Lois Hayd Meek, professor of education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, N. Y.; Douglas A. Thom, director, Di vision of Mental Hygiene, State Depart! ment of Mental Diseases, Boston, Massa and Herbert R. Stolz, assistant superis tendent of schools, Oakland, Calif., chairs | man. To assist the Committee in the collection and dissemination of informa tion about individual guidance, President Woodruff appointed a nationwide advisory committee of individuals from the state teachers associations who are interested j individual guidance and who can cop tribute significantly to the project. Professional Dues yy THE APRIL 1938 issue of the Bulletia of the American Library Association car ries an interesting article regarding re quirements for membership in various professional organizations, including ine formation regarding dues. The following® tabulation is taken from this article: American Association of University Professors $ 4_ American Bar Association re | American Institute of Electrical Engineers 15 American Library Association (proposed dues) § 7 American Medical Association 7 American Society of Civil Engineers 25 National Education Association 2 Elementary School Principals Thirty-three states were represented at the Second Annual Conference on Elementary Education, sponsored by the Department Elementary School Principals at New Yi University, July 1-15, 1938. {See photo be Dean John W. Withers and Professot ~ Robert K. Speer, by their cooperation and~ planning, made this second conference a great success. The first hour of the morning sessio consisted of a lecture by some eminent educator. This was followed by discussion groups. Com ference members came together in the en to discuss their own problems. Secretary EvaG. Pinkston of this Department reports that f= are being made now for a Third Annual Com ference to be held during the summer of 193% {Cont. on page A-116}. THE JOURNAL OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ay —— ty He ee