-ONIENUNL | | 3 0300 01020 beé0 | 7883 The Library Humboldt Boe College 708 Sn OH AID IVa I-03 setae Date Due NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES Proceedings OF, THE SIXTY-FIFTH ANNUAL MEETING HELD AT SEATTLE, WASHINGTON JULY 3-8, 1927 VOLUME 65 The National Education Association 1201 Sixteenth Street N. W. Washington, D. C. 4 MEMBERSHIP FEES AND PUBLICATIONS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AND ITS VARIOUS DEPARTMENTS The National Education Association has three classes of membership: 1. The $2 membership entitles one to all the privileges of membership and to receive The Journal of the National Education Association for one year. (9 issues.) 2. The $5 membership entitles one to all the privileges of membership and to receive for one year (a) The Journal of the National Education Associa- tion; (b) The Annual Volume of Addresses and Proceedings; (c) The Re- search Bulletin; (d) Occasional bulletins and reports. 3. The $100 life membership entitles one to the publications and privi- leges of the $5 membership for life. Several departments of the National Education Association have separate membership fees and issue department publications. One must be a member of the National Education Association before he can become a member of any department of the Association. The payment of one of the membership fees of the National Education Association does not include membership in any department having membership fee. The membership of the depart- ments which issue publications follows: 1. The Department of Superintendence—$5 membership entitles one to receive for one year: (a) The Yearbook of the Department of Superin- tendence, which includes a list of members of the department; (b) The Official Report of the Winter Meeting; and (c) bulletins. 2. The Department of Elementary School Principals—$3 membership en- titles one to participate in the work of the department and to receive its bulletins issued in October, January, April, and July. The April number of the Bulletin is a Yearbook containing approximately three hundred pages including a list of members of the department. This volume of Proceedings is sent to all members of the National Edu- cation Association paying an annual fee of $5, or it may be purchased by nonmembers for $3. A space schedule for the departments was adopted by the Executive Committee in Cleveland, February, 1923. In accordance with this plan of space allotment, the officers of the departments have co- operated in deciding the selection of material for their respective depart- ments. Membership fees of the National Education Association and its depart- ments and inquiries concerning all publications should be sent to 1201 Six- teenth Street Northwest, Washington, D. C. [2] FOREWORD HE ASSOCIATION year 1926-27 marks the turning point in the life of the Association. The administration of President Francis G. Blair emphasized larger responsibility for the Board of Directors and closer relations with affiliated state associations in all of the activities of profes- sional organization. Progress was also made in the development of the Headquarters Staff, including the adoption of a salary schedule and a plan for retirement as shown in the minutes of the Board of Directors. Both of the 1927 meetings were held away from the largest centers of population. Both broke previous attendance records. The Department of Superintendence held its winter meeting in Dallas, Texas, bringing the Association into the great southwest for the first time in its history. The summer meeting at Seattle, Washington, brought thousands of teachers to the Pacific Northwest intent on combining a vacation with professional enrichment. Both of these meetings afforded opportunities of attendance to hundreds of teachers who have been unable to attend meetings held in the central and eastern states. The Proceedings this year brings together the best material presented before the Association and its seventeen departments. An effort is made each year to improve the Proceedings by paying more attention to the careful selection of material for its content. A new department appears this year for the first time; the Depattment of Lip-Reading. The complete list of the Association’s publications from 1857 to 1924 appears on pages 1041-60 of the Proceedings for that year. It is supple- mented by tables in Proceedings, 1925: 1080-81; 1926: 1185; 1927: 1219. The strength of the educational advance is suggested by the increase in the published output of the Association during the past few years. The grand total during 1920-21 for all the Association’s publications was 22,951,650 pages; for 1926 it was 129,239,035 pages. This growing literature on the problems of the profession reflects the inspiring devotion of American teachers to the public school. The ideals which the teachers pass on to the children are the most precious things in the national life. DiIvIsION OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. [3] - a 7 i) ) ee ‘ z : 5 " eo ia ae pate lt ie Trt ‘Gols a ad wil VE-anr Ll say phi wocbhiee Dot nade eis sully hfe Niet og Bnvkan 2d eas “ omit av vie oir path ¢ ; pone et iy Snore iereeyet Guta Sate Scie yet ak Jase - at ny ' i) Lx A lit Fuy itr | sfmity Hiding mets 1p Lt STi a a ‘iw a oh Age po telt Art” nabs, elt He (cid—d 40) 1s tas Om T ali 4 at ‘Tt my) Mi Samy ie Be oat jel, 1) ates yl? won ivk Nona siete sebte di ali 73) WH Penh wi) Saha eto en ym Tek P * 7 , o nw vi ; cate ¢ a EL a a he tie OW ES - Dari br ins rIwoig Te | eal, : VL. Wie Ae, me oe ast UEqR MWeutiie rf chery ai ot Feel BE me bie fh telalarvet tl mir w rer] Mat Ade ini “J { ‘ 4 : C7628 tt OIE hae ot ols or eae oT ee STD et: 6" ho aoe Vastly et 004 17, babi mye ; ‘ " 4 fala ey 30 eon Me e] Dirt we -%4 a i ie Kees aft J - % ; 7 —_ 4 HOW THIS BOOK IS BUILT HE CONVENTIONS of the National Education Association are great congresses which bring together a wide variety of interests. ‘This volume reflects these interests. Persons who use it will save time by forming a picture of its contents and arrangement. The opening pages cover the speeches before the General Sessions at the Seattle meeting. ‘These are followed by the reports of the Association’s active committees. “The addresses and minutes of the National Council of Education are next in order and are followed by addresses and minutes of the Association’s departments. The closing pages are devoted to records and information pertaining to the Association since its organization in 1857. The volume as a whole represents the efforts of hundreds of per- sons engaged in all branches of educational activity. SUMMARY OF CONTENTS fadotessess berore the Greneral- oessions..._¢_---..._-_....-._--=— 17 BvcoGrtcaols Camilli css ee. es ee eee 185 ane a National ouncieotel ducations—- 2-2 2<—_ | 2c .._---.-. 247 Wl GerDepartment of Adult Education_-.-_..--..-____2-+==--= 293 ithe. Department of Business Education______ _-<<2..___-----.-- 335 she: Wepartment of. Classroom. [eachers_.2__ 2... 2---.--- 353 he Department of Deans of Women=2._.-=-—- --...-=._---.=- 391 The Department of Elementary School Principals________-------~- 419 The Department of Kindergarten-Primary Education_____-------- 457 Maieeleparunent.ot lip-Reading-..-..--._.-_3-5..2.. 3s eee 473 abies Separtment,.of Music Education._......-2.-<----.2-----.5- 487 ilinte, Department of Rural Education...-.....-=-.-£--./2-2---2=- 497 The Department of School Health and Physical Education_-------- 561 fine Department of science: Instruction.2-.-------2=—__-_s-----L- 583 The Department of Secondary School Principals______-_----------- 599 Meremipenaremicnt Ol pocial Studies... == 679 tie Wepartment of Superintendence___-.-__..-..-.._+..----_- 697 Wenies Jepattmentsot: | cachers Colleges... =. _s--.-5---4.<--.2. 873 Mine w@epartmentsor Visual Instruction [2---.---._-..-_--------.- 951 Senes Department of Vocational Hducation-o22S222_ 2 isso ae 971 The World Federation of Education Associations___------------- 1007 (Assoctational. Records and, Imtormation_.___-—----.-_....2-.--.- 1017 [5] : = gone enbeinosh tuts ibe ty art A alt asain Ce he) ee sbi wi Lilien ti ia 17 Aton 7 s% : moa hy he ‘Pexiney elt dn deiaieesd fevorcot> ght Hote wsihasede wilt ; soieh. “vilt ty etude Sify vd. be rr i an Fn rua tatiii ts Hitt = 2 ri 58 7 fd fine tiobare jes \ 7 ¥ 4 : 63 ~*~) J — periadt tntato alt ota reer ngak fae ie ’ aa & i GORE HORY TS | 1 ue eeiatl 7 wy . - ae vt ee 4 yaar sree iv ay at DP Misa athe cp 1 i. 4 es . af j ; Seria: Peay TH i wine tet yi _ ta NDE ge i aan it ti) aa tae 9 5 ae t Chal 1 ‘ si 1 hes CONTENTS GENERAL SESSIONS SEATTLE ADDRESSES PAGE miner God=Given's leacher—= Mati Keiwsioyys cle a). care BAS on. ies ho badass iso aoe ibis ame rimieless Generation Mais Hi pm Peels incase) d aula oa ecieinasnds elerdec Sis « 20 PAdcnessmoteVWVelCome— andes cawn Mantis ayes uh ays ahs Gnu Set ato a soaael 6a cubed A Declaration of Independence for Public Education—Suzzallo............. 23 Emesentatton ota viel——W. OO riL hie is tains eacltis oie ssisces ¢ «4.4.6 © aTECE + satin 8 32 Wihomamericamevie tinge. Ot——B) Girne aetna fers opedias eco boven nt aa cae a ones 33 The Policy of the National Education Association Toward the Representative Assembly and the Board of Directors—Blair.........5..0scssss eee 43 The Relation of Committees to the Association and Its Policies—Newlon.... 48 The Policy of the National Education Association Toward State Associa- PUOIIS———CUDILOLIL AUT eae cetyl Rial oiorsiateoss babs sale hie bo Oot ee ee 53 The Teacher’s Economic, Social, and Professional Welfare, as Related to enue —H wr C rm eR Sai ie Creare ols «Gale Hots ahs Baa eheie ee deh «os 57 The Teacher’s Economic, Social, and Professional Welfare, as Related to Pensions and) Retirement, Punds—-Pyrtle. . 0. 66.06 cise nen s save iso eioltle 66 sabbaticals Wea Vvic—a ACU SteM see eed: = (ae. Wetvnam ath. Mites qaisigaiae de clave winaisiae 70 The World Federation of Education Associations—Thomas............-05 75 The Teacher and the School. Board—OJerholtzer.... 0.5.0.0. cece eccceenecs 77 mbhes Meacher: andthe (bepislature—Kelleg .< -ctiravaien cee silent ahs ecsjatielee pis.e ions 82 “ches Veacher and) the; Parent—Mialstrotn as oie. nari sibis BG Mein ees «0% as 87 Greetings from the Canadian Teachers—Charlesworth...........-000000++ 93 (he: Teacher: Being, Knowing, -Dompg—Lord oo oon coe s.255 op oyeie ese meleiee 4 98 The Superintendent and the Teacher—Gwinm..............ceeeeeeeeeeeeee 103 ihesticacher. At VWorkyand Play—V cShir00 eerie ak cpeve tee eietrtiets 1a su ioserei 110 Plans and Policies for Homes for Retired Teachers—Jomes..........+..0000- 115 Plans and Policies for Homes for Retired Teachers—Siders............0.00 118 A New Basis for Delegate Representation—Claxton............ceeceeeuves 120 Expenses of Delegates and Directors—Adair...............e eee eenences 127 What Economists Hope to Contribute to American Life—Mamnchester........ 130 Contribution to American Life by the Teachers of Vocations—Baylor...... 138 Contributions to American Life by the Teachen of Geography—Grassmuch 140 Contribution of the Teacher of Literature to American Life—Shryock........ 142 The Policy of the National Education Association Towards Private Founda- tions and Other National Organizations—Morgan...........00.+00ee 144 The Policy of the National Education Association Towards Federal Legisla- LOM IL GILL UATIES Meters REAR ie. trees enti eee 8) ageahuske eRMe ye Ms seuss Seis to. wakes US) The Policy of the National Education Association Towards Federal Legisla- OID Ae BUI thet CLEP OOD ALOE POOL OO OS SORE OOAD Ae ome ao 157 The Economic and Professional Status of the American Teachers College Ieee AAICAD, ty aaeleoues cold BAUNCin Ot Midainon So ctioiingcn ams Ounetd c 162 The Economic and Professional Status of the American Teacher in the Ameri- cam High “School oodward on... ccc catia e't ominin wie soles oct esos. 167 The Economic and Professional Status of the Elementary Teacher—Jahnke 170 The Economic and Professional Status of Teachers in the American Rural SCHOO aL ACME MMM CR are esha er caeicas cists, s cueisue ope eee. lar vie ayaa pile eusecs 176 (Cihersley. (WY. IB eli) 7 FG Danls Am octet iso ols Gedlen EIU OO oO OND on Dead 177 Fifty Years of a Great Educator—Dorsey..........0.seeseee cence ence nees 178 An Appreciation of William Torrey Harris, Educator and Philosopher— LT GLa a Sled tees dict sO RE Th SIRO NAC OAPI EO ECS SS 179 8 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION REPORTS OF COMMITTEES Report of the Executive Committee on Committees—Newlon.............+-- 187 Report of Committee on Necrology—Crandall.......-+-++++++seeeseree renee 188 Report of the Committee on Ethics of the Profession of the National Educa- tion “Association 12t7 setettnaele cle ete ors teres ope eee te sls che elels tener tens tet etere Tole 197 Report of the Committee on Retirement Allowances—Pyrtle..........+.+->- 201 Teacher Tenure in the United States—Humnter......... 0c cece crete reece eens 208 Report of the Committee on International Relations—Russell...........02.- 235 Report of Committee on Visual Education for the National Education As- SOCIATION COM Y mr ere ae ek eke on Faas iene Pettis aco: 238 Report of Joint Committee on School Museum Relations—Bailey............ 239 Report of the Cooperating Committees on Behavior Problems of Children of National Education Association and the National Conference of Social. {Work==J.0765 > oiedics chic e eb eoye,levtie 6) s% ori b) «| oto seee taReaae Renee ree ie 242 THE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATION Historical | Note << .ijoc.ccoe cus ooh tre wie oth NG Mae Ios. nda da etal Siete te: «] Spee (ot ener anette 248 The Fallacy of Treating School Subjects as “Tool Subjects’—Judd.......... 249 Chaos or Integration in Educational Thought and Effort—Newlon...... So hib | AZ _The Development of the Junior High School in a City System—Weglein.... 260 Integration in the Elementary Schools—Wilson..........0. 2.200 ceeeeeeeees 263 Progress) im School Health) Work——Vo0d teers eterno ieee re eee 264 An American Program of Education—Strayer...,..........s0.0-+eseeeee es 266 Progress.in the Elementary School—Dorsejin ise eile ee eee 271 Review of Educational Progress in Elementary Teacher Training Work During the Past Yeat—Seerley iio ater: aly mene ek etaliett ener ae 272 What is Expected of the Modern Teacher—Charlesworth.............++++- 275 A Review of Educational Progress in the High Schools During the Past Vieat— Giles eis’. a. narns slaves «ese sg ae Oe ee eee 279 Secretary's: Minute sig sare , ec ot SOR cre ee ee eesar? cca Selec caw eraser aye 354 dhe, Social “Aspect of the Teacher—Thomas... 2. canes we occ ese cee eee eke 355 Outstanding Benefits Conferred Upon Teachers by Boards of Education— CR OTUDL OR Bo PAA os es 55) Sib rsicore 8) eure 6.0) eas 85/5, cas ser obelistal oie ol sts oyafenaberslis hehe aeaeue 359 Beonomic wvyeltare of the Teacher—Crosort....5- -0 ee e5 -ec 5 -e n> silsieas cis 367 The Professional Welfare of Teachers—Abstract—Hale................05- 370 Reportmorethes PresiGent——d O97 PS O%lo\ wijsrs svts in, c) ose 0 isle) sls ale sie ake) « oceyensgeie id “eames 371 REpOrtor the Vicepresident—SwHltVaze asec se oo mee ileie esteem 6 vo em enone 377 IRepOntHOLetNe | OECLELARY = —LiG7071 ote oc) siete sc 6 p/o.oks also. 6, ous) 9 6/0) 2) sis. 6 ore sr ale 6 ole wetekelele le 378 Report of Eastern Executive Committee Member—Joymes..........-.-+0005 380 Report of Middle Section Executive Committee Member—Hunter.......... 382 Report of Western Section Executive Committee Member—Soules........... 383 Report of the Committee on a Departmental Fee for the Department—Adair. 384 Saray) IMME Boe boocdeanet \dsconacbean Goo Ie somo mood scm ocr occ 386 THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WOMEN NS COTLE MIN OLE emit ntti tte: ciciciete oreue crecoysreaehs wodeleke eGsie f oehaliders «lem uae cilasere 392 Report of the President—Stimsom.... 60.0... .cccsscceeeeer erect eee seneees 393 A Progress Report on “A Personnel Study of the Work of Women Deans in Colleges and Universities’—Sturtevant...........-+++ 1002000240202 395 From) High School! to College——S7tthetes.). 3 sce eee ene res ee est osenss 398 Then Valuerot al Student CtitlOl—7-Ot072 arcsec a a)oiel o)+\0 1+ sc+keun + ehni elelcdeiee rieotels 406 An Abstract of the Closing Address of Dean Arnold................--++5- 411 akileee— Pg lOinge ocdiosanngb vous boeou Cette cde USeu OO ROMO TDO oO domdan ost 412 Marriage, a Career and the Curriculum—Gilbreth.... 1... 6.00. scene ence eens 413 414 Seeretanysse Vuinutes mer rere tet vrctstartorverevel-verereieieielc}-\ le) 4) =1>)-1e aiele shehgyer «ms -uetet 10 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Elistoricale sNOt@™ ¢ cide ssies oe. 6 crs. Sax cletatte wtolo e ofeuskofote tore) heMninietease nels teh < (aera lacks tia _ 420 Fundamental Values of Life and How to Reach Them—Bailey.........-.+ 421 The Responsibility and Opportunity of the Principal to the School—Lefler... 422 The Teacher an Agent of International Goodwill—Andrews.........+..+-- 425 Greetings to the Department of Elementary School Principals—Abstract— TROMPS OM ars cic ace wiope eyolersloneys » ees) ceveierctei~ Nes o's 6 ets act ee ele ae aoa eal 435 Some Suggestions Looking to Cooperation and Efficiency in the Functioning of Supervisors and Principals—Dorsey.....--++.eeeee eee eeeeeeeeeeee 436 Cooperative Supervision from the Viewpoint of the Elementary Principal— FApstra ct CO OnmiChn terete ceiavetsyers\ ocr else trey) de eevee tere acetate 441 Cooperative Supervision—Swant ........eeee errr etree cece ete cenes 441 Cooperative Supervision—Adair...... cee e eee e eee e eect eee e teste eeees 442 Report of the Committee on Standards and Training for the Elementary School) Principalship—Longs/ore ©... . . o «2 nto ais held beled aetereiioranr a 444 Report of the Committee on Resolutions—Zook............. 0c ee eereee cence 446 Report of the Committee on Educational Progress—Duffy.......-....-+.++- 448 Report, of the Secretary—-R0e Mute ater ciclertie re eiate orale clejereieletetaerielaetenoy ones 449 Report..of they President-——Pyrtles veers rte cele cs kote hereto rele ee- gen tenet eee 449 Constitution and Bylaws Department of Elementary School Principals...... 450 030 CA ee A rene trees SAL richciciiin ao OOO acomro Goa .0 Sao 452 Secretary’s -Minutes . os... tore 0d ec Puteit nao ahd rane naatona sielavene Brataotaretar sales) eeamepatete rs 454 THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN-PRIMARY EDUCATION Historical!” Note oc..)...s.4 wis «feceisis © 2nge, oo eer EE IO ea ee Te Cee eter 458 The Significance of the Increasing Emphasis on the Education for Young Children—Wllard= Wao... eee ais Se GO NRG Sine 459 The Nursery School Child and His Needs—Christiansen............+.0005: 462 The Primary Grades—A Continuation of Opportunity for Creative Selfex- PLESSION— Lies samer Wajers acres late cla ei acn a oe an ee Te 465 A Study of the Interests and Activities of Children—Abstract—Meriam..... 468 JudginesthesWorthvot A ctivities——leq770lds sects nite aa pier rertareey reise terse 469 Secretary: Ss Minutes) Actstaraticsrersioite s Stott eer ate. Serer ke Seen Ree ee 470 Historical: Noté*tereascr sete tee coe cone ee ee 474 What the City of Houston is Doing for its Hard-of-Hearing Children Through thesPublic™ Schools —Oberholizers= i taeanen c.f eee 475 Lip-Reading in the Seattle Schools—Templeton...........cccsceccecvcceees 476 What San Francisco is Doing for Hard-of-Hearing Children—Gwinn...... 477 The Pressing Problems of the Deafened—Bryant...........ccecceccebecece 479 The Why of Adult Lip-Reading Classes in our Public Schools—Kenfield.... 481 Report of the Establishment of the Department of Lip-Reading of the National Education Association: |r...) «1st sere ete ais tee 484 Secretary's) Minutes pcise © te. irasrs. «scree ssi te ee ee 485 Response—Magee Recognition of Music Education in the Public Schools—A Necessity—Lindsay 492 Secretary's Minutes ' CoNnTENTS al THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION SOS EANICL OEM ERIC Gr a gpa eh a a 498 Some Essentials of a State’s Supervisory Program for the Improvement of Nays fot Ct (00.09 Remmemeere vep ett chen Fe atone © «ya. sho coon susan cess nuns tnisioah scat coaviave 499 Reorganizing the Local School Unit in Terms of Social and Economic Rela- TOMINAGA ED SSPE RS Weis SS ee ee Oe ee ee 503 Outstanding Needs as Shown by a Survey of the Small High Schools of the State—— Danie smmrre trier eraoryeoken recline assis hatin oak BU im aoe mens 507 An Attempt to Define a School District Unit in Terms of Current Educational Objectives and in Recognition of Certain Administrative Adjust- BLLGUN GS SOL CEST ater ite sate ahs ave iol sialckstops relaws Aare reer ae odie ai MER eee ie 511 The Function of the Secondary School in Rural Education—Ferriss.......... 515 Value of Supervision in Rural Consolidated Schools—Southall............ 520 The Use of the Bulletin as an Agency in Supervision—Anderson............ 524 OMCMOLIPEIWVAS LOM: PCS CH Cia cuormiors ts, + cus ueeisievdees + oe) saat coe ala sieho w LOTR Cnn 527 ‘AA ¥en Sehool Plan of County Supervision—Lathin............0c0ccceveees 531 Promoting Intelligent Use of the Textbook—Wilson................000000- 533 Economic and Social Values of Rural Teachers—Nagel.................. 535 The Professional Welfare of the Rural Teacher—Crane.................. 538 The State’s Financial Responsibility to its Rural Schools—McCoy........... 542 Capitalizing Teaching Power Through Supervision—Halberg.............. 544 Training County Superintendents for Better Work in Instructional Supervi- GOMES ATI og Said Aawo oS eo on a oa coe NOS SOO OCs Le eee 548 The Farmer’s School and Cooperation—Gentle....... 00.0 cece cece cece ceaes 552 Seeneta ivgs MV IMULES ante pem errs Sie riciie nearer Pea ys eae emus ccs Cee oa Risse Gas 555 -THE DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION istorical. Notes apiukte pane Pemterciag hese ey teal ae cee ep Nae «Sarees 2 m8 562 The School and Community Athletics—Kearns...... bee Peta als att oe 563 Health—An_ Objective of Education—Brown .........0.--eeeeee eet eee eee 564 The Administration of Health Education—Black.............. 0000 c eee ees 568 The Relation of Health Education to Social Science and English—McPherson 571 Health Education in the College—Glassow........s002- ccs cs cule nsw seelts 572 Assisting the Teacher in Service to do her Part in the School Health Program = IY4)] LATS OFLU EIS RTE ELLEN EL Bs hohe MAA ales of Mee eh ea oy 575 The Place of Research in Physical Education—Bovard..............0000005. 577 Secreta yasmV limites MRL A ieutt «cia etasiadick ees eae te eee eee 699 The IdealsotstheNation—-4 Awell siete ae aaeerecioeiete oe eee ee eee 703 The) Constitution—-W entg © ove... sos. cette Oe eee 706 The Birthright af America’s Children—A rnold. ........4.. 50. steed eee eee 709 The Key That Unlocks the Door of Understanding—Pennybacker........... 713 The Evolution of a Substitute for War, and How America May Share in It Without Becoming Entangled in European Political. Affairs—Clarke.. 718 The Inter-American Significance of Porto Rico’s Educational Program— RAMI 2G Rs Eien cede Peyote Mepis hay & SEN eS AT ee 730 Educational Ideals and Their Achievement—Bond, Bauer, Cooper, Pechstein, GoshngseStarbuckwHolnes Howard eee eee eee eee ee 736 FAN Jayoyndxoeyseya Cre Ihe: MAI WiNaaaucosuocudbodoavccaaduancoccucbeducoane 756 - The Place and Function of the Junior High Schools in the American School System—Withers ROO oi: COME ANG SOPRA A Aides o ado fed 759 The Articulation of the Junior and Senior High School—Newlon .......... 765 American Culture and the Reconstruction of the School Curriculum—Rugg... 771 Social Studies as the Core of the Junior High School Curriculum—Judd...... 776 A Forum on Fundamental Problems of the Junior High School Curriculum— Ballon Horny ison; Woieet woe ee ee ote eee a, He ee 781 Again the Open Door in Education—Boynton ...........000..cececeeces ee 787 Greetings — Yorkie aeadat ke . Senne wad es eee 795 Spiritualizing Gest acts=Glark Voss. ctemetan = ais 4 Sem Seen oa ae 800 CoNTENTS 13 Picalthe Be acatiGh=—ACHY 8. oxit grad, Shasta ds Ajed eel sie nc Leste ote oh scn® Reine nrontheGaeden— Pai Cher aie oiries., cra cles see Se ameiviawihe do ctehth Bimwntors Fundamental Principles of Modern Education—Hughes .........0...022005. ne Boiling Point7in. Education —B atlegiosy. wavewcited awieis boden otodickoes. An Understanding Citizenship Through Adult Education—Griffith.......... The Lowest Fourth: Their Educational, Social, Civic, and Vocational Wel- eae ae 278 D0 711 Meee BAe eas Ph ed aih, 5; das ds sess eR Awe ANE: Education and Employment—Hapgood « su.. 5. cece sce ccssccsesceccucceet mibeabacelat Our, Window——Blairieeh is diac, See Row scien fe ee Music-and the’Sacred Seven—Weebster . oc. ssh. ove cckidscielessoeSccdsee ees Becca Las mIVIN MN UteS actin, aie w teva os any ReueME Fa ao arsre aeae ees aston? olen cer INE AEB THE DEPARTMENT OF TEACHERS COLLEGES ELIStOR Cals NOteme eee tenets acres ee te ees Che ech ee TEs cx ee eae. Minutes of the Meeting of the American Association of Teachers Colleges at DallasmelexasssMebruarya 24 anid 25001927 0. ooo iss oss wainde eno aeyoe SLAG ands Lore \ccreditingameachers (COLE PES cies 40 0 022 00 + ossiops'e aac safes The American Association of Teachers Colleges—Need—Unanimity—Solid- Eels SY THI a5 Boe Oem Cre OI Cringe RON en eet a ee a Unique Opportunities of Teachers Colleges—Gray .............0cceee eee aee The Selection and Training of the Instructional Staffs of Normal Schools and @leachersmC@ollegyes=—S11)17 Iemma emer tar enn iene Ie sucl sla. ccesthene Report of the Committee on Cooperation With the Bureau of Education— UGA Sete BOO SOO OCA Pu Re oe Oc CS LO ORO One Oa ee Report of Committee on Subvention for Research Work in Teachers Colleges— TU GGI CO Manes cri ae iuscce ta CREE STE Coes EE nee SR ERAS SoA Sst Report of Committee on Standards and Surveys of American Association otwbeachers Collepes—Pwend en. 25. acc deslne cals OC eae any ot The Trend Toward Standardization in Teachers. Colleges—Rugg ......... Report of Committee on American Council on Education—Hendricks........ The Teaching “Profession,” Leadership and Responsibility—4rps........... Report of the Committee on Accrediting and Classification—Rockwell....... Judicious Control of Teacher-Training by State Departments of Educa- (ONES RAG AAAs sadn oa Goo DO OOOO MOR aan orem re oreo. aichalcconn 6 THE DEPARTMENT OF VISUAL INSTRUCTION [Etovaeieal IN@ES 6650 6s0cu8 Odloman DRO ons Cone occ OG oe ce AAR OnE ON cae ackao (Grodin SGA! 2 8c cso Saba nde spaianoroub oe doen ood Soe Oomoomeaae Ocoee Clagerommn [NMR Sai oxa dd asus dna oA. 000n0 0 00 YeOus oem Dob be 1b edad Ue The Pedagogical Possibilities of Mass Instruction With Motion Pictures— IDOPAPID .cBed Cat oS SG ho RTO OA ROOTES COLOR IDLE SOI ERR Dae THE DEPARTMENT OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION EnistoricalmiNOteme eden icieenccta wri o ethers» rioiionare/e rears Go ais,8 » ulpeisite ac oo A Vocational and Practical Arts Education Program from the Standpoint of t{hen@itys Vocationals Director——D dy mummies slelelpeiel-.+ soe «of cle cielclevatele eit A Vocational and Practical Arts Education Program from the Viewpoint of the City Superintendent of Schools—Hughey.......-.-..seeeeeee evens A Vocational and Practical Arts Education Program from the Viewpoint of a Deputy State Superintendent of Public Instruction—Dennis........... 817 822 823 828 833 840 845 849 859 866 868 874 875 881 887 891 898 907 907 908 913 928 931 938 944 14 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION The Part a Vocational and Practical Arts Education Should Play in Indus- ee Ha Ba One conan can BA oaon oc Govore bene ncn deato 6 987 A Vocational and Practical Arts Education Program from the Point of View of a Dean of A State Supported College of Education—Taylor........ 989 Some Assets in Part-Time School Administration—Abstract—Goldberger.... 994 Vocational Education—An Essential Part of a State Program of Education— AY 717 14 a EE er ats Ne a Ar a AG Gn CORO SACO aco. con miaes o 995 The Viewpoint of a Supervisor of Trade and Industrial Education Toward Vocational Education—A dams Waser.) oteito hols tetetstete hetaiertts) si eteteteteeters ere 997 Manual Arts and Their Relation to any Vocational Education Program— VEU MRE OS OO CSG OL TREO LNG LOT CRORE DATO ODS Mag Oo cin.co 6.10 998 Home Economics Education for Tomorrow—Baylor..........2.00eee eee eeee 1002 Principles Underlying a State Plan for Vocational Education—Ricciardi.... 1004 WORLD FEDERATION OF EDUCATION ASSOCIATIONS Historical (Note sss tote tata ey sieges ee ss 5. sisi sions 6 did 9 (oa SUR'S pave eek strers ae 1008 Proposed Articles of Incorporation of the World Federation of Education ASSOC ALONG? Aupein sau ays meets yet ss © tesie P siegevorerevelsttl «1 svete. urage in the face of industrial GENERAL SESSIONS 139 ja ee EE SOS a a he crises. “Chey are the ones who can be depended upon to carry the nation through economic stress and contribute most largely to the rehabilitation that will follow after periods of business and financial depression. 4. An expanded recognition on the part of school people of the con- tribution that can be made by laymen to the educational program. As we extend our organized educational program beyond the pale of the small percent of youth who continue in elementary school, high school, and college, and open up facilities for educating adults and youth, who in the terms of schoolmen and women have “fallen by the wayside,” we open up a new world and new conditions untouched in large part, heretofore, by the school organization. We, as school people, need much aid from laymen in developing the best kind of educational program for these youths and adults. “The course of study and plans for work in public schools cannot be cut down and made over like father’s trousers for Johnny, if we expect this undertaking to succeed. “The program must be based on actual con- ditions and needs with which the school man is totally unfamiliar and the laymen must come to the rescue. It is in the achievement of these means to the end of creating a citizen- ship of non-parasites, an ample supply of trained workmen for all types of vocations, the utilization of our national resources and conservation of both material and human products that the teacher of vocations makes his con- tribution to American life. He seeks the 60 percent of drop-outs as well as the 40 percent of stay-ins of the public schools, studying their special apti- tudes and abilities, the responsibilities to be met in the vocation which they have already entered or seek to enter, and endeavors to train them to render larger service in this field. He creates attitudes and ideals in regard to the purpose of education, whether he be a teacher of law, medicine, teach- ing, carpentry, plumbing, or homemaking, and increases the number of those who regard education as having for its purpose the doing of work more effectively, rather than the escape from it altogether. Through his teach- ing, the youth and adult of the land have a higher regard for work of all kinds, whether of brain or hand, and refuse to become dependents of the state, ‘Trained workmen are supplied to meet demands. ‘Through the teacher of vocations, youths and adults are trained to handle material and human resources economically and effectively, and have a keener apprecia- tion of the limits of supply and the great need for conservation. In order to utilize the multitude of new inventions and discoveries that are rapidly emerging, it is necessary that new devices, new operations, and new methods be developed and disseminated as rapidly as possible. ‘The teacher of vocations is a large contributing factor to this process. The real teacher of vocations constantly has in mind and brings to those under his guidance, the triple aspect of producing, distributing, and con- suming. ‘These go hand in hand. Raw products are constantly consumed in production. Manufactured products are consumed in the institutions for which they are made. On the basis of consumption rather than pro- duction, does the home today claim a place in the ranks of vocations. 140 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION It is estimated that ten billion dollars are expended every year by the women of this country for home and family life. In this enormous ex- penditure girls and women need careful training that must be provided in the public schools. It is through their selection and purchase that stand- ards of family and social life are determined, so fundamental to successful national life. The teacher of homemaking is as truly a teacher of vocations as is the teacher of any wage-earning pursuit. The future of America depends upon the success with which the complex social and economic problems of today are solved; and most of these problems are closely connected with produc- tion, distribution, and consumption. All these are invaluable as contribu- tions to American life. The American teacher of vocations is training for selection, purchase, and wise utilization in production, distribution, and consumption, for the development of social and national standards in American life, and for wholesome social relationship in professions, in industry, in agriculture, and in the home. CONTRIBUTIONS TO AMERICAN LIFE BY THE TEACHER OF GEOGRAPHY ERNA GRASSMUCH, DIRECTOR OF GEOGRAPHY, STATE DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, HARRISBURG, PA. Geography is no longer cartography. It has become the description of the earth as the home of man. It is an interpretation of life, in the various regions of the world, in terms of the air, land, and water of this planet. It is a combination of the former political, economic and physical geography—a scientific analysis of the interrelation of the human, plant, and animal activities and the various elements of natural environment, such as climate, soil and topography. The time is fast approaching when the professional standing of an edu- cational institution, be it elementary school, high school or college, will be measured in part by the standard of its work in geography. There are many reasons for this measuring stick. Geography has come to play an important part in the economic and spiritual life of the world. The teacher of geography acts as a clearinghouse of information. To her adults turn in considering possibilities for carrying on certain ues of industries and in finding centers of recreation. In business life trained geographers are employed as advisors in steel corporations, ean farms departments of agriculture and commerce, and in conducting economic see veys, such as that in Cincinnati. Through lectures to such organizations as women’s clubs and men’s service clubs, the teacher of geography is applying a geographic viewpoint to the analvsi ; . : ysis of national : tional problems. and interna GENERAL SESSIONS 141 Education trains individuals how to earn a living, and how to make living more worth while. By means of the geography work, the teacher aids the pupil to acquire a basic knowledge of geography and to develop habits and skills that enable him to become a selfreliant worker, using the proper geographic tools in earning a living, and also in making living more worth while for himself and others. Every vocation has a definite geographic background and every trip taken as a means of recreation can produce broader results if it be taken “with geographic eyes.” Through his geography work, the child also develops an attitude of “world minded- ness,” as applied to the local community, the state, the nation, and the world. ‘Thus, the teacher of geography establishes a proper balance of emphasis in building courses of study by the careful distribution of local, state, national, and world geography. Patriotism without geographic understanding based on uptodate facts and principles is mere froth, an effervescence that appears under stress of war but disappears when legislatures are in session and compromises on great national questions are considered. ‘The north cannot live without the cotton of the south because the long, cold winters will not permit cotton to grow in the north. ‘The west, with its mild, moist climate needs the bleaker east as a market. ‘The south, with its climatic advantages, would starve without the market of the north. The national citizens of the United States must know accurately how, and to what extent, the elements of natural environment are holding the different sections of our country together. He must be more than a citizen of California, of New York, or of Chicago. It is the teacher of geography who trains him to understand the interactions between the plant, animal, and human life and the elements of nature in each of the specific regions of the United States. There is no climate of the United States; there are many climates. But this citizen, whom we, as teachers, are helping develop through edu- cation must know more than local, state, and national geography. He needs to understand why the people of the United States, living in the erate forest belt, can no longer live unto ourselves economically. One need mention only a few of the tropical products, rubber, coffee, bananas; or a few of the cold region products, furs and minerals. He requires a knowledge of the earth, as organized into climatic belts, vegeta- tion regions, topographic levels, soil regions, forest and water resource areas, and the geographic reasons for each type. Only with this background can the citizen understand what is meant by economic independence. ‘The teacher of geography supplies the technic and the tools whereby the student learns to see life from the world view- point. What of the geography teacher’s contribution to the spiritual life of our country? His privilege and responsibility is to introduce the child or adult to the great work of God as revealed in the mountains, plains, plateaus, equatorial forest, polar regions of the earth. But it is also his 142 NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION Sele ae a responsibility to lead the students to understand the interrelations of di- versified areas on each other and on man. Such understanding broadens one’s vision; one’s belief in an Almighty Power is strengthened by the understanding of and reverence for His handiwork. The teacher of geog- raphy brings close to the students these major aspects of the earth itself, so that we may be more grateful for the tremendous material advantages that we, in the United States, have over many other sections of the world. Moreover, these students are led to speculate regarding the probable future influences of these young mountains, valleys, dry deserts, and tropics, not merely on human activity but also on animal and plant production. The teacher of geography interests others also in the relation of natural environment both to the economic and to the cultural life of the various people; to their art, music, literature and ethics. The climate of northern Europe, for example, determines the Gothic arch in architecture, and sparse rainfall dictates the shape of the Bedouin’s tent! Our Hell was conceived as a place of intense heat but it suited th Norseman for his Heaven. The Tibetan form of marriage is reasonable in Tibet, but it would not be tolerated in the United States. Thus, the teacher of geography contributes to American life a back- ground of knowledge of interrelations between life activities and elements of natural environments. ‘This knowledge develops in students a longing to know the truth about the earth and its people and other resources so that they may say, with Edna St. Vincent Millay: The world stands out on either side No wider than the heart is wide; Above the world is stretched the sky, No higher than the soul is high. The heart can push the sea and land Farther away on either hand; The soul can split the sky in two, And let the face of God shine through. But East and West will pinch the heart That cannot keep them pushed apart; And he whose soul is flat—the sky, Will cave in on him by and by. CONTRIBUTION OF THE TEACHER OF LITERATURE TO AMERICAN LIFE H. W. SHRYOCK, PRESIDENT SOUTHERN ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY, CARBONDALE, ILL. : The first and most utilitarian among the contributions that the teacher of literature may make to the enrichment of American life is the development of vocabulary. In order to think the widest range of thought and to think these thoughts with the sharpness of discrimination that is the crowning glory of human thinking, every person should have a large vocabulary. The newest dictionaries list more than 450,000 words. The man who runs down the columns of the dictionary and does not recognize one word in nine, or GENERAL SESSIONS 143 eerie ree pre Og ee ee a total of 50,000, is intellectually poor. Each of us has a “home vocabu- lary” of about five thousand words. All of the rest of the fifty thousand or more we must acquire from various outside sources. All studies will, of course, enrich vocabulary, but literature makes the largest single contribu- uon, and it is a vitalized vocabulary that literature contributes; furthermore, familiarity with literature gives phrasal power to some degree at least. The teacher of literature cooperates best with the teacher of rhetoric and com- position when he develops in the student some capacity for feeling what Keats called “the intoxication of the fine phrase.” Without some familiarity with the best in English and American litera- ture the speech of our nation would inevitably tend more and more toward dialect and provincialism. ‘The one thing that maintains unity in the speech of the Anglo-Saxon race is the fact that we have as our common heritage a long line of literary treasure from Hamlet to The Scarlet Letter. In the refining and humanizing of American life the influence of litera- ture can perhaps scarcely be overestimated. There are certain arts and art products that have as their special field of activity that refining, sensi- tizing, and disciplining of the emotions that we sum up in our word culture, but only one of these humanizing agencies was effective among our pioneer ancestors. Our forefathers were virile men, capable and ambitious, but in general coarse-fibred. A gentler race with finer culture must have failed in the rude struggle for existence. These pioneers came into a land “where the king’s writs could not run,” and their only protection lay in the uplifted hand ever ready to smite, and in the quick finger upon the hair trigger of the rifle. To this overmastering stock pictorial art and statuary art were non-existent, because these frontier people never saw statues or pictures, music existed for them only in its simplest and crudest forms, significant architecture never once beckoned to them. Literature was the only one of these refining influences that found its way into the wilder- ness with them. ‘The pioneers had but few books, but fortunately some of these were the works of the masters or were made up of extracts from the masterpieces of the world’s-literature. “The pioneer boy, Abraham Lincoln, ragged --d uncouth was rich in the possession of a copy of Shakespeare’s p.ays. The sonorous vhrasings of the King James version of the Bible, and the purple patches constituting the extracts from literature making up the old McGuffey’s Reader, the National Reader, and the elocutionary selec- tions of the day; these all combined to “intenerate the granite” of the na- tional character. One of the ministries of literature is ‘‘to make the world seem less forlorn and life more like a holiday”; to “other us,” to transport us, to lift us out of ourselves, to dull the heartache or at least to rose tint the gray skies of sordid everyday life that shut us in, and to stir within us vicariously a sense of romance. ‘The merchant, the carpenter, the farm boy, each of us may fare forth with the hero and heroine of long ago Where cool and broad the waters run Through leagues on leagues of poplars gray, Beneath the veiled soft southern sun May wander forth of yesterday ; 144 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION ne ae eee Go Maying in that ancient May Whose fallen flowers are fragant yet, And linger by the fountain spray With Aucassin and Nicolette. The pages of literature are rich with pictures that reflect the beauty of the objective world, and, better still, beauty in the moral world; this leads to the highest function in literature and to the noblest work of the teacher of literature, the setting up of ideals. The Greeks placed in the gynaeceum, the intimate rooms of parents and children, the glorious forms of sculpture that Greek art created; so that in moments of joy or grief, of passion or of pain, the parents and children alike might see before them those matchless forms, forms so perfect that life itself seems to throb through the lucent marble; to the end that the child might somehow grow to be like these serenely beautiful images of the human form divine. With a skilful teacher literature may serve a like purpose in moulding the spiritual nature. THE POLICY OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION TOWARDS PRIVATE FOUNDATIONS AND OTHER “NATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS WALTER P. MORGAN, PRESIDENT OF THE WESTERN ILLINOIS STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE, MACOMB, ILLINOIS It is thought best to treat the two parts of this topic in the reverse order to that in which they are given. In dealing with the second part, “other national organizations,” it is understood that these organizations are edu- cational in their bearing and that they have a national influence. ‘There, are, however, many educational organizations which though sectional in name have a very definite national bearing. The North Central Associa- tion of Colleges and Secondary Schools is such an organization, for since its beginning in 1896 it has steadfastly widened its field until it has become national in influence because its standards are accepted by like organiza- tions throughout the United States. Besides such cases, each state, with one or two exceptions, has its own educational association which is related to and affiliated with each other state association and with the National Association in such a way that it too is national in its scope. If we omit such organizations as these, however, there are still, in Bulle- tin 16, for 1926, of the Bureau of Education, entitled ““A Handbook of Educational Associations and Foundations in the United States,” listed sixty-three organizations containing within their titles the word “Amerj- can,” such as American Association of Junior Colleges which leads one to believe that they consider their missions national in scope. Besides in the statement of its purpose the organization referred to extends its field to include all junior colleges without regard to their locations. There are eighty other educational organizations each of which con- GENERAL SESSIONS . 145 tains in its title the word “National.” This indicates that the group extends its field to the whole United States and purposes to work therein. In this same bulletin are listed fifteen foundations and two funds each of which is nationally interested in some phase of education or educational investigation. We have, therefore, over one hundred fifty national organizations work- ing in some portion of the field of education in the United States, and yet only seventeen educational organizations of any sort are listed as affliated or having a definite cooperative relation with the National Edu- cation Association. These are: Department of Elementary School Princi- pals; Department of Superintendence; National Council of Education ; Department of Adult Education; Department of Business Education ; Department of Classroom Teachers; Department of Deans of Women; Department of Kindergarten Education; Department of Music Educa- tion; Department of Rural Education; Department of School Health and Physical Education; Department of Science Instruction; Department of Secondary School Principals; Department of Social Studies; Department of Visual Instruction; Department of Vocational Education; and the American Association of Teachers Colleges. Thus not more than one in ten of the national organizations to promote education is affiliated with our organization nor are the two hundred fifty sectional organizations, except the state associations mentioned in the beginning, so related to it that there is any working basis between it and them. Neither has there been any definite attempt to establish any cooperative relationship between this association and the various foundations included in the group men- tioned. It would seem that many if not all organizations working in the com- mon cause of education ought to be affiliated in some rather intimate way in this work and that the National Education Association ought to have some helpful policy towards them. On the other hand this relationship ought not to be such that this association would seem to dictate to any educational organization either as to its scope or purpose and procedure nor should this association be in any way placed in the position of having any other organization, even though engaged in educational work, hamper its activities, restrict its field or thwart its plans. Whatever relationships do exist should be for the common good of both organizations. Dan Some notion of the present policy can be reached if we examine into the relationship which the National Education Association has developed with such educational organizations as have been willing to affiliate with it. It has permitted its own departments to hold their meetings when they desired and where they preferred. It has allowed them to study such topics and publish such findings as seemed to meet the needs of these departments while promoting their best interests. It has granted these departments the privilege of prescribing their qualifications for membership and setting the fees therefor. All have exercised their own initiatives in directing the work of their departments. 146 NaTIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION Pe ee ibd ene i SS As a member of the American Association of Teachers Colleges and as its present secretary I think I can show to some degree the policy of the National Education Association towards the organizations which are afhli- ated with it by explaining the working plan which has been developed between it and the organization which I represent. The American Association of Teachers Colleges is the outgrowth of an organization which was started among the normal school presidents of the north central states about twenty-five years ago. Only four or five presi- dents were interested in the organization which they called “The Council” at first, but their enthusiasm soon attracted others to membership and the organization came to include most of the presidents of normal schools and teachers colleges in the north central section of the United States. The organization was called “The North Central Council of Normal School Presidents” and still the National Education Association took little or no note of its existence for it was not a national organization. ‘The organization, however, grew rapidly and extended its territory until about ten years ago when it adopted the name “National Council of Normal School Presidents and Principals.” Even this organization had little recognition from the National Education Association except the expression of a kindly educational approval for its field was not developed and its purpose was not very clear although this was being rapidly formulated. About this time there began the very rapid development of state teachers colleges and their presidents while members of the National Council of Normal School Presidents and Principals organized a smaller group among themselves and later called this group ‘““The American Association of Teachers Colleges.” ‘This latter organization rapidly increased in size and at Cleveland in 1923 after a joint committee had developed a plan the National Council of Normal School Presidents and Principals and the American Association of Teachers Colleges were combined under the name of the latter. During this growth and this transition into a national movement the National Education Association had continued its friendly educational atti- tude and during the latter days had made indirect advances towards affilia- tion, but it remained for the individual members of the American Associa- tion of Teachers Colleges to bring about a little closer relationship by an appeal to the National Education Association for consideration by one of the departments of the National Education Association. ‘This was at the time when the Department of Superintendence showed a tendency to refuse membership to educators not actively engaged in public school ad- ministration accompanied by a further tendency to discourage any other organizations from holding their meetings at the same time and place with their own annual meeting unless all were members of the Department of Superintendence. The American Association of Teachers Colleges and its predecessors had adopted the plan of holding its annual meeting on the two days preceding the meeting of the Department of Superintendence and many of the presi- GENERAL SESSIONS 147 dents desired to remain and attend the meeting of the superintendents, too. Hence these presidents and the American Association of Teachers Colleges were disturbed by these tendencies on the part of the Department of Superintendence, but the whole matter was very easily adjusted through the good offices of the National Education Association so that the American Association of Teachers Colleges holds its annual meeting as has been its custom and such of its members as desire take active membership in the Department of Superintendence and secure all of the benefits of that organ- ization. This incident, however, made the National Education Association more aware of the American Association of Teachers Colleges and its aims and showed the American Association of Teachers Colleges the value of more friendly educational and administrative relations with the National Edu- cation Association so that later it was not very difficult for the American Association of Teachers Colleges to be persuaded that it would be to its advantage to become a department of the National Education Association. It became about finally in this way: The secretary of the National Educa- tion Association set forth to the American Association of Teachers Colleges through its secretary what his association could do for the latter association and what advantage this would be to the former. He explained that the National Education Association has research experts for some of its de- partments now and that it is willing to use these experts insofar as their time will permit or employ additional experts to work on problems of mutual interest to the two associations and adjust the cost equitably to the two associations. He further stated that if the American Association of Teachers Colleges had a major problem of research which did not have a bearing on the problems of the National Education Association he would still be glad to have the American Association of ‘Teachers Colleges employ its own research workers and either add them to the research department of the National Education Association or permit them to confer with this department for advice based on its unusual experience. Another *-‘-t of interest lies in the fact that as a department of the National Education Association the American Association of ‘Teachers Colleges is entitled to have the proceedings of its annual meetings published in the Proceedings of the National Education Association and thus get additional publicity for these proceedings, but it can also put them out bound separately as its own yearbook at about two thirds the cost of an independent effort since the same “‘set up” answers the purpose of the Na- tional Education Association as well as its own. Still another point of value lies in the publicity which the American Association of ‘Teachers Colleges gets for itself and its programs through the publicity work of the National Education Association. Its programs are announced in.the Journal and reports of its meetings are carried in this journal. Its programs may be printed with the programs for the De- partment of Superintendence along with the programs of all affiliated organizations which meet at that time. Through the publicity department 148 NaTIOoNAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION each day’s program as presented at the annual meeting may be given to the press and published throughout the country. Furthermore through this plan of affiliation the American Association of Teachers Colleges and its program are sponsored by an organization whose membership is given in hundred thousands while its own member- ship is but one hundred fifty. Why such magnanimity on the part of the National Education Associa- tion? This Association is working in general in behalf of education. Its officers and management are pledged to the promotion of all that is good in education in this country. Its membership is largely composed of men and women who have been trained in these teachers colleges and like insti- tutions and who themselves are interested in education in its every aspect. They are members of the National Education Association because they are volunteers in the army of teachers fighting for a better education of the youth of this country that these youths as our successors may bring a higher type of citizenship to this nation. Such a policy therefore towards a type of education like that promoted by the teachers colleges of the United States engenders confidence in the organization administering that policy, increases its membership and in turn empowers it to more fully promote its policy and justify its existence. This is not the only example which could be cited. ‘There are other departments of the National Education Association whose experience and final affiliation are even more interesting but I am not so familiar with them. There are, too, many other organizations like the American Asso- ciation of Teachers Colleges whose primary problems or fields are of an educational type which is closely correlated with the problems and varied fields of this association and they too should join us in this movement to unify and solidify educational effort. Certainly the following organiza- tions are a few of them that could be so affiliated if their titles and avowed purposes indicate at all their missions: The Child Study Association of America The American Child Health Association The American School Citizenship League The National Child Welfare Association The National Committee on Research in Secondary Education The -National Council of Primary Education In passing it may be in place to remark that the titles of the many educational organizations listed in the Bulletin elsewhere referred to in this paper indicate that there is much overlapping of their fields and prob- ably some dissipation of effort. I believe we might bring much better results if all educational organizations combined in a single colossal drive upon one or more of the strategic points which must be captured before education can march forward unmolested. Who shall advise or attempt this consolidation of effort? May not the National Education Association at least offer its council chambers for a GENERAL SESSIONS 149 conference in this direction with a hope that all educational effort may direct itself to the end that the battle for education may be more decisive and have fewer educational casualties. One other form of educational organization needs special consideration in connection with the policy of the National Education Association. I refer to that group of organizations commonly called foundations. From the standpoint of their educational purpose the policy of this association towards them may readily be the same that it has been towards its own departments as described above. ‘That is, from this standpoint the policy of this organization towards them may well be friendly, cooperative and supervisory. But from the standpoint of their financial support and some- times from the standpoint of the personnel of their administrative bodies it may be necessary to vary the policy somewhat. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching states its purpose as follows: ‘“To do and perform all things necessary to encourage, uphold, and dignify the profession of the teacher and the cause of higher education.” It provides retiring allowances and pensions for teachers. Its management is vested in twenty-five trustees, eminent in education or other public service. This statement of the purpose of this foundation as well as the provision for its administration gives conclusive evidence that it intends to enter a field where the National Education Association may well lend a hand and offer every encouragement. If however, it should turn out that this foundation is maintained by funds secured by the un- scrupulous oppression of men and women unable to defend themselves, which funds are offered as a peace offering to the educational public while oppression from which they come grows ever less endurable, then the policy of this association towards the Carnegie Foundation might with propriety become unfriendly and condemnatory if not one of open warfare. It is my opinion that happily no such cause for an unfavorable attitude on the part of this association exists nor does any other condition obtain such as to debar the most friendly relations so far as I am personally aware. Nevertheless it it should happen at any time that the Carnegie Founda- tion’ should offer an unusual salary to a member of this association on condition that he should obtain an appointment at the hands of this asso- ciation to head a committee to do research work of one type or another for this association we might well ask ourselves whether the acceptance of such a salary will leave our member unhindered and unafraid in his search for the truth. In fact if a foundation offers funds for any purpose but puts restrictions on the offer the restrictions must be analyzed carefully before the funds or the offer are accepted. A, If a foundation desires to express its confidence in our association or its membership as such it would be more expressive 1t seems to me if that foundation were to give funds outright to this association to carry on research work in a field which may be prescribed by the foundation but without further restriction as to the persons who shall do the work or 150 NaTIoNAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION the findings they may publish. ‘This association must conduct its own affairs and its members as such must be responsible to it alone. The purpose of the General Education Board is given as this: “To promote education within the United States without distinction of race, sex, or creed.” This is an undertaking in which this association might well join hands with the General Education Board. But if in the person- nel of the administrative body of that board which publishes reports, studies and occasional papers on phases of education there are men and women unfriendly to public education, these reports, studies and papers may show distorted diagnoses and prescribe surgical operations which will maim the victim when his case needs only rest, fresh air, wholesome food, and warm sunshine. Some would try to refute the above statement by affirming at once that such reports, studies and papers are the result of scientific investigations and that a scientist discovers the same facts whether he be friendly or un- friendly to the subject of his investigation. "This affirmation is in large measure true, but even so, a correct diagnosis stating the ailment is the important thing in the case in order that the proper prescription may be written and administered. But diagnosis is a personal reaction to a set of facts or conditions, and personal reactions depend upon the attitudes of the diagnostician towards the facts or conditions at hand. To illustrate the point I desire to make, let me suggest this: A physician is called in to visit a sick child. He discovers the child’s temperature, the rapidity of his pulse, the redness of his throat, the flush of his skin, the coat on his tongue and likewise his blood pressure. He diagnoses the case as measles and prescribes the proper treatment for measles. After much delay the child begins to show slight improvement and later recovers but to a neighbor who has taken four children through attacks of scarlet fever the scales from the skin of this child revealed the fact that he too had scarlet fever and not the measles. It is only fair to say that the symptoms for measles and scarlet fever are much the same, but had a physician who was familiar with scarlet fever and therefore sympathetic with its victim examined the above case he would have diagnosed it as scarlet fever and at the same time he would have warned of the possibility of deafness as a resultant evil which later developed in the above case as a further evidence of the actual ailment and an incorrect diagnosis. To be clear, then, an educational illness needs an educational expert familiar with and sympathetic towards educational maladies in order that a proper diagnosis may be given and a specific treatment prescribed. Furthermore, when a weakness is apparent in elementary education an expert in elementary education should be called to analyze this weakness, discover the location of the focal infection, tell why it is present and outline an educational procedure which will overcome the weakness by killing the infection, after which he will prescribe a procedure which will cure the malady and prevent its recurrence. It is better still to call in a group of GENERAL SESSIONS 151 “eee et em SSR gee en ha experts in elementary education for a consultation concerning the weak- ness for the sake of checking one against the other in determining the cause of this weakness and the proper treatment. But what has all of this to do with the policy of the National Education Association towards a foundation? Just this. If a foundation is humanly just and sympathetically administered from an educational viewpoint the National Education Association should have a policy to encourage it, assist it, and secure its affiliation in carrying out the purpose of the National Education Association which is stated as follows: To elevate the character and advance the interests of the profession of teaching and to promote the cause of education in the United States. On the other hand educational surveys, inspections and investigations conducted by the foundations or supported by philanthropic funds should have no approyal by this association, nor should it in any way participate in such surveys, inspections, and investigations unless they are conducted by educational experts fully in sympathy with the educational agencies which are being examined and even then they who plan these investigations should do so by invitation or with the hearty approval of the administra- tors of these agencies, Furthermore, such investigations should be carried out only to secure a basis for constructive criticism and helpful advice. When this is the purpose of any educational investigation the National Education Association may well encourage and support it with its funds and forces. Before concluding this paper it seems well to state that the policy here outlined and suggested has not been submitted to the officers of this asso- ciation for their approval, nor should it be considered as more than the view of one who has given some rather careful consideration to existing relations, after which he ventured, what has seemed to him, some plausible suggestions. Finally then it seems to me that the policy of the National Education Association te=-""™other national organizations, foundations and funds interested in the various phases of national education ought to be one of helpfulness and encouragement leading to affiliation if by careful discern- ment they are found to be in the hands of conservative, sympathetic friends of education who hope to improve the type of education we have now, or even develop a higher type of education than the one now being pro- moted, by helpful and constructive criticism whereby the weakness and strength of our educational system are treated in a kindly but relentless spirit with respect to the product of this system as shown in its general citizenship, its moral, religious and educational leaders and its legislative, executive and judicial bodies. But any organization, foundation or fund which has for its purpose anything unsympathetic to our educational ideal or anyone in its administrative body untriendly to public education at public expense, to the end that every boy and girl in this republic may have his or her unimpeded opportunity in the great adventure of citizenship, 152 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION ought to be discouraged, condemned and if necessary fought without quar- ter by this association. am We can only maintain our moral selfrespect as an association by up- holding our educational ideals with the same firmness and devotion we have given a nation in the promotion of our national ideals. “The re- sponsibility of this association has multiplied with every step onward in the work it has taken up and with every new field it has entered. May its policy ever be such that it may always fulfill its responsibility to public education as a national safeguard to our institutional life during our prodigious experiment to demonstrate that a democracy of some type is the only form of government which can survive through the ages. THE POLICY OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIA- TION TOWARDS FEDERAL LEGISLATION CHARL O. WILLIAMS, DIRECTOR, FIELD AND LEGISLATIVE DIVISION, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. I am very grateful indeed to the President of the Association, not only for what he has said this morning, but for all the kind things he has said and done throughout the twelve months of his administration. I think Dr. Blair came at a time when we needed him very much. Everything he has said and done regarding our legislative work has advanced the cause. Dr. Davidson will tell you about the situation regarding the Education Bill in Congress so I shall pass over that portion of the report. More work was done in the field last year than during any other year in which I have served you. I spent 150 days in the field and traveled 20,000 miles. ‘Thirty-eight visits were made to 23 states, in other words, 61 visits were made to 40 cities. “The headquarters of 15 state associations were visited. Thirty meetings of state associations were attended and one or more addresses were made at these meetings. During that time many valuable contacts were made and the follow-up work was done, which is a necessary part of field work. A great mass of literature has been printed and distributed almost wholly upon request. Ninety-six thousand pamphiets were sent out into every state in the union, and nearly 20,000 letters were sent to individuals. State-wide debates were conducted in high schools and colleges in 31 states, and an effort is now being made to check up on those debates to find out the number of people who heard them, how the decisions came out and what the general advertising effect was. Dr. MacCracken in his report to the American Council on Education not long ago stated that these debates probably were the most valuable publicity the bill has had, and that if the Congress of the United States does not soon pass this bill, there will be growing up in due time in America a large body of young women and men who will be thoroughly convinced as to the merits of this legislation and who will themselves demand its passage GENERAL Sessions 153 ee eee. 1 OE es see, During the five years that I have served the National Education Associa- tion at Washington and in the field I have learned at least two or three very definite things. One of the things which all of the legislative workers in Washington, representing great national organizations like ours have learned is that resolutions and statements have lost their force and effect. It no longer makes any impression on Congress to have your secretary or some other secretary representing some other national association, appear at a hearing and present a very fine statesmanlike statement in support of a piece of legislation which they say has been endorsed by a million or more men and women. Congressmen immediately want to know how many of these men and women believe in the legislation under consideration, how many of them have made it their own, how many of them are willing to stand by it, how many are willing to fight for it in their own respective congressional districts. We have learned among other things that a resolution is not the end of work for legislative measures, but only the beginning of it. The en- dorsement of a bill by a local, state, or national organization, to my mind, simply gives to the members of that organization the right to go out in the name of the organization and begin to work for it. I have learned, too, that there are a great many friends of the Educa- tion Bill in Congress, men who really want to vote for it. Some of them have told me that the educators in their districts were opposed to the bill. Others have told me that in the final analysis they were going to depend upon the judgment of the educators in their districts. I am the last per- son in the world to censure a congressman who hesitates to do anything for us before we ourselves decide what we want. I have no illusions about the ~ “lic; neither have these Congressmen. “They expect us to champion our own cause and to do the educational work with the laity in their dis- tricts, so it may be somewhat safe for them to vote for the Education Bill. I think that this is a fair position for them to take, and I am in sympathy with them. I have also learned some things regarding conditions in the field in these last five years. When I joined the headquarters staff, it was the desire of the Executive Committee that the program of the National Education Association be promoted among the laity of the nation. With that in view I have traveled far and wide attending conventions of national organiza- tions that have endorsed our bill with the purpose of encouraging them to go forward in their work for the measure. A constant effort has been made to enlist the support of national organizations until today there are 29 such groups supporting the movement for a federal Department of Education with a Secretary in the President’s Cabinet. I am told too often by members of local organizations that they would like to go forward with the work for the bill but that the superintendent of schools is not interested or perhaps he is actually opposed to the bill. In some cases it may be the school principal who discourages the work of the local organi- 154 NATIONAL EpucaTIoNn A'ssocIATION zation. ‘Those things are not to our credit. Not a great while ago, I turned back at the end of a long field trip to visit a city with the under- standing that I was to talk to a thousand or more teachers on the Educa- tion Bill. When I arrived I was requested to change my subject. I was told that I might, in the course of my talk, mention the Education Bill, but the injunction was to sort of slip up on the blind side of the teachers, as it were. It seems to me that after having talked this idea for nearly seventy-five years, it is time for us to take our stand and turn our faces in the direction in which we are going and move forward. Now, there are a few obstacles in the way. I have enumerated some of them. Advocating and believing in the Education Bill, but hoping some- body else will step in and do the job, will not get us anywhere. ‘There is - great hope in some quarters that some strategy will be played at Washing- ton whereby this measure will be catapulted to success. Some of our people are looking for the sensational to take place. Rome was not built in a day and neither will the Education Bill be put over over-night. In my judg- ment this measure is not the kind that can be passed by sensational methods. I firmly believe that the only thing that will count in the long run is the educational work which is persistently and courageously done day by day in its behalf. I find in some places an exaggerated fear of opposition on the part of newspapers. I do not know what there is so deadly about a half column of print. As a matter of fact we are getting a great deal of newspaper and magazine support. I have sent you cartoons and editorials in letters to show you how newspapers from San Diego to Atlanta, and from Boston to Seattle, have supported this legislation. Even if some editor does write some things that are not true about the Education Bill, we can at least take hope from the fact that no editor wastes a half column of his precious space to fight a dead or dying cause. What are the grounds for hope? ‘They are many. I firmly believe we have made more progress this year than we have made in the past ten years. Some people will not agree with that, I know. If we simply grasp the opportunities that are ours, we can make more progress during the next two years than we have made in the past fifty. The greatest ground for hope that we have is the educational machinery which has been practically set up since the Education Bill was introduced in Congress. At that time the National Education Association had less than eight thousand members. We did not own a square foot of property anywhere. We had something like four or five members of the headquarters staff. We moved our valu- able records in a wheelbarrow from the building which we rented to the building which we bought—that picture and that story are portrayed in Mr. Crabtree’s report which you have, and which I hope you will read. Today the National Education Association has a membership of one hun- dred seventy-five or eighty thousand, I hesitate to predict what the in- crease in membership will be next year, for fear I might put it too low. GENERAL SESSIONS 155 I know many of us believe that the membership will grow by leaps and bounds in the next twelve months. When this bill was introduced in Congress there were only 4 states with full-time secretaries. Today there are 34 state associations well organized with an executive secretary at work twelve months in the year. Each of these executive offices publishes a journal which keeps the entire membership informed as to the policies of the association. In addition, through facilities for publicity, the laity of the state is kept constantly informed as to the progress of education within the state. There is being set up within the states through the state association an organization whose chief function is to advance the interests of the Education Bill. Some of this state machinery is new and needs oiling to eliminate the squeaks. Some of it has little power of pick-up, and some of it just starts and stops. Our great task now is to develop these state organizations and to assist them in their work for the Educa- tion Bill, for the state associations include in their membership three- fourths of all the nation’s teachers. With that idea in view I made a long field trip in September, visiting the headquarters of 15 associations to talk this matter over with the secre- taries or presidents or any other officers I met at the time. The result of that field trip was the calling of a meeting of the secretaries at Washington in December, at which nineteen states were represented and many others responded with encouraging letters. “he meeting endorsed a plan which revolved around the central idea that “education must precede legislation” ; education first of our own membership, so that we may talk intelligently about the bill at a dinner table, at a card club, at a theatre party, at a Rotary club, at a faculty meeting, or at a state, local, or national conven- t'uu. 1 hope that the time has come when we may rise in our places when misstatements are made about the bill, and say, “Mr. Chairman, the speaker no doubt is sincere and believes what he has said about the Educa- tion Bill, but I wish to stand here now and inform him that his state- ments are not true. This is what the Education Bill says, this is what it does.” If an editor of one of your local papers has published misstatements about the Education Bill, intentionally or otherwise, a thousand letters of protest on his desk the next morning will tend to change materially or soften his point of view. When the teachers of the nation become fully assured as to the’ needs for a federal Department of Education, all of the things that I have enumerated will be done in its behalf. The state associations were asked to name a chairman to take charge of the work in the various states for we believed that a local chairman would know the conditions in his state and how to proceed with the work for the bill. The plan of work which has been generally accepted suggested the appointment of a congressional district chairman, who in turn would appoint a county chairman. Each county chairman is expected to appoint a county committee, made up not only of educators but a great cross sec- tion of men and women living in his locality. We feel sure that when we 156 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION have educated ourselves we can and will educate the laity, and when that is done we shall get action on the bill. What we really need is some of the old spirit of the suffrage campaign. Many women of this convention are familiar with that historic struggle. I know something of what took place, because I was privileged to fight one battle for suffrage. When the campaign was won the little handful of suffragists were but a drop in the bucket compared with this organization and this group of people here today, and what they represent. For seventy years those people fought for that principle, never faltering when victory seemed far away. ‘They did not say when they started out, “We shall work ten years for this movement and if it has not gone over at the end of that time, we shall give up.’ They did not say when they had inter- viewed their congressmen once or twice or four times or ten times that there was no use, and therefore they would not try again. I have heard Mrs. Catt say on a number of public occasions that there were many times in the campaign when they seemed to be up against a stone wall and that there seemed to be no way out of their difficulty, but she added with her characteristic smile, “We always did something.” I want teachers in this great campaign to have the same thrill when the Education Bill is passed which I got from having struck one blow in my state for the ratification of the suffrage amendment. ‘To have been a part, a very small part, in that great forward movement for women and for our country did something to me, it did something for me that I shall prize all the days of my life. I saw something in that Minnesota stunt which I am sure nobody else in this room saw. It symbolized to me the state organization for the Education Bill in Minnesota. That big giant of a man who stood in the center is the chairman for the Education Bill in Minnesota, C. H. Barnes, of Duluth; on the right was J. M. McConnell, the commissioner of education, and on the left W. F. Webster, the superintendent of Minne- apolis, and supported on the right flank and on the left flank and to the rear by the other superintendents of the state, the normal school presidente, the college teachers, members of the department of education, high school principals, state directors, the secretary of the association, county superin- tendents, and classroom teachers from all over the state. I do not think there is a person in this room that doubts for one moment if this group. which appeared here this morning should get behind the Education Bill in Minnesota the Minnesota delegates in Congress would seek the opportunity to support this bill. There are now forty-seven states organized to do just that piece of work. We hope to have the forty-eight states fully organized before Congress convenes in December. I do not doubt, and neyer have doubted: for one moment, that the Education Bill supported by such an organization, will be passed in due time. GENERAL SESSIONS ey) THE POLICY OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIA- TION TOWARDS FEDERAL LEGISLATION WILLIAM M. DAVIDSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, PITTSBURGH, PA., CHAIRMAN OF THE LEGISLATIVE COMMISSION As I stand struggling for a moment to get my bearings upon what I might best and most profitably say, so as to avoid wasting your time, I find my mind still hanging upon the words of introduction spoken by the president of this great Association. When he drafted me for this position I felt possibly that he knew as well as I that he was making a tremendous mistake. I knew how highly he re- garded Dr. Strayer, for he had revealed that fact to me, but never in my life had I been so puzzled as to what to do as when his letter came saying he was not appointing me, that he was drafting me. I pondered over the matter thoughtfully, and then took the train to New York City for an inter- view with the chairman of the Legislative Commission. When I looked George Strayer in the eye I said to him, “Dr. Blair is making a terrible mistake, but J want to know if I should bring myself to undertake such a responsible position in the affairs of the Association; whether you feel you can work with me on this Commission as a member in the future as I have tried in my way to work with you.” His reply was generous as is characteristic of him, and his pledge of support was so complete and wholesouled that I went back home and wired Dr. Blair, “I accept your challenge to take up the chairmanship, on the condition that you shall have a committee that will represent the best ideals of the Associa- tion > at it shall be made in its appointment as broad as the nation anu as independent as the profound thinking of this body on this question when it finally reaches its conclusions, to see to it that the Congress of the United States is to do its duty in placing a Secretary on the Ship of State to stimulate education in America.” And now I had prepared a line of thought, but like you I have thrown more speeches into the discard and into the scrap pile than I ever have been able to deliver. Just now, called to the wing, a special request was made upon me, which seemed so sincerely to represent a conviction of the mem- bership of this body, that I feel impelled and compelled to place the ircn on the anvil and with hammer forge out a speech in this presence that will meet the wishes put to me just now in the wing. And the question put to me is, “What is the federal bill, about which we have been writing and about which we have been talking? What are its details?” So much has been said and so much has been written in the past and so much has been spoken upon bills that have been before this body and before Congress that a resultant confusion is evident at this time, even in the minds of many members occupying seats as delegates upon this floor. Fun- damentally let me say that over and above all, this bill is part of a great national program of education which focuses upon the most important 158 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION living object in America today, the child enroled in the public schools and in all the schools of the land. Twenty-three years ago I sat on a platform similar to this with the then great president of the Association—God bless his memory—William H. Maxwell of New York. On the morning of the 5th of July, in the big auditorium where sat a large assemblage of the teachers of the republic, he introduced in his brief fashion, indeed aimost monosyllabic fashion, the great speaker who had come down from the seat of the nation’s capital, to inspire and uplift the teachers of America assembled on that occasion. When William H. Maxwell said, ‘“‘Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States,” there stepped forward that most vital force known to America in half a century; and in true characteristic Roosveltian fash- ion he shot out through his teeth this sentence: “Teachers, unless your work be done well this republic cannot last beyond the span of a generation.” He made a plea for unity of action, for the creation of a solidarity of or- ganization.and a unifying of the spirit of America, in terms of essential in- struction that would make for the perpetuation of this republic. He sent us home inspired and uplifted and rebaptized with a higher and better spirit to do our duty a little better for the great cause of citizenship in America, to meet the trust which God had placed in our hands in the terms of the boys and girls and the youth enroled in the schools of our land. On that occasion it seemed to me the great President. forecast in his magnificent utterances as they fell from his lips the day when we should be lifted from the chaotic type of organization which then existed in this great body to the time when we should have a body of men and women representing the teachers who have paid-up membership in this Association and those who lie outside the line of paid-up membership. My first word to you in response to this challege from the wing is that you in your enlarged feeling, in your enlarged spirit, represent not 200,000 people here today, but all the men and women of the United States of America engaged in the biggest calling known to the nation and known to the world, even in terms of investment, but as Kipling says, ‘““That is another question upon which I shall not touch.” This bill differs in its purpose from earlier bills. There was a time when this body stood first for a Secretary in the President’s cabinet, whose func- tion and whose duties should be dignified in a way comparable with the duties of the other members of the President’s official family, and in addi- tion to that, step out boldly into the field as during the war when we were feeling the stress of the call upon the public in every locality in America, and say, “We not only believe as a national body in local taxation, but we believe in state aid for the promotion of the great state public school sys- tems of America. We not only believe in that, but we believe the time has come—why, it is here—when the nation should be challenged through Congress to make liberal and adequate appropriation to the states of the American union, to be distributed properly in accordance with the pro- GENERAL SESSIONS 159 a visions of a just and proper law.” One hundred million dollars was in: serted as an appropriation to be made by Congress to the cause of public education in America. So heavily was the call for funds being made on my own state of Pennsylvania that we were paying into the treasury $750,000,000 a year in war taxes and I suppose we paid more than any other state in the union except New York. What was effecting Pennsylvania was effecting every other state in this union proportionately and the wealth of each respective state. It is no wonder that the schoolmen of the Nation at that time felt that there must be a national appropriation to overcome this tremendous local drain. I know not whether there are men and women in this audience who are still thinking that those provisions lie in the present bill, but I do know it is almost impossible to get into conversation with a layman anywhere who does not immediately say, ““I am opposed to national appropriation for the sup- port of the local schools of the state. I am opposed to centralized authority in Washington when it comes to the local schools of America.” Then I have to say to him, “God bless you, that is just what I am opposed to; that is just what the teachers of America are now opposed to, whether they know it or not, because they ask no such thing. “They have gone far enough to sluff off that argument. ‘The war. has passed, taxes are being reduced, the pressure is not so great that. we need to be alarmed with regard to the money going to the national treasury from the citizens of the states. Fur- thermore we, like you as a layman, are bitterly opposed to any type of federal control that will destroy the spirit of the free, tax-supported schools of America for be it known that while we have no national system of educativi: in terms of actual organization, we have it in terms of the spirit, which is represented by this great body here. “The department of education will only come, if it ever comes, by the enrichment of the spirit, which we already have, which makes for a national spirit and a national ideal and a national appreciation, a national support in terms of local and state taxa- tion for these great forty-eight state school systems that comprise the mightiest and the finest school systems set up on the globe anywhere among the nations of the world.” ; What was the organization in the beginning? Why the national gov- ernment practically said, ““Hands off in the control of the education of our children. We will leave that to Pennsylvania and to Washington and to Texas and to California, and say to you as states, ‘Make of it the best thing you can.’”” And so California, Washington, Texas, have been work- ing on that problem to glorify her childhood. It was out of the faith and belief of her own people in the childhood and the youth of the several states and their needs, in the hands of intelligent, well trained, well pre- pared teachers in the classrooms of the state that there have come those great schools of today. What California is doing in the developing of her state tax-supported schools Texas is doing, Pennsylvania is doing, and each state represented on this floor is doing, and please God we will continue 160 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION to do that in America until the very end of time. Nothing can shake the organization as it stands at the present time in connection with the school organization of America. Let us dismiss the issue, please. Let us dismiss the idea that we will ever yield up the control of schools in Washington on the Pacific to the other Washington on the Potomac. You cannot sweep Puget Sound to the tide waters of that great stream upon which Washington lies and carry any of the authority which Seattle and the school districts of this commonwealth hold, and put it in the hands of anybody at Washington, District of Columbia. We are opposed to that, and if we are not we should be, and the genius resting in the schools of our past and which lies in the further development of the spirit of the great schools of the states of the American union, will always lie along the pathway that points in the direction of the thought which I do not need to pursue further with you. Then let me say no such thing as federal control is even thought of in this bill; not a line, not a word, not a sentence speaks in that direction. We are not only flatfootedly opposed to the proposition, we would not even let it be hinted at, in the framing of the bill, thanks to the fine work and far-sighted genius of George D. Strayer and his committee. It is not here and as far as the Legislative Commission is concerned it will not be here unless this great body, through its representative assembly, gives us spécific instructions on that question. And then it would need to be debated with the most sincere feeling on the part of all those who might hold an opinion on either side of that issue. Then what does the bill stand for? The bill stands for a Department of Education with a Secretary upon the Ship of State, as I have stated, whose function shall be to stimulate education in America. We need at Washington, first and above all an educational fact-gathering department, which will draw together the many scattered activities that are now in other departments and independent units of the government. After eliminating all this administrative waste and duplication of effort, the department will organize the most uptodate information about American education and send them to Dr. Blair in Illinois and to Mrs. Preston in Washington, and to every superintendent and administrative officer until those facts shall have entered the heart and conscience of the teachers of America. Then this thing I call the national system of education in America, measured in terms of the spirit, shall in all the states be striving to emulate the best things which the best localities are developing in the field of educational progress and procedure. : Bis have no such body now in the large sense which this bill contem- plates. Do you think it is possible for you to go to Washington and have the same feeling that a laboring man has when he walks down and knows that Secretary Davis is there? Do you think that the business organizations of this country were satisfied or dissatified before the Department of Com- GENERAL SESSIONS 161 merce was set up? You know what has stabilized in this country—maybe you have been unconscious of it—the relations between capital and labor, to the end that we are the amazement of the world. It is due to the influence of these two departments, set up in the Cabinet of the President of the United States that our labor troubles have’ been less and the human feeling which constitutes one of the marvels of modern times, has come to be recognized as a new word in both the labor and the business world. I sometimes use for illustration a type that used to be in the business world in America, a type that said “Every fellow for himself and the devil take the hindermost.’”’ Just think back a few years, when a great leader in the transportation world lifted up his voice when he was asked the question, “But what will the public think of this?” and his an- swer was, “The public? Why, the public be damned.’ That was the spirit of a generation ago, but what is it now? It can be best voiced by a grandson of the transportation leader, who when he appealed to the vast estate of wealth to help him promote his newspapers that were in distress, was refused that help, because this grandson had put at the top of his papers the new feeling in the world of business, ‘“The public be served.” It has been a long road from the spirit of “the public be damned,” to the “public be served,” but I thank God it has come in America. Con- sciously or unconsciously, through the ideals you have been teaching the children of America, you have been setting up that new standard which will grow more and more into the marrow bone of this country. We shall see these two great departments that have exalted and dignified labor, and have exalted and. dignified commerce, rendering the service for which they were cre...u, so that wherever the voice of a Davis or of a Hoover is heard it may express a spirit of service in these two great human activities, which we never thought of in the earlier days. As chairman of this commission, my plea is that American education, American labor, and American commerce shall be increasingly humanized and stabilized by that dignified, wholesome recognition that they are en- titled to receive at the hands of the land we love through the Congress of the United States. In pleading for your support of this bill, I pray that you realize its very simplicity, asking for a secretaryship, asking that the department may be so organized that it shall become a clearinghouse and a fact-gathering body. When you realize that, then back of it and help us put it over. We have endorsed it for eight years; it stands now as a refined document before the teachers of the land but we cannot put it over unless we stand together. That is recognized by politicans and states- men. We cannot get their cooperation if we go to them with a disunited, disjointed, opinion-divided body, asking in our resolutions for a thing which we do not back up with concerted purpose. I close with: an appeal for your help with this concrete illustration. When I went to a meeting of the Executive Committee of the National Education Association when that great man of blessed memory, Charles 162 NatTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Elliott, was president of this Association—oh, how we have been honored by the men who have served us in the past, including our great president, Dr. Blair, who set us on fire with his great human speech at the univer- sity the other day. I remember Dr. Eliot sent us to see a ball game between the University of Minnesota and Harvard University. I pause long enough to say that it was as fine an illustration of the proper spirit in athletics as I have ever seen; Minnesota went home defeated but glorified by the sportsmanship of those players. After the game as we walked back along a stream a boat .crew swung down the stream—and if there is anything in this world I love it is a boat race. As they came down the stream with their lusty stroke, I cried out, “Magnificent, magnificent.” A young collegian who was guiding us looked at me in surprise. “Mag- nificent?” he said; I said “Yes, magnificent,” and he said with a falling expression, ‘‘Why, it’s rotten, no two of them are pulling together. “They never will win with Yale when the time comes.’ Of course they could not hope to win unless they learned to yield to leadership, a leadership that would make the oars, all eight pairs of them, touch the water in the same instant. If there is so much as the deviation of a hair’s breath in the stroke they are destroying each others strength. “Then I learned for the first time what teamwork means in a boat race. ‘That is just what we need. My fellow members of this Association, we should have just that kind of teamwork, that will make us pull together to the end, that our goal will be won in converting the Congress of the United States to the belief that we are entitled to have recognition at Washington, a great central depart- ment that shall gather the facts and analyze them and then broadcast that information and those facts among the greatest, mightiest profession in the world in the present day. THE ECONOMIC AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF THE AMERICAN TEACHERS COLLEGE TEACHER DAVID FELMLEY, PRESIDENT, ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY NORMAL, ILL. The economic status of any body of workers is measured in terms of wages and pensions, permanence of employment, and working conditions. Any occupation whose economic reward plus its social recognition is more attractive than others is sure to attract young people until its ranks are overcrowded and competition lowers the level of remuneration, either by reducing the wage scale or through unemployment. No labor union, or federation, can permanently maintain a scale where the number of qualified workers seeking employment is greater than the public is able or willing to employ. The only remedy is to limit the number of workers by raising the standard. GENERAL SESSIONS 163 Wages of labor are paid out of the product of labor. “The fisherman or the farmer who works for himself finds his wages in his catch or his crop, whether he hires or owns his boat and nets, his tools and teams. His net wages is the remainder after the hire or interest on his capital are deducted. He carries the risk of bad seasons or low prices. If he works for an employer, the employer pays him from week to week for the value that labor has created, expecting to recoup himself when the product is sold. The employer owns the product and carries the risk. But in either case the wages are ultimately paid out of the product, and cannot per- manently exceed the value of the product. The values created by the teacher cannot be measured by the pound, the bushel, or the ton. ‘They are intangible values affecting the quality of the product rather than its quantity. While certain skills and knowl- edges gained in the schools have a commercial value, the best. results of good teaching are not listed in the market quotations. What the public will pay for these results depends upon the estimate the world puts upon intelligence, character, good citizenship, physical fitness, refinement of manners, an appreciation for the values in life, a cultivated taste and the rest of the intangibles. But these intangibles do not come wholly or through the set lessons of the classroom, or from the teacher’s knowledge or skill. They come through unconscious tuition from the inmost realities of the teacher’s per- sonality. It is this fact that makes some teachers better than others. We may standardize the requirements for employment as measured in teachers examinations or in-degrees or in experience. We may standardize salaries, but we neve. can make all teachers of equal value. The economic status of teachers in teachers colleges ought to be better than in any other school, because the best teacher should be placed where he can render the largest service, where the fine qualities of his work may be multiplied many times through the teaching that his disciples will do. His work is thus raised to the second power. We should be able to bring into our teachers college faculties the ablest and the best. We do attract many of them, but it is permanency of tenure, working conditions, the con- tacts with adult students, and professional opportunity that attract rather than the salary schedules. What are the facts? Salaries in teachers col- leges are frequently lower than high schools pay teachers of lower qualifica- tions in nearby cities. ‘The appropriations made by state legislatures to state universities per student usually range from fifty to one hundred percent higher than to the teachers colleges in the same states. Their professors have lighter teaching loads and are better paid. Why is this? 1. University attendance made a tremendous growth just after the War, while business was booming, prices high, everybody buoyant. It was easy to double or treble the prewar appropriations and afterwards hold the advantage gained. But during the war thousands of teachers turned from teaching to business. ‘Their places were taken by untrained girls fresh 164 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION from the high schools. Professional training was not needed to secure a certificate or a job. The teachers colleges did not recover their lost attend- ance until after the business slump of July, 1920. Business and agriculture depression then made it difficult to enlarge appropriations or improve salaries to keep pace with the growing attendance. “Today their classes are crowded, their teachers overworked and underpaid especially in the grain-growing and cotton states. In the manufacturing states salaries are better. 2. Men of wealth and influence, bankers, manufacturers, lawyers, send their sons and daughters to the university. Its alumni, chiefly men, occupy places of power and responsibility. ‘T’o all these the legislature listens when they plead for liberal appropriations. To the teachers colleges come from humbler homes young men and women who expect to work for a living, the aspiring stout-hearted sons and daughters, chiefly daughters of farmers, mechanics, small merchants, teachers, people of little political influence ; their graduates become teachers, a feeble folk, whose voice does not reach the legislative ear. It is quite drowned by the cry of the overburdened taxpayer. The remedy—1. Persuade the people of the supreme importance in a democracy of good public schools and that capable, trained teachers are the vital element in good schools. 2. Organize the women of the state, now half of the electorate, in behalf of the children, their chief interest. Let us now turn to the second part of this subject, the professional opportunity afforded by the teachers college. If there is any truth in the maxim, “As is the teacher so is the school,” the institution that trains that teacher is the most vital factor in a system of schools. For this reason men and women of high professional spirit seek the opportunity that these schools and their work afford. The teachers college exists for one purpose only, the training of teachers. What is a trained teacher? Three factors contribute to the accomplished teacher: natural aptitude, education, experience. We still hear much of the born teacher, but in teaching, as in all other callings, native talent is developed by studies and perfected by experience. We use the term teacher-training, because we recognize that teaching is an art in which skill is to be acquired rather than a science of which knowl- edge is to be gained. Yet we think all of us would rather use the broader term, the education of the teacher, which implies a rational art resting upon scientific principles and a larger play of individual initiative. What should this education include? As a basis there should be a liberal high school education with chief emphasis laid upon English, the natural sciences, and the social sciences, with due attention to music, drawing, and handwork. The professional education should include: GENERAL SESSIONS 165 1, A study of how children learn, with special attention to the relation of sense- perception to imagination, to conception and judgment; the relation of attention to interest, of interest to knowledge, the motor-tendency of ideas as revealed in imi- tation, the laws of habit formation, the feelings and sentiments as creating desire and moving the will. (Psychology.) 2. A study of the principles of teaching, of classroom procedure, as observed in superior teachers and justified by psychological laws. (General method.) 3. A study of the school, its structure and administration, as the organized in- strument of education. (School management.) 4. An inquiry into educational aims, and the functions of the various studies, school exercises, and school appliances as factors in the development of the child, and the realization of our educaticnal ideal. (Principles of education. ) 5. A study of the various historic systems of national education; the work of educational reformers, of the origin of the forms, methods, maxims, and studies that prevail in our schools. (The history of education.) _ 6. A re-examination and reorganization of the branches to be taught from the standpoint of the developing interest and the aptitudes of the child. (Special methods. ) 7. Further practice in the schoolroom arts—drawing, construction, singing, read- ing, writing, and public speaking—to improve the teacher’s personal skill, to afford a better example for imitation, and to enable him the better to teach others. (The school arts.) P 8. Studies in sociology, economics, history, and literature, subjects for grown- ups, that will minister to the deepening interests of the teacher’s life, and promote his insight into the aims and problems of education. (Cultural studies.) 9. Observation and discussion of skilful teaching, and increasing participation by the young teacher under sympathetic guidance and constructive criticism of his lesson planning, and of his conduct of the various types of recitations, to the end that correct teaching habits may be formed. His voice, position, manner, dress, should be, if necessary, objects of friendly criticism. If he repeats answers, tolerates slovenly or lazy attitudes in himself or his pupils, is inaccurate in speech or written work, or permits these things in his classes, if he is neglectful of the physical con- dition of his pupils, or fails tc adjust himself to individual needs or peculiarities, if his own lessons and assignments are not carefully prepared and fairly well executed, he still needs the help of the supervising critic. (Practice teaching.) 10. Personal contact with skilful teachers, men and women of fine personality, of high character and consecration, through whose inspiration and leadership the young teacher may be stimulated to a resolute endeavor to attain the highest pos- sible excellence. These are some of the chief lines along which the professional education of the teacher moves—an education that begins in the teacher-training in- stitution and which should continue until he enters upon his pension—his final reward in the temporalities of this world. It seems that in the early stages of all arts, rules develop as experience teaches that certain practices usually produce desired results. All early arts are thus empiric, and are learned chiefly through imitation. Later, as, higher efficiency is demanded, a careful study is made of the nature of the, material, the laws that govern changes in that material, andthe best means. for producing the desired changes; thus a, rational art, a form. of applied. science, is gradually developed. Butter, was.made, bread leavened by yeast was haked a thousand years before anything was known of the chemistry t 166 NationaAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION of the process or the reasons why certain manipulations produced the result; desired. Early pedagogy was based upon experience. ‘The early normal schools taught didactically the rules of successful practice. There was some effcrt to develop a philosophy of education based upon current metaphysical theories. Problems of discipline, incentives, moral education, method had a large place. Gradually attention was drawn to the need of grounding all method in the nature of the child, his interests, aptitudes, his selfactivity. With the development of high schools and the consequent lengthening of school life, the normal schools have lengthened their courses to meet the new demands. More than half of the 185 state normal schools have become teachers colleges with four-year courses.. There has been some re- sistance from the state universities and liberal arts colleges. “The normal schools have justified the extension of their work by these arguments. 1. The normal school has been established in all lands where there exists a system of state-supported schools. It is a vital part of the public school system because well trained teachers are a prime requisite for efficient schools. 2. The normal school is not the exclusive agency for the training of teachers, but it is the state’s chief agent; and as such it must build up the professional spirit, establish the standards, create the ideals, send out the men and women whose call is to educational! leadership. The logic that justifies the normal school on the ground that the state must prepare its own teachers carries with it irresistibly the inference that to perform its legitimate function the normal school must make pro- vision for the adequate training of teachers fitted to direct or perform the work of every phase of the common school from the primary school to its culmination in the public high school. 3. In its early days the normal school confined its attention chiefly to the common branches, for little else was taught in the common schools. But the common school is a larger term in content than it was eighty, forty, or even twenty years ago. The teacher in all grades has a larger opportunity. The new researches, the new ideas in science, the new impulses toward nature study springing from the needs of a better agriculture, the new demands for vocational training, the new problems in society, the widening range of literature—all the ideas of our expending civiliza- tion are pushing down into the common school. The training of teachers means more than it ever did before, and the normal school has a larger opportunity, a larger responsibility. 4. The normal school to live must grow, its ideals are not to be determined nor its activity bounded by the ideals of forty years ago. The meaning of education has broadened with the increased complexity of modern life, the term teacher has a wider significance, and the term normal school must have an enlarging content commensurate with the expanding ideals of our educational lifc. 5. The normal school is specifically a professional school. The training which it gives, if it performs its proper functien, is distinctive in character and different in kind from that implied in general education. Only incidentally, not primarily, is a general education acquired in a normal school. The converse of this proposition is equally true, that adequate training for teaching as a profession cannot be merely a feature of a course whose chief aim is a general education. F 6. ‘Feaching is a profession calling for the highest devotion, patriotism, and altru- istic endeavor. Its professional spirit is a spirit of consecration. This spirit cannot be developed in a school which is merely an adjunct of an institution whose chief GENERAL SESSIONS 167 interests are economic and industrial or the mere development of personal culture. 7. High school teachers should be trained in the same environment as elementary teachers. They need the same love of children, the same knowledge of the problems of childhood. To train them in a separate school with different standards and ideals results in a serious break in spirit, in method, and in the character of the work, as the child passes to the high school. Furthermore, this separate training begets an exclusive educational caste. Our schools are already suffering from the presence of this cleavage between the professional aristocracy of the high school and the commonalty of the grades. 8. Principals and superintendents should be trained in a professional atmosphere where the same ideals are set up, the same philosophy expounded, the same prin- ciples and methods taught, as are taught to the teachers who are to work under their leadership. 9. Special teachers of music, art, manual training, and domestic science will prove more efhcient when they study their specialties in vital relation to the other branches of the public school curriculum. 10. Teachers of all grades can be properly equipped only in institutions whose faculties are in touch with the problems of childhood and adolescence, where all the imstructors consider professional education of high value, and where all the students look upon teaching as an occupation worthy of the highest talent, character, and attainment. THE ECONOMIC AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF THE TEACHER IN THE AMERICAN HIGH SCHOOL ANNIE C. WOODWARD, SOMERVILLE HIGH SCHOOL, SOMERVILLE, MASS. History gives us many instances of an educator taken as an economic and professional leader in the community. We look with pride upon such ex- amples as Matthew Arnold, Dorothy Dix, Woodrow Wilson, Anthony Benecet, and at the present time, our own Henry Turner Bailey. In earlier times the schools were small, so the personal contact between teacher, pupil, and parent was frequent and helpful. Every teacher felt the personal responsibility of every pupil, “Teachers lived in the homes of their pupils and had first-hand information of the conditions under which the pupils themselves were living. The environ- ment of the home was a definite part of the teacher’s study and it went far in affording constructive advice. Whatever our present status may be, I believe that we shall fall, remain, or rise according to our thoughts, our ideals, our visions. We may become as small as our controling desire; as great as our dominant aspiration. Some new writers state that the economic status of the teacher is that of the person apart from his profession. “They say “His influence . . . is de- termined by personal qualities and not by profession. ; The economic status of the high school teacher goes to show that in the last decade there has been a slight increase, while the junior high-school and elementary. teachers have been rapidly nearing the financial standard of the senior high school teacher. Higher salaries must be paid the second- ary teachers in order to have standardized requirements in the qualifications 168 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION of those teachers. Most certainly, if a high standard is to become general, a secondary teacher ought to complete four years of college, then two years of professional training with practice, for compensation that will warrant such training. The aims of education can best be furthered by salaries for teachers which will provide for a standard of living, allowing for study, travel, recreation, and activity in social movements. Such a standard of living has no direct connection with the average salary paid. We maintain such a wide difference in salaries in states and communities, I believe, because of the differences in the ability to arouse public opinion. Our teachers’ clubs, associations, and federations have played an im- portant part in obtaining the respect of the general public for the teachers themselves. They have stood together firmly in the solution of the economic problems which confront the school life, and have worked with other organizations for civic betterment. It is true that the salaries were never better than today. Schedules like the one in Denver, Colorado, have done more good for the teachers’ economic and social growth than any one can possibly measure. Yet there is no need to apologize for pleading for higher salaries for the average teacher. There is no greater service rendered our country than that of an honest educator patiently performing a service so patriotic and so vital that without it the future of our republic would be imperiled. Professional preparation encourages an enthusiasm in teaching which grows from a love for the work through acquaintance with the subject to be taught and a deepening conviction of the value of education in forming character and securing success for his pupils. Investigators do not agree on all points. Complete agreement in regard to the professional training of high school teachers is not necessary for progress. In fact, such would check initiative and stop advancement. Some of the great masters of secondary schools have kept their pupils marching to the music of noble ideals until that way of marching has be- come a habit. It is very important that everything connected with the high school curriculum should be scientifically studied from the point of view of its effect on character. The professional status of a secondary school teacher should, according to the best minds, be dependent upon the training of the mental, psychic, and physical powers. No longer is it held that superiority rests only in a trained mind. ‘The acme of the teacher’s desire is an all-round develop- ment, resulting in symmetry, balance, and poise. More than ever before is there a great need for the proper physical de- velopment of teachers. Many of the struggles which are causing adminis- trative problems today are physical defects which result from our failure either to use the knowledge we have or to secure the knowledge we ought to have. I believe that because the high school pupil is at a different period of development a corresponding difference in method of instruction js necessary GENERAL SESSIONS 169 for the secondary teacher. Where she acquires it is immaterial as long as she does acquire it. Also we find that states vary greatly in requirements for certifying teachers; from no effort in examination on the part of the teacher to a rigid examination in all constants. From a college degree, normal school certificate, or private school diploma to a four- or even a two-year high school course is the range of certified preparation for teaching in our country. A secondary school teacher works in either a four-year or a three- year school, depending upon whether the 8-4 plan or the 6-3-3 plan is used in that locality. The course covers approximately the years from fourteen to eighteen. The curriculum is widely differentiated. Pupil preparation for higher in- stitutions is practically the same, because uniform requirements have been issued from those higher institutions. Other subjects are as varied and large in number as the education of the principal will permit. Before 1900 not more than a half dozen states possessed a legal standard of certification for high school teachers which was different from that re- quired of teachers in the other schools. In the other states the holder of any certificate of any grade was legally qualified to teach in the high school; in fact, in too many states this is true at the present time. Since 1900 the tendency of legal requirements for the certification of teachers in the United States has been to differentiate between the training required of high school teachers and that required of elementary school teachers. In thirty-four states the holders of diplomas from normal schools or colleges of accepted standing also hold legal right to teach in the public schools of those states. “This shows a tendency to depend more upon the preparation and academic training than upon the examination as a test of fitness for teaching. e As the professional status varies so greatly in different parts of our country, and even in the different sections of one state, I shall draw general conclusions only from the material which I have received. ‘The average statement about the high school teacher is that he has a sufficient education, but does not know how to use it. The knowledge or subject matter may be obtained in some college, university, or other school of higher learning. The idea is fast disappearing that anybody with a college diploma is pre- pared to teach in a high school. Special attention to methods of instruction, with practice, as given in teacher-training colleges, should be added to the high-school teacher’s professional preparation with marked advancement in service. High school teachers must understand the students’ point of view and know how to deal with them, so as to aid each student’s development according to his ability. [he unsatisfactory pupil is a perpetual problem to him, but there should be more joy in his heart over the successful solution of one such problem than over ninety and nine that need no solution. His broad education ought to give him the habit of seeing “great things large and little things small,” of “‘seeing life steadily and seeing it whole.” ‘To be able to teach the child, the study of pedagogy is essential. Yo have the 170 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION child before one is prepared to teach him does not lead to the relation of teacher and pupil, but only to confusion. Experience will tone one’s knowledge to a teaching sense so that one will not give greater attention to the logical development of the subject than to the development of the logical powers of the child. That professional training is a necessary part of a teacher’s equipment is a proposition which hardly requires proof in these days. Not because all educators are convinced, but because the question has reached such a stage that few are willing to openly state their unbelief. “Teaching is primarily an art and, secondarily, a science; the mastery of an art can be attained only by practice; the mastery of a science only by research. Good training in method tends to make a man master of all methods but servant of none. ‘The teacher can then apply the method as a tool needed to meet best the task of the moment. To the credit of the high school teacher it should be stated that his scholastic qualifications are probably the best of all groups in our schools. Added to this are his many years of experience which equip many for this work. This may well be said of conditions of service in the more pro- gressive city schools. Many make themselves and their principals a vast amount of extra work in discipline and also fail to get the best results be- cause they do not know the psychology of suggestion. “They should remem- ber that the psychological relation between suggestion and initiative is of the closest kind. If, as Plato says, “Aim is not primarily happiness but justice, and if the good of man consists fundamentally in selfrealization, in developing the capacities of each to contribute to a common good,” then, Plato’s doctrine is eminently one of equality, since it affords equal opportunity to every one to function according to his talents. THE ECONOMIC AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF THE ELEMENTARY TEACHER CLARA L. JAHNKE, ELEMENTARY SCHOOL TEACHER, SPOKANE, WASH. Ships in crossing the ocean, each day at-high noon, take an observation to determine the vessel’s position at sea. This makes it possible to ascertain the direction in which the ship must be steered to reach the port of her destination. Just as these ocean liners do in crossing the sea, so it behooves us, the elementary teachers, to take our bearings to determine our status and decide on our course. A committee appointed by the Oregon State Teachers Association to investigate the status of the elementary teachers of that state came to the conclusion, paraphrasing an old quotation, that as far as the elementary teacher is concerned, ‘““There ain’t much status and what status there is ain’t nothin’ nohow!” Judging by a report in a recent research bulletin sent out by the National Education Association, some school boards share GENERAL SESSIONS hal ? that opinion. When cities ranging from 5000 to 10,000 in population pay some of their teachers less than $600 a year, they nod assent to “There ain’t much status.” While we gasp at a six-hundred-dollar salary, I wonder how many of you would have considered that a princely sum when you were teaching for forty dollars or less a month? ‘Today the elementary teacher in the larger cities receives two thousand a year. In addition, re- tirement funds provide for her when her earning days are over. ‘Tenure is more secure. Some teacher organizations—may their number increase— investigate the soundness of available investments. Doubtless we are on the upgrade. Though we cannot afford many luxuries, we at least are comfortable. Our present status is not what it should be, but students of educational problems concur that it is rapidly changing. The most hopeful sign is that the teachers, instead of relying on outside forces, are themselves en- deavoring to improve the profession. Behold the dawn of a new day. Frankly, we are not so much concerned about where we are as about the direction in which we are going and the rate of speed at which we are traveling. The first sign of the dawn is the recent change that has taken place in the requirements for entrance into the profession. Doubtless there are many within the sound of my voice who began their teaching career before graduation from high school. Should I ask those to rise who began after completing only the eighth grade, I should cause some of you embarrass- ment. ‘Today eight states make two years beyond the high school their entrance requirement. It, however, is regrettable that not all have this high standard. Recently a student at a Washington State Normal School confided to an instructor that the condition of his finances would compel him to stay out the following year to teach. She reminded him that two years beyond the high school is the minimum entrance requirement. He replied: “Yes, I know, but I can go to Idaho or Montana to teach.” It would mean disaster in places if the bars for entrance were immediately raised to this high level, but we hope that it will not be long before the forty other commonwealths will follow the example set by these eight progressive states. A close second among forces improving the status of elementary teachers is training in service. Normal schools, colleges, and universities are offer- ing extension courses and summer schools for those who wish to continue their study. While we cease to be teachers when we cease to be learners, a note of warning may not be amiss. “There are only twenty-four hours in a day, and none of us have unlimited strength. If too much time and energy are given to further preparation, not enough 1s left to do the work in the classroom, which is our major task, and too little time is left for social intercourse and civic activity. A proper balance must be observed. Increasing the entrance requirements and further preparation in service have raised our status. Another incentive is the introduction of the single t2 NatTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION —— a salary schedule. In Denver, Des Moines, Minneapolis, San Antonio, Tacoma, Spokane, Youngstown, and in more than a hundred other cities the plan is now in effect. The principle of the single salary schedule has been generally accepted. Its outstanding feature is that all teaching posi- tions, whether in first grade or in high school, are considered of equal im- portance and entitled to equal remuneration. Professional qualifications, not the age or grade of pupils taught, determine differences in salary. The pupils of one grade are entitled to a teacher who is as well prepared for her work as the pupils of any other grade. In many places as soon as the elementary teachers qualify for high school positions they are promoted to it at an advanced salary. The elementary school cannot afford to be robbed of these progressive and enterprising teachers who are prepared to render expert service. “Che remedy lies in the single salary schedule. Per- sons whose qualifications, length of service, and tasks are comparable are entitled to equal pay. “The single salary schedule gives the elementary schools a square deal. It provides a compensation that enables the elemen- tary teacher to make adequate preparation and it also holds her permanently to that service. We urge acceptance of the single salary schedule because: 1. It attracts ability and training to the elementary school. 2. It produces more efficient teaching in the grades by emphasizing a high stand- ard of professional attainment and encourages study and growth. : 3. It enables the teacher to be transferred without loss of salary to the position for which she is best adapted and where she can give the most efficient service. 4. Most important of all, it protects the right of every pupil in an elementary school to the service of a well prepared instructor. It is high time for educators and the public to recognize that the highest type of instruction is as necessary in grade school as in high school and that it is an economic waste for a teacher to work in high school when better adapted to lower-grade work. ‘Too long has the elementary school been the training ground and the stepping-stone to high school positions. We appreciate the administrators who have helped us to raise the stand- ard of elementary teachers by introducing the single salary schedule in their system of schools and hope that those who have not tried it will give it serious consideration. - Higher qualifications for entrance into the profession, further prepara- tion in service, and the introduction of the single salary schedule have raised the standard of our profession, but the one thing that has done more than any of these to create a professional spirit is teacher participation in administration. Participation is a great university and a means of growth. The walls of our classroom were once supposed to limit our thinking and our activity. How small the horizon of the teacher who sees only this small segment of the educational system! y It is a wise superintendent who welcomes and appreciates the worth- while ideas of the classroom teachers. Happy is the school system where GENERAL SESSIONS 173 the administrator values the judgment and the counsel of each of his or her associates. Unhappy the school system where the superintendent be- lieves that he is the embodiment of all wisdom and that no educational progress can be made except through him. He dooms the professional spirit of the teachers to an early death. Faculties not used tend to atrophy. Teacher participation develops initiative and encourages research and uses the united wisdom of all the educators in improving the schools. In Spokane we have a professional committee composed of a representa- tive from each grade, which meets with the superintendent every month of the school year. Superintendent Pratt makes the following statement as to its workings: The Professional Committee of the Grade Teacher Association has proven to be a most valuable instrument in school administration. It gives the administrator the point of view of the classroom teacher—something which is in itself desirable. It tends to create a feeling of contentment among teachers because they know that the way is open so that any real grievance can be presented. It tends to make the administration more cooperative and less dictatorial.” (Signed) O. C. Pratt, Superintendent of Schools. While teacher participation in administration gives the superintendent the point of view of the teacher, it also gives the teacher a vision of the complex problems of administration, and this mutual understanding makes for sympathetic teamwork. Wherever teacher participation has been carried on in sincerity, thinking people, teachers and administrators alike, agree that it improves the teaching service. Teacher participation is a new idea in education. While the leadership in organizations of elementary teachers has clamored for it, most of us scarcely know what it means. In some communities no one would dare to mention it around administrative offices except in a low whisper. Yes, real gains have been made. Never before were teachers recognized as they are today. In places they are taking part in making the curriculum, selecting textbooks, and formulating school policies. At the same time, we realize that much of this new appreciation is purely verbal. Genuine teacher participation in school policy is in its infancy. Its maturity is in the distant future. A mere beginning has been made; the most is yet to be accomplished. Here let me sound a note of warning. Administrators and classroom teachers each have a distinct field and teacher participation does not mean usurpation of the powers of administration. Participation and usurpation are not synonymous terms. It is well for us to be concerned about entrance requirements, preparation in service, and teacher participation, but the most hopetul sign of the dawn of a new day is the interest that teachers are taking in legislation. Education occupies a large place on the calendar of every legislature. Teachers are vitally interested in bills dealing with tenure, with retirement, with taxation, with free textbooks, with the county unit, with school elec- 174 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION tions, with the teaching of history and civics, with athletics, with vocational education, and countless other things. More and more are teachers through their state associations becoming a factor in the legislature. In many states a bill is seldom introduced in the legislature, much less enacted into law, that is not initiated or sponsored by the state teachers’ association. More emphasis should be placed on personal interviews with nominees to find out their attitude on educational measures likely to come up for con- sideration. Statements concerning his stand should be secured from each candidate before he is seated in the capitol with law-making power. Before election these statements should be sent broadcast to teachers and friends of education. Doing so will save much time in lobbying. Besides, it is fairer to the legislator. It makes it possible for him to give our measures time and thought before a flood of bills pours in on him. While not all of us can go to the legislature to lobby, there is a more important work that every teacher can do. ‘That is to educate the voter. Parents are incurably fond of their children. Once convince them that a bill is for the good of their children, and that measure will be enacted into law. When bills affecting schools are up for consideration, people naturally turn to the teachers for information. We should understand these meas- ures so well, that we can give such reliable information that the public will again turn to us with perfect confidence. May none of us ever appeal from a selfish motive, but always on the ground of the highest welfare of the boys and girls. Let me repeat. The teacher knows the needs of the school as nobody else possibly can. It therefore becomes our obligation to educate the public. In a republic there is but one irresistible force, and this force is public opinion. It is slow to form, slow to crystalize, but once formed nothing can stand against it. It is our privilege to have a large part in making public opinion. We must face our responsibility for the future of our schools demands it. We must measure up to the demands. A few energetic, progressive teachers can work wonders. Consider what an invincible force we should be if we worked unitedly. ‘Too many of us are not conscious of our own power. Let us rid our- selves of that inferiority complex. The question was asked; “What is the greatest invention of the age?’ Some one replied: ‘““The wheelbarrow, be- cause it taught the Irishman to walk on his hind legs.” I implore every elementary teacher to get.a wheelbarrow, stand upright, and make the world respect her. I suggest that the Education bill sponsored by the National Education Association makes a splendid wheelbarrow. Since much of the time of every legislature is taken up with school legislation, and since many detrimental laws are passed merely because there is no educator at hand to give the information needed to legislate wisely, would it not be well to elect an educator as lawmaker? Let us hope that the time is not distant when the teachers through their organiza- -GENERAL SESSIONS 175 a a Bae ee 2 ee ee eee tions will see that an educator is seated in each branch of every legislature to give expert advice when needed. While one of a teacher’s out of school duties is interest in and activity in behalf of school legislation, another field is open to her. This consists of participation in civic affairs. A small boy was asked to name the races of men. He replied, “Black folks, white folks, and teachers.” Too many persons share his opinion that we are a race apart. We are required to teach citizenship. How can we teach what we do not practice? Citizenship requires active, not passive interest in the affairs of the community, state, and nation. Can an active citizen be trained by a passive teacher? It is incumbent upon every one of us not only to feel an interest, but to participate actively in the great movements that make for better conditions. Our preparation for teaching raises us above the average in capacity to contribute to the public welfare. We need to come in contact with business and pleasure, with the commercial and social life of the community. We need to know the public and the public to know us. The public will not respect us simply because the board of education has elected us to our positions. “The public will respect us if respect is due and we do not deserve respect till we have earned it. The status of the elementary teacher has been raised by higher entrance requirements, further preparation in service, participation in administration, interest in legislation and activity in civic affairs, but the inspiration for these advances and the instrument through which they were effected is teacher organization. The cultivation of the professional spirit comes through fellowship among teachers. Professional gatherings develop pro- fessional spirit. We need keener appreciation of the value of local, state, and national teachers’ meetings. “Che most important of these is the local, for here the professional spirit has its birth. ‘Too often, when it comes to attending these meetings, we find the attitude of the guests in Holy Writ who “with one accord began to make excuses.’ Teacher organizations are our professional barometers. Since 1910 the national organization has grown from 7000 members to 170,000. ‘Ten years ago only four states had full-time secretaries; today thirty-four have them, and in some more than ninety percent of the teachers are enrolled in the state associations. Yes, the status of the elementary teacher is improving. While our ideals determine where we go, it is our enthusiasm that determines our speed. To the progressive teacher, the teacher with vision, our progress seems slow—the speed of an invalid snail. Others, like Alice in Wonderland, complain that they have to run as fast as they can to keep up with them- selves. Your opinion on the rate of our progress depends on your point of view. ‘Che important thing is that we are moving. Many factors have contributed to raising our status. ‘The public de- mands better trained and more public spirited teachers. Administrators exclude the untrained and unfit. Normal schools, colleges, and universities through extension courses and summer schools make it possible for teachers 176 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION in service to improve. ‘The parent-teacher association, with its two million members, has aroused the sympathetic interest of the people. While we have all these influences let us not forget that the Lord helps those who help themselves. The teacher’s status must be raised by the teacher herself. Outside influences are helpful, but of little avail if the push is not from within. We must be self-starters. Yes, we still are Ford cars as far as our present status is concerned, but we are 1927 models and do not need to be cranked. Some day we hope to be Lincolns. It is the beginning of a new day. It is the hour of dawn and we look hopefully for the full light of a beautiful day—a beautiful day for the boys and girls who must always be the center of our thinking. Ships in crossing the ocean, at high noon each ‘day, take an observation. Then these mighty ocean liners, without waiting for tugs or favoring gale, but through their own power move on toward their haven. The elementary teacher has stopped to take her bearings. Appreciating all helpful influ- ences but not relying on them, with a consciousness of the dignity of her high calling, she moves on toward the haven, propelled by the power within. THE ECONOMIC AND PROFESSIONAL STATUS OF TEACHERS IN THE AMERICAN RURAL SCHOOL FLORENCE HALE, DIRECTOR OF RURAL SCHOOLS, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, AUGUSTA, ME. There is an unusually close connection between the economic and profes- sional status of the rural teacher. Indeed, it can scarcely be said that there is as yet a distinct rural teaching profession. “This is due almost entirely to economic conditions. No line of work can become professional that is made up of a constantly changing body of workers. “The most discouraging handicap that rural supervisors and administrators, in general, face is the constant turnover in the personnel each year of teachers in rural communi- ties. “This is largely due to three conditions—the smaller salaries still paid, the poorer living conditions and the lesser chance for professional recogni- tion and advancement. In those places where the salaries have been raised to an even level with town and city teachers it is found that the ‘‘turnover”’ is much less, especially if living conditions approximate these others in modern conveniences, chance for privacy, etc. Next to the economic need in order to professionalize rural education is the necessity to build up constantly a different point of view. Even yet the majority of teachers look upon the rural schools only as stepping-stones and think of promotion only in terms of getting into a so-called “graded sys- tem.” This point of view in any department destroys professional spirit. As I have said in another department, the greatest chance for any line of education to become solidly professional is when teachers can select the type of teaching they love and are fitted for and find their “promotion” as to salary and honor right there in that work, without having to transfer to some other so-called “higher” type of educational position for promotion! GENERAL SESSIONS 177 The economic situation is improving, but there must be constant effort to better it. The purely professional side of rural teaching is beginning to show a gratifying improvement. This is due to the fact that already recog- nition is being given to it as a distinct profession in itself and avenues of professional advancement are opening up within its own confines. Such movements as the rural helping teacher plan in New Jersey, originated by the late Calvin Kendall, and the school for rural leaders at Castine in Maine, originated by Dr. Augustus O. Thomas, have done much to de- velop a rural teaching profession. The work done by the late Macy Camp- bell of Cedar Falls, lowa, and by Mabel Carney of Teachers’ College, New York, to establish rural departments of education in teachers’ colleges and normal schools, has been another marked contribution. To still further establish rural teaching as a profession, with the accom- panying financial rewards, I believe a very great help would be the estab- lishment in the National Education Association Headquarters itself of a distinct division of rural education. We have seen what impetus has been given the work of the classroom teacher by its department in the National Education Association, and I would like to see a similar distinction con- ferred upon rural education to help build up the respect and professional- ism for which all our rural leaders are so valiantly striving. CHARLES W. ELIOT A. E. WINSHIP, EDITOR, JOURNAL OF EDUCATION, BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS Charles W. Eliot was a man of great achievement as well as clear-headed educational philosopher. He took Harvard University at a critical period of its history and trans- formed it from a college with a past to an institution with a future. A young man unknown in academic circles, without administrative ex- perience, he assumed responsibility for the direction of the affairs—financial and scholastic—of the oldest and most famous educational institution in the New World. When he retired from active service there were more than five hundred colleges and universities in the United States, and a third of them had more than a million dollar endowment. In 1869 there were scarcely five thousand professors and instructors in all of the educational institutions in the country. When he retired there were more than fifty thousand. seer ein Notwithstanding the fact that there were one hundred free institutions with state funds behind them, and church universities with vast consecrated millions; notwithstanding the fact that natural resources were discovered and developed to produce immense enterprises in the west, northwest, and southwest, there was never a day in which the scholastic supremacy of Harvard University was challenged; never an hour when it was not the richest of American Universities; when its enrolment was not the most national. 178 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Never for an instant would President Eliot allow any scholastic standard lowered to increase enrolment; never was there a drive for increased funds ; and there was never a year in which Harvard was not harvesting some highly important educational creation. Never was there such a succession of famous men on any faculty as were at Harvard in President Eliot’s day. Think of the influence of Oliver Wendell Holmes, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, James Russell Lowell, and Charles Eliot Norton, Asa Gray and Louis Agassiz, Barrett Wendell and George Herbert Palmer, William James and Josiah Royce. Above and beyond all of this, Charles W. Eliot had immeasurable in- fluence for good on the public schools. The junior high school, functioning in every city of America, is the harvest of his heroic message on the worth- lessness of much of the work of the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades of “ve olden time.” Dr. Eliot was a noble demonstrator of civic, educational, and religious personality which had a wholesome, conventional background. He could be progressive without being fanatical. In his much writing he never had a message that was not a mission. FIFTY YEARS OF A GREAT EDUCATOR MRS. SUSAN M. DORSEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA An account of the life of Mrs. Ella Flagg Young can be told in a few sentences. It was passed for the most part in one city and spent in one occupation, that of teaching. Any setting forth, however, of the significance of that life and its contributions to public education in the city of Chicago, where she lived, and in the entire nation, must be wholly inadequate. Mrs. Young was born in the city of Buffalo in 1845, in an unpretentious, but choice home. Her Scotch descent was apparent in the sincerity and simplicity of her life and in her untiring devotion to her great ideal, the improvement of public schools and the making of them a thoroughly demo- cratic institution. After the age of thirteen, her long life was spent in the schools of Chicago, as student, teacher, practice teacher, principal, as- sistant superintendent, professor in the University of Chicago, normal school principal and superintendent of schools. During her educational career of more than fifty years, she saw Chicago grow from a sprawling country village to a metropolis and was largely instrumental in bringing about the same progressive changes in education as occurred in the life and growth of the city, since to her, more than to any other single person, was due the transforming of the schools from those of the narrow, academic type to cosmopolitan schools adapted to meet the needs of a fast changing world. On such an occasion as this, it is appropriate to refer to that other illus- tration of her belief in democracy in education, that scene in the Boston meeting of the National Education Association in 1910, when Mrs. Young GENERAL SESSIONS 179 was elected president from the floor, in defiance of the report of the nominat- ing committee that had selected another candidate. The gains for de- mocracy on that day have never been lost and finally resulted in this great organization that includes all school workers, to serve all and be served by all. ‘Tonight we salute Mrs. Young as one of the greatest advocates of de- mocracy in education. Her loyalty to women in general and to the women of Chicago in par- ticular is characteristically expressed by Mrs. Young in this sentiment, “Td like to do for the women of Chicago what they’ve done for me in the past in giving me my chance.” The closing chapter in the life of this great teacher of teachers was still one of service. During one of those campaigns for the raising of funds at the time of the World War, Mrs. Young on a speaking tour became over- taxed, and succumbed, giving her last bit of energy to that great principle of democracy as embodied in her country, for which she had lived and worked unceasingly and triumphantly. AN APPRCIATION OF WILLIAM TORREY HARRIS, EDUCATOR AND PHILOSOPHER-—A BRIDGED JOHN J. TIGERT, UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION WASHINGTON, D. C. There were giants in those days.—Genesis vi: 4. In an age of science like the present, when so many discoveries flash into being with bewildering rapidity, when materialism makes boast of its con- quests, it is well for the thoughtful soul to draw aside occasionally to some quieter domain, where the roar of the “world-loom” is not so evident, and there ponder upon the deeper implications of life, upon the things of the spirit. We are all so obsessed with “secondary causes,” with the phe- nomenal, that we are apt to overlook or ignore altogether the noumenal or the reality that underlies the world of appearances, and this takes us into the realm of idealistic philosophy. In thinking of philosophy, par- ticularly as it is related to education, we naturally think of one of its greatest exponents—Dr. William T. Harris, whose life was an inspiration to all who knew him. e I do not propose to enter into the history of speculative thought in America, but simply to give a bird’s-eye view of the life and labors of one who fought so strenuously to lift education out of dry formalism and to relate it to the deeper things of the soul. It is fitting for me, I think, as Commissioner of Education of the United States, to talk to you about Dr. Harris, for he was one of my predecessors in office. It is an interest- ing fact to record that the most notable appreciation and evaluation of the educational and philosophical views of Dr. Harris, namely, the book by Dr. John S. Roberts, District Superintendent of Schools of New York City, was published under the auspices of the National Education Associa- 180 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Me ee ee tion. Dr. Harris was a life director in this Association, and its president in 1875. He contributed some of his most valuable thoughts to its meet- ings. ‘There were giants in those days,” and Dr. Harris was one of them. He was not a mere dreamer, with his head in the clouds, but a man of action. “In his study of philosophy,” says Dr. Roberts, “he formed the habit of deducing the practical applications of philosophical theories to political, social and educational questions, of viewing current questions and practices in the light of philosophical ideas and of applying philosophical ideas to the solution of practical problems. This mode of thought was applied by him with the keenest interest in the field of edu- cation.” . William Torrey Harris was born at North Killingly, Conn., September 10, 1835. He received his preparatory training at Woodstock (Conn. ) Academy, and Phillips Academy, Andover, Mass. He entered Yale College in the class of 1858, but after spending two and a half years at that seat of learning, he removed in 1857 to St. Louis, Mo., where he began his pro- fessional career as a teacher of shorthand. In 1858 he became an assistant teacher in the public schools-of St. Louis, rising eventually to superintendent of city schools, holding the latter position from 1867 to 1880. It was in St. Louis that he came in contact with Henry C. Brockmeyer, one of the young men who came to America “in a reflex movement growing out of the political troubles in Germany in the previous decade.” Says F. A. Fitzpatrick, in the Educational Review for January, 1910: Brockmeyer was a student of Kant, and an enthusiastic admirer of Hegel Fresh from his studies, he became actuated with the spirit of modernism eee vocationalism, and determined to learn a trade. He selected that of a s60e molder ; later, influenced by Thoreau, he lived as a hermit in the woods; then reinvigorated, returned to St. Louis to enter the practice of law. He raised ‘ regiment which served through the Civil War, and earned in later years the plaudits of all good citizens for his rugged honesty and his rien insight It was during Brockmeyer’s career as a stove-molder that Ira Divoll W. T. Harris, and Holland discovered him and his knowledge of Kant od He L They made frequent visits to Brockmeyer’s room on the “East Side” of St Loui often arriving before Brockmeyer had cooked his frugal meal and while He ae physically worn out by his labors. The enthusiasm of this little band of talent in a new and materialistic atmosphere, seeking light upon the obscure pas ae and involved construction of Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason, echoed S irre and interest of the students of Greek in the fifteenth earary as chro icled Ms Symonds in his story of the rise of the Italian republic. To Dr ae study meant going over again his Aristotle and his Plato. He astern d the di lectic, and shutting out the rest of the world, for a period he gs tae mee ys by the ontological reveries of Hegel. How he managed to andthe ae or this study 1 is ti y 1s a mystery to me even now, for at this time Dr. Harris, with Graham, the author of a revised Pitmanic shorthand s ; : : 5 ; ystem, taught st in their evening school in St. Louis, the first school of the kind Sabie trat ew York. ul Ww Ss tat Q lite a number of able newspaper men learned stenography a his school One may understand certain mannerisms in Dr. Harris's public addre e ; us sses, a ce) bs at his manus¢ ript was writt certain adherence t his notes, when one knows th T e as 1 n Harris this GENERAL SESSIONS 181 The little band of students in St. Louis practically inaugurated the philosophical movements in the United States. In the year 1867, Dr. Harris founded the Journal of Speculative Philosophy, the first attempt of its kind in America. ‘Twenty-two volumes appeared, the last of which was published in 1893. Into this journal were poured the brilliant essays of many noted men. Brockmeyer and others translated for it the best thoughts of the German metaphysicians. Under the editorship of Dr. Harris it attracted the attention of the greatest European thinkers. In the year 1879, Dr. Harris, Thomas Davidson, A. Bronson Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson and F. B. Sanborn founded the Concord School of Philosophy, at Concord, Mass. What the members of this group sought in their discussions at Concord was not ‘‘an absolute unity of opinion, but a general agreement in the manner of viewing philosophic truth and apply- ing it to the problems of life.” In the year 1880 Dr. Harris resigned from the St. Louis schools and devoted himself to lecturing on pedagogy and the pursuit of literature. In the year 1889 he became, as I have already stated, United States Com- missioner of Education. In 1906, he resigned from the government service and retired to Provi- dence, R. I., where he died on November 5, 1909. He was buried at Putnam, Heights (North Killingly), Conn. On his monument is the following quotation from Goethe’s Tribute te Plato: “A rare scholar whose life was zealously and untiringly devoted to philosophy and education. His relation to the world is that of a superior spirit . . . All that he utters has reference to something complete, good, true, beautiful, whose furtherance he strives to promote in every bosom.” Dr. Harris married Sarah T. Bugbee, daughter of James Bugbee, of Thompson, Conn., on December 27, 1858, by whom he had two children, Theodore and Edith Davidson Harris. “The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching conferred upon him “as the first man to whom such recognition for meritorious service is given, the highest retiring allow- ance which our rules will allow, an annual income of $3000.” Orders were conferred upon him by the French and Italian governments, and many great universities of Europe and America gave him honorary degrees. In 1894 he received from the King of Italy the chivalric decoration of the Commander of the Order of St. Maurice and Lazarus. The French Government in 1878 conferred upon him the honorary title of Officer of the Academy, and in 1889 the title of Officer of Public Instruction. “In personal contact,’ says a writer in the National Cyclopedia of American Biography, “Dr. Harris was a perpetual flood and flow of light by tongue and pen. He was the indefatigable torchbearer of high philosophy and was forever lighting up those four great watchtowers, Kant, Hegel, Aris- totle, and Plato, ‘holding their importance in the order named.” He was the author of The Spiritual Sense of Dante’s Divina Commedia (1889) ; Introduction to the Study of Philosophy (1889); Hegel’s Logic (1890) ; Psychologic Foundations of Education (1898) ; chapters on The Philosophy 182 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION of A. Bronson Alcott in Sanborn’s Memoir of Alcott (1893), and many brochures on art, education and philosophy. He was the editor-in-chief of Webster’s International Dictionary. ; ‘He was,” says Fitzpatrick, “deeply religious in spirit, what might be termed intellectually a Christian. He seemed to have approached religion from his intellectual side, and not from the side of faith. He was fond of showing how certain dogmas of the Christian world usually accepted through faith were to him intellectually demonstrated.” ‘ Dr. Harris’ most notable contribution to philosophy was his critical exposition of Hegel’s Logic, written for Grigg’s philosophical classics. The keynote of his insight is the doctrine of “‘selfactivity.” In his essay on Emerson he says: Plato may stand for the philosophic seer of all time—Plato and Aristotle, it makes little difference which; for Aristotle reaffirms the same doctrine, and proceeds to show in detail the explanation of nature and man, as the revelation of divine reason. That the ultimate presupposition of all science is a personal first cause or absolute reason is evident to the philosopher who has learned to think in the school of Plato and Aristotle, or in the schools of their greatest followers; it is seen to be implied in the fact that the one from whence all pro- ceeds is necessarily selfactive and selfdetermined. Even if it is called water, or air, or matter as first principle, it must be causa sui. All things are to be explained as produced by its activity, and as growing or perishing through it. The selfdetermined is both subject and object of its activity, and this must be identified as mind—or has been thus identified by the thinkers mentioned who follow Aristotle or Plato. Dr. Harris did not enunciate any new principle in philosophy, but laid emphasis on the doctrine of “selfactivity,” like Plato and Aristotle. Like all great exponents of idealistic philosophy he held that spiritual life de- termines the material, that consciousness determines being. Says Dr. Roberts, in discussing the fundamental philosophical ideas of Dr. Harris: Selfactiyity has many stages or degrees of realization, It may be life, as in plants or animals; or feeling and locomotion, as in animals; or reason, as in man; or absolute personality, as in God. Reason is the highest form of self- activity in man. By it he may act upon his environment both really and ideally. He may form universals and see the relation of the universal principle and its concrete manifestations. Dr. Harris developed the theory of Plato that there are three stages of thought— namely, common sense, reflection or understanding, and pure reason. The first stage of thought sees the world as a number of real, independent objects, which do not owe their reality to mind or force. Each object is inde- pendent of all others and would continue to exist if all other objects were blotted out of existence. This, the so-called “common-sense view” of the world, eliminates spirit from the world and denies the truth of all ideas relating to God, or freedom, or immortality. But a higher stage of the understanding, called reflection, refutes this lower stage by showing that it is not the independent existence of things, but their reciprocal influence that is important. Relativity, not independence, is the highest category to this stage of thought. Force is fundamental; and the world is viewed a the result of the correlation of forces. This is the theory of Hume and Herbert pencer. GENERAL SESSIONS 183 To this theory, however, the world is transitory and phenomenal. Everything - is finite and dependent. Things are only the manifestations of the interactions of forces. The contents of the ethical and religious worlds are also relations. All reflection leads to an ultimate idea of force which swallows up or destroys everything. This negative theory is pantheism. Agnosticism and atheism are the inevitable conclusions. Careful consideration of this doctrine, however, shows that the conception of pantheism as an ultimate conception is illogical; that pantheism presupposes a selfactive unity. “Hence the same premises and the same course of reasoning which reflection uses to establish its doctrine of persistent force establish just as well and with the same logical clearness, creative or selfdetermining unity.” Thus Dr. Harris arrives at the third stage of thought—the pure reason, the highest stage of the manifestation of selfactivity in man. His theory of pure reason is similar to that of Kant and Hegel. Pure reason transcends the world of experience and understanding. It gives order and system to the judgments of the understanding. It is synthetic, not analytic. It sees universals, principles, totalities, It realizes the universality and necessity of some ideas. It goes beyond the objects of sense to the idea of a first principle or first cause. * * * Without the idea of selfactivity, we could not formulate an idea of God as the Creator, or as selfexistent, apart from the world. Ideas of God, freedom, and imiuortality have no meaning to many scientists. Scientists explain these phenomena physiologically or call them diseases of lan- guage. This is the reason for the constant opposition by Dr. Harris to the theories of Hamilton and Spencer. Their failure to appreciate the necessity of selfactivity prevents them from conceiving ultimate religious ideas—selfexistence, selfcreation, and creation by external agency. Yet they contradict themselves by setting up persistent force as the ultimate principle. * * * In contrast to these philosophers, Dr. Harris holds that selfactivity is the highest principle of philosophy—the principle of life, of thought, of mind, of creative activity. It is the basis of theology and philosophy. It is the necessary ground of the idea of God—“of one eternal energy which creates and governs the world.” Hence the world is a unity—the subject and object are identified. So much for Dr. Roberts’ able study of some of the implications of Dr, Harris’ views. Dr. Harris’ philosophy of pedagogy is to be explained by this doctrine of the “selfactive.” The universe is not directed by “a blind, unconscious force,” but by divine reason, mind. A spiritual first principle makes mind the source of the universe and the ex- planation of nature and history. Mind is consciousness, personality, will, intellect, love. In the absolute personality intellect and will and love are one, because each in its perfection is all. The absolute selfknowledge which makes of itself an object thereby creates, or is, absolute will. But its self-made object is also one with it by love and recognition. Hence Plato called his first principle the good, inasmuch as he wished to indicate that it is a will in accordance with reason, and not a blind will, such as Schopenhauer sets Up and Buddbtem pre: supposes. Plato’s God creates the world as “like himself as possible, for ay goodness can have envy of anything.” Hence nature must be a revelation 0 infinite goodness and man must have a divine origin and a divine destiny. Dr. Harris’ scheme of pedagogy becomes luminous, after reading the foregoing. Man is a selfactive entity, the master of his own fate, and not the idle sport of chance, called into being by “fortuitous collocation of 184 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION atoms.” “All below man,” he says in his Philosophy in Outline, “pass away and do not retain individuality. Man is selfdetermining as in- dividual, and hence includes his own development within himself as individ- ual, and hence is immortal and free.’ Education should endeavor to prepare him to understand the view of the world entertained by his civiliza- tion; to put him into possession of the wisdom of the race; to cultivate character, spirituality, and the social ideal; it should not consist merely in taking care of the body and in the performance of the lower social func- tions—the preparation of food, clothing, and shelter—though these are of importance in the general rounding out of man. Dr. Harris was an omnivorous reader. Of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister he said: “I endeavor to re-read Wilhelm Meister every year and always find it more suggestive than before. It has increased my practical power tenfold.” Carlyle’s The French Revolution and Frederick the Great he pronounced to be the greatest epics since Homer’s Iliad. He was a de- voted admirer of Sir Walter Scott’s novels, but he proclaimed Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables to be the greatest work of fiction of the nineteenth century—perhaps of any century. Dr. Harris was instrumental in establishing the kindergarten as an in- tegral part of the St. Louis school system; this was the first attempt in this direction in America. It is interesting to note that shortly before he died he was putting the finishing touches to a book on courses of study. Unfortunately for the world, he loaned the manuscript of this book to a friend, who lost it on a railroad train. It was never recovered. One of his most inspiring works is The Spiritual Sense of Dante’s Divina Commedia. He says: “Of all the great world-poems, unquestionably Dante’s Divina Commedia may be justly claimed to have a spiritual sense, for it possesses a philosophic system and admits of allegorical interpretation. It is par excellence the religious poem of the world.” : In the Chautauquan, during 1881-1882, he published his scholarly treatise on “Christianity in Art,’ which is a discussion of “the nature of art and its five special forms—architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and poetry—devoting most consideration, however, to the department of paint- ing as the chosen field of romantic art. Romantic art . . is the Christian form of art.” He intended to bring out these papers in book form, handsomely illustrated, but never could find the time to re-edit and prepare them for the press. | Reports of Committees y a o tn cre £ a a sa « ies * - - ve a Oe REPORT OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE ON COMMITTEES JESSE H. NEWLON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DENVER, COLO. HE report of the Committee on Committees will be very brief. We find that the president and the Executive Committee have carried out the recommendations made a year ago, and which you approved, and our only function at this time is to indicate the committees we think should be continued and those we think should be transferred, to report to other bodies or to be discontinued. We recommend that the Commission on the American School Program be discontinued ; that committee has not been active, largely due to the ill health of the chairman, and we understand it is the opinion of Mr. Owen himself, the chairman, it should be discontinued. The Committee on the Appointment of Delegates and Kindred Subjects, of which Dr. Claxton is chairman, is to be continued. The Committee on Community Relations is to be discontinued. We understand this committee has finished its work, and the present chairman would not wish to continue as chairman. We think the new president and Executive Committee should determine whether such committee is needed or not. The Editorial Council does not seem to be active. We therefore rec- ommend the discontinuance of this committee. The Committee on Educational Problems in Colored Schools, is an active committee, and we recommend that it continue. The Committee on Ethics of the Profession is to be continued. The Committee on Homes for Retired Teachers is to be continued. We refer to the Department of Health Education the Committee on Health Education, but we recommend that an appropriation be made that will enable the Department of Health Education, through a new com- mittee, to continue its cooperation with the American Medical Association in a very important piece of work. The Committee on International Relations is continued. The Legislative Commission and the Committee on School Libraries are continued. The Resolutions Committee is provided for, I believe, in the bylaws. Continue the Committee on Retirement Allowances and the Committee on Revision of Departments. The Committee on Rules, of course, is necessary. The Committee on School Museum Relations, we understand, has com- pleted its work and we recommend that it be discontinued. We recommend that the Committee on Visual Education be referred to the Departmert of Visual Education. The Budget Committee, of course, will be necessary. The Committee on Necrology is provided for in the bylaws. There seems to be a desire on the part of a number of people that there [187] 188 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION should be a new committee on salaries. It has been years since the Association has had a committee on salaries, and during the time that has elapsed since the last report there have been a number of important de- velopments, a number of forward-looking salary schedules have been adopted and certain problems have arisen. The Research Department, under Mr. Norton, has done a remarkably fine piece of work in collecting statistics on salaries. I believe it is the custom .of that department now to make an extensive survey every two years. We recommend that the president appoint a committee on the economic status of teachers, and that it be the function of this committee, with Mr. Norton and his associates, to prepare within the next year another report that will state what we now know or think we know in regard to the development of salary schedules, and in regard to the great preblem of the economic status of teachers, not only in the elementary and secondary schools, but in the colleges and universities as well. We believe the time has come for such a report, and it would be very usable by many who are concerned with the technical problem of salary schedule making. There is also always a constant demand that something be done about the problem of character education. “There are always those that cannot see that we are doing anything in the schools about character education, because we do not happen to have a text book on ethics and a period set aside which is labeled “Ethics or Moral Education.” We suggest—not recommend, but suggest—that the secretary raise the question with the curriculum department to decide whether it would be best to make a recommendation as to character education in the schools, something that might prove as an outlet for teachers and executives, and something that might inform the lay public as to the importance of the matter which we adapt to that objective of education, and something as to the methods which we employ in our attempts to achieve that objective. REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON NECROLOGY ERNEST L. CRANDALL, DIRECTOR OF LECTURES AND VISUAL INSTRUCTION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, NEW YORK CITY, CHAIRMAN It becomes my duty at this time to hand to the secretary for the archives of this body the roll of the dead. Would that we might make it the scroll of the dead, for it is indeed an honor roll. Every name upon it should be preserved at least upon the scroll of memory. That they are not all in- scribed upon tablets of bronze or pillars of marble is due to the fact that men have not yet learned to honor the heroes of peace in the same degree as the heroes of war. Recent events would seem to belie that statement, yet taken by and large it still holds. It is true that when recently a modest, clean, ed intrepid American youth took his life in his hand and, i : cleaving th , laid the distance between New g the sky, York and Paris behind him in little more REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 189 than a day, he was received like a conquering hero upon his return. Nor was one plaudit grudgingly given, or any single paean of praise in his honor marred by the discordant note of envy—here or abroad. Nevertheless, the fact remains that for the most part, save in rare and exceptional, in striking and spectacular cases such as Lindbergh’s conquest of the air, the sacrifices, the self-denials, even the valors of the pursuits of peace remain unsung. I think it will not be gainsaid that the teacher’s career involves much of sacrifice, much of self denial, and requires not a little courage, not physical courage, perhaps, but that moral courage which enables one to turn a deaf ear to the lure of pelf and power, to put behind him visions of place and preferment, and adhere to an ideal of usefulness and service. Let us not plume ourselves upon this, however. Unless it is a choice that has been joyfully made, it reflects little credit upon us; and if that choice has been joyfully made, then we shall never think of the credit. Besides it is a situation incident to many other careers. Indeed, it is a situation almost inherent in professional life. The preacher, the physician, the scientist, the engineer must all place the ideals of their profession before the hope of gain, or they not only lose caste in their calling, but suffer in their selfrespect. Yet the love of achievement is in us all, and it is a wholesome and a hopeful thing that it is so. Without it the world would stagnate. The hope of humanity lies in the urge to attain. Right here may we not draw a lesson for ourselves from the honor that is Lindbergh’s. What is it that we hail in him? His courage? Not altogether. “The splendor of his achievement? ‘That, but not that alone. His beautiful relationship with his splendid teacher-mother? ‘That, but more than that. His modesty under adulation? A thousand times yes; but that very modesty is only a part of the reticence, of the habit of with- drawing within himself, that led to the one feature of his exploit that sig- nalized it above, and set it apart from all others of its kind. He traveled alone. It seems to me that that is what captivated us more than any- thing. There is something in the picture which we hold, of that lone horse- man of the clouds, that lone mariner of the uncharted lanes of upper air, that solitary traveler through midnight skies, that has caught the fancy of mankind as few events have ever done. He traveled alone. Now, not every name ot the hundreds, perhaps thousands of our col- leagues who have passed away during the year Is recorded upon the list just handed to the secretary. . There are inscribed there only the names of those who, in the opinion of their community or their commonwealth, so far as vour Committee has been able to gather it, have rendered some signal service to education. , There may be names upon that list that, in a strict interpretation of that limitation, do not belong there. I say it with all due deference, I have no doubt there are. ‘here are also doubtless, yes indubitably names which 190 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION ought to be upon that list, which do not appear there. Many a teacher may have passed on unnoticed, almost unmissed, within the past year, who never acquired even a modest halo of reputation, yet whose inspiration has stirred within some youthful breast fires that yet shall give the world an- other great name, another leader, another pioneer, another Lincoln, another Roosevelt, another Edison, another Peary, another Lindbergh. But this we shall have to say, my friends, of any name that belongs on that list, whether it is there or not, of any name that belongs on any list of those who have rendered signal service to the cause of education, or to any other great cause—he traveled alone. To every such soul there comes a time when he must say to himself, the counsels of others are not my wisdom, the ideals of others are not my guide, the judgments of others are not my code, the rewards of others are not my recompense. I must go my way unguided, unaided, unaccom- panied, and unapplauded. I must work out my own salvation and con- tribute my quota to the salvation of the race in my own way. I must give of the truth that is in me as God has given me to see it, not as others have taught it to me. I must express the love that is in me, not in the language of convention, but fresh and warm as it springs from my heart. I must show the light that is in me not in the forms that are prescribed, but as it glows in my spirit. I must do, not the deeds that others bid me, but the tasks that seem fashioned to my hand. I must tread, not the paths where others beckon, but the ways that lure my footsteps. J must travel alone. But he who travels alone, draws others after him, not merely the crowd, but those who have been fired by his example. That is the spirit in which we are here today. We are here to say to those intrepid spirits, known or unknown, who have passed on into the greater light, that they traveled not alone, for we have followed after. And still we stand and gaze after them, and wish them safe home, and thank God that they were, and that their lonely labors have lightened and brightened our own endeavors. They Traveled Alone They traveled alone—do not doubt it. For them no infallible guide Had marked out a safe, easy, pathway, Scaling the mountain’s side. Sometimes the darkness about them Was broken by never a star; But always they looked to the morning They journeyed to countries afar. Often their Christ, lay buried And none rolled away the stone; Yet they faltered not in their labors They knew they must travel alone. Reports OF CoMMITTEES 191 ee ae es ees ere They felt—Ah! They felt so keenly The groping and hoping of youth— The doubt and the fear and the panic; But they never withheld the truth. They knew that we who came after Would question and challenge and weigh; Yet how little they recked of our judgments! They lived for their work day by day. They lived for the youth all about them, They lived and they loved and are gone, Where the springtime of youth blooms eternal And no more they shall travel alone. And now, in accordance with a time-honored custom, let us rise upon a signal from the chairman, and stand for a moment in reverent recollection of all those, our colleagues, named or unnamed, who have been gathered to their reward since last we assembled here. List of names reported by members of Necrology Committee: Alabama F. B. Haynes, Bullock County Miss Alma Wood, Birmingham S. S. Murphy, Mobile County . Miss Bessie Meek, Woman’s College C. A. Peavy, Escambia County W. J. Dorroh, Birmingham W. Y. Adams, Blount County Miss Dorpha Cox, Birmingham R. A. Smith, Chilton County J. W. Howse, Jackson County Miss Carrie Barns, Fayette County President T. W. Palmer, Alabama Col- Miss Floreed Sims, De Kalb County lege, Montevallo. California Archibald B. Anderson, San Francisco, Albert H. Hardy, San Diego (former President, State Teachers College supt. of schools at La Crosse, Wis.) Dr. Edward Twichell Ware, President Miss Rebecca Greene, Palo Alto Emeritus of Atlanta University, Los Miss Mary A. McArthur, Oakland Angeles Dr. Benjamin Ide Wheeler, President Violet Buttner, San Francisco Emeritus University of California Franklin Pierce Davidson, Chico. Colorado Dr. Herbert Alonzo Howe, Denver Miss Clara J. Coney, Denver Mrs. Susan Holt Playter, Trinidad Mrs. Mayme Hunt, Denver Mrs. Lulu Van Dyke, Weld County Mrs. Maude A. Leach, Denver Mrs. Frances Ritter, Denver Miss Minnie Price, Denver Dr; J. A. Russell, Denver Miss Sara A. Alderman, Denver E. Waite Elder, Denver Earl W. Martin, Western State Col- Mrs. Effie E. Hackson, Denver lege Miss Ethel Donelson, Denver Jessie Blair, Longmont Connecticut William J. Betts, well known educator Caroline Marchant, New Haven of Connecticut 192 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION District of Columbia Hosmer J. Johnson, Washington Benjamin W. Murch, Washington A. E. Gasch, Washington Miss R. L. Gordon, Washington Miss E. B. Purman, Washington Mrs. B. M. Sewell, Washington Miss Lillian L. Cox, Washington E. P. Hughes, Washington Mrs. J. M. McKnew, Washington Miss Katherine E. Trotter, Washington Mrs. Frances Espey Buckingham, Wash- ington Miss A. M. Mason, Washington Mrs. S. K. Hollingsworth, Washington Miss. E. G. Robinson, Washington Miss F. S. Fairley, Washington Miss A. E. Thompson, Washington Miss Barbara C. Clements, Washington Miss L. IT. Pace, Washington Mrs. M. E. Morgan, Washington Florida F. G. Russ, St. Petersburg Miss Clem Hampton, Hampton Springs Sexton Johnson, Orlando Dr. James H. Van Sickle, Miami Dr. Oliver Farrar Emerson, Ocala Georgia Ernest A. Anderson, Statesboro Illinois Harry Pratt Judson, President Emeritus University of Chicago Annie Keller, Green County Dr. Thomas McClelland, Galesburg G. M. Randall, Danville Cora L. Sennett, Chicago Indiana Miss Brigie Halliman, Fort Wayne Dr. Benjamin J. Burris, Muncie Iowa Macy Campbell, Cedar Falls Miss Catherin Whistler, Council Bluffs I. N. Beard, Osceola J H. Orcutt (Oregon) Dr. Charles H. Weller, Iowa City J. E. Miller, Parkersburg Dean Franklin T. Oldt, University of Dubuque Hill M. Bell (Los Angeles) Prof. Charles Cleveland Nutting, Uni- versity of Iowa, Iowa City John Baptist Knoepfler, Cedar Falls Kansas Miss Mary A. Moore, Olathe Miss Joanna Eaton, Kansas City Miss Mary Stewart, Kansas City Ralph H. Weaver, Kansas City Dr. Joseph H. Hill W. H. Keller Harriet Rowe, Kansas City Kentucky Dr. Laura Drake Gill, Berea Prof. W. H. Bartholomew, Louisville Louisiana Col. George Soule, New Orleans Maine J. Francis MacNichol, Augusta Massachusetts Mrs. Louise M. Bullman, Springfield Dr. Edward Hickling Bradford, Cam- Miss Ellen A. Barry, Roxbury Wilbur F. Nichols, Boston bridge Charles W. Eliott, Cambridge Melville A. Arnold, Everett REPoRTS OF COMMITTEES 193 ee Maryland Rey. Dr. Wallace Buttrick, Baltimore H. W. Caldwell, Elkton Orville M. Boyce, Baltimore J. Frank McBee, Somerset County Norman Elmer Smith, Salisbury Michigan Miss Lucy Bettes, Grand Rapids Alfred H. Lloyd, Ann Arbor Herschel Robert Case Dr. C. E. Marshall David Mackenzie, Detroit Judge Patrick J. M. Hally, Detroit Prof. Lawrence A. McLouth, University of Michigan Dr. John T. Ewing, Alma College Prof. Florus A. Barbour, Michigan State Normal College Prof. Howard B. Merrick, University of Michigan Dr. Neville S. Hoff, University of Michigan Prof. William J. Husset, University of Michigan Volney A. Chapin, University of Michi- gan Josephine Woods, Ogenaw County James E. Quinlan, Mackinac County Mrs. Beatrice Murray Quinlan, Mack- inac County Ellsworth G. Holmes, Scottville O. M. Misenar, St. Clair Lewis De Graff, Metropolitan Edward. Keeler, Portland Marie L, Turner, Manistique Mrs. Perry Shutstad, Baraga Marie Duchene, St. Clair A. May Aldrich, Grand Rapids Marion White, Menominee County A. A. Miller, Oscoda County Willard L. German, Bay City Grace Opal Hillier, Flint Mrs. Mabel C. Sykes, Grand Rapids Mrs. Thomas Hughes Florence Harvey, Lansing Genevieve Kell, L’Anse Mae Hogan, Livingston County Eva Beattie, Livingston County Annie A. Craig, Detroit Mrs. Louisa Bennett, Detroit Margaret A. Holmes, Detroit Cassie Ryan, Detroit Emma Wilcox, Detroit Blanche Howe, Detroit Irene C. Thompson, Detroit Celia Potter Knott, Detroit William Tubbs, Allegan County Adah Newell, Detroit Josiah Phelps, Calhoun County Ann Smith, Detroit G. F. Manning Millie Magnus, Manistee Nellie Peck, Dryden Ceorgia Shear, Grand Rapids Margaret Cannon, Sparta Geo. F. Manning, Elkton Schools Harry K. Allwardt, Battle Creek Elsie Rudd, Ionia County Louise Converse, Mt. Pleasant Artie V. Depew, Rockford Maria T. Trueman, Detroit Bertha Reed, Hunters Creek Margaret Flanagen, Iron River Alfred H. Lloyd, University of Michi- gan Prof. Francis W. Kellsey, University of Michigan. ; Missouri Gertrude M. Aytes, Owensville Mrs. Roxie Baird, Nixa Michael J. Barry, St. Louis Margaret E. Bass, St. Louis Julia Beam, Springfield Mrs. R. A. Belsche, Richland Henry E. Black, Jameson Henrietta Bland, St. Louis Gladys D. Chase, Breckenridge Jewell Childers, Macks Creek Mary Connor, Elsberry Mary M. Dalton, St. Louis Nelle Dalton, Gilliam Alice Daniel, Traer, lowa Esther Denke, Gordonville Edna Doser, Campbell Lorene Duncan, Browning Mary Farrington, Laddonia Elinor C. Ford, St. Louis Tacitus Gaillard (colored), St. Louis Nellie M. Gentry, Houston Anna C. Gilday, Kansas City Eva M. Grant, Kansas City Matt E. Greer, Houston Julia E. Halli, Kansas City R. H. Hampton, St. Louis 194 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Sr ee ee Edith Lee Harding, Webb City Chas. Harris, Kewanee R. C. Hutcherson, Doniphan Mrs. Herbert Illers, Kewanee Vada Irwin, St. Louis Ollie Jenkins, Naylor Jennie M. A. Jones, St. Louis Howard Kelley, Aurora Adelia M. Kientz, St. Louis Bettie M. Lewis, Kansas City Ella McDaniel, Joplin Abbie McNeil, Kansas City D. C. Mickey, Cardwell Francis E, Nipher, Kirkwood E. Kate Owen, St. Louis Efhe Parker, Vienna Laura E. Peters, St. Louis Alice Price, Belleview J. A. Reber, Kansas City E. E. Reed, Fulton Chas. B. Reynolds, Kansas City Sophia E. Richards, Kansas City Lucie C. Rosier, St. Louis Mrs. Mary Davey, Butte Lucy Jane Kemper, Butte Mrs. J. G. King, Deer Lodge Mrs. J. W. Seager J. H. T. Ryman, Missoula Miss Mary Rourke, Poplar Celia Huddleston, Butte Eliza Woods, Missoula Katherine Sidle, Blossburg Mrs. Emma Milliron, Flesher Marie Helen Ruth, St. Louis Grace E. Ryffel, St. Louis Elfrida Schaper, St. Louis Nadine Swartz, Marceline Ora G. Schwidde, Steelville Mary Seymour, Butler W. W. Shipley, Cameron Loretta Shoemaker, Eldon J. H. Simmes, St. Joseph Margaret K. Slater, St. Louis Mabel Steele, Kansas City Clara Taliaferro, Bunceton Doyle Thomas, Ravenwood Katherine Thurman, Poplar Bluff Clara Ulrici, St. Louis Nannie Vickroy, Bucklin Stanford White, Bertrand Anna Wilson, St. Joseph Mrs. Anna Mae Wilson, Phelps County Mamie Wilburn, St. Louis Guy Wilhoit, Springfield Gertrude Woods, Princeton Montana Mrs. M. C. Deering, Great Falls Angie M. Palmer, Basin E. C, Marr, Great Falls Dr. J. H. Underwood, Missoula Ada J. White, Great Falls Frank S. Kelly, Billings Margaret Holland, Butte Mrs. Emogene Lectra, Sidney Mrs. Chas. F. Henry, Townsend Mrs Emma Spencer, Cascade Nebraska Mrs. Cora F. Anderson, Omaha Miss Lillias Mortimer, Lincoln Miss Lucy Putney, Lincoln Miss Nettie Foster, Stanton Miss Lila Kyler Miss Emma Haviland Miss Ivyah Miller Miss Stella V. Gilmore Miss Anna Dickerman Miss Clara Olson Miss Pearl Silen Miss Anna Hannan Arthur H. Platt J. W. Searson, Lincoln Wm. Prince Aylsworth Miss Ruth Goldsworthy Mrs. Elizabeth Jelinek Miss Louise Luedtke Miss Naomi Larsen New Hampshire Dr. William Jewett Tucker, Hanover Ide G. Sargeant, Paterson W. J. Tuers, Jersey City Dr. Thomas K. Smith, Newark Mrs. M. E. Travers, Paterson Mrs. Rose U. Cobb, Paterson Alvin E. Thomas, Newmarket New Jersey Lillian Baxter, Paterson John Enright, Asbury Park Augusta A. Ziegener, Jersey City Elisah D. Riley, Atlantic County Mabel Cheyney, Atlantic County Reports OF ComMITTEES Mary P. Cretella, Atlantic County Ernestine Straus, Atlantic County Grace Westfall, Bergen County Rena Haines, Burlington County H. L. Reber, Cumberland County Edith Harker, Essex County Anna Marie Rush, Essex County Mrs. Lillian Perry, Essex County Paulina Badgley, Essex County Charles F, Stonesifer, Essex County Ethel Farrington, Essex County Lunevra F. Crane, Essex County Frederick W. Fort, Essex County Jennie B. Berry, Essex County Julia A. Harlow, Essex County Daniel R. Stewart, Essex County Otto H. Schulte, Essex County Charlotte A. Vogel, Essex County Mame Davis, Gloucester County Marion Garry, Hudson County Carrie V. Spargo, Hudson County Emma L. Kemp, Hudson County 195 Gustav H. Bojus, Hudson County Mary A. Farnan, Hudson County Sarah Donnelly, Hudson County Margaret Benny, Hudson County Mildred McCabe, Hudson County Santiago Miguel, Hudson County Elizabeth Johnston, Hudson County Elizabeth Douress, Mercer County Mildred Levin, Mercer County Bernice Ellen Rogers, Middlesex County Ida E. Johnston, Morris County Adelaide A. Hance, Morris County C. E. Downey, Ocean County Adolphus Pharo, Ocean County Mrs. Lillian Freeland, Passaic County William C. Knapp, Somerset County Florence Hawkes, Union County Katherine M. Cahill, Union County Kate Warner, Union County Mrs. Alice F. Johnston, Union County New York Dr. Ernest Albee, Cornell University Mary Sharpe, Rochester Cecil A. Kidd, New York City Grace L. Van Norden, New York City Edward B. Shallow Gilbert H. Blakeley Henry E. Jenkins Arthur C. Borklund Irving Hazen Dr. Albert C. Hill, Regent E. R. Whitney, Superintendent of Schools, Schenectady Miss Mary A. Meyer, Utica Free Academy Miss Mary E. Scharft, formerly Batavia School for the Blind Miss Jennie M. Henderson, Newburgh George Ensign Baldwin, Spring Valley High School Principal Fred W. Crumb, Watervliet High School Charles B. Alexander, Regent North Carolina Col. Robert Bingham, Bingham Heights Ohio Rabbi Louis Grossman, Cincinnati John Jay Adams, Ohio State University Dr. Ernest Ashton Smith, Piqua William H. Lott, Columbus Miss Eleanor C. O’Connell,. Cincinnati Miss Annie Kerr, Painesville Eliza M. Dorr, Fremont E. H. Florence, Clark County Prof. George A. Peckham, Hiram Col- lege Nellie Coe, Youngstown : Clementine M. Pierson, Cincinnati John F. Gerwick, Dayton Carolina E. Martin, Cleveland Edward C. Feiock, Woodsfield William H. Geiger, Lisbon , Genevieve Chamberlin, Elyria Belle Martin, Springfield Lily Croy, Toledo Edmund Adams Jones, Westerville Edward P. West, Wilmington Louis Burr Demorest, Marysville Paul Raymond Stevenson, Ohio State University Clara D. Klemon, Cincinnati Gertrude Snider, Defiance Olia Miller, Mt. Orab Mary V. Gallagher, Toledo Dr. Ernest A. Smith, Toledo Kittie Craig, Niles 196 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Ella Summers-Powell, Putnam County George S. Harter, Greenville Carrie Keilholtz, Tiffin Maria Woodrow, Hillsboro Atley Storer Henshaw, Cincinnati Margaret Martin, Columbus Martha Justice, Salem Mrs. Clementine B. Fick, Cincinnati Jessie Winbigler, Findlay Mary J. La Tourette, Middletown Herman Waldmann, Cleveland Lenora Borman, Dayton Minnie Carl, Akron Minnie L. Dugan, Carthage Morgan H. Jones, Portsmouth John O. Smith, Columbus Emily St. John Bouton, Toledo Frances M. McGrath, Toledo Viola Waller, Charles City, lowa Harriet Beckwith, Ravenna Ozella B. Rowe, Shaker Heights Supt. W. O. Renner, Lexington Electa P. Bradbury, Cleveland David R. Breitenbacker, Jacksonburg, Belmont County Linda M. Duvall, Ohio Wesleyan Uni- versity Emma Broach, Akron C. W. Hoffman, Montpelier Ella Griffith, Woodsfield Emma Warmington, Ashtabula Dr. J. A. Shawan, Columbus Oregon Luella M. Brewster, Eugene Ambrosina M. Griffin, Portland Margaret Goodin Elkins, Pineville Gene W. Hall, Glendale Mary Elizabeth Hart, Milwaukee Rose Klein, La Grande D. K. Lutby, Salem W. F. McFarland, Pineville T. A. Melendy, Portland © Harold Price, North Bend Rhoda Rakes, Rufus Edwin DeVore Ressler, Corvallis Margaret Scollard, Woodburn Oklahoma Dr. George W. Austin, Chicasha Miss Elsie Wheeler, Tulsa J. S. Murray, Coleman Pennsylvania Dr. Alonzo Brown, founder of Brown Preparatory School, Philadelphia Jerome C. Jackson, Gettysburg Miss Fannie L. Johnson, Harrisburg Miss Carrie A. Weeks, Philadelphia Francis Alexander Foreman, Center County David O. Etters, Center County Eli M. Rapp, Berks County Joseph H. Tudor, State College H. M. Mendenhall, Upper Darby William Romaine Newbold, Philadel- phia Rey. Lyman Beecher Tefft, Providence Daniel Ruff, New Oxford Charles V. Smith, Mahanoy City Irvin W. Ziegler, New Cumberland Jdhn C. Wagner, Carlisle George F. Minnich, Lansdale Isabel White, North Braddock Daniel W. Williams, Nanty-Glo Mrs. Elizabeth Powell Bond, German- town Verna M. Hill, Bowers Dr. Joseph Swain, President Emeritus, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore Rhode Island South Carolina Dr. William D. Melton, Columbia South Dakota W. W. Girton, Sioux Falls Tennessee Rey. Dr. John Royall Harris, Lebanon W. K. Webb, Bellbuckle REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 197 SE a pre ante es Texas L. W. Wall, Dumas E. L. White, Laramie Mrs. O. F. Carlson, Fort Worth Miss E. Porcher Gaines, Fort Worth Morgan H. Jones, Fort Worth Augustus S. Dale, San Antonio J. F. Peeler, Dallas Hugh Perry R. L. Abbott, McLennan County David S. Furman, Dallas : Virginia Miss Emily Miladofsky, Cherrydale Mr. McFadden, Norfolk Washington William M. Mackey, Tacoma West Virginia T. M. Marshall, Glenville, Life Member and Director, N. E. A. Wisconsin J. E. Roberts, Fond du Lac Miss Frances A. Wilkins, Eau Clair Dr. Julius Howard Pratt, Milwaukee REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON ETHICS OF THE PROFESSION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION SARAH T. MUIR, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA, CHAIRMAN A code of ethics for the teaching profession was the goal set for this committee by the National Education Association. Before a code could be framed, investigations of various sorts were necessary. A careful study of all the existing state and local codes was printed last year and presented to the representative assembly at Philadelphia. In this report the codes for teachers were analyzed, and typical codes were printed in full. A valuable fund of material on the subject was thus put into shape for use by persons and organizations wishing to study codes. With the printing of this study the committee felt it had answered the question, “What has already been done by teachers in drafting codes?” The next logical step was to find out how the existing codes were functioning and to what agencies were chiefly committed the duty of familiarizing teachers with the code in states where one has been adopted. To this end a questionnaire was sent out in the winter to all members of the committee on ethics and to the secretaries of state teachers associations. From the answers received it became apparent to the committee that while the belief in the value of a code for teachers was strong the actual in- fluence of the code had not so far been generally felt. It is my intention to set forth briefly in this report a few of the ques- tions asked in that questionnaire and some of the conclusions reached by this committee, together with a statement of the plan for the coming year. “Are the teachers in your state familiar with the code?” This question and another, asking what means are being used to secure familiarity, 198 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION brought out the reply that in many cases no consistent attempt is made to acquaint members of the profession with the terms or the intent of the code. In the first flush of enthusiasm at having accomplished the thing for which it had been formed, the state or other local committee caused the code to be printed in the journal of the state teachers association ; or in leaflets for distribution at an annual meeting; or sent to the normal schools with a request that its principles be taught to prospective teachers. In many instances this first publication was its last. As one reads between the lines he sees that while the committee was at work preparing the code for adoption, there was a considerable stir of interest in ascertaining just what kind of conduct was considered ethical for a teacher and what was not. One group of teachers took to heart the matter of building up a body of ethical practices, but those who fol- lowed—and teachers follow fast upon one another—heard only a shadow of the vigorous discussion with which the code was launched. Does this mean that the good in a code is too evanescent to be worth the writing of it? Does it mean that the only value there is in a code is in the writing of it? Apparently this is not the belief even of those persons who deplore the lack of vitality which some state codes have shown. In most instances the answers from the various states show that lack of familiarity with the code is caused by failure to provide an agency that will insure steady and regular publication and interpretation. Probably the most significant deduction from the questionnaire can be drawn from the answers to the question, ‘“Do you favor a national code for teachers?’ From almost every state the answer was “‘Yes.”’ And the reason given in almost every instance was that the national code would lend strength to the state codes. Some of the replies are worth listing: Illinois: ““The knowledge that teachers of the nation, as a unit, have accepted certain standards of professional conduct should help to secure observation of those standards.” Minnesota: “A code is needed to dignify the profession, to help make state codes function better, to assist the states which have no codes, and to help those states which have codes to improve them.” Ohio: “It would secure dignity for the profession. A national code would more likely be abided by. We need a national code of real merit.” A few responded that each state should work out its own code. ‘They are in the right, it seems to us. The value of a national code lies largely, it appears, in furnishing support to state codes. Are any of the state codes functioning? Is there a state where teachers in large numbers abide strictly by the best traditions of their profession and where canons of ethical conduct decide what a member of the teaching profession may or may not do? The search so far has revealed one notable instance of a code that is being regularly interpreted, regularly adjusted to meet the exigencies of professional life, with findings regularly published where all teachers may see them. This is in Pennsylvania where a commission on professional REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 199 ———— ethics sits regularly, interprets cases, makes reports to the House of Delegates, and recommends changes in the code to meet existing situations. George Gailey Chambers, who is a member of the national committee on ethics of the profession, seems to be the guiding spirit in the Pennsylvania commission. ‘Though he modestly disclaims the honor, he appears to be having a large part in making that commission function. Merely to read the report of proceedings in the Pennsylvania School Journal shows what may be accomplished when a local commission keeps constantly before the teachers the principles which they themselves have agreed shall be binding upon them. No doubt other state or local groups are accomplishing much the same sort of thing, but no published record is available if any such commission is acting elsewhere. It becomes apparent that a national code would give an impetus to states and lend them support in administering the local codes. There is no feeling of discouragement because state codes have not proved so effective as their writers hoped. The building of a code of ethics in any profession is a slow process. ‘The awakening to a need of a written code does not come all at once. ‘The study made last year of state codes shows that where codes exist they show enough similarity in the principles stated to demonstrate that there are rules of conduct which teachers everywhere consider vital. Con- spicuous among these are the clauses which urge teachers to improve themselves by study and by uniting with others of their profession in local, state, and national associations; those which condemn various breaches in contract ; those which urge teachers to be fair with one another in applying. for positions and specify that superintendents shall be just in their dealings with one another and with their teachers. From all the study which this committee has so far made it becomes apparent that the time is ripe to formulate a national code with the three- fold purpose of setting up standards for those who are yet new in the profession; restraining the few who, knowing professional ethics, may yet be unscrupulous; and lending dignity to a profession which is growing every day in power and responsibility. Clearly the duty of this committee is to lay plans to formulate a code that shall be acceptable to all the states from east to west, from north to south; to all members of the profession from the new teachers just out of training school to the experienced administrator holding in the palm of his hand the greatest responsibility in the world—a far-reaching school system. How can a committee achieve this? The chairman of this com- mittee has great faith in its members. They represent the most careful selection on the part of three great presidents of the National Education Association—Jesse H. Newlon, Mary McSkimmon and Francis GaeBlair They represent widely diverse types of teachers—college presidents and professors; secondary superintendents, principals, and classroom teachers; elementary principals and teachers; kindergarten supervisors and teachers. In a meeting of this committee held in Dallas, Texas, in March, it 200 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Ct ee ee was decided that a code to be acceptable to all the teachers must be dictated by all types of teachers. The members decided that the work for the coming years would be to find out what teachers at large believe to be ethical by submitting to them a collected list of ethical principles and asking them to pass upon the value of each. ‘The pronouncements for this list will be gathered by sifting from the large number of codes which this committee has at hand, the dominant ethical canons. As has been stated before, many principles appear in all codes, some appear in few. These ethical pronouncements will include the best in all codes for teachers and perhaps some learned from other professions. When the material has been compiled, it will be submitted to representative teachers throughout the United States. Those to whom the request will be sent will represent widely different types both as to geographical location and as to teaching and administrative duties. Teachers to whom these lists are sent will be asked to state whether or not they believe that the principles so compiled are vital and should be included in a code of ethics for the teaching profession. While prediction of the results thus to be obtained is dangerous, the committee feels moderately certain on a few points: 1. The teachers thus addressed will, for the most part, respond to the ques- tionnaire partly because of the simplicity of working which will make answering easy, but largely because of keen interest in the subject. 2. Clauses which relate to purely local difficulties or situations will be dis- carded even by teachers in states where the conditions hinted at are most acute. 3. The pronouncement on which a large number agree will constitute a body of ethical principles which may be safely used as guides to conduct in the pro- fession of teaching. The preliminary work which was necessary in order to ascertain how much had been done in code making in our profession has been com- pleted. This committee expects to spend the next year in formulating a questionnaire, sending it out and gathering returns from it. It looks forward confidently to being able to present to this body next year a set of principles which shall not be, as one member wearily put it, “a pretty code which consists of beautiful generalities clothed in pleasing English” ; but rather the actual belief of a representative cross-section of almost a million teachers. The committee earnestly hopes that the members of the Representative Assembly of the National Education Association to whom this report of progress is addressed will grant to this committee the hearty support which it has had in the past. With the help of the president and of the efficient Washington office headed by our secretary, J. W. Crabtree, and with the aid of the members of the profession, this committee hopes to present a report next July which will be a notable achievement in the history of the teaching profession in the United States. A written statement of the best which the best of us believe will be one further step in stabilizing our profession. REPORTS OF CoMMITTEES 201 Se a ne re ara PS Sa a ne ee Sa ee eo od REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON RETIREMENT. ALLOWANCES E. RUTH PYRTLE, CHAIRMAN PRINCIPAL, BANCROFT SCHOOL, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA Committee Objectives—The Committee on the Problem of Teacher Re- tirement Allowances has two principal objectives: 1. The maintenance of a clearing house of information for those dealing with the problem of teacher retirement allowances. 2. The offering of facilities for the preparation of reports based upon the best current thought in this field. In fulfilling the first of these objectives the Committee in cooperation with the Division of Research has assembled at Association Headquarters a library of material on this important problem. This library includes general treatises in this field, copies of the provisions of state and local retirement systems now in effect, the latest available information as to plans for new retirement legislation, and a current directory of the secretaries of retirement systems. In accomplishing its second objective, the committee has planned its studies so that the best thought and practice in the field of retirement allowances may be pooled. Its last comprehensive report, presented a year ago at Philadelphia, was reprinted with some modifications and additions as an issue of the Research Bulletin. This report has been widely cir- culated and has been in much demand in connection with recent sessions of state legislatures. Plans for 1928 Report.—Plans are now being formulated which will result in the cooperative preparation of another comprehensive report for submission to the Association a year from the present time. ‘This report will present as a part of its contents: a. A revision and extension of the statement of the fundamental principles of teachers’ retirement systems which appeared in the Philadelphia report. b. A survey of retirement systems in effect. c. A simple explanation of the way in which certain features of teacher retire- ment systems work in practice. d. An annotated bibliography of the recent literature in the field. Cooperation with Secretaries of Retirement Systems.—At the Dallas meeting of the Association, the Chairman of the Committee and the Asso- ciation’s Director of Research were invited to attend and participate in the meeting of the National Council of Teachers’ Retirement Systems. Mem- bers of this Council were invited to attend the meeting of the Committee on Retirement Allowances. ‘The interchange of experience which took place at these meetings proved very valuable and definite action was taken looking toward closer cooperation between this Council and the Committee on Retirement Allowances. The detailed plans for such cooperative work 202 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION are now being completed with Mr. E. G. Lantman, President of the Council of Teachers’ Retirement Systems. State and Local Retirement Systems Now in Effect The following list of states and cities having plans in effect has been compiled with the aid of state superintendents, secretaries of state educa- tion associations, and secretaries of state or local retirement fund boards. In the few cases where no more recent data could be secured, the list of retirement systems presented on pages 122 and 124 of the May, 1926, Re- search Bulletin of the National Education Association was used as the basis for including certain systems in this report. Information as to the detailed provisions of the retirement plans listed as well as the names and addresses of persons to whom correspondence in regard to a particular retirement system should be addressed may be secured from the National Education Association. State-Wide Teacher Retirement Laws are in effect in the following states: Arizona Montana California Nevada Connecticut New Jersey District of Columbia . _ New York 2 Illinois North Dakota Indiana Ohio Maine Pennsylvania Maryland 1 Rhode Island Massachusetts Vermont Michigan Virginia Minnesota Washington Wisconsin Where state wide teacher retirement laws are in effect, the following cities and counties have local teacher retirement systems independent of state systems: San Francisco, Calif. 3 Minneapolis, Minn. New Haven, Conn. Duluth, Minn. Chicago, III.3 St. Paul, Minn. Peoria, Ill. New York, N, Y. Terre Haute, Ind. Bristol, R. 1.3 Allegany County, Md. Newport, R. 1.3 Baltimore County, Md. Providence, R. I.3 Boston, Mass. Milwaukee, Wis. - ‘ : ee bce Law does not include teachers of Baltimore or Allegany County, or the City 2 The New York Law does not include teachers of New York City. 8 Teachers also enrolled in state system. Reports oF COMMITTEES 203 State Teacher Retirement Laws affecting certain cities are in effect as follows: Colorado Canon City Colorado Springs Denver . Greeley Pueblo Iowa Des Moines Kansas Atchison Parsons Topeka Kentucky Lexington Louisville Newport Louisiana New Orleans Michigan Detroit Nebraska Omaha Oregon Portland Utah Salt Lake City Washington Beilingham Everett Seattle Spokane Tacoma West Virginia Parkersburg Wheeling No State Law Relative to Teacher Retirement is in effect in the follow ing states: Alabama New Hampshire Arkansas New Mexico Delaware North Carolina Florida Oklahoma Georgia South Carolina Idaho South Dakota Mississippi Tennessee Missouri Texas Wyoming In some of the above states where there are no permissive or mandatory laws relative to teacher retirement, the following cities and counties have local retirement systems: Mobile County, Ala. Manchester, N. H. Jefferson County, Ala. New Hanover County, N, C, Wilmington, Del. Durkee, N. C. Atlanta, Ga. Charleston, S, C. Augusta, Ga. Chattanooga, Tenn. Savannah, Ga. Hamilton, Tenn. Nashville, Tenn. 204 NatIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION OS eee Teacher Retirement Legislation Many states have held legislative sessions since the Philadelphia meeting of the Committee on Retirement Allowances. Retirement legislation was passed or considered at a large number of these sessions. At the time of preparing this report it was too early to obtain the final word on all legisla- tion acted upon pertaining to teacher retirement allowances. The follow- ing summary has been prepared, however, with the aid of material and correspondence received from state superintendents, secretaries of state education associations and secretaries of local retirement fund boards, for the information of the Association’s membership. Some information was also secured from related articles or reports appearing in recent issues of state educational journals. Time did not permit checking the statements upon which some of the succeeding material is based. This will be done before the report is finally printed in the Volume of Proceedings. ‘The committee will appreciate notification of any errors occurring in the suc- ceeding summary. Legislation Affecting State-Wide Teacher Retirement Laws. Legislation has recently been enacted affecting the state-wide teacher retirement systems operating in California, Indiana, Maine, Maryland, Nevada, New York, and Rhode Island, as well as the District of Columbia. The more im- portant changes are indicated below. Indiana. According to an editorial in the December, 1926 issue of The Indiana Teacher, “there seems to be a growing demand that the fund again be opened to teachers who failed to elect membership prior to October 31, 1923, at which time the option of joining ceased. “This demand is due to the fact that several thousand teachers failed to elect membership be- cause of misinformation, fear of the solvency of the fund, or indifference to the benefits offered by the law.’ Under an amendment enacted in 1927 the retirement fund was opened until October 31, 1928. Maine. The non-contributory teacher retirement law was altered by the 1927 state legislature as follows: The annual pension received from the state by teachers of thirty-five years’ experience was raised from $300 to $400; that for teachers with thirty years’ ex- perience was raised from $250 to $325; and for those of twenty-five years’ experi- ence, from $200 to $250. Maryland. ‘The pension law formerly in effect in Maryland permitted the State Board of Education to retire a limited number of teachers who became disabled after reaching the age of sixty and completing twenty-five years of service. A committee was appointed in the spring of 1926 to study the situation and make constructive recommendations in regard to a new retirement plan. A report was submitted including financial and actuarial data, the committee’s recommendations, and a proposed act to establish the recommended plan. This act was recently passed by the state legislature and signed by the Governor. It becomes effective August 1, 1927. The new law establishes REPORTS OF COMMITTEES - 205 a jointly-contributory system, providing superannuation and disability bene- fits. Membership is made compulsory, except for teachers now members of systems operating in the state, such as those in operation in Allegany County and the city of Baltimore; retirement is optional at 60 and com- pulsory at 70; a minimum service of five years is necessary for eligibility for disability benefits; upon event of resignation or dismissal the teacher is entitled to a return of his accumulated contributions; the accrued liabilities, assumed by the state, are to be met by a payment of 3.56 percent of the payroll over a period of thirty years, in addition to the normal contribution made by the state. Nevada. A contribution of $12 per annum to the fund is required of the teacher according to a law passed in the last legislature. New York. Several minor amendments of the New York State Re- tirement Law were passed at the last session of the legislature and became effective in April, 1927. Rhode Island. Amendments to the teachers’ pension law passed by the General Assembly in April, 1926, increased the minimum pension from $400 to $500 and the maximum from $500 to $700. District of Columbia. ‘The final printing of the retirement act for public school teachers for the District of Columbia, as approved by the President, June 11, 1926, amended the retirement law of 1920 as follows: (1) The maximum salary upon which estimates are made was increased from $1,500 to $2,000; (2) the contribution from the District Government to the annuity fund was increased from $10 to $15 per annum for each year of service on the part of the retired teacher, not to exceed forty years; (3) to be eligible for superannuation benefits, the teacher must have taught in the District schools for ten years immediately prior to retirement; (4) in determining the disability retire- ment allowance, a minimum credit of twenty years is to be used in determining the sum allowable to teachers of less than twenty years’ experience; (5) a reserve to cover normal and accrued liabilities is created by appropriations from the District. Proposed Changes in State-Wide Teacher Retirement Laws.—Other states where state-wide teacher retirement laws are in effect have had legis- » lation under consideration for a revision of the existing system. Some measures need only the sanction of the Governor before taking effect. Others are under debate in legislatures now in session; still others have not yet reached the form of bills. Amendments recently passed in the State Legislature of Michigan, and presented to the Governor, fixed the minimum age for the reception of retirement benefits at sixty years, and increased the teacher’s contributions to the maximum required by the law. The Public School Teachers’ Retirement Fund Committee of Virginia has been studying the problem of retirement allowances. A plan for a retirement fund has been prepared with the assistance of the Carnegie Foundation. A tabulation of the major provisions of this bill may be found on pages 136-137 of the May, 1926, Research Bulletin of the 206 NaTIoNAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION 2d SNIDER ih SS ee lel National Education Association, “Efficient Teaching and Retirement Legislation.” Some time has been given to its discussion and a bill is to be, presented to the legislature. A bill recently passed by the State Legislature of California, and re- ferred to the Governor, would provide for an actuarial investigation of the public school teachers’ retirement salary fund by a commission to report at the legislative session in 1929. An act recently failed in the Legislature of Massachusetts that would increase the maximum assessment from $100 to $150 per year; and increase the maximum amount which a member might accumulate to purchase an annuity from the sum that would purchase an annuity of $500 at the age of sixty, to the sum that would purchase an annuity of $750 at the age of sixty. Recent attempts to modify substantially the retirement systems of Montana and Minnesota were defeated. According to a special issue of The Wisconsin Journal -of Education, June, 1927, a bill passed the Senate which would seriously undermine the state-wide teacher retirement system at the present time in operation in Wisconsin. If this measure became law no further entrance into the existing retirement system would be permitted. Present members may receive back contributions made to the fund. After July 1, 1928, the powers conferred upon the annuity and retirement boards provided by the law now in effect would be conferred upon the state insurance commis- sion. ‘The bill is now before the assembly. ‘Those interested in retaining the existing law hope to be successful in defeating the measures proposed. Legislation Under Consideration in States Having Teacher Retirement Laws Affecting Certain Cities—Interest in retirement legislation has been present in at least five of the eleven states having retirement laws effective only in certain cities. According to the secretary of the Colorado Education Association, “the Colorado Education Association has undertaken to secure a state retire- ment law for Colorado at the earliest possible date. Our steps thus far have been as follows: In March, 1926 we secured the services of the Carnegie Foundation to make an actuarial study of our retirement problem. The material for this study is now in the hands of the Foundation. In the last session of the legislature, beginning January, 1927, we succeeded in getting a resolution passed authorizing the Governor to appoint a committee of two senators and three representatives to study this problem and make a report to the general assembly that meets in January, 1929. The Congress of Parents and Teachers at its session in April, 1927, passed a resolution authorizing its president to appoint a committee of five parents to study the problem. The Colorado Education Association has had a committee on teacher retire- ment problems for the last four or five years. We have hopes that we shall be able to secure, or at least make a show of securing, an appropriation by the general assembly in 1929.” REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 207 While the members of the Annuity Committee of the Iowa State Teach- ers’ Association do not consider that present conditions warrant the pres- entation of measures looking toward establishing a state-wide system, a study of bills in other states is in progress. A bill providing for the establishment of the Utah State Teachers’ Re- tirement System and making an appropriation therefor was introduced in a recent legislature. While the bill failed; this question was brought prominently to the attention of the legislature and should pave the way for satisfactory action later on. The proposed law permitted the establishment of a retirement association in county school districts of the first class or any city of the second class, providing for contributions from teacher and state, actuarial records, age and service, and disability retirement, with return of individual assessments upon withdrawal. An appropriation of $15,000 per annum was made to cover the provisions. Local Teacher Retirement Systems.—An important change among the local systems operating independent of state-wide systems is the merger of the Indianapolis system with the state fund. The merger was first pro- posed in February, 1922. After considerable discussion petitions were cir- culated among the teachers in April, 1925, with the result that a large majority approved. A suit was filed in July, 1925, for the minority group. In March, 1927, the Marion circuit court provided for the completion of the merger and the transfer of the fund, amounting, January 18, to $564,662.34. Of this sum $451,000 is to be held as a separate trust fund to be used in paying teachers now on a pension. ‘There will be no decrease of allowances now being paid retired teachers. There has been some publicity given to the recommendation of the Chi- cago Pension Commission’s actuary that the teachers’ pension system be placed on an allocation and reserve basis. Legislation in States Without a State Teacher Retirement Law.—Ot the seventeen states without a state law relative to teacher retirement at least seven have taken steps toward initiating legislation in that field. There is noticeable the desire to foster sound retirement. legislation by providing for actuarial investigation and estimates of probable costs and surveys of local needs. Investigations are pending in Wyoming and South Carolina. A com- mittee was authorized by the delegate assembly of North Carolina. In Missouri efforts were made to secure the passage of an amendment to the State Constitution such as would enable the people to vote on a Teachers’ Retirement Fund. ‘The enabling act was introduced at the 1927 Legisla- ture in January but failed of passage. Those interested in retirement legislation in Idaho are attempting to foster the idea of a retirement system. For some time actuarial informa- tion had been lacking. The Idaho State Teachers’ Association has had a committee cooperating in the study of the personnel and conditions in the teaching profession, and of the retirement laws of other states. The State Department now has the records of practically all the teachers in the 208 NaTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION saan Sr RE SPE state; the information necessary as a basis for a sound retirement law is in process of tabulation. It was found that the movement was not backed whole-heartedly by the teachers. Publicity has been given the movement and an official ballot is printed in The Idaho Teacher of March, 1927, calling for expressions concerning a teacher retirement law and the pro- visions of such a law. With a view to securing at some time in the future a teacher retirement law for Florida, a committee appointed at a principals’ conference has drawn up a tentative law which the Florida Education Association execu- tive committee is to print and distribute over the state for study. The plan of procedure outlined by the committee included: Securing appropria- tion to cover cost of actuarial survey, a survey by a competent actuary, drafting a law based on results of the actuarial survey, submission to the 1927-28 district meetings and state assembly of the Florida Education As- sociation for adoption, and, if adopted, securing the necessary legislative support and enactment in 1929. A bill to establish a state-wide retirement system for Delaware was drawn up with the cooperation of the Carnegie Foundation, but failed of passage in the State Legislature. A Year of Progress Considered as a whole, the past year has been one of progress in respect to teacher retirement legislation. The wisdom of providing sound teacher retirement systems is more generally recognized than ever before. Just as progressive industries have recognized that business efficiency is increased by the adoption of sound plans for the retirement of superannuated employees, progressive state school systems are recognizing that teaching efficiency is increased by the adoption of sound plans for the retirement of teachers. The sound teacher retirement systems already in effect are being improved. Careful study is being made of the less well-established systems with a view to placing them on a sound basis. A number of states which have no provision for teacher retirement have definite plans which promise to remedy the situation. The measures being proposed in these latter cases are nearly all of the sound type. We may confidently look forward to the time when every state in the Union will recognize the wisdom of establishing a sound plan for the re- tirement of disabled or superannuated teachers. TEACHER TENURE IN THE UNITED STATES FRED M. HUNTER, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA, CHAIRMAN Teacher Tenure Defined In analyzing prevailing conditions as to the length of time teachers are employed there appear to be these four types of tenure. 1. Tenure at pleasure of employing board—Under this form of tenure Reports oF CoMMITTEES 209 Se am a Se ne ES SS a there is no contract and a teacher can be dismissed at any time. This plan has been practically abandoned ingfavor of the annual contract. 2. Specific contract following election—In the case of the superintendent of schools, the contract is often from one to five years. In the case of teachers, in most communities elections are held annually and contracts are for one year only. Under the annual election plan every teacher, principal, and superintendent is automatically out of a position at the close of every school year, and the burden rests upon them to see that the school board re-employs them, instead of the burden resting upon the school board to dismiss those it does not want to retain and explain their reasons for so doing. In the absence of tenure legislation, the court decisions throughout the United States hold that the specific contract type is almost universal. 3. Indefinite tenure—Under this plan annual elections cease for all time, the teacher being merely continued in the service from year to year without any action on either side, and until such time as the board, for cause, and upon the recommendation of the superintendent shall see fit to terminate the contract. The assumption on the part of both parties to the contract is that the teacher will continue to serve in a particular school district as long as such service is competent and faithful, provided, of course, such services are needed in the schools of the district. Dismissals, of course, will continue to take place and will be at times necessary. “They will, however, be the exception; and for the vast majority of teachers the question of the teacher’s retention will not arise in the in- definite tenure plan. Indefinite tenure contemplates the dismissal or elimination of incompetent and unfit teachers by a method sufficiently easy to protect the children and the profession and sufficiently surrounded by guarantees to assure justice to the teacher. 4. Permanent tenure—This is virtually life tenure with guarantee against dismissal except in the event of a crime in violation of the political code. Indefinite tenure becomes permanent tenure when there is no possibility of eliminating the incompetent and unfit teacher. ‘This type of tenure is the extreme at the opposite end of the scale from “tenure at the pleasure of the employing board.” What is the Real Problem? The real problem is how to promote a sound and stable teaching profes- sion in a manner compatible with the educational interests of society, the welfare and progress of pupils, and justice to teachers. Indefinite teacher tenure is the best method of solving this problem. Tentative Statement of Principles Which Should Control the Framing and Operation of Tenure Laws The following statement of twelve principles which should control the framing and operation of tenure laws is highly tentative. It is presented 210 NaTIONAL EpUCATION’ ASSOCIATION for study and criticism by teachers’ associations and laymen throughout the country. On the basis of this study afid criticism it should be possible to arrive at a conclusion as to the worth of the twelve principles set forth. 1. Tenure laws should be devised and administered in the interest of better instruction for children—The child’s interest, not the teacher’s, should be given first consideration. A satisfactory system of tenure is usually just to both sides. It relieves the good teacher from anxiety for the future; it promotes contentment and stability; it protects the efficient teacher and weeds out the incompetent; and it promotes and encourages efficiency. In the end, the interest of the teacher and the interest of the child are identical. Good teachers prosper in good schools. Schools are good when they provide instruction of high quality for children. 2. Tenure laws should be accompanied by proper legal regulations gov- erning training, certification, remuneration, and retirement allowances—It is of little value to urge for tenure legislation unless there exist regulations governing the training and certification of teachers, which give ample as- surance that only competent and well-trained teachers will be retained. Adequate salary schedules with specified increments over a period of years encourage teachers to continue their period of service and hence help to make tenure measures effective. The existence of a system of adequate retirement allowances means that the tenure of a teacher, rendered incapable by old age, can be terminated and he is not left without means of financial support. 3. Tenure laws should be devised and administered as a stimulus to better preparation and more efficient service on the part of teachers—In- definite tenure is entirely dependent on efficient service. The latter in turn is dependent on continued professional growth. No efficient teacher will object to having his work stand on its merits, after sufficient time has passed to show what he has accomplished. 4. Indefinite tenure should be granted only upon evidence of satisfactory preliminary training, successful experience, and professional growth—Par- ticipation in the benefits of a tenure law should be based on: a. Evidence of a satisfactory preliminary training and service as shown by legal credentials of scholarship and professional training and of certification. b. Evidence of ability as shown by ratings in those school systems where rating scales are in effect. c. Evidence of professional spirit as shown by professional activity and con- tinued study. Training in service is the one means by which the teacher can continue to be equipped to give up-to-date, reliable instruction and training based on the modern methods. Hence the teacher, granted indefinite tenure, should be required to give continued evidence of professional growth. This makes tenure a reward for faithful and efficient service, rather than a guaranteed legislative right for all. REPoRtTS OF COMMITTEES 211 ee es A ee Bee ee The community has a right to be protected against teachers who do not keep themselves intellectually alive, and who do not carry on the duties of their office with an ever-increasing efficiency. 5. Indefinite tenure should be provided after successful experience during a probationary period of adequate length, usually two or three years—Not all persons interested in teaching make geod teachers. It sometimes hap- pens that teachers who have done well in simple, easy situations, cannot adjust themselves to situations more complex. The employing district should be enabled to protect itself against the inception of teachers into its permanent ranks who cannot fully and satisfactorily meet the require- ments of its system of instruction. To do this is equally a protection to the best teachers of the system and their standards of classroom procedure. All state tenure laws encourage this procedure. 6. The right of dismissal should be in the hands of the appointing board—The right to employ implies the right to dismiss. Since the board of education is the agency which employs the teacher, it would seem that it should also be the removing agency. In the enactment of tenure measures by state legislatures, there is a slight tendency to provide for hearings before bodies not responsible for the administration of the school system. The employment and dismissal of teachers are administrative acts. No one but the employing board ought to make the final decision in cases of dismissal. ‘The procedure preceding dismissal should be wholly fair, open and above board, and should provide for a decision upon the basis of the evidence submitted. But it is a serious error in school administration to remove from the hands of the administrative body responsible for the conduct of the schools, the respon- sibility for dismissal. When this is done, it impairs the single-headed, authoritative control of a school system by representatives of the people and their executives and divides the authority for the administration of the schools between the bodies concerned with the procedure of dismissal. This will in the end always result in injury to the schools. 7. Laws establishing indefinite tenure should provide for the easy dis- missal of unsatisfactory or incompetent teachers for clearly demonstrable causes; such as misconduct, incompetence, evident unfitness for teaching, persistent violation or refusal to obey laws, insubordination, neglect of duty, or malfeasance—Easy dismissal of unfit teachers is the best protection to good teachers. It is the fundamental American right of children to be safeguarded against teachers who do not belong in the profession and who cannot uphold the highest standards of American schools. In the end, the success of tenure legislation depends upon this feature in the laws enacted. 8. The proposed dismissal of a teacher on eee of incompetence or neglect of duty should be preceded by a warning and specific statement in writing of defects—The notice of dismissal should in itself be given under certain definite conditions which are just to both sides. In the first place, no 212 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION eee eee teacher should be liable to a termination of contract for failure to render satisfactory services who has not been notified of the deficiencies, and given an opportunity and reasonable assistance to remedy them. Such employee may, on receipt of such notice, appeal to the dismissing authority, making such statements and giving such information as he feels may throw additional light upon his case. If within a given time improvement does not result, sufficient to warrant the retention of the teacher, the superintendent should then recommend that written notice be served on the teacher, for specified reasons, to the effect that the board desires to terminate the contract with the teacher to take effect at the close of the school year. If the board approves, due notice should be given to the teacher, and when so served the contract with such teacher terminates at the end of such school year. “Teachers not so notified continue in service from year to year. 9. In cases of proposed dismissal, teachers should be granted right of hearing—Should the teacher desire a hearing, adequate notice should be given for the preparation of the defense, and the hearing should be before the authority which is responsible for the appointments—the board of education. For the sufficiency of the reasons for terminating the contract the superin- tendent and the board should be the sole judge, without the meddling of lawyers or the interference of the courts. “The hearing should be so organized that legal technicalities will be reduced to a minimum. ‘The vote should be by a majority of members of the board of education, not by a majority of a quorum. When final authority lies with the board, despite such rebuttal as the teacher may present, the board has opportunity to control its schools. 10. Teachers who do not desire to continue in their positions should give reasonable notice in writing of their intention—No permanent teacher should cancel his indefinite contract during the school term for which said contract is in effect nor for a period of thirty days previous to the beginning of such school term unless such cancellation is mutually agreed upon. 11. Suitable provision should be made for teachers already in service in putting tenure laws into operation—When a tenure law is put into effect, it should apply to those who have been in the school system for some time (six years is suggested by certain writers), even though they do not have the preliminary training required under the new law. 12. Indefinite tenure should be accorded to all classes of certificated school employees on status of teacher, at least—Instability is a menace to all ranks of the teaching profession. A system of schools may be injured by the dismissal of a superintendent, a principal, or a teacher for other causes than professional failure. The challenge of the profession as a career is cheapened if the protection for all is not provided. The objectives of tenure, in the large, as they relate to teaching as a profession, make REPoRtTS OF CoMMITTEES 213 ee for the unity of the profession and demand tenure as teachers for all its members who are meritorious. Discussion of Foregoing Principles The statement of the above principles was submitted to the one hundred members of the Tenure Committee. In the vast majority of cases all the principles were heartily agreed to. In fairness, however, to those individuals who did not agree with certain principles, the following state- ments, received in time to be included, are presented. One member disagreed with the fourth principle, namely: “Indefinite tenure should be granted only upon evidence of satisfactory preliminary training, successful experience, and professional growth.” He wrote: All employment should carry indefinite tenure initially. The probationary period has some unfortunate consequences. It invites the dismissal of teachers at the close of the probationary period. It also produces an exaggerated sense of security on the part of the teacher after the probationary period has been fully passed. In discussing this same principle, two members would have a probationary period of at least three years; three members would have it lengthened to five years; and still another to six years. One member disagreed with Principle Number 8, namely: “The pro- posed dismissal of a teacher on account of incompetence or neglect of duty should be preceded by a warning and specific statement in writing of defects.”” He wrote: Such warning would have a strong tendency to make trouble—in that it would invite the teacher warned to appeal to others for sympathy. A teacher is of mature mind and should be able to gauge conduct, without threat or threats, from those in authority. This same member objected to Principle Number 11, namely: “Suitable provision should be made for teachers already in service in putting tenure laws into operation.”” He wrote as follows: Standards should be set up and worked toward, not made to suit present condi- tions and qualifications of those already in service, worthy though they may be. Old teachers may be called upon to sacrifice somewhat for the benefit of the teaching profession. The idea of tenure legislation will gain confidence by a forward look. One other member suggested that teachers in service or teachers who are employed in emergencies should not be given permanent tenure until they have met in a satisfactory way the minimum requirements for new teachers. Several members pointed out, relative to Principle Number 9, that in cases of proposed dismissal, the teacher should be granted right of hearing only if he so desired. In other words, the hearing would not be com- pulsory, if the tcacher did not want it. 214 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION res he ee ee eee Another member added that the hearing, when held, should be before the board of education—it should not be a public mass-meeting or ref- erendum. Arguments for Indefinite Tenure 1. Indefinite tenure is in the interest of children because it decreases teacher turnover and adds to the stability of the teaching profession— There seems to be much definite evidence that points clearly to the con- clusion that indefinite tenure lessens teacher turnover. In large cities where the principle of tenure is operative, teacher turnover is much less than in rural communities. (See Pages 14 and 15, Tables 1 and 2 of this report. ) In these thirty-one cities of 100,000 and above in the United States, the annual turnover in the group having state tenure laws is only four percent; in the group having no state tenure laws, the annual turnover averages six percent. . Indefinite tenure is guaranteed by practice in nearly all large cities of the United States. In thirteen states, as shown later in this report, it is guaranteed by state law. In numerous cities of other states, it is estab- lished by definite rule of the board; in other cities it has become an established practice through the pressure of public sentiment concerning the dismissal of teachers. Even where no state law exists, boards of educa- tion and superintendents are usually restrained from unjust dismissals by the attitude of the public. But in rural communities, this is not the case. Compare rural turnover with the turnover in the cities mentioned above. A few significant facts are presented below: * Nebraska: (Rural schools only) 64 percent of teachers new in their positions 1925-26. Only 12 percent serving third year or more in their respective positions 1925-26. * Washington: (One and two room schools) 76.9 percent of teachers new in their positions 1921-22. Only 6 percent of the teachers serving third year or more in their respective positions 1921-22. *Wisconsin: Rural teacher turnover 65 percent to 68 percent over three- year period. There can be no question but that the facts support the conclusion that indefinite tenure makes for stability in the teaching corps. 2. Indefinite tenure is in the interest of children because state school systems in which indefinite tenure laws have been operative rank among the highest in professional standards in the United States—New Jersey has fee a state tenure law since 1910. Its educational rank among the states is ““2."" Massachusetts has had a tenure law since 1913. Its rank is “12.” * Survey by Nebraska, State Teachers Association. eee” by Washington State Teachers Association. Survey by C. J. Anderson, Assistant State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Wisconsin. Reports:oF ComMMITTEES 215 California has had a tenure law since 1921. Its rank is “1.” 1(Ayres’ Standards. ) 3. Indefinite tenure of teachers is in the interest of children because it tends to attract a better personnel into the calling of teaching—As a rule, able young people seek an occupation which offers a career, brings an adequate economic competency, and is permanent. ‘The elements of per- manency and the opportunity for a career frequently over-balance the argument for economic returns. Teaching has offered in the past little or no opportunity for a career, and no permanency. Able young people have long used it as a stepping stone to some more inviting calling. Witness the number of persons of recognized prominence who have spent a few years of their earlier lives teaching school. Indefinite tenure tends to add the element of per- manency; hence as a calling it becomes more attractive and inviting to able young people. (See Table 6, page 20 of this report.) 4. Indefinite tenure of teachers is in the interest of children because it creates a professional reward for self-improvement and growth in teaching ability—Assurance of permanency after the probationary period is past is a great inducement to teachers to seek professional recognition, and the economic reward which comes with promotion. This argument is psychologically sound and is based on an optimistic view of teachers and their faith in the profession. ‘The records of the teaching corps of cities which have had tenure for many years show the strength of this argument. These records reveal a continuous program of professional improvement in almost every instance. Arguments against indefinite tenure are based on the theory that fear is the ruling human motive and that teachers do their best when fear of dismissal or loss of contract hangs over them. ‘These arguments are demonstrably unsound. 5. Indefinite tenure is in the interest of children because it protects the great body of good teachers from attack on personal and political grounds and establishes them as a permanent and professional working body whose chief motive is the improvement of teaching and the welfare of the schools— The report of this Committee in July, 1924, recounted a number of cases of flagrant political attacks upon school administrations and teaching corps in large cities. In several of these cases, groups: of teachers of excellent merit were dismissed for their support of .the school administration or their advocacy of the rights of teachers and the cause of the public schools. Within the past year, several superintendents of unquestioned ability and professional standing have been deprived of their positions without good cause being shown. . In rural communities thousands of teachers are forced to change posi- 1 Phillips, Frank M. “Educational Ranking of States by Two Methods,” School Board Journal, December, 1924 pp. 47-49. 216 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION tions because local boards of trustees are human and develop a dislike for the teacher on personal grounds or desire to replace him with a relative or friend. In the multitude of instances classified under these several types of cases, it is the schools and the children that suffer. A permanent pro- fessional teaching staff is the most necessary factor in the development and maintenance of good schools. Indefinite tenure protects the teaching staff of city school systems against disturbance and disruption resulting from’ political attack. It enables the teaching corps to develop natural leadership from within its own ranks, and hence to carry out a program of professional improvement for its members. ‘The instruction of children and the progress of education can go forward best when a corps of teachers is thus free to develop the genius within its own ranks. ; Likewise, in rural schools the continuance of good teachers in their positions is the best assurance of able instruction for children. Good teachers will not go to situations not permanent. Rural boards, if com- pelled to keep good teachers, will finally develop for their communities a program for the development of a high type of instruction for~ their children. 6. Indefinite tenure is in the interest of the community because a per- manent teacher contributes much more to the community than a transient— A teacher is a citizen. He ought to identify himself with the important movements and issues of his community. If qualified to be a teacher, he is qualified to be a leader. A community can ill afford not to place a premium upon the continuance in the community of those who can con- tribute to its growth and progress. If teachers are to be transients by prevalent practice, the community and its progress are the losers. The school is as much a factor in the prosperity and economic soundness of the community as any of its financial, industrial, or commercial institu- tions. The school leaders should be among those who permanently par- ticipate in affairs of the community and help shape its policies. 7. Indefinite tenure makes for a careful method of appointing teachers and does away with annual elections in which there is little pressure on selecting committees to exercise extreme care in making appointments— Boards of education, administrators, and teachers themselves at present regard the importance of the teaching profession altogether too lightly. To elect a teacher to a position is a comparatively inconsequential act. The teacher may be changed easily if a mistake is made. Under the pre- vailing yearly contract plan, which is almost universal in states. having no . oneastan special tenure legislation, a new teacher may replace the present one at the end of the year. When teaching becomes a true profession and the position a permanent one during the good behavior and successful conduct of his office by the teacher, the changing of a teacher will take on at least the importance of selecting a shop foreman. \ Reports OF CoMMITTEES 207 Arguments Against Indefinite Tenure Presented by Its Opponents 1. It is argued that indefinite tenure retains the inefficient teacher in service by making it impossible to discontinue teachers at the end of yearly contracts—In some of the states, groups of superintendents, of classroom teachers, and especially boards of trustees, hold that the schools will be injured and that instruction will suffer by the retention of teachers who, in the judgment of the employing authority, such as a rural board of trustees, should not be continued. As has been shown, probably some teachers would be retained in service who might be replaced by better teachers if indefinite tenure were practiced everywhere. The outstanding evidence upon this point is the comparison between the efficiency of rural school systems and of large city school systems. In the large city school systems cited in the pages of this report, indefinite tenure is almost universally practiced. There could hardly be a question but that the teaching staff in these systems is more efficient, and that a less percentage of the teachers are poor teachers than in the sections of the country where tenure by yearly contract only prevails. 2. It is further argued that bodies and groups of teachers protected by tenure cease to grow professionally—This argument is based upon the theory that fear of dismissal is the strongest motive to professional im- provement. Some teachers, principals, and even superintendents contend that the stimulus to make good offered by the decision of a board to employ or to dismiss at specific periods is necessary to maintain consistent profes- sional growth, and that a teaching corps with this stimulus removed be- comes static and dead intellectually and professionally. The best evidence upon this point is to be found in what teaching bodies so protected by tenure have actually done. If it can be shown that such teaching bodies as the teaching corps of the State of Massachusetts, which has been protected by tenure since 1913, or the teaching staff of New Jersey, which has been covered by indefinite tenure since 1910, have deteriorated, then there probably would be some weight to this argument. ‘The evidence seems to be wholly upon the other side. 3. It is further maintained that to grant a hearing places the superin- tendent on trial rather than the incompetent teacher—Some superintend- ents feel that they will not be able to substantiate before a public hearing the complaints filed against teachers. ‘They maintain that the schools suffer because they cannot rid themselves of teachers who can hire a lawyer and jeopardize the position of the superintendent. This argument is valid in cases where the superintendent has little evidence and no courage on his side. Court decisions in cases affecting the dismissal of teachers show definitely that hearings where valid evidence is submitted result finally in the dismissal.of the teacher who is truly incompetent. 4. It is contended that competent teachers have all the tenure they need now and others should not have it—As stated, this argument is a clever political slogan. The evidence from the great mass of the teaching bodies 218 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION sh donnie aA ae RTE eT SS A ene of the country shows that good teachers in most of the states, especially in small towns and rural districts, do not have tenure at all, and the great turnover in such districts clearly points to the fact that often other considerations than merit in teaching determine the permanency or lack of permanency of teachers in their positions. A Comparison of Teacher Turnover in Large Cities Committed to The Principle of Indefinite Tenure with Teacher Turnover in Rural Communities Teacher Turnover in Cities of 100,000 Population or More The Committee requested data from the superintendents of schools in all cities of the United States of 100,000 population or more (census 1920) upon the following points: 1. Total number of teachers employed 2. Average number of teachers leaving each year for some other occupation or profession during the last five years. The returns to this inquiry are shown in Tables 1 and 2. In the case of cities in states having tenure laws, the average number of teachers leav- TABLE 1.—NUMBER OF TEACHERS LEAVING THE TEACHING PROFESSION IN CITIES OF 100,000 POPULATION OR MORE IN STATES HAVING TENURE LAWS’ Average number each year leaving Number of for some other oc- teachers cupation or profes- Percent sion during last five years Baltimore,,Md. -2.'........; Camden, Najere sear eea ce Denver Colo. Argie.chh Sh... Fall River, Mass... ............/.. Milwaukee, Wis............ New Bedford, Mass......... New Orleans, La... ....... 0.1 Newark iN | aennes fe fete New YorkiNeYeneresee Oakland; iGalify je. anette. 6 Rochesters.N..Y ore paeeee Springfield, Mass........... Trenton, N. J wOoSSONNLYOOSSSO 1 Data supplied by city superintendents of schools. ing each year over a five-year period is four percent of the total corps. In the case of those cities in states having had no tenure laws, the average Reports oF ComMMITTEES 219 ee a a en ea number leaving each year over a five-year period is six percent of the total corps. This difference can hardly be regarded as significant, since most of these cities in states having no state-wide tenure laws have indefinite tenure either by local board of education rule or by common consent of public sentiment. ‘The real significance of this low rate of turnover is seen when compared with the rate of 60 percent to 76 percent in the rural districts of some of the same states. (See Tables 3 and 4.) TABLE 2.—NUMBER OF TEACHERS LEAVING TEACHING PRO- FESSION IN CITIES OF 100,000 POPULATION OR MORE IN STATES NOT HAVING TENURE LAWS’ Average number each year leaving Number of for some other teachers occupation or pro- Percent fession during last five years Akron, Ohio Atlanta, Ga Birmingham, Ala Bridgeport, Conn + Dayton, Ohio Des Moines, Iowa Detroit, Mich Grand Rapids, Mich Kansas City, Kans Minneapolis, Minn Nashville, Tenn Norfolk, Va Providence, R. I Salt Lake City, Utah Scranton, Pa Spokane, Wash St. Paul, Minn Wilmington, Del SSOSOSSHSSSSCOCONRSOOOOU 1 Data supplied by city superintendents of schools. Teacher Turnover in Rural Communities In the rural communities described below no tenure law is operative. Tenure by contract or at the pleasure of the board is the only protection afforded the children and the teaching staff. Indefinite tenure by board rule or by common consent is seldom if ever applied. 220 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION TABLE 3.—-LENGTH OF SERVICE IN PRESENT POSITIONS OF TEACHERS IN NEBRASKA RURAL SCHOOLS—1925-26' Teachers Number of years teachers have been in same school reported for Nebraska 10 plus rural Lyr.|2yr.| 3 yr. | 4 yr. |S yr. | 6 yr. | 7 yr. | 8 yr. | 9 yr. | yr. schools 1,613} 624 |) 162 18 Percent...| 64.0 | 24.8 6.4 8 mid Figures at head of columns indicate the number of years—including this year—that teachers have been in the same school they are in this year. Figures in vertical columns indicate number of teachers who have been in their present position the number of years indicated at head of column; “1 yr.” at head of column means the teachers reported are now teaching their first year in present positions.” TABLE 4.—LENGTH OF SERVICE IN PRESENT POSITIONS OF TEACHERS IN WASHINGTON RURAL SCHOOLS—1921-22? Percentage of teachers in position for Type of school Ist 2nd 3rd 4th year year year year One- and two-room rural Teacher turnover in Wisconsin—“Another survey of the ‘Status of Teachers in Wisconsin,’ by C. J. Anderson, Assistant State Superintendent of Public Instruction, furnishes even more extreme revelations. His re- port shows yearly changes in positions to be as follows: Rural teachers, 65 percent to 68 percent over a three-year period.’ Teacher turnover in the United States—Keith and Bagley, writing on “The Nation and the Schools,”* describe the rural-school teachers as “‘tran- sient in the calling.” These data from the U.S. Bureau of Education are presented : The Federal Commissioner of Education estimated the number of recruits needed for this service in a single year (1918-1919) as 130,000—an annual “turn- 41 Data gathered by Executive Office of Nebraska State Teachers Association. 3 Pata gathered by Washington State Teachers Association. Extract from Report of Committee of One Hundred on Problem of Tenure—July, 1924. 4 Keith, John A, H., and Bagley, William C., Th ition and the Schools, New Y Macmillan Crap 1920, p. 211, m C., The Nation hools, New York, The Reports oF CoMMITTEES 221 eee bee kee oe i ” s : over” of one in three. In one of the most prosperous of the middle western states, the Bureau of Education reports the average term of service of the rural-school teacher to be not more than two years. The Status of Teacher Tenure Legislation in the United States Thirteen states and the District of Columbia have teacher tenure laws— These are listed in Table 5. Four states passed teacher tenure laws during the current year, namely, California, Indiana, Minnesota, and Montana. Twelve additional states report that they have plans under way looking forward to teacher tenure legislation in the next legislature. Principal provisions of state teacher tenure laws—The general intent of all state teacher tenure laws seems to be to guarantee to teachers security of position during good behavior and efficiency. Among the most common features of these laws are the following: 1. Probationary period—1 to 5 years 2. A hearing before the employing board 3. Such hearing must be concluded and a decision in writing stating the grounds on which it is based rendered within a specified number of days after the giving of such notice ® 4. Right of counsel for teachers 5. Specific causes for dismissal a. Immoral or unprofessional conduct b. Incompetence c. Evident unfitness for service d. Persistent violation of or refusal to obey the school laws of the state, or reasonable rules prescribed for the government of public schools 6. Due notice in writing by governing board.to permanent teacher against whom charges have been preferred TABLE 5.—STATES HAVING TEACHER TENURE LAWS Year enacted State Where law applies State-wide 19271 Districts with 20,000 or more inhabitants 1921 Throughout the District 1924 Any district with 100,000 or more inhabitants 1919 State-wide 1927 New Orleans 1922 Maryland State-wide 1921 Massachusetts Entire state except Boston 1914 Minnesota Cities of the first class 1927 State-wide jf 1927 2 State-wide 1910 State-wide except for rural teachers 1917 Districts of 20,000 or more inhabitants............... 1913 Cities of the first class 1921 1 A previous law enacted in 1921 applied only to districts with eight or more teachers. It was ded by the last legislature. ae nD A eine law Eee in 1919. It was amended by the last legislative assembly. STATE TEACHER TENURE LAWS NatTIONAL EpucatTion ASsocIATION i Dan _* fh ER \ i we Poe Fe cosale eee L j sical Vea i fl: Bp glee pret ace \\ ae a : , ' ’ 4 | p ‘fe g = nure plication her Tenure Law Applicable qa Has State Teacher Te Law of State-Wide Ap P ZA to Three or Less large Cities cea Has No State Teacher Tenure Law Ss State Teac Reports oF CoMMITTEES 223 Saga no mn CS 7. No teacher who has been lawfully dismissed shall receive compensation for services rendered thereafter, or for any period of lawful suspension followed by dismissal. For the aid of legislative committees, the texts of the California, Indiana, and Minnesota state teacher tenure laws passed by the 1927 state legisla- tures are included in this report. For texts of the eleven state teachers tenure laws in effect previous to 1924 see pages 170-174 of the Research Bulletin, Vol. 11, No. 5, November, 1924, National Education Association. Data Showing Number of Young People Entering the Teaching Profession from Among the High School Graduates of the United States Two important means for school improvement—Recruiting the brightest minds among our high school graduates for the teacher-training institu- tions is one of the chief means of improving public education. A second means of improving teaching is retaining these able young people in the teaching profession after they are trained. To ascertain the percentage of high school graduates who enter teacher-training institutions, and to discover whether or not these institutions are recruiting the brightest minds from among the high school graduates, the Tenure Committee sent an inquiry blank to several hundred principals of high schools, which, in 1924, according to the records of the U. S. Bureau of Education, had an enrol- ment of 1000 or more students. These three questions were asked: 1. What was the total number of pupils graduating from your school during the school year 1925-1926? 2. How many of these were preparing to be teachers? 3. How many of the ablest twenty-five percent of the class were preparing to be teachers? Replies were received from 229 high school principals, giving data rela- tive to 64,266 high school graduates in thirty-four states for the year 1925-1926. ‘Table 6 summarizes these data by states. It shows that twelve percent of the high school graduates, from 229 high schools having an enrolment of 1000 or more students, are preparing to be teachers. It also shows that twenty-one percent of the ablest twenty-five percent are preparing to be teachers. ‘These figures are encouraging. If approximately one out of every four of the ablest twenty-five percent of our high school graduates is among those preparing to be teachers, conditions relative to the teaching profession must be made such as will retain these capable young people in the profession. School boards would do well to analyze their local situations to discover which of the following causes of brief and uncertain teacher tenure are exerting the greatest influence in their communities: 1. Economic: a. Inadequate salaries aig | b. No provision for old age or disability 224 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION TABLE 6—NUMBER OF GRADUATES, FROM 229 HIGH SCHOOLS, PREPARING TO BE TEACHERS, 1925-1926' ara a ee eee Percent Number Total Number | Number | number Percent of high | number of | preparing of the of ablest | of ablest schools | graduates to be ablest | twenty-five| twenty-five reporting | 1925-1926 teachers 4 twenty- percent percent which from five percent] preparing | preparing State have an schools preparing to be to be enrolment | reporting to be teachers | teachers of 1,000 teachers 3 | is of total or more number pupils ? preparing to be teachers 1 2) . 3 4 “§ 6 7 United States...... 229 64, 266 7,902 3,367 42.61 20.96 Alabama. cheer 4 1,014 68 40 58.82 15.81 ATIZONA ysis. due ene D> 452 48 31 64.58 27 43 Arkansase © -eueetert 2 279 22 7 31.82 10.15 Galiforniaijatisc anh oer 17 5,025 509 216 42.44 120 Coloradotans sees 1 178 23 3 13.04 6.82 Connecticuts..¢7 2 oo 5 1,669 194 71 36.60 17.03 Dist. of Columbia.... 5 1627 120 43 35.83 10 59 Biorida: 28-5 Japeratre 2) 378 21 16 76.19 17.02 Georgiawice asserts 1 241 24 6 25 .00 10.00 Illinois 7s bigakas 6 oa 17 4,682 328 156 47.56 12335 Wridiatvelespes eres east 9 2,000 310 154 49 68 30.80 Towals 2.46 Panne ose 6 W327 156 66 42.31 19.94 Kansastemreeeertn te 1 322 5D by) 100.00 65.00 Kentuckysemeee ase 2 412 50 33 66.00 32.04 Maryland js... « 2 688 70 32 45.72 18.61 Massachusetts....... 17 5,396 545 318 $8.35 PS Michigantmeren sere 15 4,847 871 478 54.88 39.47 Minnesota.......... 3 865 80 44 55.00 20.37 Missourime nen 6 153 128 62 48.44 16.40 Nebraska. .......... 2 644 5S 28 $2.83 17.39 New Hampshire. .... 1 AST) 24 7 Oo Ml 10.94 iNew, Jerseye eee g 1,926 319 81 25-09 16.84 New iY ork wane Jee 27 9,050 1,610 524 82255, DEG! North Carolina...... 1 166 40 25 62.50 60.98 Ohio nee eee 2s 6,638 439 196 44.65 11.82 Oklahomand@.: matlon 4 1,063 112 47 41.97 17.74 Oregonkes ener 4 1,165 159 45 28.30 15.46 Pennsylvania........ 19 5,406 927 375 40.45 27.76 Rhode Island........ 2 346 40 1 27.50 12.79 South Dakota....... 1 205 24 8 Sacks 15.69 Utah Ot ee eae D 668 75 40 53638 23.95 Virginia SR es 1 396 45 IS SoESo bees Washington eas 8 eg 9 2,057 178 80 44.94 ASS Wisconsin 7 1,364 238 57 231.95 16.72 eee a ee ee eee "In some instances the high school principals reporting stated that the figure which they gave only represented number attending normal school or teachers college; other students entering university may later become teachers. In making any comparison by states, it should be remembered that the number of high schools reporting from different states varied greatly—hence the basis of comparison is not the same. ae numbers submitted by high school principals were in certain cases estimated or approxi- mated. REPoRtTs OF CoMMITTEES 225 ee ee ee 2. Political: a. Arbitrary dismissal by school boards b. Operation of the spoils system, with attendant appointments as polit- ical reward, and dismissal for punishment 3. Professional : a. Lack of training and professional ideals b. Uncertainty of tenure c. Dissatisfaction with supervision and administration, and _ similar elements in the teaching situation 4. Social: a. Teachers judged by unscientific standards, and lack of freedom of ex- pression b. Community and individual prejudice c. Poor living conditions d. Lack of appreciation and recognition e. Marriage 5. Personal: a. Inability and unwillingness to cooperate b. Desire for change c. lil-health d. Desire to make more money Many of these causes are difficult to measure. A few are beyond the powers of a local school board to remedy. One definite way, however, by which teacher tenure can be stabilized is through legislation. Annotated Bibliography—Articles Appearing During 1926-1927 For a selected annotated bibliography of articles on the subject of teacher tenure published previous to November, 1924, see Research Bulletin, Vol II, No. 5, November, 1924, of the National Education Association. For a similar bibliography of articles published up to May, 1926, see the 1926 Report of the Committee of One Hundred on the Problem of Tenure of the National Education Association. Anderson, Earl William, The Teacher's Contract and Other Legal Phases of Teacher Status, Teachers College Contributions to Education, No. 246, Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City, 1927, 180 p. An analysis of numerous teacher contract forms, local rules and regulations, state laws, and legal decisions, to find out: What uses do local boards of education make of contract forms and of rules and regulations in restricting teachers? To what extent may a teacher be legally so restricted by contract? What are the state laws affecting the relationships of teachers and boards of education, and what are the trends of these laws? What is the optimum board-teacher relationship? Chamberlain, Arthur H., “Teacher Tenure in the Legislature,” Sierra Educational News, Vol. 23, No.4, April, 1927, p. 204. Urges support of the tenure bill before the California legislature and shows wherein this bill differs from preceding tenure measures. Cincinnati Teachers’ Association, Official Bulletin, May 27, Tenure 1921-1929, Cincinnati Teachers’ Association, Cincinnati, Ohio. History of four unsuccessful legislative campaigns for indefinite teacher tenure in Ohio. Undaunted—their slogan is: “Tenure Statewide in 1929.” 226 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ap nt a el pn Crabtree, J. W., “The Principles of Teacher Tenure,” Nebraska Educational Journal, Vol. VI, No. 10, December, 1926. Names these as the features embodied in broadly conceived program of teacher tenure: a. Only graduates of well-equipped teacher-training institutions, fully recommended for teaching by these institutions, are allowed to enter teach- ing even for trial as probationary teachers. b. All teachers are on probation for an adequate period—two years or more—during which time they must demonstrate that they have become successful teachers. c. After the probationary period has passed all teachers are placed on indefinite tenure during efficiency—that is, they continue to hold their places without annual re-election as long as they render efficient service or until dismissed for just and stated cause. d. The procedure for terminating indefinite tenure is such that the right of school boards to dismiss inefficient teachers for proved inefficiency is safeguarded while the efficient teacher is given certain safeguards which protect him from the worst of the degrading and respect-destroying evils of the “hire and fire” policy. Ditto, George, “Teacher Tenure,” The Mississippi Educational Advance, Vol. 18, No. 5, February, 1927. Presents data as to teacher turnover and summarizes the principal features in existing tenure laws. Fish, Florence, “Tenure,” Journal of the Minnesota Education Association, Vol. 6, No. 9, December, 1926. Summarizes the provisions of the Teachers’ Tenure Law passed at the last session of the Minnesota legislature. Fish, Florence, “Tenure—Questions and Answers,” Journal of the Minnesota Edu- cation Association, Vol. 7, No. 1, January, 1927. Lists ten questions frequently asked concerning the Tenure Bill before the last session of the Minnesota legislature, and presents definite and concise answers. Hunter, Fred M., “Teacher Tenure in the United States,” National Education Association, Volume of Addresses and Proceedings, 1926, pp. 202-222. Complete report of the Committee of One Hundred on the Problem of Tenure of the National Education Association presented at the Philadelphia meeting in July, 1926. Reviews work of the National Education Association’s Tenure Committee, presents data as to teacher turnover, and reviews: recent literature on the subject of teacher tenure. Indiana Teacher, “Teacher Tenure,” The Indiana Teacher, Vol. 71, No. 7, March, 1927, pp. 7-9. Presents the entire text of Indiana’s new teacher tenure law and also the picture of Governor Jackson signing the law. Indiana Teacher, “What Other States Think of Tenure Law,” The Indiana Teacher, Vol. 71, No. 8, April, 1927, pp. 14-15. Letters from secretaries of state teachers’ associations congratulating the teachers of Indiana on the passage of their tenure law. Jarvis, Paul G. H., “Recent Supreme Court Decisions on Teacher Contracts,” School and Society, Vol. 24, Nos. 606 and 607, August 7, 1926, and August 14, 1926. Reports oF ComMMITTEEFS 227 een Se Se eels oe aed Reviews court decisions relative to teachers’ contracts in many states, in- cluding Minnesota, Texas, and Iowa. Data presented are based on a large number of actual court cases and are most illuminating in the variation of practices revealed in different states, Johnson, Ruth M., “Permanent Tenure for Rural Teachers,” New York State Education, Vol. 14, No. 7, March, 1927, p. 443. States that rural conditions furnish arguments against permanent teacher tenure. Among the conditions cited are these: Every rural school district is an administrative unit by itself. There is no chance for the transfer of teachers to another building as in the city. Some school boards, rather than have a teacher indefinitely, will terminate her service at the end of the probationary period, thus increasing turnover. Journal of the Louisiana Teachers’ Association, “Teacher Tenure in the Public Schools of Louisiana,” Journal of the Louisiana Teachers’ Association, Vol. 4, No. 8, April, 1927, p. 35. Presents the following data relative to teacher turnover in Louisiana as given in Superintendent Harris’s report: Fewer than 50 percent of the teachers in a single parish in the state, with the exception of Orleans, have been employed in the same sche, for a period as long as five years; and only 23 per cent of the teaching staff as a whole last session have been in the same positions for five years or more. The per- centage of new teachers ranged from 69.1 percent in Beauregard to 14.6 per- cent in Orleans. In 14 of the: parishes, more than 50 percent of the teachers were new during the last session, and in 16 parishes, the percentage of new teachers ranged from 40 percent to 50 percent. Journal of the Minnesota Education Association, “Teacher Tenure Act,” Journal of the Minnesota Education Association, Vol. 7, No. 4, April, 1927, pp. 109-111, Gives the complete text of the Teacher Tenure Act passed by the legis- lature of Minnesota at the session of 1927. Kinder, J. S., “A Few Notes On Teacher Tenure,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Vol. 75, No. 10, April, 1927, pp. 545-546. Presents data as to teacher turnover in a mid-western state. show that 41 percent of all superintendents, principals, and teachers were in their positions for the first year; 84.14 percent had been in their present positions less than five years. The author states: One factor which helps in causing such teacher turnover is the fact that the state is organized on the district plan. Each small school district, with its local school board, rules supreme in its domain. It is a very diplomatic teacher who can please a majority of the school board year after year. These data high school Little, M. R., Jr., “Retention of Teachers,” Georgia Education Journal, Vol. 19, No. 2, February, 1927, p. 12. v4 Replies to a questionnaire sent to every part of the state of Georgia, in- cluding both small and large city systems, showed that the percent of teacher turnover ran all the way from 10 to 35 percent. Among the causes given were these: Salary and lack of preparation for the work, marriage, business, terms too short, better places, and better salaries. All the superintendents stated that the loss was greater in the one-, two-, and three-ioom schools than in the consolidated schools. These three defects of the present rural situation were emphasized : (1) voor living conditions for teachers, (2) poor working conditions—small room with little equipment and little cooperation, and (3) ignorant school boards. 228 NaTIONAL Epucation AssocIATION Martin, T. D., “Teacher Tenure Legislation,” Journal of the Louisiana Teachers’ Association, Vol. 4, No. 5, January, 1927. Points out the evil effects of annual elections, lists three arguments in favor of the adoption of tenure legislation, discusses the difficulties which sometimes arise in the operation of tenure laws, and points out the advantages of. the proposed Pennsylvania tenure law. Montana Education, “Teachers’ Tenure Law as Amended,” Montana Education, Vol. III, No. 7, April, 1927, p. 8. Gives the text of the Montana teacher tenure law as amended by the last legislative assembly. ; Pennsylvania School Journal, “Tenure Problems,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Vol. 75, No. 3, November, 1926, p. 153. : A letter addressed to all members of the Pennsylvania State Education Association, by the Association’s Committee on Tenure Problems, asking for a reply to these nine questions: 1. The Committee feels that the provision of law requiring the annual reelection of teachers makes the teacher a political rather than a technical officer of the state. Is this correct? 2. The Committee feels that this provision invites school boards to make changes in their teaching force. Is this correct? 3. The Committee feels that this provision causes teachers voluntarily to change their positions more often than they would otherwise do. Is this correct? 4. The Committee feels that this provision causes teachers much annual unrest and anxiety, thus lessening their efficiency. Is this correct? 5. The Committee suggests a change in law, substituting for an annual contract a contract without a time clause to remain in force so long as both parties are satisfied and to be terminated, on the one hand, by the teacher only after due and proper notice and at the close of a school term; or, on the other hand, by the board of school directors only after reasons have been presented and opportunity given for reply, and in the case of incompetence, ample time given for improvement. Is this reasonable? 6. Does this suggestion give proper protection to the competent teacher? 7. Does this suggestion conserve to school boards adequate control over the teachers in their employ? 8. Is this suggestion likely to reduce the present large annual turnover of teachers? 9. Is this suggestion more apt to be received favorably by school board members than a proposal for a tenure law similar to that of New Jersey or California? Rowland, Albert Lindsay, “Tenure Problems Committee Report,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Vol. 75, No. 6, February, 1927, p. 47. Reports that the summary of replies to the nine questions on tenure sub- mitted in the November, 1926, issue of the Pennsylvania School Journal are preponderantly affirmative. ’ Rowland, Albert Lindsay, “An Adequate Tenure Law for the Teachers of Pennsyl- vania,” Pennsylvania School Journal, Vol. 75, No. 8, February, 1927, pp. 383-385, Reviews the history of attempted tenure legislation in Pennsylvania, presents arguments for teacher tenure, and outlines the points which should be in- cluded in the text of a proposed tenure measure for Pennsylvania. Deplores the fact that in some communities teachers are looked upon as political officers, elected to a public office the emoluments of which are valuable REPORTS OF CoMMITTEES 229 and should be distributed as widely as possible. States that this pernicious practice should cease and that the welfare of the boys and girls attending the schools should be the sole consideration. Washington Education Journal, “ ‘Old Pedagogus’ on ‘Teacher Tenure,’” Dad to Daughter Epistle, No. 5, Washington Education Journal, Vol. 6, No. 7, March, 1927, pp. 206-207. Warns against “spring rover mood”-of the teacher which causes her to shift from one position to another. Points out that divorce in the schoolroom, as in the home, may be at times a necessary evil, but it is certainly an evil. Gives these figures on teacher turnover in the State of Washington: Annual turnover in the position is approximately 50 percent—higher in rural schools and less in city schools—and the turnover in the service about 25 percent. Texts of California, Indiana, and Minnesota State Teacher Tenure Laws (Passed by state legislatures in 1927) California State Teacher Tenure Law Boards of school trustees, and city, and city and county boards of education shall have the power and it shall be their duty: First—To employ a principal for each school under their control, and they may employ a district superintendent for one or more schools employing eight teachers or more under their control. In each city school district governed by a city board of education, such board may employ a city superintendent of schools and such deputy or assistant city superintendents as it may deem necessary and fix and order paid their compensation unless the same be otherwise prescribed by law. Any deputy city superintendent of schools, or assistant city superintendent of schools, or district superintendent may be elected for a term of four years. Second—To employ persons in public school service requiring certification qualifications, as provided in part third of this section; also to employ janitors and other employees of the school; to fix and order paid their compensation, unless the same be otherwise prescribed by law; provided, that no board shall enter into any contract with such employees, other than persons in positions Te- quiring certification qualifications to extend beyond the close of the next ensuing school year; except that persons in positions requiring certification qualifications may be elected on or after May second for the next ensuing school year, and each person so elected shall be deemed reelected from year to year except as hereinafter specified; provided, that any person not under permanent tenure who shall fail to signify his acceptance within twenty days after notice of his election or employment shall have been given him by the clerk or secretary of the govern- ing board of the school district, or shall have been mailed by the clerk or secre- tary of the governing board by depositing such notice in the United States post office, with postage thereon prepaid, addressed to such person at his last known place of address, shall be deemed to have declined the same. Any board of trustees, or city, or city and county board of education may arrange to pay the persons in positions requiring certification qualifications so employed by them in ten or eleven or twelve equal payments instead of by the school month; provided, however, that where the board of trustees or city or city and county board of education arranges to pay such persons so employed by them F twelve ee payments fer the year, they shall begin such payments on the first mee the calendar month following the opening of schools for the current dee n all cases where. school is not opened during the month of July, the ee ae or city *board or city and county boards of education may wit ri aes ing er warrants which may have fallen due prior to the opening of school until such 230 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION persons so employed by them shall have returned to the employment for which they were engaged by the board of school trustees or the city or city and county board of education and shall have resumed their respective duties, and then such payments shall be continued from month to month on the first day of each calendar month thereafter until said persons shall have been paid the full amount due to them for that fiscal year; provided, that a person in a position requiring certification qualifications, who serves less than a full school year is entitled to receive as salary only an amount that bears the same ratio to the established annual salary for such position as the time he serves bears to the annual school term; provided, that whenever the first day of the month falls upon a holiday, payment of salaries shall be made on the following day. Third—(a) To employ, for positions zequiring certification qualifications, only persons who hold legal certificates in full force and effect, and on file at the time of such appointment in the office of the county superintendent of schools, to serve as substitutes, probationary or permanent employees, and to give the county superintendent of schools immediate notice in writing of such employment on blanks furnished by the superintendent of public instruction, stating the name and address of each person thus employed. ‘ (b) To fix and prescribe the duties to be performed by all persons in public school service in the school district. (c) To classify as substitute employees those persons employed in positions requiring certification qualifications from day to day for less than one school year, to fill positions of regularly employed persons absent from service. (d) To classify as probationary employees, those persons employed in positions requiring certification qualifications for the school year, and who have not been classified as permanent employees as hereinafter provided, such classification to be made at the time of employment, and thereafter in the month of July of each school year. (e) To classify as permanent employees all persons, except those hereinafter specified, who shall have been successfully employed by the district for tao or three complete consecutive school years in positions requiring certification qualifications. Such classification shall be made at the end of either the second or third com- plete year of such employment at the option of the governing board of the dis- trict. No person employed in an administrative or supervisory position requiring certification qualifications shall be classified as a permanent employee other than as a classroom teacher. (f) To grant leaves of absence. (g) To accept the resignation of any employee and to fix the time when such resignation shall take effect, which date shall not be later than the close of the school year during which such resignation shall have been received by such board. (h) To dismiss substitute employees at any time at the pleasure of the board. (1) To dismiss probationary employees during the school year for cause only, as in the case of permanent employees, except that on or before the tenth day of June in any year the governing board may give notice in writing to a pro- bationary employee that his services will not be required for the ensuing year. Such notice shall be deemed sufficient and complete when delivered in person to such employee by the clerk or secretary of the governing board of the school district or deposited in the United States registered mail with postage prepaid, addressed to such employee at his last known place of address, (j) To dismiss permanent employees in positions requiring certification qualifica- tions, except as hereinafter provided only for one or more of the following causes, after a fair and impartial public hearing. Causes for dismissal are immoral or unprofessional conduct, incompetence, evident unfitness for seryice, persistent yaola- REPORTS OF COMMITTEES : 231 eee ee ee Se ee tion of or refusal to obey the school laws of California, or reasonable rules pre- scribed for the government of public schools. Dismissal for cause shall be made only after the following provisions shall have been complied with: The governing board shall give at least ten days’ notice in writing to any permanent employee against whom charges shall have been preferred, which notice shall state fully the charges, and the time when and the place where such hearing is to be held. The governing board shall hold such hearing under reasonable rules which it shall adopt, and the employee against whom the charges shall have been preferred shall have the right to be represented by counsel, and to call witnesses on his own behalf and take their testimony at the hearing and to crossexamine all other witnesses who may testify at such hearing; provided, that such hearing shall be confined to charges only. The board may dismiss any permanent employee after a hearing as in this section provided, upon proof of the charges covering any one or more of the causes for dismissal enumerated in this section, upon the affirmative vote of the majority of the board. No member of the board shall be qualified to vote who has not been present throughout the entire hearing. Such trial -shall have been concluded and the decision rendered within ten days after the beginning of said trial, It is hereby provided, however, that whenever it becomes necessary to decrease the number of permanent employees in a school district on account of the decrease in the number of pupils attending the schools of such district, oer on account of the discontinuance of a particular kind of service in such district, the governing board may dismiss such employee at the close of the school year. If the dismissal of such employee shall become necessary on account of the decrease in the number of pupils attending the schools of the district, such employee so dismissed shall be the /ast person engaged in the type of work so discontinued. If such service is reestablished within one year from the time of such discontinuance, the employee so dismissed shall have the preferred right to reappointment. The board shall give any person who shall be dismissed under this proviso a statement of honorable dismissal. Nothing in this act shall be construed so as to repeal or negate any pro- visions concerning employees of school districts contained in the charter of any city, county, or city and county heretofore or hereafter adopted and approved in conformity with Article XI of the constitution of this state. All employments under the provisions of this section shall be subordinate to the right of the Legislature to amend or repeal this section at any time, and nothing herein contained shall ever be held, deemed or construed to confer upon any person employed pursuant to the provisions hereof a contract which will be impaired by the amendment or repeal of this section. Fourth—To provide in cities, and in cities and counties, having boards of education, and in other districts employing thirty or more teachers, for the pay- ment of the traveling expenses of any representative of the board of education, when performing services directed by said board. ; ' Fifth—If any section, subsection, sentence, clause, or phrase of this act is for any reason held to be unconstitutional, such decision shall not affect the Tera of the remaining portions of this act. The Legislature hereby declares thai it would have passed this act and each section, subsection, sentence, clause, and phrase thereof irrespective of the fact that any one or more other sections, sub- sections, sentences, clauses, or phrases be declared unconstitutional, 232 NatTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Indiana State Teacher Tenure Law’ SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of Indiana, That any person who has served or who shall serve under contract as a teacher in any school corporation in the State of Indiana for five or more successive years, and who shall hereafter enter into a teacher’s contract for further service with such corporation, shall thereupon become a permanent teacher of such school cor- poration. The term “teacher” as used in this section shall mean and include licensed public school teachers, supervisors and principals of all public school corporations, and licensed assistant superintendents and superintendents of school cities and towns. Upon the expiration of any contract between such school corporation and a permanent teacher, such contract shall be deemed to continue in effect for’ an indefinite period and shall be known as an indefinite contract. Such an indefinite contract shall remain in force unless succeeded by a new contract signed by both parties or unless it shall be cancelled as provided in section 2 of this act. Provided that teachers’ contracts shall provide for the annual determination of the date of beginning and length of school terms by the school corporation, and provided further that teachers’ contracts may contain provisions for the fixing of the amount of annual compensation from year to year by a salary schedule adopted by the school corporation and such schedule shall be deemed to be a part of such contracts; and further Provided, That such schedule may be changed by such school corporation on or before May-1st of any year, such changes to become effective at the beginning of the following school year: Provided, That all teachers affected by such changes shall be furnished with printed copies of such changed schedule within thirty days after its adoption. Section 2. Any indefinite contract with a permanent teacher as defined in section 1 of this act may be cancelled only in the following manner: Not less than thirty days nor more than forty days before the consideration by any school corporation of the cancellation of any such contract, such teacher shall be notified in writing of the exact date, time when and place where such consideration is to take place; and such teacher shall be furnished a written statement of the reasons for such consideration, within five days after any written request for such state- ment; and such teacher shall, upon written request for a hearing, filed within fifteen days after the receipt by said teacher of notice of date, time and place of such consideration, be given such a hearing before the school board, in the case of cities and towns, and before the township trustee, in the case of townships; such hearing shall be held not less than five days after such request is filed and such teacher shall be given not less than five days’ notice of the time and place of such hearing. Such teacher, at the hearing, shall have a right to a full statement of the reasons for the proposed cancellation of such contract, and shall have a right to be heard, to present the testimony of witnesses and other evidence bearing upon the reasons for the proposed cancellation of such contract, No such contract shall be cancelled until the date set for consideration of the cancellation of such contract; nor until after a hearing is held, if such hearing is requested by said teacher, nor until, in the case of teachers, supervisors, and principals, the city or town superintendents, in cities and towns, and the county superintendents, in townships and in cities and towns not having superintendents, shall have given the school corporation his recommendations thereon, and it shall be the duty of such superintendent to present such recommendations upon five days’ written notice to him by such school corporation. Nothing contained in this section shall prevent the suspension from duty of any teacher pending * Passed by the 1927 session of the state legislature and signed by the governor. The Indiana State Teachers Association sponsored the measure, REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 233 a decision on the cancellation of such teacher’s contract. Cancellation of an in- definite contract of a permanent teacher may be made for incompetency, in- subordination (which shall be deemed to mean a willful refusal to obey the school laws of this state or reasonable rules prescribed for the government of the public schools of such corporation), neglect of duty, immorality, jus- tifiable decrease in the number of teaching positions or other good and just cause, but may not be made for political or personal reasons: Provided, That when the cause of cancellation of an indefinite contract is immorality or in- subordination as defined in this act, such cancellation shall go into effect at once, and, Provided further, That when the cause of cancellation of an indefinite con- tract is not immorality or insubordination as defined in this act, such cancellation shall go into effect at the end of the school term following such cancellation. The school board of any city or town, by a majority vote, evidenced by a signed statement in the minutes of the board, or the township trustee, by a written and signed statement recorded in his records, may cancel an indefinite contract with a teacher after compliance with the provisions of this section: Provided, That the decision of the school board shall be final; and, Provided further, That the decision of the township trustee shall not become effective for ten days, during which time an appeal may be taken to the county superintendent, in which case the county superintendent shall investigate the case and make a final decision within five days. SEcTION 3. No teacher shall be appointed by any school corporation in Indiana, and no teacher shall become a permanent teacher in any such school corporation, until the superintendent, in the case of school cities and school towns, and the county superintendent, in the case of townships and school cities and towns not having superintendents, shall have made a report upon such teacher’s preparation, experience, and license, and it shall be the duty of every such superintendent, within ten days after request, to make such report upon any person whom the school corporation is considering as an applicant: Provided, That nothing con- tained in this section shall be deemed to prevent the granting to any superin- tendent of additional authority in the selection and employment of teachers either by law or by the rules or regulations of any school corporation. Section 4. No permanent teacher shall be permitted to cancel his indefinite con- tract during the school term for which his said contract is in effect nor for a period of thirty (30) days previous to the beginning of such school term unless such cancellation is mutually agreed upon; such permanent teacher shall be per- mitted to cancel his indefinite contract at any other time by giving a five days’ notice to the school corporation. Any permanent teacher cancelling his indefinite contract in any other manner than in this section provided shall be deemed guilty of unprofessional conduct and the state superintendent is hereby authorized to suspend the license of such teacher for a period of not exceeding one year. Section 5. Any school corporation, upon written request, may grant leaves of absence, for periods not exceeding one year, to any permanent teacher for study or professional improvement or because of physical disability or sickness, subject to such rules and regulations governing leave of absence as may be adopted by such corporation: Provided, That without written request any school corporation may place a permanent teacher on leave of absence for periods of not exceeding one year because of physical or other disability or sickness, provided that such ‘teacher shall have a right to a hearing on such unrequested leave of absence in accordance with the provisions for hearings contained in section 2 of this act. SECTION 6. This act shall be construed as supplementary to an act of the General Assembly, page 195, Acts 1921, entitled “An act concerning teachers’ contracts and providing for the repeal of conflicting laws.” 234 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION The Teacher Tenure Law of the State of Minnesota’ For an Act to Regulate the Employment of Teachers in the Public Schools in Cities of the First Class and Fixing the Conditions Under Which They May Hold Their Positions or May Be Discharged or May Be Demoted. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the state of Minnesota: SecTIoN 1. The term “teacher” shall include every person regularly employed as a principal or to give instruction in a classroom, or to superintend or supervise classroom instruction, or as placement teacher and visiting teacher. Section 2. The term “school board” shall include any and all boards or official bodies having the care, management or control over public schools; and the term “commissioner” shall include any and all instances where a single official has the care, management or control over public schools. SecTION 3. The word “demote” shall mean to reduce in rank or to transfer to a lower branch of the service or to a position carrying a lower salary or compen- sation. ° Section 4. All teachers in the public schools in cities of the first class in the state during the first three years of consecutive appointment shall be deemed to be in a probationary period of employment during which period any annual contract with any teacher may or may not be renewed as the school board or commissioner shall see fit. The school board or commissioner may during such probationary period discharge or demote a teacher for any of the causes as specified in Section 6. A written statement of the cause of such discharge or demotion shall be given to the teacher by the school board or commissioner at least thirty (30) days before such removal or demotion shall become effective, and the teacher so notified shall have no right of appeal therefrom. Section 5. After the completion of such probationary period, without discharge, such teachers as are thereupon re-employed shall continue in service and hold their respective positions during good behavior and efficient and competent service and shall not be discharged or demoted except for one or more of the causes as specified in Section 6, and after a hearing as specified and provided in Section 7. SEcTION 6. Causes for the discharge or demotion of a teacher either during or after the probationary period shall be: a. Immoral character or conduct unbecoming a teacher. b. Failure without justifiable cause to teach without first securing the written release of the school board or commissioner having the care, management or control of the school in which the teacher is employed. c. Inefficiency in teaching or in the management of a school. d. Affliction with active tuberculosis or other communicable disease shall be considered as cause for removal or suspension while the teacher is suffering from such disability. e. On account of discontinuance of position or lack of pupils. SEcTION 7. The charge or charges against a teacher shall be in writing and signed by the person making the same, and then filed with the secretary or clerk of the school board or commissioner having charge of the school in which the teacher is employed. Such school board or commissioner before discharging or demoting a teacher shall then accord the teacher against whom such charge or charges have been filed a full hearing and shall give to said teacher at least ten (10) days’ notice in writing of the time and place of such hearing; such notice may be served personally or sent by registered mail addressed to such teacher at + Passed by the 1927 session of the state legi i i sion gislature and signed by the Governor, Th FE sota State Teachers’ Association sponsored the measure. sf ihiaoie Reports OF CoMMITTEES 235 eg ee oS eae his or her last known postoffice address ; provided, that if said charge be made by any person 1n connéction with said school system said charge may be disregarded by such school board or commissioner. Upon such hearing being held such school board or commissioner shall hear all evidence that may be adduced in support of the charge or charges and for the teacher’s defense thereto. Either party shall have the right to have a written record of the hearing at the expense of the board and to have witnesses subpeenaed and all witnesses so subpenaed shall be examined under oath, Any member of the school board or any commissioner conducting such a hearing shall have authority to issue subpenas and to administer oaths to witnesses. SECTION 8. Each party appearing before said school board or commissioner shall have the right to be represented by counsel, and such counsel may examine and cross-examine witnesses and present arguments. SEcTION 9. All hearings before said school board or commissioner shall be public or private at the decision of the teacher against whom such charge or charges have been filed. SECTION 10. Such hearing must be concluded and a decision in writing, stating the grounds on which it is based, rendered within twenty-five (25) days after the giving of such notice. Where the hearing is before a school board the teacher may be discharged or demoted upon the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of said school board. If the charge or charges, or any of such, are found to be true the school board or commissioner conducting the hearing shall discharge, demote or suspend the teacher, as seems to be for the best interest of the school. Provided, that no teacher shall be discharged for either of the causes specified in Paragraph “c” of Section 6, except during the school year, and then only upon a charge or charges filed at least four (4) months before the close of the school sessions of such school year; such decisions of the school board or commissioner, as the case may be, shall be final. SecTION 11. In all cases where the final decision is in the favor of the teacher the charge or charges shall be physically expunged from the records. SecTION 12. Upon the filling of a charge or charges against a teacher the school board or commissioner may suspend the teacher from regular duty. If upon final decision the teacher is suspended or removed the school board or commissioner may in its or his discretion determine the teacher’s salary or compensation as of the time of filing the charge or charges. If the final decision is favorable to the teacher there shall be no abatement of salary or compensation. SEcTION 13. Any teacher whose services are terminated on account of discontinu- ance of position or lack of pupils shall receive first consideration for other positions in the district for which he is qualified. SECTION 14. The period of service rendered by teachers in the districts in which they are employed at the time this act becomes effective shall be considered in computing their probationary period. SEcTION 15. All acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. SECTION 16. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 1927. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS WILLIAM F. RUSSELL, DEAN, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY, CHAIRMAN Last summer at Philadelphia the report of the Committee on Inter- national Relations took the form of a description of what had been done 236 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION : ee at Edinburgh, with two simple proposals to the incoming president of the Association. The form the report takes today is an informal description of what we plan to do at Toronto a month hence. The president of the Association acted speedily upon the recommenda- tions. Our delegation was appointed in good season, with representatives from all the states of the union, and forms, in my judgment, an excellent representation of the nation. In about a month from now our one hundred delegates will be seated in the huge auditorium on the campus of the University of Toronto, much as this group is seated here, but instead of having standards bearing the names Vermont, South Carolina, Oregon, Texas, there will be the banner bearing the name the National Education Association of the United States, the Education Association of Scotland, of Japan, of China, etc., as well as many other universities and organizations and smaller bodies, representing more isolated and less developed countries of the world. Now, this group that sits here in this room represents localities and associations and organizations in various parts of the United States, and I do not think that any of us were sent here solely to enjoy the beauties of Seattle, solely to sail on this wonderful Puget Sound, or to wander up and down the streets, or solely to shake hands with one another. We are sent here primarily to learn, primarily to gain from our fellow members of our profession new ideas, new knowledge and new powers. We are not sent here to save the rest of the United States. We are not sent here to carry the message of progress from our state to some other place. When I was even younger than I am now I went down from the country to teach in the south and to save the south, but I soon saw if I could save myself I would do well. Now, I think the exact parallel between the relation of the important parts of the nation to this Association holds good, as between the relation of this Association to the World Federation of Education Associations. Your committee had an interesting experience at Edinburgh. Your committee has had several meetings since, and it is our plan and our conviction that we shall go to Toronto in your interests. We are going there to learn what these other countries are doing. We are going to find out how their associations are run, how they are financed, how they function, what are the distinctive things there. We are going to find out about procedure and practice and the administration of health education and international sports and the teaching of history, and all types of things. Your delegation is going to meet in advance of the main meeting and we are going to parcel out that whole huge meeting, assigning sections of it to particular delegates, who will be there to report what goes on. What we want to do when we come back is to have you say “What about REPoRTS OF COMMITTEES 237 coe) <2 eee eat, en nd bbveneemeiestaieaeme: Oia ee this?” And we will say “What do you want to know?” And we will tell you. Now, the idea will fall flat and will never get anywhere unless the National Education Association and the state education associations have something they want to know. Our financial investment in the World Federation of Education Associations, which amounts to one thousand dol- ' lars a year, will have little effect except the education of one hundred delegates, unless the National Education Association and the state associa- tions profit from what your delegates have learned at Toronto. I maintain that our group should be a real mine of information and a source of inspiration after they return from this meeting, and we can do better and serve your purposes better if in advance we can get some idea of what it is that you want to know. I think every delegate at Toronto should be upon the programs of sec- tions of the state associations and on programs of sections of the National Education Association itself. Now, just another final word. We are going there with the motto of “What do you know?” rather than “I will tell the world.” We are going there with the idea of learning, and I want to say in confidence that in my judgment that is the real way in which to gain international friendship and international goodwill. I do not wish to be considered as deprecating talk about peace. I believe in peace and I believe in talking about it. I do not want to deprecate per- sonal friendships you have made in other lands, because I, like you, have made them, and I understand how exceedingly pleasant and happy they are, but I do believe that the more one talks about certain things in life and certain customs between man and man, the less good it does. I think friendships among people come from those who have some interest in com- mon. They have struggled with one another and argued with one another and have been helpful to each other. The National Education Association delegate is going to work with that group; we will argue with them and fight with them and we will learn from them and they will learn from us, and on that basis in the long run will come mutual understanding and mutual interest ainong the teachers of these lands, which I think is a steady and a firm and sure step toward that international understanding which in the long run should bring peace and goodwill. So then I hope you in the Representative Assembly here will formally approve the action of this committee, and you will uphold our hands and carry forward our policy, so that after we go to Toronto this time and as we go to other countries in future years we will not be an aimless group of tourists; that we will not be just a group of one hundred people out to see strange lands, but that we will be serious people earnestly seeking informa- tion which will enable us to answer questions of importance to our people back home. 238 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION a gut Na ie ig A erg REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON VISUAL EDUCATION FOR THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION FRANK M. CODY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DETROIT, MICHIGAN The Committee on Visual Education for the National Education Asso- ciation wishes to report progress rather than conclusions. During the present year members of the committee have studied and submitted to the chairman problems in the field of visual education most in need of study and research. ‘The chairman has consolidated the report in the following form to include the common problems which the members of the committee believe should be given consideration during the following year. 1. That research and study be carried on to discover the proper objec- tives for a broad program of visual education. 2. That an analytic study be made of the relative values in a general program of instruction of the following visual aids—slides, film slides, still films, auditorium films, classroom films, exhibits, photographs, and visual materials. ' 3. A study and report made of the degree of differentiation which should be made between visual material used for,classroom instructional purposes and those used for auditorium or entertainment purposes. 4, That research should be carried on to determine the degree to which economy results in learning from the use of visual materials and to de- termine when visual aids should supplement, enrich, or be substituted for present instructional materials. 5. That a study be made to determine the degree to which visual educa- tion can be made a factor in bringing about local, national, and inter- national relationships and common understanding. 6. That research be carried on in the field of the administration of visual education for the purpose of developing standards for the purchase of ma- terials and equipment, and distribution, delivery, and care of such materials in a large school system. 7, That research and study be made to organize and set up a program of supervision accompanied by measurements of the various visual aids and materials. 8. That study and research be carried on to form the basis for the work- ing out of definite standards to govern supervisors and teachers in the selec- tion and use of visual aids. 9. ‘That definite study and research be made to determine the degree to which visual education should be made a definite part of the curriculum in cities using the various visual materials. Reports OF CoMMITTEES 239 REPORT OF JOINT COMMITTEE ON SCHOOL MUSEUM RELATIONS HENRY TURNER BAILEY, DIRECTOR, CLEVELAND SCHOOL OF ART, CLEVELAND, OHIO, CHAIRMAN At the annual meeting of The American Association of Museums held in St. Louis two years ago, a resolution was adopted to the effect that ways and means be devised to bring about a closer touch between the two great educational agencies, the National Education Association and the American Association of Museums, for better cooperation and better mutual service. President Hamlin appointed a committee consisting of: Anna B. Gallup, Children’s Museum, Brooklyn, N. Y.; Dr. S. A. Barrett, Director, Mil- waukee Public Museum; Harold L. Madison, Cleveland Museum of Natural History; Henry W. Kent, The Metropolitan Museum, New York City; J. Arthur MacLean, of the Toledo Museum of Art; Caroline M. Mcllvane, Chicago Historical Society; Dr. James Sullivan, State De- partment of Education, Albany, N. Y.; C. G. Rathmann, Assistant Supet intendent of Schools, St. Louis, Mo., chairman, which, in conjunction with a committee of the National Education Association, should shape plans for a more active and more effective cooperation between the schools and the museums. At President Hamlin’s request, Miss Mary McSkimmon, the President of the National Education Association, appointed a committee of her organization consisting of: Florence Holbrook, Principal, Chicago, Ill.; Jessie E. LaSalle, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Washington, D. C.; Clifford J. Scott, Superintendent of Schools, East Orange, N. J.; Mrs. L. L. Wilson, Principal, Philadelphia, Pa.; Margaret Alltucker, Assistant Director, Research Division of National Education Association ; Otto F. Ege, Head Teacher, Training Department, Cleveland School of Art; Dr. Henry Turner Bailey, Director, Cleveland School of Art, chairman. The committee went to work at once, the two chairmen conferring through correspondence with the members of their committees as to the best methods of conducting the work. At the request of Miss McSkim- mon, the two chairmen and Harold L. Madison, a member of the Mu- seums Committee, and Otto F. Ege, a member of the National Educa- tion Association Committee, met with her in Cleveland in April of last year, to make definite recommendations as to how the schools and the museums could be brought together for better cooperation. The recommendations were drafted, stating in detail what the schools can and should do to put the children in actual contact with the world around them through the use of the great outdoor museum, where they can get first hand information as to all they should know about the work of Natire, through excursions to field, park and forest, through main- taining school gardens and through supplementing all this study of real objects, such as are in our museums and pictorial illustrations, to make the children better acquainted with the work of both nature and man. ‘The 240 NatioNAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION report recommends that normal schools and teachers colleges train their students in using the materials in the outdoor and indoor museums intelli- gently and efficiently. It is further recommended that the schools furnish the museums with school representatives who are to select the material to be used in the schools, to assemble it, to take proper care of it, and to make it accessible to the schools. The teachers in schools are to urge the teachers to take their classes to the museum so that the children may be trained to become intelligent museum visitors and later on enthusiastic supporters of museums. And, lastly, it is recommended that the schools cooperate with the museums by bearing such part of the expense as will enable them to help the schools effectively. The report of the committee was presented to the Museums Associa- tion at its meeting in New York and to the National Education Associa- tion at its meeting in Philadelphia, and approved by both organizations. The recommendations were brought to the notice of the representative of all museums through our Museum News. The next step to be taken was to have the message in the report reach All the teachers in our country. In February of this year the two chairmen met in St. Louis and decided to bring the recommendations to the notice of all the school people through having them published in all the educational journals of our country. To do this most effectively, and to prevail upon the editors to publish the literature, they determined to have the recommendations accompanied by an explanatory letter to the editors, also by an article setting forth the value of visual education, the necessity of better cooperation between schools and museums, and the advantages which both institutions would derive from such cooperation, and by photographs showing work in the school- room with museum or other visual education material. All members of the two committees were requested to write articles to accompany the recommendations, and all have done so. Doctor Bailey, the chairman of the National Education Association Committee, attended the meeting of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association at Dallas, and secured an appropria- tion for the printing of recommendations, the explanatory letters, the photographs, and for defraying the expense of circulating this material. We began to send the literature to the papers at the beginning of last month. ‘The articles are now in the hands of the editors of the leading educational journals of our country. They have appeared in some of them, and the editors of others have assured me that they will appear in the next issue of their publications. We have not confined our work to the periodicals, but are endeavoring to interest daily papers in our movement. ‘Through the good offices of Anna B. Gallup, our recommendations, with explanatory remarks, appeared in the New York Sun and the New York World. We shall continue this work until all of the educational journals and many of the leading dailies have been reached. Reports OF COMMITTEES 241 The two committees asked Mr. Coleman, secretary of the Museums Association, to send out a questionnaire to ascertain in what way the mu- seums are cooperating with the schools at present. All the information has not, as yet, come in and so we are unable to report results to you at this meeting. All the material in the museums is visual education material, and the museums are ready to supply such parts of it as the schools need, provided the schools will properly cooperate with the museums in bearing such a part of the expense as will enable the museums to give the schools the help they need. . But the schools in places where there are no museums and particularly the rural schools need the help of the two associations. “There is a wealth of visual education material in this country which should be made accessible to the schools. We are sure that most of the schools would welcome the help that can be given them through such material, if they knew how to get it. All the foregoing was presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Museums, as a part of the report made for the joint com- mittee by Mr. Rathman. ‘Thereafter The American Association, at its meeting in Washington, May 23-25, adopted the following resolutions : “In order to carry out the recommendation for better cooperation be- tween schools and museums made by the joint committee appointed by the National Education Association and The American Association of Mu- seums, which recommendations were presented to the National Education Association at its meeting in Philadelphia last year and to The American Museums Association at its meeting in New York last year and approved by both organizations. “Be it resolved that the two Associations jointly appoint a commission consisting of representatives of the universities, colleges and schools and of representatives of the art, science and history museums whose duty it shall be to gather information as to how and where material for visual education can be secured and furnished to schools in places in which there are no museums, particularly the rural schools, to inform the schools that such material can be had and help the schools get what they need. Such mate- rials are as follows: A. Actual objects, such as mammals, birds, insects, specimens of sea life, food products, tree products, materials for clothing, materials for shelter, raw materials in the different stages of manufacture, etc., actual specimens from the fields of biology, geology, botany, anthropology and the other various branches of science. B. Lists of available educational films and slides showing growing and moy- ing things, and industrial processes ; in short, the activities of nature and men. C. Facsimile reproductions of historical documents, pictures and objects in the historical museums of the country, of special value in the teaching of: Ameri- can history and literature. D. Reproductions in color of the finest pictures, textiles and other decorative material in American museums. 242 NatioNAL EpucaTIoON ASSOCIATION Se E. Photographs and reproductions in color of objects in natural history mu- seums having unusual cultural values. F. Reprints of illustrations in black and white and color from the best work of artists, modern and ancient. G. Photographs of the finest sculpture, the finest architecture, and the finest handicraft produced in the United States and in other countries. H. Reproductions in color of the finest mural decorations in American build- ings, and elsewhere. I. Illustrations of the finest products of American industry. J. Pamphlets made up of sample pages of the finest work of American de- signers and printers. ‘sana i K. Illustrated pamphlets descriptive of the scenery, institutions, occupations, and resources of cities and countries, such as are published by boards of trade. “Be it further resolved that the commission be authorized to employ a paid secretary who shall give his whole time to ascertaining the sources from which such visual education material may be secured and to helping the schools to get it. “Be it further resolved that the National Education Association and American Association of Museums make a joint appeal to the Russell Sage Foundation or some other organization interested in the advancement of public education to secure a grant of $8000 to pay the salary of the secre- tary and to defray the necessary office expenses.” The Joint Committee now recommends: (1) That the National Educa- tion Association approve of the resolutions adopted by the American Asso- ciation of Museums; (2) That the present Joint Committee be discharged ; (3) That a Visual Education Commission be appointed, as suggested in the first resolution; (4) That that Commission be empowered to appoint a paid secretary; (5) That steps be taken at once to secure a fund of at least $8000 to make these resolutions effective in promoting visual education throughout the United States. REPORT OF THE COOPERATING COMMITTEES ON BE- HAVIOR PROBLEMS OF CHILDREN OF THE NA- TIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AND THE NATIONAL CONFERENCE OF SOCIAL WORK OLIVE M. JONES, PRINCIPAL, PUBLIC SCHOOL NO. 120, NEW YORK CITY 7 CHAIRMAN The Cooperating Committees on Behavior Problems of Children made a very comprehensive report in 1926. The report was approved by both the National Conference of Social Work and the National Education Association and each committee reappointed for the school year 1926-27. The National Education Association published the report in pamphlet form in two editions of about two thousand each in order to meet the demand for the report on the part of social workers and people interested in delinquency as an educational problem. On November 15, 1926, the twelve members of the two committees met Reports OF COMMITTEES 243 a ee ee SE A Se eC in New York City in joint session for the consideration of replies to a communication sent out in October and signed by both chairmen. The letter asked the members of both committees to review the objectives stated in the 1926 report, to consider the relative importance of the various steps suggested as means of achieving these objectives, and to suggest procedure. The majority of the replies agreed upon No. 5 of the steps listed in the joint report published in 1926. The joint session of November, 1926, resulted in the following decisions: 1, That the chairman of each committee should appoint a subcommittee to con- duct an inquiry along the lines indicated in No. 5 as follows: Study of the preparation of teachers and social workers in their various training schools in relation to the teaching of child psychology, mental hygiene, and social psychiatry, and formulation of recommendations. 2. That the two subcommittees should pursue their inquiries in their separate fields of work but should work in close cooperation and prepare a joint report. 3. That the two chairmen of the cooperating committees were empowered to select speakers and otherwise assist in preparing for the presentation of the subject of behavior problems at the Dallas meeting of the Department of Superintend- ence, February, 1927, and at the Des Moines meeting of the National Conference of Social Work, May, 1927. In accordance with these decisions by the members present at the joint session, November, 1926, the following were asked to serve as subcom- mittees to study as suggested in No. 5 noted above: For the N. E. A. Committee W. Carson Ryan, Jr., Chairman Mrs, Susan M. Dorsey Meta Anderson William S. Gray Helen T. Woolley For the N. C. S. W. Committee Henry W. Thurston, Chairman Jane Culbert Rey. John M. Cooper Frank J. O’Brien Jessie Taft The report cannot be issued until next year. Time and study were essential for the preparation of questionnaires, reading the replies, and other procedure necessary to gather an adequate and accurate volume of facts concerning the preparation of teachers and social workers in subjects and methods relating to behavior problem children. The report will be a valuable one and has already served a valuable purpose in awakening many tarining school faculties to the need of more and better preparation of students regarding behavior problems. During the absence of Dr. Ryan on sabbatical leave during the major part of the year, the chairman of the National Education Association com- mittee asked the Research Division to prepare a questionnaire to be sent to the presidents of all teacher-training institutions, together with a letter explaining the purpose of the inquiry. Appreciation of the work of Dr. John K. Norton and Dr. Margaret M. Alltucker is hereby gratefully expressed. 244 NatTIoNAL EpucaTion ASSOCIATION CT eee The questionnaire follows. Replies are to be sent to Dr. W. Carson Ryan, Jr., Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Training Teachers How to Deal with Behavior Problem Cases Behavior problem children are those who stand out or who differ from others of their group because of certain undesirable habits, personality traits, or behavior in the home, school, or community; whose conduct interferes, or is likely to in-. terfere, with the individual’s (or the group’s) fullest development and usefulness socially, educationally, or hygienically; and whose behavior may result in more serious handicaps of one sort or another in later life. 1. What courses are offered in your institution that bear directly on the question of training teachers to handle successfully behavior problem cases? e © 0: 6.6.0 oa op Ohdnd pier pie le io; ane%e-oheie (sf tice ei\beleiekeel e+ oleic so efei(eieieher sige s el eueiiensienSmaienan© le 1205, oReimmniaie (Here list titles of courses) 2. What books are used as required texts in the courses offered in psychology, moral education, or behavior problems? (Here list titles of textbooks) 3. Is there a child guidance clinic or a behavior clinic near enough to your institution so that your students can visit it and observe the work? Yes.... IN 0579 «eye If yes, how many visits does each student make during one school 4. Is opportunity given students in your institution to observe the work in the local schools of successful teachers of behavior problem children? Yes.... No.... If yes, approximately how many such observation visits are made by a student COM eee C He Mee EEE ee Hee eer ee ee eee erereigseteeeeeeebBeseroeereescesereneesevrsresreseesnee @ 0 \@) Cece ec) eijeele/)4)[0) €06\ (0. 0) ¢ 0/00) 0.61.0, 6/6601 0,/s' @/0) «| © 8) «) 0) 8 eel Giielsi 4ie\lelleiis\'sis) e\'e eitel eliajionel steels) sichiai slot eielenetona S18 0 ew Slee ie 6 ese)@ OR) 6 les jo:(e le Sepals elaiiol Bie) eh aJe of bWal eo «Case) evieile: 6: ste leetsiie) 6 eMel eile lege isis) 6 se ©, 0 (6 Te) 16/0/10) \6 felon ei le) avers, (Name of person supplying information) (Title) Collaboration of the two subcommittees must await the return of Dr. Ryan, but meantime the N. C. S. W. committee has gathered considerable information. It is urgent that the report shall not be hurried and that ample time be allowed the two subcommittees to prepare and issue a report valuable not only for its’ information, but also for helpful constructive suggestions. Two reasons for the importance of the proposed report have made them- selves manifest at every session of the cooperating committees and at every meeting either committee has conducted: 1. That two great groups of people, the social workers and the teachers who should work together for the removal of the causes of delinquency, are often antagonistic to each other because neither understands, nor trained to know, the specific aims for which the other is working. 2. That more young teachers become discouraged and quit because they have not been tr has been teaching ained to recognize or to overcome the diff- REPORTS OF COMMITTEES 245 culties in discipline precipitated by the presence of behavior problem chil- dren than for any other cause. 3. The work of the N. E. A. Committee on Behavior Problem Children was referred to the National Council of Education. Henry Lester Smith, President of the National Council of Education, set aside one session of the Council meetings at Dallas, during the convention of the Department of Superintendence, for the discussion of the plans of the cooperating com- mittees. The program was arranged by the two chairmen. Three speakers were selected to present three different points of view: That of the mental hygienist by Dr. Frank J. O’Brien of the Psychological Clinic, Louisville ; that of the School Administrator by M. C. Lefler, Superintendent of Schools, Lincoln, Nebraska; that of the training of teachers by W. Carson Ryan, Jr., Professor of Education, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. No special meeting was arranged in connection with the Des Moines meeting of the N. C. S$. W. in May, 1927, because the conference desig- nated one day for emphasizing at all sections the cooperation of school and social workers and arranged that all division programs for that day include topics related to or included in the joint report of the cooperative com- mittees. Many school people were included among their speakers. To sum up the results of the year’s work, the chairmen of the two cooperating committees call your attention to: 1. The important report now in progress on the preparation of teachers and social workers for comprehending and for dealing with behavior problem children. We believe that this has never before been attempted and must be productive of much good. 2. The stimulus provided to right thinking and cooperative action on behalf of behavior problem children provided by the meetings the committee has held, public programs prepared, and accounts published in reports and in the public press. 3. The inseparable relationship between intelligent care of the behavior problem child and the prevention of delinquency and crime. 4. The urgency of cooperation between educators and other agencies engaged in social work in order that they may share for the good of the children the knowledge of conditions and causes gained from widely varying points of view. For these reasons the continuance of the Committee on Behavior Problem Children is recommended for another year and is hereby requested. ile these: ie . ATR tpt» -ahien tore Ch sft Fin: eet Mileicay SA! He is a= eles a2 tt to whit ¢ wear 9 nae’) OM od * imsumadl els Sane He , ‘Aout 4), st diy: aa era » =gholsorsiatno ots sented | 7 bey Latiiha te) nailesebas “mle j th shisluat rel: reelt sot aha “ “Mite HB Tails SS tek iuqat, Halos | we debe taht pipe iabal's owt The) te aden to “at. attawe: pe ‘ ’ a. Oe Live eyes de) cli len TUG ai) ap rear: 2: 8 nv tigis rarldnyiy 3 swirsiad dive gottesb oat io vedo ery we Vaaiis has, havepiioytt, ‘en *Selael | oh gains aaplningies “bag flot ead -ouhiintingy oi sais ees itt 4b : *skctel iy aM nl LHe ePungss Gi fexdantdnn sierra misliong. {os aikort oi 1a 3189 neayillosal pee sich ihadeake weorie> -biew Lansupiis “fe auth ening wis Ny baga gies owes ‘a ‘St reside ‘4 citretalt: iter De ert) nhs tea cen regtni ats ancann | hy “tenes vid i bre ar ay ii babmmniinnt ’ - + t j The National Council of Education 1880: 1884 1885: 1886: 1887: 1888: 1889: 1890: 1891: HE NATIONAL COUNCIL OF EDUCATION was organ- “Vices in 1880, growing out of a paper read by Thomas W. Bicknell before the Department of Superintendence. See Proceedings, 1880: 90-94. The active membership of the Council consists of 60 members chosen by the Council; 60 chosen by the Board of Directors of the Association. The list is published in the Proceedings, 1925, pages 310-314. For constitution and bylaws, see Proceedings, 1906: 608-11. The Council meets twice each year, once in February and once in June. The officers of the Coun- cil for the year 1927-28 are: President, Henry Lester Smith, Dean, School of Education, Indiana Uni- versity, Bloomington, Ind.; Vicepresident, Mrs. Su- san M. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los An- geles, Calif.; Secretary, Adelaide S. Baylor, Home Economics Education Service, Federal Board for Vocational Education, Washington, D. C.; Hxecutive Committee, George W. Child, Superintendent of Schools, Salt Lake City, Utah (term expires 1928) ; A. J. Mathews, President, Tempe Normal School, Tempe, Ariz. (term expires 1929). Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier Proceedings as follows: 90- 94 1892 :745-806 1901 :349-499 1910 :307-375 1919 :675-739 > Pt. 3:1-67 1893 :925 1902 :306-408 1911 :331-476 1920 :107-109 405-551 1894 593-678 1903 :301-376 1912 :499-605 1921 :269-368 261-331 1895 :430-509 1904 :333-377 1913 :355-424 1922 :349-574 257-328 1896 :393-470 1905 :271-340 1914 :293-404 1923 :425-551 253-321 1897 :317-583 1906 :607-623 1915 :527-627 1924 :350-428 347-440 1898 :489-588 1907 :329-454 1916:195-287 1925 266-336 289-364 1899 :380-529 1908 :313-500 1917 :129-219 1926 :280-327 275-378 1900 :297-364 1909 :331-435 1918 :135-149 [248] THE FALLACY OF TREATING SCHOOL SUBJECTS AS “LOOL SUBJECTS” CHARLES H. JUDD, DEAN, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO CHICAGO, ILL. more impressed than are others by the fact that words embody and transmit profund beliefs. It has been said that the phrases “struggle for existence” and “‘survival of the fittest” have done more to direct modern thinking than whole volumes of statutes passed by parliament or congress. I do not know who first called arithmetic and reading “‘tool subjects.” Whoever he was, he stigmatized these subjects and classified them as in some sense inferior to history and science and literature. Suppose that we could have been present at the first use of the term ‘‘tool subjects” and could have persuaded the company not to use that term but to call reading and arithmetic the “right and left hands of learning,’ what would have been the effect on subsequent educational thinking of the adoption of our more complimentary terms? I am not suggesting an idle speculation about the history of words. My psychology tells me that words are the embodiments of discriminations and the epitomes of theory. - When a writer on education says arithmetic is a “tool subject,” what does he mean? We have only to appeal to present-day educational litera- ture to secure a clear answer. Arithmetic is thought of as a subject which is a kind of necessary evil. If one wants to pry loose interest from capital one will have to do a little calculating. If one wants to purchase bricks and lumber for building a house, one will have to delay in the truly con- structive work long enough to add up a column of figures. If one is to engage in compounding a recipe one will have to stop and measure and count the ingredients. “The ends of life are possessions, and buildings, and food; these are the matters with which many educators declare themselves to be concerned ; these, they tell us, are the substantial sources of valuable mental experience; these are the concrete facts of life. Number is to the minds of many of our contemporaries a formal abstract soniething which has crept into the schools and crowded out property, and buildings, and food. . As I read the modern textbook in arithmetic I find that the tables are few and short. ‘There is concreteness on every hand. ‘There are pictures of people buying and selling, there are reproductions of checks and bills of lading, there are problems from geography and baseball, but the fact that the number series has a character and regularity of its own is pushed as far into the background as the pages will permit. The new textbooks might have on their covers a picture of a tool as symbolic of their content. They seem to’ announce in the loudest tones the belief that all the good things in modern civilization are real, tangible objects; number is merely r | ‘HE psychologist who has studied the evolution of language is perhaps [249] 250 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Se ee something to be used now and then as a vague and unsatisfactory substitute for things that are concrete and substantial and truly important. Whether I am right or not in thinking that the pedagogical attack on arithmetic is due to a failure-complex will, of course, have to be judged in the light of educational history which reaches beyond our own day. Certain it is that the schools of our own time do not know how to teach arithmetic. The net result of the testing which we have done since the first paper on arithmetic tests published by J. M. Rice in 1902 is a shocking revelation of the incompetency of the schools in teaching arithmetic. The Cleveland survey showed a decade ago a fact which is revealed again in the California Curriculum Study which has just come from the press, namely, that more pupils fail in arithmetic in the third grade than fail in the second, more fail in arithmetic in the fourth grade than in the third. From this point on there seems to be a falling off in the number of failures in arithmetic but probably the apparent increase in success of the school’s operations is due to the elimination of the pupils whom the school cannot train. The successive increases in the number of failures. are con- vincing testimony to the difficulty of teaching arithmetic. One suspects, as I said before, that the attitude of teachers toward this subject which they call a mere “tool subject” is in large measure attributable to the fact that they do not know how to teach it successfully. I can hardly expect to stem the tide of common opinion by anything that I can say in a single paper, but I am here to urge that the term “tool subject” be carefully reconsidered. For my own part, I reject it absolutely. The man who calls arithmetic a “tool subject’? and with this name dis- misses it as something less worthy than subject-matter courses has been guilty of criminal neglect of true values. The figure of speech which one ought to use, if figure of speech is neces- sary, is not the figure of a tool, that is of something that is now taken in the hand, now laid aside; the figure of speech which is appropriate is one which conveys the idea that number is an ever guiding principle of life. One assimilates food and grows into a being full of strength and maturity. One lives in the sunlight and his vision is filled with new images and his mind is stimulated to new action. ‘The number system is such an ener- gizing principle. It has changed the life of men. It has become a mode of thinking. It pervades every observation which modern man makes. It can no more be laid aside than can the right hand. It is not a tool. What has been said about number can be repeated in exactly the same terms with regard to reading. The pupil who has learned to read will never again lead the kind of intellectual life which he did before he ac- quired the art. Words will come into the mind of the pupil who has learned to read in a new form. The world of books will be a familiar world and written expressions will be an intimate part of the pupil’s inner experience. What I am trying to say cannot be reconciled with that false educa- tional psychology which is current in certain quarters where arithmetic is THE NATIONAL CounNcIL OF EpucATION 251 ee eee eases ee eee ere ee ea Fee Seer eee described as a mastery of so and so many different number combinations and _ a collection of so and so many distinct associations. Arithmetic is a general mode of thinking: It could not be perfected until a system of symbols was invented which could express adequately the ideas of precision and regularity. I confess I am astonished when I see some of the analyses which pur- port to be the scientific foundations on which school curricula are to be built and find no mention of these general ideas of order and arrangement and precision. I am told that the school should teach children how to make change and how to measure wall paper and how to tell time and that sections of arithmetic should be devoted to these specific tasks, but I look in vain for any appreciation of the fact that the school ought to lead pupils who have only a hazy and unsystematic notion of the world to see the value of arrangement and order in all thinking and to cultivate the general ideas of regularity and precision. I am anxious to array myself as emphatically as I can in opposition to those who argue for an elimination of mathematics from the school cur- riculum. I am quite prepared to join in a criticism of much of the teach- ing which goes on in the schools at the present time. Instead of being discouraged by the formalism of present-day courses, | am encouraged by the agitation which has arisen against formalism. I am encouraged even though I see some of the criticisms of formalism turned into attacks on the subject itself. Personally I see no reason for trying to escape the difh- culties which arithmetic and algebra and geometry encounter because of inefficient teaching and inadequate understanding of their purpose. ‘These difficulties should not be evaded by casting the mathematical sciences out of the curriculum. Mathematics have demonstrated their place in the in- tellectual world. If we do not teach them successfully, let us ask our- selves what are the reasons for our failure and let us ask ourselves whether we have been intelligent in defining the true content of these sciences. Little children come into the school at a period in life when they have attained very little in the way of orderly arrangement of experience. “They have no notion of regularities and system. It is the business of the school to transmit to the pupils the intellectual methods of arrangement by which the complexities of the world may be unraveled and a new pattern made of experience. [he most comprehensive and flexible patterns for the rear- rangement of experiences are those supplied by the mathematical sciences. We have all observed much teaching in the schools which consisted in solving problems of earning and spending but left no clear notion in the pupil’s mind of the kind which I described a little time ago when I spoke of the general ideas of addition and subtraction. How often have we all heard children in the schools say, “I don’t know whether to add or subtract, whether to add or multiply.” Even more common is the failure to prepare for the higher synthesis of addition and subtraction which is made in algebra. 252 NatrioNnaL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION O04 ) ol ee ee When we note the failure of ordinary instruction in arithmetic to cultivate general ideas we cannot wonder that so many pupils fail. “Teach- ers have not regarded arithmetic as a science made up of general modes of thinking, they have thought of it as a series of rules. They have called it a “tool subject.” ‘They have pictured it as something that the child can lay aside without impairing his view of the world. ‘They have hurried over the tables which show how orderly and systematic number ideas are because somebody has told them that the mind deals only with particular experiences and that all knowledge is concrete. He who is master of the number system has a way of thinking that the race has worked out with infinite labor. He will never again fall back into the confused and inexact ways of viewing the world which were char- acteristic of his childhood. He has grown intellectually by assimilating the number system. He has a mature mind. He has strengthened his mind. He is a new individual. If I have persuaded you in any degree, you should join me in criticising the superficial studies of the curriculum which are trying to limit the study of mathematics to those problems in the solution of which people use some rule of combination. You should join me in resisting the tendency to banish mathematics. from the programs of students in the high school. You should join me in protesting against the classification of arithmetic as a “tool subject.” CHAOS OR INTEGRATION IN EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT AND EFFORT JESSE H. NEWLON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DENVER, COLO. ‘The statement of my subject may seem extreme but the title calls atten- tion to a condition that demands the serious consideration of our most able thinkers. The danger is chiefly that great educational waste may occur, with attendant injury to individuals and to society, unless the profession can work out more effective ways of coordinating educational thought and practice. The danger is not of utter confusion, but of interminable and unjustifiable delay in attaining those objectives that are always within easy reach. Would that I had the gift to picture the conditions that obtain in edu- cational thought and practice in the United States today. We have a national system of education, the general form of which is distinct. This system, embracing as it does the same general types of elementary, sec- ondary, and higher education in every part of the country, both in patie and private schools, is none the less exceedingly complex. Within each type of school are found wide variations in the quality of education offered There is also a wide variety of specialized schools. of organization and methods of procedure is not al Freedom to experiment, next to its popular suppor This variety in types together a bad thing. t, constitutes the out- THE NationaL Councit or EpucATION 253 standing merit of our system of education. Integration of educational thinking and practice, so far as this practice is based on research or tested experience, is not inimical to freedom of development, but essential to it. Lack of such integration means stagnation and waste. A surface indication of conditions is seen in the lack of coordination that exists between our voluntary professional associations. The National Education Association itself comprises many departments, committees, coun- cils, commissions—frequently working without reference to one another. But the National Education Association even with its numerous divisions does not actually cover the entire field. The National Society for the Study of Education, the National Association of College Teachers of Edu- cation, the American Association of University Professors, the various associations of universities and university presidents, the numerous state teachers’ associations, only imperfectly coordinated with the National Education Association, associations of teachers in particular fields as in English, mathematics, science, and many other professional organizations are undertaking studies of the utmost importance. Add to these the numerous schoolmasters’ clubs and similar associations of men and women and we have a glimpse of their extreme variety and diversity. The greatest defect in our system of professional organization lies in the fact that those who administer higher education and those who admin- ister elementary and secondary education do not have sufficient means of contact. Each group is going its way altogether too much without refer- ence to what the other is doing, and the penalty is paid by youth, many of whom are subjected to two educational régimes, one in the elementary and secondary schools and the other in the colleges and universities, often largely unrelated in methods. What is the condition in regard to research? ‘There has been a gratify- ing multiplication of research agencies. “The money and the effort that have gone into scientific experimentation are making a science of educa- tion. But here again there is no unity of effort. There are not adequate facilities for disseminating the findings of research. “Those who are con- cerned with bringing all that the profession has learned about a particular problem to bear -on the solution of that problem find it difficult to know just what the profession has learned. This is illustrated by the condition that has confronted curriculum-makers. It is always difficult and some- times impossible to obtain a complete list of all of the investigations on a problem and frequently investigations have not been printed or are not available. Individuals or committees studying a new problem must in most instances make their own evaluations, with a grievous loss of time. Finally, many investigations are reported in terms so technical that the classroom teacher not highly trained in statistical method finds it difficult to interpret and apply the findings. It 1s recognized, too, that because of lack of coordination, much duplication still obtains. The lack of teamwork in American education is still further illustrated by a situation that is arising with the rapid growth of departments of edu- 254 NatIoNAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION ea heeds Seeds a cation and teachers colleges. There is danger that these departments and colleges may lose that intimate contact which they ought to maintain with the schools; in other words, that the educational theorists and research workers may lose contact with the field. You may be surprised to hear me express this fear, and you may be all the more surprised to hear me say that I think there is evidence that this condition already exists to an alarm- ing extent. The situation is a perfectly natural one. It arises out of the develop- ments of the last generation. A generation ago there was no science of education—only the merest beginnings of one. "Those who undertook to teach courses in education did not find the materials for such courses readily at hand. ‘The result was that they went into the schools for much of their material, and during the two decades prior to 1917, when the science of education was in its infancy, we find the young, forward-looking professor of education in closest contact with classroom and office. He spent a sur- prisingly large amount of his time in the field. Today the young man with little or no practical experience, either as teacher or as administrator, who has completed his thesis for a doctor’s degree and takes his place as a teacher in a school of education, finds at hand numerous works on his speciality. He is not compelled to go to the schools to find materials. He finds them on the shelves of the library. The past ten years have been “hectic” in the schools. Executives every- where have been fighting crucial battles for school support and in many places for proper conditions of control. The economic and social stress that followed the war has increased the difficulties of administration. Is it surprising, therefore, that two or three years after the close of the war certain superintendents wanted the Department of Superintendence to secede from the National Education Association and to restrict its membership entirely to superintendents in order that they might deliberate on their own problems? Fortunately, this movement failed, but it was indicative, I think, of a condition that needs our consideration. Have schools of education been deeply concerned about the leading issues that administrators have faced? ‘he conditions out of which grew the Ku Klux Klan and other post-war movements have brought epochal prob- lems to the schools. The stress and strain of rapidly increasing costs in a period of economic depression have been most severe. Dayton, Tennessee, calls to mind movements that have raised curriculum issues fundamental not only to the life of the schools but to our whole national development. To gain any comprehension of these movements, one must be a student of social forces. What interests have been eminent in schools of education manifested in the effect on the public schools of these movements ? Again, what do we know about interpreting the schools to the public? What in- vestigations into this problem have been conducted in schools of education ? When a young man steps from the classrooms of a professional school into a superintendency, how many problems does he encounter on which no light was thrown in his classwork in the professional school ? THE NationaL Councit or EpucaTion 255 Our system of education is of the people. To understand it and how it works, one must understand the Aimerican people. Educational theorists have told us that we should have a larger unit of administration for the rural schools. A very fine theory. We all subscribe to it. But who has told us how to bring the people to want this larger unit of administration? Who has told us how to keep the schools out of politics, even under the best schemes of control and administration that can be devised ? Perhaps there are no answers to these questions, and yet it is pertinent for a super- intendent of schools to raise them. It has been my privilege to belong to certain informal discussion groups composed largely of college professors of education with a sprinkling of school executives. Sometimes I have come away from the discussions much depressed because of the remoteness of my problems to some of the ques- tions that were debated with eagerness by the college professors. The college professor can no doubt make out as bad a case against the superintendents. ‘There is indeed one notable movement to base courses in administration on problems encountered by school executives in their daily work. But the point I want to make is that there is a lack of contact be- tween the two groups. This must suffice for a picture, though inadequate, of the present lack of contact and cooperation between educational forces. I wish now to direct your attention to two evils that grow out of these conditions, the confusion that results from thinking on educational problems with inade- quate data and the waste that occurs from working at education piecemeal. Any serious student of the development of education in America in the past generation must, it seems to me, be convinced that one of the evils that characterizes our profession is the habit of thinking on educational problems with inadequate data. “This tendency is illustrated by the controversy over the question of educational determinism. Sometimes this battle is fought under the name of determinism; sometimes under some other name. For example, there are those who believe that through the use of intelligence tests a classification of pupils can be made so exact that they can be directed with assurance toward college or professional schools on the one hand or into varying types of vocational education on the other. Some extremists apparently feel that with these tests it can now be exactly determined whether the pupil is destined to be a day laborer or an artisan, or whether he may enter into the realms of business or professional life. And these extremists would build a system of education on the assumption that higher education should be open only to the predetermined elect. There is much heated argument as to the numbers seeking entrance to the college. Some who hold conspicuous places in the educational world (they may also be leaders) would set up college entrance requirements so rigid as to severely limit the enrolment. Many advocates of such severe limitation believe that the country needs relatively few college graduates and that it is possible to decide with justice who of the large number yearly graduating from our secondary schools are entitled to the blessed privilege 256 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION of a college education with all the social prestige and economic adyantage which go with it. No one questions the value of intelligence tests and the misuse of the tests must not be considered as a criticism of the tests themselves. They are now invaluable aids in the administration of any school. Nor does the speaker lack sympathy for those who face the baffling problem of college administration and finance. ‘There is a controversy regarding the use of intelligence tests for the vocational guidance or classification of pupils, and another regarding the limitation of college attendence. “There are ex- tremists on both sides of these questions. Evidently what is needed is more research and a study of all data pertinent to the question and less noise and heat. We hear much of heredity. We are told by the radical determinists that only a very small percentage of the people can profit by a college education and some claim that the intelligence test is in fact an adequate measure of innate ability. What is the cause of this difficulty? It seems to be found primarily in the fact that we do not take into consideration all of the data that bear on these problems. Apparently some of the most vocal advocates of particular policies are unaware of important researches that have been carried on in other fields of knowledge that bear directly on their proposals. For ex- ample, biological research in the past ten years has thrown much light on the influence of heredity and environment, and should warn educationists against drawing hasty conclusions from researches that have been conducted up to the present time in mental testing and related fields. _ Since the war we have heard statements to the effect that intellectually America is a nation of twelve-year-olds; or that it is a nation of sixth graders. These statements have at least a shred of justification. They are, of course, based on the results of the army tests and similar data. Many have drawn the hasty conclusion that our whole system of secondary educa- tion is out of joint; that there are relatively few who can profit from the type of education offered in our high schools, and still fewer who can with profit attend the college or university. Consequently, we are told that attendance on the high school should be greatly restricted, and that uni- versity attendance should be very rigidly restricted. Such a policy would mean the adoption of a radical form of educational. determinism in America. This raises issues of the most fundamental char- acter in our national life. Do you agree with me that we are prone to jump to conclusions; that one of the evils from which American education suffers is that of basing far-reaching policies on insufficient data? The advocates of such radical determinism would do well to read such a volume as Professor Thomas Hunt Morgan’s Evolution and Genetics. What is the conclusion of all this? We should not formulate opinions on an educational problem until we have considered what biology, sociology, anthropology, and all the other “ologies” have to say In regard to it. Edu- THE Nationa Councit or EpucaTIon 257 peculiarly dependent on all of the other social and biological sciences. It follows, therefore, that those who are working on a particular problem of education cannot overlook what other sciences have to contribute to the solution of that problem. : Programs of school finance must take into consideration all that eco- nomics have taught us about taxation, about budgeting, about the factors that determine the abilities of particular communities to support education, about the advantages and the disadvantages of borrowing, how best to borrow, and the extent to which it may be legitimately practiced in a given community. It is inconceivable that a student of educational finance should not be grounded in the principles of economics and should not keep in touch with the researches in this field. A salary schedule must be based on a firm psychological and educational foundation as well as on sound finance. With only one objective in view some advocate a merit system of paying teachers. I receive several letters every year asking for my opinion on merit systems. If one leaves enough things out of consideration, the arguments in favor of a merit system are almost unanswerable. But if all pertinent data are considered the situa- tion may be entirely changed. What is the effect of the merit system on morale? What is the effect of morale on the efficiency of the work done cation is a unique science, in that it not only has a technic of its own but is in the classroom? What do we know about morale? How can the morale of the teaching staff best be maintained? Adequate answer to any of these questions cannot be found within the covers of all the books that have ever been written on the subject of educa- tion. “This will suffice to illustrate what I have in mind when I say that one of the great evils of the day is that of thinking on educational problems with insufficient data. A second evil is that of working at education piecemeal. ‘This is illus- trated by the contrasts that characterize present curriculum revision move- ment. Remarkable strides have been made in the improvement of curricula in elementary schools and junior high schools, but what have we done in the senior high schools? Nine-tenths of the practice in the senior high school today is based on mere tradition, or on opinion, as yet not supported by facts. This is true in the teaching of Latin, mathematics, science, Eng- lish, and in almost every subject in the curriculum. Traditional subject- matter and methods are so strongly entrenched that curriculum’ revision has made practically no dent on procedures in this institution. A few universities and colleges have broken with convention by experi- mentation with new courses in the liberal arts colleges. Witness the intro- duction of such courses as the course in contemporary civilization at Colum- bia University, or the orientation course for freshmen and sophomores at Chicago University, and similar experiments. But, generally speaking, the college, like the high school, has made little progress. ‘ ; The map of the curriculum revision movement is “‘spotty.’’ Occasionally 258 NatioNAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Te will be found a public-school system or a college in dead earnest in attack- ing the major educational problem of the day. But one thing is very evident. There is little touch between the curriculum makers in the college and those in the public schools. We seem to be blissfully ignorant that we are making courses of study for boys and girls who will progress from the kindergarten to the graduate or professional schools, and that common sense requires that the curriculum for each individual be considered as a whole. The situation that exists at the present time is ridiculous and cries out against our ignorance and slothfulness. ; Again, great strides have been made in the improvement of schools in cities, while there is relatively little interest in the improvement of condi- tions in rural schools. ‘Those of us who are working in cities are content to let a few souls with missionary spirit struggle against great odds to im- prove conditions in the country, apparently forgetful of the fact that the welfare of the nation is dependent upon the education of all of its youth, including the millions who live in the rural districts. In further support of the contention that we have a tendency to. work at our job piecemeal, let me cite the waves of enthusiasm that have arisen and fallen in our profession in a quarter century. In one period we were talking about correlation, in another about vocational education, in another about the junior high school Then we were swept off our feet by the testing movement. Now we are feverishly engaged in revising the courses of study. But because we are unable to coordinate our efforts and our thinking, and because we have not learned to see educational problems as a whole, our efforts are altogether too desultory and fragmentary. I shall not continue this discussion further. Enough has been said to make clear my contention that there is a serious lack of integration of edu- cational thought and effort, and that the results of this condition are, first, an amazing waste of effort and, second, the retardation of educational de- velopment. What is the way out? The solution will not-be easy to find. We must steer our course between the Scylla of mere license on the one hand and the Charybdis of autocracy or of a system of thought and practice imposed from above, whether by the state, or by an educational hierarchy self- established, on the other hand. There must be a middle course that will preserve all of the values of independence of thought and action, and at the same time obtain the values of integration. f have no solutions to offer. I can only suggest a few of the more obvious ways in which a better coordination might be brought about. 1, The first thought that comes to mind is that of the opportunities for leadership which this situation presents to the National Education Association. This Associa- tion is the dominant professional organization in America. It is the only organiza- tion that touches every field of educational endeavor through its membership, its departments, its commissions and committees. But, as pointed out above, the National Education Association only barely touches certain fields. It will ark a great step forward when those who are responsible for administration and teaching in colleges and universities actually join the forces of the National Edu- THE Nationa Councit or Epucation 259 cation Association. Not until that time can the National Education Association hope adequately to fulfill its function as a great clearinghouse for educational thought. The National Education Association also has its problems of internal organiza- tion. Its many departments and committees are not effectively coordinated. There is opportunity for educational statesmanship in making this great voluntary asso- ciation serve to the extent that a comprehensive national association should in the integration of educational thought and effort in America. 2. There was a time when the Department of Superintendence was so small that its meetings were largely forums of discussion. Such a time obtained in more ancient days even in the National Education Association itself. Then the National Council of Education was in its turn a great forum for educational debate, into whose lists entered the leaders of another generation—men like William T. Harris and other giants of his time. In those days the National Council served as an integrating force. It was in fact a national academy of education. Un- fortunately, it no longer serves this function. Its meetings have become too much like other educational meetings, where committee reports are heard and received or approved, and where formal addresses are made. The movement to reconstitute the council may produce results. Time will tell whether it can regain the unique position which it once held. Undoubtedly there is need for a forum into which thinkers from every field will come for the discussion of educational problems. Such a forum, whether it be the National Council of Education or a national academy of education, or what- ever it may be, if it be made small enough to permit of discussion and if member- ship be representative of every field and restricted only to men and women of achievement, can make a tremendous contribution to the integration of educational thought and effort and thus to educational progress. 3. My third suggestion relates to the responsibilities of the nation. The service of the national government to education has been and is invaluable. But com- pared to what the federal government could do in the way of supporting, encourag- ing, and promoting educational research and in providing for a wider and more effective exchange of educational thought and experience, what it is doing in these respects seems indeed very insignificant. I have yet to meet any member of my profession who advocates the control of education by the federal government. Integration imposed by the authority of the federal government is much less to be desired than chaos but the choice is not between Prussianism on the one hand and chaos on the other. There are a number of reasons for creating a national department of education with a secretary in the President’s cabinet. But we are concerned here with what the federal government can do in integrating educational thought and practice. The need of extending educational research is so great that these needs cannot be met except by a larger participation of the federal government. While we are spending millions on defense, and on rivers, harbors, and roads, a few hundred thousand dollars more invested in educational research where the need is so great seems indeed a reasonable expectation. No investment that the federal government can make will be more productive either of happiness or of national wealth in the years to come. The federal government alone can establish those lines of communication and centers of exchange that will bring about the most effective coordination of all educational research agencies of the nation. This theme is a fascinating one but I must pass on to my final suggestion. 4, My last suggestion pertains to the education of those who are to assume positions of leadership in our profession. It goes without saying that there must be, first of all, a broad background of general information and culture, and like- wise a most thorough schooling in the theory and practice of education, In a way, this is and has been increasingly our ideal, and yet it seems that something is lacking. We have not given due recognition to the unique character of the science of education. It will of course have its own technic, its own body of scientific 260 NaTIoNAL EpucaTion ASSOCIATION knowledge, but it is peculiarly dependent on other sciences. It is inconceivable that one can be competent as a school executive or as a professor of education unless he keeps in contact with the developments in many fields of human endeavor. As ‘I have indicated, biology, sociology, economics, anthropology, have essential contributions to make to educational thought and practice and to this list should be added history and the fine arts. There is, of course, no place to stop, but these fields in particular must always buttress the science of education. The worker in education, then, must know something of what is going on in these fields. He cannot expect to be a specialist in any of them. But ways must be devised by which he can be kept in contact with important discoveries that have a direct bearing on the science and practice of his profession. Have colleges of education given due weight to these important considerations in making their courses of study? In selecting the men and women who are to be prepared for administrative and supervisory responsibilities do the colleges of education give sufficient thought to the intellectual bents of these young people? Do they ask whether they really have tastes for scholarship outside a narrow vocational in- terest? Do they inquire into their general reading habits, or into their interests in the world of nature and man in which they live? Are they deeply concerned about the background in general information and culture of the aspirant to educa- tional leadership. In a very sketchy and I fear not a very well-organized way, I have en- deavored to picture the lack of cooperation that exists today among the edu- cational forces of our country, and the resultant waste and delay. I am not so unsophisticated as to believe that this condition is entirely bad, or that it can ever be completely remedied. It is one of the characteristics of democracy. As it is often said of the English, so do we Americans “‘muddle through” in some way. It is quite likely that the final test of democracy will be the test of its capacity to accept expert leadership and to direct, through integrated scientific study and investigation, its own evolution. The final test of educational leadership will undoubtedly be the test of our ability to work together cooperatively in the application of the findings of research to the solution of educational problems in every sector of the field. It is evident that there is a woful lack of integration, and that the price we pay for this condition is dear. Surely no more vital problem confronts present-day educational leadership. It may well be that the great contribu- tion of the next generation to the development of education in America will be in the direction of synthesis. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL IN A CITY SYSTEM DAVID E. WEGLEIN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BALTIMORE, MD. One of the most noteworthy features of the organization and adminis- tration of city school systems during the last fifteen years has been the development of the junior high school. With great rapidity this new type of school has been brought to the front influencing not only the work of the grades involved in this kind of school itself, but having a great effect upon the senior high school in the grades above and upon the elementary THe Nationa Councit or Epucation 261 school in the grades below. Within the time allotted to this paper, it is not possible to consider many of the features of the development of the junior high school, but our effort will be confined to discussing several of the main points with particular reference to the experience which we have had in the city of Baltimore. Leaching staff—tIn the first place let us consider the teaching staff. So rapidly has the development of the junior high school taken place that existing teacher-training agencies have not been prepared or able to pro- vide adequately trained candidates to meet the constantly increasing de- mand. Each system of schools has been forced to a greater or less extent to develop its own corps of junior high school teachers. ‘This situation was not without its good effects, because it of necessity compelled cities to make use of experienced teachers rather than to depend upon applicants with scholastic and professional. training but comparatively without ex- perience. One of the earliest examples of a city system developing its own staff of junior high school teachers was Rochester, which in 1914 began to train candidates from the elementary school corps one year before the opening of its proposed junior high school. ' The sources of supply of teachers for the junior high school have been mainly three: the elementary school staff, the high school corps, and spe- cially trained candidates, usually without teaching experience. ‘To prac- tical school administrators there has never been any question but that the majority of the junior high school teaching staff should be drawn from the elementary school group. ‘This insures a nucleus of teachers experienced in teaching pupils of age groups comparable to those in the junior high schools. In Baltimore the first junior high schools were opened in February, 1919, the teaching staff being composed entirely of experienced elementary teachers, who, however, had no special preparation for work in the junior high school field. The Strayer survey was conducted in the scholastic year 1920-1921, and beginning in January, 1921, no one was appointed a junior high school teacher who did not meet the following requirements. _-First, graduation from a standard normal or training school or from a standard college; second, at least one year of successful teaching experience ; third, an examination covering the following: a. General professional subjects—educational psychology, history of education, and theory of teaching. b. Subjectmatter in iiwo departments to be selected by the candidate. Certifi- cates for at least two college courses in subjectmatter for each of the two subjects are accepted in place of this part of the examination. i ig c. General theory of the junior high school, and special methods in teaching the two selected subjects in the junior high school. Under certain conditions, certifi- cates for college courses in these subjects are accepted in place of this part of the examination... Up to 1921 there was no provision in Baltimore for candidates to secure the special training called for in the above mentioned requirements. Fortunately the Johns Hopkins University agreed to cooperate in every 262 NationaL EpucATION ASSOCIATION possible manner by providing the necessary courses both in the winter and ‘a the summer sessions, the former being held in the afternoons or Satur- davs so as to be available for the teachers of the city. These courses have been offered regularly since that time and in this way Baltimore has been able to secure for the junior high schools teachers with the special training desired for the purpose. Curricula and courses of study—The Strayer survey pointed out the necessity for the preparation of curricula and courses of study for the secondary schools of the city. Accordingly, early in 1921, the revision of curricula was undertaken by committees of principals of the schools con- cerned. At the same time committees of teachers were appointed to pre- pare courses of study in the several subjects. For each subject there was a junior high school committee, and a senior high school committee. ‘These subject committees worked rapidly and prepared tentative courses of study which were mimeographed and put into effect in September, 1921. Cur- riculum experts from other parts of the country were asked to cooperate. They reviewed the courses of study which had been revised, and offered many suggestions looking toward improvements. ‘They also held confer- ences with the committees. The courses were again revised in the light of the suggestions received and were prepared for printing. “The first ones came from the press in 1924, and since that time there has been published a course of study in nearly every subject offered in the senior and junior high schools. Supervision—The question of supervision in the junior high schools pre- sents problems of organization. There is the possibility of providing city- wide subject supervisors for all the schools, or of appointing heads of de- partments in the separate schools. In Baltimore we have adopted the former plan, and there has been appointed for the usual academic subjects supervisors for all the junior high schools. ‘The advantage of this pro- cedure is the possibility of securing a considerable amount of standardiza- tion for all the schools, and this was particularly desirable in the local situa- tion with which we were confronted. One of the features of supervisory work in the junior high schools has been provision for holding demonstra- . tion lessons followed by a discussion along professional lines. The lesson is given by a teacher who volunteers for the purpose, and plans are care- fully made with the help of the subject supervisor. The lesson is given to a regular class under normal conditions during the last period of the school day. All of the teachers of this subject in all of the junior high schools of the city are present, and after the lesson is finished and the class dismissed, a critique follows under the leadership of the supervisor. ‘The effect of these professional exercises in improving classroom instruction has been very great. _Articulation—One of the major problems in the administration of junior Me cs articulation with the elementary schools and als the se igh schools above. THE NationaL Councit oF EDUCATION 263 eee eee oh eee ee ee ees OMe eee S| eas In Baltimore for the past six years we have had regularly each month a conference of principals of the senior and junior high schools, together with the junior high school supervisors, under the leadership of the as- sistant superintendent in charge of secondary education. Each conference lasts for two hours, and usually about three-fourths of the time is occupied in a professional discussion of studies presented by the several principals and supervisors. Each topic considered is of a practical nature, and the members of the conference have uniformly declared that great benefit has been derived from the meetings. Closer articulation between the junior and senior high schools is being secured by a follow-up of all junior high school pupils in the tenth grade of the senior high school at the end of the first quarter in English, French, Latin, bookkeeping, and typewriting. The same procedure was followed with these two groups of schools as was adopted in the case of the ele- mentary and junior high schools. The results, showing city-wide distri- bution of failures by subjects as well as by junior high schools, were given to junior high school supervisors for study and inquiry. A series of city-wide survey tests were given at the end of the term to the 9B, 9A, 10B, and 10A classes in junior and senior high schools in English, French, Latin, mathematics, bookeeping, and typewriting. ‘The results will be tabulated for city-wide study by grades and by subjects, for the individual ‘school study, and for a departmental study within a school. Moreover, since 9B and 9A classes are to be found in both junior and senior high schools, a comparison of teaching results will be made possible. Remedial work and retesting will follow the study. On the other hand, it is expected that this study will lead to revision and recom- mendations dealing with the courses of study and textbooks. Mention has already been made of the demonstrtaion lessons and critiques in the junior high schools to which senior high school principals, heads of departments, and teachers are invited. Moreover, demonstration lessons are planned to be given in the senior high schools by senior high school teachers, and to these junior high school teachers will be invited. INTEGRATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS H. B. WILSON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BERKELEY, CALIF. All agree that the business of public education is to train for successful living. Despite this object the schools continue to teach in terms of sub- jects and without much regard to the relationships existing between those subjects. Reading, writing, arithmetic, spelling, geography, history, science, and the like are organized so that each has its own interrelationships, but the teaching is not so planned that all of these subjects focus, each in its own way, in the solution of life problems. The above description characterizes 95 percent of the teaching that takes place today. 264 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION A newer way of organizing subjectmatter is gradually establishing itself. The newer approach concerns itself with solving problems growing out of life situations and life needs. In these situations the children undertake to do things which are to them just as important and meaningful as are the things that grownups do. In their efforts to do they find problems, questions, difficulties which they must master before they can make prog- ress. They find also that these questions, problems, and difficulties do not arise in such way that some may be answered with arithmetic, others with geography, others with language, and the like. Rather the difficulties require a composite, unified, integrated knowledge from a number of sub- ject fields. It is generally agreed that what one learns is a little more certain to recur for use in a situation similar to that in which it was learned. Since it is the utility of what we learn that is important, large reason exists for basing learning upon situations in child life similar to those which are apt to arise in the world of practical affairs when these same children have become mature. Such an approach not only integrates that usable, func- tional elements in the various subjects, but it likewise integrates the pupils into a social working group. Large progress may be expected in the years immediately ahead in the organization of subjectmatter in more synthetic ways than now obtain. Corresponding progress may be expected also in the procedures in teaching. Improved organization of subjectmatter and improved ways of teaching must go hand in hand if the largest integrating results are to be achieved with certainty and economy. PROGRESS IN SCHOOL HEALTH WORK THOMAS D. WOOD, PROFESSOR OF HEALTH EDUCATION, COLUMBIA UNI- VERSITY, NEW YORK CITY, CHAIRMAN, JOINT COMMITTEE ON HEALTH PROBLEMS IN EDUCATION OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION AND THE AMERICAN MEDICAL ASSOCIATION A brief statement is made at this time of the continuing work of the Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education of the National Edu- cation Association and the American Medical Association. ‘This joint committee has been in existence now for sixteen years, and during that time nine reports and a set of fifty-eight charts have been prepared, printed, and distributed widely over this country, and in a number of foreign countries. During the history of the committee, over a million copies of various reports and over sixty thousand copies of the individual wall charts have been distributed. The following reports have been prepared and dis- tributed: (1) Minimum Health Requirements for Rural Schools, (2) Health Essentials for Rural School Children, (3) Health Chart Report, (4) The Teacher’s Part in Social Hygiene, (5) Health Improvement in Rural Schools, (6) Health Service in City Schools, (7) Health Educa- THE NatTIOoNAL CouNncIL oF EpUCATION 265 IE ei tion, (8) Conserving the Sight of School Children, and (9) Ventilation of School Buildings. This committee, in the preparation and distribution of the health reports and health charts, has had at various times the exceed- ingly valuable and substantial cooperation of such organizations as the Elizabeth McCormick Memorial Fund of Chicago; the National Com- mittee for the Prevention of Blindness; the American Social Hygiene As- sociation; and the United States Bureau of Education in Washington. The most extensive report of the committee, entitled “Health Educa- tion—A Program for Public Schools and Teacher Training Institutions,” is at the present time, according to the testimony of many prominent leaders in the health field, the most authoritative document in health educa- tion which has yet been published and distributed in this country, and perhaps in any country. The joint committee now has in preparation several important reports— one on “Provisions for Deafened School Children”; another on “Conserva- tion of Teeth of School Children’; and a third on “Periodic Health Examinations of Children in School.” A very significant forward movement in this field of school health study and work is the program of extensive study which has been undertaken by the American Child Health Association, under the leadership and con- stant encouragement of Herbert Hoover, the President of the Association. The American Child Health Association has devoted much attention in the past to the advancement of constructive health work in the schools. The most constructive service which it can render at this time is believed to be in the conduct of a study of national scope in which the attempt will be made to measure the result of health activities in terms of the physical status, knowledge, and habits of pupils. The plan of the study is to apply the principles of educational measure- ment to health work. It is through the correlation of health promoting processes with the health status and condition of the pupils that light is expected to be shed on the most successful elements in the school health program. Guiding this plan are experts in the field of public health, nursing, den- tistry, and education. Among the latter are those specializing in the fields. of measurement, nutrition, physical education and health education. ‘The field staff in this study will consist of groups of technicians, including in each case a physician, a nurse, a health educator, and a dental hygienist. It is expected that from one to two weeks will be spent in each city. The cooperation of school administrators is essential if this work is to be carried to success. School superintendents wishing to participate in this study are urged to communicate directly with the American Child Health Association, 370 Seventh Avenue, New York City. The selection of cities to be included in the investigation will be made during the spring months. 266 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION i ame ip Nake eae a AN AMERICAN PROGRAM OF EDUCATION GEORGE D. STRAYER, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY The most fundamental American ideal is that which proposes equality of opportunity. We propose as an American program of education the provision of opportunities through education which will enable each in- dividual to achieve his highest development in order that he may serve most adequately the society of which he is a member. How far short we fall of the realization of this ideal is indicated by the variation which exists in the educational opportunity provided within the several states and among the several units which compose the nation. There are communities in every state which have developed school systems provid- ing a wealth of specialized opportunity for boys and girls, for the youth, and for adults. In practically every state will be found, in contrast to this wealth of opportunity, the meager chance provided for boys and girls who must attend a poorly equipped and poorly taught elementary school, and for whom there is little or no opportunity beyond that provided by the one- teacher school. We still permit half-educated boys and girls to teach in our American schools. We still offer education by means of reciting from textbooks and without the opportunity in library, laboratory, or shop for contacts which will stimulate thinking and encourage investigation. That we have failed to achieve our ideal is not due primarily to our lack of resources. The people of the United States are today able to provide opportunities for education suited to the needs of each individual, if only certain standards are accepted and certain principles of support and administration are written into the laws of the several states. In the discussion which follows I shall try to indicate how the achieve- ment of the American ideal can be brought about. In order to make the case, I shall propose concretely the type of standard to be accepted or pro- vision to be enacted in order that the desired result may be attained. In the first place, our American program of education is dependent upon the provision of teachers who are prepared for their work by a generous liberal education and by a sound professional training. We are coming to understand that teachers in all parts of our school system must have the background in education and in professional training which we have hitherto required of those who have taught in our upper schools. In our more enlightened communities we are today providing that the salary paid shall not be dependent upon the age of the children instructed, but rather upon the preparation of the teachers and the quality of the work done. We are beginning to accept as our standard of training a minimum of three years beyond graduation from a standard high school. It seems reasonable to propose that within the next generation we shall place preparation for teaching upon a basis comparable to that required for the other learned professions. Tuer NationaL Councit oF EDUCATION 267 an I ak el se a In order that competent men and women may enter the teaching pro- fession, it is essential that after a probationary period, during which they demonstrate their acceptability for the service, teachers enjoy tenure during continued efficiency. It is equally important that those who work in this branch of the public service have provision made for their retirement on allowance based upon sound actuarial procedure, and involving contribu- tions by teachers as well as by the public. Such pension systems must— if they are to be effective—be established on a statewide basis. Professional teachers and their leaders in the field of supervision and administration have an obligation to develop curricula and courses of study adapted to the needs of individuals who differ in physical condition, in intellectual ability, in emotional stability, and in vocational interest and outlook. The traditional American school program from elementary school through high school, college, and university has been adapted to the needs of the upper twenty-five percent of the children enrolled in our schools. By providing this common curriculum we have proposed that we have equalized educational opportunity. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The variations which have been made by reducing the quantities of work to be done in reading, writing, and arithmetic, geography and history do not offer a satisfactory solution. Our courses of study and our curricula must be modified to take account of the variation existing among individuals, to profit by their experience in the fine and industrial arts as certainly as in the mastery of the tools of investigation and inquiry. It is strange to hear members of our profession speaking of the funda- mentals in terms of the minimum requirement in the tool subjects. Surely variations in ability to appreciate music and poetry, paintings and sculpture, the problems of home-making and of industry are quite as important as are differences in the ease and speed with which one may learn to read, to cipher, or to master the facts of history and geography. An American program of education will be realized when all who work in our schools—whether in the nursery school, kindergarten, elemen- tary school, junior high school, senior high school, vocational school, con- tinuation school, night school, opportunity school, college, university, or professional school—are so placed in groups or taught as individuals as to provide for their regular progress and for the achievement of results within their reach. We have sinned against hundreds of thousands of boys and girls by teaching them that they are failures. Education is for success. The only measure which may be reasonably applied to the work of any individual is that which asks that he do the best that he can. In .an American school, failure and repetition should be considered abnormal. Success in achieving the best that he can do should always be rewarded by an opportunity to take the next step in the direction of one’s highest attainment. , f If our schools are to accomplish these desired results, we shall have to provide for much more adequate educational and vocational guidance than now is afforded to most of those enrolled in American schools. We 268 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION are fortunate in having developed during the past few years methods of diagnosing the difficulties of children in learning, methods of measuring their intelligence, and in some degree methods of forecasting the fields in which they can most certainly hope for success. An American school system is under the obligation of continuing to develop this scientific attack upon the most vital problem of organized education. With all of the knowledge that we can obtain concerning the abilities and possible voca- tional outlook of individual boys and girls, there will be emphasized the necessity for special classes and for special opportunities for the mentally weak, for the physically handicapped, and for the delinquent, along with special opportunities for those who are intellectually gifted. Opportunities for general culture, for vocational training, for the cultiva- tion of special talents and for the removal of recognized deficiencies must be provided for those others who are engaged in productive activities, and for adults. Psychologists have discovered that the period of learning is not limited to childhood. It is of the utmost importance that through part-time and continuation schools, by extension courses and night schools, opportunities be provided for anyone who seeks to enlarge his command of his social inheritance or to develop skill which shall contribute to his personal satisfaction and to community welfare. We may confidently look forward to the day when some sort of organized education will be pro- vided for all boys and girls under eighteen years of age, and a wealth of opportunity will be made available for all adults. The achievement of this ideal in education is dependent in large measure upon the administrative and supervisory control offered locally. We have denied to millions of our population any adequate development of their public school system by permitting the continuance of the inefficient, small local units of administration. We may not hope to develop school sys- tems which provide an American standard of education except as the local unit is made large enough to justify the employment of men and women with special training in educational administration and in the supervision of instruction. Outside of the urban areas this unit must be larger than the school district or township. In a number of our states the county has proved a most satisfactory unit for the administration of schools. The professional administration of education, involving as it does the adaptation of the school system to the needs of the community, requires that all administrative officers be chosen on the basis of their professional qualifications and their attainments. We may not hope to have this de- sired result so long as we choose by popular vote state and county superin- tendents of schools. We have the example of the city school system and the selection of the professionally competent administrator by the lay board of education. ‘This practice must be extended to the county and to the state if the professional administration of schools is to be guaranteed. It is important, as well, that we should disassociate the lay boards of education from political associations. State, county, and city boards of education should be elected on non-partisan ballots and chosen at large THe Nationat Councit or EDUCATION 269 from the area which the board is to serve. In order to provide for con- tinuity in the development of our program of education, the members of these lay boards must serve for relatively long terms, and the term of office of members be so arranged as to make it impossible to select a ma- jority of the board at any one election. ‘Those communities throughout the United States who have followed this principle have, on the whole, been most successful in the development of an adequate school system. The distinction between lay control of public education and the profes- sional administration of our schools must be acknowledged in law and in the rules of boards of education. We may not hope to advance an adequate program of education so long as political or personal considerations enter into the selection of personnel or the determination of educational policy. Our program will be best advanced when the appointment of teachers and of all other employees of the school system is by law based upon nominations by the superintendent of schools. It is vital to the development of the school system that courses of study and curricula, the adoption of textbooks and the provision for educational supplies be proposed by the superintendent of schools in cooperation with members of the supervisory and teaching staff. We would propose that the lay board of education pass in review the recommendations of the pro- fessional group, but that they be not permitted to initiate the program to be carried out. In like manner, the annual budget for the financing of the schools should be prepared by the superintendent of schools and his associates, showing unit costs for each item of the educational program, and should be passed upon by the board of education in terms of their understanding of the desires of the community with respect to the continuation of each element of the program, rather than in terms of increasing or decreasing the tax rate. Recommendations for buildings and equipment, based upon an evaluation of the present plant, a forecast of future needs—particularly with reference to a developing program of education—should be presented to the board of education by the superintendent of schools after consulta- tion with the members of the professional staff. Administrative officers should be required to report on the achievements of the schools over which they preside, and their reports—based upon scientific inquiry—should be the only bases upon which they ask for further support for the program which they have proposed. An equalization of educational opportunity is dependent upon a system of financing schools upon a state-wide basis. It is a prime duty of each state to guarantee to each individual within its borders a satisfactory minimum program of education. ‘This can be done only when the state adopts a method of support which will involve the state as a whole in providing a large percentage of the funds necessary to maintain the school It is essential that the state equalize the burden of supporting system. j arb the several areas for taxation and for the administra- the program among 270 NATIONAL EpucatTion ASSOCIATION aa Ea NE ge tion of schools. We need to rid ourselves of the idea involved in the expression “‘state aid’? and accept the more fundamental notion of state support. If we are to be assured that an adequate program of education is pro- vided for all of the people within a state, we shall have to recognize the obligation to provide for a state department of education, equipped to certify as to the adequacy of all local programs of education in meeting state standards. The popular cry against centralization of control is not a sufficient argument against the development of very much more adequately supported and staffed departments of education than now commonly exist throughout the Union. It is only as we have organized in the state de- partment a group of professional workers who will, through research, through experimentation, and. through personal leadership, provide for the further development of education throughout the state, that we may pro- pose that we are seeking to equalize educational opportunities. Indeed, it is only as the state department encourages local communities to provide more adequate programs of education than the state can require that we may hope to have the state’s minimum acceptable program advanced to meet the needs of the changing social and economic conditions. An American program of education based upon the best that can be done locally under the supervision of the state department of education will be incomplete without the encouragement and assistance of the federal government. From our earliest history down to the present time, the federal government has accepted responsibility for the support of public education and for the conducting of inquiries and the dissemination of information concerning the public schools. By virtue of the development of the science of education during the past 25 years, the nation today has the possibility of enlarging the scope of its scientific inquiry with respect to education, and certainly we are able to increase the support afforded this undertaking. It has long been argued by the profession that this most important function of the national government is in line with the activities carried on by the other welfare departments of our national government. Certainly a nation that is organized to promote agriculture and commerce through departments of the national government may not safely neglect its responsibilities for promoting public education. The placing of a bureau of education in the department of the interior, under a secretary whose primary obligation is the development and conservation of our nat- ural resources, and who may not consider education except as one of the many interests for which he must accept responsibility, is to deny to this most important function of government in a democracy its proper place or proper support by the national government. We confidently believe that the federal government can best carry on the work of scientific inquiry and the dissemination of information accruing therefrom, that the significance of education in our national life can be best presented to those responsible for the development of our country through legislation by the establishment of a department of education with a secretary in the President’s cabinet. We look forward confidently to the THE Nationa Councit or Epucation _. 271 Ss pe aa eae day when the American ideal of an opportunity through education, which will enable each individual to achieve his highest development in order that he may serve most adequately the society of which he is a member, will be realized throughout the nation. To the accomplishment of this result our profession is pledged. PROGRESS IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL MRS. SUSAN M. DORSEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS LOS ANGELES, CALIF. The progress has been in the direction of a better adaptation of in- struction to the needs of a 20th century civilization. It has developed chiefly through a modification of the materials and technic of the course of study involving new activities of a social character in the schools. In the time allotted to me, I desire to point out how rapid and funda- mental the change in the general character of the course of study has been and to call attention to the fact that this change has been chiefly in the direction of educating youth to live happily and successfully in the social world, to adjust themselves to an environment of people, and to develop the ability to make contributions to the improvement of that environment. The statement of a few years ago, setting forth seven principles or objectives in education, has served a double purpose. It has enunciated the educational belief or creed of a democracy, but, more than that, it has indicated the direction in which education as a practice should proceed; and this direction is entirely away from the individualistic and selfish; it. is wholly in the direction of education for a social world. The progress in the last few years has been noticeably along two lines: First, there has been introduced a regimen for helping the individual child to realize his full self, not for himself, but for society; and secondly, there has been frankly undertaken the training of the group in social living while still in school and through school activities. To illustrate the first of these points, that the schools have honestly undertaken to make it possible for every child to realize his completest self, it is only necessary to refer to the wide variety of remedial instruc- tion designed to remove handicaps of physique and personality. I refer, of course, to the introduction of all such training as pertains to the correc- tion of physical defects, the overcoming of malnutrition, the elimination of incipient disease, the correction of speech defects, also all that educa- tional movement in the direction of relieving the intellectual handicap of the subnormal child. ‘The argument for this remedial program may start, I grant you, with appeals in behalf of the individual who is handicapped ; it always ends, however, with justification on the ground that the remedial efforts must be made in the interests of society, so that society may be relieved of so much dead weight and, if possible, enjoy instead helpful contributions from those who, without remedial or preventive training, would prove only burdens. 272 NaTtTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION __—}$ $e m —- I said a moment ago that progress has been chiefly in the direction of educating the child to realize his full self for society’s sake and that to that end a regimen has developed rapidly for the actual training of the group for social living. while still in school. I, of course, refer here to the marked tendency in the modern school to place upon the young the responsibility for the orderly direction and control of their own school activities and life, to the disposition to take the young into the school partnership, as responsible along with teachers and principals for the suc- cess of the educational undertaking. This tendency, which is in fact no longer a tendency, but a realized state, is illustrated in selfgovernment, now very generally operative in the schools, and in the many enterprises entrusted to children to carry out in and for the schools. The effort of the schools to adapt instruction to the needs of a social world has brought about these and other marked changes in the school activities and subjectmatter; quite as noticeable have been the changes in classroom procedure and technic, made necessary because of the new subject- matter and new adaptations. “The effort to do the best for every child, in order that no individual may be lost to the social group, is illustrated in a very general reclassification of children in a single school or room. Perhaps progress is nowhere more evident than in the new procedure by which children of the same general ability or intelligence are grouped together for instructional purposes, thereby making it possible for fewer children to fall by the way, and greatly facilitating the progress of those who can move on more rapidly. The very general introduction of intelligence and standard educational tests, which more accurately measure the capabilities and accomplishments of children, have greatly facilitated this newer grouping, as has the use of the counselor service to aid the over-busy principal in determining upon a desirable classification in a given room and to follow up children who show especial difficulties, and to help in adjusting the home attitude so that it becomes cooperative, instead of indifferent or antagonistic. To sum it all up, recent progress in elementary education has been in the direction of helping the child to realize himself as a social factor and of conducting the school activities and experience so that they shall become a daily practice in social living. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN ELEMENTARY TEACHER TRAINING WORK DURING THE PAST YEAR HOMER H. SEERLEY, PRESIDENT, IOWA STATE TEACHERS COLLEGE CEDAR FALLS, IOWA I. The encouraging and commendable aspects—There has been no lost ground in the work of elementary teacher training to be charged to the endeavor account of the fiscal year, 1926-1927. There is much evidence to show that the progress in staff development, in the faculties of the state normal schools and the state teachers colleges, under the strong and Tue Nationat Councit or EpucaTion 273 determined inspiration and guidance of the American Association of Teach- ers Colleges, at present a real functioning department of the National Education Association of the United States, has been constant in its de- velopment from year to year. This complimentary result has come from the unifying of the interests of the different states so that they are rapidly conforming to certain superior ranks of education and training that have been adopted and commended by the committees reporting from year to year on all these important matters of common educational interest. In . another way there has been gradually increasing the kind of reciprocity between state licensing authorities that well educated and well prepared graduates from these state training schools are welcomed in most other states, thus broadening the opportunity for elementary teachers to transfer from state to state without interference or delay. The decision of the American Association of Teachers Colleges to assume the responsibility of accrediting and standardizing and classifying the several state normal schools and state teachers colleges of the several states instead of allowing some other voluntary accrediting organization of higher education to do this work, has given a recognition to teaching as a business and to teaching as a profession that is deserving of special mention as showing actual and permanent progress. Il. The non-progressive and the retarding aspects—The certification of teachers—One of the hindrances to true progress in public education is the very common statutory plan of licensing teachers by the examining system where laws are adopted that fix for all time characteristics of re- quired scholarship as it permits a variety of grades of licenses from a minimum to a maximum with no intention of ever having such license expire or compel improvement. “The number of teachers permanently licensed by this method of management is usually the majority of those authorized in a state, and since teachers of such minimums are obtainable at the least possible salaries, the less ambitious school districts employ them, leaving the better qualified and the better trained in the surplus of the unemployed. The examining system, which has the effect of furnishing an over supply of teachers who have the least preparation, and the employ- ment system that is legally authorized, working together, gives the im- pression abroad that much attendance upon a school or college for prepara- tion is unnecessary and uneconomical for persons intending to be instruc- tors of children and youth. The school district system—In most American communities the manage- ment of public schools is in the hands of a school board or school committee that is appointed at a popular election and that has a supreme authority as to all the chief problems of the public schools. ‘This legal status can put a veto upon almost all the general laws of the state system, upon the value and the efficiency and the results of supervision, and as a consequence dis- courages superior teaching and true educational progress. All such results are dependent upon the standards common among the people, and while they can be superior and may be progressive, yet under favorable circum- stances even they are much more likely to be so conservative and so lacking 274 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION eee eee in ambition for the best intellectual development that they ged! con- tribute to inefficiency and incompetency. The status of the occupation—Public school teaching has always been and must continue to be uncertain as a permanent business for an in- dividual worker. There can be no permanent tenure in general and there ought not to be any life employment where there is a necessity for a continued adjustment of demands and of services. “This does not give a desirable situation so far as the teachers themselves are concerned, as annual elections are always occurring and there is constant liability to be - discharged without hearing or explanation. ‘This causes a disposition to seek better salary and hoped for better security as well as better prominence and more authority by being candidates for service in another location. In this struggle for prestige and promotion and better conditions the less qualified teachers are subject to being released without opportunity to go elsewhere, and the loss of experience to the staff is a constantly discourag- ing factor. The recruiting of the profession of teaching is a wasteful system, as those in preparation must depend upon obtaining service by the process of elimination of those now in the public service. Conclusion—All this discussion cannot lead to a remedial suggestion for either the people or the teachers. “The American principles of government are the causes of these untoward situations, and yet, if the authority of the people was reduced, the interest of the people would be likely to decline. Even taxation has its benefits to keep up the esprit de corps of a com- munity since when it is compelled to contribute money to the education of its children it is much more certain to insist that its schools should give value received in service and in investment. III. Other undertakings in elementary teachers in service training— The final act of the states and the teacher training institutions is that of organizing work under an extension system for the benefit and improve- ment of teachers in service. This is a substitute for the condition of training that should have been had before the teacher was a candidate for employment. It is in no sense an equivalent in either efficiency or sub- stantialness, but it is very helpful in enabling a large number of teachers in service to be very decidedly improved and developed. ‘This system has been created for the purpose of bettering the conditions that legally exist and is shown in short assemblies as teachers institutes, teacher associations, parent-teachers organizations and general and special study clubs. The plans of the several states differ in the manner of management and each has its strength and weakness, all depending upon the recognition given these teachers in such limited training. ‘The most effective plan has de- veloped in state teachers colleges where there can be combined standard courses of study, extension summer schools, correspondence instruction and multiplied types of work that give credit that is permanent and transfer- able. Such a system becomes much extended where there is a faculty of extension professors, superior in qualifications, who organize classes in cities and towns and even the country for stated work at hours not in- THE Nationat Councit or EpucaTIon 275 ae ir aha ans cluded on the day’s regular schedule of the. teacher’s time under contract, hold special conferences for certain special lines of work and give advice of an expert kind to all concerned. There has come from this experience what is known as Saturday classes for entire counties and cities, and many phases of consultative service where experts visit, inspect, and study the schools in session and meet in con- ference the teachers for discussion of ways and means of improvement in all kinds of directions and methods of better instruction. The improve- ment of the army of elementary teachers in the United States, whose authority comes from laws and contracts under the supervision of inde- pendent units of management, is an undertaking that is worth a large in- vestment of money, time and effort, as thereby both scholarship and effi- ciency can be gradually exacted and accomplished since school authorities also learn that it is exceedingly wiser to employ only the competent, trained teacher in the turnover of new members of the staff that must be made from year to year. WHAT IS EXPECTED OF THE MODERN TEACHER HARRY CHARLESWORTH, SECRETARY, BRITISH COLUMBIA TEACHERS’ FED- ERATION, AND VICEPRESIDENT, WORLD FEDERATION OF EDUCATION ASSOCIATIONS, VANCOUVER, B. C. Not many years ago the function of the school was easily expressed, well understood and generally accepted as being “to impart knowledge to all of its pupils.” This knowledge was carefully divided according to the several grades, and a somewhat detailed syllabus was laid down giving the limits for the various years. “The courses dealt almost entirely with what were termed the “fundamentals.” All students were treated alike— with regard for their intellectual capacity—and a rigid and somewhat stereotyped written examination was the only means of separating the successes from the failures. The scholar was made to fit the school. The school was regarded as a kind of “cloistered institution” through which all must pass before they could enter the outside world, with which the school had little connection. The teacher’s duty was very manifest. His was the task of seeing that all those committed to his charge “‘knew’’ the several subjects, the proof being revealed by the examination. He was supposed to maintain dis- cipline and exact good behavior by exercising his superior authority, the underlying idea being largely that by virtue of the very evident conse- quences involved in any departure from such good behavior the pupil would grow up to be good, not for its own sake, but for fear of the penalties of being anything else. The teacher’s work began and ended with the classroom. He had nothing in common with the adult members of the general community except that he had during certain hours the charge of their offspring. ; : ‘ What is the position today? ‘The change is so startling that it may 276 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION well be considered revolutionary. For instance, Dewey says, “All that society has accomplished for itself is put, through the agency of the school, at the disposal of its future members, All its better thoughts of itself, its hopes to realize through the new possibilities thus opened to its future self.” Here the school is expected to assume the function of being the “safeguard of the progress of society.” Again, your own National Education Association has, after a most thorough and searching investigation, resolved that the fundamental objec- tives of the school should be to bring about: i Sound health. Worthy home membership. Mastery of the tools and technics of learning. . Faithful citizenship. . Vocational. effectiveness. . Wise use of leisure. . Ethical character. These may well be taken as giving a very accurate summary of what is expected of our schools today. It should be noted that only in the mastery of the tools and technics of learning do we find common ground with the program of former days. It is also very evident that many of the pre- viously accepted responsibilities of the home and of the church have no- where transferred to the school. ‘The introduction and development of organized industry has removed the opportunity for each observation .and practice in the various vocations and this deficiency has now to be made good by the schools. Hence the school can no longer remain isolated from community life. It becomes, instead, the real, vital center of such life and definite connections must be made between school activities and those of the community. The teacher has an entirely new relationship. He must now accept tremendous responsibilities and must regard as his chief duty the development and the training of boys and girls, of future citizens, and must regard the mere importing of knowledge as of secondary im- portance. He must become a guide, philosopher and friend rather than a “superior person of authority.” He must have vision. He must look beyond the immediate needs of his pupils, and must seek to give each one the fullest opportunity for realization of his or her best possibilities. He must realize that each of his scholars has a distinct personality which must not be destroyed. He must be allowed to develop under his guidance. He cannot fulfill his mission by ‘‘class’” instruction, but must know the capacity and study the needs of every individual pupil. ’ To meet this new conception of the schools many radical changes have been made. ‘Teaching has changed in character and has become much more scientific. “The mental equipment of the pupils is now determined and they are graded with much greater accuracy than formerly. The intellectual achievement is also obtained by examinations of a much more reliable type than those of previous days. The old form disciplinary theory has been abandoned, and many of the mental gymnastics of the past have been relegated to the educational scrap heap. THE NationaL Councit oF EpucATION 277 The curriculum has been enlarged and enriched in content, and the various subjects have been vitalized and motivated. Much sees ma- terial has been deleted, and an attempt has been made to relate the various subjects to actual life and to the practices of the outside world. As was expressed recently in an editorial in the Journal of Education, “The old curriculum was made for adults—it was static and eptianeines it finished the child’s education and called for a mastery of facts. The new curricu- lum is made for children; it continues to grow; it begins the child’s educa- tion and calls for mastery of life.” New methods of teaching have followed. The “recitation,” the “pro- ject,” and such like developments have all answered from the necessity of facing new conditions, conditions brought about by the development of industry and commerce, and by our changing modes of life. The under- lying aim has been to bring about the growth of the child from the in- side by stimulating the inborn desire to question and to discover by actual experience. ‘The pupils have been allowed to exercise their initiative and to experiment. “The fundamental question is now not what they learn but how they learn. Discipline is not now of the militaristic type—superim- posed and obeyed without question or understanding—but is rather -a self- imposed regulation and restraint, an obedience founded on a much higher plane. Such discipline prepares pupils to make important choices and decisions for themselves, and consequently develops a high degree of self- confidence which is of iheseimable advantage in later life. Many schools have indeed selfgovernment by the pupils, a most useful and practical preparation for the duties of citizenship which will come in later years. Our training of teachers has necessarily undergone many changes in harmony with the advances made in educational theory and practice. We have greater academic preparation, a higher degree of scholarship, and a longer and more thorough period of training. Teachers of experience whose courses in normal training schools were taken many years ago have taken advantage of the summer schools now attached to almost all institu- tions of higher learning and have kept themselves abreast of the times. But there are some things of very great importance which, in my opinion, still remain to be done before we can be satisfied that we have made all the adjustments necessary to meet the changed conceptions and conditions which have come upon us. I would like to point out a few of these. The community has given over to the schools very great and important additional duties and responsibilities as we have seen, and is in consequence demanding a tremendously increased contribution from the teachers. What is the community doing itself to meet the new situations it has created? Is it voting enough extra money to pay for what it has ordered? Is it prepared to give sufficient remuneration to provide for the much higher type of teacher it now requires. Such objectives as worthy home membership, faithful citizenship, wise use of leisure, and ethical character, cannot be attained through young, poorly-trained, oie teachers, 278 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Ce SS ee And yet, in many countries, we still send our youngest teachers, without any practical experience, into the rural communities, singlehandedly to teach these as well as the other subjects of the curriculum. In another field the teacher’s position needs classifying. As we have seen, modern education has resolved itself into a search for knowledge and truth largely by the pupils themselves under the guidance of the teacher. Now, truth is truth, and a scientific inquiry after it cannot be satisfied by any distortion designed to prevent the real facts from coming to light. Yet many of our propagandists would have our teaching so modified as not to conflict with what they would pretend to believe to be true, but know to be partly, if not wholly, false. The day must come when our pupils will be encouraged to gather all information from all sides con- cerning any topic under discussion, and by a careful weighing of the evi- dence, by acceptance of those which are proved and a rejection of those not based on fact will come to a well-considered and logical conclusion. Perhaps, however, the most important issue coming out of our modern educational advancement lies in the field of organization. Under the old system organization was not difficult. Centralization was effective and efficient. Courses could be laid down in such great detail that the teach- ers’ work became autocratic and machine-like. They simply taught accord- ing to regulations from a higher authority and little knowledge was re- quired. The task of the present is to develop such a type of organization as will allow opportunities for every teacher to use the professional resources which, by training and practice, he has at his command, and will make it possible for his successes to become a contribution to the general efficiency of the system by making his methods known to those not so skilful, while he in turn will be helped to overcome his difficulties by learning of those who have succeeded where he has failed. Lastly, I believe that the teaching profession has made remarkable strides during the last few years and has now come to the point when it should establish itself alongside the other professions. It is easy to say and believe that teaching is the greatest of all professions, but at such times we are clearly only thinking of certain aspects of teaching more or less of a missionary character. ‘There is not any reason why we cannot extend the application of the statement to the more practical and social aspects. This can be done, but, in my opinion, only in one way. That way is by the development of a professional consciousness right along the line. When we realize that all who are engaged in education of any character, whether it be in the university, normal schools, administrative systems, high schools, or common schools, are all serving under the same banner, and are engaged in a common crusade, and when we are prepared shoulder to shoulder to resist any attempts made to hinder the progress of the great work com- mitted to our charge, then, and not till then, will education assume its rightful place in our lands. Tue Nationat Councit oF EDUCATION 279 ea a ee ee 4 REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN THE HIGH SCHOOLS DURING THE PAST YEAR J. T. GILES, STATE HIGH SCHOOL SUPERVISOR, MADISON, WIS. It is impossible to record adequately the progress of secondary educa- tion during the past year. More energy is being expended and in a more highly organized fashion for the betterment of our high schools today than ever before. ‘The phenomenal increase in enrolment of ten percent per ~ year which has obtained for the last decade has apparently continued dur- ing the school year 1926-27. New buildings, many of them fine examples of modern architecture, arise to replace the antiquated, unsanitary, and inadequate structures which formerly served our needs. Improved equip- ment for instruction purposes is replacing the primitive type of former days. A veritable flood of new and better textbooks in all the high school subjects has come from the press during the past year. Standards have been raised in many states for the qualifications of high school teachers. And, although the mounting expenditures for schools have been attacked in various quarters and the attempts of legislatures to prescribe the cur- riculum have continued, we can report with confidence that the growth of the high school in America has continued unabated during the past year. Probably the most significant educational document produced during the current school year was ‘““The Foundations and Technique of Curricu- lum Construction” published by the National Society for the Study of Education as Part II of the Twenty Sixth Yearbook of that society and prepared by a committee under the direction of Professor Harold Rugg. The remaining members of the committee were Professors Bagley, Bob- bitt, Bonser, Charters, Counts, Courtis, Horn, Judd, Kelley, Kilpatrick, and Works. As indicated by the title, this committee endeavored to find a common basis upon which there could be erected a curriculum for the elementary, secondary, and higher schools of this country. This, of course, is the task of philosophy and the report contains not only those basic principles upon which the twelve members of the committee were able to agree but also personal statements from nine of them giving their own individual views of the direction in which education in a democracy should proceed. It is well known that there exists among our leading professional educators a wide divergence of opinion on some of the basic conceptions underlying our educational practice. The committee was fairly representative of these various viewpoints and a constant effort was made to find points of agree- ment rather than of difference. ‘The resulting statement, while necessa- rily in the nature of a compromise, suggests a basis and a technic for taking the next step in curriculum building. The chairman insists, however, that this is not an educational platform but rather a statement of problems for discussion. For more than two years the committee considered at length the issues involved. And, while each member of the committee expresses his approval of the report, one has 280 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION only to read the individual statements to appreciate how widely divergent are the educational philosophies there represented. How can we proceed to modify or rebuild our high school curriculum intelligently when we are so uncertain concerning its underlying principles? Surely the importance of this report lies first in its clear statement of the problems involved and secondarily in the tentative hypotheses for their solution. Only the more outstanding issues raised by this important report can be mentioned in passing. These include the question of whether the cur- riculum shall be based primarily on the child’s interests and aptitudes or upon adult activities. Shall we seek to adjust the child to society as it now is or shall we leave him free to make his own adjustments when the proper time comes—in other words the problem of indoctrination. One of the most difficult undertakings of the committee was to reach a common understanding as to the meaning of such terms as “project,” “unit of sub- jectmatter,” “true learning,’ etc. Much of the apparent difference of opinion in the committee and therefore in discussions at large was found to be due to the lack of a common vocabulary. Even after these under- standings have been reached, however, there remains a number of funda- mental differences concerning the nature of progress, democracy, civiliza- tion and similar underlying concepts. “The surpassing value of this re- port lies in its clear statement of these basic educational problems. Professor Kilpatrick in his “Statement of Position” in the Yearbook and also in his “Education for a Changing Civilization” presents the view- point of one who differs radically from present practicé in education. He believes that it is impossible to build a curriculum in advance. This is true not only because of the nature of the learning process but also be- cause we live in a rapidly changing society. We cannot educate children for adjustment to present conditions, for these conditions are changing constantly and will continue to shift more rapidly in the future. There- fore the curriculum must be made as we proceed; it cannot be made in advance. “This is an extreme view. ‘The positions of most educators lie somewhere between this radical position and the conservatism of present day practice. How can we proceed with any certainty to rebuild or io modify in any way our high school curriculum until we know how this curriculum is to function in the lives of the pupils? Professor Bode, in his “Modern Edu- cational Theories,” has shown clearly the futility of attempting to build a curriculum by scientific methods until we have a sound underlying philosophy. He points out the weaknesses and deficiencies of various current proposals for curriculum reconstruction. Fallacies are revealed in the at- tempt to formulate the curriculum from specific activities, by job analysis, by sociological determination of objectives in education, and through the project method. The central theme of his book, however, is an argument for a sound educational theory by which we can evaluate the numerous rroposals for determining the content of the curriculum and the corre- sponding methods of instruction. THE NationaL Councit oF EpucaTIon 281 Professor Bode’s book and the committee report in the T'wenty-Sixth Yearbook bring us back to elementary considerations. In what direction is education, or for that matter civilization, moving? How can we re- port progress until our course is charted? The present necessity is for an acceptable theory of education which can only grow out of the fierce con- flict of intellectual controversy. Professor Bobbitt and his students have contributed during the year a volume of “Curriculum Investigations.” Reasserting his belief in the validity of building a curriculum on the basis of the activities of “those persons who come nearest to living life as it ought to be lived,” he attempts to determine at least tentatively what are the fields of human action. ‘This is done by an analysis of periodical literature, newspapers, the encyclopedia, Thorndike’s Teacher's Word Book, and the Literary Digest. Other in- vestigations reported in the volume give the results of analyzing various sources of material and the tabulation of topics tending to reveal the duties and traits of a good citizen, social problems of the labor group, quality of conduct, approved social behavior, shortcomings in the written English of adults, the mathematics used in popular science, play activities of per- sons of different ages, and the placement of poems in the grades. The material which Professor Bobbitt and his students have collected is of unmistakable value to the curriculum maker even though the theory of curriculum construction on which it is based may not be altogether valid. Professor Briggs has been another contributor to high school curricu- lum construction during the year. In his volume entitled “Curriculum Problems’ he too has stated a number of questions which must be answered, some by research and experiment, others by philosophy and educational theory, as we make progress in the remaking of our curricula. These problems include ‘‘What are the desired ends of education?,” “What is the good life?,” ‘““To what extent is it desired that education shall modify the character and actions of future citizens?” as well as such questions as **What is the optimum length of the school day and year?,”’ “Which units of instruction should be required and which elective?,”’ “What degree of mastery is demanded ?” and numerous others of similar type. No answers are suggested to these questions because the author believes that the solu- tions must be arrived at, not by individual opinion, no matter how authori- tative, but by cooperative discussion and research, In addition to the statement and definition of problems, there is also a discussion of “Emo- tionalized Attitudes” and ‘Mores.’ The volume is a distinct contribu- tion to educational theory. From the practical side of curriculum making the two outstanding contributions are the Fifth Yearbook of the Department of Superintendence dealing with the junior high school curriculum and the Report of the Com- mittee on Standards for Use in the Reorganization of Secondary School Curricula of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary schools. Both reports urge that the materials presented are tentative and discussion is invited. 282 NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION ee apne er a It is clear that we have definitely passed the stage where any individual or any group of individuals can issue a “course of study” in any high school subject with any degree of finality or authority as was formerly done by various committees of ten, eight, fifteen, etc. Instead, the various committees reporting in these two volumes have gone back first of all to a search for valid objectives. "The North Central Association report in particular is devoted to a statement of ‘ultimate and immediate objectives— ultimate for the curriculum as a whole and immediate for each individual subject. The chief value of this report seems to lie in its method of ap- proach to the problem of curriculum reconstruction and in the proposed technic for evaluating the materials of instruction. ; The superintendent’s yearbook is partly a historical survey of the de- velopment of the junior high school idea but is chiefly a review of recent research in this field. One hundred nineteen research studies are sum- marized in the book. It is an illustration of the Cooperative Plan of Cur- riculum Revision and the Yearbook is prepared partly by the Research Division of the National Education Association and partly by twelve na- tional junior high school committees. Physical education, the newest comer, is making headway as a recognized subject in the high schcol curriculum. President Coffman, reporting in the American Physical Education Review on selected papers read at the Middle West Convention last year, summarizes as follows: Superstition, rural character of our social life, absence of subjectmatter, in- competent teachers, and tradition have prevented acceptance of physical education into the program of general education. These conditions have changed. Popula- tion is urbanized, faculty attitudes have modified, well trained and competent teachers are available, the general public is demanding more physical education to help meet the problems growing out of urbanization and increased leisure time. A new era in physical education is at hand. Health and physical training are taking their place beside other established subjects in the curriculum. Instead of one play field, one gymnasium, and one swimming pool, there will be many. Instead of a few courses in games or gymnastics there will be many courses in the basic sciences intended to give the student a wholesome conception of the elemental factors underlying human health and happiness. Delay in the complete establishment of such a program reflects upon our ability to make one of the things essential to personal happiness, community welfare and material prosperity a reality. The place of athletics, however, in the educational scheme is uncertain. The outlook is not encouraging. The commercialization of basketball and football in particular has advanced to a point where the school administra- tion is no longer able to control the situation in the interest of educational purpose. ‘The problem presented here is one of control and subordination rather than of elimination. Athletics, properly coordinated, is a legiti- mate and even an essential element in a general educational program. The greatest growth in enrolment and in popularity, apparently, has come in the commercial group of studies. The commercial course is partly vocational and partly exploratory-vocational. Stenography is clearly vo- cational. It must be admitted that time spent in studying this subject by THE NaTIonaL Councit oF EpucATION 283 a a ne eee sate OI a those pupils who do not later hold stenographic positions is very largely wasted. ‘The same is true to a somewhat less degree of the study of book- keeping, depending largely on the selected content of the course. Last year the writer carried on an investigation in Wisconsin high schools, the results of which have been confirmed by other studies, to learn what percent of the graduates of commercial courses for a period of five years were holding positions requiring a knowledge of bookkeeping and of shorthand. ‘The following conditions were revealed by the reports of 108 schools and 4918 graduates: About one-fourth (23 percent) of all the graduates are reported as holding positions requiring a knowledge of bookkeeping. In the smaller schools the per- centage is less (10 percent) and is the same for boys and girls. In the largest schools it is 30 percent for girls and 44 percent for boys. About one-third (32 percent) of all the graduates hold positions requiring a knowledge of stenography. In the small schools (5 teachers or less) the per- centage is much less (16 percent). Only one boy out of eight (13 percent) grad- uating from the commercial course holds a position where a knowledge of short- hand is necessary. In the largest schools over one-half (57 percent) of the girl graduates hold such positions. Manual training and home economics are holding their own in the high school curriculum without noticeable gain. ‘There has been considerable activity among those interested in these subjects in the reorganization of the course of study and particularly in the definition of objectives. Several studies have been reported in this field, notably the Commission on Unit Courses of the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. Agriculture as a subject in the high school appears to be losing ground. The usual activity by teachers and administrators interested in English, matahematics, science, foreign languages, and the social studies is reported in the journals devoted to these subjects. The committee reports of two years ago on mathematics and Latin have been followed by a deluge of new textbooks in these subjects purporting to embody the recommendations of the committees. The forthcoming report on modern foreign languages should accomplish the same result in this field. A quite extensive and significant research study in the secondary field has been carried on this year by W. J. Osburn of the Wisconsin state department of public instruction at the request of the Committee on Ad- ministrative Units of the Commonwealth Fund Organization and financed by that institution. The subject of this investigation is “Overlapping and Omissions in Our Courses of Study.” The reasons for such a study are evident. It is well known that there is much duplication in high school of work covered in the grades. “Koos finds also that there is much over- lapping between the college and the high school. He estimates that the first two years of collegiate instruction duplicate 36.4 percent of the work given in the high school. In these same years of the college 20.1 percent of the work in the social subjects duplicates that in the high school and 9.3 percent of the science duplicates that of the high school.” 284 ‘NaTIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION The cost of education in America has increased to a point where there is serious question as to its further extension. If the efficiency of our educa- tional system can be increased by the elimination of duplication and over- lapping, thus shortening the time required for the various stages without decreasing the achievement of the students, it should by all means be done. Of almost equal importance to the problem of the curriculum is that of teaching method. The curriculum determines method, but method in turn modifies the curriculum. Professor Counts, in an article in the May School Review, suggests seven types of persons who should cooperate in the task of curriculum building. These are the psychologist, the sociologist, the philosopher, the specialist in the selection and organization of materials of instruction, the classroom teacher, the expert in the appraisal of the curriculum and the high school administrator. It is easy to see how each of these persons has a part to-play in the reorganization of the high school curriculum. In the past the classroom teacher has had little effect in modifying the curriculum as a whole. It is true that individual teachers here and there broke away from the textbook formulation of subjectmatter and outlined courses of study better suited to their needs or fancies. But as a rule the course ef study had been accepted on authority and no attempt has been made or opportunity given to bring about modification. Under traditional methods of teaching conformity is necessary. The daily assignment of text- book material leaves no latitude for variation. If the classroom teacher is to contribute to curriculum reorganization, a modified teaching method must be adopted. The plan proposed by Professor Morrison in ‘““The Practice of Teaching in the Secondary School” seems to offer a solution to this difficulty. By this plan the teacher builds the curriculum out of subjectmatter units. No matter how busy the teacher is, nor how inexperienced, she can look for- ward into the coming semester and plan the teaching of one unit in a single subject. In this way the teacher becomes a curriculum builder. If she is working at the same time in cooperation with the psychclogist, the sociolo- gist, the philosopher, and the other educational experts mentioned, there is promise that her work will endure. Morrison’s textbook for secondary school teachers has had a marked effect on teaching procedures during the year just closing. It attacks lesson-learning and the traditional recitation. Miller’s “Directing Study” had called attention to the process of study as an educational objective rather than the product of study. Theoretically we had accepted that as a teaching aim, but in practice the recitation was a process of giving back to the teacher information, solutions. Generation after generation of geom- etry classes had committed solutions and recited them in the class period in spite of the fact that the teacher claimed that he was teaching the pupils how to reason. The forcible presentations of Morrison, Miller and others aroused teachers from their apathy and set them to studying anew the problem of procedures as related to teaching aims, THe Nationat Councit or EpucaTion 285 The longer assignment embracing a significant, comprehensive, and uni- fied body of subjectmatter offers to the teacher an opportunity which the daily lesson assignment does not allow. It enables her to care for indi- vidual differences if the administration of the school will supply her with materials for the pupils to work upon. The new problem for the teacher is the best adaptation of classroom activities to teaching purposes. Motiva- tion is by teacher-talk; testing is most efficiently done by the written exami- nation, chiefly of the objective, short-answer type; study must be directed if pupils are to acquire effective methods; some oral expression by pupils is desirable, both topical and in discussion. But along with this flexibility of adaptation of procedures is the necessity on the part of the teacher to adjust also the subjectmatter of the assignment to the needs and interests of the pupil. The new idea of supervision is based on the principle of respect for per- sonality and implies not dictation or authority but the cooperative solving of teaching problems. Under this notion the supervisor becomes a helper rather than an inspector and his advice is sought by principal and teacher alike. ; The typical principal has in the past done very little supervision of instruction. The reason for this was not lack of time, as claimed, but rather his feeling of incompetence. With a sound theory of supervision, acceptable to both teacher and principal, with responsibility definitely lo- cated, and with ample assistance available in written form and personal conference, the improvement of teachers in service has taken on new life and meaning even in small high schools with inadequately trained principals. One of the important developments of the year is a movement not only for the better preparation and guidance of teachers in training but also for their better care and continued professional education during the first two years of their teaching experience. Professor Edmonson of the University of Michigan presented to the North Central Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools the following resolutions, which were adopted as policies of the Association: (a) The Commission on Secondary Schools recommends that a teacher with less than one year of teaching experience should not be assigned more than four classes per day and should not be assigned full responsibility for any extra- curricular activity or complete charge of a large study hall or session room. It is further urged that special care should be taken to assign classes to a beginning teacher in major or minor fields of academic preparation. (b) The Commission on Secondary Schools further recommends that each ap- proved secondary school should feel responsible for furnishing training in service for a limited number of beginning teachers in order that an adequate supply of well-trained secondary school teachers may be furnished to the profession. In determining the number of beginning teachers that a school should employ, careful account should be taken of the adequacy and efficiency of the supervisory staff. It is not assumed that a school furnishing beginning teachers a year of training in service is under any special obligation to retain such teachers as regular mem- bers of the instructional staff. 286 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION nS The argument in favor of these resolutions is that at present “beginning teachers are frequently assigned the ‘left-over subjects,’ which may or may not be within the teacher’s field of specialization.” Also, “beginning teachers are sometimes called upon to take care of more extra-curricular activities than teachers with experience.” There is in course of formation at the present time in Wisconsin an organization of all teacher-training and supervising agencies in the state designed for better guidance and placement of beginning teachers, better care and supervision of them during the first two years of their interne- ship or apprenticeship in the profession. ‘The first two years of teaching service should still be regarded as a part of the teacher’s preparation under the guiding care of the state under whose tutelage the training was begun. Such an organization will bring into closer cooperation the various institu- tions training high school teachers in Wisconsin and will unify the teacher- training program—a result that has been sought in other states by various methods more or less successful. The testing movement, which has had its greatest previous development in the elementary field, has made notable progress in high school subjects during the past year. For the first time a textbook of respectable size has heen published, devoted entirely to tests and measurements in high school education. Professor Ruch, whose former book on the “Improvement of the Written Examination” is well known, in collaboration with Professor Stoddard has issued a treatise on high school tests, both of intelligence and of achievement. ‘The title of this book is Tests and Measurements in High School Instruction. As I write, the notice comes to me of a second textbook in the same field entitled Measurement in Secondary Education, by Percival M. Symonds. The advent of these new books is an indication that the measurement movement which has been so slow to enter the high school has at last reached a stage where the accumulation of authentic ma- terial is sufficient to warrant author and publisher in launching a treatise on this subject. The short answer, objective type of test question is rapidly replacing the essay type in the classroom examinations of the teacher as well as in stand- ardized tests of pupil achievement. The advantages of the new types of question are so obvious that only the most conservative teachers refuse to see them. The true-false form of test question, in spite of serious objections, con- tinues to be the most popular and the most widely used by teachers and test makers. ‘The two most serious criticisms urged against the true-false test statement are, first, the tendency on the part of the pupil to guess the answer with the resulting difficulty of accurately scoring the examination, aid, second, the undesirability of placing before pupils false statements. McClusky and Curtis, writing in the April number of School Science and Mathematics, propose a modified form of the true-false statement which obviates the “guessing factor.” About twice as many false state- ments are included as true ones. Pupils are directed to place a T before Tue Nationat Councit or Epucation 287 ere Sei ee ee ae the true statements, but to correct the false ones by changing not more than two words in the original statement so as to make it true. On experi- mental use of the new form in five classes the authors offer the following conclusions : 1. The modified form takes more time to administer than the true-false. 2. The modified form possesses a greater usefulness in homogeneous grouping for drill upon certain units of work than does the true-false. 3. The modified form is a better power test than the true-false. 4. The modified form is more reliable than the true-false. The ratio is .93 to .82. 5. The modified form is more difficult for the pupils than the true-false. 6. The modified form tends to eliminate whatever elements of guessing may be functioning in the true-false. “........ the ‘guessing factor’ can be entirely eliminated by making all the statements false and by so informing the pupils at the beginning of the test.’ While this modified form of the true-false type of question reduces the guessing factor, it increases the number of false statements used in the test. Although technically this is not objectionable, on account of the widespread prejudice against this practice it would seem desirable if the number of talse statements could also be reduced. “The writer has proposed in the April number of the Schoo] Review a modified form of the multiple- choice test in which all of the statements are true but one, and in about a fourth of the test questions all the statements are true. The form of the test question is as follows: Lead is (1) an element; (2) a metal; (3) it is malleable; (4) it is a good conductor of heat; (5) it has a greater density than iron. Which of these state- ments is false? If none, write O for the answer. This modified form of the multiple-choice question retains all of the latter’s advantages and eliminates the obfection of using many false statements. The clause “If none, write O for the answer” increases by one the opportunities for guessing and therefore decreases correspondingly the probability of guessing correctly. The modified form is no more difficult to construct, is fully objective, and has the added advantage of presenting to the pupil material which bears directly and positively on the subject of the test. Professor Downing during the year has published in School Sctence and Mathematics norms for a group test of scientific ability and achievement in high school. The test, called the group four test, because it contains four types of test questions, has been standardized for each year of the high school on the basis of 3201 students in Chicago and Toledo high schools. In a later issue of the same journal he furnishes data to show that the five word test alone, which is one of the four tests used in the group four test and takes only ten minutes to give, correlates quite highly with the entire test as a measure of “the relative efficiency of the science work in various schools or systems of schools.” Giles, Schmidt and Thomas published last fall Series B of their General Science Examination, ‘making with Series A a list of 2300 short answer type questions on twelve topics in general science. This examination has not been standardized and the purpose is not primarily to measure the effi- 288 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION ciency of teaching. It is rather designed as an aid to the teacher and may be used both for assignment as study guide questions and also for measur- ing pupil achievement. The Columbia Research Bureau Tests which appeared within the year under the authorship of Dr. Ben Wood and his co-workers form a valu- able addition to the available testing material in high school subjects. These include tests in Physics, Geometry, French, Spanish, German and English. The chief value of these tests is for survey purposes “to discover the talent most likely to succeed in higher education and, conversely, talent more likely to succeed in other fields.” The validity and reliability of the tests are exceptionally high. ; The junior high school as a modifying feature of secondary school organ- ization continues its popularity. “This is especially the case in cities, where the construction of junior high school buildings relieves the housing prob- lem both for the high schocl and for the elementary grades. It is in the larger centers also that the curriculum for the ninth grade is being modi- fied in accordance with the accepted theory of the junior high school. In rural districts and villages six-year high schools are being organized in large numbers. They are usually high schools in name only, however, because the curriculum is very slightly modified if at all, the only change being in unified administration and the departmentalization of the seventh and eighth grades. The flow of publications relating to the junior high school shows no sign of abating. ‘There is noticeable, however, a change in viewpoint. Propa- ganda and defense argument are disappearing and constructive studies are the rule. outon and Struthers, Junior High School Procedures, the most comprehensive volume in this field during the year, assumes the junior high school as a permanent feature of our educational system and siim- marizes the best practice to be found in these schools today. Bennett has issued a revision of an older treatise, The Junior High School, omitting much that was argumentative. The battle for freedom of development ef the junior high school organization was practically won during the past year by the action of the North Central Association of Colleges and Sec- ondary Schools in adopting a resolution recommending that college en- trance be based on eleven or twelve units of high school credit. The South- ern Association, which has had a committee studying this question for sev- eral years, will doubtless take similar action in the near future. This atti- tude on the part of the most influential group of universities and colleges in the country admitting students by certificate assures the right of high school administrators to modify the curriculum of the ninth grade in ac- cordance with the best findings of the day. A considerable list of important administrative problems, the solution of which has been furthered during the year, can only be listed. Pupil guidance, educational and vocational, is one of these. Reavis, Pupil Ad- justment in Junior and Senior High Schools, describes remedial treatment for maladjustment by the case method of individual counselling. Brewer Tue Nationa, Councit or Epucation 289 and others also published Case Studies in Educational and Vocational Guidance. Several texts have appeared on the subject of extra-curricular activities in high schools and junior high schools. This subject is receiving increased attention, since it is from this field that the curriculum itself is being recruited. The effect of class size on teaching efficiency was studied through a controlled experiment in the University of Minnesota last year. The report, which confirms previous studies with high school classes, says: “It appears that the size of the classes in the courses thus far investigated has little or no effect upon the results measured in terms of student achieve- ment.” ‘The College Entrance Examination Board, which exerts such a controlling influence on high school standards and development in New England, has issued a historical account of its work during the past twenty- five years and has outlined its progress in the improvement of its examina- tions during recent years. Moral education remains the most baffling as well as the most important problem of high school administration and instruction. Little constructive work has been done in this field during the past year. The most promising activity is reported by the Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., International Coun- cil of Religious Education, and similar religious and social organizations. Interest in the subject is widespread and insistent, indicating dissatisfaction with present conditions and calling for concentrated study of the problems by competent agencies. In conclusion: The title of this sketch is “A Review of Progress.” We have been passing in procession the various movements that affect most inti- mately the high schools of this country. There is much activity, but how can we be sure that it represents progress? “The answer to that question depends first of all on our definition of progress. If by that term we mean advance toward a definitely located goal, the answer is negative. We have no clearcut, universally accepted, ultimate aim for our educational en- deavor. In a rapidly changing civilization such as ours a fixed goal is clearly impossible. We do not know the kind of life the boys and girls of today should lead when they become adults. We do have, however, a set of tentative ideals which we accept as our objectives. If progress may be defined as advancement in the direction of these ideals, then the various activities which I have reported to you are in the line of progress, for they carry us nearer, slowly and haltingly to be sure, but measurably nearer, to our common educational ideals. A few years ago a national committee formulated a group of these ideals into the seven cardinal principles of secondary education. ‘The publica- tion of that document had a tremendous influence on the development of the high school in recent years. ‘That report still represents, better than any other statement that has been made, the direction in which the high school is moving. We have been analyzing and extending these principles and will doubtless reformulate them from time to time, but the most im- portant work done this year in curriculum revision has been based on these cardinal principles. 290 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION a ee ea ment aN eae ee EA CERN ee Se ee ee Our problems are more clearcut than ever before and the technic of their solution is better understood. The field of research widens as we advance, but the function of philosophy also becomes plainer. ‘The various related sciences of psychology, sociology, statistics, et cetera, make increas- ing contribution from year to year. Not all is gain; there is much lost motion. Practice still lags discouragingly behind accepted theory. ‘There is a vast amount of poor and mediocre teaching in high school classrooms and all too little that is excellent. But evidence is at hand that instruction is improving under the guidance of better preparation of teachers, im- proved supervision, and an enlightened theory of education. With our energies directed in cooperative endeavor for the solution of our common problems, with a growing faith in secondary education as evidenced by the increasing enrolment of our high schools, with the new science and the new philosophy as our instruments of attack, we confidently assert that the year now closing has been one of decided progress for the American high school. SECRETARY’S MINUTES Dallas Meeting President—HENRY LESTER SMITH, Dean, School of Education, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana Vicepresident—FLORENCE HALE, State Supervisor of Rural Schools, Augusta, Maine. Secretary—ADELAIDE S. BAYLor, Chief, Home Economics Education Service, Fed- eral Board for Vocational Education, Washington, D. C. First Session, Monday afternoon, February 28, 1927—The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:00 P. M., in the Munger Room of the Y. W. C. A. The president introduced speakers who presented topics as follows; FALLACY OF TREATING SCHOOL SUBJECTs AS TooL SUBJECTS Charles H. Judd, Director, School of Education, University of Chicago. CHAOS OR INTEGRATION IN EDUCATIONAL THOUGHT AND EFFORT Jesse H. Newlon, Superintendent of Schools, Denver, Colorado. INTEGRATION IN WoRLD-WIDE EDUCATION Augustus O. Thomas, President, World Federation of Education Associations, State Commissioner of Education, Augusta, Maine. The president distributed tabulations of replies of members suggesting subjects of investigation by the National Council of Education, but no definte conclusions were reached as to those to be selected for study. Second Session, Tuesday afternoon, March 1, 1927—The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:00 P. M., in the Munger Room of the Y. W. C. A. The speakers and topics presented were as follows: ‘TECHNIC OF COOPERATION S. A. Courtis, Professor of Education, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE JUNIOR HicH ScHooL IN a City SysTEM David E. Weglein, Superintendent of Schools, Baltimore, Maryland. INTEGRATION IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS H. B. Wilson, Superintendent of Schools, Berkeley, California. THE NaTIONAL CouNcIL oF EDUCATION 291 Some spirited discussion followed as a result of the papers presented by the last two speakers and there was an evident desire to secure further detailed infor- mation on the organization of the junior high school. At the request of the secretary a committee was named to dispose of correspond- ence making requests for endorsement by the Council of certain current movements, or provision for a place on the program in the interest of a particular cause. At the close of the session this committee, consisting of John W. Abercrombie, chairman, H. L. Smith, Ethel Perrin, and R. O. Stoops, met and decided unani- mously to leave the disposition of such matters to the discretion of the secretary. Third Session, Wednesday afternoon, March 2, 1927—The meeting was called to order at 2:00 P. M. by the president, in the Munger Room of the Y. W. C. A. The program for this session was under the direction of two committees. One of these committees was a standing committee in the National Council of Educa- tion, which had been working for several years jointly with a committee from the American Medical Association on “Problems of Health Education.” Dr. Thomas D. Wood, chairman of this joint committee presented a report, consisting of a résumé of the work and previous reports of the committee. The second committee was a recently organized committee in the National Council of Education, for the purpose of dealing with “Behavior Problems of Children.” This committee is working jointly with a committee from the National Conference of Social Work. Miss Olive M. Jones, Chairman of these cooperating committees, gave a brief statement of the origin and objectives of the work of the committees and introduced speakers as follows: 1. Frank J. O’Brien (substituting for Ralph P. Truitt, Director Division for the Prevention of Delinquency, National Committee of Mental Hygiene, New York City, unable to be present). 2. Millard C. Lefler, Superintendent of Schools, Lincoln, Nebraska. 3. W. Carson Ryan, Professor of Education, Swarthmore College, Pa. These speakers presented “Behavior Problems of Children” from the points of view respectively of (1) Mental Hygiene, (2) The Teacher and School Adminis- tration, and (3) The Training School for Teachers. Much interest was manifested in the proposed work of this committee and a number of those present participated in the discussion, particularly as it related to the selection and method for training teachers to deal with behavior problems of children. The discussion indicated that several institutions either have in operation or are consciously working toward the organization of such teacher training courses for pre-employment purposes or to aid teachers in service. Adjourned. Seattle Meeting First Session, Tuesday Afternoon, July 5, 1927—The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:00 p. m. in the Men’s Parlor of the Plymouth Congregational Church. After a brief statement of some matters of business to be taken up latter by members of the council, the president introduced the speaker of the afternoon, George ‘D. Strayer, Professor of Educational Administration, peat College, Columbia University, New York City. The subject of Dr. Strayer’s address was “Our American Program in Education.” Opportunity was given for general dis- cussion, but no questions were raised on the points brought out in the address. Second Session, Wednesday Afternoon, July 6, 1927—The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:00 p. m. in the Men’s Parlor of the Plymouth Con- ional Church. Teich Ae eiddvai then introduced Mrs. Susan M. Dorsey, Superintendent of eee Los Angeles, California, who spoke on “Progress in the Elementary oe Ss c The second speaker scheduled for the afternoon was Homer H. Seerley, Presi- 292 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION dent, Iowa State Teachers College, Cedar Falls, Iowa, who was to present a “Re- view of Educational Progress in Elementary Teacher Training Work During the Past Year.” Dr. Seerley was unable to be present, but the report was deemed to be of such importance that it was read by N. D. Showalter, Cheney, Washington. Third Session, Thursday Afternoon, July 7, 1927—The meeting was called to order by the president at 2:00 p. m. in the Men’s Parlor of the Plymouth Con- gregational Church. At the opening of the meeting, the Committee on Membership made recommenda- tions which were unanimously approved by the Council for supplying vacancies in the offices and membership of the Council. The new officers and members elected are as follows: Vicepresident—Mrs. Susan M. Dorsey, Superintendent of Schools, Los Angeles, California, with term expiring in 1930. Member of the Executive Committee—Miss Anna Laura Force, Denver, Colo- rado, to succeed herself, with term expiring in 1930. Committee on Membership—Carroll G. Pearse, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Robert H. Wright, Greenville, North Carolina, to succeed themselves, with terms expiring in 1930. Membership—Alfred Cook, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Balti- more, Maryland, to succeed Frederick Archer, Greensburg, North Carolina, with term expiring in 1931. Augustus O. Thomas, State Commissioner of Education, Augusta, Maine, to succeed Joseph Swain (deceased), with term expiring in 1929. Miss Flora Drake, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Indianapolis, Indiana, to succeed Miss Georgia Alexander, term expiring 1933. Henry Suzzallo, Seattle, Washington, to succeed C. P. Cary, Madison, Wisconsin, with term expiring in 1932. Elected to succeed themselves with terms expiring in 1933: Annie Webb Blanton, State Department of Public Instruction, Austin, Texas. Grace Abbott, Chief, U. S. Children’s Bureau, Washington, D. C. I. I. Cammack, Superintendent of Schools, Kansas City, Missouri. David B. Corson, Superintendent of Schools, Newark, New Jersey. W. A. Lewis, President, State Normal School, Hays, Kansas. A. L. Threlkeld, Deputy Superintendent of Schools, Denver, Colorado. May Trumper, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Helena, Montana. J. H. Wagner, U. S. Bureau of Education, Seattle, Washington. D. B. Waldo, President, State Normal School, Kalamazoo, Michigan. The president then introduced speakers with topics as follows: BREADTH AND SPECIALIZATION IN EDUCATIONAL THEORY. Henry Suzzallo, Seattle, Washington. Wuat Is EXPECTED OF THE MODERN TEACHER. Harry Charlesworth, Secretary, British Columbia Teachers’ Federation, and Vicepresident, World Federation of Education Associations, Van- couver, B. C. REVIEW OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS IN THE HIGH ScHOoLS DURING THE PAsT YEAR. J. T. Giles, State High School Supervisor, Madison, Wisconsin. At the close of the program, the members of the council met in Executive Session and unanimously voted to take up for special investigation during the coming year the following educational problems: 1, Study of Failures in the High Schools of the Country and of the Methods in Use Connected with these Failures. 2. Fundamental Basis of the Relation of the Business and the Professional Aspects of Educational Administration. It was further unanimously voted that the president of the Council appoint a committee to determine ways and means for taking up the investigation of these problems. Adjourned. The Department of Adult Education HE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION was estab- lished by vote of the Representative Assembly, July 8, 1921, as the Department of Immigrant Education. The first meeting was held in 1922 in Boston. See Proceedings, 1922:905. In 1924 the name of the Department was changed to the Depart- ment of Adult Education. See Proceedings, 1924: 566. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, A. W. Castle, Director of Extension Education, State Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa.; Vicepresident, Ethel Richardson, Assistant Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1130 Sun Finance Building, Los Angeles, Calif.; Secre- tary, C.S. Marsh, Dean of the Evening Session, Uni- versity of Buffalo, Buffalo, N. Y.; Treasurer, Wil Lou Gray, State Supervisor of Adult Schools, Co- lumbia, 8. C. This Department meets once a year in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this De- partment and the record of meetings are found in earlher Proceedings as follows: 1921 :460 1923 :669-703 1924 :565-582 1925 :337-353 1926 :327-371 1922 :905-968 [294] THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION, ITS STATUS AND FUTURE ROBERT C. DEMING, PRESIDENT, DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION, CONNECTICUT DIRECTOR OF ADULT EDUCATION, HARTFORD, CONN. Me ADDRESS today, outlining the past, present, and future of this de- partment must take nothing for granted. There may be many here who have not my conception at all of the duties and respon- sibilities of state and local officials in this field of adult education, and who may not grasp that this annual meeting will probably mark the expansion of the department to include all public school education for adults—following the excellent catch-phrase of the day “the equalization -of educational opportunity.” In this Pacific Northwest, you here may not believe that every educa- tional opportunity should be offered the illiterate or non-English speaking adult and every effort made to interest him or her in such instruction before the slightest criticism is made of their failure to participate in our democracy. You may not believe that this type of instruction requires trained leadership to recruit and supervise classes, that trained and ad- equately paid teachers are essential, that a special technic and special courses of study are required. Above all you may not believe that after flag-raisings and political oratory and “reduce illiteracy by 1930” cam- paigns that state and local laws and appropriations are essential if any- thing is to be actually done. How can the uneducated contribute to America without the opportunity for education? ‘They cannot. With these things as a basis of understanding we can take up again the position of the old Interstate Council in 1921 and understand why it assailed the portals of the National Education Association with a request for recognition—and why it was granted. For the next three years the department gave itself over to introspection, the improvement of programs and methods, and publicity. In 1924, to include the native illiteracy prob- lem in the south, its name was changed to its present title. Following 1924 we strove for and obtained the appointment of a spe- cialist in the Federal Bureau of Education at Washington, and have tried by every means, through our Bulletin and conferences, to better our knowl- edge and interest individuals and states in our problems. Our expansion in the states has been slow. Even though some thirty states have permissive legislation of various types, only about fifteen states are actually doing anything with laws, responsible educational officials, appropriations and programs. All the rest are still throwing up their hands in horror. Lastly while on this phase of elementary adult education, may I mod- estly admit for the department that it or the Federal Bureau can supply anyone here from the many unorganized states with a complete model state or local set-up for carrying on such work, ‘Those states with state pro- [295] 296 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION grams for the past six or seven years feel that this form of education is now a recognized part of the school curriculum with technic, methods and problems all its own. They have settled down to the long hard grind of obtaining literate, English speaking communities for good citizenship by an educational program. ‘They are intensely eager to have other states do more than declare their intentions. At present the department feels that it has the greatest opportunity in the field of education. It represents not only the pioneers in a great new world of education but it has confidence that it represents the great in- terests of all those adults who because of labor saving devices, shorter hours of labor, and a world of machinery, have not only leisure time but an overwhelming desire to express their personality and to give themselves the opportunity to obtain success and always happiness through special study. If ultimately the department can include in a coordinated field of adult education all those educators who instruct adults from beginning English classes to evening high school and general evening classes in special subjects, all under public auspices, it will have obtained its fullest mission. In the field of adult elementary education we find ourselves involved in national problems at present. First—What policy should industry (hold- ing the psychological key to our non-English speaking problem in educa- tion) adopt towards its foreign-born workers? ‘There is the real solution of the unassimilated. Again—What efficient naturalization standards and procedure, everywhere uniform, must we set up? A committee is to report on this. And again—We are very much concerned with our immigration policy, with the proper registration of aliens. Lastly—We at present feel that if we can include in the 1930 Census a test for the ability of adults to read a sentence in English with understanding, we will have obtained for the nation’s educators and for democracy more of educational value than ever dreamed of. A practical and efficient test has been carefully worked out by this department, and Mr. Hoover has written, welcoming the specific recommendation of the National Education Association in this matter. These projects all have the zest of the pursuit of living things, of existing human problems—the field is fascinating in the extreme—sociology and psychology are much involved. We know that every man and every woman must have the opportunity to develop genius, that the state and nation must reward initiative and perseverance in a democracy. Professor Thorndike in his May 19th address at Cleveland set forward the cause of public adult education ten years when he announced the results of his studies of the adult’s ability to learn as compared to the child in school. “The chief reason,” he says, “why adults so seldom learn a new language or trade is not lack of ability, for up to 50 and after they learn faster than children, but the lack of opportunity or desire. They have too many things that must be done.” Is it not our job to offer that opportunity and to arouse that desire? Is not that one definition of educational leadership both among the educated and the uneducated? We have before us a clear wide path of duty for adult education. Forward. THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 297 IMMIGRANT EDUCATION IN CALIFORNIA . ETHEL RICHARDSON, ASSISTANT STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC IN- STRUCTION, IN CHARGE OF ADULT EDUCATION, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. Immigrant education in California is as varied and picturesque as the history and geography of this romantic state. With the exception of the most remote mountain districts, there is almost no territory in which the immigrant has not penetrated. There are dramatic stories such as one finds in one community on the edge of Los Angeles in which the Mexicans began buying a few years ago and putting up whatever they could afford to live in. This hastily occupied region gave the appearance of a refugee camp for several years, but suddenly order began to take place, permanent homes with charming gardens replaced the forlorn shanties. Two large public schools were built in the midst of the community and a new Amer- ican population was established. There are thirty-six cities in California with regularly organized school systems under a city superintendent. All but three of these have programs of immigrant education. Since the three are small residential cities with practically no foreign adults, this means that the immigrant in California cities has a fairly good chance of obtaining an education. There are 241 high school districts outside city systems. In 115 of these there is educa- tion for the foreign adult. “There are sixteen more where there is need for it, and no classes as yet have been offered. ‘There is as wide a variety in the types of program as in the character of the soil or the geographic location. In Orange County, about Fullerton, summer vacation begins in the late fall when it is time to pick the walnuts, and the laborers go to school all summer. Here the schools have received the assistance of the big cooperative agricultural corporations, such as the Walnut Growers and the Citrus Association. In most cases the teacher lives in the camps or on the ranches, in houses provided by the company, in close proximity to her adult pupils. At Ontario, the teacher has a traveling schoolroom in a school bus and goes from camp to camp, taking the school nurse with her and working deliberately to lower the infant mortality rate, which is so high among the children of the migratory workers. In Los Angeles, where the home teacher was started in 1915, the system of cottage classes for mothers has been well developed. When- ever in their extensive building program the board of education obtains a lot with a small house on it, this house is moved into a foreign neighbor- hood for the use of the home teacher. The mothers help with the decorat- ing and make it their own, and it becomes their clubhouse, their school and often their health center. ; In the San Joaquin Valley, where schools have been built over night to take care of the children of the cotton pickers, a part of the equipment is the kerosene lamp which sends its light out over the flat elds of the cotton ranches and invites the fathers and mothers for an evening of education. 298 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION halen Nai ta Ai Rich nes coppice lence 2 Septet re en In Ventura, there is the small town eight miles from the high school center where a gang of boys has been mutilating the schoolhouse at night and stirring up trouble for the quiet residents. Here the Americanization teacher drives out each night and has organized a club for the girls work- ing in the cannery and a dramatic society for the hoodlum boys. After try- ing everything light and gay to interest them, it was Shakespeare to which they really responded. This year Oakland has set itself to the development of as scientific a program of immigrant education as could be worked out. Each home teacher has made a house-to-house survey of her entire neighborhood, and a pin map on the wall in her office shows her and the principal of the school how completely the foreign homes are being covered by the adult classes. Portable cottages are being turned over to the homes teachers to be located at centers where the best and most regular attendance can be obtained. In both the day and evening classes, a most accurate system of grading and placing has been established. Lesson material is sent out very regularly to meet the requirements of each grade of students. ‘Teachers’ meetings, school conferences and a cooperative exchange of material are making a unified program of great efficiency. In the far northeast, a company lumber town has reached out for the services of the Americanization teacher, and a slum community in the midst of a gorgeous redwood forest has begun to catch some vision of social and sanitary order and the foreign population, under clever leader- ship, is organizing its own programs of health, housing, sanitation and recreation. California recognizes a few principles as fundamental. ‘The first, out- weighing all the others, is that immigrant education cannot succeed unless each community where it is attempted has the full-time direction of an experienced, mature teacher with initiative, tremendous energy, and a gift for understanding people. Whatever other facilities are present, the work will fail without this teacher. Second, there must be continuous training for the teachers while they are working. It is not sufficient to have taken a course in preparation for adult teaching; it is equally essential that practical assistance be given after the teacher has had contact with her classes. California has been fortunate in having such training offered by the extension division of the state university under the direction of Miss Ethel Swain in every part of the state throughout the winter months. Third, there must be support for the education of foreign adults from the state equivalent to that given for any other type of education. The local community cannot carry the expense without assistance. The money received on attendance in classes in California from the state and county is almost sufficient, in all but two or three of the larger cities, to meet the expense. Fourth, everything must be done in this special field to build up an esprit de corps. Teachers must not begin to feel isolated, over-worked and THE DeparTMENT oF ADULT EDUCATION 299 a nse a ee Ge out of the stream of important activities. The various associations of Americanization teachers in each locality in the state and the voluntary editing and distribution of a quarterly journal, the Community Exchange Bulletin, has done much to meet this difficulty. Fifth, immigrant education must feel itself a part of the whole adult education program. Teachers in this field must be made to see a big future for them; they can continue their own education and look for important advancement, and the adult foreigner in the English class should be encouraged to look forward to the time when he can join a class of native-born Americans in subjectmatter interestingly presented and mature in content. SOME OUTSTANDING CONTRIBUTIONS TO ADULT EDU- CATION AS SEEN IN DIFFERENT PARTS OF THE UNITED STATES L. R. ALDERMAN, SPECIALIST IN ADULT EDUCATION, U. S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. The purpose of this address is to tell of a few of the outstanding ex- amples in public adult education that have become known to the speaker. It is not possible for one person to know of all the work that is being done in all parts of the country in this growing field of education. I shall speak for the most part about public elementary education of adults, because this is a most important problem in the country today. So far as I know there has been no thorough examination of the exact amount of school education possessed by the American people. ‘The census returns show that six percent of the whole population of the United States could not write in 1920. A test given by the Army in 1917 to determine for what military duty men of the draft were best fitted revealed that 25 percent of those examined could not read with understanding. Just how true a picture this is, we do not know. However, we do know that the census returns do not pretend to give the number of those who are able to read with understanding. It gives the number of those who admit that they cannot write. In planning our educational programs it would be a great advantage if we knew the exact number of adults who lack elementary education, but we do not need to wait until we get such informa- tion, because we find that large numbers of foreign and native-born adults come into our evening schools for elementary subjects when they are given an opportunity to do so. There are probably from 20,000,000 to 30,- 000,000 of our people who would profit by elementary education. In the education of the foreign-born there has developed a point of view that is worthy of our notice. It is perhaps giving to many teachers the attitude that was held by only the most exceptional teachers 10 or 15 years ago. The fundamental principle in this point of view is that it is the first business of the teacher of the foreign-born student to help him 300 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION orient himself in this country. Obviously the first need of the newcomer is conversational English. The teacher is there to help. ‘There is no propaganda. There is no hint that the newcomer should become a citizen. Citizenship is too sacred to be forced or even urged upon anyone. The trained teacher of the foreign-born comes to the classroom with a keen appreciation of the moral and intellectual worth of the members of her class as individuals, and also with a knowledge of the contribution that the nationalities represented in her class have made to the world’s civilization and to the progress of the country. As a result of this attitude, goodwill and comradeship develop in the schoolroom between teacher and students and among the students themselves. “This fellowship makes each member of the class feel that he is a valuable member of the neighborhood. Citizenship, then, is the natural step for those who already are a part of the community in which they live. It was this attitude of school teachers that caused Mary Antin to write The Promised Land. The states which are making satisfactory progress with the education of the foreign-born are those which have state aid for this work. By state aid we mean that the state pays about 50 percent of the expenses of conducting the classes. “This assures trained teachers and provides super- vision that brings about an effective program. The instruction the non-English-speaking mother calls for a special kind of school, as many of these women cannot attend regular classes because of the care of children, and, too, the women of some nationalities will not attend public gatherings. “These women, unless given the proper instruc- tion, are apt to stay strangers in this new country for a long period and, as their husbands and children learn English and American ways, they are very apt to be strangers in their own homes. Classes for non-English- speaking mothers are held usually in the afternoons in their own or neighbor’s homes. ‘This service is much appreciated and makes for unified home control, for better health, and less crime. The best state-wide work with our native-born illiterates that I have seen is in South Carolina. There we find a state appropriation, state leadership of the finest kind, cooperation between the schools and em- ployers, and a growing belief on the part of the people that the most valu- able resource of any community is its human sesource. The finest work I have seen in any one county is in Buncombe County, North Carolina. A survey of the county revealed that there were 6000 illiterate men and women in 1920. Four thousand of these have now been taught to read and write, and new recrutis come to school each year. These persons do not stop with the mere ability to read a primer or write their names, but stay in school until they can read and write well and until they have acquired the habit of doing so. Some of these people have now reached the fifth-grade level of ability and plan to go on until they need the school no longer in order to read and understand the problems of the day. THE DEPARTMENT oF ADULT EpucaTION 301 With these examples of what has been done toward solving the prob- lem of native illiteracy we ought not to wait longer for new methods, but duplicate in other states and counties the type of work found in the Caro- linas. In 1920 there were in the United States 1,242,572 native white illiterates and 1,842,161 colored illiterates. Perhaps the best evidence of what a state or city is doing for the educa- tion of her adult population is the effectiveness of its evening schools. The only time that those employed during the day can attend classes is in the evening. The hours from 7 to 9 o’clock in the evening are, for many people, the most meaningful hours of the day. If men and women spend these two hours for self-improvement, what a change for the better a few years bring about! If the objective in our educational program is but to train children for citizenship, it is in line with sound, economic principles to give parents an opportunity to secure at least an elementary education, as parents have the care of their children fully ten times as long as the schools do. We are wisely spending millions of dollars for the training of our school teachers who have the care of children but one tenth of the time. The neglect of the elementary education of parents is most unwise. If the objective is to promote good citizenship of all our people, then there should be a program of elementary adult education in each state of the union. To expect wise and discriminating voting by illiterate or near- illiterate voters in this complex civilization of curs is to expect the miracu- lous. “That a democracy depends upon the intelligence of its citizens is a truism. Necessary as is education for leadership, we also need more emphasis upon the education of all citizens in the duties and privileges of citizens. There is a decided tendency in American education to make the schools less of a classifying agency and more educational in nature. Adult elementary education is an important part of such a program. If the objective is to improve the health of our citizens, then adult edu- cation is very important. A very large percent of our drafted men were not fit for unrestricted military duty. Poor health is costing billions of dollars in money. It causes poverty and crime. The elementary education of adults is necessary for successful health campaigns and for the general observance of health rules that make health campaigns unnecessary. If the objective is the prevention of accidents that take unnecessary lives, it is obviously essential that our adults know how to read understandingly. If the objective is to lessen crime, one of the means to that end is to give all adults an opportunity to understand our laws and the reason for them. A man who knows that laws are self-imposed and are enacted for the safe-guarding of the liberties of all is not so apt to break them. Our penal institutions are filled very largely with unschooled boys and men. If the objective is to bring general prosperity and happiness to the whole population, then the education of all our citizens, whether young or old, is essential. 302 NaTIONAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION an ee CEL 8 Se ST ne Demonstrations in adult education show that where adults have been given the right kind of opportunity to get an elementary or secondary edu- cation they have taken advantage of the opportunity to do so. The evening school indicates the time and the place of a supreme oppor- tunity. An important question for every community to answer is how gen- eral and how effective are its evening schools. Has it the buildings, the equipment, the teachers, and the need for adult education? Evening schools should have as much consideration as day schools. They should have a definite part of the budget. They should have trained teachers and adequate trained supervision, ‘The education of adults is not only necessary, but will pay dividends. ‘The greatest, surest, and richest resource this country has is its people. “That resource can be developed only as the general intelligence of the whole people rises. “The time for the education of the people is not only during youth but all through life. Adults have more leisure than ever before and they see more clearly the necessity of understanding their growing and ever-changing environ- ment. ‘The deep current of public opinion is impelling men and women to seek for life’s purposes. “They search for a better understanding of their relationship to their fellows and are learning that schoolroom where others are learning is a very pleasant place in which to be. Adult education has in it such possibilities for individual, national, and race betterment that evening schools which provide such education should command the interest of all who are concerned with human weal. THE NECESSITY FOR LEADERSHIP AND FINANCIAL SUPPORT IN 4 STATE PROGRAM FOR ADULT EDUCATION J. M. KNISELEY, PRINCIPAL, BROADWAY EVENING SCHOOL, SEATTLE, WASH. Writers and speakers on the subject of adult education appear to have a habit in common, and to be surprisingly uniform about it, of glorying in the absence of regulations, standardizations, crganizations, and systems, which has characterized the movement thus far. They seem to feel that by reason of spontaneous and untrammeled growth adult education bids fair to become something that the regular brand of education isn’t, and, by the same token, that that something is all to the good. ‘There is a growing tendency on the part of students of this move- ment to challenge the established practices of American education and to charge them with at least partial futility. “There are those who assert that, instead of the educational experiences of American youth serving as an introduction to and an initiation into a life of zestful educational pursuit, with ambition to bring learning to a high plane of excellence, it tends rather to produce an intellectual stalemate. . A major note is that, while adult education is a comparatively new thing, at least in American life, the movement has already gained almost THE DrEparTMENT oF ADULT EDUCATION 303 astonishing momentum. ‘There are said to be five times as many adults engaged in a more or less earnest pursuit of education outside of educa- tional institutions in this country as are enroled in all the colleges and universities combined. ‘The college and university enrolment is estimated at a little over 600,000, while the membership of evening schools, cor- respondence schools, Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. classes, K. C. schools, Young Men’s Hebrew Association schools, library reading groups, co- operation schools, labor colleges, Americanization classes, etc., is well over 3,000,000. The amount paid annually to private correspondence schools alone is reported to be over $70,000,000. With a movement of such a character and such force it is difficult to see how the state can longer fail to concern itself, whether adult education- alists like it or not. It is doubtful whether the state can afford to keep out. A statement that the educational authorities of the states at any rate have for the most part failed to so concern themselves in any constructive or intelligent fashion would doubtless provoke indignant denial. To some extent, and especially in some instances, the protest would be justified. The statement is substantially true nevertheless. For the purpose of ascertaining to what extent the departments of edu- cation in the various states were grappling with the problems of adult education, I wrote to every state superintendent and commissioner of edu- cation in the United States. Thirty-five direct replies were received and in several instances persons outside the regular staff wrote of special phases of the question. It seems fair to assume that the general tenor of these letters is a fair index of what is going on in this connection in and around the various state headquarters. Any shrewd guesser among you could probably have foretold what the letters indicate, which is, in the main, that either adult education is not receiving much attention on the part of educational leaders or that the educational leaders are not represented in the state departments. There were a number of superintendents who say frankly and bluntly that their states are doing nothing. ‘They show at least enough grasp of the proposition to know that they are not doing anything and are direct enough to say so. By far the greater number of the letters reported upon some special activity such as Americanization, vocational training, stamping out illit- eracy, home economics, etc. It is pertinent to point out that while voca- tional training, English for immigrants, or the teaching of illiterates may each be a worthy type of adult education, the promotion of one or more or even all of them does not constitute a state program. It is enough perhaps to report that the responsible officials in more than a dozen states are laying hold of the problem in an intelligent and con- structive spirit. ‘They recognize its true meaning. ‘They are beginning to speak the language and are spreading the gospel. “The most common medium for state activity in the field of adult education is of course the evening school. Probably nobody knows how extensive evening school 304 NATIONAL EpucaTion ASSOCIATION work really is or how many people it is reaching. There are schools reported in practically all the larger centers of population in the country and many notable examples of like work in rural communities. I do not happen to know whether any attempt has been made to ascertain the extent of the total enrolment or to estimate the amount of public funds expended. The enrolment would certainly run into the hundreds of thousands and the investment well into millions. Most states contribute to the support of these classes usually by way of an apportionment based on attendance. In our own state, for example, the state and county together contribute approximately ten cents per student for each evening’s attendance. The contact of the state departments of public instruction with these schools is usually through state directors of vocational education and a corps of field workers whose function is usually to carry out the pro- visions of the Smith-Hughes act in cooperation with the United States Government or through directors of Americanization charged with carry- ing out the state program of immigrant education. Thus most states provide apparent leadership. But it is nearly always leadership with a‘special slant. It would hardly be fair to say that voca- tional education is over emphasized or that immigrant education receives too much attention, but special relations appear to obscure the significance of the whole situation. These things deserve the attention they are getting provided they do not get it all. Where is there an evening school that is meeting the full aspirations of the knowledge-hungry adults who crowd its classrooms? What city has a school whose faculty knows or even suspects the difference between giving primary instruction to ignorant un- fortunates who missed it in their childhood, or giving a little trade train- ing to an aspirant for a job and affording an aspiring student body of wide awake citizens an opportunity to fit itself for worthy membership in cul- tured and civilized society? “True, there might be retort with some justifi- cation that most evening school students are not likely candidates for mem- bership in such society or ready to receive a liberal education. In the first place this isn’t true, and in the second place it would be simply a “non sequitor” if it were true. To a considerable extent intelligent students do not enrol in evening school or, if they do, they do not remain merely because evening schools are what they are. Most evening schools con- tinue to be primary schools for ignorant adults plus job training. Isn’t this just where and why leadership is needed ? Why should the states assume the responsibility for the education of adults? Do we not provide unparalleled facilities for every child? Are we not approaching a condition in this country where those who desire to learn can receive a fair education at public expense? Isn’t the length of the school day and the school year being constantly increased? Has the like ever been attempted in the whole history of mankind ? What need, then, of a new leadership in a new field? Aren’t we having THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 305 enough of a struggle merely to carry on? If we are able adequately to finance what we have already undertaken, shouldn’t we be more than satisfied ? The present generation of children are being subjected to greater pressure along educational lines than any other generation in the world’s history. From an average of 70 days, the school year is approaching 180, and there are educators wha would push it up to 240 days by way of vocation schools, continuation schools, etc; all this, besides the music lessons, the dancing lessons and the art lessons. This is all very well for the sturdy, healthy child, gifted with a fine nervous system and an academic mind who suc- ceeds. But with standardized courses, and parental demand, and the pedagogical urge, and the fear of failure, and the public and family dis- grace thereof, what of the non-academic, the neurotic, the puny, the any- thing but the special type? Must childhood be a hectic worried pilgrimage to a goal none sees and few atttain? Even if our superb American faith makes it possible to go on financing an indefinitely expanding program, even though because they have been taught to believe in education as they never believed even in God, an American public is willing to pay and pay and pay until it hurts. Is it necessary? Is it best? Does it pay to go on spending weeks of unhappy child labor learning what at the proper time, under proper circumstances, an adult can learn in twenty minutes? We might at any rate find use for a few leaders who would honestly and intelligently face that question. Then there are the colleges and universities. Does anyone imagine that as things are, they are going to perform the functions of adult education satisfactorily or successfully ? Most of you have heard or read the address on “Again the Open Door in Education,” before the Department of Superintendence last spring, by Frank D. Boynton, vicepresident of the Department. He bluntly charges that the colleges and universities are failing to provide the educational opportunities to which the youth of America is entitled. Be it remembered, he is not advocating the cause of adult education. He is simply arguing the failure of the university to meet legitimate expectations. Curiously enough, after a keen and penetrating analysis of the failure of the colleges, Mr. Boynton’s own answer to the question is more colleges, and junior colleges. “To be sure he prescribes certain reforms. But why does he think colleges are the only answer? College presidents could doubtless enlighten him as to the growing difficulty of raising funds. “They perhaps could well support their contention that circumstances are forcing upon them a policy based upon selection and exclusion. Is it conceivable that every youth of educable quality can have a college education? Equal educational opportunities for all is an appealing slogan as well as a sound democratic principle. I am aware that it is customary in educational circles to give short shrift to the plaints of the taxpayer and the troubles of the budgeteers. But as practical fact can it be done? Could many of the 306 NaTIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION ee SS eee most worthy avail themselves of this kind of opportunity even if it existed ? Could even most of our worthy young people postpone entrance into pro- ductive occupation to devote sixteen years—four or five of which are the best years of their lives—to mere preparation merely because it is “now or never”? Is this the only way? Setting aside the question as to whether a preparation for life almost wholly out of contact with that for which the preparation is being made really prepares, still the problem wants facing. -It has been estimated that the mortality in correspondence courses is 95 percent—three million people and seventy million dollars! Forty percent of evening school students drop out in the first ten weeks, presumably be- cause they do not get what they want. Yet the numbers seeking knowledge and willing to spend time and money in the search is constantly growing. Can the state ignore this situation? There are problems involved vitally affecting large numbers of citizens and thereby affecting the welfare of the state, The expedition is afoot. The state could at least finance the ex- ploration. IMMIGRATION, A PACIFIC PROBLEM NORMAN T. COLEMAN, PRESIDENT, REED COLLEGE, PORTLAND, ORE. Americans generally have hardly begun to think of immigration as a problem of the Pacific. The Atlantic has brought in its thronging mil- lions from Europe, threatening our economic standards and establishing among us centers of alien life and culture. We have awakened rather suddenly to these dangers and have quickly decided that mass immigration must be prevented and selective immigration on some practical principle established. What should be the principle of selection we do not know except that roughly the numbers entering from the various nations of Europe should have relation to the numbers already here. In the direction of the Pacific we have little to guide us as yet but vague fear and surmise. Few of us know how many people of Asiatic origin are here, nor how thoroughly they are being assimilated. We think vaguely that white people may be admitted hopefully to our citizenship and guess that Armenians are white, while Hindus are probably not and Chinese are certainly not. Meantime, we admit Mexicans freely, though statistics from hospital and court and prison show that it is much harder for them to adapt themselves to our social conditions than it is for the Chinese or Japanese who have come to us. Some of us are still thinking and talking of inferior and superior races, though there is little or no scientific basis for such divisions of mankind, and though history is rapidly destroying such value as the rough judgments of the past upon this point may have had. In a field where so-called experts disagree, educators may well be THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 307 cautious. In what we teach to the future citizens of America concerning aliens who may seek admission to our country, we cannot afford to be dogmatic, but we may surely be helpfully suggestive. We may not map in detail the path of our nation’s future, but we may point out general direc- tions for fair and hopeful experiment. I wish to lay down three proposi- tions as a basis for discussion of our future immigration policy: 1, Mass immigration into the United States from any quarter does not promise well for us or for the world. 2. To discriminate among immigrants on the basis of race or color is unscientific _ and dangerous. 3. Our present crude and tentative methods of selecting immigrants need to be refined, and probably to be supplemented with carefully devised personal tests. First, to open the doors wide to mass immigration from crowded Europe or crowded Asia would be to invite disaster for us and for other nations. It is to the interest of the world that our experiment in large scale democ- racy should be continued under no more serious handicaps than it carries already. If the social and political experiment that was begun in 1776 is to have any chance of success, it needs at least as much community of language and social and political tradition as the United States now has. In this connection it should be remembered that the American people must for many years struggle not only with the results of recent mass immigra- tion from Europe, but also with the results of an earlier forced immigration from Africa. “This has had serious economic results and more serious social results. “Lhe political and social caste system which operates to limit freedom and opportunity for the negro bids fair to persist as a blight upon our national life for many generations. We could not risk the estab- lishment of another caste of yellow men in our midst. It would be doubly dangerous, to them and to us. Second, discrimination against some aliens on the basis of race or color seems to me equally dangerous, though we have made beginnings in this direction. On the one hand there is, I believe, no scientific basis for such discrimination. Observations I have been able to make in recent years and reports I have had from educators in our Pacific coast states, in Hawaii, and in Japan, indicate that the Asiatic is able quickly and completely to adopt our characteristic traits and points of view, and, unless one judges him by complexion and facial configuration, to become as good an American as the best of us. On the other hand, from the point of view of the Oriental, racial discrimination is becoming increasingly obnoxious and increasingly dangerous to world peace. Recent events in the Orient indi- cate pretty clearly that the phase of our present international relations to which Asiatics most vehemently object, is their apparent status of in- feriority. Referring to our Asiatic exclusion law, a Japanese educator asked me two or three years ago at a meeting in Kobe, “What do you 308 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION Americans mean? Do you wish to unite the eleven hundred million col- ored people of the world against the five hundred million white people?” Third, there is need for revising and extending our basis of selection. The quota system which we are now using is fairly based upon the assump- tion that we wish in the main to provide for continuous national character. We do not wish to throw over old traditions and set up new by any radical alteration of the dominant racial strains of our people. It is fair to assume that aliens entering the United States will be readily assimilated roughly in proportion to the number of our citizens of the same national origin and traditions. It is further fair to assume that we can assimilate larger num- bers from those nations that are closer to our traditional character in lan- guage, culture and political experience. I have met no one at home or abroad who has questioned the justice or wisdom of these assumptions. Critics of our present immigration policy usually grant that we may hope- fully admit more of north Europeans than of south Europeans, more Canadians than Mexicans, probably more Asiatics from the Near East than from the Far East. Questions are raised as to the basis upon which the proportions are to be determined; and, as I have already indicated, more serious questions are raised over our exclusion of some races altogether. This exclusion, initiated in the fear of destructive economic competition, has been encouraged by popular belief that certain races are demonstrably “superior” and others demonstrably “inferior.” One observes at the out- set the disquieting fact that the demonstrator always begins by demonstrat- ing that his own is a superior race. “Thoughtful students are beginning to discard this classification of races as misleading and mischievous. We are coming to see that there is greater divergence within races than between them. We are coming to recognize as unintelligent a policy which ex- cludes people of one race without discrimination and admits people of another race without discrimination. Every race has its own superior traits, every people has its own peculiar gifts to bring to this nation in the making. Why not put them all on the quota basis and then apply our intelligence to the selection of promising immigrants from those who apply ? It seems probable that a hundred fifty Japanese per year would be less burdensome and might be vastly more profitable than a hundred fifty thousand Mexicans. We strain at a gnat and swallow a camel. Inter-racial antipathies and international misunderstandings are not innate and inherent, they are the fruits of false education. “They may be removed by true education. Our young people must be taught to judge people not by the color of their skin nor the slant of their eyes, but by their attitude in friendly cooperation and by their achievements in justice and beauty. It is my conviction that a generation so educated will turn its back upon racial discrimination as ignorant and offensive, and will devise personal tests of body and mind and character that will admit, in fair proportions from all races, men prepared to take a worthy part in this huge experiment in “government by the people” in these United States of America. Tue DeparTMENT or ApULT EDUCATION 309 SS eee eee SOME ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF IMMIGRATION ERLE FISKE YOUNG, PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. A very considerable part of history, as history is now coming to be under- stood, has to do with the movements of peoples. In no modern nation’s development is the movement of peoples more significant than in that of America. In the course of its settlement the original group, which was fairly homogeneous from the point of view of culture and race, were joined by a horde of later arrivals among whom were representatives of every important cultural and racial group. For well-known historical and natural reasons the tide flowed stronger from some quarters than from others. However, the earlier English settlers determined the fundamental character of the new nation as to language and tradition, social and political institutions and ideals. The assimilation, not as yet complete, of the heterogeneous mass of new- comers has been one of the most fascinating social phenomena of modern life. Despite the strain placed upon them by the variegated character of the more recent immigration, American institutions have remained char- acteristically those of the English-speaking peoples. Problems of immigration policy and administrative procedure are still very much to the fore in the discussion of the subject, whether by legis- lator, immigration official, Americanization teacher, or the immigrant him- self. Wide differences of opinion still occur regarding immigration policy and present methods of dealing with immigrants are far from standard- ized. ‘These conditions lead the social scientist to the conclusion that considerable further study of the phenomenon itself is needed. Indeed, from a scientific point of view it is very doubtful whether a satisfactory basis in valid facts can be shown for any of the current immigration policies and methods. Statesman, educator, social reformer, and immigrant leader alike still frequently appeal to prejudices, passion, and pride rather than to demonstrable fact and sound reasoning when they discuss this sub- ject. Controversy wages about every phase of the subject. Programs dealing with immigration problems are, therefore, frequently determined largely by the special interests of the promoters rather than by sound social considerations and by a knowledge of what it is possible to accomplish in view of the character of the social and economic forces at play. Unfortunately, the social scientist can as yet contribute relatively little to the discussion. ‘The problems are exceedingly complex and he has only recently turned his attention to them. However, certain major condition- ing forces can be discerned of which educational and other social policies and programs must of necessity take account. ‘These forces have pro- duced the phenomenon we call immigration and they determine the extent and rate of assimilation of immigrants into American life. Arbitrary acts of will are powerless in the face of such forces. The “ordering-and-for- bidding technic” to which so many have resorted is quite futile. 310 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION eee a ee Though the complex of motives which underlie the movement of peoples almost defies analysis, it is not difficult to discern the prime importance of the economic motive. In an increasing proportion of cases the immigrant has acted upon the desire to secure a larger share of economic goods and thereby to attain a higher plane of living. This is perhaps the most whole- some and rational aspect of immigration into America. An almost negligible proportion of our immigrants are fugitives from justice, adven- turers, ne’er-do-wells, or serious social misfits in their native lands. ‘The vast majority come because they hope to find here a better market for their labor and opportunities to enjoy the great material prosperity of America, hence they work steadily, acquire property, and participate actively in our daily life. Such difficulties as we have with immigrants do not arise from inherent weaknesses of stock, or vicious habits, or ulterior motives, but rather are to be attributed for the most part to cultural differences which generally are relatively easy to adjust. While it is easy to over-emphasize the economic motive, we cannot over- state the importance of thtee basic economic conditions: (1) America’s vast natural resources in climate, soil, minérals, fuels, forests, etc.; (2) the constantly expariding market for labor and goods in America, and (3) the influence of the new communicative technology. Many European countries are exporting enormous amounts of capital for enterprises located in far-distant colonies. “These undertakings are manned by native labor under the immediate control of a few European executives sent out specifically for that purpose. Thus, it has resulted that white European capital is associated with native colored labor in enterprises which lie at vast distances from the owners and controllers. Such a situation offers infinite opportunities for the economic exploitation of backward peoples and does not encourage their cultural development at the hands of their master-employers. In contrast with this situation, America, having her own resources and her own capital, has imported the labor necessary for economic exploitation. This has brought into her own midst millions of workers who represent the most divergent cultural backgrounds; a large part arrived as slaves, others as free laborers, but practically all were suffering at the time from economic and cultural handicaps which made their adjustment to Amer- ican life a serious problem. Both political idealism and practical common-sense, however, dictated the social policy that these workers should be permitted and encouraged— even required—to assimilate into the larger group and eventually assume the responsibility of citizenship. The great cost of their cultural assimila- tion is well repaid from the point of view of prudence, since experience has clearly shown that an educated, healthy, organized, efficient native- born population cannot retain these characteristics for long when in daily contact with an illiterate, diseased, disorganized, inefficient foreign-born element. The conditions of modern life render us all, native-born and THE DeparTMENT oF ApULT EpUCATION eal aoe ere ee ee es 2 ce foreign-born, highly interdependent. Disease, vice, and crime do not re- spect racial and social barriers; caste and class mean little to them. It has not always been easy, nor have we succeeded entirely, in reconciling race, class, and national prejudices with this hard law of social life. America has offered another basic economic condition which has had vast influence upon the process of assimilation: With the exception of short periods during and after wars the supply of labor in America has always been slightly (and only occasionally greatly) in excess of the de- mands of the labor market. That is, the workman in America through long periods of time has had to face the fact that there was a labor re- serve force in the form of men seeking employment whose labor could and would be substituted for his in case his efficiency fell too low. While this condition makes possible the exploitation of less intelligent workers at the hands of unscrupulous employers, on the whole it has had a most salutary effect upon all laborers who were competing in the market. Sharper individualized competition in the labor market and the absence of closed classes in America, together with the greatly increased efficiency of labor, have made possible a higher scale of living for the vast proportion of immigrants than they ever attained in their native land and have set for them a higher standard of living as an immediate economic goal. Educa- tion has been at once the means and the end in the struggle toward this ‘goal. It has increased the productive capacity of the individual and at the samé time has increased his consumption needs. “The immigrant has ac- cepted the social and economic values of America as his own and has thereby been swept into the rising tide of American life. This is one phase of that larger world-wide process of cultural interpenetration by which all peoples are being brought into one common economic and moral universe toward which modern life is so inevitably moving. Recent technological developments have greatly accelerated this process of cultural and economic integration. Communication is rapidly becom- ing world-wide and instantaneous owing to the appearance of a long series of space and time annihilating mechanisms and new communication devices. In view of such vast social forces we are driven to believe that assimila- tion is not merely possible, it is inevitable. For small groups and in restricted areas the process may be delayed, but not for long. We may ease the strain upon our institutions but not avoid it entirely. Nor need we fear that it will be too long delayed. Our present proposals and plans to hasten and control this process seem weak indeed alongside such tre- mendous forces which are making for assimilation. On the other hand, many attempts to hasten the process seemingly over- look the fact that assimilation is a natural social process, and like many somewhat analogous natural biological processes, there is a step-by-step development requiring a certain lapse of time for its proper unfoldment. ‘Many of the immigrant autobiographies and literary case histories recently 312 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION published throw light on this as yet little understood sequence. What- ever may be our special professional interest in the immigrant, a study of such human documents is highly important. ‘They reveal the more impor- tant aspects of the process as it occurs in the experience of the individual immigrant. Each immigrant arrives in America with a mental picture of the new land and frequently with well-defined expectations. Usually this picture is a mosaic of returned immigrant tales, newspaper accounts, and the literature of transportation companies, shot through with his own wishes and aspirations. Only too frequently these preconceptions are elaborated into an Eldorado myth little less rosy than the dreams of the old Spanish adventurers. The language difficulty compels him to seek out his own people; hence he goes to live in the Ghetto or Little Italy, as the case may be. “There life is much like that of the homeland and he can carry on much as before, were it not for the necessity of selling his labor. Employment (except low paid sweat shop work) almost invariably throws the newcomer in contact with American ways. He must learn the language and dress the part, since his foreign tongue and outlandish dress are immediately noticed and he is dubbed “greenhorn.”’ He thereby loses social status and also economic status, since he must accept unskilled labor, whatever his previous training may have been. Then follows generally a most agonizing period during which he strug- gles with English idioms, learns a new set of conventions, new food habits, and learns to wear American dress. His roseate dreams of an easy life are badly shattered, for along with low wages, hard work, and the strug- gle to learn new ways goes the loss of social status and in a very real sense loss of personality. America has little appreciation of his traditional atti- tudes, his customary ways of doing things, and his Old World ideals. At this stage many an immigrant seeks to free himself from the incubus of his social heritage. He speaks only English, associates only with the more fully Americanized and tries to pass as a native-born American at the earliest possible date. Yet when he seeks to slough off Old World atti- tudes, ideals, manners, speech, and behavior, he finds that they are literally a part of his flesh and blood. Therefore his behavior is hesitant and awk- ward, he makes himself ridiculous in the eyes of others and is continually embarrassed. Language, gestures, manners are deeply rooted in the vocal organs, in his muscles, and tendons while traditions, ideals, opinions are rooted in his memory. To master a new accent may well require years of conscious effort; to accept and act upon American values requires con- tinued personal experiences and not mere rote-learning. Only younger immigrants escape the full severity of this struggle. For the older immigrant it is doubtful whether complete assimilation ever occurs. “The American experiences are necessarily engrafted on the Euro- pean. Only among his own people can he find those who fully understand THe DeparTMENT oF ADULT EDUCATION 313 ee eee ee ee ee him and accept him without reserves. His hyphenated state is unavoid- ,able and cannot be changed by any amount oi oath-taking, however sin- cere. Intimacy, warm personal relations, are exceedingly difficult to attain except among his own people and America may well remain in many ways a closed book to him, an abstraction. For well-established psychological reasons he seldom becomes American in the sense in which his American- born children do. The process, of course, reaches its culmination when intermarriage brings about not only fusion of cultures, but racial amalgamation. This is necessarily a very much slower, but a much more effective method than immigrant education. However, pronounced differences in racial traits may be an almost insuperable barrier to racial amalgamation while it merely delays cultural fusion. In the drama of the “melting pot” there are forces which keep its con- tents at the fusing point and internal resistances within the contents which retard fusing. “These forces are great natural social and economic forces which are only in part under our immediate control. Our plans must, therefore, take fuller cognizance of them, if we are to check the economic and social wastage now associated with our programs and methods of immigrant assimilation. A FEW OUTSTANDING EXAMPLES OF ADULT EDUCA- TION UNDER STATE AND.LOCAL PUBLIC SCHOOL AUSPICES MRS. AGNES M. BACON, STATE DIRECTOR OF AMERICANIZATION, PROVIDENCE, R. I. Modern civilization is making continually increasing demands upon the individual due to the remarkable changes taking place in the social, eco- nomic, and industrial organization. The time for preparation in youth is strictly limited, and changes have occurred in modern development which could not have been foreseen in the life of a normal individual. It follows that there must be a continual readjustment to a constantly changing environment, and the readjustment involves the acquisition of fresh knowledge and new habits. These are both the products of education, hence education must be a continued process, it must be continued beyond youth to meet the demands of the times. It follows that an educational program that stops with the education of children and youth is and must be incomplete. A reasonably complete educational program would include abundant opportunities for the education of adults. The following examples of adult education programs conducted in several states are merely suggestive of large possibilities. Herewith, are presented a very few of the outstanding programs of various state departments of adult education. 314 NATIONAL EpuCATION AssocIATION State of Rhode Island Adult Education Program—For fifty years the state of Rhode Island has carried on a program of adult education with the thought that there should be liberal opportunity for classes in which there would be provided instruction for all groups of peopie—more particularly perhaps in those classes attended by working men and women. All schools in the state are open to adults. No person is excluded. Everything is free. There is adequate state support for general evening schools which include elementary and high school classes. Under the provisions of the American- ization law which makes compulsory the attendance of persons 16 to 21 years of age who do not meet the requirements of the law, adequate provi- sion is made for persons over 21 years of age who attend Americanization classes. Massachusetts Adult Education Program—In addition to the outstanding prograin of adult alien education conducted in the state of Massachusetts fot which the state paid $170,000 as reimbursement to local school com- mittées last year, and in a five year period more than 100,000 alien men and women have learned English in school, factory and home classes, is another outstanding accomplishment in adult education the university ex- tension work conducted by the state department of education. Since its establishment in January, 1916, 255,512 have been enroled in correspon- dence courses and in class courses. For the year 1925-1926, 569 different classes with 29,756 adult students enroled were conducted in 66 cities and towns. Thé average age of students in correspondence courses is 28 years and in class courses is 33 years. During the past year the city of Springfield; Massachusetts, had a total enrolment of 3016 students in class courses. State of Connecticut—Recent legislation, Senate Bill 94, recteates the division of adult education, which in addition to the splendid program of adult alien classes will be under the direction of the state director of adult education. Sections 1 and 2 are as follows: SecTION 1: The state board of education shall establish a division of adult education and appoint a director thereof, who shall receive such salary as may be fixed by the board and his necessary traveling expenses. SecTION 2: The school committee of any town designated by the state board of education may appoint, subject to the approval of said board, a director of adult education, whose compensation shall be fixed by the state board of educdation, and one half of such cofipensation shall be paid by said board, provided no such payment by said board shall exceed fifteen hundred dollars per annum. State of New York—The courses offered in New York state for the training of teachers engaged in adult education, and the spécial course of study published by the Interstate Bulletin which was prepared by a com- mittee of New York teachers are distinctive aids in the work of adult education. Buffalo offers a fine type of city wide correlation with all forms of adult education, It has an adequate program that is complete and efficient. The Tuer DeparRTMENT OF ApULT EpUcaTION 315 Carnegie Corporation selected Buffalo as its second city for study. The city of Cleveland, Ohio, being the first to be studied. The city of Roches- ter with its special plan of training and supervision in home, evening and tactory classes makes a distinct contribution to the work of adult education. The Neighborhood Teacher’s Association of New York City assists materially the work of adult education in that it sponsors the teaching of mothers in homes and neighborhoods. ‘Twenty full time workers reach more than 2500 women annually. There is a budget of $40,000 annually appropriated for this most important work which is organized and super- vised by a state specialist assigned to the committee. Detroit's Program of Elementary Education—In Detroit, elementary classes and grades for the foreign-born are conducted in 33 schools and 12 other extension centers such as libraries, settlement houses, recreation buildings, ete. High school classes including cultural, scientific and voca- tional subjects are held in 12 schools. ‘There is a standard course of study; definite units of achievement, high school and elementary standards main- tained to parallel the day school requirements with the transfers and ctedits interchangable. There is close cooperation with library service, health departments, recreation workers, women’s clubs, social workers of many denominations, etc. Nurses from the city health department take special methods course in educational activities at Detroit teachers’ college. There is continuous scientific research in the fields of methods and content material for foreign-born classes and grade classes both colored and white. Only trained teachers are employed and the minimum requirements are a state life certificate plus specialized training. Eleven completed studies have been made by the department of adult education. In conclusion it would seem that the things most needed in any state where it is hoped to successfully carry on a complete program of adult education are the following: 1. Generous financial provision for adult education 2. Two types of legislation a. Permissive legislation in states in which public functions are limited unless expressly authorized by statute. ar b. A gradual trend toward a mild type of compulsory legislation to cover situ- ations in which the individual falls short of attaining to high standards of public welfare. 3. A realization that the following principles must apply: a. Working men and women must be provided with convenient school facilities, b. The decision as to the course of study must be left to the adults themselves. c. Teaching working men and women involves special problems which require that special training be provided for teachers of adults. d. State and local school superintendents have the opportunity to educate the general public regarding the need of a well supported program for adult educa- tion, and that they should recognize their responsibility in this important matter on the basis of raising the standard of citizenshin, 316 NaTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION WHAT THE LIBRARY CAN DOIN ADULT EDUCATION JUDSON T. JENNINGS, LIBRARIAN, PUBLIC LIBRARY, SEATTLE, WASH. Seventy million dollars a year is being paid into the coffers of cor- respondence schools conducted for profit, by 1,500,000 persons who are seeking to extend their education. In Milwaukee 42,000 grown persons are attending classes or belong to study groups. In New York City 1100 working men and women attended lectures on psychology for twenty consecutive weeks. In Chicago, in 1923, the public library announced a special advisory service for serious readers and have ever since been swamped by the demand. In Tennessee, Cora Wilson Stewart opened moonlight schools, or classes for illiterates in 50 country schools. They expected about 150 students, 1200 came. These are a few evidences, taken at random, to show that thousands— yes, millions—of Americans are reaching out for further information and knowledge; for a better understanding of life and its problems. Various attempts have been made to define this movement, which we call ‘adult education,” but its boundary lines are vague and definition is dificult. To some it means the teaching of reading to illiterates; to a few it means the Americanization of the foreign born; to others, it signifies vocational training; but adult education goes far beyond all these. ‘To quote further from the American Library Association report on “Libraries and Adult Education,” the movement is based upon a recognition of the great truth that education is a life long process, and that the university graduate, as well as the man of little schooling, is in constant need of further training, inspiration and mental growth; that the training ob- tained in school and college is necessarily related to fundamentals and that the real development of the individual lies in the independent effort of later years. Those of us who have been studying this problem of adult education have been making certain discoveries, or perhaps uncovering old truths. The first truth is that education is a life long process and is not limited to school days. The second truth is that education is a drawing-out process, rather than a pouring-in process. Mark Hopkins says ‘“We hear much said about selfeducated men, and a broad distinction is made between them and others, but the truth is that every man who is educated at all is—and must be—selfeducated.” The third truth is that 68 percent of our school children never get beyond the eighth grade; that during those few years in school, reading is the chief thing they have learned, and that if their education is to carry on it must be largely through reading. The fourth truth is that books are fundamental tools in education. In books are preserved all the records of the race, all that the wisest men have thought and said and done. Books are becoming more widely used and THE DepartTMENT oF ApuLT EpucaTIon 317 more essential every day, even in our schools, and one of the teacher’s most important qualifications is to be a successful stimulator and guide in reading. The fifth and last truth is that a fundamental change has taken place in libraries during the last generation. The librarian’s function today is not to save books, but to serve books. Our best libraries are carefully selected collections, adapted to the needs of the people they serve and ad- ministered by people who know books and who know people, and whose greatest pleasure is to put the right book into the hands of the right person, at the right time. I am sure that you will agree that these five points indicate the important service which libraries may render in this field of adult education. A study made for the American Library Association and published last fall by the Macmillan Company suggests three definite things that libraries can do: First, they can establish, at the library, an information service regarding local opportunities for adult students—listing and indexing facts about local classes, courses and lectures, so that anyone seeking such information may find detailed and accurate data. Second, libraries can make contacts with other organizations engaged in adult education, such as Y. M. C. A. classes and university extension courses, can study the book needs of their teachers and students, and en- deavor to supply these needs. One of the chiet weaknesses today in adult education is a lack of the necessary books. ; The third service that libraries may render is to individual students who are unable to join classes or who prefer to study alone. Their number is legion. It is for such students that a readers’ advisory service has been established in Chicago and in many other cities. The readers’ advisor must be an approachable person, of broad sympathies and with a wide knowledge of books. Her equipment will include a large collection of reading courses, a carefully selected collection of books and the ability to call to her aid the help of experts in various fields. Her method will be to interview, very tactfully, the prospective students ; she must secure informa- tion as to their occupation, ambitions, education and previous reading, after which she will prepare for each student a brief reading course, making full use of all the facilities available. ‘Che books listed in this course will be supplied to each student by the library without delay as he needs them. In working with boys and girls who have recently left school, librarians find that these young people often regard their education as finished and that they are exulting in their release from the bondage of the classroom. This is a serious indictment of formal education, and some remedy must be sought. The foundation work for adult education is largely in the hands of teachers and children’s librarians. There are four things that librarians hope to see done in our schools. First, modern methods of teaching reading must be more widely used. 318 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION a eh ak NN Ra The silent method, for example, produces speed in reading and authorities claim that the rapid reader gets a firmer grasp of the author’s meaning. Second, literature should be so taught that the student finds a growing delight in the beauty of thought and beauty of language that mark fine literature. Third, every school should have a well selected and growing library where students may browse freely and acquire voluntarily a taste for books and the habit of reading. Fourth—and last—some means must be found of convincing the student that his education merely begins in the schoolroom—that while in school he is learning to use a set of tools with which he may later construct his own education edifice. When the schools turn out students who know how to read, and who have acquired a love of reading, then the libraries can take over these young graduates and furnish the books through which they may educate themselves. Such cooperation as I have outlined between schools and libraries, the two great public agencies for development and culture, will make pos- sible their realization of the ideal of education—a life long process and an enduring happiness. THE ADULT MIND AND MODERN DEFICES FOR TEACHING A LANGUAGE ELAINE SWENSON, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WASH. When Edward Bok took over the Ladies Home Journal he offered a series of prizes to his readers for the best articles on what they wanted in the Ladies Home Journal or what they thought was wrong with the jour- nal. From the information he gained in this way he set about giving his readers not only what they wanted and what they thought it was possible to get, but something better. It is to this policy that Bok credited his success with the magazine. He always told his employees, “Give the people more than they ask for. That’s what they want.” You, too, always want more than you ask for. That is, you would want it if you knew it were possible to get it, and you would be grateful when you got it, for gratefulness comes from getting more than you expect. Now if, instead of being what you are, you were the students with whom you are dealing, you would still want more than you ask for, more than you think it is possible for you to get, or indeed for anyone else to obtain, and you would be grateful for receiving it. Now you, as this adult student, would come to school expecting certain things. The more education you had had in your childhood the more definite would be your idea of that which the school could give you of those things which you felt you needed, and the more definite would be your demand for them. THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EpuCATION 319 If, however, in childhood you had had little schooling or none at all, or did not know the English language, the stimulus which would bring you to school would be a vocational one. You would come in order to learn to read and write because you needed these skills in your work. Yet, also, there would be some slight feelings of inferiority. On this first night you would look around the class, would wonder vaguely if these other people were aware of the inferiority which brought you to the school. ‘The idea might for a moment come that the other students were there for a similar purpose, but because you couldn’t be sure, you would discredit this idea and therefore forget that the others might be as inferior as you or even more so, and your feeling of inferiority would then increase. It would be only when the teacher got you to fraternize with the others that you would become less selfconscious of your inferiority so far as the class was concerned, and you would willingly take part in individual recitations. But were your teacher skilful and understood you, understood you better than you understand yourself, she would make you feel that you already knew a good deal, though you didn’t know how to apply it. And rightly too, for life would have taught you many things which could be of great value if brought together and put to use. When your teacher recalled these facts and ideas that you already knew, that you had picked up here and there in life, you would feel on familiar ground; you would get your bearings and become confident. When he went on to show you how these facts connected with each other and with the new organizing principles which he was trying to teach, you would have more pleasant feelings: you would feel that you were learning rapidly, that you were learning things which were valuable and that already you knew much that was worth knowing. And the result of this would be that you would find learning much easier and you would go at your work with a stronger will. But suppose that your teacher did not do this. Suppose that he kept you going over something you already knew even though he were discussing it from a slightly different point of view. ‘Then, unless it were brought up in relation to a wide truth which was new to you, you would be not merely bored, but probably a little disgusted as well. When you, this adult student, were a child you were absorbed in your task for its own sake, just as the teacher always is, because she has con- tinued to be a student. You did not count the cost of learning, you were not affected by the number of trials it took, provided that your interest was strong. You were thinking of your work, not of yourself. Now, as an adult student, you are different. You are very selfconscious. When there is something for you to learn, you count the cost of it. Your interest is in earning, not in learning. If the learning requires much practice, you find it terribly irksome and laborious. If you fail in a problem you feel terribly about it and you mark your stock down, away down. If your 320 NATIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION teacher gives you a project which takes a long time to complete you grow tired of it. You want always success, always quick success. When the teacher attacks a problem, she goes at once to the heart of it. But if you were given a school problem you would believe that you had to think it all through, every point of it, or, in other words, that you needed a complete new set of habits or Stimulus-Response bonds. But when you tried to make new Stimulus-Response bonds you would get into all kinds of trouble because you already had a stock of bonds relevant to the problem, and an old bond once established cannot be reestablished as a new one without first being broken and that is a most difficult and impractical thing to do. You really would know how to work out most of the problem if you went at it quickly and could let the Stimulus-Response bonds you already had operate without thinking (i. e. below the level of consciousness). But you would think where you needn’t think, and so you would blunder and then become selfconscious, and have painful feelings. And the more ad- vanced you were as a student and so the more able to think, the greater would be the likelihood that you would think where you need not, and therefore blunder. And even if you were a college graduate trying to learn a new language you might for this very reason find yourself beaten by someone with less brains than you. Let us consider now another phase of the problem. You can cut down the time of learning a language not only by making a study of the adult and of the learning process, but also of the language itself. I have found that the devices useful in teaching the intellectual aspects of the language, in teaching words, idioms, and ideas, are of no use at all in teaching the emotional expression: of the language, that: is, rhythm, in- flection, stress, and structure. The ideas given spoken expression in ordinary life are for the most part conveyed through the first five hundred words most commonly used, as found in the Thorndike count, and this should be the fundamental vocabu- lary in beginning language teaching. In teaching this fundamental vocabulary and that part of the language which is intellectual, I very much disagree with what is called the direct method. Around the direct method have gathered a large number of de- vices which are not the direct method properly so called. These devices have contributed much more to the success of the method than the method itself, but the method has received the credit. The direct method is essentially the learning of a language without trans- lation. Its description can be boiled down to the procedure of presenting new vocabulary, idioms and the like, and the devices used to secure com- prehension. ‘The order of presentation of words is for the student to hear the word, say it, comprehend it, read it, write it, and use it at any time after comprehension. ‘The devices for securing comprehension chiefly talked about are the drama and picture methods. Although the association of THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 321 ideas has played a great part in securing comprehension, the adherents of this school have not given it much consideration. Of the direct methods the two principal types are the Gouin and the Berlitz methods, of which the former is far the superior on psychological grounds. Consider the physical equipment you have for learning a new word and you can easily see the fallacy of the direct method. While your ear is busy taking in the new word your eye is wandering about the room, bring- ing into your brain impressions having nothing to do with those brought in by the ear. And you are usually accustomed to paying more attention to eye than to ear sensations. Also, the ear is much less analytical than the eye. he impressions coming from it are much less accurate than those coming from the eye, and the sound stimulus is intermittent—it does not last. But if the student first sees the word and copies it, he is forced to analyze it and perceive it accurately, over a continuous period of time. “Then when he hears the word, he knows what to listen for, and his oral analysis is quickly and accurately made. So far I have been considering a purely intellectual process. But a word is not only an intellectual concept, it is felt. It is used in any in- tellectual context and an emotional setting. [hat part of the language which is emotional calls for very different procedures and devices. If it were possible to evolve a system of thoroughly teaching the emo- tional aspects of the language below the level of consciousness, a great saving over present practices would be effected. Of these aspects let us first consider the teaching of rhythm, which is the regular recurrence of either stress or inflection which you can easily detect if you try to tap regularly while you are speaking or listening. ‘This rhythm is like a measure in music. In my own teaching I direct my class like an orchestra, as they speak or read in concert, and in most of my own speaking employ some bodily movement stressing the spoken rhythmic units. As soon as my class requires a feeling for this rhythm I call their atten- tion to it intellectually. I proceed in teaching rhythm, intonation, stress, order, and the structural elements all in the same way—first by giving an emotional experience, and then by giving an intellectual exposition of it. There is a natural order for the words and the ideas in an English sen- tence for which order, stress, rhythm, and intonation are determining fac- tors. ‘This natural order contains the most typical or frequent intonation, stress and rhythmic patterns. It is the existence of these patterns which en- ables us to guess the missing words in imperfectly heard speech, to read rapidly with comprehension, to catch atmospheres, as in poetry, and these patterns actually convey more meaning than the words themselves. When I had discovered the value of having the students use such rules and of then understanding the rule I set about analyzing the process according to which I myself employed speech. Obviously, of course, I was not consciously following any rules whatever. I had never studied a gram- 322 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION A mar book until after I had obtained my bachelor’s degree. As a result in addition to these rules I discovered trick explanations for such difficulties as the foreigner has in knowing when to use “the” and when to use Sat? or when to use ‘“‘was” and not “has been.” In all teaching, whether the teaching of children or adults, you have to study the person you teach, the thing you are teaching, and the best way of teaching it to the kind of person you have to teach. You will find much tradition has grown up about all three of these things, and this tradition will often stand in the way of your facing reality directly. All you who teach, if you will but look your problem squarely in the face and make your own analysis, can make discoveries which will be invaluable to your fellow educators and to yourself. TESTS FOR PROGRESS IN ADULT ALIEN AND NATIV/E- BORN CLASSES ETHEL SWAIN, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. Before we discuss tests for progress in adult alien classes, we must establish the relation of English classes for adult aliens to the whole adult education program and so know to what goals these classes are progressing. The purpose of English classes for adult aliens is to give the student the command of a tool, as it were, so he may go to work at a trade or pro- fession or art which depends upon the skilful use of this tool, Of course, the student is eager to become skilful in handling this tool—English—just as quickly, directly and effectively as possible. However, at the same time he is gaining this necessary command of his tool, may he not get ideas and ideals that he may accomplish with his tool? Any English class which gives only a command of English is truly narrowly vocational. It lacks. the imaginative, exploring, inspiring qualities that make for real adult edu- cation. . Or we may designate English classes for adult aliens as classes offering an opportunity to make up a deficiency—an English deficiency. Many students have other deficiencies; as, a deficiency in arithmetic or in ele- mentary science; but until they have made up the English deficiency, they are not ready to attack other deficiencies. It.is clear enough what are our purposes and; what we would accom- plish in beginning English classes. We are to give students an ability to meet in clear, direct spoken English his ordinary daily needs. The entire emphasis in this class is on spoken English. The student is ready to advance to the high beginners’ class when he has simple-sentence com- mand of a vocabulary of some 350 words, an ability to use the present and past tenses of commonly-used verbs (especially the verb to be), commonly- used prepositions and the use of the personal pronouns. Students should not remain too long in the low beginners’ class, probably not longer than the time required to complete 25 lessons taught by the dramatic theme and THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 323 pictorial method with splendid structure drill to give free command of the vocabulary taught. Students who do not speak English are constantly be- ing received into this class. Students are pushed on to the high beginners’ class and allowed to remain there longer. This constant advancing of students will probably keep the low beginners’ class small. This is most desirable as it will allow the teacher time for “First Nighters.” The teacher of high beginners can handle more successfully larger groups, even two groups. Intermediate students enlarge their vocabulary quickly and independ- ently. Words are like magnets and attract more words. However, these students need much oral drill in the correct use of this rapidly enlarging vocabulary. In intermediate classes still the emphasis is on spoken English. Students have sufficient command of English to meet their daily needs. Now they want power to gain an understanding of their immediate en- vironment so they may feel a part of it and can take that part in English. ‘They are not yet interested in abstract government and the remote past, but in the new vibrating present about them. Keep in mind that foreign students are not going to have an opportunity to talk with and know Americans unless they are able to talk about those things the Americans are discussing. The advance English class is not a reading class, but could well take its name from the title of Sheffield’s book—‘‘Joining in Public Discussion.” It is a class in informal public speaking. Students want training in organ- izing their thinking in English, in outlining their talks, in standing on their feet and thinking and speaking in English, in challenging each other’s think- ing and in defending their own views. ‘Chey want to know how to begin a talk, how to make talks for special occasions; as, nominating speeches, introductions of speakers, etc. A quiet, bookish class is not meeting the test. A class with some resemblance to the group found in the village grocery store may be more truly meeting the test. A class in which all contribute to the discussion, in which all take from the discussion, in which all are gaining the power to think clearly and straight in English and to express themselves accordingly, in which the teacher is a leader or chairman rather than a teacher, is meeting the test. Some advanced class teachers follow the science series plan of a nightly series of lessons on a given topic; as, American history, American business ways, new inventions, modern verse, elements of social science, what-not. It is a short-unit, as it were, of probably some ten lessons to be followed by another series. Other teachers and classes prefer to follow what might be called the college-plan of following two or three series, each one evening a week. If foreign students are to find themselves prepared for the other classes that our whole adult education program is offering, they must be able to express their thoughts clearly, directly and effectively in English—both oral and written. Do our advanced students meet this test ? 324 NATIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION A DIFFERENT TECHNIC FOR BEGINNERS’ CLASSES—THE DETROIT METHOD NINA J. BEGLINGER, DETROIT TEACHERS COLLEGE, DETROIT, MICH. It is no news, to you who are leaders, that the chief criticism of teachers working under our direction is that they often do not know what we want them to do or if they do know, that they have no definite reason to believe that our details are especially valuable. Personally I have searched far and wide for validation and measurement of methods used and up to a very re- cent date found nothing whatever except applied theory pure and simple. Theory may be effective when it is applied or it may be disastrous. I be- lieve that in education we have no more right to use unrestrained theory than in any other scientific field. All this leads us to the fact that we should know what we want— in what degree we want it—and how to get it—in our beginners’ classes. Roberts method and Roberts material were in use, and Detroit had spent much money in books and special instructional material of this type. F. S. DeGalan was and still is the administrative chief of the department. His title is now Assistant Director in Charge of Summer and Evening Schools and before I proceed further, let me say that it is due to his policy of patient progress and his support of efficient advancement that the pres- ent condtion of our evening schools has been made possible. Not until 1919 was there an instructional supervisor appointed permanently. The equipment of our plant was as stated. Mr. DeGalan brought his experience of twelve years as an educator and administrator in evening schools. The instructional supervisor with ten years experience, five years in teaching adults and twenty-two months in charge of English of the 85th and 14th Division respectively of the U.S. army. There has been a marked difference in the situation lying almost wholly within the instructional program. ‘The administration has been of a con- sistently high quality throughout. To the army experience was due a considerable research of value, cover- ing studies of methods in various sections and a final adaptation for army schools of whatever definite could be found, from any reliable source or sources. Several methods were studied, all well known today as theme method, dramatization, picture, and object methods, direct methods, phonetic method and other methods too numerous to mention. Out of this chaos an attempt was made to achieve order for we believe that order is Heaven’s first law and hence worthy of emulation. The first step was to sort and classify the methods at hand. These were none of them in themselves a complete process. “The problem presented itself somewhat as follows: To analyze—a language acquisition demands a unit of reading, writing, and speaking ability. In order of their greatest importance to the individual they are probably first—speaking; second—reading; third—writing. In order of their im- Tue DeEparTMENT oF ADULT EDUCATION 825 portance to civic life they present a different value. Personally I believe the ability to read on the part of a citizen is of far greater value civically than to be able to speak. In classes totaling 1003 students in training as teachers of adults this sequence as determined by class opinion manifested by vote has been— value as citizens—reading first 629; reading second 271; reading third 103. The value finally theoretically stated itself that talking came third, but that hear- ing and understanding would raise its importance if one could be sure that in- telligence were developed as it should be through the ability to read. The above rank order rating has been further verified by workers who are devoting their time and energy to develop reading and writing ability in the English speaking illiterate groups. Our civic problem then, is to teach adults to read, write, and speak in as nearly a balanced unit of ability as it is possible to achieve. Turning to our classes of methods we began to analyze each for its contribution toward the solution of the problem as stated, namely, to acquire the ability to read, white, and speak a language. It worked out somewhat as follows: each method proved to be in- complete as a method but extremely valuable in the entire problem as a device. Step by step we went forward through the chaos of methods classifying the various contributions according to their value in attacking the problem as a whole. The major function of the teacher had heretofore been the teaching of new words by saying, hearing, or seeing and the comprehension of the new words and their application. Once the analysis of the language was accom- plished the teacher was prepared to give the student such knowledge as would enable him to attack the problem of mechanical reading without assistance. using generdl principles. “This situation left the teacher free to concentrate upon comprehension and application. I will close with a summarization of what we in Detroit consider students rights and teacher rights. Students rights: . Definiteness . Skills to develop independent progress A carefully chosen vocabulary An immediate use of vocabulary to meet specific needs . A balanced unit of student activity to develop a balanced unit in language growth . A knowledge on part of teacher that learning a language is not a matter of reading, writing, or speaking, but all three 7. A specific coherence on progress from unit to unit . A definite check on achievement and progress 9. Some evidence of progress given to the pupil at his completion of a unit (certificate or passing slip) ; 10. A definite coherence between evening school advance and high school or vocational schools allowed in Detroit approximately 600 to graduate into high or vocational schools each year oo Teacher rights: 1. An analysis of the problem 2. A theoretical application of solution 3. An observation of theory in practice 4. A definite classification of devices 5. A validated comparison of sequence in presentation of new material 326 WATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION = —E a . A validated value of drills and their placement in problem . A validated value of devices each in its own province . A definite sequence in student achievement for each grade of advancement . Specific methods of checking their own effectiveness . A definite final goal to be reached . A means of determining when that goal has been reached pe OO OSI D — REPORT. OF THE COMMITTEE ON NATURALIZATION MARGUERITE H. BURNETT, WILMINGTON, DEL., CHAIRMAN During the past year, your Committee on Naturalization, consisting of Howard Bradstreet, Charles Finch, George Green, John W. Lewis, John J. Mahoney, Raymond F. Moley, Ethel Richardson, and Marguerite H. Burnett, continued its study. of naturalization and standards and proce- dure in the United States. This study covered practices and procedure under the existing laws and those contained in bills under consideration of the committees on naturalization in the House of Representatives and Senate. At a meeting held in New York City on December 5, 1926, the results of these studies were summarized and the following recommendations were made: Twenty years have elapsed since the passage of the present naturaliza- tion laws. During that time, the United States*has passed through a decade (1906 to 1916) of the largest immigration in the history of the country, the World War, and the adoption of a more or less arbitrary policy of restricted immigraticn. : Many new and difficult problems have arisen in the field of naturaliza- tion as a result of these experiences. The findings of the committee’s study indicate that the present and proposed naturalization laws fail to meet adequately the problem resulting from these changed conditions. Before any further action is taken regarding laws pertaining to naturalization and immigration, it is the opinion of the committee that a commission should be appointed by the United States Government to study naturalization and immigration as they exist today, and to make recommendations that would serve as a basis for naturalization and immigration laws consistent with the policies and conditions of the present time. It believes that the Department of Adult Education of the National Education Association should authorize its Committee on Naturalization to bring to the attention of Congress and the President the need for the appointment of such a commission, and to employ such means as the com- mittee may be able to command to secure the appointment of such a Com- mission. Inasmuch as 80 percent of the members of the Department of Adult Education are workers in the field of immigrant education who are ham- pered hy educational and social problems caused by deficiencies in the Tue DeparTMENT oF Aputt Epucation 327 ae ee ee present naturalization and immigration laws, the Committee feels that the request for the appointment of this Commission on Naturalization and Immigration is within the legitimate province of the Department ot Adult Education of the National Education Association. The members present at the meeting at which these recommendations were made were Howard Bradstreet, Charles Finch, John W. Lewis, John J. Mahoney, Raymond F. Moley, and Marguerite H. Burnett. REPORT OF THE COMMISSION ON COORDINATION IN ADULT EDUCATION The Commission on Coordination in Adult Education submits its report and recommendations herewith: Section I Origin and Purpose of the Commission The Adult Education Department of the National Education Association at its annual sessions in Philadelphia, June 28th-July 6th, 1926, passed the following resolution: “Whereas experience clearly shows that state aid is necessary for a successful program of adult education, Be it resolved, That this Department recommend to our state legislators that they provide adequate funds and take necessary steps to promote the cause of adult education in their respective states.” This resolution was subsequently adopted by the general organization of the National Education Association, making it therefore a part of its official program and policy. At the same session of the Department of Adult Education in which the above resolution was adopted, the chairman was authorized to appoint a commission to study the field of adult education in order to present a report on an articulated and coordinated program of adult education, appropriate for adoption by national, state, and local educational authorities. Subsequently this commission was ap- pointed and has held several sessions, supplemented by personal conferences and correspondence with others whose suggestions have been helpful. Section II Definition of Terms 1. Adult Education with exceptions herein noted, refers to education under public auspices for persons of maturity who, being engaged for a major portion of their time in other occupations, are devoting some time to educational pursuits. 2. By “education under public auspices” is meant education, irrespective of adininistration or control, maintained wholly or in part by public funds, derived from public appropriations, grants, gifts or subsidies. It includes facilities for foreign-born and native-born of all degrees of educational attainment, in schools of elementary, secondary and higher grade, vocational ahd technical schools, nor- mal schools, colleges, and universities at times and places most convenient for the attendance of persons of post-compulsory school age. 3, Education of any grade and character, under corporate or private auspices or for profit, is not included. 328 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Me ee eee 4. Such educational activities under public auspices resolve themselves into two classes: a. Those subject to direct public school administration. b. Those which lend themselves readily to coordinative and cooperative effort—such as normal schools, colleges and universities, libraries, art galleries, and museums. Section III General Principles 1. Any nation, whose life and destiny depends upon popular participation in government, cannot afford to tolerate less than a full functioning literacy. This in the United States means ability on the part of the electorate to read simple English understandingly as a minimum requirement, and requires adequate educa- tional facilities. : 2. It is as important for every community to provide educational opportunities for legally employed minors and for adults whose earlier educational opportu- nities have been restricted as for the more fortunate who are able to take ad- vantage of public day educational facilities. 3. In view of considerations of social policy and national welfare the United States, having encouraged and permitted people of foreign-birth to come and re- main as prospective citizens, owes to itself and to them educational facilities ap- propriate to and commensurate with their personal and civic needs. 4. Not age, but “the equalization of educational opportunity,” is the determin- ing factor in prescribing educational service to be offered under public auspices. 5. Adults undertake and pursue education volitionally when they consider it, worth their time and effort. Public educational policies and programs should be adopted and educational opportunities provided on the basis of discovered adult human needs and desires. Public educational administrators should seek to dis- cover what adults wish to learn. 6. Political needs in the United States require a system of continuous education throughout adult life to insure the preservation and development of our demo- cratic institutions. 7. Rapidly changing social and economic conditions require the development of a system of continuous education which will enable adults to adjust themselves to their changing environment. 8. Increased wealth and leisure resulting from increased productivity of the modern industrial system demand greater opportunities for the expression of per- sonality, the appreciation of spiritual values in living and the attainment of higher cultural interests. Section IV Local Policy and Practice A. Program and curriculum—1. Schools and classes for adults should be based on a socialized and humanized curriculum with social objectives and instruction. They should be motivated by social, industrial, and political ideals and by student participation in organization and activities. 2. Efforts should be made definitely to help individual men and women attain greater vocational skill; to employ leisure time wholesomely; to form helpful associations; and to find larger opportunities for personal growth and for ex- pression of broad cultural and civic interests. 3. Any community program of adult education under public school auspices requires the adjustment of program to discovered conditions and needs. THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 329 4. It should give recognition to the following types of educational service as needed: a. Elementary schooling—for illiterates, non-English speaking, and edu- cationally handicapped adults b. Secondary schooling c. Education of university or collegiate grade When needed it should also include in addition to formal types of education: neighborhood, home and factory classes; community centers, lecture centers and forums, clubs and other appropriate activities. B. Administration—1. In order to insure a coordinated and well-articulated program and to secure its effective direction and supervision under the local board of education, responsibility for its direction should be vested in one official who shall devote full or part time to such service and who should be selected and paid upon a basis comparable to that of specialists in other forms of public education. 2. In the selection and assignment of directors and supervisors of adult educa- tion the following qualifications should be considered: a. Professional training within the field of education and the social sciences b. Satisfactory experience in general educational administration, especially among adults c. Personality, special interest, attitude and special equipment for such service C. Finance—To provide adequate educational opportunities for resident adults and legally employed minors the local school budget should include funds sufficient to insure a program which in opportunity reasonably compares with that afforded in the regular day schools. D. Teachers—1. For such specialized and technical service among adults ade- quate training and appropriate certification should be required. 2. To assure a continuous supply of competent teachers, salaries should be on _a basis equivalent to that paid for regular day teaching, with appropriate com- pensation for loss of time incident to shorter sessions, distance and like consider- ations. E. Plant and facilities—1. Public school buildings belong to the community and they should be built for and used with equal freedom by children and adults. 2. Lighting, equipment, and materials should be provided appropriate for adults; and laboratories, shops, libraries, study-rooms, cafeterias and gymnasiums should be available to them. 3. In communities where public school facilities are inadequate to meet the complete needs of adults, but where supplementary facilities may be had in settlement houses, community centers, club rooms, Y. M. C. A.’s, libraries, et cetera, such facilities should be used on a cooperative plan. It should be noted, however, that special supervision and often special equipment are necessary for such educa- tional work to be conducted satisfactorily. Section V State Policy and Practice A. Legislation—1. All legislation affecting elementary or secondary education for adults should be framed with the intent of incorporating such educational activities as an integral part of the public school program of the state in order to avoid the ambiguities, inconsistencies, confusion and duplication which commonly result from special legislation. 2. Full legal provision authorizing local policy and practice as outlined in Section IV should be made. 330 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION The essentials of such legislation are suggested at least in part in the form of a “model bill” submitted as an appendix to this report. 3. Appropriate items for legislation should, among.other things, include: a. Appropriate state aid for instruction and supervision comparable to that for regular day schools b. Provision of adequate administrative and supervisory personnel to carry out suitable state-wide program of adult education c. State certification and training of teachers d. A state-wide minimum salary schedule for teachers among adults com- parable to that of regular day school teachers . A literary test law for new voters such as that of the state of New York . Enumeration in connection with regular day school enumeration of all residents 10 years of age and older who are functionally illiterate (i. e. unable to read a sentence in simple English with understanding). B. Administration—1. In order to insure a coordinated and well-articulated state program, and to secure its effective direction and supervision, résponsibility for its direction should be vested in one official devoting full time to such service with professional qualifications equal or superior to those of local directors and supervisors, (Section IV B, 2.) 2. The responsibilities of the state director of adult education should include the prepatation of courses of study particularly adapted to the needs of adults; direction of appropriate teacher training; determination of qualifications of teach- ers for certification; supervision and administration of state minimum standards; cootdination of related agencies within the scope of adult education heretofore indicated (see Séction Il); préparation of state bulletins and like service falling within the purview of such office. 3. Compensation of such service should be on a par with that of other positions of comparable responsibility. 4, Office facilities, equipment and personnel adequate for a full-functioning state program should be provided. eh OD Section VI Coordinated Organization for Adult Education A. Within the Public Education System 1. Local—a. In keeping with administrative policy, as indicated in Sec. IV, B, 1—various activities should be coordinated and integrated for largest passible efheiency. b. Types of activity falling within these limits may include ¢élemetitary and secondary evening schools; advanced schools and classes; day schools and classes for adults; public lectures and forums; ete. c. For adults who desire to pursue continued studies with possible completion of elementary, secondary, and higher schools appropriate methods and devices for certification and promotion should be adopted in grade and standard at least equal to that for regular day school pupils. d. All departments and divisions concerned with plant, equipment, supplies should be made to function equally for education among children and adults. e. Various educational activities carried on for and among adults, as to facilities opportunities, and program should be coordinative not competitive. ; fi Organizing, supervisory, and teaching service should be paid for, not on a competitive, unorganized, incidental basis of exigency ot expediency but upon one of special and professional qualifications and service within the field of adtilt edu- cation as a whole. THE DEPARTMENT OF ADULT EDUCATION 331 g. No greater distinctions should be made between various forms of adult education, as to character, grade or importance and service than are to be found ordinarily within the general school system. 2. State—In keeping with provisions of Section V, B, 1 and 2, with reference to state administration, and in furtherance of principles, policies and methods sug- gested in immediately foregoing recommendations relating to local coordination and integration, the following is both requisite to and logically results from well coordinated local effort: a. The coordinated organization, for administrative, supervisory and promotion purposes, of various bureaus, divisions, and departments, within state departments to the end that they may be complementary arid articulated; not isolated, com- petitive and non-cooperative agencies. b. The active, sympathetic and intelligent cooperation of various state ageiicies such as universities, normal schools, central and circulating libraries, demonstra- tion units, museums, agricultural experiment stations, state departments, visual education bureaus, et cetera, in any and all educational efforts among adults where state facilities, leadership, appropriations and other forms of state aid are available. B. Within the Community Depending upon size and character, local communities usually possess several agencies and organizations engaged in various forms of educational service among adults. Moreover, numerous state and national organizations and agencies offer many different kinds of educational opportunities and facilities. Some of these organizations and agencies, public, corporate and private, have mutual and overlapping activities; others with similar and parallel activities are not related or coordinated; others differ to the extent that large unfilled needs exist. Such agencies include: Public evening and extension schools and classes Public and other libraries Museums of art, science and industry Lecture courses Home and correspondence courses University, college and normal school extension service Public forums Cooperative schools Institutes and lyceums Duplication of effort and waste effort should be prevented through well articu- lated programs of local and state educational service. Cooperation for better and increased service should be developed. Definite forms of association and coopera- tion may be provided as follows: Suggested Steps Toward Coordination 1. Conference—Organization and development, under public educa- tional leadership, if possible, of local, state or sectional conferences or coun- cils representing all reputable and recognized organizations and agencies engaged in educational service among adults as suggested within this re- port. These conferences, councils or representative assemblies will serve to bring together individuals and organizations of like interests for mutual acquaintance, understanding and cooperation. 332 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION a es rr 2. Survey—Cooperative surveys in both urban and rural communities, when desirable, for information and guidance, to save both time and money. 3. Centralized information—Interchange of information and help among various organizations and agencies whenever possible and needed. In large communities the maintenance of a central clearinghouse or bureau. 4. Public responsibility—Recognition of this principle, to wit: That education for adults is a desirable form of education extension under public auspices, and that the chief responsibility for the education of adults as well as children is public. To supplement the service of public educa- tional agencies, private and quasi-public initiative, enterprise and effort are needed. But in the extension of all three forms of educational service among adults common ideas and ideals; cooperative, coordinated effort ; and clearly defined notions of interdependence and inter-responsibility are desirable. Miscellaneous Observations and Recommendations 1. The Commission welcomes the organization and establishment of the new American Association for Adult Education, which with allied local, state or sectional associations or councils may materially advance the possibilities of mutual effort and cooperation. 2. The Commission likewise recognizes the tardy development in the United States of coordinated efforts similar to those in various countries. It endorses the efforts of the World Association for Adult Education to bring all participating agencies in adult education throughout the world into closer association and fellowship. 3. The Commission believes that the Department of Adult Education of the National Education Association and the Association itself are ap- propriate agencies for the encouragement, under public auspices, of suitable kinds of education for adults. It recommends that, not only in depart- mental but in general meetings of the National Education Association, ap- propriate attention be devoted to the interests and problems of education for adults. 4. The Commission welcomes as co-laborer in this field of service the early appointment of a committee representing the Department of Superin- tendence of the National Education Association and extends to it all pos- sible cooperation. Commission on Coordination L. R. Alderman, Washington, D. C. Willie Lawson, Arkansas A. W. Castle, Pennsylvania C. S. Marsh, Buffalo, N. Y. Robert C. Deming, Connecticut Ethel Richardson, California Robert T. Hill, Chairman, New York City THE DeparRTMENT oF ADULT EpuCcATION 3353 ( SECRETARY'S MINUTES Seattle Meeting The Department of Adult Education of the National Education Association held three afternoon meetings in Moose Temple on July 5, 6, and 7. Robert C. Dem- ing, President, was in the chair. The average attendance was about one hundred fifty. In the business session the following four Committees were continued for the next year: Coordination in the Field of Adult Education; Naturalization Pro- cedure; Literacy Test in the 1930 census; Posters. The Committee on Coordination made an elaborate report which appears in the Proceedings, and the other three committees reported progress. The nominating committee presented the following slate of officers for the coming year: President—A. W. Castle, Director of Extension Education, Pennsylvania State Board of Education, Harrisburg, Pa. Vicepresident—Ethel Richardson, Assistant State Superintendent of Educa- tion in charge of Adult Education, Los Angeles, Calif. Secretary—C. S. Marsh, Dean of the Evening Session of the University of Buffalo, Buffalo, N. Y. Treasurer—Wil Lou Gray, Director of Adult Education, State Department of Education, Columbia, S. C. The secretary pro tem, C. S. Marsh, was instructed to cast a ballot for them and they were declared elected. The following Amendments to the Constitution were adopted: -Under “Objects”—Art. 1 Sec. 2—Adding “to promote all forms and grades of supplemental, extension, post-compulsory, school-age education under public aus- pices only, including facilities for illiterates, foreign-born and native, and evening schools of secondary or higher grade.” Under “Members”—Art. 2 Sec. 1.—Active members of the National Education Association who are engaged in full-time or part-time in the work of teaching, supervising or administering adult education above compulsory school age, and all persons who are engaged in preparing persons to do this work, are entitled to become active members of the Department of Adult Education upon the payment of the annual fee of one dollar. Every one who is interested in the education of the native or foreign-born adult will be welcome to all meetings of the Depart- ment, but only active members of the Department may participate in the business of the Department. Under “Officers”—Art. 3 Sec. 1—The officers of the Department of Adult Edu- cation shall consist of a president, vicepresident, a secretary, and a treasurer. At least two of these officers shall represent the problem of adult education. ‘They shall be elected annually at the last formal session of the Department to serve for one year, or until their successors are duly elected. No one shall be eligible to any office in the Department who is not an active member of the National Education Association, and no person shall hold the same office in the Depart- ment for more than two years in succession. ‘These four officers shall constitute the Executive Committee. Under “Election of Officers’—Art. 4 Sec. 2—The Committee on Nominations shall consist of seven members of the Department, two of whom shall represent both the native and foreign-born problem. At least three members shall reside east and three ‘west of the Mississippi River and no two shall reside in the same state. 334 NaTIONAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION eee a Ee ee The Committee on Resolutions presented the following report which was adopted: 1. This nation whose destiny depends upon popular participation in govern- ment, cannot afford to tolerate less than a full-functioning literacy. Be It Therefore Resolved—That the Secretary of Commerce be requested to secure in the 1930 census more usable information as to the extent of ability to read English with understanding in the United States. 2. Be It Further Resolved—That every community should provide evening schools for adults whose earlier educational opportunities have been inaccessible as well as for the more fortunate who are able to take advantage of public day facilities. 3. Be It Further Resolued—That every community make accessible to its whole population a maximum of educational opportunity since the individual who ceases the educational process ceases to be educated. 4. Be it Resolved—That this Department extend a vote of gratitude to the people and local organizations in Seattle, who by their interest and support have done so much to making our meeting a. success. ‘ 5. Be It Resolved—That special thanks be extended to Miss Elaine Swenson, of the University of Washington, for her most generous assistance at all times and in every manner to the Department collectively and to the members individually. 6. Be It Resolved—That we rejoice in the award of the Harmon prize of $1000 to Miss Ethel Richardson, in charge of adult education for the state department of education of California, who, in the opinion of the jury “made the most dis- tinctive contribution of the year 1926 to social or industrial welfare in the United States.” We commend the judgment of the jury of awards in selecting for this honor, this most worthy leader in the field of adult education, which means so much for mankind and is so essential for the strengthening of democratic government. 7. In view of the fact that twenty years have elapsed since the passage of the present naturalization laws, during which time the United States has passed through a decade (1906-1916) of the largest immigration in the history of the country, and since during these twenty years many new and difficult problems have arisen in the field of naturalization which the present and proposed natu- ralization laws fail to meet adequately. Be It Resolved—That the Department of Adult Education ,of the National Education Association shall authorize its Committee on Naturalization to bring to the attention of Congress and the President, before any further action is taken regarding laws pertaining to naturalization and immigration, the need for the appointment by the United States Government of a Commission on Naturaliza- tion and Immigration as they exist today, and to make recommendations, that will serve as a basis for naturalization and immigration laws consistent with the policies and conditions of the present time. 8. Be It Resolved—That the Department of Adult Education recommend to all its members the Interstate Bulletin, the official organ of the Department; and that in compliment to W. C. Smith of the New York state department of education for his success in making this Bulletin of indispensable value to ali workers in the field of adult education. The Department of Business Education HE DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS EDUCATION was created in response to a petition read at the meeting at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., July 12, 1892, from the Business Educators’ Association, re- questing admission as a department of the National Education Association. See Proceedings, 1892: 31. The Business Educators’ Association was organized in New York City in 1878. Its constitution was re- vised for acceptance by the Department of Business Education and may be found on page 958 of the Pro- ceedings of 1894. j The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Laurence N. Pease, Viceprincipal and Head of. Commercial Department, Stockton High School, Stockton, Calif.; Vicepresident, ©. EH. White, Head of Commercial Department, Garfield High School, Seattle, Wash.; Secretary, Francis M. Butts, Director of Placements, Business High School, Washington, D.C. This Department meets once each year in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier Proceedings as follows: 1893 :787-807 1894 :957-990 1895 :862-891 1896 :791-836 1897 :792-285 1898 :856-893 1899 :998-1031 1900 542-582 1901 :721-758 1902 644-702 1903 :719-753 1904 :709-737 1905 :669-707 1907 :877-905 1908 :871-907 1909 :701-719 1910 :833-873 1911 :827-869 1912 :1031-1095 1913 619-637 1914 :649-663 [336] 1915 :883-941 1916 :361-397 1917 :315-345 1918 :235-249 1919 :259-271 1920 :263-271 1921 :369-377 1922 :575-591 1923 :553-568 1924 :429-439 1925 :354-365 1926 :371-391 SOME TENDENCIES IN COMMERCIAL EDUCATION— ABSTRACT JOHN J. TIGERT, UNITED STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. OCATIONAL efficiency is an important factor in social happiness. Com- mercial teachers are responsible for the appropriate preparation of future industrial leaders and workers. On this preparation will de- pend, to a large extent, the degree of efficiency of our commercial and in- dustrial life. ; The present tendencies and future program of so important a phase of education deserve most careful consideration. Commercial education and all other integral phases of education rest upon the same basic sciences and principles. Each must carry a dual responsibility. During the school life of each child there must be those integrating forces necessary for the unity of life. These forces are the basic elements of the phases of educa- tion necessary for good citizenship. A full appreciation of the potential contribution of the field of commercial education in an age characterized by its economic aspects has never been fully cultivated. Responsibility for objective studies of the economic and business factors necessary or desirable for better citizenship rests with the social sciences. [he other phase of the contribution to good citizenship pertains to efficient production. The outstanding tendencies of commercial education center around scientific curriculum revision. [The operation of the laws of economics are bringing about a closer adjustment of commercial education to the needs of business: ‘There is an effort to clarify and harmonize the immedi- ate and remote vocational objectives to meet these needs. The various oc- cupational and personnel studies, together with job analyses, tend to place an emphasis on the primary vocational objective. Refinements of these studies have led to a tendency toward standardization of office work, par- ticularly in the large industries, and have developed in the classrooms the concept of occupational levels. “The tendency toward research in the vari- ous school subjects is one of the most promising developments for immediate adjustment to classroom practice. Commercial teacher training is receiv- ing increased attention, and the standards for certification are being raised. Attention is directed to an experiment of supplementing the commercial curricula by correspondence handled cooperatively with the extension di- vision of the state universities or other agencies. If the experiments, which are being conducted in a number of states, prove successful, such cooperative plans may liberate vocationally many of our secondary pupils. In all schools the number of commercial subjects and the amount of ad- vanced work in each subject are limited by many factors. This plan, how- ever, provides for a wider range of commercial subjects and sequences of advanced work than is at present possible. Heretofore, it has been neces- sary to organize classes to meet the outstanding needs, but this medium may enable us to make a closer adjustment to the individual needs. [337] 338 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Commercial teachers must keep in close touch with the needs of business men. ‘The teachers need their cooperation throughout the entire cycle— vocational information, guidance, vocational training, placement and fol- low-up. The business men need the teachers’ cooperation in placement and extension education. QUALIFICATIONS EXPECTED OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PUPILS FOR ADMISSION TO BUSINESS—ABSTRACT J. H. MCCLURE, ASSISTANT CASHIER, SEATTLE NATIONAL BANK, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON Every business man employing qualified students about to enter business requires the individual to be absolutely honest, courteous, and loyal. He must demonstrate these characteristics to his employer and to those with whom he comes in contact in the performance of his daily duties. The young man or woman who would accomplish most must be am- bitious and energetic, with an ambition to grow in ability by becoming thoroughly acquainted with the details of their duties, and be eager for work and eager to do it right. Throughout their business course it should be the purpose of the student to cultivate and develop a strong personality by means of attention to dress, neat personal appearance, and desirable personal habits. It is undoubtedly true that all subjects given students in high schools materially assist in training the individual to think and concentrate. This is particularly important in after life, as the ability to focus attention upon the subject or problem at hand without becoming easily distracted is in- valuable. Young people should be taught to learn the value of concentra- tion and stick-to-it-iveness, since the student with these desirable qualities developed has an excellent foundation on which to build his business training. Initiative is an essential characteristic to success, and the individual with it does not require constant supervision, but may be depended upon to conscientiously apply his time to various duties. Punctuality is absolutely necessary in every line of business; if one em- ployee is not on time he may be inconveniencing several others. The student must be willing to accept instructions and follow them promptly and properly, and develop an incentive to do a little more than his share of the work. If the student could determine what line of work he desires to follow it would enable him to concentrate on that particular line of endeavor. Students should receive thorough instruction in grammar, business Eng- lish, and mathematics in order that they will retain and be able to use the knowledge after leaving school. They should also be impressed with the necessity of living within their means no matter what their income, and be encouraged in thrift. THE DeparTMENT oF Business EDUCATION 339 THE RELATION OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION TO BUSINESS TRAINING IN ESTABLISHING SUCH QUALIFICATIONS J. A. BEXEL, DEAN, SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CORVALLIS, ORE. I am justified in emphasizing (1) that certain special personal qualifica- tions are necessary to insure success in business; (2) that it is of utmost im- portance to discover such qualifications in the prospective business man or woman; (3) that such discovery is of even greater importance to the pub- lic than it is to the individual. It is interesting to note that one of the earliest discussions of the so-called scientific management occurs in con- nection with education. Thirty years ago, J. M. Rice started a real movement toward measurements in education for the purpose of discover- ing exact results and vocational aptitude. All public education, in the first place, must be a development of higher citizenship, and, in the second place, a training for individual business success. Hence, the emphasis placed of late, even in the high schools, on the social sciences, including civics, history, law, and economics. Admit- tedly, they have a powerful influence in molding leadership. Usually something like a third of the entire course is devoted to such cultural subjects as English, mathematics, science, and so forth. The most important qualifications for business leadership are: Unques- tioned character, lofty ambition, pleasing personality, clean habits, ex- emplary living and conduct, efficiency in one or two technical lines of work, a good general education, ability so to conduct his personal busi- ness as to maintain a prospective high standard of living, and to manage his business successfully. All these with industry, dependability, adapt- ability, tact, cheerfulness, good memory, neatness, vision, and courage. In all our discussion about education in general, and commercial educa- tion in particular, there are only a few things which we know with abso- lute certainty. One thing is that we live in a world of change. Para- doxical as it seems, there is nothing more permanent than change. ‘The successful business man of today must ever be alert to the changes of the times, and must not hesitate to change methods and practices whenever the occasion demands it. Failure to do so will leave him hopelessly behind, and the result will be disaster, not only to the individual, but to society as a whole. A second fact has come to be generally recognized. Most of our busi- ness as well as social ills are traced to ignorance. One of the important functions of the school is to discover truth and to correct errors of the past. Unless the student has the qualifications and the training for the solution of fundamental economic and sociological problems, there is little excuse for spending public money on his education, especially beyond the high school. ‘The social sciences must receive increasing emphasis if our busi- ness training shall be sound. It is the function of the school to discover 340 NATIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION oe aaa eee such talents in the prospective young business man and woman, and when discovered to develop them and direct them into useful channels. There is a third fact that no one will dispute. I will call it the law of adaptability. This has been recognized from the earliest dawn of his- tory. The parable of the talents puts the law in its simplest form. The prinicpal function of the school is not vocational guidance, nor technical training, nor yet training for citizenship, but the development of hidden talents, drawing out latent possibilities which exist in every indi- vidual, waiting for the stimulating spark which should be kindled in the school. The opposite, unfortunately, sometimes happens; the spark of the genius is extinguished, initiative, enthusiasm, and creative ability are some- times lost in educational routine and non-essentials. What has been said may be summed up in a few sentences: (1) It is a function of the school to cooperate with the parents and employers in dis- covering the talents and traits which lie hidden in every child. (2) This analysis of traits and qualifications should begin at the earliest age pos- sible. (3) It is the duty of the school, not only to discover the surface qualifications essential to business leadership, but to develop and strengthen the weaker traits or bring to the surface hidden qualities. (4) This process of analysis may often be aided materially by the pupil himself, by judicious self-examination and guidance. (5) Once discovered, it is the duty of the school to develop and train the child to a higher degree of efficiency and more useful citizenship, by sympathetic encouragement, wise counsel, and proper course of study. PROGNOSTIC TESTS AS 4 DETRIMENT IN COMMERCIAL EDUCATION GUIDANCE—ABSTRACT WILLIAM O. PROCTOR, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIF. The topic assigned to me for discussion relates to the possibility of developing tests that will foretell the aptitude of certain persons for the various business vocations. The purpose being to encourage those who have such aptitudes to take the necessary business training, and to direct those who do not seem to have such aptitudes into other lines of work. If such tests could be developed it would mean a great saving of time and ef- fort upon the part of those who spend months and years in preparatory training only to find at the last that they are not adapted to the type of work for which they have been specially trained. For those having the desired aptitudes time and energy would be conserved because they would be enabled to discover early in their training course the particular type of business or clerical work for which they were best fitted and could con- centrate on the type of business education which would most quickly fit them for their vocation. } It will be noticed that I have said “if such tests could be developed.” That form of statement was used advisedly, for while much experimenta- THE DEPARTMENT OF Business EDUCATION 341 tion has been carried on for the past 25 years, and particularly in the past 10 years, the results are not yet positive enough to warrant the statement that we have arrived. At the outset we should distinguish between “trade tests” and “vocational aptitude” or “prognostic tests.” The trade tests are tests designed to meas- ure actual achievement or proficiency in a given vocation. ‘They amount to standardized samples of the work done in the trade or vocation, and are designed to measure the skill and knowledge already acquired by the person who takes the test. Trade tests, or proficiency tests, have been standardized for such busi- ness vocations as stenographer, typist and general office clerks. The re- sults of the use of such tests, where carefully standardized, have been gen- erally satisfactory. Where a business concern employs large numbers of office and clerical workers it has been found that such tests are very serv- iceable in making selection between applicants. Particularly is this true when proficiency tests are used in connection with general intelligence tests. For be it known to the academic teachers, who assume that only pupils of below average ability should be advised to take the business courses, that suc- cess in such business vocations as stenography, secretarial work, and account- ancy demands a type of general mental ability on a par with many of the professional vocations. In the Army intelligence tests the-middle fifty per- cent of stenographers and accountants were just about on an equal footing with the middle fifty percent of civil engineers and medical officers. When we turn, however, to aptitude or prognostic tests the outlook is not quite so promising. Yet it is this type of test in which we, as teachers of business subjects or as vocational counsellors, are most inter- ested. As Kornhauser says: While tests of acquired proficiencies are important, they are far from being the only tests an employer needs to use. A large part of the work done in offices, stores and factories is not of the standardized skilled-trade type at all. There is often no opportunity to acquire the precise knowledge and skill necessary to do cretain kinds of work except within the business establishment itself, either in a vestibule school, by means of some apprenticeship system, or by working under the eye of a fellow-employee or foreman until the work is learned. In such cases, instead of proficiency tests, what is needed are aptitude tests—tests which will pick out those applicants who have the physical, sensory, motor or intellectual aptitudes which will enable them to master the essential operations with a minimum of time and a maximum of efficiency. Perhaps a word or two should be said in regard to the lines which must be followed if prognostic tests of genuine value are finally to be evolved. Before there can be accurate prognosis there must be accurate diagnosis. The first condition of successful test construction is scientific occupational analysis. Such analysis must proceed to a much greater degree of perfec- tion than that at present attained before tests can be very greatly improved. As a matter of fact, the failure of many of the tests already attempted may be traced to inaccurate or superficial analysis of the elements, both physical 342 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION and mental, essential to success in a given vocation. Kitson, Viteles, Char- ters, Thursdose, Strong, and other vocational psychologists are leading the way in such scientific vocational analysis. ‘The next step in prognostic test construction involves the selection of those elements—mental, physical, social, and emotional, which have been discovered as essential to success in the vocation, and the devising of test elements to give the candidate a chance to show his possession of the same in the quantity necessary. “The final step is that of careful standardization under varying conditions and with different types of people. EMPLOYMENT TESTS FOR BUSINESS SERVICES— ABSTRACT F. N. WEYANT, CIVIL SERVICE EXAMINER, SEATTLE, WASH. Employment tests may be classified in.a general way under three heads: Performance tests, knowledge tests, and intelligence tests. The per- formance or trade test is one in which the individual is given an. oppor- tunity to demonstrate his skill and ability by actually turning out a sample of his workmanship; such as requiring a carpenter to lay out and fit a mitered joint; a blacksmith to sharpen and temper a drill or to weld two pieces of steel, Or a stenographer to write an exercise in shorthand and type the same. This kind of test can be used for occupations which involve manual or mechanical operations. Wherever it can be used it is probably the most satisfactory kind of test. The knowledge test is one in which definite questions are given in order to determine the applicant’s knowledge of the subject under consideration. It is the one most commonly used, the only one in many cases, but often used in connection with the trade test. The intelligence test is the one most difficult of all to prepare and use. There is always the danger in preparing such a test that it will develop into a purely knowledge test. We must distinguish clearly between the two, for knowledge and intelligence are not the same. Intelligence may be well defined as the innate ability or aptitude to learn. Of course, there is a close affinity or relationship between intelligence and knowledge, and we may generally assume that the possession of knowledge is an indication of intelligence. Many of the so-called intelligence tests have been criticised on the ground that they were merely knowledge tests. It is more likely that such criticism should have been directed toward the improper use of the test selected. In using as an intelligence test one that is mainly a knowledge test we overlook the fact that the knowledge one may have ‘is dependent on his past opportunities and on his own natural aptitude or kind of intelligence. We would not assume that if we selected from a hundred high school graduates the ten with the highest scholastic records that all of them could become good lawyers, or good physicians, or good civil engineers. In a general intelligence test they would all make approxi- THE DEPARTMENT oF BusinEss EDUCATION 343 i eS Sa I Oa mately the same score. In order to select a candidate for civil engineer a test should be devised in which the highest score would be made by the one best adapted to respond to the work of a civil engineer. It is evident that no intelligence test can be used indiscriminately. During the past ten or twelve years much literature on employment psychology has been pub- lished. Many actual tests have been prepared and offered for use. All undoubtedly have a value and a place, but great care must be exercised in the selection and use of them. RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS FOR PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND ADVANCEMENTS—ABSTRACT HARRY G. WINSOR, PERSONNEL OFFICER OF PUGET SOUND POWER AND LIGHT COMPANY, SEATTLE, WASH. In the building of an industrial organization, selection, placement, em- ployment, and advancement are matters which require serious considera- tion by all executives. _ First, we should be very careful to eliminate all employees who are not fitted for the work in which they are engaged. It is manifestly unjust both to the employee and to the employer to retain the services of one who is clearly a “misfit” and thereby prevent him from seeking other employ- ment which might offer better opportunity for advancement, and to weaken the organization in a hope that the future will solve the problem. Second, the characteristics, history, and progress of each employee should be studied by executives and supervisors, and a careful estimate made of his capabilities. “The question of who shall receive advancement in an organiza- tion when opportunity occurs is ever present in the minds of good executives. f Third, what the employee wants—To the question, “Why did you leave your last job?” the interviewer finds that the usual answer summed up in a few words is ‘‘no advancement.” If one could know the day-dreams of the average employee, and could discover the idea back of them, he would find three causes: That the employee has imagined the comforts and pleas- ures he could buy with a greater income, that he has pictured for himself a boss job, or that he has coveted the position of a trusted employee. In short, he longs for greater personal comfort, the bearing of responsibility, and the exercise of authority. These three elemental desires are so funda- mental in each individual’s character that his success in life depends upon their gratification. Promotion is necessary. To find a satisfactory means of answering these longings of the individual and at the same time meet the needs of a growing organization are real problems in any well defined promotional plans. On every hand one may observe organizations distributing material profits, promoting sociability, paying liberal salaries, conducting educa- 344 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION tional classes, having liberal insurance and pension plans, etc., only to find that even these things are not thoroughgoing enough, because somehow or other these elemental desires of employees are not efficiently met. Pro- motion for several thousand employees cannot be achieved on the prin- ciple of generosity alone. Scientific promotional plans are just as much needed in business today as scientific production plans. — JUNIOR COMMERCIAL CURRICULUM—ABSTRACT A. E. BULLOCK, SUPERVISOR OF COMMERCIAL EDUCATION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. To be satisfactory, the junior high school commerce curriculum must contribute as fully as possible to the broad, general objectives of the junior high school. These objects are now quite generally conceived to be: Ex- ploratory, selfdiscovery, guidance, cultural, high school preparatory, and, for some pupils, prevocational. The present tendency seems to be to stress entirely too much the last of these objectives, and seems to have for its objective the preparation for minor messenger and clerical positions, the duties of which will concern those who fill them for a short time only. A course of this kind can hardly be said to be broadly exploratory, nor to furnish guidance for a life posi- tion in the complicated field of business. Neither can it be said to build a foundation for the more technical courses of the senior high school. Type- writing is being taught in most junior high schools, and since the type- writer is being more and more widely used, ability to operate it is a good, general accomplishment. In the case of typewriting, however, it would be better for those pupils who intend to take up stenography in the senior high school to delay it until then, because it is a skill subject and should be taken nearer to the time it is going to be used. Three types of courses seem necessary to round out the junior commerce curriculum: (1) A general and exploratory course, the content of which would be valuable for all eighth-grade pupils. It is difficult to formulate such a course on account of the fact that business is such a broad field and has so many ramifications. (2) In schools where a considerable num- ber of pupils drop out to go to work, a prevocational course might be given, but the services of the continuation, evening, and corporation schools should also be utilized for these pupils, and training which could better be given on the job should not be attempted in school. (3) A foun- dation course upon which could be built the more technical courses of the senior high school should be formulated. THE DEPARTMENT OF Business EpUCATION 345 WHAT SHOULD BE THE POLICY OF COMMERCIAL EDU- CATION IN RELATION TO GENERAL EDUCATION— ABSTRACT J. F. ELTON, PRINCIPAL OF HIGH SCHOOL OF COMMERCE, PORTLAND, ORE. Our view of commercial education must be higher and broader than that of mere fitting for a job. We cannot ignore the strictly vocational aspect. We must recognize the necessity of specific training for office duties, for we all know that the day of apprenticeship in business, as in most other lines, has gone. Yet if we do not build up in the prospective business employee something which enables him to grow on the job and advance to higher levels, what we have given him is not worthy of the name education. ‘The danger of this narrow point of view was recognized years ago. As early as 1899, when commercial education was still in its cradle, a report on commercial education published by the National Her- bart Society as a supplement of its fifth yearbook, contained the warning: Education for commerce will disappoint if it be planned on narrow technical lines. If schools of commerce, as a branch of public education, are to win and hold the favor of educational experts on the one hand, and of the business com- munity on the other, they must be more than “clerk factories.” Training for business to be of real value should be accompanied by breadth of view. The purpose, then, of commercial education is twofold. It must train the pupil for the work to be performed when he leaves school—it must provide subjects of direct utility—and at the same time there must be es- tablished in him such attitudes and such understanding of the basic princi- ples of economics and of business as will enable him to grow on the job, grasp opportunities of advancement, and eventually take a worthwhile place in the community. And this second and larger purpose can be accomplished not by ignoring or excluding other forms of education, but by making use of them in the plan of commercial education. Specifically, even from the narrow vocational point of view the de- pendence of commercial education upon branches of general education is manifest. ‘The stenographer can function only through his use of English, and the broader and more thorough his schooling in English is, the greater his chance for satisfying success—thoroughness for precision and exactness in the mechanics, and breadth for the development, both immediate and future, that can flow from an acquaintance with and an appreciation of literature and a recognition of the value of the whole field of books and of the habit of reading. I have known stenographers to be employed with- out any check whatever as to shorthand or typewriting ability, and solely on the strength of their taste in reading. And I have known excellent stenographers, from the technical point of view, to be summarily discharged because of a lack of proper attitude toward their work. 346 NaTIoNAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION CURRICULUM BUILDING FOR COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS— ABSTRACT E. F. KILLAM, SUPERVISOR OF COMMERCIAL EDUCATION, ST. LOUIS, MO. I believe that under the administration of Superintendent Maddox, St. Louis has made a real contribution to the work of curriculum building. In building the commercial curriculum, the teachers have had a large part. A chairman, working with a group of fellow teachers as advisors, has formulated the course. The supervisors were called upon by the chair- men of the committees for advise and suggestions. The first step necessary in the building of a curriculum for commercial subjects is to determine the needs of the community. ‘To find out what the pupils will be expected to know and what they will be required to do. Having made this survey and determined what subjects shall be included, it is then necessary to decide what the objectives in the subjects shall be. In other words, what shall be the goal. If a curriculum is to be effective it should go further and furnish sug- gestions and aids which may be used by the teacher in meeting the ob- jectives. “These suggestions should be broad and should merely point out the way. The commercial curriculum should be subject to constant revision. “The business is constantly changing and unless the schools keep pace with these changes their products will not be able to meet the demands made upon them. The commercial curriculum must be original. It cannot be copied, because it must meet the demands of the particular community which it is to serve. METHODS AND VALUES OF TEACHING RETAIL TRAIN- ING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS—ABSTRACT ANNE M. DRUMMOND, STADIUM HIGH SCHOOL, TACOMA, WASH. The business man of the future must have added to his already rather complete routine training, courses in which he will obtain a broader vision and a deeper appreciation of the world in which he is to operate. The vocational guidance departments of the public schools lay a good founda- tion for such an outlook. For retail selling I have substituted the name, training for retail store service, because this course, in addition to giving instruction in selling, offers a curriculum of wide enough scope to give the student an intelligent and human insight into a vast business field for his future use and choice. In general, throughout the United States the retail training course in- cludes the study of the scientific sale, merchandise and merchandising THE DEPARTMENT OF Business EDUCATION 347 methods, textiles, color and design, economics of retailing, advertising, store management, store arithmetic, and business English. In order to obtain the best results, the course should require that each student work in a retail establishment while he is taking the training. From this contact with the business world, some of the most beneficial lessons are empha- sized—the lesson of putting knowledge to a practical test, the lesson of taking and carrying out orders, the lesson of cooperating in a business- like way with fellow workers, the lesson of serving the public in a pleasing and effective manner, the lesson of rendering a real contribution to society. In a comparatively short time after graduation, students*of high school retail training classes have been promoted to positions of assistant buyer, advertising manager, interior decorators, designers of clothing, personal service directors, city and state salesmen, store correspondents, beauty shop operators and owners, training manager for chain stores, head of stock, divisional merchandise manager, window trimmer. Promotions such as these are matters of individual ability and application. Although many of those taking the course get no further than a selling position, yet -the training has given them a means of earning a living. Even for those who may not follow retail work, the broad and practical knowledge which can be derived from this course is of great value in helping them to appreciate, understand, and deal with many of the everyday problems of everyday life. Teaching of retail training in the public schools is doubtless here to stay, because it is filling a community need which intelligent store managers appreciate. Because of keen competition and an educated public the seri- ous problem confronting the retail merchant is distribution, and this he recognizes can be solved to a large degree by employing workers trained for store service. However, there are many problems confronting both retail training teachers and store executives. "The method of presentation varies with each locality. The curriculum must be elastic enough to meet the eco- nomic conditions of each city. The general classifications seem to be high school cooperative classes, part-time school, continuation classes, and evening classes for adults. Retail training has been in the public school curricula not more than fifteen years. Rapid progress has been made, and each year substantial gains are being shown in the number of cities where courses are given. The federal board records that trained teachers are conducting classes in 73 cities and 26 states. There are yet many localities to enter. Schools and stores working closely together have produced the best results. The amount and kind of cooperation given by store executives has and will continue to determine to a large extent the future of retail training in the public schools, 348 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION RECENT TRENDS IN TYPEWRITING—ABSTRACT FRANCIS M. BUTTS, PLACEMENT DIRECTOR, BUSINESS HIGH SCHOOL, WASHINGTON, D. C. The present period of transition from the old empirical trial and error methods of instruction to higher planes of ideational and directed skill learning in typewriting is marked by three pronounced tendencies: The trend to accord more recognition to typewriting, the trend to broaden ob- jectives and relate typewriting to the great economic unity running through all of life’s activities, and the trend to research and refinement of methods and subjectmatter. A wider field of usefulness, a new psychology of typewriting, and a sound body of technic are resulting from the trend to research and refinement of methods and subjectmatter and from the tend- ency to broaden objectives and emphasize relationships evidenced in type- writing since 1920. The recent trend in typewriting to a definite and general recognition of this subject as a required and accredited constant for high school gradu- ation and college entrance is full of promise. “There is a growing feeling that a secondary school fails in its duty if it does not provide each gradu- ate with a fair mastery of at least one subject by means of which some degree of economic independence may be attained. It is widely conceded that there is no subject of instruction in our schools today which offers as great a promise of economic return for the time and energy expended as that of typewriting. Although there is still a tendency in some cases not to recognize typewriting, its acceptance by so many institutions of secondary and higher learning indicates that there will be in the future a further adjustment of this combined skill and ideational subject to the increasing demands of a complex civilization. The new psychology of typewriting works from accepted educational principles, ideals, mental images, and facts. Its ways are economical of time, energy, and materials as well as direct and objective. ‘This newer kinaesthetic method substitutes for the inadequate vocabulary building aim, the comprehensive reach, touch, and return objective of an equal and maximum finger facility with reference to every typewriter key. In this connection there is a tendency to use the same set of habits for each of the four rows of keys, and to throw the emphasis of practice on the weaker third and fourth fingers and on the more difficult keyboard reaches in order to reduce the variation of intervals in rhythmic writing which is responsible so largely for the retardation of speed. This and many other tendencies to refinement are evidenced on all sides—in paper control, in classroom procedure, in the increasing use of objective methods of instruc- tion and testing, and in the arrangement and organization of subject- matter in recent textbooks to provide for a wide range of abilities and for group and individual instruction with individual remedial measures as well as for the attainment of vocational and enrichment objectives. THE DeparrMENT oF Business EpucaTion 349 Co ee ee TSE ol he cl let ie ig It is an encouraging fact that typewriting classrooms are fast becoming laboratories of research. The quest for truth goes steadily on. From Paris comes a renewed confidence in the rhythmic method of writing by count and by music so generally followed in this country and in Germany. Philadelphia is interested in the association of English and typewriting. in Washington we have recently conducted an experiment in the closer correlation of first year shorthand and typewriting. In this experiment from the very first lesson the correct shorthand outlines were associated with every exercise practised during the typewriting periods. All other conditions between the experimental and measuring groups were kept as constant as possible. The results in facility of reading and transcribing as well as many side products of this experiment seem to indicate that it may be possible by a further development of associative teaching to raise standards of accomplishment and at the same time reduce the length of the shorthand course: IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION IN BOOKKEEPING— ABSTRACT MERRITT DAVIS, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT, SALEM SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, SALEM, ORE. Business has been revolutionized in recent years. Organization of capital, cooperative marketing, and merchandising are fast displacing the small dealer. Keen competition in business has necessitated greater ef- ficiency, a closer check on business operations and finance, and more com- plete systematic accounting methods. To meet the demands of the new era in business, it is necessary that education keep pace with this movement. To do so requires modern methods in presenting and instructing in the basic subjects of business, of which bookkeeping and accounting is the most essential. For only through an efficient system of accounting can a business be systematized, managed, and directed in a profitable manner. The instructions in bookkeeping and accounting in the high school as well as the entire course in commerce must have a two-fold purpose: First, to prepare the students for real business life, which cares for the larger per- centage that do not continue their education beyond high school, and second, to give a thorough preparation for the advance work in com- merce in the college or university. The successful teaching of bookkeeping primarily involves four things: A thorough knowledge of the subject itself; an inspiring magnetic per- sonality; and actual business experience as well as professional training. 350 NaTIOoNAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION IN SHORTHAND— ABSTRACT HERBERT W. WHITE, HEAD OF COMMERCIAL DEPARTMENT, FRANKLIN HIGH SCHOOL, PORTLAND, ORE. Often commercial work has lagged, savored of the shop after its new- ness has worn off; progress seemed at a standstill. Scientific analysis, investigation and scientific remedies are now applied, and this work is receiving the stimulus with other educational subjects. Shorthand is the last to receive the light of scientific research and direction. Among others, four things have been discovered that caused so large a percent of all who study shorthand to fail to acquire a sufficient pro- ficiency for commercial use. 1. A large number were permitted to study it who are physically unfitted to receive this kind of training. 2. An ignorance of the real processes and how best they can be learned, no real measurement of the material taught, and improper standards. 3. Lack of knowledge of the uses in business or its place in commercial work. 4. Lack of mental stimuli due to faulty pedagogy. Real improvement in shorthand teaching comes when these things are gone into: First by pregnostic tests to all who apply for the study, thus eliminating the incompetent; second by laboratory analysis of the processes required, improper routine eliminated and different measurements of ac- complishment established as in typewriting or motion studies in industrial plants; third by a careful local occupational and commercial survey and particular analysis of the various uses made of shorthand; and fourth by an improved method of presentation. Replies from leading business men and office managers to the question, what is wrong with the school prepared stenographer, and the remedy have elicited the facts that the school standard and office standard differ. The school’s requirement is words per minute; the office, the knowledge to produce proper meaning,—the dictation apart—initiative, composition, ap- pearance of the letter. Another aid to improved instruction is grouping as to ability. Improvement of instruction in shorthand will be realized when: 1. We eliminate the unfit before its study is begun. 2. We know more of the content and the learning process to acquire it. 3. We know the commercial uses and head our efforts towards the particular objective. 4. Have better trained teachers and the application of the psychology of learning. THE DEPARTMENT OF Business EDUCATION 351 SECRETARY'S MINUTES First Session, Tuesday, 12:15 P. M., July 5, 1927 The annual luncheon conference of the Department of Business Education held this year with the Seattle Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday, July 5, 1927 marked the opening session of the Department at Seattle. J. W. Spangler, president of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce presided. The annual conference where business men and teachers of business education may come together was inaugurated at the Oakland-San Francisco meeting in i923 and has proved more successful at each meeting of the Department. The general theme “New Aspects of Commercial Education” brought forth several interesting papers stressing scientific curriculum revision. The following program was presented: New Aspects of Commercial Education SOME TENDENCIES IN COMMERCIAL EDUCATION John J. Tigert, United States Commissioner of Education, Washington, D. C. QUALIFICATIONS EXPECTED OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PupPILs FoR ADMISSION TO BUSINESS J. H. McClure, Assistant Cashier, Seattle National Bank, Seattle, Washington. THE RELATION OF ACADEMIC EDUCATION TO BUSINESS TRAINING IN ESTABLISHING SucH QUALIFICATIONS J. A. Bexell, Dean, School of Commerce, Oregon Agricultural College, Cor- vallis, Oregon. THE PLACE OF COMMERCIAL EDUCATION IN A Ciry EDUCATIONAL PROGRAM Willis A. Sutton, Superintendent of Schools, Atlanta, Ga. Second Session, Tuesday, 2 P. M., July 5, 1927 The second session of the Department was held in the Auditorium of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday afternoon, July 5, 1927. John G. Kirk, presi- dent of the Department presided. The following program was presented. New Aspects of Commercial Education A Srupy oF EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES IN BUSINESS Karl Lieb, School of Business Administration, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington. Procnostic Tests AS A DETERMINANT IN COMMERCIAL EDUCATION GUIDANCE William O. Proctor, Stanford University, California. EMPLOYMENT TESTS FOR BUSINESS SERVICES F. N. Weyant, Civil Service Examiner, Seattle, Washington. RESPONSIBILITY OF BUSINESS FOR PROMOTIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND ADVANCEMENTS Harry G. Winsor, Personal Officer of Puget Sound Power and Light Company, Seattle, Washington. Junior COMMERCIAL CURRICULUM A. E. Bullock, Supervisor of Commercial Education, Public Schools, Los Angeles, California. DISCUSSION C. E. White, Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington. Third Session, Thursday, 2 P. M., July 7, 1927 The third session of the Department was held in the Auditorium of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce on Thursday afternoon, July 7, 1927. C. E. White, Head of the Commezcial Department, Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington pre- sided. The following program was presented. 352 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION New Aspects of Commercial Education Wuat SHOULD BE THE Poticy OF COMMERCIAL EDUCATION IN RELATION TO GENERAL EDUCATION J. F. Elton, Principal, High School of Commerce, Portland, Oregon. CURRICULUM BUILDING FOR COMMERCIAL SUBJECTS E. F. Killam, Supervisor of Commercial Education, St. Louis, Mo. MerTHops AND VALUES OF TEACHING RETAIL TRAINING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS Anne M. Drummond, Stadium High Shcool, Tacoma, Washington. RECENT TRENDS IN TYPEWRITING Frances M. Butts, Director of Placement, Business High School, Washington, DRC: : IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION IN BOOKKEEPING Merritt Davis, Head of Commercial Department, Salem Senior High School, Salem, Oregon. IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION IN SHORTHAND Herbert W. White, Head of Commercial Department, Franklin High School, Portland, Oregon. METHODS AND STANDARDS IN TRANSCRIPTION Laurence N. Pease, Vice Principal, Stockton High School, Stockton, California. DIscUSSION Stephen Dwan, Head of Commercial Department, Broadway High School, Seattle, Washington. Business Meeting and Reports of Committees Immediately at the close of the third session, the department was called to order by John G. Kirk, president of the department. The following officers were elected: President—LaureNnce N. PEAsE, Vice Principal, Stockton High School, Stockton, California. Vicepresident—C. E. Wuirr, Head of Commercial Department, Garfield High School, Seattle, Washington. Secretary—Frances M. Burts, Director of Placement, Business High School, Wash- ington, D, C. Resolutions were unanimously passed thanking the president of the Department for his untiring efforts in arranging for the most excellent program, and extending the appreciation of the Department to the local committee, chairmen of the meet- ings, the speakers and those who led the discussion for their excellent contributions to the success of the meetings. The Department of Classroom Teachers first session at the St. Paul meeting, July 8, 1914. It was organized in response to petitions representing classroom teachers in all parts of the country. See Proceedings, 1914:909. The Depart- ment was reorganized under a Constitution at the Boston meeting in July, 1922. For the Constitution and bylaws of this Department see Proceedings, 1924 :568-70. The Department of Classroom Teach- ers cooperates with the National League of Teachers’ Associations. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Jean L. Soules, Women’s Athletic Club, Spokane, ‘Wash. : : Vicepresident, R. Ross Smith, Chicago Normal College, Chicago, Ill.; Secretary, Charles E. Scott, Jefferson High School, Port- land, Ore.; Executive Committee: Western Section, Miriam D. Eisner, 3117 California St., San Fran- cisco, Calif. (Term expires 1930); Middle Section, Kula F. Hunter, 1324 E. Morphy St., Fort Worth, Texas (Term expires 1929); Eastern Section, Mrs. Edith B. Joynes, 410 W. 14th St., Norfolk Va. (Term expires 1928). This Department meets at the time of the annual meeting of the Association. Facts re- lating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier Proceed- mgs as follows 4 pie DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS held its 1914: 909-916 1917:615-622 1920:343-355 1923:569-620 1925:365-402 1915 :1161-1177 1918 :381-389 1921:399-406 1924:460-499 1926:391-423 1916: 637-652 1919:375-392 1922:683-691 [354] THE SOCIAL ASPECT OF THE TEACHER AUGUSTUS 0. THOMAS, STATE COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, AUGUSTA, MAINE Strange as it may seem very little has been written concerning the social aspect of the teacher. After examining a large number of books and periodicals and searching the Readers’ Guide for some information as to how important this subject is and finding nothing, one comes to the con- clusion that ““The Social Phase of the Teacher” is of small importance. Perhaps it is because the profession is deemed so very “pedagogical” that society is not within its realm. It is a safe guess that while you have read nothing which I may say, you must have thought some of the thoughts. Teaching has become so dread- fully “teachey.”” It is all about the child, the lesson, behavior, punishment, parents, discipline, motivation, methods, tests, measurements, attitudes and a long list of technical terms which make up our professional vernacular, and there is no room for life outside the school. Why is there not a community into which the teacher may fit?) Why should a teacher enter a cloister and wear a social cowl, obscure and obliterate herself because she is a teacher? ‘There is an advantage in associating with the young. It tends to keep one young which is quite all right for a while and as far as it goes, but after all we cannot forever live in the land of “never-grow-up,” we must mature our lives. We can do more for the children if we really grow up and become of the real species. We must associate at times with men and women. ‘The teacher must fit into life with its complex relations. | She must be a teacher but not first. She must be a woman and live with her fellow beings in a most wholesome way. ‘The teacher has three full relationships which every normal individual must accept, and the teacher of all people must be ‘“normal.’’ Economics, or how to make a living, has long been one of the deep concerns of the teacher. Society, or how to live a wholesome life with our fellows, has been too much a part of omission; and govern- ment, or how to govern ourselves. After all, this is education, it is also life. My story has to do with the middle section, the neglected section, the life section. The several groups with which a teacher must come in contact in a social way are: Her fellow teachers; the parents; the general public; the pro- fessional group; and her pupils. Let me take up these several relations somewhat in the order named. I shall not attempt to say all that may be thought on the subject. Rather would I leave some things for you to think out for yourselves. Her fellow teachers—That the teacher should avoid cliques among her co-workers is a safe admonition. It must not be misunderstood that the teacher may be drawn closer to one personality than another. Because of the privilege of selection it would be entirely irrational, even unfair, to [355] 356 NatIoNAL EpucaTIon ASssocIATION forbid a teacher choosing her intimates. It is quite natural that teachers should form close friendships among themselves. But teachers should not allow themselves to get into the dependent habit of one or two friends. Democracy is quite essential and a reasonable friendliness with the staff of co-workers is necessary to esprit de corps, the cooperative mind is essential to a good player of the game. In these social contacts no teacher should allow jealousy to manifest itself. The teacher who can qualify as my ideal teacher must be a good sport, she must delight in the success of her fellows, she must be willing to cheer when she sees good work, not with her hands alone but with and from her heart. “She must see and appreciate the fine qualities and good work of others. “Teachers, if you ever feel the “green” coming on, go and hide until it disappears. If you have the feeling of jealousy in your nature, go and do penance until you rid yourself of it. A teacher teaches as much by what she is as by what she does. Genuine- ness and generosity are qualities of a good teacher. I once called my teachers together, thirty of them. We sat down together for a conference. I did not know much about education or teaching but I told those teachers we were hired by the community to build a school for the children, the best school we could build. Therefore we were a sort of family, a corps. We had for the time given up our individuality for a group personality, the community would judge us by our solidarity. If any teacher did an unusual piece of work it should be known to all the rest and they would have a chance to see it, they should all praise it. If one did a geod piece of work in reading we would congratulate her, another music or arithmetic or what not, we would sometimes discuss these achievements in our meet- ings on Friday eveniags, or if I was especially enthusiastic I would issue a special call. It worked well. We found many good words and we suc- ceeded in bringing those teachers close together. Sometimes we would have a little afternoon tea while these get togethers were on. We succeeded in arranging some quite purely social functions among ourselves occasionally. It pays well to know those with whom you work and to have a bond of sympathy and fellowship with them. The parents—There are several phases of social contact with parents: (1) individual while discussing the progress or problems of the children; (2) visits in their homes; (3) in parent-teacher associations and (4) in connection with the general public. These are all important and the im- pression the teacher makes in such instances determines often the parent’s judgment of the teacher in the schoolroom. In my own experience I have found the parent conference very helpful and many pleasant friendships have thus been formed. I have known very successful teachers who made it a point to call upon the parents of all their children and to establish direct contacts with them. I believe it good to do. A teacher will often accomplish more with the children if she knows the policies by which they THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 357 are being brought up. Most teachers are worth knowing and parents offer better cooperation if they know the teacher and believe in her. The parent-teacher association offers a fine opportunity to post the par- ents as to programs of improvement, progressive methods, new processes and the like. Very often parents complain of what is being done because they do not understand the aims and objectives. A misinformed or half informed public is usually against us while a well informed public is likely to be for and with us. The teacher and the community—To become a social leader in a com- munity would seem to be out of the question for a teacher. She lacks the means and the time as well as the general faculties for this. She probably should not attempt it unless in a small community and under the stress of need for the community. But there is no legitimate reason which occurs to me why a teacher should not be popular in her own way, admitted to the best society and able to be useful as a member of the community for the social side. “The community should know her, respect her and recognize her for what her personality and achievements are worth. If you will allow personal ptivilege I will relate an incident of my own experience. As superintendent of a small city in the middle west 1 told my teachers they should get acquainted with the people and become a part of them. I gave them orders not to send regrets if invited to a Thursday afternoon tea, reception or other function within their realm but to accept and attend. “They were, however, after accepting to notify me so I could send a substitute for their work. The pay ofthis substitute was not to be deducted from the monthly pay check. The following instructions were a part of the order. The teacher who attended was not to talk of herself or her own work. If others brought up the topic she was to change the subject to her co-workers and their work. She was to tell the parents of the other teachers, of what a privilege it was to have their children under the care of such fine women and of what splendid work the teachers were doing. Her good words would be returned to her in due season and in full measure by others. The plan worked. People became interested, they found less fault, the schools were a prominent interest of the city. The spirit grew not alone among the people but among the children, discipline was easier, we had less unpleasant experiences. Other superintendents heard of our schools and came and took some of our good teachers at higher wages. At the end of the year, although the city was hard pressed financially, the board of education gave the most substantial increases in wages the city had known. The superintendent did not know much scientifically about schools and teaching. He was very nearly illiterate on these things but he did know how to give the teachers a chance. Sometimes I have thought there is too much supervision, a sort of “sin of supervision.” While reasonable limita- tions should be set up, teachers should have time for their own initiative, 358 NatIionaL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION what they need most is a reasonable professional freedom, not ball and chain, they need latitude, not grooves. There came under my observation many years ago two teachers who came into town the same autumn. Both were well prepared and both good teachers but one of them was able to do much more than the other. Their attitude, their philosophy was entirely different. One said she did not have time to do anything outside of her school, she spent much time on her work, prepared carefully and took good care of herself. The other teacher had some social qualities and a desire to mingle. It was not so much a philosophy with her as a more natural inclination. She attended church and young people’s meeting, taught a class in Sunday school, led Y. P. S., when parties were given she was on hand, took places on the committees, in short she carved out a real place in that community. For two years these young ladies worked in their schools side by side and left at the same time. The one quietly made her way out of town after a few farewells to her close associates, the other was escorted to the train by a concourse of people who showered her with gifts and with praise. She was worth it. / Social qualities—All persons do not have social qualities but they may be cultivated, culture and social graces may be increased. Dress, manners, good conversation, and courtesy are all variables and may be cultivated. The best way to win people is to make them feel you are interested in them. “The average individual is more interested in himself than in others. A teacher above all others should have social graces that the children whom she leads may be given good standards. ‘The teacher should be choice of her dress, should know styles and should conform. She should, however, not allow herself to get into ex- tremes. A teacher who dresses well, properly, and always within her means and station will have a greater influence on her pupils than one who disregards the conventions. The question has often been asked, how much if any of her time should a teacher give to her church? Well, the best answer I can give to this is that the teacher should budget her time and her physical bank account and live rather carefully within the figures set up. Every teacher should give some of her talent and some of her physical ability to her faith. There is a definite connection between the school and the teacher’s spiritual life. Thus the teacher needs the peace and poise a religious experience and well established faith will produce. This to many teachers is a great strength. But this is the more personal and selfish side of religion. Religion is not selfish, it is generous. It was a chill autumn day I was coming in from West Baldwin when I reached one of those little schools in the very heart of the country. I never allow myself to pass one of them without stopping if I can do so. On this occasion school was just closing and the twenty-five young Americans were getting their wraps and other belongings for the home journey. THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 359 There was a fine order about it all.. There was the teacher as she stood among her pupils, her face mitred in white which softened the lines of the years until she looked young and fair. There was a fine smile on her face as the children came to her for a good night or a touch of affection as she drew the cloak a little closer around Mary’s neck, pinned the wraps a little more securely for Jane, admonished John#to bundle up as it was cold. Then a “Good night, children, see you tomorrow,” and these people of the school scattered to the four winds, all with pleasant memories and a hope for the morning. Surely this teacher found delight in their youthful so- ciety and daily renewed her youth. After all, a teacher’s life well balanced in time and interest between these various relationships has much to commend it to the best mental, moral, and social personalities of our days. OUTSTANDING BENEFITS CONFERRED UPON TEACHERS BY BOARDS OF EDUCATION MAUDE COMPTON, MATHEMATICS, SOUTH HIGH SCHOOL, OMAHA, NERR. For the past ten years, Omaha has gradually built up a progressivve school system in which to train its young people to take their places as its future citizens. We have many beautiful grade school buildings with well-kept grounds equipped with playground apparatus, and our five high schools compare favorably with the best high schools of the country. “These schools are in the hands of a splendid administrative staff and corps of teachers. “The public school system of Omaha holds an enviable place among the cities of its size and it has been a source of pride to her people. ‘The teachers are given a non-cumulative sick leave, and an adequate retirement and tenure by our board of education. Last year a deficit in the general school fund was brought to light. This deficit had been accumulating for some time, some years increasing and others decreasing. [here came a demand from several sources that the board of education keep their expenditures within their income and wipe out the deficit in one year. The board adopted a policy of retrenchment which caused a feeling of unrest among the teachers as a large sum of money was to be cut from the instructional budget. I believe the outstanding benefit conferred upon teachers by our board of education was that in the face of this huge deficit and a demand that it be wiped out in one year they decided it would be penny wise and pound foolish to lower the teachers’ salaries. “Chey have stood as one maintaining that a high standard of education can be maintained only with high stan- dard teachers and high standard teachers can be maintained only with reasonable compensation. ‘The morale of the teaching force of our city has been made better by the 360 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION teachers knowing they have a sympathetic board of education that will protect them in a time of crisis. Viola-Kelly, San Francisco, California—In discussing boards of educa- tion, it is necessary to remember the diversity of such bodies, not only in the method of their selection, but also in regard to the powers conferred upon them by state legislaturet city charters, and established custom. The San Francisco Board of Education has existed in its present fourm for only about five years. The seven members of the board are appointed by the mayor and the appointments are referred to the voters for con- firmation at a regular election. The city superintendent, executive head of the beard, is elected by the members of the board of education. Our superintendent is given very broad administrative powers, especially in regard to affairs directly concerning the rights and privileges of the teaching force. Our present superintendent, Dr. Gwinn, is genuinely interested in the welfare of the teachers and this power vested in him has been of great benefit to us. There can be credited to our board several tremendously important im- provements. One of the most vital is the reorganization of the system for selecting teachers, so that appointments are made and confirmed upon the basis of efficiency on the part of the applicant, not upon political or social influence. Another benefit has been the granting of a sick leave of five days on full pay and ten days on half pay. “This leave is not cumulative. The teachers have requested that it be made cumulative up to twenty-five days on full pay and fifty days on half pay, and we feel that there is a very fair chance of our request being granted within the next year. The building program is another factor that has vitally affected .the teachers. Our many new buildings are beautiful and most convenient. In planning them, the board has asked for suggestions in regard to arrange- ment and equipment, not only from the teachers as a body, but also from the individual teachers most concerned. “There has also been a marked increase in the variety and amount of supplies furnished. The question of promotions is always a vital one. Our board, confirm- ing the appointments of the superintendent, has promoted to principalships, vice-principalships and other supervisory positions many classroom teachers. These appointments have been made quite largely from those who have taken an active interest in organization work. The liberality of the board in granting leaves on pay to our officers while attending conventions or en- gaged in legislative work, as well as numerous lesser courtesies, is added proof of their fair attitude. During the past two years San Francisco has adopted a very fine sys- tem of municipal pensions for teachers and just two years ago we secured salary increases of approximately three hundred seventy-five dollars per year for every teacher. While these were due more largely to effort on THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM ‘TEACHERS 361 ane ee ee a the part of the teachers than to the board of education, the board rendered valauable service in securing them. Perhaps it is as well that we find our local boards a bit obdurate in granting our requests. It is through continuous effort that we keep in training for the protection and advancement of the “Republic’s First and Last Line of Defense.” Mamie B. Stoecker, President, Seattle Grade Teachers’ Club, Seattle, Washington—Seattle is very fortunate in having a school board repre- sentative of the highest type of citizen as you will agree when you learn that it is composed of E. B. Holmes, lumberman; O. B. Thorgrimson, attorney; Dr. C. W. Sharples, physician; E. L. Smith, clergyman; and E. Shorrock, banker. These men are elected for a term of three years and serve without pay. I am very glad of the opportunity of telling you how much a board, that keeps ever in the foreground the best interests of the children of the community, can do for the benefit of the teachers at the same time. I shall mention three outstanding benefits; namely, the sab- batical leave, the demonstration school, and the plan relating to school libraries. The sabbatical leave has been in operation in Seattle for two years. It is granted for purposes of study and travel and may be for a period of one semester or for the whole vear as the applicant desires. Partial compensa- tion is allowed for this period. When the plan was first put into operation, the maximum number of teachers who might be given this privilege was twenty. That number has since been increased to thirty. The full quota has been arranged for both the first and second semesters of the year 1927-1928, which shows that the plan is popular with the teachers. “Those who take advantage of the sabbatical leave come back to their position with increased vitality, physical fitness, knowledge, experience, and enthusiasm and this in turn reacts to the benefit of the entire system. The demonstration school was established here only this past year. Per- haps nothing has been done which has been of greater benefit to the teachers than this. Through the demonstration school, curriculum revision is car- ried on in a more scientific manner, namely by testing the value of a given course before placing it in the schools in general, and teachers receive much valuable aid in adopting new methods by having an opportunity to see the plans and devices actually in process and concretely presented. Over three hundred of our own teachers and principals visited this school the past year and fifty visitors from outside the city have registered. “The summary from a questionnaire sent to those who visited shows without question that the demonstration school has been a great source of constructive help. The third outstanding benefit which has been conferred upon the teachers is the library plan which is to become effective September 1, 1927. Modern methods of teaching require more adequate school libraries that can serve every department and activity of the school rather than those now 362 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION in operation in the schools. Both the public schools and the public library are actively interested in promoting the development of reading habits and discriminating tastes among young people and there is a growing tendency to increase the cooperation between these two institutions. “The following plan is proposed: The school board to continue to provide: Library room-and equipment Heat, light, janitor service Reference books and professional books for teachers Book delivery between public library and school libraries Teachers to administer these libraries Student assistants for charging, mending, shelving books, ete. General supplies—ink, paper, pencils, etc. The library board to provide: Books to circulate (for recreational and cultural reading) Special library supplies Catalog Mending, recasing, rebinding Assistance in the supervision of organization and administration of libraries Instruction to pupils in use of libraries Book talks and story telling in schools where this work is desired Personnel—Whenever possible the reading or literature teacher is chosen as the person to take charge of the school libraries. “The public library is provided on its staff with a supervisor of schoo! libraries who will devote her entire time to visiting and aiding the libraries in the elementary schools. Arrangements are to be made for a course of lectures on Saturday morn- ings for the benefit of those teachers who have charge of the libraries in the elementary schools, attendance at these lectures is to be voluntary and the course is to be arranged under the joint auspices of the school board, the public library, and the university of Washington library school. Platoon schools and schcols that are not within reasonable walking dis- tance of the central or a branch library are to be given first consideration in developing unit libraries similar to the fourteen already in operation. Schools which are located near the central or a branch library are to use these libraries until such time as the library board and the school board are able to provide unit libraries for all elementary schools. In planning new elementary school buildings, consideration is to be given to the need for rooms equipped for library service. Nell E. Lain, Seventh Grade Teacher, Kansas City, Missouri—The evolution in the training and development of those actively engaged in teaching children has been paralleled by a corresponding change in boards of education. Unfortunately in both groups are found those who have not kept pace with the general course of such evolution; but as the present discussion deals directly with boards of education, it is unquestioned that THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 363 the advancement in this department has been retarded by members who have not attained their positions because of being especially fitted for that work. The idea that boards of education and teachers must be natural enemies in order to further the education of children is no longer believed to be essential; but to a marked degree, the two groups are joining forces to work more harmoniously toward the growth of the child. As a direct outcome of this changed attitude, those things that are conducive to the general welfare of teachers are being regarded as not only desirable but also necessary. Thus many provisions for the betterment of teachers which would formerly have been acclaimed as great privileges are so cus- tomary throughout the country that they would not be considered out- standing at the present time. After due deliberation, the bonuses for additional professional training and the arrangements made for those who are absent from school because of sickness were selected as being especially favorable measures relative to the well-being of the teachers under the supervision of the Kansas City school board. Any teacher of the Kansas City public school system who presents a transcript showing at least four semester hours of college work earned in summer school in a standard teachers college or university shall for the year immediately following receive $100 in addition to the regular salary to which she is entitled. ‘This $100 takes care of a large part of the ex- pense incurred in attaining this higher professional training—an opportu- nity which may be used each year although it is not compulsory annually. All teachers who have a degree are expected to secure four college credits within six years and those who do not have a degree must meet this re- quirement every four years. Due to this economic assistance many teachers have been able to prepare themselves for more effective work in the class- room and have reached a higher professional standing than would have been possible without such a provision. Absence from school because of temporary illness is a source of great anxiety to one so afflicted, but the adjustments made by the Kansas City school board tends to relieve this strain. During the year, a teacher is permitted twenty days absence on account of personal sickness without loss or reduction of salary. Very often a few days devoted to improving a weakened physical condition will avoid an extended illness—an ounce of prevention which may be taken as the board’s generous arrangement over- comes a hesitancy to be absent because of financial loss. The majority of Kansas City teachers are highly appreciative of these two outstanding considerations for their physical and professional welfare and seek to use them wisely and well so that the Kansas City school board will be encouraged to adopt other such provisions as have been presented here this afternoon. 364 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Lucy Brickhouse, Norfolk, Va—Education is recognized as a necessity, educators are recognized as a means to an end; teachers are regarded as a necessary evil. At what point may a teacher become an educator? “Line of defense” implies conflict. We wage a continual conflict with ignorance, and we fight for better things. But frequently the conflict be- comes one with our boards of education. How often have benefits been conferred only after a long and hard struggle? In Norfolk at present, we are fighting for sabbatical leave. So far, our efforts have not met with dazzling success, but next year we expect to take arms again against a sea of troubles. A bill for tenure is now before the Virginia Legislature and by this time next year, we hope no teacher will fear a change of administration. In Norfolk a raise in salaries is out of the question. ‘The present scale was won only after a severe battle. ‘The case had to be taken to the city council and the necessary appropriation was granted if the school board would ask for it. The Board finally capitulated. Our present scale gives men from $200 to $500 more than women because men are men—and the board consists of one woman and four men. Cumulative sick leave is on the agenda for next year. The outcome is doubtful. A tentative bill for revised pension is in the hands of state pension com- mittee composed of the president of the state education association, one superintendent, one principal, one senior high school teacher, one junior high school teacher, and cne elementary teacher. ‘This bill will be pre- sented at the next state legislature, and is not in the hands of school boards. I wonder if the school board would be able to recognize the benefits that have been conferred. Probably some day the board will see that we are fighting for and not against them. Probably the solution lies in our hands. We are training the future boards. I understand from your president that these reports were to be given for the purpose of comparison. After all, probably it is just as well that the boards have to be won. “The harder the conflict, the more glorious the victory, and that which men gain too easily they esteem too lightly.” Leona Coulter, Lewis and Clark High School, Spokane, W ashington— Salaries and salary schedules are of vital importance, but an impartial, smooth-running system is almost unattainable, for, as every school board knows, pitfalls for the unwary are indeed many, when judgment in terms of dollars, is passed on teachers. Spokane decided this question of salary in 1920, when, as one of the first cities in the United States to take such a stand, it adopted what is known as the single salary schedule. The plan takes into consideration two factors: THE DEPARTMENT OF CLAssRooM TEACHERS 365 First, education or teaching preparation, and, second, teaching experience. It is based on the theory that all teaching is of equal value, that service rendered to the child of six is as valuable as that to the boy or girl of sixteen, and should be recognized in salary equivalent. Under this present system, all salaries of classroom teachers through the elementary, junior, and senior high schools, are computed on the same plan. A certain fixed sum is taken as a basis. “To this is added one hundred fifty dollars for each year of preparation—normal or college—beyond graduation from a four year high school. The number of years for which salary credit may be obtained is limited to five. A summer session is counted as a fractional part of a year and paid for proportionally. In addition to the above sums, fifty dollars is allowed for each year of teaching experience up to a maximum of eleven years. The plan is flexible. “Fhe basic amount and the sums given for educa- tion and experience are purely arbitrary, and may be changed at any time. Hence the plan can be adapted to any system and remain intrinsically the same. In practice it achieves definite results. It serves as an incentive toward further education and provides an opportunity for it in increased salary. Hundreds of ambitious teachers avail themselves of this opportunity. It gives the teacher who prefers to work with small children the privilege of doing so without the sacrifice of salary which often accompanies such a choice. The round peg does not remain in the square hole. It establishes more amicable relations among the teachers themselves. No one harbors a feeling of injustice or jealousy for there are no artificial barriers toward advancement. “The maximum salary is the same for all and its attainment rests with the teacher herself. “he resulting feeling of harmony and cooperation which permeates the teaching corps insensibly raises its morale and establishes a firm foundation for a solidarity and a professional unity greatly to be desired. Gladys Evelyn Moorhead, Los Angeles, California—The superintend- ent’s advisory committee of Los Angeles may not be technically the gift of our board of education, but that it actually owes its origin to them will appear. Six years ago upon the election of a board of education moderately progressive in its make-up and so acceptable to the teachers that many of them had cooperated in its election, a committee of fifteen duly elected high school and elementary teachers was formed. ‘These spent some months in a study of possible changes in administrative procedure which might be effected by an informed and progressive board. ‘The elimination of so- called star chamber sessions, the centralization of authority in the position of the superintendent and the use of teacher advisory councils were studied and duly suggested to the board. The former two subjects were never even formally considered. “The matter of advisory councils interested the board to the point of allowing 366 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION a group from our committee to interview them and be interviewed by them, and interested the local conservative newspaper to the point of repeated articles denouncing an attempt at communistic administrative procedure in the schools. As an outcome, the board reported the matter favorably to the superintendent of schools, and she in turn invited the formation of a superintendent’s advisory committee, which has functioned for five years. It is made up of thirty members elected for two-year terms, and each representing a definite constituency, as the teachers of a certain grade, the supervisors of subjects or certain groupings of special departments. Meet- ings are held monthly. The committee is designed to be the medium of communication between the superintendent and the teaching body, that either may approach the other through this committee in regard to prob- lems meriting solution in the interests of all parties. “The imperfections in the plan appear due to the fact that the representatives are not sufficiently in touch with their constituencies, do not indeed report back to them readily for their participation. ‘This principle needs to be firmly established and its practice developed. ‘The benefits have been certain effective accom- plishments, such as the formulation of a report card, a very extensive pro- gram of work undertaken by a committee of fifteen on: International Co- operation to Promote World Peace and certain adjustments of practical administrative details affecting teachers and their every day work. We do not feel that the advisory committee has become what we wished, but we do appreciate the existence of this machinery which will be able to serve us when our skill and initiative shall be turned to perfecting in action this committee. When the intelligence and knowledge of teachers can be directed through such advisory channels to the activity of educational ad- ministration, we shall have for the child a great new constructive force in education. Annie Kate Taylor, President, Dallas Grade Teachers Council, Dallas, Texas—lI bring greetings to you from the grade teachers council of Dallas, ‘Texas, and wish to say on their behalf that we are still enjoying your de- lightful visit with us in February. The subject of “Outstanding Benefits Conferred upon Teachers by Boards of Education,” is a comparatively new idea to me, as I have thought for a long time in terms of the teachers conferring benefits on the board of education, through the service rendered in his particular field of endeavor. But times have changed and are changing rapidly in the educational world, as well as otherwise, and we welcome the idea of benefits being conferred fiom the other direction. First, there have been in many sections of the country teacherages erected for the comfort and convenience of the teacher. Whatever touches the home conditions of the teacher, adds or subtracts from the sum total of his capacity for usefulness. Second, in many sections of our great country, group insurance or sick . THE DEPARTMENT OF CLAssRoOM TEACHERS 367 benefit organizations have been perfected, with the board of education contributing more or less to the financial upkeep. Also many wise far sighted boards of education are not only permitting teachers to have tenure and sabbatical leave, but have introduced the idea. Boards of education are seeing the wisdom of sending delegates to our great teachers’ conven- tions in order that those delegates may catch a new vision and inspire others who are not privileged to attend. There are many benefits now being conferred upon teachers of this rapidly progressing, forward marching age, but it occurs to me the greatest benefit conferred upon the teacher, as well as the nation at large, is that of giving him a contract to fill a position in the great army of educational soldiers; giving the teacher an opportunity to serve his country by training the youth of the land; giving him an opportunity to plant the seeds of Americanism, and the love and respect for other peoples of the world; giv- ing him the privilege of implanting in the minds and hearts of the youth of our land those great American ideals for which our forefathers fought and won; teaching our boys and girls to “Love thy neighbor as thy- self,” and “Do unto others as we should be done by.” These, my friends, are the greatest benefits conferred upon teachers by our boards of education. ECONOMIC WELFARE OF THE TEACHER CARL E. CROSON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE SFKATTLE SCHOOL BOARD, SEATTLE, WASH. We have long ago learned to think of teaching as a profession. A pro- fession is that line of activity which is primarily interested in the results to be obtained, not for the one doing the work but for the one for whom the work is performed. A true professional teacher is, therefore, primarily interested in what she does for the development and life of her pupils. This being true, other interests are quite naturally given little considera- tion. What has been said is just as applicable to other highly professional ac- tivities and we often hear it said that the professional man is not a good business man. It may readily be admitted that most professional people are not skilled in the ways and manner of business and give little thought to economic life. In the teaching profession there are many who enter it with the avowed purpose of a life’s work. ‘They think it, feel it, and act it. ‘These, as a rule, think little of their economic welfare. There are many others who drift into the profession or who come in by choice but with no intention that it shall be other than a temporary occupation. ‘These latter classes are usually free and easy spenders. ‘The net result is that all groups usually give little thought to their economic welfare and in many sections find that no one else has considered it for them. 368 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION On the one hand, we have a highly developed intellectual power which is in the habit of leading and directing. On the other is an ignorance of eco- nomic matters and ways and means of making gain. The two make a bad combination for pride, a false pride in fact, keeps the leading and directing mind from seeking help and following counsel and advice, thus making the teacher the easy victim of many ill-advised enterprises and the easy prey for unscrupulous stock salesmen and those who can make mica look like gold. Thus we find three conditions: First, the professional mind is not economically inclined; second, many times the economic welfare of the teacher is not looked after by others; and, third, the teacher is a compara- tively easy victim of the ill-advised or unscrupulous promoter. “The sub- ject assigned for this discussion, is therefore, timely and well chosen. At this point we might consider some of the things that the teacher brings to the market of society and for which she asks a compensation. In- tellectual attainment is a compensation in itself to the individual, but when society makes use of that attainment society should be expected to com- pensate. “Then there is length of service. Experience in this as well as other fields of activity is of value to that portion of society receiving the service. Patience in dealing with, concern for and interest in someone not your own have certain compensations to the individual but do not make a living, and if they are received and accepted by society as a whole entitle one to a fair return. And then there is that character forming side of the teacher’s work. “This cannot be definitely segregated, cannot be measured in dollars and cents, but let a teacher depart from the building side and begin to present ideas that destroy character and how quickly the commu- nity feels it. We have now seen that by reason of the public use of her intellectual preparation, her experience, patience, concern, interest, and character build- ing work, the teacher has brought something to the general public market and is entitled to a compensation. To be fair it should be stated that the public is not unappreciative; the rest of the public is just as busily and honestly engaged as the teacher and until comparatively recently little real study has been given to a proper and just method of compensation. “The compensation is usually a monetary consideration. “That is now so universal that it may be accepted as the public’s way of compensating. ‘This, however, leaves open many questions. The amount is always a live issue. It varies in localities. It would seem that this could be overcome by the study of costs of living, arriving at the purchasing price of the dollar, taking into consideration, of course, the desirable and undesirable localities. One could not be expected to endure the hazards of a malaria stricken district with no greater compensation than that received in a locality of splendid living conditions. Should the amount vary according to intellectual preparation? It would seem that this should be correct. How much variation is an open question. Should the amount vary based on experience and length of service? This THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 369 variation is quite generally recognized and seems right. How much credit should be given for experience will in turn depend on whether the teacher has kept abreast with the profession while gaining experience and also whether the experience has been in one or many systems. Should the amount vary solely by reason of the grade or subjectmatter taught? There has grown up this difference, but from the standpoint of clear reasoning it seems difficult to maintain. If a proper relation were established for preparation, experience and responsibility it would seem that this problem would disappear. The first step, therefore, looking toward the economic welfare of the teacher is the receipt from the public of a proper and fair compensation for that which the teacher has to market. In determining this proper and fair compensation there will be contending forces. Human nature has not yet gotten to the place where self interest can be entirely eliminated. The teacher will seek the larger compensation. The public, through its chosen officials, will desire to pay just as little as necessary. Is it too much to ask or expect that these two elements will conscientiously and honestly work at the problem, and that they too will see to it that the great tax paying public are fully and frankly advised of all facts entering into the solution? Now let us assume that the fair compensation is received. ‘The remain- ing question in the economic welfare of the teacher is, how to use the com- pensation received. Many budget systems are devised and many have great merit, but these will not meet the requirements. A careful survey will show that everyone concerned with his or her ulti- mate. economic independence must make savings work while he sleeps. This means investments. Investments, generally speaking, fall into three classes—investment, speculation, and gamble. Three questions should be asked about each investment: First. Is the principal safe? Second: Is the interest return adequate? Third: Is it convertible? If all of these questions can be answered in the affirmative the proposed investment is good. The qualities spoken of do not always appear in each transaction. ‘To illustrate, let us take a Liberty Bond. ‘The safety of principal would be rated high, the interest return low, and convertibility high. Now let us take a well selected real estate mortgage. The safety would be fair, the interest return fair amd convertibility fair, with promo- t'on oil stock, the.safety low, interest return erratic, and convertibility low. Let it be understood at this point that I am not epposed to promotion. Mines must be opened, wells drilled and industries developed. ‘These are all legitimate speculation, but this class of investment belongs to him who can afford to lose and the average teacher is not in that class. Many are induced to gamble on the outcome of a patent, a mine, a well, or an industry, by the hope of great returns. These great returns seldom come and when they do are usually after a reorganization, which to a great extent changes the original plan and often eliminates the original investor. 370 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION On the other hand, too great a conservation does not give an adequate return. This is true of Liberty Bonds and savings accounts as a per- manent investment. ‘The problem for the teacher is to get as nearly as possible the first earning. By that I mean get as nearly as possible the full amount that legitimate enterprise can pay for the use of money. ‘This is generally by means of well selected bonds and mortgages. In passing mention should be made of life insurance. A well selected policy that will protect those dependent during dependency and will be paid to the insured when it has matured will be a splendid means of stabiliz- ing the economic conditions for the average professional man. This like any other good thing must not be carried to the extreme: Life insurance is not primarily an investment. It is protection. Finally, in every business there are departments, the buying, the selling, the credit, the shipping, and the legal. Each has its part to perform. The: business man takes just as few chances as possible. Why should the in- dividual not so organize himself? Seek advice from competent successful men with no axe to grind, no direct interest in the matter on which advice is given. This will insure an unbiased opinion. Mistakes will be made with even such help, but the great, said plight of the little being frittered away will become less and less frequent. THE PROFESSIONAL WELFARE OF TEACHERS—ABSTRACT FLORENCE HALE, STATE DIRECTOR OF RURAL EDUCATION, STATE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION, AUGUSTA, ME. There never has been a time when the professional opportunity and wel- fare of the classroom teacher has been more promising than today. We should all appreciate the significance of the fact that this year a classroom teacher is being nominated for the president of the National Education Association, the greatest honor in the greatest education association in the country. If elected, this will be the first real classroom teacher to be given this honor and even the nomination alone is very significant. I am not speaking of this matter at this time with any “political” intent, and like most National Education Association members I do not believe in building up a spirit of “class” groups in the National Education Association. How- ever, the fact that a classroom teacher is to be considered for this honor should not pass without classroom teachers especially realizing that it is significant of the changed attitude toward their status and means increas- ‘ing professional welfare. For years it seemed to be an accepted idea that in order to secure pro- fessional recognition—promotion—that a teacher must leave the actual classroom and become a supervisor or a principal. It has been the bane of the superintendents’ existence that as soon as a teacher become “out- standing” she would be lured out of this work she could do so well into some sort of administrative position, not only by financial gain but more especially because of the greater opportunity for professional respect and mea THE DrpARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS oy ‘honor. No greater blessing can come to the teaching profession and to the children of this country than to have the day arrive when the classroom teacher need not go out of her schoolroom and give up the actual teaching of children to secure honor and promotion. If the highest honors educa- tionally can come to an able teacher going on with her regular work in an actual classroom, the whole teaching profession will be benefited and we shall see more teachers enamoured of the real job of teaching and anxious to study further to better fit themselves for the work most of us in our hearts really love better than any cold problem of executive position—the teaching of children to know and love the great and beautiful things of the world. ‘This‘is the brightest day educationally that the teachers of the world have seen. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT ANNA THOMPSON, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI ‘lo promote and maintain a continuity of policy is essential to the success of any organization. During this year your president has endeavored to correlate the work of the department with what has gone before. For the past five years the efforts of this department have been centered largely upon improving conditions for the classroom teachers to the end that the teaching service of the nation may be improved, and the depart- ment has not by any means abandoned that policy. In our conferences we have continued to stress the desirability of fewer interruptions of class- room work, simplified rating systems, fair salary schedules, tenure of posi- tions, actuarily safe retirement funds, sabbatical leave, and the reduction in the number of pupils to the teacher. Second Yearbook—While continuing to stress all those things which pertain to the welfare of the classroom teacher, we have, this year, centered our attention chiefly upon the child under our care, and our yearbook is devoted to the rediscovery and exploration of youthland. “The classroom teachers of America are endeavoring more and more to give the individual child opportunity for self direction for development of initiative. Many teachers from every section were set to work securing first hand information on how right habits, right attitudes, ideals, and appreciations are developed. All classroom teachers know that these are important aspects of instruction, but so far little has been done toward measuring them. What method best builds right attitudes of cooperation with teacher and other pupils?’ What best instills tolerance? Perhaps we can as yet measure only information and skill, but we, at least, can make an intensive’ study of attitudes, ideals, habits, and appreciations, and how they may be developed. The majority of classroom teachers are not trained in scientific research, and in a few cases the results of the committee work turned out to be a study of methods rather than a study of the child. Even so, your president conceives the yearbook to be for the growth and expression of the class- BYEZ NatTIoNAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION room teacher, believes the material contained is very valuable, and feels that the teamwork developed when scores of classroom teachers all over the United States are contributing to cooperative studies of problems in their own field rivals that of the famous Macedonian phalanxes, and is one of the finest outcomes of the Department of Classroom ‘Teachers. Your president takes great pride in her efficient chairmen, and in the personnel of the committees. Acting upon a strong conviction that there has been too much centraliza- tion of the activities and responsibilities of the department in the executive committee, an attempt has been made to enlarge greatly the number who are actively participating in the work of the department’ this year. Speakers’ Bureau—Considerable progress has been made by the depart- ment in securing recognition of classroom teachers. Four years ago when state associations were first requested to place a classroom teacher on the general program, seven of the forty-eight letters were answered, the second year nineteen answers came, last year twenty-nine replies were received, and this year thirty responded. The tenor of those responses was that the state officers were not only glad, but sincerely anxious to secure classroom speakers who can talk effectively, and a favor, many said, would be conferred by listing a few outstanding classroom teachers whose ability had been demonstrated. Reaction to the foregoing was the organization of a speakers’ bureau of classroom teachers by having local organizations recommend speakers from their own membership. The complete list was compiled and you will find this Speakers’ Bureau on page 246 in the Second Yearbook. Field trip—In carrying out the provision of the constitution which provides that regional conferences shall be held for the purposes of dis- cussing and formulating educational policies, and in extending and edu- cating the membership of this department, a field trip was made through the south covering sixteen states, and lasting nine weeks including the week at the Department of Superintendence meeting in Dallas. The Kansas City school board generously granted permission for your president to be absent from her work at Northeast Senior High School without loss of salary during this trip. Starting on January third the first stop was in Little Rock, Arkansas, where many schools were visited and two group conferences were held. “During my stay in New Orleans, I visited a number of schools and had contacts with several groups of teachers, many of, whom evinced their willingness to cooperate in the work of the department by serving on com- mittees and by functioning in other capacities. cae : : Mobile’s welcome was most cordial. A live conference of classroom teachers was organized there from which we expect great progress. The establishment of the Mobile school system antedates that of the state system. The schools of Mobile, county and city, are under one manage- ment. The same rules and regulations apply to the county and city alike, THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 373 the same salary schedule being employed, and the same supplies purchased for each. Florida has the county unit system, controled by a county school board of three members. “The county superintendent is the executive secretary of the board and all cities are under the county board. The type of teachers’ organization known to us of the middle west and west where the social feature is prominently stressed was found in only a few cities of Florida. In a very few cases the large turnover of teachers prevented a general acquaintanceship among the teachers, and some dif- ficulty was experienced in electing officers since the teachers did not know each other’s capabilities well enough to make nominations. ‘Then, too, we found the school term somewhat shorter and the salaries lower than in cities of approximate size in other sections of the United States. Pensacola’s superintendents, supervisors, and teachers extended a cordial welcome. A responsive group of teachers discussed classroom problems and organized a classroom unit. In ‘Tallahassee another classroom unit was organized, and the affairs of the department were left in capable hands. At West Palm Beach County teachers’ meeting the opportunity was given to organize a unit of the department of classroom teachers at a luncheon conference. Fort Lauderdale was also visited and a classroom organization was formed. Dade County, Florida, including Miami and Miami Beach, has a super- intendent who takes pride in the fact that every teacher in his county be- longs to the National Education Association. In this friendly atmosphere, we believe the unit organized in Miami will flourish. ‘The director of elementary instruction of Dade County showed the visitors through the schools of the county. We were much interested in the health program, and enjoyed a luncheon in a model school cafeteria in which no white bread, no white sugar, nor condiments were served. At Orlando in Orange County, a conference was organized with the cooperation of the administrators. Tampa has a live teachers’ club. A committee welcomed me and took me on a tour of the schools and a live regional conference was held with leaders who had ideas and put them into practice. At St. Petersburg, the supervising principal called all classroom teachers together for a conference, and a responsive group seemed much interested in the work. An opportunity was afforded to attend the opening reception of the new high school at Largo, an uptodate building with all modern conveniences. Jacksonville has an organized group, the president of which called a conference. Savannah, Georgia, has a progressive superintendent, who, together with his assistants, extended every courtesy in arranging for a conference and in affording opportunity for visiting schools. 374 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION At Columbia, South Carolina, my visit occurred at the close of the first semester when all were exceedingly busy. Only building representatives attended the conference, but among this number there chanced to be several alert teachers aware of the significance and value of classroom organiza- tion. The spirit of comaraderie existing between administrators and teachers was immediately apparent upon meeting the school people of Charlotte, North Carolina. Delightful hospitality from superintendent, assistants, club president, and teachers made a two days’ stay in this city a real joy. A conference was next organized in Greensboro, North Carolina. The superintendent and teachers of the Charlottesville schools had made plans for every moment of my stay in that historic city. Visits to the schools, to the famous Virginia University, and to that shrine of democ- racy, Monticello, with a descendant of Thomas Jefferson and another teacher, were among the happy experiences of the day. “Then came the organization of the conference, with wideawake leadership. This was followed by a reception planned by the principal of the McGuffey school, which afforded a chance to become better acquainted with the teaching corps and to enlist their cooperation in our department plans. In Charleston, West Virginia, the next conference was held. We met with splendid cooperation from the superintendent and his assistants, and exceedingly capable officers for the conference were elected. A state class- room department has been organized in this state. The superintendent of the Lexington, Kentucky schools was another administrator who had mapped out plans for my visit. His interest in his schools impelled him to wish visitors to explore that system from boiler room to attic. We heard beautiful spirituals in the colored high school, nd saw good work everywhere. “There is a strong classroom teachers’ organization in Lexington, and our conference was well attended. The conference organized at Chattanooga was felt by the teachers to be a progressive step, and letters from the chairman give assurance of hearty interest and cooperation in the new organization. Notwithstanding the fact that Atlanta teachers were in the midst of a fight to prevent the reduction of their present salary schedule, and to retain their automatic salary increases, they took time to show a fine spirit of cooperation and a conference was organized with enthusiastic officers. Birmingham school administrators took pride in exhibiting their fine new buildings, and the excellent work accomplished there. The officers elected at the conference seemed anxious to function effectively, and we have had efhcient help on our yearbook from this city. The teachers’ association sponsored the conference held in Meridian. The superintendeat and other administrators were present and contributed friendly suggestions and advice. Wholehearted cooperation was given, and teachers willingly accepted service on the various committees. THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 375 Contacts were had with the teachers in the junior high school in Shreve- port, but no general conference was held there. This opportunity is taken to express grateful appreciation for the cordial and delightful hospitality accorded the president of the department while on this lengthy and somewhat arduous field trip. She takes pride in the fact that not once in the nine weeks did she miss a train nor fail to appear at the appointed time and place for a conference. Previous conferences—At the time of the Missouri State Teachers’ Association a luncheon conference was held in Kansas City in conjunction with the state classroom department. Many noted educators were present, among whom were Augustus O. Thomas, Patty Hill, Uel Lamkin, Eugene Fair, C. H. Williams, and many others, who spoke on educational sub- jects and whose inspiration carried over into the business meeting which followed. Summary of conferences—More than forty conferences were held by members of the executive committee during the year. The department aims have been presented to many other groups apart from these conferences of classroom teachers. Executive committee mem- bers have appeared before the faculties of state teachers’ colleges, federated clubs, and groups of administrators. “The president of the department spoke before the Kansas City Elementary Principals’ Club on the general program of the Missouri State Teachers’ Association, and appeared before the St. Joseph Federation of Clubs in April to discuss the New Education Bill and other professional matters. Purpose of conferences: 1. To discuss and formulate educational policies and programs for the general meetings of the department. 2. To carry into effect the policies and programs of this department. 3. To extend and educate the membership of the department. Effecting the purpose—In carrying into effect these purposes, the current welfare, civic, professional and educational problems of classroom teachers have been discussed in these conferences, and the best means of solution have been sought. The membership of the department has undoubtedly been extended, since many teachers immediately joined and sent in Na- tional Education Association dues in order that they might function as officers in the newly organized conferences. Scores of teachers in the southeastern part of the United States are now serving on various com- mittees who had previously had no contact whatever with the department. They are no longer onlookers, but are active participants, in the work and responsibilities of the department. We sincerely believe that organization and affiliation with the National Department of Classroom Teachers will mean better teaching conditions, higher salaries, and higher professional standards, The public is demand- ing a longer period of training and greater efhiciency. It should ponder 376 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION over the cost of longer years of schooling, and pay adequate salaries for such training. ‘The public needs education along this line, and organized teachers are in a better position than others to accord this information in sections of the country where teachers are notably underpaid. Finances—The department is financed by an appropriation from the general fund of the National Education Association. Last year the sum allowed was $7,500, and no increase was granted this year. We must perform all the functions of our department and publish a yearbook on the sum mentioned above. It is quite impossible to carry out the purpose of the constitution and to publish a yearbook that will adequately repre- sent the department on this amount. ‘The Second Yearbook has necessarily been curtailed on account of the small appropriation. ‘This appropriation will have to be increased, or other means found to finance the department. As the department increases in membership and consequently in prestige, our yearbook and all our activities must keep pace with this growth. To attain to greater usefulness and higher efficiency, the department needs at least $8,500, and this is the amount requested for carrying on the work of the department next year. Budget requested for 1927-1928— Midwinter Conference and Summer Convention.......... $3,500.00 Regional. .Conferencesia-y.a..4.- a aseiere oe tere eee 1,800.00 Part, time sfory Presidents ...o..90 see ee bee eee 1,000.00 Stenographic” ‘help jasiasa: 1 d.nraems eee kee Oot ee ks eee 700.00 Printings). thing coteinisuleiessten aly apd gnieesoeite he Meee Bee Ce onTee 800.00 Office’ EXPENSES 32845 shoo sw tenehccecetm, cepetel uachewede cad Mae resus aed eee 300.00 Incidentalst eat asco bale ssi e vate ort ee hate ue mio AT eee 400.00 $8,500.00 Had the Kansas City school board not been generous enough to grant the president of this department a nine weeks’ leave of absence without loss of salary, the Second Yearbook would necessarily have been cur- tailed still further. ‘The amount allowed on the budget for the part time for president did not need to be used for that purpose, and we hope that it may be applied toward the expense of publishing the Second Yearbook. Department fee—The question of a departmental fee is an ever re- curring one. Previous presidents have suggested that as salaries are equalized and increased, department dues might become advisable. The president of the department last year recommended that as speedily as possible the department move toward a departmental fee. Both the presi- dent and the secretary of the National Education Association have sug- gested this year that the time is ripe for such action. In order to determine the wishes and. opinions of the membership in regard to such a fee, the matter has been discussed freely in regional con- ferences, and a committee has been appointed to obtain information from local organizations and to present all phases of the subject for discussion and action at the business meeting in Seattle. THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS SL. Recognition of the department—In recognition of the importance of the Department of Classroom Teachers, the president has been appointed a member of Committee No. 5, the Herman-Jordan Plan for International Understanding in the World Federation of Education Associations. Midwinter meeting—The constitution requires that a conference of the officers, executive committee, advisory council, and other members of the department shall be held at the time and place of the Department of Superintendence. This year our midwinter meeting was held at Dallas, and on account of the very fine spirit of cooperation shown by the Dallas and Fort Worth teachers we had most inspiring meetings. ‘The attendance at the luncheon, 546, was by far the largest in the history of the department. The conference at Dallas.on March second was enlivened by the presence of several members of the advisory council from newly organized units in the southeastern part of the United States who were much inter- ested in plans of organization. Classroom executives from many organizations, and members repre- senting widely-scattered organizations took an active part in the dis- cussion of the problems and policies of the department. Superintendent H. P. Harding, of Charlotte, North Carolina, dis- cussed the “Classroom Teacher’s Philosophy of Living,’ and many fav- - orable comments were made on his sympathetic understanding of their problems. Frederick L. Whitney, of the Colorado State Teachers’ College, gave an able report on “Retardation Due to Class Size.” We owe Dr. Whitney a debt of gratitude for investigating the relation between class size and retardation, and the comparative cost of large and small classes as modi- fied by the amount of retardation traceable to class size. Progress reports of officers and committees were freely discussed. Conclusion—During this year the official family has been a bulwark of strength which has stood firmly by in time of stress and difficulty. We are handing over to cur successors a large and powerful organization which is working harmoniously to advance the interests of classroom teachers, and to bring about professional improvement. We are all richer in contacts, richer in friendships, richer in understanding; and, because of this year’s study, we believe we are better able to find our way to the hearts of America’s childhood. REPORT, OF THE VICEPRESIDENT’ MARY B. SULLIVAN, CASTLETON, VERMONT During the year, most of the conferences held have been in Vermont, with one or two in the neighboring states of New Hampshire and New York. 1This report and those following include only those conferences held before April 15. 378 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Montpelier, Vermont—The first conference of the year was held October 21, in Montpelier at the time of the Vermont State Teachers’ Association convention. ‘The purpose of this meeting was to arouse a deeper and more active interest in the National Education Association, and particularly to awaken an enthusiasm in what the Department of Classroom Teachers is doing. Julia E. Sullivan, of Boston, formerly president of this depart- ment, was the principal speaker, and brought a splendid message of achieve- ment and inspiration. ‘The vicepresident of the department then spoke, explaining the purpose of the department and some of the problems it has for consideration at the present time. "There was an animated discussion from the floor which showed that those attending were eager to know more about the work of the department. Castleton, Vermont—The work of the department was made knuwn to a gathering of about two hundred fifty teachers, some of them prospective teachers, at a conference of the Southern Council of Primary ‘Teachers. This was the first regional conference which these teachers attended and they were much interested. “Che chairman emphasized particularly the necessity for feeling the “bigness” of the job of the classroom teacher, and tried to arouse a professional consciousness. She also urged teachers to participate in school management, the making of curricula and the like when offered the opportunity. It has been my privilege, because of being an instructor in a normal school, to come in close contact with many beginning teachers and. those who are to be teachers, and to try and give them as they go out into their classrooms everywhere, a knowledge of what this organization stands for, what it is aiming to do, and also to help stimulate in them a professionalism from the beginning of their teaching career. As chairman, I would like to make grateful acknowledgment to all who have worked with me on committees—collectively and individually— in planning and organizing the unit on primary work in the Second Year- book. It has been a joy to have met, if not in reality, at least in spirit, the teachers of this country all united in promoting the welfare of the chil- dren in our schools. REPORT OF THE SECRETARY CLARA LYNN, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON To be a member of the executive committee of the Department of Classroom Teachers is an opportunity for growth. Contact with class- room teachers throughout the country and with administrators gives a broad viewpoint of our educational problems. As I have met and talked with the teachers in regional conferences, I have found an increasing interest in better preparation, a large percent Tue DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 379 taking extension work to secure a degree or strengthen themselves if they have a degree. All are vitally interested in the child. Six conferences have been held during the year. he first one was at Bellingham, Washington, during the County Institute. As there had been no conferences here previously the teachers were very much inter- ested in hearing about the work of the department. The younger teach- ers especially wished to have help in classroom problems and asked for bulletins along this line. The next conference was held in Seattle during the convention of the State Teachers’ Association at which a most interesting program was carried out. “This was a: joint meeting with the Washington Classroom Teachers’ League. ‘The topics discussed were the work of the League, the Inland Empire Classroom Organization, the teacher in service, teacher placement, single salary, a code of ethics for teachers, the Edu- cation Bill, and tax revision. ‘Teachers from all parts of the state were present and two representatives from Portland. During the session of the Oregon State ‘Teachers’ Association in Port- land, at Christmas time, a conference was held. The teachers were vitally interested in certain problems at this time, and requested that the subjects ‘or discussion be class size, retirement laws, and single salary. Oregon has a fine classroom organization, and is working out a progressive program. On my way to Dallas I visited the Kansas City, Mo., schools. One of the schools visited was the Model School at Woodland. Mr. Buckles, the principal, gave us his time for the morning. ‘The work observed was an inspiration, showing the finest kind of preparation on the teacher’s part and interest on the pupil’s side. After a splendid lunch in their cafeteria, Mr. Buckles and some of the teachers took their cars and gave us a de- lightful ride to Kumpf school, one of their platoon schools. I have never seen better work than was presented there. Kansas City may well be proud of her schools. On my return trip from Dallas I held three conferences in California. The proverbial California spirit surely prevailed. In San Diego the schools were dismissed at 2:30 for our conference. At this meeting the first topic discussed was “Tenure.” All the California cities are working to get a bill through the Legislature to secure tenure and sabbatical leave. Teacher load was one of the vital questions with this group. Your representative spoke on this subject, on the Education Bill, and the work of the department. A lively discussion arose over the subject of a depart- mental fee. In Los Angeles, an informal conference with some of the teachers on the policies of the department was held. This was a most profitable hour. This was followed by a dinner conference in the Women’s Athletic Club. San Francisco teachers and administrative officers proved themselves 380 NaTIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION royal entertainers. One of the deputy superintendents took me to inspect one of their fine junior high schools, where I spent two hours in observing classroom work, of which any school might well be proud. At four o’clock I attended a regular meeting of the San Francisco Teachers’ Asso- ciation where tea was served, as is their regular custom. After listening to their program, your representative was asked to speak on the “Benefits of Organization.” A dinner was given in the Stewart Hotel arranged by the cities of the Bay district. The officers of all the organizations of these cities and counties were present. Five minute talks were given on the work being carried out, followed by a discussion of the legislative work. The Education Bill was a topic which aroused much interest. Californians have the true spirit of progress and might well be an example to other groups in their desire for and appreciation of the needs of “The Child and His Teacher.”’ I do not feel that this report would be complete without saying that my superintendent, Thomas R. Cole, and the Seattle school board, have been most generous in granting me three week’s leave of absence on full pay with a substitute, and other days when I needed them. REPORT OF EASTERN EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER EDITH B. JOYNES, NORFOLK, VIRGINIA The regional conferences which were held by the eastern representative convened at the time of the state teachers’ association meeting in the various states or at the time of the district meetings. ‘The plan at the state association was to organize a classroom teachers’ department of the state having maih objectives the same as the Department of Classroom Teachers of the National Education Association. The officers of the various state classroom departments are to-act as an advisory committee with the execu- tive committee of the Department of Classroom Teachers in planning for the yearbook, also in discussing objectives for the coming year. Clarksburg, West Virginia, October 28-30—Gertrude Roberts, presi- dent of the West Virginia Education Association, arranged the program. The eastern member of the executive committee was given an opportunity on the general program to explain the purpose of the department, its method of operation, and stressed the teachers’ responsibility in organization work, since improvement in teaching conditions will come more quickly by this means than by any other. The second day of the meeting, a classroom teachers’ department of the state was organized with about one thousand members. Your repre- sentative gave an address on ““The Classroom Teacher and the Curricu- lum.” Joseph Rosier, president of Fairmont State Normal School, also gave an address, the keynote being ‘““The Future of Education Depends on the Classroom Teacher.” THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 381 A general discussion followed—Shall the classroom teacher cooperate in research? ‘The teachers discussed the topic freely from the floor and showed a willingness to participate in research as well as curriculum making. Many administrators were present and they were in hearty cooperation with the movement. The classroom teachers gave a luncheon and your representative was the main speaker. ‘They were eager to learn about the work of the department, and they are now carrying on the work in their various roundtable groups that meet throughout the state during the year. Roanoke, Virginia, November 25-28—The Department of Classroom Teachers met with the grammar grade department with over a thousand present. Miss Charl Williams of the National Education Association gave a most pleasing address on “Keeping Pace with the Times.” Your own representative stressed membership, and benefits to be derived from the National Department of Classroom Teachers. This is the second meeting of the Classroom Teachers’ Department of the Virginia Education Association and a real demonstration was shown in their willingness to participate in the meeting. “The three main topics: sabbatical leave, tenure, and retirement law, seemed to be of special interest. Greenville, North Carolina, November 13—At the district meeting T. D. Martin, director of the Division of Records and Membership of the Nation: | Education Association, spoke on ‘““What the National Education Associat ‘on means to the Classroom Teacher.’’ A classroom teachers’ de- partmer t of the district was not organized as the delegates wanted to dis- cuss the question in the local groups. Norfilk, Virginia, April 8—A conference of classroom teachers was arranged at the time of the district meeting. “The towns represented were Newpor, News, Portsmouth, Norfolk, Suffolk, Gloucester, Franklin, Cape Charles, Princess Anne, and Norfolk County. The teachers were interested in exchange of teachers and sabbatical leave. In the discussion of departmental dues they expressed the feeling that the time had not arrived for establishing a departmental fee because in this section membership in the National Education Association has just started, and the extra dues would have a tendency to check the enthusiasm. Greenville, South Carolina, March 24-26—On the general program of the South Carolina Teachers’ Association, which was in session for three days, your representative explained the work and purpose of the Depart- ment of Classroom ‘Teachers. Plans for organization of a classroom teachers’ department were pre- sented before the teachers in the different department groups of the state association. The object is to bring about a closer relationship between the state department and the National Department of Classroom ‘Teachers. Conferences are arranged to be held in Rocky Mount, N. C., Wilming- ton, Del., and Fredericksburg, Va., during the menth of Mav. 382 NatTIOoNAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION Your executive member sees a closer cooperation between administra- tors and classroom teachers and the awakening of a classroom teacher consciousness, which will advance. education in this department more rapidly in the next five years than ever before. REPORT OF MIDDLE SECTION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER EULA F. HUNTER, FORT WORTH, TEXAS School practices of recent date show.a marked tendency to place the greater emphasis upon the child to be taught rather than upon the subject- matter of instruction. Classroom teachers have demonstrated throughout the discussions in the regional conferences that it is through a scientific study of the child that they look toward the solution of many problems which will lead to improved conditions in the field of education. Other subjects which I find being widely discussed, and which bear more directly upon the teacher and her relation to teaching as a pro- fession, are the improvement of teachers’ certificate laws, teacher tenure, retirement remuneration, sabbatical leave, the Education Bill, state aid for rural schools, single salary schedule, the impioved qualifications of teachers, and the improvement of local organization work among teachers. The teachers are deeply appreciative of the work of the Department of Classroom ‘Teachers and the opportunities which the organization affords teachers for cooperating in the task of meeting the local needs of education, and in the greater task of making possible a systematic study of problems which are nation-wide in their scope and upon which the building of a profession among teachers so much depends. My first aim in conferences among new groups of teachers is to ac- quaint them with the Department of Classroom ‘Teachers, its plan of organization, and its work. In Texas I have ‘met with teachers of Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston, with the rural teachers of the twenty-four “Panhandle Counties” in joint institute at Canyon City, and vee the Stevens County teachers at Sa enridge. ; In Pueblo, Colo., a conference was held at which we completed plans for the organization of a department of classroom teachers within the Colorado Education Association, to correspond with the Department of Classroom ‘Teachers in the National Education Association. . Alma Krusen of Denver was elected president of the néw organization. Conferences were held during the spring months at two of the division meetings of the Texas State Teachers Association, and with the Oklahoma teachers at “Tulsa. THE D&partMENT OF CLAssroom TEACHERS 383 REPORT OF WESTERN SECTION EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEMBER JEAN L. SOULES, SPOKANE, WASHINGTON The Spokane school board, as in the two years preceding this, granted me a three weeks’ leave of absence to attend the meeting of the Depart- ment of Superintendence. The great distance to be traveled in reaching Dallas and returning left little time for meetings along the way. How- ever, | have had a few opportunities to present the program of the department. In November I met a group of Spokane teachers consisting of repre- sentatives from the various grade schools. I talked on the Education Bill, urging them to see that all teachers in the city were informed on the subject. I presented it to two parent-teacher associations also. I spoke to the general assembly of the Oregon State ‘Teachers Asso- ciation and the classroom teachers’ department of that organization at the annual meeting held in Portland in December. I found it impossible to accept an invitation to speak to the Idaho classroom teachers at the time of their state association meeting, as the dates were the same as those for Oregon. But on my way to Dallas, I spent a day in Boise, holding a small, informal conference in the morn- ing, and speaking to a larger number at a delightful luncheon, at which six towns beside Boise were represented. “Che geographic cunditions in Idaho make it difficult for teachers of one part of the state to meet with those in other parts. This lack of acquaintanceship is a hindrance, but with an increase in the number of those who realize the value of class- ‘room teacher organization, and with a growing understanding on the part of school administrators of the steadily mounting professional spirit of classreym teachers, progress is sure to result. The State Teachers College of Kearney, Nebraska, has a student unit ‘of the National Education Association. ‘This is, I believe, the only one in existence. I had the pleasure of seeing this organization at work, as I spoke at their regular monthly meeting, February 21st. I learned that their programs include a study of the special reports issued by the National Education Association and that a debate on the Education Bill is te take place at the March meeting. If we could get teachers in all organized groups to debate the Education Bill, the resulting knowledge of the subject would go far toward securing its enactment. L addressed the teachers of the Kearney schools in a meeting held after school, the afternoon of February 22nd, My next stop was at Omaha, where I had two opportunities to meet with the Omaha School Forum. Here, as in the case of Boise and Kearney, I found the superintendent’s office most courteous and coopera- tive. A classroom teacher, who is vice-president of the Forum, was re- 384 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION leased for the afternoon to be with me and to accompany me to the meet- ing where I spoke to three hundred teachers. Following this meeting, a charming dinner was given attended by two hundred. Here the talk was more informal and called forth discussion and questions. A brief stop in Kansas City was delightfully spent with two teachers whom I had previously met through the work of this department. It was a pleasant surprise to be met at the train and delightfully entertained, though I had not announced my coming. [t seems that one valuable by- product of the activities of this department is the fabric of friendship that is being woven. Its warp and woof of earnest purpose runs north and south and east and west, and woven in and out to make a beautiful pattern runs a golden thread of friendship. One of the best things accomplished in the western section this year has been the formation of the Association of Classroom Teachers of the Pacific Northwest. A preliminary organization was effected in Spokane last April and a constitution is now ready to present for adoption at the meeting this spring. It is hoped that the organization will be instru- mental in stimulating classroom teacher organizations and will serve as a clearinghouse for problems affecting classroom teachers in the states concerned. The Washington Education Association, at its annual business session last October, amended its constitution to permit the formation of student units in teacher-training institutions. An effort will be made to visit each normal school in the state before the end of the present school year, in an attempt to stimulate such organization. One visit for this purpose has already been arranged. The special work assigned to me was the study of Retardation Due to Overcrowding in Primary Classes. Our tirst task was to learn, if pos- sible, to what extent retardation is due to overcrowding. Our investiga- tion in this field is being carried on under the direction of Frederick L. Whitney, Director of Research of Colorado State Teachers College at Greeley, Colorado. A progress report is presented by Dr. Whitney on pages 163-179 of this yearbcok. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON A DEPARTMENTAL FEE FOR THE DEPARTMENT CORNELIA S, ADAIR, RICHMOND, VIRGINIA, CHAIRMAN Your Committee on Departmenal Fee was selected by! the president in response to the request made at the last summer’s meeting. She appointed twenty people from different sections of the country and they began their work in the latter part of December of last year. We sent out 350 questionnaires to the classroom teacher organizations affliated with the National Association, and 104 organizations responded. THe DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM ‘TEACHERS 385 The majority of the organizations that answered either felt that there should be no fee, or that the time was not ripe for financing such a fee. Various reasons were given both for and against the question. ‘The committee met in Seattle on Wednesday, July 6th, to discuss the replies to the questionnaire, and to formulate their report. As a number of the members of the committee were unable to attend, others repre- senting different sections of the country were asked to meet with the com- mittee. After a full and free discussion it was decided to present to the department at this meeting for its adoption the following recommendations: First, that for the present the department should not require an addi- tional fee for membership. This was the reason: The Department of Classroom Teachers organized on its present basis is comparatively young. You have heard the reports of its officers and know of the wonderful field work they are doing. It is comparatively easy to reach the organized groups such as many of you represent, but there are thousands of teachers throughout the country who have not had the privilege of coming in contact with the National Education Association, or with any of your officials or anyone who would talk to them about the work of the National Education Association and the benefits both to them professionally and to the National Education Associa- tion that would accrue by joining the Association. The committee felt that for the present it was wise to let the fee for the National Association serve for this department. Others felt that be- cause at least 75 percent of the membership of the National Association was classroom teachers that: we should ask the parent organization to finance us from the dues paid by classroom teachers. There were a number of suggestions made-~along that line. Some felt that it would be wiser if we wish to have additional funds to raise the dues of the entire Association with appropriation to the various de- partments of the money that would come in that way. For instance, the dues might be raised to $3.00; and $1.00 appropriated to the Department. We considered the resolution that was passed here in the Northwest and found that if we took the income of the Association, aside from the dollar that was apportioned to the JOURNAL that there was approximately $140,- 000 in dues. Estimating a part of the expenses of the division at head- quarters that has to do with classroom teachers, and taking the $7,500 as apportioned in the budget, we find that we lacked about $400 from having ten percent of the $140,000. That brings me to the second recommendation: ‘That the Department have a financial committee appointed to go into the whole question of ap- propriations and to decide with a view to establishing a standard by which we should be guided in making requests of the budget committee of the National Association. The amount requested might be a certain percentage of the income from classroom teacher dues, or it might be arranged in 386 NationaL Epucation ASSOCIATION some other way. The membership in the Department of Classroom Teachers is increasing very rapidly. It seems to the committee ‘that it might be well to establish some principle that should govern our appropria- tion from the executive committee, or, from the :parent organization. In order that the budget committee might feel more kindly toward our request for funds, or toward an increase in our funds, we suggest this same finance committee, or another committee from the Department ‘pre- pare a budget for the classroom department for submission to the executive committee of the National Education Association when we ask for our appropriation. The committee feels that if we should adopt these recommendations that we would be establishing a financial policy for the Association. ‘We would not be cutting ourselves off from some future decision in regard to the financing of a departmental fee, but we would be on our way toward a sound financial policy for the Association. The three recommendations were voted upon and adopted. 1 Norr—Other committee reports presented at the Seattle meeting will be found in the Second Yearbook of the Department of Classroom Teaehe?s, beset by the National Education Association. SECRETARY’S MINUTES First Session, Tuesday Afternoon, July 5, 1927 The first session of the Department of Classroom Teachers was held in the auditorium of the First Methodist Church, Seattle, Washington, on Tuesday after- noon, July 5, 1927. The meeting was called to order by the president. The following program was presented: | Music—Garfield High School Ensemble GREETINGS Mrs. Bertha K. Landes, Mayor of Seattle GREETINGS Edith Post, President, High School Teachers League, Seats, Wash. THE SociAL ASPECT OF TEACHERS , Augustus O. Thomas, President, World Federation. of Education Associations, Augusta, Me. THE OUTSTANDING BENEFITS CONFERRED UPON Teacuers By Our Boarps or Epu- CATION , Maude Compton, Omaha , ‘Nell Lain, Kansas City, Mo. Viola S. Kelley, San Francisco Lucy Britkhousé! Norfolk Anise Slattery, Chicago Leena Coulter,» Spokane Estelle: Bogges, Denver Gladys E. Moorhead, Los Angeles Mamie Stoecker, Seattle Annie Kate Taylor, Dallas THE Economic WELFARE OF TEACHERS Carl Croson, Attorney at Law and Former Member of Seattle Board of Edu. cation, Seattle, Wash. THE PROFESSIONAL WELFARE OF TEACHERS Florence Hale, State Agent for Rural Education, reer Me. THe DEPARTMENT oF CLAssRooM ‘TEACHERS 387 Second Session, Thursday Afternoon, July 7, 1927 Business meeting—The meeting was called to order by the president, Anna M Thompson. The President asked for corrections of the minutes of the last meeting No corrections were offered and a motion for their adoption was carried. The vice-president, Mary B. Sullivan of Castleton, Vt., presented her report of the year’s work. The report appears on pages 206-207 of the Second Yearbook. The report was adopted. Clara Lynn of Seattle, Wash., secretary of the Department, gave her report which is found on pages 207-209 of the Second Yearbook. The report was adopted. Edith B. Joynes of Norfolk, Va., member of the executive committee from the eastern section, presented her report. She called attention to the renewal of class- room consciousness in the southeastern section of the United States. The classroom teachers in the south did not receive very much recognition two years ago. Lately, this view has changed. She spoke of the certification laws in Virginia. Some teachers are required to go to summer school every year in order to renew their certificates. This year, the supervisor of certification, in compliance with Mrs. Joynes’ request, allowed those who desired to attend the National Education Association convention to substitute this attendance for a term at summer school. Her report will be found on pages 210-211 of the Second Yearbook. On motion of Mrs. Joynes the “eport was adopted. Eula F. Hunter of Fort Worth, Texas, member of the executive committee from the middle section, gave her report, which is found on page 212 of the Second Yearbook. On motion of Miss Hunter the report was adopted. Jean L. Soules of Spokane, Wash., member of the executive committee from the western section, presented her report, which appears on pages 213-214 of the Second Yearbook. On motion of Miss Soules the report was adopted. Anna M. Thompson of Kansas City, Mo., president of the Department, pre- sented her report which appears on pages 195-206 of the Second Yearbook. ‘This year the work has centered on the child under our care—the re-discovery of youthland. The Department is financed by an appropriation from the general fund of the National Education Association and last year and this year, the sum appropriated for the Department was $7500. This will need to be increased or other means of financial support solicited. The question of a department fee is an ever-recurring one. The time, the president and secretary of the National Education Association believe, is ripe for such action. A committee was appointed by the President to handle this matter. Miss Thompson then presented the follow- ing suggestions instead of making recommendations: 1. That the six officers of this Department be elected from the six different sections of the United States. 2. That the work in the Dakotas, Montana and adjacent territory be stressed this year. The work there has not progressed very rapidly. 3. Bring the aims of the Department to the notice of the teachers. 4. Secure reciprocal relations between the different states for the certification laws. 5. Make use of the advisory council. 6. That the standards, requirements, and credits for teachers in service be made a subject for further investigation by this Department. 7. Require state associations to include a classroom teacher on their programs. 8. Retain present plan of local associations to choose their delegates. On motion:of Miss Thompson the report was adopted. Ethel Gardner of Milwaukee, Wis., chairman of the committee on organization presented her report to be found on pages 219-220 of the Second Yearbook. She 388 NationNAL EpucaATtion ASSOCIATION called attention to the work that the Department is doing not only to stimulate membership in the National Education Association, but how they have aroused the desire for organization in the hearts of the teachers who have not known it before. Miss Gardner moved that the report be adopted and that the committee be con- tinued. Motion carried. Cornelia Adair of Richmond, Va., chairman of the committee on a departmental fee, presented her report. The recommendation was made by the committee that for the present the Department should not require an additional fee for member- ship. It was felt that as long as 75 percent of the members of the National Edu- cation Association were classroom teachers, that we should continue to have the parent organization finance us. It was suggested that the dues for the entire Association be raised instead of having a separate fee for this Department. Another recommendation was made that the Department have a financial com- mittee appointed to study the whole question of the appropriation and to decide with a view to establishing a budget committee of the National Education Asso- ciation. On motion of Miss Adair the report was adopted. Edith Post, chairman of the committee of division of teachers into sections, presented a recommendation to have a separate sectional meeting of the teachers of secondary education. At Dallas, it was suggested by the high school teachers that they form a separate department in the National Education Association but a compromise was reached to have a separate sectional meeting and not to divide the Department of Classroom Teachers. A commitése of nine was appointed by Miss Thompson to confer on this matter and determine what recommendations could be made. The motion made by this committee was as follows: Recognizing that the teach- ers of the elementary schools and those of the secondary schools have certain interests and problems which are not identical, it is hereby moved that the De- partment of Classroom Teachers be divided into two groups for section meetings, it being understood that the two groups shall function as one department for the business and social meetings. A question was raised about the officers of the meeting, whether they would have to have two separate sets of officers. The president suggested that the president could preside over one meeting and the vice-president over the other. It was again suggested that this might weaken the department if there was a di- vision. The high school teachers should stay with the group for the present time at least. An elementary school teacher stated that the tendency of the public schools at the present time is to divide and divide. Kindergarten, special subjects, junior high school, elementary, and senior high school teachers want their own special section. ‘Their particular problems should be discussed at home and they should come together once a year for the big general problems of classroom teachers. Miss Harden asked whether the motion proposed by Miss Post meant. that the two departments would be separate. Miss Thompson replied that the high school teachers felt that they did not have enough contact with the other high school teachers and that they only wanted a sectional meeting to get together with those interested in their branch of work and did not wish to withdraw from the de- partment. Mr. Caldwell of Dallas, Texas, stated that the meeting of the National Educa- tion Association should make for solidarity. He said that he was in favor of a sectional meeting for the high school teachers. Particular problems should be discussed in the schools. — Teachers’ problems are the coming subject and within the next few years we will realize the great need for solidarity. Charles E. Scott of Portland, Oregon, stated that he was in favor of three meet- ings, one general, one sectional and one business. It was questioned whether the constitution would allow more than two meetings. THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS 389 Miss Harden read from the Bylaws of the National Education Association Con- stitution, Section 4, Article 5, which stated that three meetings are all right if ap- proved by the president of the department. Miss Adair stated that she was in favor of the sectional meetings. Miss Powell of Chicago, stated that the two groups should stay together another year at least. Inasmuch as the president of the National Education Association for next year will probably be one from our ranks, we should not split. Mr. Richardson of Minneapolis, moved that this matter be laid aside for con- sideration until the next meeting and that the President of this Department be authorized to appoint a committee to further consider this matter with the new President. A member stated that the motion was out of order inasmuch as another motion was before the house. . Mr. Milliken of Seattle stated that this movement was to hold and encourage membership of high school teachers and it was not a movement of secession. Mr. Richardson moved that the motion before the house be tabled. Motion failed to carry. ; Miss Yoder of Omaha stated that this matter should be left to the discretion of the officers of 1928 and suggested that the request of the high school teachers be granted and keep the organization as one. President Thompson then read the resolution as proposed by Miss Post and her committee. It was placed before the house and the motion was lost. Miss Harden of Chicago moved that the President of the Association be au- thorized to appoint a committee to which various questions of this type can be brought. Motion carried. Miss Harden, chairman of the Resolutions Committee, presented the following report: The Department of Classroom Teachers of the National Education Association, in its official capacity, represents hundreds of thousands of classroom teachers. Their welfare and that of the children entrusted to their care should be its chief concern. In order that this department may function in a way to insure the best results, it should have a forward looking, constructive program extending over a period of years. This program should take under consideration all problems vital to teachers and the schools. Many elements enter into classroom teachers’ problems, some very apparent and others, though intangible, have a powerful influence for good or evil upon the lives of the teachers and through the teachers upon the children. A teacher who feels she is receiving just and fair treatment, who is happy and contented, is not only a better teacher but brings happiness into the lives of her children. We believe the achievement of the following program worthy of the considera- tion of the Department of Classroom Teachers: 1. That as growth, both of the individual and of the group, follows close upon the heels of responsibility, we believe a much greater responsibility should be given, not to a small picked group, but to all teachers through a system of officially recognized advisory councils. 2. That all study of the question of salaries should be upon the basis of training and experience, not upon that of sex, rating or teaching positions. 3. That as the National Education Association now has committees studying the subjects of tenure and pensions, this Department should make a careful study of these reports and from them prepare recommendations for further study. 4. That classroom teachers should investigate the policies and programs of their superintendents with the idea of lending their full support when these policies embody the highest aims of education. 5. Since teacher rating is a channel through which much injustice is done and 390 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION efficiency thereby lowered, that in all cases where a teacher is rated by an ad- ministrative officer, the teacher shall have the opportunity for reciprocal rating. 6. That the classroom teachers affirm their belief in the principle of properly safeguarded tenure for both teachers and administrators, provided they have satis- factorily passed a period of prebation. 7. That the time has come when the recognition of teaching as a profession demands that teachers shall have a national code of ethics with the necessary machinery for establishing and maintaining this code. 8. That there should be established a national board of examiners which would hold examinations at convenient times and places and issue to successful candi- dates certificates entitling them to register without further examination for teaching service in any state in the Union. 9, That in the interest of autonomy the officers of the Department should be held responsible for carrying out most effectively the polieies and projects decided upon by the members of the Department. 10. That investigations requested by the Department. of Classroom ‘Teachers should be carried on through the Research Division of the National Education Association under the direction of the Department of Classroom Teachers, 11. That an accurate record be kept of all transactions of the board of trustees and executive committee of the National Education Association and that a copy of these transactions be sent immediately following these meetings to the president of each department of the National Education Association. The Department of Classroom Teachers of the National Education Association wishes to express its deep appreciation to the teachers and other citizens of Seattle and the State of Washington for the many courtesies extended during the conven- tion. Never before in the history of the organization has a more beautiful greet- ing been conveyed to the visitors than that expressed in the wealth of blossoms which have been showered upon us. We realize the tremendous amount of time and labor spent in order that our stay in Seattle might be made happy. We wish to thank the children for their delightful contributions to the pleasure of our week in Seattle. Their happy spirit of cooperation is a high tribute to its public school system. Signed by the committee: Frances E. Harpen, Chairman ETHEL M. GarpDNER i$. kLLE BOGGES Viota S. KELLEY ANNIE KaTe Tayior The president then announced the election of officers for next year. The Com- mittee on Elections was Nannie Thompson of Richmond, Va., Amanda Kennedy of Kansas City, Mo., and Catherine Baird of Chicago. ; Jean L. Soules of Spokane, Wash., was nominated by Miss Spooner of Portland, Ore., and the nomination was seconded by Annie Kate Taylor of Dallas, Texas. Miss Soules was elected president. Nominations for vice-president were as follows: Mary B. Sullivan, of Castleton, Vt.; Mary Harrington of Denver, Colo.; and R. Ross Smith of Chicago. Mr. Smith was elected vice-president. Nominations for secretary were as follows: Maude Compton of Omaha, Nebr.; Jane Davis of Tampa, Fla.; and Charles E. Scott of Portland, Ore. Mr. Scott was elected secretary. Nomination for the member of the executive committee for the western section was made by Mrs. Viola S. Kelley of San Francisco, who nominated Miriam D, Eisner of San Francisco. Miss Eisner was elected. Meeting adjourned at 5:00 P.M. The Department of Deans of Women HE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WOMEN (National Association of Deans of Women) associated it- self with the National Education Association in 1918. Its meeting is first reported in Proceedings, 1918: 391-417. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Dorothy Stimson, Dean of Women, Goucher College, Baltimore, Md.; First Vicepresi- dent, Margaret 8S. Morriss, Dean of Women, Wom- en’s College, Brown University, Providence, R. I.; Second Vicepresident, Florence Purington, Dean, Mt. Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass.; Secre- tary, Elizabeth M. Hause, Dean of Girls, High School, West Chester, Pa.; Treasurer, Estella G. Hefley, Dean, Texas State College for Women, Denton, Texas; Headquarters Secretary, Gwladys W. Jones, 1634 I St. N. W., Washington, D. C. Facts relating to the establishment of this Depart- ment and records of its meetings will be found in earlier Proceedings, as follows: 1918:391-417 = 1920:357-364 1922:693-793 1924:500-536 1926 :423-457 1919 393-426 1921:407-420 1923:621-636 1925:403-449 [392] REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT DOROTHY STIMSON, DEAN, GOUCHER COLLEGE, BALTIMORE, MD. of the Association which I am taking the liberty of repeating to you in somewhat summarized form: Tor years ago Miss Wells in her president’s report listed eight needs . A larger budget . A central office . An executive secretary . A monthly bulletin . A standardized program for a dean’s training course . An avenue through which the theses on the dean’s work by graduate students in various institutions might be made available 7. An uptodate textbook on our four-fold field 8. A collection of case records Thanks to the gererosity of Mrs. Phillips, Miss Arnold, and Mother M. Ignatius, with slight modifications the first four of these needs are at least partially met. We have an office in the American Association of University Women headquarters in Washington on the most favorable terms, we have a paid though only part-time headquarters secretary, and we have carried out for the past four or five months the plan of issuing a bulletin or some printed matter to the paid-up membership once every six weeks. We could do still better had we that larger budget of which Miss Wells spoke even though we have doubled our annual income in this short time. As for the other four points: some of our number are working on textbooks, and the research committee is dealing with the assembling of case records; our headquarters secretary wishes to assemble in our office all publications dealing with the deans’ work and has already started a collection. So far as I know the standardized program for the dean’s course is the only one of these points not as yet at least being de- veloped by the national organization. Such a record of achievement by the untiring efforts of the various committees concerned gives great promise for the future of our Associa- tion. When the mantle of the presidency fell so unexpectedly on my shoulders a year ago after Miss Purington’s resignation had been regret- fully accepted, I had had very little contact with the organization of the association and the problems it entailed. As I tried to carry on the work my predecessors had undertaken, the more I studied the organization, its achievements and potentialities, the more impressed I was by the wealth of service and ability to be found in the membership and the fine esprit de corps that fired the whole Association, nursed and developed by its previous NANntPwhdD leaders. ‘This vear our task has been to conserve that fine spirit of devoted volun- teer work and at the same time to relieve these workers of some of the drudgery developed by sheer increase in numbers. This meant building [393] 394 NatTIOoNAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION up a simple but adequate machinery to carry the business of the Associa- tion and take over some of the routine detail so as to free the committees in their service from work that a paid official might more readily handle. The reorganization is not yet complete and our constitutional amendments are just a part of this re-working of our framework. In the process we have only begun to use the potentialities of our headquarters under the enthusiastic and intelligent guidance of our headquarters secretary, Miss Gwladys Jones. In the years to come our central office should not only take over these business details but should develop into an exchange for all kinds of information from members’ new addresses to possible openings in the profession. More and more it should become a repository for the results of questionnaires and for all printed matter bearing on our pro- fession. Its possibilities are limited only by the funds available for its support. Furthermore the executive committee empowered our first vice- president this year to work in special cooperation with our state and local subdivisions. We hope thereby to increase the effectiveness of our service, each to the other, without unduly complicating our machinery. Apart from this matter of organization with its related, questions, our most important problem today as I see it is the future of our profession as such. Has not the time come for us to be “class conscious”.in a sense and for the sake of adequate work for our young people, to set standards for the deanship in training, in variety and quantity of duties, in the importance and recognition of the position? We have a responsibility to ourselves and to our profession as well as to our students. “They cannot receive our best if our offices have inadequate clerical assistance, if we are fagged out by too heavy teaching schedules and too many routine details that a good assistant should carry... Furthermore, giving a woman the title of. dean does not necessarily make of her a dean of women or of girls. Is there not some definite training needed? Do we ourselves always appreciate the type of position we occupy as compared with our neighbor—for example the difference in duties and responsibility between the dean of women and the dean of a woman’s college? Possible answers to such questions as these I hope may be suggested in the discussions in some of our meetings here this week, and I hope that these subjects will be further studied both by the national association and by its subdivisions. Unless we can answer such questions clearly ourselves how can we expect full understanding and cooperation either from our associates in the. educational world or from the general public? ‘Then too, were we more “class conscious” I believe we would make the time to study our own work more and publish an article or two on it from time to time. Surely an organization as large as our should be able to find in its work the material for at least six or eight articles by its mem- bers every year. Related to this main problem is that of our annual meeting as to its time, place, program and financing. The experience of only a few months THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WoMEN 395 leads me to believe we are strong enough to be independent if we wish, and valuable enough to others in our discussions to be deliberate in our choice of associates in conference. The presence of Miss Trilling on our program tomorrow is an instance of the cooperation given us. She is able to come through the generosity of the National Society of Physical Directors for Women and through that of the director of physical educa- tion at the University of Texas. Such cooperation thus generously ex- pressed is but a hint, I believe, of the opportunities open to us. Perhaps our annual meetings should develop into institutes dealing with some one specific theme with fewer general sessions. What would you think of a conference on the training requisite for a dean and a study of the content of her academic preparation? Our present problems then are these: 1. To develop our machinery to cope with our increased membership and yet conserve the fine spirit of volunteer work. (This should include an effective financial program.) 2. To develop the vense of our professional standing by a study of the deanship in all its phases and relationships. Before I close I wish thus publicly to express my great appreciation of the loyal and hearty support and help given my administration this past year by the officers and committees without exception. It has been a privilege and a joy to be associated with them. As heartily and as publicly I wish to thank our speakers at this session, some of whom have travelled from far to reach us at a considerable sacrifice of valuable time and energy. May they feel well repaid in the pleasure and profit their coming has given us all. And we all owe a great debt of gratitude to our local committees and our hostess organizations for all they have done and are doing for our comfort and happiness. A PROGRESS REPORT ON “Ad PERSONNEL STUDY OF THE WORK OF WOMEN DEANS IN COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES” SARAH M. STURTEVANT, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY, NEW YORK CITY A growing interest has been manifested in the past few years in the relatively new profession of dean of women. Many questions are being asked regarding the status and function of such a woman dean. Presidents seeking deans and women looking toward the work of dean have been equally concerned to know more about the profession in terms of its duties, the qualifications and vocational histories of those now serving as deans, and the opportunities for professional expression in the field. So far there has been little factual basis for answer to such questions, and each person addressed upon the subject has been forced to answer in terms of personal experience and of more or less limited observation. 396 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION It became evident that a study of the work of women deans would be valuable, first to those who are contemplating the work of dean as their vocation. Aspirants in this field would be helped by knowing the amount and kind of academic training that is expected of deans, the kinds of previous experience they have had, the extent to which educational insti- tutions have created this position, its duties, and the range of salary which deans receive. In the second place, it would be useful to those who are giving profes- sional courses for advisers of women. ‘This smaller group must know what are the problems and activities of deans in various types of educa- tional institutions, so that in the light of their needs a curriculum for advisers of women may be built. Third, it was certain that the deans themselves would be interested in an analysis of the job as such. ‘They are asking if it is possible to draw any composite picture of the function of the dean of women. The group which has contributed the data for this study is naturally interested in what other deans are doing. By comparing her status with that of other deans in similar situations, modifications of a dean’s own activities suggest them- selves. Is her salary below the median of her group? Is her professional training less than that of others? Is she required to carry a heavier teach- ing load than the majority of deans? Is her efficiency in administrative and personnel duties therefore limited? “These and other questions sug- gest an analysis of herself and her situation, and a reevaluation of her activities. With a view then to answering some of these questions as far as they can be ansivered by looking into what now is and what can be objectively measured, a personnel study of the work of women deans in colleges and universities was undertaken by Miss Jane Jones, candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Teachers College, Columbia University. The aims of the study as stated are: first, “to present certain facts about women performing the function of dean in colleges and universities at present and to analyze their work; second, to make certain suggestions after considera- tion of these facts for the vocational guidance of deans and for the curricula of professional courses for deans.” ‘To this investigation the deans of women at present in the field have contributed most generously of time and interest, so that the percentage of returns from questionnaires has been unusually large, and the data unusually complete as far as the items asked for were concerned and were measurable. The group selected for study was the group of 503 liberal arts colleges and universities which are attended by women in the United States. Those institutions cooperating were divided into three sections: Group I: Colleges and universities approved by the Association of American Universities. Of these 84 are coeducational, 17 are women’s independent colleges, 6 are women’s allied colleges. ‘There are 107 cases. THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WOMEN 397 Group II: Colleges and universities not approved by the Association of American Universities but accredited by some local accrediting agency such as The Association of Colleges of the Middle States and Maryland, or the Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern States. There are 82 cases in this group. Group III: Non-accredited colleges—74 cases. The method of study was, first, the questionnaire, which in spite of its very decided limitations was deemed the best available means of exten- sive survey. The fact of splendid cooperation on the part of the deans themselves minimized greatly the usual difficulties. The questionnaire method was supplemented by interviews from one-half to an hour and a half long with 28 deans representing various types of colleges and univer- sities from different parts of the country and of varying sizes. In addition time studies were made of the work of two deans over a period of two weeks. The scope of the investigation was necessarily limited to measurable objective data on suc topics as: (1) How many women are now per- forming the function of dean in colleges and universities in this country ? (2) What titles do they hold? (3) What has been their academic train- ing? (4) Do they teach? (5) How heavy a teaching load do they carry? (6) From what experience do they come into the work of dean? (7) What salary do they receive? Qualities of personality which so far seem to be immeasurable such as charm or tact, or results of work which can only be read in the history of years, could not, of course, come into such a study, though most would agree that such qualities and such results of work done are none the less significant. The findings of this study constitute the: subjectmatter of a thesis soon to be published. “They are too extensive to be given here but they give certain indications of the work of a woman dean as a vocational opportu- nity and as an educational service which might be phrased as follows: I. From a vocational angle it seems clear that for those seeking a place in this field a bachelor’s degree will be “almost an essential requirement for a deanship” in any college, and for those looking to appointment to those colleges of higher academic rank, higher degrees will be a necessary qualification. At present the higher the academic rank of the institution, the greater the percentage of deans holding the advance degrees. It is further evident from the large percentage of deans holding Phi Beta Kappa and other college honors that the degrees held indicate superior intelligence as well. This evidence seems to be at variance with the opinion frequently expressed that deans are usually endowed with social qualities rather than with intellectual ability. It points rather to the conclusion that this position will more and more demand all the qualities, intellectual, emo- tional, and volitional, which belong to real leadership. II. The prevailing rank of the dean in all coileges is that of professor, though only 28.6 percent of those professors hold the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. This means that the academic rank of deans is higher than the academic rank of women by and large who are teaching liberal arts subjects. Miss Lohn’s study 398 NATIONAL EpucatTion ASSOCIATION Te a a ca fae te ce of the academic status of women in 70 universities showed only 1.33 percent of women professors in liberal arts subjects. III. It is apparent that the work of dean is regarded by forward looking presi- dents as a profession, inasmuch as the title dean has been given to so large a percentage of women supervising the activities of women students and professional rank bestowed upon them. IV. The dean’s field in its present state of evolution at least implies some class- room teaching. This is evidenced by the fact that 80 percent of deans are re- cruited from teaching and are in seven out of ten cases in all grades of institutions teaching still. V. When deans are carrying a teaching load of 15 to 20 hours a week, the work of dean must in the nature of the case be more nominal than real. VI. It seems evident that aside from teaching, deans are frequently carrying a burden of work incompatible either with best results to the education of young women or with the health of the dean herself. VII. The median salary of $2766.66 for deans in all classes of institutions, as compared with those of teachers in public high schools of nine cities of over 250 thousand population or with deans and professors of public universities and colleges, indicates that the salaries of deans in colleges is relatively small. These facts in turn raise the following questions which may well be discussed by the National Association of Deans of Women: I. In view of the new material in the personnel field, will it not be necessary for women deans to look upon their own task as an independent profession rather than as an academic field with dean’s work as a side issue? If the work of dean is coming to be regarded as a profession by far sighted college and university presidents, does that not put upon deans themselves the responsibility of developing professional subjectmatter and technic which shall be worthy of a profession? Il. If the dean’s office is to be conceived as an administrative one concerned in a vital way with the education of women, and as a personnel bureau, as it has been in so many institutions, should not her office be organized as a department of student life, looking to the development of a staff adequate to this task? III. Should not the office be more adequately defined by the National Association of Deans of Women, the American Association of University Women, and other organizations interested in women’s education, in terms of time, salary, official appointment and opportunity to do the work assigned? This study is very evidently rather a point of departure for further research than a final statement of what deans should be or should do. It has sought to establish a few facts concerning this much discussed field of vocational endeavor. A similar investigation undertaken after a five year interval would doubtless show a development in one or more of several trends. To this development the deans themselves will doubtless be im- pertant contributing factors. »" FROM HIGH SCHOOL TO COLLEGE ELSIE M. SMITHIES, UNIVERSITY HIGH SCHOOL, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILL. The great American institutions of higher learning annually accept within their walls about one hundred thousand of the most promising products of the high school. The previous records of these one hundred thousand have been scrutinized with care, hosts of the most favorable THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WoMEN 399 recommendation from instructors, friends, and principals have accom- panied the students’ pleas for admission; many have been subjected to grilling entrance examinations and still others have been classified by psychological tests. These young people have been through a very thorough selective process to eliminate the undesirable, the disinterested, the intellectually unfit, and have been stamped and classified as the most acceptable material for further intellectual training. One hundred thou- sand students enter college fresh from the thrills of high school gradua- tien, filled with ambition and enthusiasm, eager to learn what is before them. Mark that only the selected few are given this opportunity. How many college adminstrators stop to think that freshmen in college are only three or four months older than seniors in high school? In those three months certainly they do not change radically in ambition, in mental calibre, or in morals and character. Yet statistics show that at the end of four months of college the mortality among this highly selected group amounts to 20,000 students, who voluntarily or involuntarily withdraw because of failure. Recently a personnel study of first-year students in the University of Chicago was conducted by Miss Gallop. From the list of 218 students who were dismissed, put on probation, or not allowed to register, the first 200 whose records were available were taken. In addition, the first 200 of the students of the highest grade in the same class were studied. All these four hundred young people looked very much alike to the University in October. They had all done work of good quality in high school; they seemed good material and promising subjects to undertake advanced study. Yet half of these students were thrown into the discard—amarked as fail- ures before a year had passed. Is there such discrepancy between the scholastic standards in high school and those in college that 20,000 of the selected few cannot satisfactorily meet college requirements during the first year? It is evident that something is wrong and that conditions warrant, thorough investigation and study to find out where the trouble lies. Dean Kent, of Northwestern University, states, “The more carefully selected the student, the greater the obligation the college has toward him. Failure of a student under the selective system argues strongly for failure on the part of the college either.in. selecting or after selecting.” Such startling data as.the above and the proximity to a big university, in which the freshmen say ‘everything is very different,” led to the desire to find out what was meant by “everything is. different,’ and to gain, if possible, suggestions which might help both high school and college deans to understand matters. Fifteen to twenty serious-minded freshman girls were selected from each of the following institutions: The University of Wisconsin, Beloit Col- lege, Rockford College, The University of Chicago, The University of Illinois, Smith College, Mount Holyoke College, Purdue University, and Wellesley College. ‘These special colleges and universities were chosen 400 NatTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION for the investigation in order that there might be a range in the size of the institutions, a diversity in faculty and student body, and a difference in the location of the institution and in the living conditions of the students. Record was kept of each girls’s standing in high school and her marks up-to-date in the college. Academic standing was graded superior, aver- age, or poor. In the two hundred answers studied, no girl had had a record of “poor” in high school, only three had had poor records in college, and more than sixty per cent of them had had superior records. ‘This last fact is quite significant in the evaluation of answers and suggestions, be- cause the information secured is not the pessimistic complaint of disgruntled outcasts whose impressions of college life have been colored by failure, but it is rather the sane, thoughtful expression of those successful students who are pointed to with pride by the academic world. The young women selected were given seven questions pertinent to the changes from high school to college. One of the most interesting facts in the investigation was the striking similarity in the answers. Whether the young women were attending small women’s colleges in the east, large cosmopolitan coeducational institutions in the west, or conservative small coeducational colleges, their reactions were almost identical. 1. The first question submitted was “Do you feel that there is a gap between high school and college—t. e., do things seem different in college? All students with the exception of ten stated that there was a great gap. “Everything is different’? was the beginning sentence in most of the an- swers. According to these young people, the greatest gap is due to five factors: first, the work in college; second, the personal responsibility ; third, the social life; fourth, the attitude on the part of the faculty; fifth, the attitude of students. “That college subjects differ more in quaniity than in quality seems to be the consensus of opinion. “Things are dealt out on a much larger scale. The people, the studies, and the whele insti- tution, are more advanced. Methods are strange and impersonal. ‘These students have come from an institution of learning which has been ad- vancing with rapid strides on the theory of individual instruction and the development of personal initiative. They suddenly find themselves under the impersonal lecture-method of instruction and under the general policy that college is a survival of the fittest. No student omitted to mention the overwhelming requirements in outside reading, the unbelievable amount of time demanded by the individual instructor, and the strain it was-upon the conscience to report the assigned reading and to remain honest. Most of these girls are away from home for the first time—a tremen- dous responsibility for studying is placed upon them without the accom- panying supervision of home and school, the quiet study room, and the encouragement of parents. The strain of “being my own boss, my own self-starter, my own disciplinarian, and my own critic” is a serious matter with these earnest freshmen. THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WOMEN 401 Furthermore, there is an overwhelming proportion of social life for some and a dearth for others. Activities consume the time of one, while the institution gives no stimulus, little opportunity, and less time to another. Many girls, even in these days, graduate from high school innocent, un- sophisticated, and dependent upon their elders for advice along social lines. Therefore the despairing comment of one freshman, “I’m lost in this social maelstrom” is no doubt typical of thousand of others. Everything is so much greater in magnitude in college that it is pro- portionately more impersonal is a rather mild way of expressing what was present in every answer to this question. It does not seem out of place to quote verbatim some of the responses: “Instructors know students only through papers or readers. ‘The stu- dent feels no guiding influence, nor that anyone is interested in her prog- ress.” (When a college girl switches from a chemistry major to an Eng- lish major and then is unable to decide whether she would prefer a mathematics major or a French major, and either is possible for her, she is not a sophisticated, versatile fool as some people judge her, but an un- guided child.) “The chief difference is that no one is interested in whether one learns or not. Learn or get out—Take your choice. “It is so hard to get a personal footing in these large classes that one wonders what it is all about and also whether the professor knows or cares what it is all about.” : “No one in particular is interested in seeing that you develop one way or another in this unfeeling institution.” “There is an impersonal, disinterested attitude on the part of instructors —alse a crushing dogmatism which hinders selfdevelopment. ‘The atti- tude is ‘Do it my way, think my way, or get a D.’” “Sympathy no longer plays a part in your life. Nobody offers you a helping hand or a second chance.” Many a thinking young woman was distressed and perturbed at the flippant attitude toward learning very prevalent among some student bodies. ‘They especially resented the disinterest in anything but the most superficial entertainment and achievement and the indifference toward real culture. Grades—obviously so meaningless—so unfair a criterion, so utterly beside the point of learning—are constantly in the foreground. Students are working for a grade, for a credit, for a degree. The un- dignified scramble for grade points rather than knowledge has seemingly placed some of our cultural institutions on a commercial basis. 2. The second inquiry was “/Vhat has been your greatest difficulty in adjustment in college?” Over and over the responses contained the expressions “to accustom to adjust myself to the different 9 66 myself to studying and concentrating, methods of teaching and the abundance of work,” “‘to take final examina- tions,” “to choose my course,” but these were given the second place in 402 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION importance. The greatest adjustment of most of these young women sas concerned with the development of the art of living together. “These diffi- culties fell into two classes—the problems of those who were living in dormitories in either large or small institutions, and of those who were living at home or in private dwellings. During the freshman year there is presented to many for the first time the dilemma of knowing wiiether to rush into hurried friendships with whomever one is thrown, or to stand off and wait until one can see. The inevitable adjustment in working out harmonious living with a roommate or a dormitory group; the danger of losing one’s personality and becoming one of the standardized herd; the difficulty in sorority houses of having thirty girls around all of the time; the continuous living with girls alone in women’s colleges—all are prob- lems which are confronting these groping freshmen who appear so sophis- ticated to the unknowing. In sharp contrast to the above are the girls in large institutions who do not live in groups. Many a heartache, many a feeling of depression is behind the confessions ‘‘my greatest adjustment has been to be a mere no- body,” “to realize that I am just one of several thousand,” “to be without friends,” “to be among great crowds of students and go hours and hours and sometimes whole days and only say ‘hello’ to a few passing acquaint- ances.” How many of these girls long for some personal touch, some guidance along the way, and just a little bit of human sympathy! And this is from the superior group. What might we expect from the less fortunate? In order that help may be given to these young folk, it is necessary for both high school deans and college deans to know what lack is felt during the early college period. Hence the question: 3. During your first months at college, what have you missed most from your high school days? ‘The answers to this question go hand in hand with the reason why most freshmen feel a gap between high school and college. A very few were frank in saying that life had been so strenuous and so full in college that they had not had time to miss anything. Almost one hundred per cent, however, headed the list with varying statements of the following idea: “The thing which has been missed most has been the feeling of security which comes from being part of an institu- tion and knowing and enjoying my instructors, who made me feel that I personally counted, and that I really amounted to something.” Many, also, have missed the club activities, the opportunity and time to enjoy sports and other forms of recreation. ‘Those who had come from high schools m which well-organized advisory systems were functioning felt a great loss and a lack of competent supervision. The collegiate world does not ordinarily think of high school students being interested to any great extent in independent thinking or in research THe DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WoMEN 403 problems, and yet it is interesting to read among the items of those things which have been missed from high school days such statements as these: “My preparation in high school emphasized independence of thought. I have missed the opportunity of reaching out into fields beyond the assign- ment. Chis last is due to the fact that so much is assigned I haven’t time to think.” “I have no time to pursue my favorite studies because I am loaded with required reading.” “I miss having time to do independent work where I can really explore fields which fascinate me.” Equally helpful to all deans who are vitally interested in making the most satisfactory and most rapid adjustment for their young people is the next question, with answers given by two hundred students who have taken the step from high school into college within the last few months, and who have stated that there is a big gap. 4. What suggestions could you give a high school dean so that she might help to prepare senior girls for the step into college? The common suggestion was to make the senior year in high school as much like college as possible, by giving no supervision to students, by de- manding that each one assume mature responsibility, by making classes very large and impersonal, by giving hard final exams, and by using the lecture method, with practice in note-taking—in short—to make the high school courses so similar to college that the gap between will not swallow the freshmen. ‘That is the solution of groping minds who realize, as most true educators do, that the secondary period of education has been broken in the middle and that the mere granting of a high school diploma does not convert immature girls into mature women. ‘These freshmen show clearly the need for junior colleges, but, without true perspective, they have naturally brought the last year of high schocl up to college level, while the experts in adolescent education bring the first year of college down to senior high school level. Both have the same desire to make a more natural and normal articulation between the two levels of learning. Further suggestions were made for high school groups to be held in which definite college problems could be freely discussed, so that girls before graduating might get help in formulating standards on which to base their decisions. Many valuable and exceedingly live topics were sug- gested. For example, talks on “Colleges in General,” “The Need for Good Study Habits,’ “The Purpose of a College Career,” ‘‘Criteria of Social Success,” “Correct Clothes for College,’ “Definite Problems Involving What is Morally Right or Wrong,” ‘“Vhe Necessity of Thinking for Oneself,” ““An Analysis of Various Types of Courses Offered in College.” Further demand was made that high school deans should hold individual conferences with seniors in which she should help the girl decide for what type of college course she is best fitted. These suggestions are far-reaching and demand infinite time, but if their 404 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION fulfillment would bring more natural and more effective adjustment in college, no doubt our time would be spent more profitably in work of this type than in the many other duties which appear more important. 5. Closely allied to the Jast question is the next: “What suggestions could you give to a college dean to help freshmen bridge the gap fram high school?” The answers almost naturally fell into the ‘““Do’s and Don’ts for College Deans.”” To quote: 1. Be sympathetic and understanding about academic and social troubles. Be guiding rather than critical. In this way freshmen will get a grip on their work from the start. 2. Let the college dean become more informal. A meeting with her now is an occasion. : 3. There should be more frequent and longer conferences between the girl and the dean. Drop technicalities. Let the girl ask questions. She has many, and has no one to answer them. A three-minute conference once a semester does not invite confidences. 4, Let the dean give the freshmen an idea of the various activities in which a student might become interested. Many students would like to take part in activi- ties, but they do not know how to go about it. 5. Don’t judge the freshmen by the same standards as the senior college or graduate students. Do something to help them adjust themselves. 6. Help freshmen to budget time. Make them realize the need for a “work and play” program. 7. Cultivate the habit of enjoying that part of a girl which distinguishes her from other girls. 8. Don’t let the professors forget that we are freshmen. Let them cultivate an atmosphere that the institution really does care whether the individual fails or succeeds. 9. Start a live Big Sister Organization and see that it functions. 10. Organize freshmen discussion groups to talk over campus problems. Let these groups be supervised by the dean, but led by an older student who knows from personal experience what rocks are ahead, and one who has reached a working basis for herself founded on sound reason and approved by the opinion of the older generation. The following answer by a rather mature girl should call forth careful thought from all deans in women’s colleges. ‘In a woman’s college,” said she, ‘one is hampered, perhaps wisely, perhaps not so wisely, for our life seems often to be not quite whole nor wholesome; our desire for action, for something vital and alive is often expressed in a perverted manner. Some- one, a dean or a faculty member, should help that type of girl to discover vitality in other things, to see excitement in an idea as well as in an ac- tion.” All the students who answered this questionnaire have weathered the gale as far as grades are concerned, and inasmuch as grades are most often the deciding factor by which the college judges a student a success or a failure, they have succeeded. ‘Therefore, it is interesting to note their answers to the question, THE DEPARTMENT OF Deans oF WomMEN 405 6. What has been your most helpful agency in college? These answers range from the pathetic response of a freshman in a big institution who said, “the card catalog in the library,” to the satisfying answer of a girl in an eastern college who wrote “The Dean of Freshmen— a lady of efficiency and understanding.” The order of frequency in the answers is suggestive and helpful, though not complimentary. (1) College has offered no helpful agency; (2) Friends, big sisters, upperclass counselors, and roommates of every descrip- tion; (3) Sorority; (4) Deans; (5) The Y. W. C. A. conference groups; (6) Church; (7) The Athletic Association; (8) The high school training which carried over. Intelligent guidance can be given to these young women only by finding out the type of the new problems which confront them. ‘Therefore they were asked, 7. What are the problems which you find in college fo you did not have in high school? The adjustment, no doubt, had been: difficult for the girl who wrote, “T found a cruel world which demanded from me many important decisions all at once. My simple problems changed from the act of getting a good lesson at regular hours when everyone was quiet at once and study was possible and easy, to real decisions dealing with conduct, ideals, aims, and, in fact, with the whole problem of how to live and what to gain from life.” The one who states her problem in the following words could be multi- plied by thousands of entering freshmen, but all do not show the maturity of decision which she evidently did. “My greatest problem has been in learning that everything could not be done at once, campus activities, studying, and society. After the first three weeks I had to sleep all one week-end and start again more slowly. The second time I made a schedule which was better balanced, and I made sure that I had my eight hours for study and school work and the necessary hours for sleep and recreation.” Many girls regretted that in these few months their ideals had been shattered, that they had experienced a terrific upset of religious and social standards and that the problems of judging and appraising people, especially young men, on one meeting had been most appalling. The hectic rushing period of sororities and the political control of campus activities as a problem in freshmen adjustment is well expressed in this intimate bit of confession, ““Ihe cosmopolitan, impersonal political factions of this college have dazed me. I came from a community of old families, of beauty-loving people, of intelligent, cooperative folk with the culture of generations behind them. I cannot seem to understand the in- difference, the selfishness, and the scheming attitude of college students. The so-called popular young people seem to be most forward and least appealing. Perhaps I am too idealistic for modern life,” 406 NatioNaAL Epucation ASSOCIATION In dormitory life there is the ever-present problem of exaggerated familiarity which is apt to shut out individual thoughts and opinions. One lives constantly in the atmosphere of college. Contact with the every-day world is lost. Contemporary events play a decidedly minor part. From this state of affairs, which seems quite universal, one young woman found the solution to her problem in a Current Events Club, for she said it kept her mind and attention on vital things of the times and provided a means of taking her away from the pe/tiness of college dormitory life which threatened to swamp her. So the answers might continue almost indefinitely. What is the solution of it all? What can be learned from this brief survey of the opinions, the suggestions, and the needs of two hundred wide-awake modern college freshmen? At present we must recognize that there is a gap—a wide social gap between high school and college, and there is need for the closest articulation between the work of the high school deans and that of the college deans. .A girl needs a certain type of assistance on both sides of the gulf, namely, a thorough knowledge of the stations along the way and the price one pays to reach each one. This complex problem of adjustment which is at the root of the failures of most college students should challenge the ingenuity of every thinking woman who is working in the capacity of dean. ‘“The fields are white unto the harvest.” There is an urgent demand for real guidance—that type of guidance which is thorough and scientific; there is a craving for sympathetic and intelligent understanding; there is a crying need for the genuine sincerity and the human touch of interested personalities who are capable and willing to help bridge the gulf from high school to college. THE VALUE OF A STUDENT PETITION ELLA WHITE BROWN, DEAN OF WOMEN, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, EAST STROUDSBURG, PA. The occasion of the piece of work reported here was a petition which was presented to the principal of our school last year during the summer session. ‘The cause of the petition was objection to a ruling to the effect that students would be permitted to go home but once each month and would be permitted to visit some place other than home once each menth with permission from parent or guardian on file in the dean of women’s office. The dissatisfaction was brought to a focus when as an educational event arrangements were made for the student body to visit the Sesquicenten- nial on a Friday, Immediately a large number prepared to go home on Thursday night and stay until Monday, whereupon the principal an- nounced that the school would continue as usual for those not attending the Sesquicentennial. Feeling ran high and developed in a petition which was presented to the principal. He gave the petition to the dean of women with the request to “find out what is in it,” THE DEPARTMENT OF Deans oF WOMEN 407 The petition was typed and signed by names of 211 girls and women. Frequently several names were in the same handwriting. In one instance 20 names had been written by the same person. One name was mis- spelled. The whole situation presented a yood laboratory for some work in Civics. Every Monday morning the chapel period is given to the dean of women to meet all the women of the school except those who are teaching in the training school in the forenoon. On Monday morning after the petition was presented to the principal the petition with questionnaire fol- lowing was distributed to the girls and women with a few preliminarv remarks on the right and dignity of petition. It was stated that it was the policy of the school to encourage the use of the petition; always to give a petition careful consideration; and whenever it was in accord with the best interests of all concerned it was a real pleas- ure as well as privilege and duty to grant the petition. It was evident that we had a rare chance here to do some research work on the value of a petition: because out in the world, the town council, the county commissioner, the legislator, the executor had no opportunity to get behind the petition. It was made plain that there was no stigma what- ever attached to their signing this petition and that we would all be inter- ested in analyzing this one. All we asked was absolutely truthful answers. All present were asked to fill out the questionnaire, whether they had signed the petition or not. “They were told to do just as they pleased about answering the first question, ““What is your name?” Concerning the sec- ond question, ‘‘Your age?” we asked the exact age if under 21—if over 21 simply write 21. They were told that we recognized this to be a petition of rather high type as every signer was a high school graduate, some were normal school graduates, and many had years of successful teaching experience to their credit; that there was nothing personal in the analysis, simply a desire to get at the real value of a petition. A good understanding was established and a fair and honest response was given to the petition and questionnaire which follows: The Petition We, the undersigned, for reasons mentioned below do respectfully re- quest the ruling regarding “week-end” visits to our homes, be rescinded : 1. As teachers, our vacation is limited to “week-ends” which now have been taken from us; an 2. Some of us are Sunday School teachers, and to be true to our religion, should be in our places; sf ' 3. Because of this ruling, there is a general loss of school spirit which may result in the loss of students to our Alma Mater; | 4. Some of us are under our family physician’s care which necessitates our being home; 408 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 5. We consider it an injustice to compel those who cannot go to the Sesqui- Centennial to remain at school ; 6. Our “week-ends” at home do not weaken our systems, as the ethics of our profession require that we so handle our bodies that we can render the best of services to the public. The Questionnaire What is your name? . Your age? . When did you graduate from this school? . If not a graduate, how many weeks have you spent here? Did you read the above petition before you signed it? . If so, which of the six reasons assigned was the principal one to you? . Did you have opportunity and refuse to sign the petition? Answer one or the other of the two following: 8. Did ycu sign it because you wanted the privilege for vourself? 9. Did you sign it to accommodate your friends? 10. At the time of signing the petition did you understand that you were per- mitted to go home once a month? 11. At the time of signing the petition did you understand that besides going home once a month you were permitted to visit one week-end with the permission of your parents on file? 12. Do you teach a Sunday School class? 13. If so, where? 14. Did your family physician sign your Health Certificate on your Normal School application? 15. Have you already attended the Sesquicentennial ? 16. Are you planning to go with the school to the Sesquicentennial ? 17. If not state your reasons. 18. How many were present when you signed the petition? 19. Did you write the names of any other persons besides your name? 20. Did you have a part in composing the petition? NAW WN The tabulation of the answers to the questionnaire resulted in the fol- lowing facts: The Personnel of the Signers Over 21 years of age who filled out questionnaire.................. 108 Wihomrerusedastomsi on usp etl tt 0 ny) eet teeter eit ee ere 27 Who kn ews nothing ofjeite At anny ce rpc tee cate an eee 28 Who signed: 'petition’s 5.5 cor an cote tintin ee 53 Number who tead: it) before signilio seen eee eee 36 or 68% Number who did not read before signing...................... 17 or 32% Students under 21 years of age who filled out questionnaire........ 182 Numberaywhosrefusedstomsicne petitioner ee rae ene 27 Numberynot=-askede&. octane ac pee oe 39 Numberswhotisigned aisiods sn: 53h ae. a eee ieee etn 116 Number who eread™ibetone signing sein tes 71 or 61% Number who did not read before signing..................... 45 or 39% otal number? who) signed "petition: -- 4)... see ee ee 169 Total number who read it before signing...>..................-.. 107 or 64% Total number who did not read before signing.................... 62 or 36% Number ‘signing to: accommodate friends. .o... 0:00. .0et.cic. ave. 73 or 43% Number signing because they wanted it themselves.................. 96 or 57% THE DEPARTMENT OF DEANS OF WOMEN 409 Of those under 21 the ages averaged 18, and the number of weeks spent at the school 15. Of those over 21 who filled out questionnaire, 19 were graduates of the school, 7 refused to sign the petition, 7 had no. opportunity. The 5 who signed were graduated in 1926. Of those who were under 21, 13 were graduates of the school, 2 had no opportunity to sign, 11 signed, several without reading the petition, and several to accommodate friends. All were graduates in 1926—a few of these were doing advanced work—most of them were of the type that had to stay at summer school to make up failures. Forty-two of those signing the petition were not present at chapel to fill out the questionnaire. Very few signed in the presence of only one other. The size of signing groups ranged from four to twenty. It proved to be what all the earmarks indicated—group instigation—group action—explained by mob psychology. There appeared to be little fraud in the fact that several names were in the same handwriting. A group were together. One and another would say “Put me down,” sometimes not having read the petition or not having heard it read. Sometimes with a mistaken notion, and sometimes with no notion of what it was about, but with surety of a desire to be “in the swim.” The motive, as some expressed it, was “to be a good sport’—‘‘to go with the crowd.” ‘This information came from conversation with a good many signers. By-products: Number signing for each of the following reasons: 1. As teachers, our vacation is limited to “week-ends’ which now have been taken from us; 52. 2. Some of us are Sunday School teachers, and to be true to our religion, should be in our places; 16. 3. Because of this ruling, there is a general loss of school spirit which may result in the loss of students to our Alma Mater; 7. 4. Some of us are under our family physician’s care which necessitates our being home; 5. 5. We consider it an injustice to compel those who cannot go to the Sesqui- Centennial to remain at school; 30. : 6. Our “week-ends” at home do not weaken our systems, as the ethics of our profession require that we so handle our bodies that we can render the best of services to the public; 17. A good many signed their names to the questionnaire even though they were told they need not do so. ‘Those signing were usually those who were proud of not going with the crowd. Out of a group of 290 who filled out the questionnaire, 169 signed the petition, 64 percent read the petition before signing, 36 percent did not read it before signing, 43 percent signed to accommodate friends, and 57 percent, because they wanted the petition granted for their own gratification. 410 NarionaL EpucatTion ASSOCIATION On the whole, the younger group showed less discrimination than the older group as 61 percent of those read the petition before signing as against 68 percent who were over 21, or 39 percent of the younger group did not read it before signing as against 32 percent of the older group. The older graduates did not sign the petition. ‘Those graduates who signed were of the vintage of 1926 and most of those were in the summer school in order to make up a few credits necessary fer their graduation in June. Such are the findings of fact which the dean of women reported back to the girls assembly on the following Monday morning. Little comment was necessary. ‘The petition had been ‘the subject of lively discussion in the dormitories, at the table, and on the campus. The whole reaction was wholesome for the whole school. The more mature women rather gladly availed themselves of the opportunity to rest quietly over the week-end ; to read a new book; to have a Saturday trip to the river or mountains; to worship in other churches; to receive company from home and simply to visit a bit and make of the casual acquaintances of the class-room what may turn out to be life-long friends. ‘To sum up, they were glad to appro- priate and enjoy all the school and its environment had to offer. The younger ones caught the idea that “going away to school” meant something more than dodging in breathlessly for the first class on Monday, and escaping jubilantly at the first opportunity at the end of the week; and that being a “good sport” is not going heedlessly along; but that she is the “good sport” who meets tife’s inevitable experiences with poise, dig- nity, and a sustaining philosophy of life. ‘The whole situation had been so thoroughly gcne over and digested that it was not necessary for the principal to render a formal denial of the petition. But coming back to the petition and considering it from the teacher’s and citizen’s standpoint. Is it not a bit disheartening that out of these signers who are a privileged class and supposedly of superior intelligence, training, and character, 36 percent signed the petition without reading it and 43 percent signed it just to accommodate friends? Some answer, ‘“‘yes’”— some: say, “no.” Will this same indifference carry over to petitions to school boards, to town councils, to county commissioners, to state and national law making bodies? If the answer is “Yes,” what is the ideal to inspirit and the force to energize for nobler actions? Normal school graduates and high school graduates already have courses in civics and history and have been thrilled with the story of the evolution of our independence from Runnymede to the present day. We will not perish for lack of knowledge—rather for lack of conscience—lack of cour- age to accept our inheritance as a sacred trust. This, like all morals, should be taught primarily at home. Nevertheless, a substantial part of every THE DepaRTMENT OF DEans oF WOMEN 411 teacher’s good teaching is the conscientious recognition and punctilious performance of civic duties. To those of us who are veterans in the suffrage work, still another ques- tion insinuates itself—would a similar number of men and boys present a similar petition? In this particular instance there were men in school and they did not get up a petition. Or putting it another way—may the character of this petition be at- tributed to the political infancy of women? Again, would the petition of housewives and business women be better or worse as to motive and pur- pose than the school-teacher’s petition ? Along with “trial by jury,” and “government with the consent of the governed” belongs the “right of petition.” Its weight must depend upon its integrity. In this particular petition the marjority percentages are intelligent and sincere. But it gives pause for thought that the careless and indifferent percentages are as large as they are. To be sure this is but one petition from one school, but it is not unlikely that both petition and school are representative. It may be the “straw which shows which way the wind blows’’; or shall we hope it is only a straw caught in a passing gale? AN ABSTRACT OF THE CLOSING ADDRESS OF DEAN ARNOLD ‘The exigencies confronting an after-dinner speaker are many and varied. Today the unmeasured miles between Dallas and Denton, the unbounded hospitality of our hosts, and the unalterable time of departure of our trains have left but brief moments for post-prandial philosophy. I am therefore abandoning the entire drift of my words to you and am substituting a fresh message which will be exceedingly brief. As I greet you—dean of women—lI see behind you the young women of the University of Texas who have so skillfully and so generously sup- plied all our needs. I think of the paths which they are treading and the many hills which their feet will climb. As I look in your faces I realize how varied are your many duttes, each differing from each, and how the thing which you are must dominate any rule or code. Just now there flashed into my mind the words of King Alfred the Great which ages ago 1 copied in my common-place book: I would, God knows, in a woodman’s hut Have spent my days and lived my quiet life; ; But being what I am, Ill be it nobly! That last sentence is to carry along with you. Its high appeal touches us all. We love the ring of the words, J.et us take them away like the pocket stone that the small boy carries, rubbing and polishing it again and A412 NaTIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION again as he affectionately regards its precious beauty. “Being what I am, I'll be it nobly!” There is one other word which an old friend gave to me in the early days of my administrative work in teaching. She knew well that | longed to do everything for the young women whom I was endeavoring to lead. The mother-heart in us urges us to this. We all know how deep the de- sire Is. And yet we all know that it ought not to be fulfilled. I shall never forget the words of this friend, ““hey must paddle their own canoe, my dear ;—but you can sing the boat song.” Do they not sound the key-note, and help us to solve our problems? Our vision of the way, our courage, our faith, our understanding may serve to steady the hand and to give them courage in the hard places. We may share with them life’s message to us—so far as they can take it— and this may hearten them. But they themselves must hold the oar and choose their own way in the end. It has been with the deepest satisfaction that | have shared the privilege of attending your meetings and listened to your discussions. I have been greatly heartened by the assurance of the work which you are doing. It has never been better, and it is to be better yet. May all good attend you as you return to your God-given tasks! And may the great God be with you! ADDRESS ELLEN F. PENDLETON; PRESIDENT OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE, WELLESLEY, MASS. I regard the office of dean one of the most rewarding, as it is one of the most important of administrative offices. In saying this, I am not un- mindful of the fact that this office has thus far escaped the standardizing process. ‘The term has no universal connotation. ‘The province and duties of the office vary with the institution served. “There are certain qualities, however, which the ideally successful dean must possess, whether she be charged with the supervision of the academic or of the social life of the students. I cannot do more than mention some six or seven of these qualities, conscious that the list is not exhaustive nor does it offer anything especially new. First, it goes without saying that the dean must have an understanding of, an interest in, and a respect for the ideals and objectives of the insti- tution served. Second, she should understand the curriculum, its specific requirements, the aims and equipment of the various departments, and, if she is the officer responsible for the academic work, she should be prepared to give to her chief an impartial and unprejudiced report upon any matters need- ing encouragement or correction, ‘THE DEPARTMEN? OF DEANS OF WOMEN 413 Third, whatever her specific duties, the dean should consider it her duty to call to the attention of the president the needs of the institution as they have discovered themselves in the fulfillment of her office. Fourth, she should acquaint herself with current educational questions, and trends. While this is essential for the officer charged with the super- vision of the curriculum, it is an important asset for all administrative officers. Fifth, as a personnel officer, the dean must have or must seek. to develop a sympathetic understanding with young people, an appreciation of their strength and their weakness. Sixth, she must keep always before the students that the academic work is the reason for their presence on the campus, and it must therefore have their first and chief allegiance. ‘This is as much the duty of the so-called social dean as it is that of her academic colleague. Seventh, the dean must resist the temptation to play the part of provi- dence in the student’s life. “There are always students who wish to be told what courses to elect, what line of action to pursue in any given situation. Such students seem to lack initiative and have no desire to exercise the power of choice. I conceive it to be the province of the dean, or of any other member of the faculty, to give to the student all the information pos- sible to help her to a conclusion, but at the same time to make clear to her that she and she alone must make the decision. Undoubtedly, some- times her choice will not be what the dean would have made. Some of us know that the student sometimes understands her own needs better than her adviser. Even if she makes a mistake, the student develops maturity and initiative in assuming this responsibility of choice. In closing, I should like to say a word about the position of administra- tive officers in an educational institution. I believe there is danger of our magnifying our office. The two important groups in any college are the teachers and the taught, the instructing’ staff and the student body. ‘The administrative officers, including trustees, president and deans, exist to make more effective for the student the work of the teaching staff; to make sure that the expensive equipment of the institution yields the greatest pos- sible return to the student. ; MARRIAGE {ND THE CURRICULUM LILLIAN M. GILBRETH, PRESIDENT, GILBRETH, INC., MONTCLAIR, N. J. Life may be measured in terms of satisfactions to oneself and one’s group. If either marriage or a career alone brings satisfaction——well and good. In some cases each may—in many neither alone does—so a combination becomes a subject worthy of attention and interest. A successful com- bination of marriage and a career, for a woman, means not only that she wants it, but that her husband and her children also want her to have it. {t would seem easiest to make the combination when least adjustments 414 NatIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION have to be made at marriage—when both men and women are trained for careers, and when career making can be integrated as easily and naturally as home making is integrated. The happiest marriages mean living and playing together, making a home and bringing up a family together. If to this can be added working together, the integration is even more complete. Undoubtedly many successful marriages include different careers, but this makes a more difficult problem to solve. ‘The answer is—all careers, that of father, mother, children—belong in final analysis, to the family group, and are a source of group responsibility and pride. Good health, average intelligence and temperamental stability are a help to a successful marriage or a satisfying career. They are-almost indispensable if one is to combine both, plus a philosophy that makes work the great blessing of life, and a technic of eliminating waste, human and material, and adjusting to life as it develops. What can the curriculum do to help in this? Recognize that it must train for a twenty-four hour day, and for all of life, both work and leisure. Provide at each stage of both the boy’s and girl’s development not only for the average universal needs at that period, but for supplementing the lacks in previous training. Stress universal likeness, and point out in- dividual differences. See that our vouth is so far as is possible, pliysically fit, mentally alert, emotionally adjusted—and knows how to remain so; independent insofar that one can provide for his needs—but able and glad to work in groups. We have learned that the fullest life means self-expression, but this is only permanently satisfying when it means integration within thie self, and of the individual with his group—and with life everywhere. If we succeed in teaching this, marriages and careers can both be left to handle themselves. SECRETARY’S MINUTES Dallas Meeting Wednesday Afternoon, February 23, 1927 The fourteenth annual meeting of the National Association of Deans of Women opened with a business session on Wednesday, February 23, 1927, at 3 P. M. at the Hotel Baker, Dallas. Texas, The minutes of the last business session were dispensed with since they had been published in the 1926 yearbook. The minutes of the last three Executive Commit- tee meetings were read. Greetings to the deans were extended by Mary N. Hay, chairman of the local committee on arrangements. The presentation of committee reports was the first business of the afternoon. Margaret S. Morriss, the first vice-president, reported on the relations of the state and local organizations of deans to the national association. Voted that the report be accepted. The report of the headquarters secretary was given by Anna L. Rose. Voted that the report be accepted with appreciation. Mrs. Durand, chairman of the membership committee, suggested that Lois Tue DEPARTMENT oF DEANS oF WoMEN 415 Matthews Rosenberry and Gertrude Shorb Martin be elected to honorary mem- bership in the Association. A motion to this effect was made and carried unani- mously. = The reports of the treasurer and of the audit committees were given by Miss Pierce and Miss Lockey respectively. Voted that these reports be accepted. Voted that thanks be extended to Miss Pierce for her splendid work as treasurer. The report of the Press and Publications Committee was given by Helen Smith. Voted that the report be accepted. The President announced the appointment of Miss Packer and Miss Amos as members of the Constitutional Revision Committee for this meeting. Dr. Haskell was appointed as a member of the Resolutions Committee. The report of the Constitutional Revision Committee was next given. Voted that we proceed on the proposed changes in the by-laws section by section. 4 motion was made and carried that Article III, section 4 be adopted as proposed. A motion to adopt the proposed amendment to Article III, section 7 was defeated. Voted that the amount of the life membership fee be referred to the Constitu- tional Revision Committee and the vote postponed until next year. A motion to amend Article III, section 7 was defeated. Voted to amend Article III, section 7 by adding “the fiscal year shall begin January 1st. Dues shall be payable in advance.” A motion was made and carried to continue the business session for 10 minutes. A motion carried to table the discussion of Article IV, section 1. Adjournment followed. Thursday Afternoon, February 24, 1927 The second general session of the National Association of Deans of Women was called to order by the president, Miss Stimson, on Thursday afternoon, February 24th, 1927, at 2:15 P. M. ‘The reading of the minutes of the last meeting was postponed until a later time. Dr. Laura Carnell’s report of the June meeting of deans in Philadelphia was read by the secretary. Voted that the report be accepted and placed on file. The report of the Membership Committee was given by Mrs. Durand. Voted to accept the main part of the report. The recommendations in the report were acted upon separately. Voted to adopt the first recommendation. Voted to approve the principle of the second recommendation but to refer the question of dues and definition of “allied interests” to the Executive Committee. The thought contained in the third recommendation had already been approved in connection with the treasurer’s report. Voted to consider separately parts one and two of the fourth recommendation. The matter of sending out membership lists was referred to the Executive Com- mittee. Voted to refer to the Executive Committee the fifth recommendation regarding the plan of affiliation of organizations. Voted to adopt the sixth recommendation. Voted that we send greetings and flowers to Miss Crawford who had met with an accident. Voted to send a telegram of greeting to Florence Purington.. The report of the Nominating Committee was given by Martha Reid, chairman, Those nominated were as follows: President, Dorothy Stimson; second vicepresi- dent, Florence Purington; Treasurer, Estella G. Hefley. Voted to accept the re- port. Voted that the secretary be instructed to cast a unanimous ballot for the officers. The report of the Committee on Intellectual Policies was read by the Chairman, 416 NationaL EpucATION ASSOCIATION —_—— Mrs. Blanshard. Voted to accept the report. Voted to continue the business for 15 minutes. Further changes in the Constitution were then considered. Voted to amend Article VII to read as follows: The annual dues of all mem- bers shall be $5, payable January Ist. Voted that the payment of increased dues shall not be retroactive, but take effect at once. This ended the business of the afternoon and the program followed as scheduled. Friday Afternoon, February 25, 1927 A general session of the National Association of Deans of Women was called to order by the president on Friday, February 25th, 1927 at 2:30 P. M. It was moved that the reading of the minutes of the last business meeting be postponed. The minutes of a special meeting of the Executive Committee held on Friday, February 25th, were read. A history of our association prepared by Mrs. Phillips and her Committee was read by Miss Helen Smith. Voted to refer to the Press and Publications Committee the consideration of publishing this history. The report of the Research Committee was given by Miss Blitz. Voted that the report be accepted with the suggestion that the Committee continue along the lines recommended in the report. The report of the Committee on Relations with Other Organizations was given by Miss Blitz. Voted to accept the report with an expression of appreciation to Miss Blitz for her work. ‘The report contained the resignation of Miss Blitz as chairman. This concluded the business and the program for the afternoon followed. Saturday Morning, February 26, 1927 The final business session of the fourteenth annual meeting of the National! Association of Deans of Women was called to order by the President, Miss Stimson, at the State Teachers’ College at Denton, Texas, on Saturday, February 26th, .1927 at 10:30 A. M. The minutes of three business meetings were read and approved with minor corrections. Agnes Wells reported for the Committee on Sororities. This report showed progress made by the committee and it was voted that the report be accepted and placed on file with the suggestion that the Press and Publications Committee con- sider its publication. The report of the Health Committee was given by the chairman, Anna E. Pierce. The report was accompanied by several resolutions containing suggestions for the furtherance of the health work. It was voted to accept the report with appreciation of Miss Pierce’s work. The Constitutional Revision Committee resumed its report. It was voted to take from the table Article IV, section 1. Voted that the term “headquarters secretary” be used in place of “executive secretary” in Article IV, section 1. Voted to approve Article IV, section 2 as proposed. Voted to approve Article IV, section 3 to read as follows: “The first vicepresi- dent shall assist in every possible way in the development of state and local or- ganizations. In case of the president’s resignation or inability to act, she shall perform the duties of the president until the next annual meeting. In case of the inability to act of the first vicepresident, the second vicepresident shall perform THE DeparTMENT OF DEANS OF WoMEN . 417 the duties of the first vicepresident. The last ex-president shall automatically beeome the second vicepresident. Voted to approve Article IV, section 4 to read as follows: “The headquarters setretary shall be a salaried officer of the Association and shall be appointed by the Executive Committee of the Association. She shall keep an accurate list of all members of the Association; shall send out bills for dues, receive dues, and re- mit these to the treasurer; and shall cooperate in every way with the other officers of the Association oad the me y of committees to carry forward the work of the Association.” Voted to approve Article IV, section 5 as proposed. Voted to approve Article IV, section 6 to read as follows: “The treasurer shall receive all annual dues and other moneys due the Association, and shall make dis- bursements as directed by the Association or the Executive Committee. She: shall be bonded by a recognized company and shall engage a certified accountant to audit the books annually and present such certification to the Association.” Voted to approve Article VI, section 3 as proposed. Voted to approve Article IV, section 8 to read as follows: “A vacancy occuring in an office shall be filled by the Executive Committee until the next meeting of the Association.” Motion to approve Article VI, section 1 as proposed was defeated. Voted to approve Article VI, section 4 to read as follows: “Regular meetings of the Executive Committee shall be held just previous to and just following the an- nual meeting of the Association. Special meetings may be called by the president and shall be called upon the request of five members of the Executive Committee.” Voted to approve Article VI, section 6 as proposed. Voted that the proposal to use “teacher training institutions” instead of “normal schools and state teachers’ colleges” in section 1 of Article VIII be referred to the Constitutional Revision Committee for consideration. Voted to grant permission to that section to use the teacher training instituton title or some similar one if desired this year. Voted to approve Article IX, section 1 to read as follows: “There shall be the following standing committees: nominations, program, press and _ publications, health, relations to other organizations, membership, research and budget. Addi- tional standing committees may be created by the Association as may from time to time be deemed necessary.’ Voted to adopt Article IX, section 2 to read as follows: “These committees shail be appointed by the Executive Committee to serve two years and the term of service shall expire at the time of the annual meeting. The chairman and one half of the members of any standing committee shall be appointed at the first meet- ing of the Executive Committee after the annual meeting and the remaining mem- bers of the Committee shall be appointed in alternating years.” Voted to adopt Article IX, section 3 as proposed. Voted to adopt Article 1X, section 4 to read as follows: “The Committee on Programs shall be the Executive Committee. It shall be the duty of this commit- tee to prepare a program for the annual meetings of the Association and of the sections.” Voted that section 3 of Article 1X become section 5. Voted that section 5 of Article IX become section 7. Voted that section 4 of Article IX become section 6, reading as follows: “The health committee shall consist of five members of which the president of the Association shall be one. One member of this committee shall represent the Association at the meeting of the Women’s Foundation for Health.” Voted that section 6 of Article IX become section 8 and be adopted as proposed. Voted to omit the present section 7 of Article IX. 418 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION The report of the Budget Committee was given by the chairman, Grace B. McLean. Voted to approve the budget in principle but to have a revised one prepared for publication in the Yearbook. Voted that the Association express its approval of the action of the Executive Committee in levying a registration fee for the Dallas meeting and consent to its use again next year if it is found necessary. The report of the Resolutions Committee was given by Miss Edith Barnard. Voted to accept the report with the amendment that it include the resolutions in Miss Pierce’s health report. At the conclusion of the business, the meeting adjourned to the Texas State College for Women where the members of the Association were luncheon guests. The program of addresses given at this time completed the fourteenth annual con- ference. ELizaBeTH M. Hause, Secretary. The Department of Elementary School Principals FP NCHE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRIN- cIpaLs, temporarily organized as the National "- Association of Elementary School Principals at the Atlantic City meeting of the Department of Superintendence in February, 1921, became a depart- ment of the National Education Association at Des Moines, in July, 1921. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Arthur S. Gist, Frick School, Oak- land, Calif.; First Vicepresident, HK. Ruth Pyrtle, Principal, Bancroft School, Lincoln, Neb.; Second Vicepresident, Warren A. Roe, Principal, Belmont Avenue School, Newark, N. J.; Secretary, Helen B. Shove, Principal, Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minn.; Executive Comnuittee: W. T. Longshore, Principal, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Mo. (Term expires 1928) ; Mrs. Jessie M. Fink, Principal, Buchanan School, Grand Rapids, Mich. (Term ex- pires 1929); M. E. Peterson, Twentieth St. School, Los Angeles, Calif. (Term expires 1930) ; Elizabeth McCormick, Howe School, Superior, Wis. (Term expires 1931). This Department meets twice each year—in February and in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier volumes of Proceed- ings as follows: 1921 :453 1923 :653-666 1924:545-564 1925:450-477 1926:457-495 1922 :851-886 ; [420] FUNDAMENTAL VALUES OF LIFE AND HOW TO REACH THEM HENRY TURNER BAILEY, DIRECTOR, CLEVELAND SCHOOL OF ART, AND JOHN HUNTINGTON POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTE, CLEVELAND, OHIO HE most important thing in any life is the consciousness of being at home and of use in the Father’s house. To secure this, three ac- tivities 2re necessary: The first is nature study. Every child should have actual experience with the world of nature—with the open country—with the seasonal changes. There are no seasons in congested city districts. The children cannot see the spring come across the dewey hills, nor lustrous summer’s prodigal display of sunlit green; nor the boundless wealth autumn flings across the landscape; nor the silent grace with which winter spreads her spotless mantle over a withered world. An enthusiastic primary teacher fresh from the country, once asked her school children in a city school to name the signs of coming spring. All she could get was “Swinging doors on the saloon.” ‘Think of that. Children who have not had country ex- perience have not the foundations of the language used by novelists, and poets, nor can they appreciate pictorial art, or sculpture, or even music to the full. Nature is the inexhaustible reservoir of suggestion for all science and art. It is the supreme source of the purest delights of life—the flowers, the trees, the birds, the butterflies, the moths—the clouds and the stars never cease to entertain and bless those who have learned to love them. When we are wiser, we will not run the busses of the board of education to bring rural children into city schools, but to take city children into the country that they may learn to know and love God’s first revelation to man, and feel at home in the natural world because well acquainted with it. The second essential is found in the arts. Here the child comes to know the human world and to better appreciate his relatives in his Father’s house. Literature—especially the imaginative literature—fairy stories, folk lore, poetry, and the Biblical literature, history, architecture, sculpture, painting and the minor arts, the drama and music, should be presented in such a way that children may come to know them with joy—know the art of them rather than the science of them; feel the thrill of them, warming the spirit to a consciousness of their significance and in- spiring the spirit with love and thankfulness for those who have given such priceless gifts for all to share. Such experiences will make children feel at home in the human world. The third essential is social service. The child must be led to see that as Emerson said, ‘Each one of us has a kink in the brain to insure our in- sistance upon some one point that nature has taken to heart.” Each must be lead to discover the thing he can do best for the good of all. Some are especially responsive to a particular phase of life in the outdoor world. One loves birds or insects; another wild animals or household pets; one [421] 422 NationaL EpucATION ASSOCIATION likes to observe the weather or to grow things, another to collect speci- mens of woods or minerals; one loves pictures or patterns in color, another responds to music, or oratory, or dramatic interpretations or to poetry. He can sing, print, draw, dance, tell a good story, read sympathetically aloud, design, paint, model, make in wood or metal. He delights in writ- ing, inventing, legerdemain, or playing a musical instrument. All of these and many more personal abilities should be discovered early, encouraged, put to service. The weekly assemblies or periods of entertainment and in- spiration should be filled largely with programs evolved by the children themselves. From the first they should make use of their own varied re- sources to please and help each other. Service of one another in school will eventuate in the habit of service after school, and children so trained will become serviceable citizens. Ability to serve is grown; it cannot be had upon demand like a mouthful of air. We must invent opportunities for school children to serve each other and the community, until they get the joyful habit and know by experience that it is more blessed to give than to receive. *Personally, intimately, in touch with nature; personally, in- timately, enjoying the companionship of the best minds of the race and par- “icipating in their ideals; consciously contributing, with increasing efficiency, his share of service for the good of all, through thankfulness to God and love of his fellowman, any person, child, or adult, will find that he has a grip upon the fundamental value of life. THE RESPONSIBILITY AND OPPORTUNITY “OF THE PRINCIPAL TO THE SCHOOL M. C. LEFLER, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, LINCOLN, NEBR. Studies of the work of the principal in her official capacity indicate more than one thousand specific items which enter into her round of duties. “There is seemingly no end to the number of different performances which she is called upon to assume as a matter of course in the daily ad- ministration and supervision of her office. Let no one assume that these are not important duties, nor because they are so many and so varied and sometimes so trivial, that there is not needed a training and a technic which brings not only keen professional insight, but also sympathy and vision which humanize every official act. The principal who can step ahead fast enough to lead the way is already on the way to added re- sponsibility. But it is not this overwhelming array of detail and important minutiae which further concerns us here. All of these will be taken for granted. School is no longer an isolated unit. It is a part of a larger whole. Schools are not to be thought of in series. They are only adequately comprehended in systems. And this does not imply the subordination of the teacher, and especially of the principal. It is quite the contrary. Whatever THE DeparTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 423 excels at one point must quickly find its application at all points. If the teacher is the very heart of the school, it is equally true that the principal must ever continue as the head and directing genius of the school over which she presides. A system of schools implies unity and purposeful plans. Broad, con- structive, well-defined policies are necessary. Here then is a fundamental responsibility of the principal of a school in the role of policy builder. It is not enough to attain distinction for her own school. In fact, the greater the success and achievement at this point, the greater her responsibility comes to give the advantage to all schools—to the system at large—and when this is done, to share it ever wider and wider, that it may ultimately be felt in the interests of state and nation. Policies concern the fundamental principles upon which the school is conceived and operated. ‘These imply conscious and purposefui planning. It is a thoughtful process and the responsibility of the principal to the school demands not only the ability to think in terms of adequate and modern school policies, but it calls for an enthusiastic willingness to be ever alert in this respect. This is but another way of emphasizing the place of leadership which inheres in the person of the principal. Every great professional gathering is a dynamo of creative policy making. The Dallas convention is meeting for this very purpose. Its interests are not narrowed to the work of superin- tendents—e-n-t-s, but rather does it challenge the participation and coopera- tion of all who are working in the broad field of school superintendence —e-n-c-e. With this viewpoint in mind, it must be apparent to all that the so-called affiliated bodies of this convention are really not a part from, but truly an intrinsic part of the very purpose for which this convention has been assembled. This principals’ association, reaching the participation and cooperation of the elementary school principals of America, can therefore go forward with confidence that it has real work to do—a real contribution to make, if the policies in American education are to be conceived and applied as becomes the responsibility and opportunity of the principal to the school. And what is true about the principals in their organized relation, applies with equal truth to each principal in relation to her local school. Let us now consider the responsibility of the principal of the school as it pertains to the program. If the principal enjoys a large cooperating op- portunity and responsibility in the matter of evolving plans and policies, this responsibility becomes increasingly hers in developing programs within her school, which insures a maximum application of these policies. “This is not a minor responsibility, for the program of any school touches imme- diately and continuously the lives and interests of all its pupils. ‘The pro- gram is not a mere formulation of time allotments. It is not a mere calendar of subjects. It is not merely a perfectly initiated routine. It is not a series of purely formulated activities. It is in no sense a machine 424 NarionaL EpucATION ASSOCIATION for mechanism’s sake. The program is rather a vitalized way of living for every child in the school. It does not leave to chance the ways and means of making progress in the direction of solving the problems of the day which are pressing and real. Nor does it force with blind coercion when there is neither reason nor benefit. The program of the school is a means—a humanizing means. It is not at end—a crucifying end. Great, indeed, is the responsibility of all of us who are charged in any degree with keeping the system in repair, in operating with a measurable degree of effort without grinding to despair and oblivion the individual differences of those whom the school serves. “The principal stands pre- eminently as the pilot at the helm in this important responsibility. | Obviously the program of the school contains not only the integrating elements which insure a community of understanding and appreciation, but it also contains the elements of flexibility and adjustment which give differentiation and adaptation to individual needs. ‘To preserve these ele- ments and at the same time avoid the conflicts so frequently met when one attempts to harmonize the differences between individual interests and generally established common core, calls for insight, vision and devotion in a degree scarcely found in any other profession. “To permit the program to shape the child is a limitation freighted with great disaster. It is certain to place ‘“‘round boys in square holes.” The arrangement of studies and activities in'the program of the school may be per se in itself, almost a determining influence. It will be certainly so if the touch of understanding and personal interest is not ever present to temper the coldness of form with the warmth of cordiality and the ap- preciation of human worth. In this responsibility the principal stands at the door of every classroom and beckons the teacher to be ever mindful that the program of every child in the school is intended to lead him in the direction of “the truth which shall make him free.” Finally, it is the principal’s responsibility to the personnel of the school. If her interests in the policy and program have lain largely in the field of organization and administration here, her duties and responsibilities assume large proportions in the field of supervision. Personnel management is always a timely topic. It is doubly so in those phases of personnel work with which the principal deals. The teacher is truly the heart of the school, but the energy and spirit which she brings to her work is certain at many places along the way to reflect the sympathy and encouragement she has received from her super- vising principal. Inspiration is a powerful incentive and without it there is certain reversion to routine and to the feeling of discouragement and de- feat. Teachers have an inherent desire to contribute to the general progress and good. Nothing brings this creative participation of the teacher to the fore like the stimulating and inspiring leadership of the principal. To her then the faculty is a constant challenge to her own qualities of inspiration THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 425 and leadership and perhaps all of her opportunities and responsibilities. None flavors all the rest as does this outstanding characteristic. But a mere inspiring and leadership personality does not go the whole distance. It is not enough to be merely energetic, and enthusiastic, pri- mary as these qualities are. ‘There are at least two other inseparable de- mands. One of these is the necessity of riding in the advance guard of training and preparation. ‘There is no stopping point in this respect. Even the best which may be had today, is subordinate in a large way to the bet- ter of tomorrow. Teachers in increasing numbers are forging ahead and nothing can be expected to hold their continuous respect and confidence in the administrative and supervisory personnel of the school except full recognition of the fact that while the rank and file has been making progress, the leadership has also been keeping pace. Is it not true that the greatest hindrance to the greatest progress today may easily lie in the fact that the administracive and supervisory leadership of the present is in danger of being run down by the oncoming array of the better pre- pared? Certainly it is no small responsibility to keep up with the lead. The other quality is demonstrated capacity for work. ‘‘Nothing succeeds like success” and “nothing works like work.” Fuss and feathers, bluff and bluster, will not turn the trick. It is necessary for someone to take off the cloak or coat and buckle down to do the job. It is difficult to conceive an effective program for the improvement of teachers in service; or the presence of a well-defined reserve basis in the school; or an attitude which fairly comprehends the needs of behavior problem children; or a program of educational guidance which fairly guides; or any other problem of pol- icy, program or personnel without visualizing through it all the unending hours of thought and effort which someone has been capable of giving in order to bring these things to pass. More and more the capacity to demonstrate in terms of work will be the measure of how successfully our responsibilities have been carried. And less and less will the chatter of the superficial, or the propaganda of the exploiter, or the mere song of the winds move us from our high purpose to accept our responsibility and opportunity to the school as becomes the profession of teaching which we represent. THE TEACHER AN AGENT OF INTERNATIONAL GOODWILL FANNIE FERN ANDREWS, BOSTON, MASS. It is not so many years ago when a discussion of international goodwill in relation to the school curticulum would have been considered visionary and impractical. The idea has gradually evolved, as historical events have made their impress on our national life. It is necessary to review these events if we would trace the progress of teaching international goodwill in our schools. My mind goes back to a meeting eighteen years ago in 426 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Denver, Colorado, when under the presidency of that broad-visioned per- sonality, the late James H. Van Sickle, occurred the first annual meeting of the American School Citizenship League, the organization then known | as the American School Peace League. Names high in educational prestige appeared on that program—James M. Greenwood, the forceful, courage- ous pioneer, a pillar of the National Education Association ; and Nicholas Murray Butler, who today, through the great foundation of which he is president, is giving noteworthy service which affects education in every corner of the world. ‘These men spoke eloquently of international good- will and of the opportunity of the teacher to forward the idea embodied in the expression of the nations at The Hague for a better world order. This meeting at Denver occurred two years after the Second Hague Conference, where the United States delegates, under instructions from Elihu Root, had sponsored and inspired deliberations which it was hoped, as Mr. Root said, would make “international justice more certain and inter- national peace more secure.’ ‘The Hague conferences, being the first gath- ering of the nations in time of peace for the consideration of means of set- tling international differences by peaceful methods, really marked an epoch in the relationships of nations. Many people had the faith to believe, after the First Conference in 1899, that these relations would in the future be based on goodwill, working through the practical application of arbitration and the Hague Court which this conference set up. And as the Court be- gan to function, with the United States and Mexico taking the first case before it in May 1902, faith in international goodwill became stronger and stronger. This epoch-making expression of the nations had its reaction on educa- tion. A few far-sighted educators in different parts of the world, princi- pally in the United States, expressed the view that a great world adventure such as this should be noted in the schools. ‘The Hague conferences not only represented an advance in civilization but obviously affected the his- tory of the individual country. Particular stress, however, was laid on the motive as given in the preamble of the 1899 and the 1907 conventions, which actuated the adoption of the system of arbitration—the desire for international comity and the ultimate concern for humanity. It was this that these keen-sighted educators wished to teach in the schools. They proposed first of all that the opening date of these historic conferences, the eighteenth of May, 1899, be recognized as an appropriate time to teach the significance of the conferences in “‘recognizing the solidarity which united the members of the seciety of civilized nations,” and of pointing out the beneficent results of international goodwill to one’s own nation. The meeting at Denver eighteen years ago focussed attention on the Hague conferences, which were in fact but the culmination of that steady advance of public opinion which for nearly a century had vigorously ad- vocated arbitration and friendly adjustment of international relations, and which, it should be recognized, had laid the foundations for all sub- THE DeparTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 427 sequent efforts for the promotion of international goodwill. This meeting at Denver also urged the celebration of the eighteenth of May in the schools. : Not long after the First Hague Conference, many civic and religious organizations began to celebrate the eighteenth of May and urged its ob- servance in schools and colleges. It is interesting to review the earliest history of such observance, for it marks in a way the formal beginning of the teaching of international goodwill in the schools of this country. The first commemoration of which we have the record occurred in Bloomington, Indiana. At that time all the schools participated in exercises appropriate to the day, and the students of the state university joined with the towns- people in a celebration under the direction of the department of history. The names of Professor Amos 8. Hershey and Professor James A. Wood- burn stand out prominently in this event. The historic document, however, on the celebration of the eighteenth of May in the schools is the letter of George H. Martin, secretary of the Massachusetts State Board of Education, addressed to the superintendents of schools in Massachusetts. In this letter, dated April 11, 1905, Mr. Martin calls attention to the Massachusetts statute which, as he described it, “imposes upon all instructors of youth the obligation to use their best endeavors to instil into the minds of the children and youth committed to their care the principles of ‘love of country, humanity, and universal benevolence.’”’ ‘The love of country, he said, was stimulated by special exercises in connection with the public holidays, February 22, April 19, and May 30. “A favorable opportunity,” he continued, ‘‘to cultivate the other two virtues, ‘humanity and universal benevolence,’ is now afforded in the setting apart of May 18 in commemoration of the opening of The Hague Conference, May 18, 1899.” In December 1906, Dr. Elmer Ellsworth Brown, United States Com- missioner of Education, addressing the state superintendents of instruction, recommended the observance of the eighteenth of May as Peace Day in the schools. In his report to the Secretary of the Interior, dated December 5, he called attention to the movement “looking to the annual commemora- tion in the schools of the United States of the opening of the First Hague Conference,’ and he particularly pointed out that “in the celebration of this anniversary day, and in the instruction of the schools throughout the year, the effort be made to promote an insight into the true aims and as- pirations of our own nation and of the other nations with whom we are to work together in the making of a higher world civilization. ‘ In 1906, seven state superintendents recommended the general observance of the eighteenth of May in the schools of their states. Following the Commissioner’s letter, the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association, meeting in February 1907, exactly twenty years ago, strongly supported, in a resolution, the observance of the eighteenth of May in the schools of the United States. 428 NatioNnaL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION The scope of the observance grew steadily, and in 1908, the American School Citizenship League, which was organized in that year to promote international goodwill through the schools, emphasized at the outset the importance of celebrating the eighteenth of May. We have already seen that at the first annual meeting of the American School Citizenship League, convened as an allied organization of the Na- tional Education Association at its Annual Convention in Denver, the teaching of international goodwill was recognized as a new responsibility for the school. Such teaching at that time, however, offered great difficul- ties. A confused sense of nationalism faced the teacher in taking up the new duty, as these pioneers at Denver had conceived it. To train up the young to think and act in the spirit of friendliness and goodwill had long been recognized as an aim of education. It was ac- cepted then as now that gocdwill in the daily round of living is a desirable factor; that it makes for harmony and peace within the nation and pro- motes friendship and justice throughout the world. The resourceful teacher had found no difficulty in teaching the child, either through his own ex- periences or through the acts of others, the meaning and the beneficent re- sults of goodwill in home, community and national life. This had become a recognized method of citizen training. It was generally accepted that no more important precept could be instilled into the mind of the young than this spirit of goodwili, and it was agreed that such instruction could hardly begin too early. m When, however, the teacher attempted to lead the pupil to appreciate and understand the beneficent effects of international goodwill, the subject suddenly became complex. It involved matters extremely delicate to handle in the schoolroom. At the same time, the sponsors of the idea realized that the abstract conception of international goodwill is meaning- less, that it is vital only as it is demonstrated in international relationships. To choose such demonstrations appropriate to the school curriculum, re- quired nicety of judgment and keen insight into educational aims and na- tional ideals. Few teachers understood the new idea, and those pioneers who were fostering it realized that the success of the project depended wholly on correct interpretation and the proper selection of material. They worked for the gradual advancement of the movement, being concerned not so much in securing speedy response as in promoting intelligent under- standing. As the observance of the eighteenth of May—called interchangeably Peace Day, Hague Day, and Goodwill Day—became an established insti- tution, there was a call from the teachers themselves for information con- cerning material to be used in the celebration of the day. The United States Commissioner of Education, Dr. Philander P. Claxton, responded to this call. In 1912 and 1913, he issued government bulletins, reprinted in 1914, containing material for the observance of the eighteenth of May, which he called Peace Day. In preparing these publications, at the request of the Commissioner, I selected material suitable for the pupil, being care- THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Principars 429 ful to arrange this according to grades so that the little children as well as the pupils in the high school might grasp the real meaning of goodwill and human brotherhood, There was also information for the teacher relating to the principles of the movement for international justice, and finally an account of the various agencies working to this end. ‘The achievements of the two Hague Conferences made a dramatic appeal to the children of all grades, while specific demonstrations of international goodwill in educa- tional and humanitarian lines, as instanced in the return of the Boxer in- demnity, for example, gave zeal for service to the higher ideals of inter- national life. More than a hundred thousand of these bulletins were bought from the Government, and certain European Governments author- ized .the translation of parts of them for distribution to the teachers in their respective countries for the observance of Peace Day in the schools. Many of the state superintendents of instruction included in their annual bulletins to teachers programs and suggestive material for the celebration of the eighteenth of May, which they called Peace Day. Some of these were conspicuous contributions to the general literature on the teaching of international goodwill. Other contributions were made by the American School Citizenship League, which issued plays, pageants and special school exercises appro- priate to the day. It was particularly pointed out by the League, however, that the eighteenth of May should be celebrated not only by special exer- cises, but also through the regular recitations, and suggestions were offered as to what might be done through the different branches of study. More and more the need arose for a guide to the consecutive teaching of international goodwill, thus responding to the suggestion of Commissioner Brown in 1906 that such teaching should be included ‘in the instruction of schools throughout the year,” a committee of the Massachusetts Branch of the American School Citizenship League prepared a graded course for the elementary schools which was published by Houghton Mifflin Company in 1914 and revised in 1918 under the title, “A Course in Citizenship and Patriotism.” This Course, which comprises a book of nearly five hundred pages, develops from the first year in school, through stories, poems and historical references, the spirit of goodwill and cooperation through the widening relationships of the child acting as a member of the home, school, town or city, state, nation, and finally as a member of the world family. The theme of the book is citizenship governed by goodwill and expressed in service. ‘Thousands of teachers are using this book. The addresses of speakers on the programs of the annual and mid-year meetings of the American School Citizenship League which met year after year as an allied organization of the National Kducation Association at its annual conventions, consist of discussions covering almost every phase of the subject, while certain addresses on the main programs of the National Education Association make conspicuous contributions to the body of good- will literature. 430 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION Then again, the State Teachers’ Associations, through their publications, increased the volume of goodwill literature. Nearly a score of these state associations constituted the state branch of the American School Citizen- ship League a regular section which provided an annual program on the subject of goodwill, while in some of the other states where the state associations were not organized with sections, the state branch of the league met as an allied organization. As interest in international goodwill increased in scope and intelligence, teachers began to seek some definite applications of the idea to the subjects in the curriculum. Attention centered first on history. “There were dan- gers here, lest some should fail to realize that, in spite of the Hague con- ferences, nationalism still held a commanding place in the political field. It was necessary to establish a balance which would give full play to the ideal yet would regulate our expectations in the light of actual realities. The American School Citizenship League, which had arranged the course for the consecutive teaching of international goodwill, set about the task of preparing a course in United States History for the elementary schools. It appointed some of the leading teachers and writers of history to do the work and set no time when the task should be finished. Such names as Wilbur F. Gordy, Philander P. Claxton, James H. Van Sickle, Charles E. Chadsey, and John W. Hall bespeak thoroughness and insight. Other guides are necessary for the teaching of international goodwill. ‘The League has in mind the preparation of a course in geography which will recognize that one great aim in teaching this subject is to make the people of one country more intelligent about other peoples, and that through geography the social conditions and the national ideals of peoples should be taught. Just before the World War, a significant effort was made by the leading states of the world to secure international cooperation in education. ‘The great purpose was to establish an International Bureau of Education whose functions should include a consideration of the teaching of international relations and certain educational problems in which the nations have a common interest. In 1912 the American School Citizenship League was instrumental in interesting the Government of the United States in an International Conference on Education. At the request of the United States Commissioner of Education, first vicepresident of the League, the United States Government consented to suggest to the Netherlands Goy- ernment the calling ot such a conference. Invitations were sent by the Netherlands Government to the govern- ments accredited to The Hague, asking for the appointment of delegates to a conference which should meet at ‘The Hague in 1913. Inasmuch as a diplomatic conference on education had no. precedent, government officials felt the need of a careful discussion of this new proposition. It was my privilege to respond to the request of the United States Commissioner of Education to visit the capitals of Europe in 1912 and 1913 for the purpose of explaining to the governments the objects of the conference. The THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 431 Netherlands relied on the support of the United States for the success of the conference, and the minister of foreign affairs invited me to submit a report to him of my interviews with the foreign ministers and the ministers of Education. Final invitations were sent out by the Netherlands Govy- ernment calling the conference for September 1914, and almost simultan- eously, the Department of State of the United States, to give the Nether- lands Government an added assurance of the official interest of this govern- ment, sent a circular telegram to the American diplomatic officers at Paris, Brussels, Copenhagen, Oslo, Stockholm, Athens, London, Rome, Vienna, Madrid, Lisbon, St. Petersburg, Berne, The Hague with respect to Lux- emburg, Bucharest with respect to Roumania, and Tokyo, stating the inter- est which the Commissioner of Education was taking in the Conference and requesting each of them to confer with the minister for foreign affairs, or with his permission with the minister of education, for the purpose of securing the acceptance of the invitation by the governments of those coun- tries. Sixteen nations, including all the great Powers except Germany, accepted the Netherlands’ invitation and appointed delegates to the confer- ence. ‘The nine United States delegates appointed by President Wilson were just on the point of taking their steamers when the World War breke out. This obviously prevented the holding of the conference. ‘This is one of the lamentable results of the war, for this conference undoubtedly would have resulted in an international convention establishing an international bureau of education, which for the first time in history would have officially recognized education as a factor in the relationships of nations. For several years before the World War, however, the national organi- zations of teachers in the states of Europe had recognized the teacher as an agent of international goodwill. ‘These national organizations had com- bined into what was called the International Federation of National Fed- erations of Teachers, and one of its important departments was the ‘Peace Section.” ‘The object of this was to work out plans and policies for teach- ing international goodwill in the schools. The American School Citizen- ship League was the American representative of this international federa- tion, which held its annual meetings in the different capitals of Europe. The World War practically disbanded this organization. The idea of international cooperation among teachers’ organizations was again expressed in 1913 when the Board of Directors of the National Edu- cation Association voted that its annual meeting in 1915 should partake of the nature of an International Congress on Education. Following a resolution passed by the Senate and the House of Representatives, author- izing such an International Congress, the President in 1914 sent invitations to all foreign governments having representatives accredited to the United States. Invitations were also extended by the National Education Associa- tion to educational associations in other countries asking that delegates be appointed to represent them at the Congress. “Uhis was held in Oakland, California, in connection with the Panama-Pacific International Exposition in 1915. Although this Congress was unofficial in its nature, there were +32 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION representatives from thirty states of the world, some officially accredited and others appointed by national associations of teachers. The declaration of principles adopted by this Congress, held in the midst of the World War, and participated in by representatives of all the belliger- ent Powers, gave proof to the world that civilization, in spite of conflict and destruction, still rested on stable foundations. ‘This International Congress on Education appreciated to the full the teacher’s responsibility for the creation of a new world order founded on international goodwill. ‘To quote from the declaration of principles: “Of all the institutions work- ing for the unification of mankind and the improvement of the social wel- fare the school stands first, and, in consequence, the importance of the stand to be taken by those who direct public education and those who teach in the schools can hardly be overestimated. What our. civilization will be a quarter of a century hence will depend very largely upon the attitude as- sumed toward these new questions of international relations by those who are responsible for the direction of public education in all lands and na- tions.” I remember very well how the Resolutions Comunittee labored over this declaration of principles, for we were dealing with a world catastrophe for which there was no precedent. To pave the way for a progressive program in international goodwill after the war, the United States Commissioner of Education called a Con- ference at Atlantic City in 1918 during the meeting of the Department of Superintendence. “This was attended by twenty-five of the leading educa- tors of the country from which a committee was appointed to study educa- tional laws and methods in other countries. “The deliberations of this all- day conference registered conflicting views as to the duty of teachers and school officials while our country was at war, yet at the same time a stable current of educational responsibility for the future of mankind, as ex- pressed in the International Congress of 1915, guided and controlled the conference. A year after this Atlantic City meeting, at the Peace Conference in Paris, education pressed tor recognition. The United States Bureau of Education was represented at this world gathering. At the suggestion of the United States Commissioner of Education, authorized by the Secretary of the Interior, | had the honor, as special collaborator of the bureau, of occupying this unique position. Public opinion at Paris was focussed in various groups, assembled there to discuss the settlement. “wo of the international groups—the Meeting of Delegates of Allied Associations for a Society of Nations, presided over by Léon Bourgeois, and the Conference of the International Council of Women and Conference of Women Suffragists of the Allied Countries and of the United States—were outstanding centers of influence, being repre- sented respectively by six and seven allied countries. Both groups endorsed the idea of an International Bureau of Education. The resolution to this effect which I presented in the sessions of the first group was taken, with THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 433 the other resolutions passed by the group, directly to the Big Four. The resolution, as framed by the education section of the second group, calling for a permanent bureau of education, was presented at a meeting of the League of Nations Commission of the Peace Conference, which received the group officially. I also presented the resolution of the Léon Bourgeois group. The next outstanding effort for international goodwill through educa- tion was the World Conference on Education at San Francisco in the sum- mer of 1923. The world was then in the reconstruction period. Educa- tion again responded to the needs of humanity as shown in the purpose of the Conference given in the call: ‘To afford opportunity for educators of the various nations to agree upon principles and plans for the promotion of good will and mutual understanding, which are universal in their applica- tion and which can be adopted as a definite program to be carried out in the schools throughout the world.” This Conference had the same status as the 1915 Congress, invitations having been extended by the President of the United States to other na- tions as was done in 1915. At San Francisco there were representatives _ of fifty nations, the greater part of whom being delegates from teachers’ organizations who had been requested by the National Education Associa- tion to send delegates, as in 1915. It was a magnificent group of intelli- gent, earnest, world-minded men and women who came together at San Francisco! The plan of organization was well arranged tor careful deliberation. The Conference was divided into eight groups: International Cooperation, Dissemination of Education Information, Conduct between Nations, In- ternational Ideals, Health Education, Universal Education, Rural Life Conseryation, and the Pan-Pacific Union. ‘The agreements arrived at by these groups were submitted to the plenary sessions of the entire Conference. An outspoken characteristic of the deliberations observed in the groups and the plenary sessions was the serious frankness with which the delegates ex- pressed their opinions but always with a careful regard for other people’s views. The Conference organized the World Federation of National Education Associations, the working plan for which were the Resolutions of the group conferences as finally adopted by the plenary sessions. ‘These resolutions fulfilled the purpose of the Conference as stated in the call. They cor- dially recognized the efforts of the past to teach world friendship in the schools as shown by the courses of citizenship and goodwill already in use, and finally declared, ““That we base future plans for promoting world friendship on the great educational background established by these devoted efforts of teachers to promote international comity.” ‘he Conference reg- istered a great’ advance in organizing the educational forces of the world for the promotion of international goodwill. After the San Francisco meeting, Mr. Raphael Herman offered a prize 434 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION of $25,000, open to the people of all countries, for the best educational plan designed to forward the movement for international comity. The com- petition was conducted by the Committee of the World Federation, and the prize was won by David Starr Jordan. Every suggestion in the Jordan Plan, which is entitled “A Plan of Education to Develop International Justice and Friendship,” is calculated to foster international goodwill. Such devices as international correspondence, international scholarships, exchange professors, oraticns and essays on the subject are very familiar to the teachers of our country, and it is the hope that all these activities may be increased and extended to every part of the earth. The Plan also proposed seven subjects for study: 1. ‘The teaching of history and patriotism; 2. international athletic sports; 3. standing incen- tives to war; 4. is war necessary?; 5. a general peace committee to function with all organizations not connected with education; 6. a bureau of con- ciliation “to cooperate with governments in army, navy and air equipment ;” and 7. the subject under the heading, general machinery for international. cooperation—as to whether the Federation “shall form an international committee to scrutinize the League of Nations and the problems concerned in the same with special bearing upon international education.” The First Biennial Conference of the World Federation of Education — Associations was held at Edinburgh in July 1925. Committees were ap- pointed to make research studies on all the subjects proposed by Dr. Jordan except those on war. It was voted, however, that “the educational features of Sections 3 and 4 be combined with the other Sections.” This great Conference at Edinburg revised the Constitution of the World Federation as adopted at San Francisco. Its second Article reads: “The objects of this Federation shall be to secure international cooperation in educational enterprises, to foster the dissemination of information con- cerning the progress of education in all its forms among nations and peo- ples, to cultivate international goodwill, and to promote the interests of peace throughout the world.” The Second Biennial is to meet at Toronto this coming August, and when the delegates assemble there, most of them will have the support of their governments in the work they will do to forward the spirit of inter- national cooperation. Last September at Geneva, fifty-five nations rxe- indorsed His resolution adopted two years before, providing for an investi- gation of “the means by which efforts to promote contact and to educate the youth of all countries in the ideals of world peace and solidarity may be further developed and coordinated.” ‘The World Federation of Educa- tion Associations i is one of the agencies striving to realize this world desire. These fifty-five. nations have established at Paris the International In- stitute of Intellectual Cooperation, which is reaching out for friendly as- sistance to all organizations working to the same end. ‘There are thirty- two national committees, functioning as national centres of information under the Committee on Intellectual Cooperation. Our own Committee THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PrincipaAts 435 is composed of outstanding men and women in the educational and public life of the United States. . The governments are also assisting student organizations which are working for international goodwill. They have agreed on “the importance of encouraging contact between the younger generations of different na- tionalities,”’ and are at present considering a plan which shall facilitate such contact. Special travelling facilities such as reduction of railway fares, collective passports, exchange of students and visits and inter-scholar cor- respondence have been suggested for embodiment in an international agree- ment. Many countries, it is a pleasure to note, have already adopted these devices for encouraging such contacts. These young people receive this assistance as a matter of course. ‘They seem to have taken the project of gocdwill into their own hands. It is estimated that more than forty thousand students went from the United States to Europe last summer to travel and to study international relations. In surveying these youth efforts for friendship, one meets with the Inter- national Students Federation and the International Clubhouse for Stu- dents, with the International Bureau of the Boy Scouts, the ‘World Camp” of the Girl Guides, the Junior Red Cross, the International Cen- tres of the World’s Committee of the Y. W. C. A. and the World’s Al- liance of the Y. M. C. A., etc. Where will it all end? ‘Shall we, as some fearful observers declare, find ourselves following in a youth-governed world, unable to keep up in this race for friendship! Obviously we must broaden our outlook; we must know what is happen- ing in the world. ‘The teacher, the torch-bearer of truth, must go for- ward with this great adventure of international gocdwill. And more, as the sower of the seed which germinates and blossoms into ideas and actions, the teacher needs clarity, knowledge. ‘Teaching international goodwill is an intricate enterprise. It is based on realities, on the actions of nations. The great endowment, which last year sent fifty college professors to the centres of Europe for study and observation and is planning to send an equal number of journalists for the same purpose the coming summer, might with great wisdom include in their excellent plan fifty of our forward- minded teachers, those of the every day school, who create the mind of the masses in the expression of international goodwill. GREETINGS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS—ABSTRACT ANNA THOMPSON, PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF CLASSROOM TEACHERS, KANSAS CITY, MO. We are gratified at the harmonious relations existing between the De- partment of Elementary Schoo! Principals and the Department of Class- room Teachers, and we hope this amity is an index to the state of felicity which has existed in our schools throughout the country during the year. 436 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION i ee We wish to congratulate the Department ot Elementary School Prin- cipals upon their rapid growth in power and prestige. It was my privilege to be present at Des Moines when you became a Department of the Na- tional Education Association, and the growth of class-consciousness which has developed since that time is remarkable. Classroom teachers welcome the new type of principal with his culture and his professional training. He has become a real leader of the school, and we shall all be happy to bid adieu to the old type, who functioned like a glorified errand boy. Classroom teachers have felt the spirit of progress, and are striving to achieve a higher professional spirit. We have undertaken to discover each child’s ability and we have more than ever set ourselves the task of instilling the idea that hours of sleep, play and work shall be properly balanced, and that wholesome food is necessary to growth and health. Measurement of intelligence, ability and casual grouping has claimed our attention. Our committees have studied “problem pupils,” and the results as pub- lished in our yearbook will lead to a better insight into the abnormal behavior of children. i: Our Department has striven to emulate that old humanist schoolmaster, Vittorino, by making each schoolroom a “House of Delight.” We ask the cooperation of the principal’s department in seeing that our classrooms are free from interruption. Stand with us in demanding the simplification of reports and records. Save the harassed teacher from over- crowded classrooms, and thus enable us to fulfill the purpose for which schools are instituted. SOME SUGGESTIONS LOOKING TO COOPERATION AND EFFICIENCY IN THE FUNCTIONING OF SUPER- VISORS AND PRINCIPALS MRS. SUSAN M. DORSEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, LOS ANGELES, CALIF. In this discussion, it shall be understood that a supervisor is an expert helping teacher and that a principal is the responsible head and director of the school. The conflict of functions which sometimes seems to exist between prin- cipals and supervisors calls for a clear division of labor in the interests of cooperation and, I may add, in the interests of economy and efficiency. In the following paragraphs, I shall briefly indicate how the principal, so far from getting in the way of the supervisor, may make her work more effec- tive and may save her time and his own, and how the supervisor may facilitate the general work of the school, as well as her own, by a genuine spirit of cooperation with the principal and by an understanding of her function as that of a helping teacher. THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PrincipaLts 437 1. It is manifestly the duty of the principal to see that the supervisor is provided with tools and materials at the time and in the place where she needs them. ‘To that end, the supervisor should leave her requisition for needed materials with the principal early enough to permit the ma- terials to be secured and delivered to the classroom before the hour when they will be needed. 2. The principal should save the time of the supervisor for actual in- struction by having the program of classes ready to hand on her arrival. a. Teachers should know beforehand of the coming of the supervisor, so that they, too, may have everything in readiness for a full period of uninter- rupted work. To that end, supervisors should inform principals in advance of the proposed date of their visit. b, Teachers should be at attention to help with the mechanics of the lessons, thereby saving every m, ment of the supervisor’s time for actual instruction. To that end, principals may well give anticipatory instruction to teachers as to “how to behave” when the supervisor comes. 3. It will often happen that a supervisor will desire some preliminary work to be done in preparation for her visit. Principals may help by see- ing that such preliminary work is accomplished. 4. To advance the work and make desired progress more certain, it will greatly contribute to econcmy and efficiency if the principal visits classes occasionally while supervisors are at work, in order to understand more completely the problems, activities and procedures to be carried out. At any rate, there should always be conferences between the principal and the supervisor about “‘the next step,” so that the principal may be able in his visits to classes to determine whether that next step desired by the super- visor is actually being taken. A wise principal will not undertake to interfere with the plans of the expert supervisor; he will, however, assure himself by visits to classes that teachers are carrying out the work along the desired lines. So far from feeling that the appointment of a supervisor to his school is designed to relieve him of all instructional responsibility, the principal should interpret this new relation as placing on him the responsibility of understanding the aims, activities and procedures outlined by the supervisor, and the further responsibility of determining from time to time whether the teacher is equally understanding and is actually carrying out instructions. 5. Supervisors, in the interests of cooperation and economy, should never undertake to run the school, should never duplicate, or undertake to dupli- cate, the functions of the chief administrator. ‘Their function is that of a helping teacher, just that and nothing more. They will, of course, be asked by the principal to assist him in evaluating the work of teachers, but the principal may sometimes venture to take into account in such evalua- tion other qualities than the instructional and may very well differ from the supervisor in his estimate. “The principal’s estimate should be final, or the principal should be a subject for dismissal for inefficiency. 438 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ee Ee Supervisors should not presume to engage teachers, to order supplies or equipment, although a wise principal will always seek their advice if the case is one affecting the supervisors’ work. Supervisors will not undertake to put over their ideas of control of the school; they will, however, try to understand the policies of the principal and work in harmony therewith. 6. A supervisor needs to remember that the school is larger than her own field of endeavor, that the life of the school should be integrate, that she will often be called on to assist in school projects which only touch her work, but which none-the-less have claims on her attention and serv- ices. A supervisor of drawing, for example, may be requested by the prin- cipal to undertake as a class project the making of posters for school events, for a community chest campaign, or for community pageants, or other community events. She should grasp such occasions as opportunities for the child to participate in the real life of the community, to become conscious of a wider life than that of the school. ; The supervisor must be cheerful and cooperative, even though all this upsets her plans and even calls for a type of work not quite to her liking. The supervisor of English is often hard-worked ; it does seem almost un- fair that she should be asked so many times to help prepare students for various public occasions, sometimes not entirely to the highest advantage of regular classwork. The supervisor, however, should interpret her func- tions in terms of the larger life of the school. Is not all of life that is truly fruitful a partial concession of self-interests to the interests of the group? Turn now to the principal. ‘The introduction of supervisors releases these school officials somewhat from supervisory functions. What are they going to do with their new leisure in the interests of greater educational eficiency? I have spoken already of the responsibility of the principal to do follow-up work, thereby making the efforts and instruction of the supervisor who visits his school more surely effective. ‘There are other ways in which he may himself become more efficient and may contribute to the upbuilding of the school and community. If his new leisure means the doing of more mere odds and ends of things, it is not worth while. He should immediately adopt a new and vigorous program by which he will enter on new educational projects, either within or outside the school, or both. The supervisor’s assistance should enable the principal, for instance, to survey his school, in order to discover more about the individual conditions and needs of the children, or he might himself take hold vigorously of the improvement of the school along some line, such as the physical education program, the correction of minor physical defects, such as incorrect posture. He might interest himself in the improvement of English expression, oral and written. He might initiate a more satisfactory program of citizenship THE DEPARTMENT OF ELeMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 439 that would function at once in the lives of the children, both in school and out. He might discover what seemed the greatest moral weakness in the school and introduce a regimen for its correction. ‘The reason why we accomplish so little is because we undertake nothing seriously and_ per- sistently. A second use of the new leisure for greater educational efficiency should be mentioned. There might be attempts at the educational betterment of the community. Social contacts may be very pleasant, also very wasteful of time and opportunity. There is a type of helpful contact that is bound to command the respect of the worthwhile element in any community and that will surely contribute to the upbuilding of the life of the community. One might mention the following as some of these ways in which the prin- cipal might become more efficient in his community as an educational leader: He might establish a class for Bible study, or for the study of some other classic. He might undertake the improvement of the community in some physical way, such as interesting certain groups in wholesome physical recreation to be had in the school gymnasium or on Saturday afternoons. One most valuable contribution in a certain community was a class for parents, in which they were taught children’s games and how to play with their children—a very useful service to both parents and children. The principal might try to interpret modern education to his community, telling them what we teach; why and how we teach the greatly diversi- fied curriculum of the modern school. This new leisure that comes to principals through the assistance of supervisors belongs to the people and should be used in their interests, should surely be made to contribute either directly or indirectly to the educational efficiency. A third possible use of this new leisure time may be mentioned. A principal should rejoice to avail himself of this time for reading, study and reflection. In no other way can the principal himself become more efficient, and to become more useful is an ever present obligation in this, the most significant and influential occupation of modern time. The world moves so fast. The history of centuries is crowded into the life of a single generation. ‘The science of yesterday is obsolete today. “The trappings of life, its fashions and customs are out of date in a year. An automobile bought today must be exchanged within a year, or at least within two years, in order to have the benefit of the latest improvements devised in automobile alley or laboratory. Yes, the world does move fast and education cannot linger, principals cannot rest on present knowledge, or on what they learned in college. To command the respect of the intelligent in any community, they must know as much, and more, and must be able to converse with understanding and administer their schools with wisdom based on knowledge. The new 440 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION knowledge released from laboratories and observatories each year fills volumes. Some of it is told in simple, understandable form for the un- scientific, making it possible for all teachers to gain a fair grasp of the new knowledge developing every day in this world of ours. No principal can afford to spend all of his time in detail, all of his leisure in sports or automobiling. He should and must bone down to good study, to stiff reading, not only along the lines of his occupation, but along many other lines. It would be a matter of interest to find how many prin- cipals read books, and how many are satisfied with the snatchy sort of in- formation that comes through digests and magazines. Science, especially, progresses with amazing rapidity. A recent writer in the preface to one of his books says: “Science moves fast these days. I may state that the hormone of a certain gland is ‘not yet known’; Professor John Abel may have isolated it yesterday and announce the fact next year. When I studied anatomy under Thomas Dwight—to whom I owe much —TI was told nothing about a certain little gland in our throat without which we cannot live. The activating principle of that gland has been discovered, and the secretion of another vital gland has been isolated, since I wrote the first word of this book. No one had heard of a vitamin a few years ago, nor had any vitamin been isolated when I began this book; one and possibly two, has since been isolated.” We all agree that you and I cannot afford to be ignorant about tests, measurements, segregation into ability groups, about projects and the outstanding facts of psychology and mental hygiene; no more can we afford to be ignorant about conditions in Europe, the new discoveries in human anatomy, the never ending discov- eries in nature and life, the marvelous reversals of opinion as expressed in discarding of old theories and the adoption of new theories, such, for ex- ample, as the abandonment of the nebular hypothesis as an explanation of the way in which our earth began, the abandoning of the atomic theory because of the discoveries by Robert A. Millikan of electrons, the calling in question even of the laws of gravity in view of the assumptions of the Einstein theory of relativity. Fortunate principals, who have the opportunity to make themselves more efficient leaders, their schools more educationally efficient and their com- munities more understanding, because of the new leisure that comes through the giving of supervisor help! Fortunate teachers! Who have the kindly, sincere help of supervisors who come to the rooms with fresh material, with new suggestions as to procedure, with demonstrations of the helpful personality that makes light of the petty incident, the petty trouble, that sweeps away the cloud of dis- couragement and brings the radiant light of hope of final successful ac- complishment. THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PrincipALs 441 (ee el a ln ea BS ng COOPERATIVE SUPERVISION FROM THE VIEWPOINT OF THE ELEMENTARY PRINCIPAL—ABSTRACT ELIZABETH R. MCCORMICK, PRINCIPAL, HOWE SCHOOL, SUPERIOR, WIS., PRESIDENT, WISCONSIN TEACHERS ASSOCIATION Union and cooperation between supervisors and the supervised who are endeavoring to solve the problems of method and procedure in education are absolutely essential to the success of their work. Already there has been some measure of achievement in this coordination but with that we are not yet satisfied and that we still aim at further cooperation is a good sign. Ideal cooperation in supervision means voluntary association of superin- tendent, supervisors, teachers and principal in which they would organize democratically to assist each other through mutual action in which the motive would be service to the children. Service is the soul of cooperation. The big superintendent and the big principal passes on big ideas and makes an appeal to intelligence in his subordinates, instead of dernanding blind obedience. Where there was a real spirit of cooperation superior officers might frequently admit that subordinates had more practical ideas than their own. ay The most learned modern educator is himself not a genius. His is him- self plus the great educators from Moses to Thorndike. Growth cannot be expected unless the superintendent, and in his turn the principal, creates an atmosphere in which teachers and principals may work in unhampered freedom. COOPERATIVE SUPERVISION GRACE G. SWAN, DIRECTOR OF ELEMENTARY PRACTICE, PITTSBURGH, PA. In order to successfully supervise, it is essential that the supervisor have an adequate preparation for the task before her; an appreciation of the responsibility placed upon her; an ability to diagnose conditions and pro- vide the remedy where and when it is needed. In Pittsburgh, last year, we inaugurated the plan of sending two super- visors to the same school at the same time; one to supervise the first and second grades, the other the third and fourth grades. This was done (1) to conserve the time of the principal; (2) to allow both supervisors, in conference with the principal, to get his reaction toward the work; (3) to give the supervisors an opportunity to get the spirit of each school and its needs. Under the direction of the supervisors, teachers who are doing out- standing work are selected to give demonstration lessons showing a definite 442 NaTIONAL EpucaATION ASSOCIATION plan of procedure. ‘These lessons are invariably followed by a period of discussion the results of which are soon evident. Many teachers need to be shown the value of scientific tests, how to use them, and how to study the results obtained therefrom. No teacher should look upon these tests as a measure of her ability as an instructor but rather as a measure whereby she can ascertain where the weaknesses exist and through the information so revealed be able to apply the remedy best suited to correct the existing faults. There is as much danger lurking in fulsome praise as there is in unjust criticism; one may produce a feeling of self-satisfaction which will stop growth while the other may cause discouragement and distrust of self that will hinder or dwarf future endeavor. ‘Teachers need encouragement. The satisfaction that comes from a “well-done,” when it rings true, will produce an abundant harvest of success. COOPERATIVE SUPERVISION CORNELIA S. ADAIR, TEACHER, RICHMOND PUBLIC SCHOOLS In order to discuss the question of cooperative supervision, one should give the term a definite meaning. Is it simply the expression of a spirit of friendliness among supervisors, principals and teachers that would lead each one, as far as possible, to further any plan or suggestion of the other ? Or, does it mean a working together of all the educational forces for the training of the children of the nation? If the second suggestion is accepted, and I take it that it is the more acceptable of the two, we must weigh each element of supervision to see which lend themselves to cooperative effort. Since I am speaking as a classroom teacher, my question is—‘What knowledge of supervision is necessary to a teacher in order that she may cooperate ?” It seems to me that she should know the purposes of supervision—espe- cially where they affect her work; know something of its technic and have an appreciation of the art. ‘There are many ways in which a principal may help a new teacher to adjust to her position, to see the school work as a whole and the importance of her part in it; to get the thrill that comes from helping to mold human lives. A supervisor may encourage both new and experienced teachers to grow into more efficient work and greater professional spirit. If the teachers are conscious of the theory back of the efforts, both will work more successfully. There are many kinds of supervision, but the most effective has a definite aim in view. If the teacher knows that purpose, valuable time and effort will be conserved and much of the timidity with which most teachers regard supervision will be removed. Just as modern methods of education are shifting the emphasis in the classroom from instruction to supervision, so is better professional training and equipment of teachers changing the THe DrepARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 443 plane of relationship of supervisors, principals and teachers. With the knowledge of the purposes and technic of supervision comes to the teachers a knowledge of what they may expect of the principals and supervisors and what the department of supervision should expect of them. What are some of the difficulties in the way of cooperative supervision ? Administrative difficulties first present themselves to the mind. The prin- cipal is so busy attending to the physical plant, seeing that the various weeks, drives, and other expressions of civic propaganda are successfully executed, adjusting matters of discipline and so through the multitudinous duties that hamper the performance of his most important duty—the supervision of instruction, Little time is left for supervision of the in- dividual classroom and less for the conferences that cooperative super- vision would necessitate. I would not minimize the importance of these administrative matters. Perhaps these very problems may be used as a means to foster a better understanding among supervisors, teachers, and pupils. Before cooperation among members of the staff can be established, there must come conferences—individual conferences and conferences in small groups. Carefully planned faculty meetings—meetings that are more than lectures or animated bulletins. ‘There are other more personal reasons why cooperative supervision is dificult. Some teachers prefer to be “let alone.” ‘They do not wish to spend their afternoons in discussion groups. In this, as in any work in- volving the human eiement, the question of personalities of both teachers and supervisors, always an intangible factor, must be reckoned with. To capitalize the idealism with which most teachers regard their super- visors and their work, to suggest corrective measures, when necessary, to give due praise, to offer encouragement to greater effort, these are marks of artistic supervision. To know how to accept praise or blame and to profit by each, to acknowledge the worth of supervision and to weigh each problem, not from the teacher’s standpoint alone, but in the light of the need of the child, these are the attitudes of teachers possessed of high ethical standards. Since mutual understanding and mutual respect are the bases of all co- operation, one solution of our problem may lie in the participation of every one in the school system, either personally or through his representatives, in the working out of educational policies. In this way, only, may the system be seen as a whole. Let supervisors, principals and teachers meet around a common table to share in making the rules and regulations under which they work, let there be committees to conform to the committees of the school board, let them have periodic joint meetings, let joint committees make the curricula—in short let each know the other through sharing a common problem. Place difficulties openly before the group. ‘This is our school system—we are jointly responsible for it. Let each one know the joy of creative work, Actually work together, so that each may recognize 444 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ee PIPL i es the capabilities of others and understand the motives. “Phus may a spirit of loyalty—esprit de corps—be established. In the classrooms are problems—teaching problems—to be solved jointly by principal, teacher, and children. Under modern educational methods the teacher is becoming more of a supervisor and less of an instructor. Research cevering various fields is now being conducted in classrooms by teachers themselves. The Second Yearbook of the Department of Class- room Teachers shows excellent examples of the types of investigation now being carried on by teacher organizations. We believe that the ideal of administration and supervision is so to con- duct the schools that each child will receive the training best suited to his talents and ability—the education that will most adequately fit him for life. We Americans believe in cooperative effort. If supervision be a vital factor in education, ‘and I believe it is, we should have the best kind of supervision—supervision with an eye single to the advantage of the child. Without this ideal, our great educational system will fall short of its high purpose. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON STANDARDS AND TRAINING FOR THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALSHIP W. T. LONGSHORE, PRINCIPAL, GREENWOOD SCHOOL, KANSAS CITY, MO. Declaring that the most important people in the whole civilized uni- verse are schoolmasters, H. G. Wells says: “The schoolmaster’s place is not only important but extremely important. “That is my thesis. I want to put it with boldness, shamelessness, arrogance and aggression. I want to suggest that they should up and take hold of the world. I shall tell you nothing new if I betray a consciousness that arrogance in taking hold of the world is not a characteristic of all schoolmasters. It is extraordi- nary that a lot of schoolmasters seem to be unconscious not only of the jin- portance but of the range of their functions.” No elementary school prin- cipal thinks of giving according to measure. Once engaged, he gives his best, gives his personal interest, himself. His heart is in his work, and for this no equivalent is possible; what is accepted is in the nature of a fee, gratuity or consideration, which enables him who receives it to maintain a certain expected mode of life. The real payment is the work itself— this and a chance to join with other members of the profession in guiding and enlarging the sphere of its activities. The elementary school principal must believe in the dignity and im- portance of his position. He should make a solemn affirmation of its importance and conduct his school and himself so that the community, the superintendent of schools, and the board of education will recognize it. The work is as important as that of the high school principal, and for equal THe DepartMENT oF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 445 preparation, efficiency, experience and success should receive the same professional recognition and salary when the positions have responsibilities which are relatively comparable. Elementary school principals are not asking favors. ‘They are demanding that the rights of the younger chil- ‘dren shall be recognized, and that they shall be treated fairly, that is, that they shall be given an equal chance. The idea of “skimming” the elemen- tary schools to get teachers and principals to build up the junior high schools and the senior high schools is wrong. ‘This “skimming process” must stop, because it is wrong in theory, psychology, pedagogy, and prac- tice. No one will deny that this “skimming process” is going on in the schools. Why should an elementary school principal have to look to a high school principalship for a promotion to get enough money to main- tain his family properly, and to do justice to himself professionally? Why should an elementary sch ol teacher have to look to a position in a high school for promotion? Often such promotions spoil excellent elementary school teachers and make poor high school teachers. Rare talent is lost to the elementary schools each year because of the stupidity of traditional philosophy and practice. Emphasis is placed upon the wrong end, that is, at the finish instead of the beginning of institutional life and training. The work of a principal of schools is to get things done through other people. He must know, in a general way, at least, what is to be accom- plished, and through his organization he must know, to a certain extent, the capacity, abilities and undertakings of those who work with him. It is true that the successful principal of a school must have a high ideal of what his pupils are going to do and what they are going to be when they leave school. ‘The work, then, of getting things done through others in- volves not only a certain amount of general information, together with special knowledge and a certain understanding of the technic to be em- ployed, but it also means that the principal must be a master in dealing with human beings. Getting things done through other people is a different problem from that which is involved in achieving through one’s own efforts. It is one thing to do a piece of work and quite another to get it done successfully. There are human factors in all administrations to be considered. What are the human factors involved in the work of the principalship of the pub- lic elementary school? With whom does one have to deal? In other words, who are the persons through whom one must work in order to get things done that are worth doing? ‘These persons are teachers or mem- bers of the school staff, and these persons differ among themselves more than the famous provinces of Gaul did. If a principal has twenty teachers, he has twenty different personalities to deal with. There are no two alike, yet there are at least two general types of teachers. The first type is the teacher who loves the subjects that she teaches. Outstanding in one’s per- sonal experience there may be two or three such teachers. ‘They are the ones whose great love for a subject prompted them to study it. They are 446 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION the only ones who bring the subject to pupils in such a way that they in turn come to respect it, if not to love it. It is the purpose of the Committee on Standards and T'raining for the Elementary School Principalship to work out a plan to raise the entrance requirements for the elementary school principalship to that of the high school principalship, or even to that of a college professorship, in order that a single salary schedule might be feasible and applicable. ‘Thus a free choice of talent would be allowed to serve in its chosen field of education ; at the same time service would carry with it a dignity which would be recognized by adequate compensation. An elementary school principal ought to have perfectly definite ideas on certain matters with which he is concerned. For example, he ought to know how to make a study of the pupil population of his school and district. He ought to have some very definite ideas on classroom supervision, ‘The writer is in favor of specific and clearly defined courses for the principal. This does not at all preclude the possibility of giving to the prospective principals a broad general view of education through courses on the curriculum and history of schools. But it does mean that the main part of the principal’s training ought to be specific and definite. Another general point which should be made in this connection is that every administrative officer ought to do some definite piece of research work as a part of the training for his advanced degree. “The writer does not believe at all in training which does not include some very definite requirements for original work on the part of the candidate. The ele- mentary school principal should secure a bachelor’s degree before he enters service, Candidates for principalships should be required to hold this degree with a major in education. It is not too much to expect that the principal in service will continue his professional training, and that he will earn a master’s degree and eventually a doctorate. It is possible that the next ten years will see the master’s degree established as a requirement of candidates for the principalship, since by that time graduate courses, espe- cially for principals, will have been prepared and tested, All too fre- quently at present the courses which are offered do not contribute definitely to the service of the principal.. They do, however, give him a breadth of view which is desirable for every educational leader. REPORT OF THE COMMITTE ON .RESOLUTIONS CARL F, ZOOK, ATKINSON SCHOOL, PORTLAND, ORE. The Resolutions Committee duly appointed by your president begs to submit the following report. I. Whereas: The question of the establishment of a Department of Education under a Secretary as a member of the President’s Cabinet has been and is now before Congress and, ‘THE DeparTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 447 Whereas: Little remains of information or argument that has not been presented for or against such a plan, therefore, be it, Resolved; ‘That we endorse the Curtis-Reed bill and urge school princi- pals to keep in touch with their Congressmen and local Chambers of Com- merce in an effort to have this legislation enacted into law. Il. Whereas: The value of the services of the N. E. A. and associated departments is attested by school executives throughout the nation and, Whereas: Many members and delegates are prevented from attending meetings and conventions because of the expense involved, therefore, be it, Resolved: That boards of education be requested to include in their bud- gets appropriations to cover expenses of delegates to conventions and meet- ings, particularly to meetings of the Department of Elementary School Principals. Ill. Whereas: ‘The best success of an organization demands a member- ship that includes approximately all eligible, therefore, be it, Resolved: ‘That we recommend to local clubs and associations a coinclusive plan of membership—a plan whereby one fee covers membership in local, state, and national organizations; and be it further, Resolved: ‘That state superin- tendents be called upon to recommend or urge membership upon principals not reached through local associations or city superintendents. IV. Whereas: Tenure of office in some degree has been quite generally bestowed on teachers and principals, and, Whereas: The fire of politicians has in consequence been directed at superintendents, many of whom have been unjustly dropped from their positions to the serious detriment of the schools, therefore be it, Resolved: That this Department urges the extension of the policy and principle of indefinite tenure to teachers, principals, and superintendents alike, and that we request the support of the National Education Association in this effort. V. Whereas: The elementary schools are as important as any section or unit’ of educational systems, therefore, be it, Resolved: That the single salary schedule should obtain for principals, whether elementary, junior high, or senior high, on the basis of training, experience, and number of pupils enroled; and be it further Resolved: ‘That the same time for. pre- liminary duties on full salary as is now allowed junior high and senior high school principals, be allowed also to elementary school principals. VI. Whereas: The publications of our Department—the Bulletins and Yearbooks—are invaluable contributions to the literature on school opera- tion, and, Whereas: tis important that school directors and superintendents be informed as to our plans, policies, and procedures, therefore, be it Re- solved: That we recommend that local associations or clubs arrange to place these publications in the libraries of our superintendents. VII. Whereas: Character education or training is regarded by educators and laymen in general as among the important functions of the school, and, 448 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Whereas: Both principals need inspiration and guidance in this im- portant field, therefore, be it, Resolved: ‘That this department request the National Education Association Research Division to study and report the Detroit plan and other plans that have been tried and found valuable. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS F. H. DUFFY, CHAIRMAN, COMMITTEE ON EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS, AND PRINCIPAL, HARDING JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL, STEUBENVILLE, OHIO The biggest piece of work in the way of progress that our schools can do today is the preparation for those who are to rule in the future. A conservation or off-setting of the present day economic waste must come from an adjusted form of education if our posterity is to benefit by what we are attempting to pass down to them and which is more or less delusive in its content. A general summing-up over the entire country of the items reported by the Committee on Educational Progress shows a graduated line of progress. However, the line should rise very much more abruptly. Here and there the communities are arranging to care for the old and incapacitated teacher by the establishment of pension laws; colleges and unversities are being strengthened as never befere and an effort toward the centralization of the teaching unit is being made in the rural districts. It cannot be denied, however, that the public schools of the nation are still the target of corrupt politicians and progress of the proper kind will be retarded as long as the practice continues. “The educational system of our country is far from progressing to the point where it is keeping in step with modern industry and for the development of that which will permit the generations of the near future to maintain the liberties and independ- ence which we and former generations have so democratically enjoyed. ‘The present steam-gas-electric-wireless age is carrying us forward at such a terrific rate that it far overbalances our present maximum of education. Economically we are living on the fat of the land. When we compare our educational progress during the last two decades with that of the com- mercial and industrial development during the same period of time, the former all but fades out of the picture. Unless our educational system is so adjusted as to off-set the present whirlwind of material progress, we predict that our grandchildren and great-grandchildren, sitting in legisla- tive halls, will find themselves in a similar position to that of the pro- verbial farmer who locked the barn after the thief was gone with the horse. THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 449 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY WARREN A. ROE, BELMONT AVENUE SCHOOL, NEWARK, N. J. The year 1926-27 has been marked by many noteworthy contributions to educational literature from the pens of the elementary principals of America. It is evident that the stimulation provided by the Department of Ele- mentary School Principals of the National Education Association is func- tioning and that we may hope to see the great potential constructive educa- tional force of the combined abilities of the principals of every type of elementary school made available for the service of the schools of America. It is a vision of service that should call to the spirit of the men and women who head our schools. Can we add to the laboratory of theory of the college and university, the intelligent produce of the laboratory of prac- tice? If so, wonderful achievement awaits us just beyond the threshold of our endeavor. To the many able people, whose contributions published or unpublished have unitedly made possible the bulletins this department has issued, we send our hearty thanks. May they all add again their present professional studies to those they have already made. We shall hope that to their goodly number will be added this year many more. ‘To the officers, com- mittee chairmen and speakers whose cooperation has aided the recording of our programs and work, we express our appreciation. Our membership has grown steadily. It appears as though we had a service to render that invites the support of all. The coming year looks full of promise for wide-spread and continued success for this department. REPORT OF THE PRESIDENT E. RUTH PYRTLE, PRINCIPAL, MCKINLEY SCHOOL, LINCOLN, NEBR. The growth and interest in the Department of Elementary School Principals has been remarkable, almost phenomenal in our short six years of existence. This department is recognized in the educational world as one of the most alert and truly professionally minded groups working in American education. ‘The fing professional research study as reflected in our pub- lications together with the bi-yearly programs and the superior work done, day by day, in the classrooms, in the nation-wide field of education, has won a cordial respect, a recognition and commendation for the principalship from all classes of educators. Our opportunity as individual principals, and as an organized depart- ment group, is measured only by our vision and devotion to our field of work—the elementary field. Elementary principals are becoming profes- sionally conscious, or shall T say, are now professionally conscious. 450 NatTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION The six yearbooks and seventeen bulletins, filled largely with contribu- tions from our own members, have received the highest praise from leading educators both home and abroad. The 1928 yearbook will be the report of Committee on Standards and Training of Elementary Principals. ‘This report promises to be a most valuable contribution to the whole field of education. Our host, Superintendent Thomas R. Cole of the Pacific Coast, said last year of this department: “It is my opinion that the elementary school prin- cipals have made the greatest progress during the last ten years profession- ally of any group of educators in the public school work. The Seattle school system has profited much by this professional growth.” May I now gratefully acknowledge and personally thank each and every person of this Department who has worked so zealously and untiringly and thus brought about the success of the work of the Department through this year. CONSTITUTION AND BYLAWS . DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ADOPTED AT SEATTLE, JULY 7, 1927 A great majority of our future citizens receive all their forrnal education in the elementary school. To it is intrusted che physical, mental, and moral training of the child during its tenderest years, and to it we must look for that basic training upon which all future education must rest. Educators everywhere and our federal, state and local zovernments are realizing more and more the responsibility placed upon the elementary school, but pri- marily it is the elementary school principal who must face these responsi- bilities intimately. “Io meet the responsibilities of elementary education with a united mind and purpose, to study the problems of the elementary school with a broad and sympathetic outlook, to enlist the aid of educa- tional forces everywhere, and in general, to give to the elementary child the advantages of united effort, we do hereby form the Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association and adopt the following Constitution: Article I. Name ‘Vhe name of the organization shall be the Department of Elementary School Principals of the National Education Association. Article II. Membership SECTION 1. Membership in the Department of Elementary School Prin- cipals shall be of two classes, Active members and Associate members. SECTION 2. State, county, or supervisory principals of Elementary Schools, who are members of the National Education Association, may be- come Active members by paying the annual dues. THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 451 SECTION 3. Other persons, not supervisory principals, who are interested in Elementary Education may become Associate Members by paying the annual dues. Associate Members shall have all the rights and privileges of Active members except the right to vote and the right to hold office. Article III. Officers SECTION 1. The officers of the Department shall be the president, five vicepresidents, and the secretary, and they shall each hold office for a period of one year from date of election. SECTION 2. No elective officer may hold the same office for more than one term until the lapse of a period of one year or more. SEcTion 3. The retiring President shall become automatically the First Vicepresident. SECTION 4. The Executive Committee shall consist of all the officers together with four members elected at large. Retiring officers shall be ineligible to election to the Executive Committee until the lapse of one year or more. Section 5. Members at large shall hold office for four years, one mem- ber retiring each year. The member receiving the largest number of votes at the first election shall serve for four years, and the others three, two and one respectively, according to the number of votes received. SecTION 6. The President of the Department shall be Chairman of the Executive Committee and the Secretary of the Department shall be the Secretary of the Executive Committee. Article IV. Elections Section 1. Election of officers and Executive Committee shall take place in the business session held during the summer meeting of the Na- tional Education Association. Section 2. Election shall be by ballot. Section 3. Active members only are entitled to vote. Section 4. A Nomination Committee of five members, not less than two of whom shall be members of the Executive Committee, shall be appointed by the President at the first session of the summer meeting or earlier. This Committee shall nominate one candidate for each office to be filled. Nominations from the floor shall be permitted. Article V. Duties of Officers Section 1. The President shall preside at all meetings of the Depart- ment and of the Executive Committee; appoint all committees not other- wise provided for; call meetings of the Executive Committee at his pleasure or upon written request of four of its members; sign all orders on the Treasury; and perform such other duties as may from time to time devolve upon him. He shall be, ex officio, a member of all standing committees. 452 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION a ge a RRR REESE oe ee Section 2. In the absence of the President of the Department, the Vice- Presidents, in order, shall perform all the duties of that office. Section 3. The Secretary:shall keep careful records of the proceedings of the Department and of all its committees; and he shall be responsible for their preservation. Within 30 days after any meeting of the Depart- ment and within ten days after any meeting of the Executive Committee, the Secretary shall furnish a copy of the minutes to each member of the Executive Committee. He shall prepare and keep an accurate list of the members of the Department with their post office addresses; and perform such other duties as may, from time to time, devolve upon him. Section 4. The Executive Committee shall be the administrative body of the Department, subject to the call of the President, except as otherwise provided for in the Constitution. ‘To supplement and assist the President in the conduct of his office, the Executive Committee shall, by a majority vote of all its members, fill all vacancies, except that of the President. The President or Executive Committee shall prepare in advance a program for each annual meeting of the Department, and shall cause the same to be published prior to the meeting. Section 5. The annual report shall contain a list of officers and com- mittees of the Department, a list of members of the Department, together with their addresses and such other matter as the Executive Committee may direct. “This report may be printed as a Yearbook of the Department. BYLAWS Article I There shall be the following standing committees and such other special committees as the President may appoint: Committee on Educational Progress, Committee on Resolutions, Committee on Enrollment. Article II. Organization and Conduct of Committees The first meeting of a committee shall be called by the first-named mem- ber thereof, who shall be its chairman. Minutes of the proceedings of each standing committee shall be kept and a copy thereof certified by the chair- man and secretary shall be promptly furnished to the Secretary of the Department. All standing committees shall report to the Department in writing at the annual meeting. Vacancies in all committees except the Executive Committee shall be filled by the President of the Department. Article III. Committees SECTION 1. Committee on Educational Progress. ‘The Committee on Educational Progress shall consist of one member from each state. This committee shall bring before the Department such features of educational progress as it may deem worthy of consideration. THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 453 SECTION 2. Committee on Resolutions. All resolutions offered at an annual meeting of the Department shall be referred to the Committee on Resolutions, unless otherwise ordered by the Department. This Com- mittee shall submit to the Department for its consideration such resolu- tions as they may deem advisable. SECTION 3. Committee on Enrolment. The Committee on Enrolment shall consist of not less than one member from each state, but additional members may be appointed by the President of the Department. This committee shall secure members for the Department, collect the annual dues and pay them to the Secretary, furnishing him therewith a list of the names and postoffice addresses of members from whom such dues have been collected, and giving each member the Secretary’s receipt, countersigned by a member of the committee. Article IV. Books, Records, Paper, and Property SrecTION 1. The records and accounts of the Department and of its officers, committees, departments, sections, and divisions, shall be kept in books provided by the Department, which shall be the property of the Department. SecTIOoN 2. All books, papers, records, and accounts of the Department and its officers, committees, departments, sections, and divisions, shall be open at all times to the inspection of the Executive Committee or any mem- ber thereof. SecTION 3. Every officer, member, committee, department, section, or division of the Department having funds, papers, books, records or prop- erty of any description belonging to the Department shall give up the same on demand to his or their successors in office or to the person authorized by the Department or its Executive Committee to receive the same. Article V. Dues Section 1. The annual fee for membership shall be three dollars ($3.00). Section 2. The Fiscal Year of the Department shall coincide with that of the National Education Association, but memberships shall run for one year from date received by National Education Association headquarters. Article VI Ten cents from the membership fee of each member annually shall be set aside as a permanent Reserve Fund of the Department. ‘This fund shall be placed in charge of the Board of Trustees of the National Educa- tion Association to be invested and conserved for the Department of Fle- mentary School Principals. The Board of Trustees of the National Edu- cation Association shall be the Trustees of said Reserve Fund. At each annual summer meeting of the Department the Trustees shall report in detail the condition of said Fund and shall apportion the income to such 454 NatIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION a uses as to the Department of Elementary School Principals may seem advisable. No part of the principal of said Fund shall be spent except after the unanimous recommendation of the Executive Committee of the Department of Elementary School Principals duly ratified by a two-thirds vote of the members present at a stated annual summer meeting of the Department. Article VII. Robert’s Rules of Order The rules and orders cf Robert’s “‘Rules of Order,” not inconsistent with this Constitution, shall govern the meetings of the Department and its committees. Article VIII. Rules on Debate The Department shall be governed by the ruling of the National Edu- cation Association that debates shall be limited to five minutes unless other- wise ordered during the year. Article IX. Amending the Constitution SECTION 1. An amendment to the Constitution or Bylaws may be pro- posed by the Executive Committee or by a petition of at least ten regular members of the Department. : SECTION 2. The proposed amendment shall be read in regular session at least twenty-four hours before a vote is taken upon it. SECTION 3. Two-thirds of the votes of the members present in a regular session will be necessary to make the preposed amendment part of the Constitution. Article X This instrument shall become operative from and after the last meeting of the summer session of the year 1927. SECRETARY’S MINUTES r Seattle Meeting ' The excellent Seattle meeting began at 7:30 A. M. July 4th, with the breakfast conference at the Olympic Hotel. A large and interested group heard a short report from the enrolment committee which showed progress. The Committee on Vacation and All-Year Schools presented a report showing the valuable progress made in these fields. Tuesday began with Vicepresident Hansen reporting for the Committee on Edu- cational Progress to an enthusiastic group at the 7:30 breakfast conference. The afternoon meeting at Plymouth Church was well attended. President Gwinn of the Department of Superintendence brought greetings from that Department. Dean William F. Russell, Teachers College Columbia University, spoke upon “International Gossip.” Miss Margaret Poore, Oakland, California, presented a THE DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL Principars 455 paper in the discussion following. Committees upon Resolutions and Nominations were named. The evening banquet on ‘Tuesday brought over three hundred principals and guests together. ‘The tables were beautifully decorated with flowers. A glee club and quartet from Seattle supplied most enjoyable music. Short but pointed addresses by the guests and officers together with the community singing and the very excellent dinner combined to make a memorable occasion which those present will long remember. Wednesday began with the breakfast report by the Committee on Standards and Training to another large group. The afternoon session received greetings from the Department of Classroom Teachers conveyed by Miss Anna ‘Thompson, Kansas City, Mo., president of that Department. The topic of the meeting was “Cooperative Supervision,’ discussed most adequately for the superintendent by Susan M. Dorsey, Los Angeles, California; for the elementary principal by Elizabeth McCormick, Superior, Wis.; for the elementary supervisor by Grace M. Swan, Pittsburgh, Pa., snd for the classroom teacher by Cornelia S. Adair, Richmond, Va. The report of the Committee on Revision of Constitution and By- laws was presented by Chairman M. E. Peterson, Los Angeles, California, and considerable discussion ensued. Thursday morning the Executive Committee held an open conference at break- fast at 7:30. Later the committee held its formal meeting. The afternoon session received the report of the Committee on Standards and Training. Reports of committees were received and accepted. ‘The amended Constitution and Bylaws were adopted and the following officers were elected in conformity with the con- stitution: President—ArTuur S. Gist, Frick School, Oakland, Cal. First Vicepresident—E. RUTH PyrTLe£, Bancroft School, Lincoln, Nebr. Second Vicepresident—WaAarreEN A. RoE, Belmont Ave. School, Newark, N. J. Third Vicepresident—HERBERT C. HANSEN, Talcott School, Chicago, [ll. Fourth Vicepresident—Mrs. Jutia M. Wuite, Denver, Colo. Secretary—HELEN B. SHoveE, Longfellow School, Minneapolis, Minn. Executive Committee—W. T. LoncsHore, Greenwood School, Kansas City, Mo. (Term expires 1928.) Mrs. jessie M. Fink, Buchanan School, Grand Rapids, Mich. (Term expires 1929.) M. E. Pererson, Twentieth Street School, Los Angeles, Calif. (Term expires 1930.) EvizAsretH McCormick, Howe School, Superior, Wis. (Term expires 1931.) The convention recorded its appreciation of the fine work done by the Seattle Committee under the leadership of President Charles Potter of the Seattle Princi- pals’ club. ois i iu ri NEVA) ye ciation ceo — Sua ens Tattaie ae if ty , st jae ws fe PC ral Pied : j is ican t oy er at a adieny fo tiwit sane wie fine she gd bop — tne guigcie lie oaths. ai eat ocd A: gt dealt “ Sed Xo eae sider oS — iadledcast Sirs hen ioaat itary mutts s8Y ‘donee oy Pcaicatescaan ‘ eh Rees. oi atanel onicky © ore aiscene 1p Ys mgd gn. dryrety arid tmily: 40,8 a apap ane ean! ee Siergrbe tee Eeusputh _ oF loqhating ¢ | yainrelile? salsouh Har bod Tost Tain’ MAPS Sie. Sok gi VF Lots map ineqsak hs wt bow ws dl Phas fruition ie Oey A tiar le 3 piloted ania Ay Leste ce te ee Nain hi hud + idaase citar okt aia wo tug it ele b] yotdnev te we >l> BBeRE rvial tu ety? hea edi) bonn wine alive “weht hier Jini: stagiry ‘i ee : ’ = PEs > ta haw \ilo A a Leal vt eo J SA" Dae ewe (kona 44 A aetiilals " atk ore ai shoe fe atotct™. wt ; Be N ~ tet} ee Seah : fe ‘ ‘ 3 AN KieLh » vt sigan ve . Minit athuganuitar thet Ge trillatgne 1 areoy “at oi he SOP tag lode? aatiah tales sicmevad.) JT Mi mm ine 5 OGLEL ptigrs Gnay), a ‘hiq:! “hae ‘Ronis intent att tt wiaanl vay ei ; . a (SSM) ment AUNT hay hope) § th Se oop % Aus at TT itil ge rat Mite U-, comsera te } HERE wins ane) Wi? 9S be i whaque lauist . swell” soi oly ‘rrate xsi er ieee! ig Ea Mibdae lathes bad lgse ol) vd miihbe aaier Saeko) 1a Ment Masyes ai h: biter navibers veto tt imix elnest wh te aed estrodt) poked, A path eit ats rohan aetiaunceh ne : aes. ‘Wag % 7 's “is a. :. : ot» a 4 ~~ 4 - ; rr 7h) ee el ae rerige Ss > Sh: gid peng g chee 7Vhe Seine 2 7 1 Dik fry pie ey a * - a — id bm r a SN ’ r abe; Suave ety y wee i. “Toot ages ir i a ee a a De ae 3 VP The Department of Kindergarten-Primary Education CATION grew out of a meeting of the Froebel Institute of North America, which met in con- nection with the Association’s meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, in 1884. See Proceedings 1884:74. This department cooperates with the International Kin- dergarten Union, whose officers for 1927-28 are: J Ai esident, Caroline Barbour, Superior, Wis. ; Secre- tary, LuVerne Crabtree, Washington, D. GC. The Union publishes a monthly magazine, Childhood Education. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Eleanor Troxell, 1125 8. Westnedge Ave., Kalamazoo, Mich.; Vicepresident, Elizabeth Hall, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Minne- apolis, Minn.; Secretary, M. Elizabeth Brugger, Kin- dergarten-Primary Training School, 2050 E. 96th St., Cleveland, Ohio. Facts relating to the establishment of this Depart- ment and records of its meetings will be found in Tex DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN-PRIMARY EDU- earlier Proceedings as follows: 1884: 74 1885 :349-368 1886 :500-559 1887 :331-391 1888 :325-359 1889 :443-482 1890 :545-581 1891 :529-568 1892 :253-303 1893 :321-381 1894 :679-704 1895 :510-560 1896 :471-514 1897 :584-614 1898 :589-620 1899 :530-575 1900 :365-403 1901 :500-540 1902 :409-430 1903 :377-407 1904 :415-437 1905 :341-373 1906 :626-630 1907 :455-475 1908 501-543 1909 :437-457 1910 :377-417 [458] 1911 :477-517 1912 :607-633 1913 :425-447 1914 :405-421 1915 :629-671 1916 :289-311 1917 :417-431 1918 :151-157 1919 :171-179 1920 :191-203 1921 :461-471 1922 :969-987 1923 :705-719 1924 :583-597 1925 :478-504 1926 :495-527 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE INCREASING EMPHASIS ON THE EDUCATION FOR YOUNG CHILDREN FRANK E. WILLARD, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, SEATTLE, WASH. DISCUSSION of educational tendency today must be partly an inter- A pretation and partly a prophesy. “The body of educational thought and practice with which we deal does not move in unison, but only in various detachments, each according to its own volition. We must be concerned more with the direction of change than with its speed. People from the beginning have been accustomed to learn by imitation. They think, feel, act, and believe as their social environment has trained them to do these things. “Thus civilization is transmitted. Traditional thought and attitudes 2’e received by the younger generation ready made like the clothing they wear. ‘They inherit an imposing array of social, political, and religious institutions and beliefs, a mixture of the slowly accumulated wisdom and the persistent error of the centuries. Men do not choose to imitate. “They are incapable of doing otherwise. The original thought of any single generation is but an infinitesimal part of its civilization. Moreover, this stream of influence coming down from the past has not encouraged original thinking. ‘The suggestion of change disturbs settled interests. Generations may pass before the majority of men are reconciled to truth recently discovered. Yet when such discoveries after a period of conflict do survive, the darkness enshrouding some tra- ditional ignorance ‘is dispelled and fundamental conceptions of life are changed. Educational philosophy encountered such a discovery in the kindergarten. “The kindergarten presented a new. conception of method which a practical test has never failed to justify, yet its progress has been very gradual. In this country a select few gave it an enthusiastic welcome. It was generally received cautiously and with much shaking of heads. It was more easily tolerated because it occupied itself with a period of child life that most adults considered quite barren and more or less trouble- some at best. It seemed to have little in common with the regular grades. For a time after its introduction it remained quite distinct. Its first adherents were generally strict constructionists, and emphasized the separateness. “The elementary schools were devoted to drill. Primary teachers were openly skeptical of too much activity stimulated by interest. It was clearly out of harmony with the schedules of phonics and number combinations to which conscientious teachers had consecrated their lives. These served the practical ends of life. Social intercourse was dependent on them. ‘They at any rate could not be neglected. It was doubtful if they could be much improved. ‘he various phonic creeds were jealously defended as essential bases of learning. Nevertheless, it was conceded that the kindergartner might have the child of five if she would try not to ruin him for the seasoned discipline and mental concentration that the next year would surely require of him. So matters stood for a time. [459] 460 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION wot te EO a eee eee The earlier school years have not only been remade; their relative im- portance has greatly increased. Psychologists are helping us to visualize a part of life where memory fails. That seemingly barren and almost for- gotten period is found to be a most productive one. It not only precedes adolescent and adult life, but gives direction to many of its forces. “Child- hood,” we are told, “determines life’s outlook. Opinions and convictions may change, but underlying tendencies seldom do.’ “Beliefs imparted to children or induced later by powerful teaching or by striking experience come to be held with a feeling of absolute inner certainty which seems a revelation of final truth.” To quote again “It has become generally recog- nized among progressive educators, as well as psychologists, that the foundations of the character of the future adult are all laid down before the seventh year. ‘The education of the child begins at birth, and crowded into the first early years are all the opportunities for the development of the feelings and emotions which are so necessary for adequate human relations.” A satisfactory life must be built on right attitudes and healthful outlooks. In addition to this, there must be understanding; and understanding comes only from experience. ‘The significance of this principle to educational practice is only beginning to be appreciated. Most current problems in curriculum readjustment grow out of an effort to correct deficiencies due to past failure to take it into account. “The school of the last century perhaps did not so much need to take it into account as we do. It has frequently been pointed out that the conditions of family and community life until recently furnished ample informal educative experience to which the school was only supplementary. “The changes in economic and social life wrought by the advent of an industrial age have taken the most of these influences out of the life of children and beyond the range of the common observation. ‘The schools substituted for this real experience volumes of vicarious experi- ence. ‘This was classified, condensed, and deleted of most of the personal element that gave it meaning. ‘The results that followed were too meager and uncertain to suit the spirit of a dynamic age. Neither the child nor the adult has more than a reluctant appetite for static information dissociated from any active interest. A new interpretation of experience was needed, a new classroom technic essential. ‘The new educational philosophy applies the principle of self-directed activity and social cooperation to a reconstruction of general education. It is being expressed through courses of study written in terms of children’s interests and activities. It is shifting the emphasis away from some time- honored standards of excellence. Its ideal pupil attitude is not the docile receptive one of the older school. It measures improvement in terms of doing good rather than being good. It frankly discards much that has come down to us from our predecessors, and finds the materials for growth of understanding among the activities of living. The experiences of chil- dren are close to the fundamental interests of life. The understanding of these is basal to all social understanding. The new viewpoint recognizes the value of direct observation, of first-hand experience, of personal experi- THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN PRIMARY Epucation 461 ment, of interesting adventure, and last, but not least, of creative effort. It has respect for personal opinion, for appreciation, for aspiration, for well- meant effort. It esteems these things directly, placing them in the center of the curriculum where they will dominate the daily program. It recognizes that knowledge is power only when it is linked with experience. The primary grades have taken the initiative in putting into practice this interpretation of education. It was logical for them to lead the way. Educational readjustment naturally begins with the younger chil- dren. Later development depends upon the character of the start. More- over, the primary grades in approaching a common viewpoint with the kindergarten were first to question traditional values. It has been declared that all new ideas originate in the minds of those intellectually gifted and filter down to the populace. It might have been added that they become effective as pattern of cenduct in the lives of the populace only after they have been rooted in the childhood of the generation that possesses them. The grammar grades are following the example of the primary. The activities of older children are equally suggestive and stimulating. It is possible for them through reading to participate indirectly in larger and more varied activities. “he capacity of children to act independently, to assume responsibility, to think intelligently is unsuspected by those who adhere closely to the “learn and recite” ritual. An activity program induces a subtile change in the relation of teacher to pupil. Social situations are created and pupils share in the solution of problems. ‘There is no place for a dictator. “Things must be thought out. “The teacher may participate, she may counsel, and sometimes when a situation arises where only the experience of age or of the ages can give the answer, she must instruct. But she is through all only a senior partner in learning. Out of this there comes a school that is different from the old school— different in spirit and in attitude. It is busy and cheerful but not sup- pressed. ‘There is lacking both the apathy and the furtive mischief that tradition ascribes to-the good old school of yesterday. ‘There is more freedom of participation, more confidence in effort, more purpose in achieve- ment, more democracy in spirit. There is growth of personality and there is the liberty of self-control. It is not yet an ideal school but it is in many places a real school. We are not through with social change. Invention and industrial re- organization continue unabated. “The movement away. from social stability shows no signs of slackening. ‘Thousands live and work under highly com- plex conditions that are possible only so long as people understand and trust one another. Every decade sees the scope of organization extended and this interdependence become more complete. ‘There are those who fear that our capacity for organization has already outgrown our capacity for control. Certainly grave issues are sure to arise. We cannot solve them. We cannot even foresee what they will be. If we could know, our inherited preiudices would unfit us to interpret them correctly. A new generation not yet out of the schools will face the problem of making over 462 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION customs, habits, and institutions to fit the needs of a new day. It is the problem of education to develop a cultural freedom and an honest toler- ance which can look fairly and dispassionately at the issues of life. Democ- racy in adult life can be fairly tried out only after our classrooms have given genuine experience in its practice. It is “quality not quantity that makes life significant.” THE NURSERY SCHOOL CHILD AND HIS NEEDS HELEN M. CHRISTIANSEN, DIRECTOR OF NURSERY-KINDERGARTENS, GOLDEN GATE ASSOCIATION, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. To state the needs of the nursery school child, we must borrow the structure of a cumulative tale, for his needs are so closely connected and as interdependent as the sequence of events in such a story as that of “The Old Woman Who Found a Sixpence.” ‘The child’s needs as an organism make a good starting point—fresh air, sunshine, wholesome food, sleep, cleanliness, activity. But when we have considered these necessities, we have only the first incident in the tale. We are concerned with the fact that the child has needs as a perceiving, doing, thinking individual, and that his reactions from this angle cannot be satisfactorily considered in isolation, but must be studied in conjunction with the previously found physical needs. Moreover, he is already feeling and expressing his reactions to that which is beautiful whenever environ- mental conditions are favorable. Another important group of needs—and closely allied to those just enumerated—grows out of the fact that he must -be thought of as a member of a social group. And the climax of this living tale is the total personality of the child which is largely the outcome of the accumulated successes, compromises, or failures of society in meeting these closely interrelated needs. It is the obligation of educators of young children to raise society’s present standards of achievement in meeting the physical, mental, social, and creative needs of early childhood. The major portion of the infant’s needs are necessarily supplied by the adult. But from the beginning, it is the part of wisdom to remember that the ultimate objective is that of freeing the individual by making it possible for him to meet his own needs. Herein lies the secret of human happiness. ‘The mother, the nursery teacher, the kindergartner, and the primary teacher must all cooperate in this respect, using, if one may speak figuratively, a sliding scale which registers a constantly increasing pro- portion of needs being met by the child for himself. A. The needs of the child met primarily through adult provision include the following outstanding necessities : Fresh air and sunlight. Ample indoor and outdoor space for activity. Well balanced diet. Suitable clothing. Proper facilities for relaxation and rest. Oe a THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN Primary Epucation 463 . Regular schedule for eating and sleeping. . Medical supervision. . Nurse’s daily inspection. . Rooms simple and artistic in color combination and arrangement. . Equipment suited both to the stages of development and to the sizes of the children composing the group. CoM OND This list of fundamental needs indicates the necessity of new courses in the curricula of our teacher training institutions in order that adults be prepared to make adequate provision for these essentials of childhood. B. Needs met largely by the child through his reactions to carefully selected materials may best be expressed in terms of his needs for activity and consequently for equipment of a type to furnish appropriate stimuli. The active child needs 1. To engage in activitie; which have to do with his physical care, such as washing and dressing. His environment should provide Dressing room facilities which make it possible for him to assume progressively more and more responsibility as he ac- 2. To have freedom for self-initiated, vires motor skill. self-managed play activities with ac- companying responsibilities in connec- tion with handling of materials and with regard for the rights of other Cupboard, shelf, storage space, and room arrangement such that many do— with materials which are easily avail- children. able. 3. To engage in activities necessitating Kiddie Kars, wagons, carts, walking big muscle activity and subsequent boards, slide, jungle gym, boxes, big motor control. building blocks. 4. To engage in activities involvin 4 . Sat | ; : 8 Sand, plasticene, blocks, pegboards, in- manipulation, experimentation, con- ; : eeurtion sets, toy vehicles, toy animals, crayons, 8 . water-colors, wood, hammers and nails. 5. To have intimate contact with grow- ing things. Flowers, plants, shrubs, pets. C. Certain needs are readily met by the child’s own volition as a result of the social setting of the nursery school which stimulates a high level of living for this particular age. He needs at this stage to be establishing the following habits and attitudes: 1. To eat readily the wholesome foods provided. 2. To prepare for and take his daily afternoon nap as a matter of course. 3. To try to do more for himself as a result of seeing what other children do and to find satisfaction in his new attainments. 4. To grow in ability to converse with others. 5. To comply readily and cheerfully with tions, as— } Going to see the nurse. Letting another child have a turn with material. Positive suggestion as to use of material when child is using it in a detrimental way. Going to get ready for dinner. adult requests and sugges- D. The following are typical of needs best met as a result of the com- bined effect of materials and social experiences with one’s peers which the nursery school situation provides. He needs: 464 NatTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1. To grow in motor skill in the use of physical play apparatus as a result of desirable imitation of and participation in the plays of others. 2. To initiate, plan and manage activities involving not only self, but others. 3. To enter into new ways of doing and thinking and feeling through dramatic play. . 4. To share enjoyment of objects, colors and ideas expressed in pictures; to point to, discuss and call attention to details; to ask for and enjoy music related to objects and ideas portrayed. 5. To share enjoyment of Mother Goose Rhymes, verses and stories of the “here and now.” 6. To share enjoyment of music expressing the mood, activity or interest of the moment. Music furnishes a good illustration of increased enjoyment when the experience is shared with others. One morning a child asked for train music and sat down near the piano to listen. But soon the rhythm of the music suggested the “chug” of the engine and he began to say “choo! choo! choo!’ and rotated his arms. Another day he asked for this music again, and noticing the chairs near the piano, he arranged them in a long line to form a train before sitting down to listen. Others.joined him. ‘The fol- lowing day, another child helped him arrange the chairs and several were seated in the train before the music began. Nearly all “chugged” and used arms and feet rhythmically. When the music stopped, some got off at the station to go for a visit in the country. ‘This play, which began individu- ally, was eventually being carried on one morning by ten children, quite spontaneously, but with much more detail than at the outset. At their request, the music was repeated six times. The sharing of this experience had added to their pleasure and led to the discovery of new play pos- sibilities. Social activities of the types above indicated are of the children’s own choosing. Gradually as they come to find keener enjoyment in experi- ences which are shared, there is more chance for activity to lead on to further activity, and for the development of finer appreciations. E. The scientific guidance of the nursery teacher is necessary in meeting the needs of the child as a developing personality. 1. As a feeling and expressing individual, he needs the sympathetic under- standing and keen perception of a teacher who is herself creative and who reflects this characteristic by providing an environment conducive to creativity. ; 2. He needs to have the beginnings of creative expression recognized and encouraged by a ready response on the teacher’s part with just the right bit of music for the hopping or dancing step he is experimenting with; by crooning with him the little melody he is forming to the rhythm of the swing as it goes back and forth; by singing a song or chanting a verse to fit the mood or dramatic play of the moment; or by recognizing his desire to experiment with color by placing suitable materials at his disposal, . He needs to be considered as a total personality. Chronological age, mental age, development history, and present physical condition must all be taken into account in deciding what constitutes high grade living for him at this level. we THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN Primary EpucaTion 465 4. He needs a unified environment wherein the quality of living is held high throughout the twenty-four hour day. This can be realized only as a result of understanding and close cooperation on the part of the mother and nursery teacher. It requires real purpose and something of the scien- tific attitude on the part of parents in assuming their share of the responsibility of educating the child. It requires, on the teacher’s part, a deep interest in humanity with its social and economic problems, vision as to what constitutes the good life, and ability to express the principles involved in child-training so simply and effectively that any parent may comprehend. 5. Each Nursery School child needs an individual curriculum. While the needs enumerated on our sliding scale form the basis for a general cur- riculum for the child between the ages of two and four years, no two children are exactly in the same stage of development at the same time, nor will any two have an identical sequence of experience. The teacher, the pare:t and the child together shape the individual curriculum and of necessity it is made currently. From time to time, the teacher, as a result of observation and records, may make a cross-section study which shows the level of the child’s living at that particular time. She is then able to adjust her scale and to set the stage for meeting the outstanding needs of the individual she has observed. As our children go from the nursery school into the kindergarten and primary grades, the sliding scale is still needed. ‘The chief headings remain the same, but, under each, new items must be added and the indicator moved forward. It should now register the fact that children are meeting more and more needs for themselves. It is highly essential for us, as teachers of young children, whether engaged primarily in the nursery school, the kindergarten, or the primary grades, to work together in close cooperation in the adjustment of our sliding scale to the end that a high level of living may be maintained for each child from year to year. THE PRIMARY GRADES—A CONTINUATION OF OPPOR- TUNITY FOR CREATIVE SELFEX PRESSION ETTA H. TESSMER, PRINCIPAL, TAYLOR SCHOOL, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. That education is not merely a preparation for life but that it really is life, is an educational truth so well established that it certainly does not need defense or explanation. We are all agreed, I am sure, that the school life of the child should be real and full of purposeful activity. ‘To be real and to be purposeful, school activities must be the result of the child’s de- sire to express himself. How are we to carry on such a program and at the same time meet the requirements of the course of study? Until very recently the little child entering the first grade was confronted with a dead wall of subjectmatter which he must scale as best he could with the help of “drills.” If he failed then he must have more and more drills. But now, since the nursey schools and the kindergarten have blazed a trail for us, we come out and meet the child on his own level. “he subjectmatter 466 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION curriculum, dealing with ideas about activities is being replaced by the activity curriculum which provides practice in the activities themselves. I have been asked to describe the practical working out of such a program. The school is far out on the edge of the city. The people who send their children to us are almost all foreign-born, the majority with only a meager education in their homeland. ‘The children themselves are, for the most part, American-born, although most of them hear a foreign language spoken at home. We have two kindergarten classes, so that about half of the children entering our first grades have had the advantage of kindergarten training. Our building is not old but it has not all the modern features of the new schools lately erected in our city. We have movable furniture (tables and chairs) in our first and second grades, but in the third grade rooms the old screwed-down type. These third grade rooms have been rearranged so that the seats are in a hollow square or U-shape. ‘This gives a better setting for group work. The children in each class room are divided into three groups according to ability and the work required of each group is modified accordingly. The teacher’s daily plan provides suitable material for each group each day. We divide the term roughly into quarters and each teacher plans with her class the work to be done. ‘The choice is often determined by the season and centers around some holiday as St. Valentine’s Day, May Day, Flag Day, Thanksgiving, etc. After a vacation, when some child described a visit to Petaluma, the class constructed a wayside booth where chickens and eggs were sold to “tourists.” This project was so popular and yielded so much practical arithmetic that it was continued for many weeks at fever heat. Stores and bazaars are always popular, especially in second grades and continue for various periods, according to the interest of the class. A postoffice has been one of the most valuable activities both in second and third grades. Sometimes the desire to give some form of entertainment furnishes the motive. A third grade library book called ““Animal Land Children” fur- nished the incentive for a puppet show, which yielded rich returns in read- ing, spelling, arithmetic, nature work, and language. We use health plays as incentives for our work very frequently because our little people need to be taught even the simplest and most obvious health habits. Sometimes a class project is part of a general school activity, as, for in- stance, the celebration of Flag Day with a school pagaent in which every class had a part. It sometimes happens that a plan for a quarter develops and continues for an entire term. In a first grade room recently the teacher and class built a life size playhouse which was designed as a dining room where the milk and crackers could be served each morning. The children made all the articles necessary for setting the table, adorned the windows with gay THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN PRIMARY EpuUCATION 467 paper drapes and constructed window boxes on the outside. They painted the outside walls and papered the inside. At the end of the period as planned the children pleaded to keep their house, so it was decided to con- vert it into a living-room. ‘This was done and it was furnished ap- propriately. A fireplace was installed and a chimney erected on the out- side. Later, it was converted into a modern bedroom with open windows, twin beds, and dainty drapes matching the bed covers and rug. On the day before the Christmas vacation when the children entered the room they found no teacher but out of their playhouse chimney stepped Santa himself in cap, beard, boots, and everything, with a huge pack on his back. The building and furnishing of the house provided material for “‘stories” printed by the teacher with the rubber sign printing set, to be used as reading lessons. ‘The children’s vocabulary was enriched and they went far beyond the requirement in number work, in learning to count articles needed, to add or subtract in real situations and to measure space and estimate ma- terial. But, best of all, they learned fundamental principles of American home life, social usage and healthful living. To return to our plan. The teacher studies the enterprise suggested by the children and analyses it to discover its educational elements, and to estimate the length of time necessary to carry out the plan. ‘This requires careful study and organization in order to provide for practice in every phase of school work. Having evaluated and analysed her plan, the teacher proceeds to put it into effect through her daily work plan. Each day, each group has work assigned that will contribute toward the progress of the enterprise. A class discussion is held each day to criticize results, to suggest improvements and to decide on the next step. Quite often progress must be temporarily suspended in order to repair glaring deficiencies as, for instance, when a correct letter form must be laboriously practiced before invitations can be sent out, or when the awkward squad in spelling or number must get help before stories can be written or bookkeeping for the store can be cor- rectly and efficiently carried on. The daily newspaper, which is found in some form in every class room, reports progress and serves as a clearinghouse for bits of news as to birth- days, class triumphs, school events, etc. The position of “editor” is a coveted honor and editors are changed often so that it becomes worth while to write well, to form correct sentences, to know when to use a capital letter and to punctuate correctly. ‘These ‘‘newspapers” may be written on the board by the editor from cooperative class suggestions or written in- dividually by pupils. In the lower grades they are “composed” from strips printed by the teacher. In order that progress may be kept always before the children and they may feel a consciousness of achievement, there is always a selfchecking chart. Its essential parts are a list of pupils’ names in a vertical column and various activities in columns to be checked as completed, by each child. The charts are often ingeniously devised by clever teachers in keeping with the 468 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION te ee ee season or the activity in progress, at Christmas time small green stickers shaped like Christmas trees are used; pumpkins at Hallowe’en, etc. These charts are large and easily accessible so that pupils even in 1A classes may check their own progress. No phase of classroom work has done more to foster a real working spirit and a sense of personal pride and group responsibility than these charts. The best and most gratifying results of work of this kind are the dis- coveries we make. We discover young poets who can write appropriate verses. We discover clever minds that can invent riddles to puzzle us. We discover fine mathematicians who can not only solve the hardest prob- lems themselves but can teach other members of the group to master the intricacies of the multiplication table or to make change at the classroom store. We discover clever artisans who can build the witch’s den or the fairy palace. We discover young artists who can paint clever scenery or make beautiful decorations. We discover young actors who can lose their timidity and selfconsciousness when given a chance to impersonate a giant, a soldier or a fairy godmother. We discover who are leaders, who are the best managers. We discover just what chance each one needs, just what his weaknesses are, in what he excels and how best to help him. Our best reward has come from working with happy children and from the enthusiastic support and approval of the parents who are so keenly anxious that their children should have a better chance than they them- selves have had. A STUDY OF THE INTERESTS AND ACTIVITIES OF CHILDREN—4ABSTRACT J- L. MERIAM, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AT LOS ANGELES, CALIF. For years children in our traditional schools have been called upon to study books written by adults, while, on the other hand, there is great need that adults study children. Data relating to activities of children reveal child life and expose teachers and parents to a modern education greatly needed by them in the conduct of our schools. Childhood has been grossly undervalued. ‘The farmer has fed little pigs for pork and young calves for beef. After much the same fashion schools have trained our boys and girls toward adulthood. And not without some good results, be it emphatically said. But we can do better. Improvement in the schooling of children rests upon a much more intimate knowledge of the normal activities of children. Data now being studied warrant two theses : 1. Child life is one of doing, primarily; and learning, only secondarily. “Learning by doing” has been badly abused by most teachers. With learn- ing foremost, traditional school methods provide occasions to do primarily as a means to learn, Data show children in action; there should be oc- casion to learn only as a means of acting better. THE DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN PRIMARY EpucATION 469 2. Childlife is one of play, coordinate with any work that is to be done. The adult, both teacher and parent, has abused childlife by using its play as a motive for work. This is conspicuous in the modern “project method,” so popular in our schools. In the light of our data, this procedure must be characterized as “soft pedagogy.”’ It is needless, and more, it is an insult to childhood. Work is not unnatural to children, but it must be suited to them. Children must not be made over, through play, to suit assigned work. ‘Two leading implications for our modern schools are clear: 1. The curriculum should consist, essentially, of the activities of children, leading, in later grades and the high school, to a study of the specific activities of people. 2. The curriculum should consist of a good balance of wholesome play and vigorous work, commensurate with real life. JUDGING THE WORTH OF ACTIVITIES HELEN REYNOLDS, DIRECTOR, DEPARTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN AND PRIMARY EDUCATION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SEATTLE, WASH. The very statement of the subject indicates that we are committed to a program of activities as the basis for the curriculum. “This means we can assume that we are that end of the group which is designated in the Twenty-sixth Yearbook as standing for the growth of the child as a mem- ber of the social group, as the center of our curriculum. Having taken our stand with those who believe in the activities’ program, we are confronted as teachers, in the presence of groups of children and as members of those groups, with the necessity of developing criteria to be used in determining whether to encourage or discourage activities initiated by the children. We must also have some standards for deciding what activities we ourselves will stimulate, for the teacher is still the member of the group oldest in experience. In educational literature there have been apparently few at- tempts definitely to formulate these criteria in this relationship, though, of course, the movement toward the specific statement of objectives and aims is distinctly in this direction. We are, moreover, confronted in our analysis by the realization that as Dr. Kilpatrick puts it, “not all learning can be assigned,” and while we are aiming for one objective desirable in itself, other learning not so desirable may be taking place. The “Habit Lists” compiled by Dr. Rogers and Miss Andrus are attempts at setting up stand- ards or outcomes which should result from the experiences gained through life activities carried on at home or at school. No teacher can shut her eyes to the great body of scientific investigation which has resulted in out- lining very clearly the steps in arriving with most children at desirable technics in certain definite lines. Shall any mistaken idea of giving the children freedom interfere with our directing their work in line with the study of research workers? On the other hand, are we going to become so interested in testing and checking and labelling the little children who come to us, in parceling them into groups and laying out for them schedules to 470 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION erence cn se cts cr EE be completed, that we shall ignore their right to enough leisure and op- portunity for growing in those qualities and abilities which they as in- dividuals possess? Are we going to ignore the chance of variation which may lead to some creative contribution to the group in which the child lives, in our overemphasis on acquiring the skills of life? Creative effort is still the hope of our really moving forward. To set up our criteria is one thing. To cling to them and apply them is quite another. Objectives fine to the point of hair-splitting may be formulated and lists of activities may be added which have nothing to do with them. The chance for children to do in a better way what they would do any way may be entirely ignored even when criteria and activity lists are on paper. “Io what extent are we really living up to our doctrine which we have formulated in black and white? Are we justified unless each day we look backward over the day’s happenings and judge them by the standards which in moments of study and reflection we have set up, saying to ourselves, ‘“This was good, and that was better. “These things must be different tomorrow?” Can we take each day as a problem to be freshly solved in the light of all that we have learned from the successes and failures of our effort the day before? In the study of this problem a request was sent to Seattle kindergarten- primary teachers asking for the criteria used in determining whether to encourage or discourage activities initiated by the children themselves. Two hundred and thirty-five responses were received. ‘The results of the effort to apply in Seattle the criteria set up may be seen in our exhibit at the Alexander Hamilton Intermediate School. Responses were also received from 12 experts in childhood education. With three of the latter the statement represented the thinking of groups. A summary of the results will be prepared. SECRETARY’S MINUTES Seattle Meeting First Session—The Nursery-Kindergarten-Primary Span The meeting was called to order by the President, Julia L. Hahn, Director of Kindergarten and Primary Grades, Public Schools, San Francisco, California. The report of the meeting in Philadelphia was read and approved. .The Nominating Committee was appointed by the chair to nominate officers for the coming year. The Committee consisted of Flora E. Drake, Frances M. Berry, and Bess Ellis Steigleder. The program offered was an exceedingly stimulating one and was enthusiasti- cally received, education of the young child as a continuous process being the central thought. Frank E. Willard, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Seattle, Washington, spoke on “The Significance of the Increasing Emphasis on the Education of Young Children.” Helen Christiansen, Director of Nursery-Kindergartens, Golden Gate Associa- tion, San Francisco, California, gave an address on “The Nursery School Child and His Needs,” THE DepaRTMENT OF KINDERGARTEN PRIMARY EpucaTion 471 eee ee ee Pe ee Mary Dabney Davis was to have spoken on “The Kindergarten—A Link in the Steady Development Plan,” but was unable to be present. In order to complete the unit Julia L. Hahn, President of the Department, spoke briefly as follows: When the kindergarten began to be accepted as the first step in elementary education, the searchlight of scientific research was turned upon its procedures. Modern psychology and child study demanded a reorganization of kindergarten and primary grades, and as a result emphasis was placed upon the unification of the two. The emphasis was shifted to the child, less upon the teaching process and more upon the learning process. The nursery school, even though not yet generally established in public schools, was accepted in spirit, and has made parents and teachers conscious of education as habit formation. The kindergarten welcomes the nursery school child, builds up on his nursery school training, leads him a step further along his line of growth, then sends him on to an understanding primary teacher, who consistently builds up on the same principle. Etta Tessmer, Principal, Taylor School, San Francisco, Cal., spoke on “The Primary Grades—a Continuation of Opportunity for Creative Self-Expression.” She described the practical working out of an activity curriculum which provides practice in the activities themselves. ‘The work often is determined by the season, excursion trips, vacation trips, and covers a definite period of time—usually a quarter of the term. Entertainments presenting puppet shows and health plays yield rich returns in reading, spelling, arithmetic, nature work, and language. Second Session—Outgrowths of a Unified Activity Program for Young Children Report of the nominating committee was as follows: President—Eleanor Troxell, Kalamazoo, Mich. Vicepresident—Elizabeth Hall, Minneapolis, Minn. Secretary—Elizabeth Bruger, Cleveland, Ohio. The report was accepted, and the officers unanimously elected. J. L. Meriam, Professor of Education, Southern Branch, University of California, Los Angeles, California, presented an address on “A Study of the Interests and Activities of Children.” It was introduced with two theses: I, Parents and teachers fail to provide children and pupils with occupations called for by their natures and their needs; fail—not by reason of indiffer- ence but because of a lack of understanding and appreciations of childlife. II. Parents and teachers should generously provide little people with opportunity to be far more active in doing—in contrast with the emphasis usually given to learning. In the home and community there is often a lack of occupational activity. In the school the situation is similar but different. There is a marked tendency to considerably enrich our curriculum with life acts out of school rather than increase the school acts within. We have wrongly assumed that childlife is best spent in learning. He referred to a study presented in “Childhood Education,” April 1925, which indicated that boys of six to twelve years play more generally than they work, and that they are more frequently giving expression through doing things than they are receiving impressions by way of what we term learning. This was followed by his study of 150 boys and girls between the ages of six and twelve who were observed at irregular times without their awareness of observation. Two thousand eight hundred and forty-seven of their activities not directly connected with school were recorded. These activities were classified into four groups—play, work, observation and communication. ‘The figures indicate that 43 percent of out-of-school activities are of a play character, about 23 percent of the nature of work, about 20 percent observation, and 14 percent communication. 472 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION Two questions arising from this data, which Dr. Meriam considered and ex- plained are: I. What is the value of collecting such data as a contribution for guidance of parents and teachers in helping to interpret child life and to stimulate more intelligent and sympathetic study? II. How shall we face the difficulties involved in discontinuing the conventional classification of children’s activities? In concluding his study he made these suggestions. Childlife is one of doing, primarily, and learning, only secondarily. Children’s interests and activities must not be sacrificed in helping them acquire the three R’s. Though childlife is one of play to a very large extent, children are not adverse to work. Work is not unnatural to children but it must be suited to them. The curriculum from kinder- garten to college should consist of a good balance of wholesome play and vigorous work, commensurate with real life. Helen Reynolds, Director, Department of Kindergarten and Primary Educa- tion, Public Schools, Seattle, Washington, read a paper on “Judging the Worth of Activities.’ This problem involved so many questions in its solution, it was decided that requests be sent to Seattle kindergarten-primary teachers asking them to list the criteria used in determining whether to encourage or discourage activities initiated by the children themselves, or those which lead the teacher to stimulate certain activities. "Two hundred and thirty-five responses were received, which Miss Reynolds read in question form. Mildred Miller, Primary Supervisor, Public Schools, Cleveland Heights, Ohio, read a paper on “Enlarging Community Experience Through the Use of Excur- sions in Primary Grades.” Detailed accounts of excursions made by the first, second, and third grades to local places of interest were given; showing the relation between children, teacher and people of institutions visited, the opportunity to study children through their own responses, and the increase in community experience by providing vivid first hand experience with real objects, persons, and situations. Insofar as pos- sible, the children’s responses to the projects were tabulated, and each response showed whether it was spontaneous on the child’s part or teacher directed. The curriculum of the Cleveland Heights school is largely an activity curriculum. The excursion project has a definite place on the daily program and in many instances it gives material for spelling, oral and written language, nature study, manual arts, reading, and music. : The tables show that excursion experiences enrich every tool subject; provide many accessory learnings, for example—leadership, cooperation, habits, ability to initiate purposes and carry out plans; and may be one of the chief means of integrating the entire field of subjectmatter. On Thursday, July 7, the Kindergarten-Primary Department of Seattle public schools gave a luncheon at which 650 were entertained in the most delightful fashion. : Joseph M. Gwinn, Superintendent of Schools of San Francisco, and President of the Department of Superintendence, was the only speaker. His subject was “Elephant’s Ears and Elephants.’ There are as many educational theories as religious denominations. Six blind men touched an elephant—one on its ear, one on its trunk, one on its tail, and so on. Each built up a theory of the appearance of the elephant based on the part he had touched. - Each was right in part—none wholly so. Educators have many theories, each one of which is to be its salva- tion. There is the platoon plan, the socialized recitation, the activities program, and others. Each is right in part—none wholly so. It is necessary that these various theories or points of view should be molded into a philosophy of education— one which will function. For, while a philosophy of education is good, the practice of the philosophy is better. Miss Hahn introduced the guests to the Seattle hostesses, and extended our grate- ful thanks to them for their hospitality and entertainment. Department of Lip-Reading HE DEPARTMENT OF LIP-READING was established Pat the Philadelphia meeting of the National Education Association, in July, 1926, following the required successive meetings of the group, and after a petition had been presented to the Associa- tion. The officers for the year 1927-28 are: President, Caroline F’. Kimball, 39 Jackson St., East Lynn, Mass.; Vicepresident, Agnes Stowell, 1056 Euclid Ave., Berkeley, Calif.; Secretary-Treasurer, Alice I. Putnam, 3610 Milam St., Houston, 'Texas. Meet- ings are held once each year, in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and ‘the record of meetings are to be found in the following pages: 473-486. [474 | WHAT THE CITY OF HOUSTON IS DOING FOR ITS HARD- OF-HEARING CHILDREN THROUGH THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS E. EK. OBERHOLTZER, SUPERINTENDENT PUBLIC SCHOOLS, HOUSTON, TEXAS HE Department of Lip-Reading in the Houston public schools is | just in its infancy. For a number of years, in a limited way, Hous- ton has conducted a school for the totally deaf, but for those children who are partially deaf or hard-of-hearing very little has been done. ‘This work is now a part of the general program of the Houston public schools. This group of children under discussion is entitled to all of the privileges of the school, according to ability, aptitude and potentialities. Organiza- tion and procedure must be set up in a way that discovery is made of im- pairment of hearing in its early stages and that the curriculum is so con- structed and adapted as to meet the age level and ability level of the child, and broad enough in its scope to help the child meet the social, civic, eco- nomic and other responsibilities of life. A survey of the various schools and the various sources of information, such as the school census, reports from clinics, etc., were first made to gather information concerning the group of children with impaired hearing. A great many of these children were found in’ the backward group, but in no sense can the child with the impaired hearing be classed always as backward. ‘The initial classes in lip-reading were set up, using as a basis the reports from the principals of the schools where there were children partially deaf, or suspected of being so. . At first the hand-audiometer was used, but later the department of health education, with the cooperation of Miss Putnam, secured the loan of the Number 4-A audiometer from the Graybar Electric Company. Many schools were tested during the short period we were permitted to use this audiometer. In some cases, every child in the school was tested. Where the loss of hearing amounted to as much as four percent or above, a special record was kept. ‘The health report card carried this information, parents were consulted, and a remedial program was set up immediately. Where groups were sufficient in size, a class for lip-reading was con- ducted at the building, while in some cases centers were established and the pupils were sent for certain periods of the day for lessons in lip-reading. During the first half year, there were fifteen classes with a total number of seventy-two pupils. This movement has grown rapidly and involves new problems of organization to meet the instruction need. I wish to quote an excerpt from a report rendered by the supervisor of health education, Doctor IT. O. Woolley: The money spent to discover and correct defects of hearing is a paying proposi- tion from a purely monetary viewpoint. For these pupils invariably spend more than their allotted time in each grade and the lack of efficiency in later life due to the handicap causes the earning power to be much less. I have observed that many of the deafened pupils in our schools have increased [475] 476 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 50 percent in their general classroom studies after a few months of lip-reading instruction. I believe that the detection of the hard-of-hearing and the degree of deafness in each is impossible in a large school system without the aid of an accurate instrument that can be used by teachers. Such an instrument is manu- factured for this purpose. You will see that Houston is well satisfied with the first year’s work of the Department of Lip-Reading and will continue to aid in its growth and efficiency. ‘The Department has met the need of training for this group of children and it has to justify its existence not only in the fact that these children are receiving what is due them from the public schools as an inherent right, but also the added improvement in the classroom for individual work as well as the improved group work in the charge of the regular teacher, since helping the hard-of-hearing child relieves the regular teacher of that special problem. ‘Training in lip-reading helps the child to keep his place, helps him to shape his education toward some work in life, for vocational guidance is emphasized as a part of this work and helps the school to bring happiness and success to the student. Any one of these results named would justify the expenditure of such a department. ‘The leaders of this work should feel enthusiastic over the outlook and strive unceasingly to promote such instruction in every city and community of this great nation. LIP-READING IN THE SEATTLE SCHOOLS MARIA P. TEMPLETON, HEAD TEACHER, SCHOOL FOR THE DEAF, SEATTLE, WASH. Lip-reading as an art in itself is not taught in the Seattle schools; by that I mean it is not taught in one or two or more lessons a week to the pupil while he still remains in his regular grade and the lip-reading teacher visits him in his school. No doubt there are pupils in Seattle who would be benefitted by that kind of training, and it might come later. Here the particularly deaf children are taught in the regular school for the deaf. When a child is a first or second grade pupil, we have found it a satis- factory method to give that child his lip-reading and school work in the regular deaf classes until lip-reading becomes a well-fixed habit. Naturally he will advance more rapidly than his totally deaf classmates. As he advances he is put into a class of partially deaf children, where he progresses as fast as he can. Later these children are returned to the hearing school. In many cases, however, the parents desire that the children should remain with us and finish their grammar school work and not return to the hearing school till ready for high school. The children who have done this have usually made most commendable records. ‘The aim of our deaf school is to put all of those who are capable, whether totally deaf or partially deaf, into schools of higher education. The partially deaf child who gets into the fourth, fifth, or sixth grade, THe DeparTMENT oF Lip-READING 477 often through the misguided kindness of over sympathetic teachers, presents quite a different problem to us. This child has usually developed an ex- treme inferiority complex through having lost confidence in himself. This is especially true if it is necessary for him to begin repeating his grade. He has seen himself thrust back—through no fault of his own—and he is in a state of mind where he is ready to give up, hates school, and the change to the deaf school does not make any appeal to him. Our first great problem is to make that child feel he is an important member of society. As he gradually gains his selfrespect and independence, it is much easier to make progress with his school work. We find that the education of a child who has been passed along in this manner is usually at tag ends, and gathering up these tag ends and systematically arranging them now becomes our duty. From the first, stress is laid upon lip-reading. With his new mental attitude, school work presents its happy side to him and lip-reading has a real life meaning to him. Of course this class of children is kept in classes by themselves. Often children who are only a little deaf have been with us a year or two, and with intensive lip-reading in all of their classes have been able to return to the grades. The small classes and individual attention makes its appeal to these children. It is a curious thing, but frequently parents object to lip-reading for their children as they have been given to understand it would be detrimental to what hearing is present. Overcoming this prejudice is sometimes a task, but, when. reluctantly they have agreed to the lip-reading work and it has helped, the parents are honest enough to admit their mistake and to give genuine thanks for the benefits derived and become our ardent ad- vocates. Partial deafness almost always affects the speech and then the services of a well-trained deaf teacher comes in. ‘Teaching lip-reading is one thing and teaching correct articulation is another thing, but in the expert deaf teacher both are combined. We do not reach all of the partially deaf in the city because parents sometimes object to the thought of sending a child to the deaf school, thus we have been limited in successfully helping every one. Perhaps in the near future the school for the deaf in Seattle will have additional means by which it can help all classes of partially deafened children to get lip-reading instruction. WHAT SAN FRANCISCO IS DOING FOR HARD-OF-HEARING CHILDREN J. M. GWINN, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, SAN FRANCISCO Education today, in response to the ideal that each child must be given his full chance, has been making scientifically determined inventories of the latent and achieved abilities of each child. ‘These inventories have revealed facts and conditions appalling and have stirred society somewhat to its responsibility and duty to many classes of handicapped children and 478 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION to a consciousness of the dependence of society itself upon the welfare of these less fortunate members. Whatever sins of commission may be charged against education today, they are dwarfed almost into nothing when compared with the cruelty and waste of human life due to the omissions in the programs of education of the “good old days.” Is it not appalling to know that there are three million children in the United States with impaired hearing; that a large proportion of the two million four hundred thousand of these children which, taken in time are curable, have not so been taken and cured? Is it not appalling that most of the six hundred thousand incurable cases of progressive deafness de- manding a special educational program have not been provided with this program? These hard-of-hearing children by the thousands and hundreds of thou- sands have not had the attention they need and merit due to our not know- ing they were hard of hearing. We thought they were stupid or inatten- tive. We have been looking for mental subnormality, for bad teeth and defective eyes, for bad habits of eating, and have until recently neglected to test the hearing of children. When we looked into the ears of the child it was always a matter of hygiene. Now that attention has been called to the fact that children with even slight hearing defects are three and one-half times as apt to be retarded as children with unimpaired hearing, surveys are being made all over the United States to find the children with defective hearing so that they may be given whatever they require in the way of medical and surgical aid or special education. For the past year in San Francisco we have been testing the hearing of all the children in grades four to nine, inclusive. A phonograph audio- meter is used in making the test. The report of the hearing survey com- pleted to the end of this school term, June, 1927, showed that thirty schools had been tested, including 9,633 children. Eight and seven-tenths per- cent of these children have a loss of nine or more sensation units in one or both ears. One and six-tenths percent of the whole number of children tested are so defective in hearing as to require special training in lip-reading. These hard-of-hearing children can hear through their eyes by learning to read the lips. “Teaching such children lip-reading has become an important service in our schools. In the San Francisco public schools we have three grades of service for hard-of-hearing children. For the deaf there is a special school with its specially constructed building, specially qualified principal and teaching corps. For very hard-of-hearing children there is a special class in lip- reading operated in connection with one of the elementary schools. In prac- tically all schools children needing lip-reading are afforded this instruction in their own schools either through the service of a visiting teacher or through a specially qualified teacher called an opportunity teacher who is a member of the teaching corps of that school. THE DEparTMENT OF Lip-READING 479 THE PRESSING PROBLEMS OF THE DEAFENED ALICE G. BRYANT, OTOLOGIST AND LARYNGOLOGIST, BOSTON, MASS. Many people are apathetic to the deafened and their problems, and many have not thought deeply on this subject. There are, however, individuals and groups of trained thinkers and doers alive to the values of advancing’ the medical care, acoustic tests, education and opportunities of the deafened. They aim to prevent ill-health, and, wherever possible, to war against probable causes of deafness, to improve the hearing and to continue to develop lip-reading methods and speech contacts, and to invent and approve qualified instrumental hearing devices and to increase human resources and output of the deafened. It is better to prevent deafness than to remedy it. It is well to remember that machines can be repaired, but human beings must bear the scars of illnesses and inherited disease. While science and progress go hand in hand, also conscience and service have wrought great changes in the world of the deafened. “The education, medical study and treatment of the deafened offer a rich field for individual and group effort. We are going to the root of the matter in our united studies and fruitful results. Progress along these lines has been slow in the past, and we have become restive, but with a closer mental picture of this vast subject a new world is opening up before us and the progress will be sure. Our interest in the deafened individual extends to a community and national interest. It is not enough for the non-deafened to maintain a passive reception of the deafened. “The former should enlarge and extend their knowledge, for the interests of the non-deafened and the deafened are mutual. The new education of the deafened will free empirical and traditional minds from the nuisance of inherited facts. Old legacies of the old systems of the wasteful, misapplied and class-repeating methods prevailing in the so-called education of the deafened are being reorganized, transformed, and expedited by the successful leaders of education, medicine, and engineering. Our correct appreciation of the economic side in the education, medical care and acoustic studies of the deafened is producing greater ability and power to obtain results—results that are not only in- creasingly efficient but rather efficiently productive. Broadly speaking, we have two groups to consider in our approach to the problems of the deaf- ened: one, competent to understand and to interpret, that is, the student, the teacher, and affiliated groups; and the other, to interest and to educate, that is, the general public. This group should widen its knowledge and outlook in the schools, in which its members are in part property owners, by a closer contact with the authoritative and scholarly and scientific work of the deafened and their teachers and medical advisors. The use of lip-reading for every deafened person is an avenue of thought communication. The transfer of words and thoughts make a common ground on which the deafened and non-deafened must meet. Lip-reading appeals to the eye and the imagination. ‘To thoughtful people it has acted as an interpreter for the deafened. ‘The informed deafened in their daily 480 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION oe ee eS ee routine of duties are responding to an atmosphere of freedom. Lip-reading relieves nerve strain in the hard-of-hearing, and “fatigue deafness” is lessened. Lip-reading is obtained at the cost of much time and effort and thought by both teacher and pupil. Lip-reading has diminished faint- heartedness and brooding incident to deafness. Lip-reading teachers have discovered the facts by laborious work. ‘The true teacher of lip-reading must have infinite patience, a keen imagination, a broad knowledge and sympathy, and unbounded faith in her work. The hard-of-hearing should not be segregated or isolated. “They should have a first-hand knowledge of school conditions of work and acquaintance with their school comrades and teachers. The seemingly dull child in his new environment has become the alert child. Time after time he has out- paced his hearing schoolmate. The desirability of the human touch, the adaptability, love and sym- pathy and understanding for his chosen field of work must be uppermost in the mind and heart of the ear doctor of the future who would serve the deafened. . We should watch the ears carefully from infancy onward through the years. Deafness may be due to foreign bodies, wax, obstructions, catarrhal conditions, so-called “colds,” abscesses, running ears, nerve deafness, measles and scarlet-fever, diseased conditions of the tonsils, adenoids, teeth and sinuses and diffuse lymphoid tissue, improper nose cleaning, and improper care of the teeth. All these causes should demand immediate attention. Let us stress one of the questions of the hour, namely, wrong air-condi- tioning in public and private abodes which affects our comfort and health. Correct air-conditioning is not a free gift. Its material cost may sometimes be heavy, but the outlay incurred will be amply repaid when brought home to the public understanding. Ignorance, neglect, carelessless, and inertia are our loopholes and pitfalls. A fundamental step in finding the deafened is by means of mechanical ear tests. We are all familiar with the well-known testing methods of watch, voice, forks and acoumeter. “They possess difficulties as distractions of attention and lack of concentration on the part of the observed in- dividual—the child—and variations in the spoken voice of the examiner or examiners from time to time. The voice of the speaker should possess one function only, namely, that of producing upon the ear drum of the listener exactly the same variations of pressure and frequency of air im- pulses. This is far from possible with the human voice and not fully attained by mechanical means. ‘The beginning of a new era in the prob- lems of the deafened has been made possible by an acoustic engineer, Dr. Horace Fletcher, a research chief in the American Bell Telephone Labora- tories. He has recently come to our aid with his epoch-making work. It is an event of more than ordinary importance. He has devised forms of instruments based on scientific principles whereby “the sound is regulated as to intensity, volume and pitch” and the system of hearing-test records is facilitated and improved. With Dr. Fletcher’s ear phone phonograph THe DeparTMENT OF Lip-READING 481 audiometer, a group of forty persons can be tested at once, or three or more groups of forty can be tested in an hour. Dr. Fletcher, in association with Dr. Edmund Prince Fowler, has tested the hearing of thousands of pupils. Dr. Bock’s “danger zone’’ for each deafened pupil helps the otolo- gist and classifies the pupil for the lip-reading teacher. “This will be of decided advantage to the deafened child. We know “children are back- ward for other reasons than deafness.” We also know “the deafened child has become the alert child, and the percentage of the backward and dull children has perceptibly fallen.” How many times does a deafened child repeat? ‘This class-repeating process demands drastic action. It is an extra and unnecessary capital outlay. So blatant is the unfairness of this system! The pupil is penalized. It is a waste of effort, usefulness, time, strength and thought. We cannot afford to underrate the scholastic value of the hard-of-hearing pupil. The problems of the deafened hold an enormously important place in the schools of the country. In 1926, the National Education Association, through its Board of Directors, voted to have a Department of Lip-Reading in its organization. Our Department of Lip-Reading in action at this time in 1927 at Seattle is not regarded as a branch of another department, but a department specially created for the above purpose. THE WHY OF ADULT LIP-READING CLASSES IN OUR PUBLIC SCHOOLS CORALIE N. KENFIELD, TEACHER OF LIP-READING TO THE ADULT DEAFENED, SAN FRANCISCO, CALIF. Public school lip-reading classes for the adult deafened are an evolution in educational methods as applied to the adult who is handicapped by deafness. Such classes were bound to be, for no other reason than that of the great need of them. ‘They offer, without price, and so for an unlimited period of time, special instruction that is absolutely essential if the individual who is deafened would continue or re-establish his contact with life. These classes are for the deafened. “The deafened are those overtaken by deafness after speech was acquired. For a number of years, large cities have had public oral schools for deaf children where lip-reading is taught, but special lip-reading classes for par- tially deaf children, and for the adult deatened, have not generally been established. It is only a question of time when this instruction will become an integral part of the curriculum of city public schools. A greater problem presents itself regarding such classes in small towns and rural districts. Because we have seen these special classes successfully established in San Francisco we are occasionally appealed to by parents of children with some hearing loss, as well as by adults. “These have heard of lip-reading instruction for the deafened, but they are living too far from * 482 NatIioNAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION me TS cities where such instruction is given. It is not practicable to send a child away from home when his hearing loss is so small that speech i is unimpaired. The question is that of keeping him in his home, and in his home district school, and at the same time enabling him to have the necessary instruction in lip-reading that is essential if he would make his grade. Deafened adults, fathers and mothers, cannot usually leave home for the length of time required to become proficient in the art of lip-reading. It would seem to us, if the partially deaf child, and the deafened adult, cannot go away from home to receive instruction in lip-reading that the instruction should be carried to them. Eighty-two percent of the people of California live in cities and towns. The balance is found on farms. An important part of California’s problem with the deafened is that of serving the interests of those who live in small communities. In some districts of California, this problem has been successfully solved, so far as the adult deafened are concerned. * Glendale and Santa Monica, Inglewood and Monrovia, are each about one hour’s ride from Los Angeles. Glendale and Santa Monica are served by the same teacher on alternate days. Inglewood and Monrovia are served in the same manner by a visit- ing teacher. The deafened. of rural districts must be served. My plea for this is just as strong as any plea that could be made for the blind. How do I justify my plea? Of what practical value is such instruction as applied to the adult deafened ? The problem of the hard-of-hearing child in our public schools differs materially from that of the deafened adult. We have the hard-of-hearing child just where we wish him to be—in school. He is attending school because the law makes it compulsory for him to do so. We have but to ascertain the fact of his deafness, and the degree of his hearing loss, in order to grade him and to educate him as a hard-of-hearing child should be educated. We have to do with training, standing, and attainment as eventually affecting his adult life. Because of his undeveloped mental faculties, be- cause his contact with life is largely through his senses, we are not bafHled to any great extent by the child’s mental peculiarities. “The mind is at its most receptive stage and, as a usual thing, it is open to impressions and is easily molded. In sharp contrast to this is our educational problem, or rather our re- educational problem of the adult deafened. “These must be taught to read the lips that they may continue, or reestablish a normal contact with life, both socially and economically. Employers who question deafened applicants seeking work, as to lip-read- ing ability, recognize certain powers of eye and mind that are characteristic of a lip-reader and that make for efficiency on the part of a deafened worker. A lip-reader has a quick, accurate eye, and an alert, receptive mind, with powers of concentration highly developed. THE DEPARTMENT OF Lip-READING 483 Afternoon public school classes for housewives and evening classes for all who are employed during the day have solved many individual prob- lems. Listlessness, inattention and depression give way to eagerness, con- centration, and understanding. Ambition is stirred and poise is gained. In no other class of human ills is mental health more to be considered than in that of deafness when it is adventitious in the adolescent or adult. Hearing is our social sense, and it is the sense most closely allied to our emotions. It may be presupposed that all sounds of life affect the emotional stability of the individual. We sing and dance and are exhilarated by the strains of lively music. We weep when touching words are spoken. We are de- pressed when we are for any length of time removed from the sound of the human voice. No picture, nor sunset, nor anything seen so moves us. The shutting off of this channel of emotional outlet, or relief, results in what would we term a “conflict complex.” The term “inferiority: com- plex” as applied to the psychological idiosyncrasies of the adult. deafened is merely one phase of the emotional conflict. One can label and classify these idiosyncrasies, and in some cases, psy- choses of the deafened, but when all is said and done, it narrows down to the manner in which the deafened individual reestablishes his contact with life, and to his method of living with himself. It becomes a problem in mental hygiene and as such must be solved through reeducation. Jacob Reighard, University of Michigan, says: In a class of speech reading, I have seen the habit of diffuse attention give way in a few months to that of concentrated attention. With the new habit comes an improvement in memory. With the attendant training of the power of analysis and synthesis there comes an improvement and quickening of other mental pro- cesses of which I am definitely aware, but which I cannot describe. ‘There is no question but that the mental processes of the adult deafened are definitely and permanently improved by adequate training in speech reading. To this the teacher of speech reading, or lip-reading as the art is popu- larly termed, will probably add: that anyone deafened or with normal hear- ing can be benefited mentally by systematic training of the apperceiving faculties. That this training may in time become such a part of the mental processes of the individual as to be wholly subconscious processes that make for mental stability and poise. We have said that we find the hard-of-hearing child in school. Where do we find the adult deafened? We may find them in the high schools, or out of school, unable to carry on to a higher education, and unwilling to make the effort to do so. We may find them at home, depressed and listless. We may find them at work, with the sword of Damocles hanging over their heads for fear of loss of employment because of increasing deafness. We may find them working as unskilled laborers, or out of work and unable to obtain it. Teachers of the deafened boy or girl of high school age are often con- fronted with an embittered or rebellious or “don’t care” frame of mind. 484 NatIONAL EpucaTion ASSOCIATION ee eee ee ee ee ee ee eS ee ee ‘These young people have awakened to the realization of the degree of their handicap. ‘They are face to face with a stern reality of life. It is all very well for parent or teacher to say “‘brace up and learn to read the lips.” It is an insult to youth to ask youth to philosophize. Youth is entitled to its youth, for youth implies a freedom from physical limitations. It is the time when physical prowess is at the flood tide. The teacher of lip-reading must compromise. Here is a mind and a soul in the awakening. She is determined that there shall be no retreat to the valley of despond. She must teach her pupil to read the lips, yes, but if she herself is deafened, her greatest appeal will be by reason of the example of her attitude toward her own deafness. As for the adult, long deafened, he has gone over into the enemy’s country. It may take years to find him. Once found, he may refuse the help we offer through the free public school classes.- Here we may have to combat depression and apathy. Lip-reading must be taught, because through lip-reading we not only give the ability to understand speech, but we foster and encourage the restoration of mental processes that have long since become fixed in a manner prejudicial to the individual. In our plea for the adult deafened, we ask the establishment of lip- reading classes in our public schools. We ask that lip-reading courses be offered and the work inaugurated, if but two or three are gathered to- gether. The deafened adult who becomes a lip-reader is one restored to the right side of life’s social and economic ledger. He is no longer a liability. He has become an asset. REPORT, OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OFTHE. DEPART. MENT OF LIP-READING OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION This’ being the first meeting of the Department of Lip-Reading of the National Education Association, we present the following brief report of the organization of the department. A group of teachers actively engaged in giving instruction in lip-reading to hard-of-hearing adults and children in some of the public schools sought and obtained permission of the National Education Association officials to hold a conference in connection with the National Education Association Convention. The first conference, which was held in Washington; D. C., July, 1924, was not attended by a large number, but the vital interest of those whe were there prompted them to proceed with plans for the establishment of a department of lip-reading in the National Education Association. Under the rules of the National Education Association, it was mecessary that con- structive meetings be held three years in succession and that a petition for the establishment of a Department of Lip-Reading, accompanied by the signature of 250 members of the National Education Association, be pre- sented to the Directors of the Association. ‘i THE DEPARTMENT OF Lip-READING 485 The second conference was held at the National Education Association Convention in Indianapolis, Indiana, in 1925. The following were ap- pointed on the committee to secure the signature of 250 members of the National Education Association: 1. Charles S. Clark, Superintendent of Schools, Somerville, Mass., Chairman. 2. Caroline F. Kimball, Teacher of Lip-Reading, Lynn, Mass. 3. Martha E. Bruhn, Principal Mueller-Walle School of Lip-Reading, Boston, Mass. 4. Coralie N. Kenfield, Co-principal, California School of Lip Reading, San Francisco, Cal. This committee secured over three hundred signatures from twenty-five different states, and the petition for the establishment of a Department of Lip-Reading in the National Education Association was presented to the proper committee at the convention of the National Education Association in Philadelphia in 1926, after the third constructive lip-reading conference had been held. The petition was reported favorably and the Department of Lip-Reading was established by the Directors of the National Education Association at the Philadelphia meeting. ‘The president, Dr. Francis G. Blair; appointed the following as officers in the new department: President—Caroline F. Kimball, Lynn, Mass. - Vice-president—Agnes Stowell, Berkeley, Cal. Secretary-Treasurer—Alice I. Putnam, Houston, Tex. The first meeting of the Department of Lip-Reading was to be held in Seattle, Washington, July, 1927. . SECRETARY’S MINUTES Seattle Meeting The first business meeting of the Department of Lip-Reading of the National Education Association was held in the Junior Hall of the Plymouth Church in Seattle, Washington, July 6, 1927, at 3:15 P. M. After the meeting had been called to order by the president, a short report of the establishment of the Department of Lip-Reading in the National Education Association was read by the secretary. The president appointed a nominating committee to nominate officers for the Department for the ensuing year. A constitution was presented, and adopted by unanimous vote. The treasurer’s report was read and accepted. The nomination committee presented the list of nominees as officers for the ensuing year. A motion that the secretary-treasurer cast one vote in the election of officers was favored unanimously. Officers were elected for the year of 1927-1928. The following resolutions were adopted by the Department, unanimously: 1. Resolved; that a vote of thanks be extended to Mr. Clark, chairman of the committee appointed to form a Department of Lip-Reading in the National Educa- tion Association, for his untiring efforts-in behalf of our Department, and that the 486 NaTIonaL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION secretary shall notify Mr. Clark of this vote and that it shall be spread upon the records. 2. Resolved, that a vote of thanks be extended to our local committee for the splendid work they have done to make our meeting a success. The motion for adjournment was made and carried by unanimous vote. The Department of Music Education by the Board of Directors at the Madison, Wis., meeting in 1884. See Proceedings, 1884:23. This department cooperates with the Music Super- visors’ National Conference. The officers of this Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Thaddeus Gidding, Director of Music, Minneapolis, Minn.; Vicepresident, Estelle Carpenter, Director of Music, San Francisco, Calif. ; Secretary, Ester Sather, Director of Music, Everett, Wash. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found 4 {HE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC EDUCATION Was created in earlier Proceedings as follows: 1885 :369-405 1886 :563-599 1894 :925-957 1895 :765-807 1903 :683-719 1904 :675-709 1911: 787-827 1912 :1001-1031 1919: 291-303 1920: 309-311 1887 607-653 —1896:718-754 —1905:627-706 1913: 601-619 1921: 507-515 1888 :625-665 1897:772-792 1906:703-706 1914: 625-649 1922:1047-1063 1889 665-703 1898:832-856 1907:849-877 1915: 847-883 1923: 733-737 1890 :811-827 1899:970-998 1908:835-862 1916: 575-613 1924: 597-613 1891 :807-827 1900:531-542 1909:673-701 1917: 473-491 1925: 504-522 1892:507-533 1901:704-721 —1910:789-833 1918: 315-323 1926: 527-536 1893 :507-543 1902 614-644 [4838] THE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND EDUCATION FRANK E. WILLARD, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS SEATTLE, WASH. EPRESENTING the schools, an educational agency established by the R state, I am giad to have this opportunity to speak in appreciation of the educational influence of another agency which is of voluntary origin. “The Chamber of Commerce and the schools have common interests that invite sympathetic understanding. The present organization of social life is making industry and education more and more interdependent. As a result of this, education has become less academic and more sensitive to social welfare than formerly. Its direction is determined more and more by the activities and needs of community life. ‘There used to be a feeling that education belonged exclusively to the schools, that other agencies could better concern themselves with other matters. “here was, too, sometimes a feeling that education tended toward exclusiveness, that it had not forgotten its aristocratic ancestry. It is true that until quite recently the schools served only a very limited part of the people beyond the primary grades. Conditions have changed. ‘The re- markable increase of attendance in the upper grades continuing on through the high schools and into the universities is an outstanding event of current history. It is indicative of a new attitude toward education and implies a readjustment of social values. The Chamber of Commerce is commonly thought of as a commercial rather than an educational organization, but an analysis of its activities will show nearly all of them to be essentially educational in their intent. Prac- tically all of them could be classified under one or another of the objectives named. Allowance, of course, must be made for the special purpose which the Chamber serves. Like the schools, its aim is to help the individual to help himself. It strives to promote the general welfare, recognizing that the measure of general welfare is the sum of individual well-being. It recognizes, too, that general intelligence is a social asset, of great value to the community and has been sympathetic in its attitude toward the broader educational endeavor. The Chamber of Commerce has made a considerable impression upon the young people of this city through the literature it has provided and through its member’s council. Pupils from the schools have visited the council meetings in order to observe and report. Many have come to pro- vide music and have remained to listen. Through their own assemblies and group meetings they are somewhat prepared to appreciate the meaning of such a gathering. “They look out upon that assemblage with profound respect. “They have in their school work, through reading, by projects, and with dramatization, followed the raw resources of the Northwest from source to finished product on its way to consumption. “The members coun- cil represents to them the pent-up energy, the industry, the ability, and the initiative that drive this industrial life forward. “They see there, also, [489] 490 NaTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION ee Se ee eee altruistic endeavor that makes such life worth while. I want you to know that youth looks upon accomplishment through idealistic eyes and likes to take for granted gallant and unselfish motives on the part of those in whose footsteps it would follow. The Chamber chorus, through its generous activity, is making a positive educational contribution to the building of a more attractive city. I can _ speak heartily in great appreciation of the splendid spirit of the chorus. I think we do not fully realize “the good that is wrought in the lives of men through the songs they sing around the luncheon table and in their evening gatherings.” In an age where men need most of all to learn tolerance and cooperation, music is the great harmonizer. It is a stabilizing and healing influence, not only for those who sustain the blows and thrusts of competi- tion, but for all who must learn to go together about life’s more common- place duties. It represents especially an important leisure time resource without which education is incomplete. Education for the right use of leisure time deserves more than passing notice. ‘There are many who believe that America is not so much threat- ened by starvation or want as by a vast amount of leisure that may destroy us because we have not the character or culture to turn it into value. “The use of improved machinery is steadily reducing the length of the day during which men must engage in productive labor. Conservative industrial leaders are quoted as saying that in the not distant future our industrial processes will be so highly developed that a four-hour work day will be sufficient to satisfy the material needs of society. Even if that statement may seem extreme, we do know that the margin of leisure time is constantly increas- ing. Whether this will be a benefit or a curse to society depends upon how it is used. In literature, in music, in art, in the world of nature there are unlimited strength-giving resources where each person may find what is suited to his own needs. By means of these, life may be enriched and enlarged ; it may gain poise and power. The Chamber of Commerce believes that a really great city can be built only in part by accretions from without. The main growth must come from within. If this is true industrially, it is no less true intellectually and spiritually. “Those who will control the destiny of this city a few years from now are today enroled in its schools. “Their character is being built up by the slow processes of a growth that is responsive to all the in- fluences that surround them. Nature has been versatile and generous in its encouragement to the industry of this city. It has, too, surrounded us with constant mountains that through all seasons and in all weather point always upward. ‘The most potent influences that mould character are human. Shall the character of the oncoming generation of young citizens match these mountains in stability, in integrity, and in direction? The Chamber of Commerce, to the extent to which it finds opportunity to give approval to the finer, more wholesome influences of life, and to create con- ditions under which the idealism of youth may find its fulfilment without too much of disillusion, is affecting the answer that time will give to this question. : THE DEparTMENT oF Music EpucaTIoN 491 And so, in conclusion, the thought I would propose this afternoon is this: May the vision that we cherish in common of a greater and finer city include also and always the vision of a greater and finer citizen. RESPONSE RALPH MAGEE, PASTOR, FIRST METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH SEATTLE, WASH. I am happy to be here to respond to an address so intimately tying together the business and educational forces of this or any other community. One of the great signs of the idealism of our America is the increasing interest of so-called practical men in the cultural elements of education. Our local Chamber of Commerce has, for a number of years, maintained a Friday noon luncheon called the members council. This luncheon is seldom attended by less than 450 men, with a scattered few women, and has had as high as 800 in attendance. The program consists of brief ad- dresses either by visiting distinguished guests, or those representing im- portant community activities. It is customary at these luncheons to have present some high grade musical attraction. Each year the eight high school orchestras of Seattle are presented in successive weeks. “The in- terest shown by the business men and women is a high testimonial of the appreciation of the Chamber of Commerce in this cultural development. Some who have seen the comparative figures on salaries paid school teachers might be inclined to think the business interests of this city were out of joint with education. I have no defense to make of low salaries and do not hesitate to say publicly that Seattle and all other cities should hasten the day when this important profession shall be at least reasonably paid, which it is not now, for the most part. But, while I hold no brief for low salaries, I do believe it is but justice to our business men to remind you we are a very young city with an ex- ceptionally large school attendance, especially in the upper grades and high school. We are providing practically everything that is available else- where. Most other cities have some things aready cared for and these increased advantages are not so great a burden. In this city the present generation, with perhaps a little of the preceding one, has had to produce it all. This has been exceedingly heavy. While bonds provide for future generations to carry a portion of it, the heavy burden comes right now. Since I became a resident of Seattle a little over six years ago, the Roose- velt, Garfield, and Grover Cleveland high schools have been built. Very large additions have been placed upon several other high schools, and even now many of them are compelled to use portables to help out. Similar increases in grade and intermediate schools indicate the pace we are going. This is not said in boastfulness, for which this far west is so famed. It is to indicate to yeu the real interest of this city in the education of its youth. ‘The Chamber of Commerce has ever been outstanding in the sup- port of all of these forward programs. 492 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION oe A a a And now a moment’s attention to your Department. How unfinished would be our modern schools without their musical training. It is one of the joys of all parents that their children are given at least a sufficient amount of musical instruction so that they know some of the rudiments and have a little appetite created for further progress. Two years ago a prominent eastern statesman sat beside me at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon. After the high school orchestra of some forty pieces had played several numbers, he leaned over to me and said, “What do you have to pay such an orchestra to come and play here for thirty minutes ?”’ I replied, “This is just one of our eight high school orchestras and of course comes that we may see the real achievement of our youth.’ He said, “Why, I supposed by the grade of music and the perfection of rendi- tion that this was a commercial orchestra.” We are genuinely proud of such an achievement as that. Such has been the interest of business men in this artistic development that even they have caught the spirit and, as you have opportunity to note here today, we are one of America’s few cities that can boast of a group of business men who are associated together musically for the purpose of singing goodwill and high ideals into our own and other commercial groups of the Northwest. I, of course, refer to our friends of the Chamber of Commerce Chorus. I am sure I am within the bounds of truth when I say you can rest assured the Chamber of Commerce and business and professional men in general will stand aggressively behind any movement for the betterment of educational conditions as long as they believe it is within the bounds of economic safety and reason. From my connection with the Chamber of Commerce and my knowl- edge of the business interest of this city, I assure you that the coming of your great convention has been anticipated not only for its economic and advertising value, but even more so because of the great ideals for which you stand, and because we are whole-heartedly in accord with these lofty purposes. We know we shall be greatly benefited and trust you may feel repaid for your visit here. RECOGNITION OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS—A NECESSITY GEORGE L, LINDSAY, DIRECTOR OF MUSIC EDUCATION, PUBLIC SCHOOLS, PHILADELPHIA, PA. We hear on all sides the opinions of business, political, and social leaders who readily assert that good music is the greatest force in socializing and uplifting the lives of every race and creed. By choosing music and cultural pursuits as motivating factors, our adult population is earnestly trying to create high standards of right living. It is the duty of the school adminis- trators to know the need of the times, to use proper instrumentalities, and to face issues of national and world-wide importance by preparing the boys THE DepaRTMENT OF Music EpucaTION 493 and girls in their care to envisage life and the part they must play as future citizens in carrying the torch handed down to them by those who gave their all that democracy might live. There is greater need today for the ameliorating influence of good music in the schools, homes, business, and social world than ever before. Modern education i is not complete without a mass ane individual develop- ment of an articulate common language with which to express and satisfy the pent-up emotions of the people in their inherent love of nature and man. The surging emotions of an active people must be released into natural channels of expression. We must not fail to counteract the flood-tide of modern jazz and all that the term implies. We must turn again to the fountain-head of culture, as did the Greeks of old, and look to music and the fine arts to fill the lives of children and adults with wholesome “hobbies” and recreation which will make for deeper, fuller living. The fact is well established that the study of music in the public schools is of an importance at least equal to that of any other subject on the pro- gram. Many great teachers, from Plato down to Dr. Eliot, have de- clared that the use of good music is the greatest moving force in the life of a people; that the study of vocal and instrumental music develops mental alertness and calls for a complex response of coordinated powers which no other subject affords. When we look about us and observe the rapt atten- tion that is given to the performances of our great symphony orchestras, choral societies, and grand opera companies; when we realize the part that music plays in forming the life philosophy of the people, through the influ- ence of their own participation, or by listening to music recreated by the radio and reproducing instruments, we should pause and evaluate the phenomena of rhythm, melody, harmony, and tone color in its relation to life, if it be jazz with its burlesque of the good and beautiful, or real music with its inspiring uplift. It is the duty of the music supervisor and teacher to prove that the study and right use of music in school life will make an impermeable impression on the life of the school and community. This duty includes not only the obligation on the music educator to prepare him- self to be an expert in the subject, but also to exploit the results of the school music activities developed under his direction in order to convince his school superintendent and board of education of the value of music. We must combine all active agencies to support our plea for more music in the schools. We must maintain our contact with the National Educa- tion Association by maintaining a strong department of music in this As- sociation. At Philadelphia, in the 1926 meeting of the National Educa- tion Association, a plea was made for music by Dr. Winship of Boston in a stirring address presented in a general session of the conference. At Dallas, in February, 1927, the superintendents had an illuminating ex- perience in attending a concert given by the great National High School Orchestra of. 266 players, assembled from 38 states for the purpose. Music was the theme of the Dallas meeting, and a resolution was adopted which will go far toward making music the motivation of all school activities and 494 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION eile a a SURAT ISNE SOR RR in setting new standards for greater consideration of the rightful place to which it belongs. This is an age of placing first things first, and in order that we may gain new courage and conviction in forwarding the project to which we have dedicated ourselves, let us remember the high place that music has held in the lives of all the ages. Plutarch tells us of the high regard in which music education was held by the Greeks, being the most fruitful form of education; a process for the development of creative power—power of expression, of initiative, and of appreciation. SECRETARY'S MINUTES Seattle Meeting The Department of Music Education held a luncheon conference and a sectional meeting in the banquet room of the New Washington Hotel on Wednesday, July 6, at 12 o’clock. The luncheon was attended by 250 music supervisors and teachers who filled the banquet room to its capacity. The room was beautifully decorated with the lovely flowers of the Northwest. Mrs. Francis Dickey Newenham, Public School Music Department, University of Washington, presided at the luncheon conference and introduced Frank E. Willard, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Seattle, Wash., who presented a toast: “The Chamber of Commerce and Education.” A response to Dr. Willard’s toast was made by Rey. J. Ralph Magee, member of Board of Trustees, Chamber of Commerce, Seattle, Wash. ‘The Seattle Chamber of Commerce Male Chorus presented several lyric and comic selections throughout the luncheon. They were enthusiastically received and encored. Mrs. Newenham called on Powell G. Fithian, Director of Music of Camden, N. J., to speak on the subject of “Hobbies.” Mr. Fithian stressed the fact that he hardly knew what a hobby was. With him a very fine line—a mere gesture of a line—is drawn between his vocation and his avocation. He stated that his boys and girls are his work and his play, and it is difficult to tell just where one leaves off and the other begins. Mr. Fithian further said, “My vocation is putting things across and my avocation is the pleasure I derive from seeing them land. As with the sculptor and the block of granite—chipping off the rough edges and letting out the best there is in them, is both my vocation and avocation. Fellow teachers, we are in a glorious work. Do we fully appreciate and enjoy our opportunity ?” The luncheon conference was concluded by a group of choruses presented by the Grade Club Chorus of teachers of the Seattle schools. Afternoon Session—Letha L. McClure, Director of Music, Seattle public schools, presented the president of the Department, George L. Lindsay, Director of Music of the Board of Public Education, Philadelphia, Pa. Mr, Lindsay greeted the members and paid tribute to Miss McClure for her splendid work as chairman of the program committee, and thanked her on behalf of the Department for arrang- ing the splendid program of music presented to the general sessions of the whole convention. Mr. Lindsay turned the program over to Miss McClure who intro- duced an instrumental ensemble of selected pupils of the Seattle high schools. Several classical selections were exceedingly well presented by the ensemble. A girls’ chorus sang several three-part choruses effectively. Elgia Dawley, soprano and a member of the Seattle Civic Opera, presented two operatic numbers and was well received. Dr. P. P. Claxton, Superintendent of Schools, Tulsa, Okla., gave a talk on “Public School Music, Why and How.” THE DEPARTMENT oF Music EpucatTIon 495 Anyone who ever thought music was one of those so-called “frills” would have had a wonderful opportunity to hear from a “layman” in music, in no uncertain terms, statements very much to the contrary when Dr. Claxton gave his address at the music luncheon. Dr. Claxton feels that “Music is the most used and most practical thing of all. Civilization has marched to music. It is a universal lan- guage. People are stirred by music to do great things. It is consolation, inspira- tion, joy.” He further said he felt that “material things are valuable only as we can subordinate them to the cultural,” also that too many people are swallowed up in trade. Dr. Claxton said that music need not cost any more than any other subject if organized properly, with reasonably large classes as in the platoon system. In telling of the music in the schools of Tulsa, Okla., he said that out of the six hundred teachers in the corps there are forty-two trained music teachers. He further stated that he found it takes only one-half of one percent more to teach music effectively. ‘ George L. Lindsay, Director of Music Education, Philadelphia, Pa., next ad- dressed the supervisors and teachers on the subject: “Recognition of Music Educa- tion in the Public Schools—A Necessity.” The president, Mr. Lindsay, then took charge of the meeting and read a tele- gram from John C. Kendel, President of the Southwest Music Supervisors’ Con- ference, sending greetings and expressing regret at his inability to be present. The election of officers to serve during the ensuing year was held and the fol- lowing were elected: President, Thaddeus Gidding, Director of Music, Minneapolis, Minn.; Vicepresident, Estelle Carpenter, Director of Music, San Francisco, Calif.; Secretary, Esther Sather, Director of Music, Everett, Wash. Mr. Lindsay made a plea for the forming of a Northwest Music Supervisors’ Conference and called on Miss McClure to speak on the subject. Miss McClure brought up the question of organization of the music supervisors in the Northwest. A motion was made and seconded that a conference be called to discuss the matter. The time for the conference was set for Friday, July 7, at 10 o’clock, in the Oregon state headquarters in the Olympic Hotel. A motion was made by G. F. Gaskins, of Portland, Ore., of formal approval and appreciation of the work of Letha L. McClure and her assistants in preparing all of the splendid music of the convention. It was seconded and carried. A motion for adjournment was seconded and carried. x af es ; Tia emit triggers “piling Bolké Meck. a ie ANIOB UE) tt Ai Din a “oudrunt” a hie vid > ie Hotknh 7h aes ou iy *. een ting fori Teams sar ef B jante" pede ote Bs ti Tt ; nel Hees fay 2 4 SPS Stairs ‘Warren wi int : ont) ingen wtitinss mer: “oi ak pbs dae teint she ae Amdt Hdevley 7k i sata Dmaretii ind) edhe brovgall ety, aliion ant gatas ots dere: wn Zit tis meat yds . as rae auc “ye! il al ee 78 levy ayy Hitec en a Bt is ih AIO \ ale ca, ‘phéo de * sf HP ro Tee bes ya} Winy vie stnalb- way post salt i i. > f we Spor eh 9 claw i n hawok » s f, , . , Pry | | + : mast Mog i iq ; a ' sgorht Lo , ’ Pi? as Y a , a 4 Hany sar aaron al step ripe? “ATU rr ” arn i i: re Rue ue “A iy 5 ng ' she's het 4d 2 re witaal' 9 7. ipa grit ioisy. era Be “eloqu “ad ving be lit AR if git bs r mS1) 30) orniastt ns ee ae ey pits 3 viet Ft, wal - \ : 7. waits ws J S), hse eieht lek aiaal a Ta ; TGS at a Anoge a Tperts 3st 4m po AaB yi Gsionw . baila sah syn) Tiw> # vary: pe = i 3 4 : . ) éi* ¥ Wer abe 7 * A ' \ * ad yt ‘ Th. 4 , ’ i. The Department of Rural Education HE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION grew out of the Department of Rural and Agricultural Hdu- eation which was authorized by the Board of Di- rectors in 1907. See Proceedings, 1907: 44-45. At the Chicago meeting in 1919, the Department was reorganized with three organized rural groups then existing—The National Association of State Super- visors and Inspectors of Rural Schools, The County Superintendent’s section of the National Education Association, and the National Association of Per- sons Engaged: in the Preparation of Rural Teach- ers—under the name of the Department of Rural Education. See Proceedings, 1920: 279. The Department meets twice each year, in Feb- ruary and in June. The officers of the Department of Rural Educa- tion for the year 1927-28 are: President, N. Searle Light, State Director of Rural Education, Hart- ford, Conn.; Vicepresident, May Trumper, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Helena, Mont. ; Secretary, Mrs. Katherine M. Cook, Specialist in Rural Education, U. S. Bureau of Education, Wash- ington, D. C.; Hxecutive Comnuttee: Fred C. Fisher, Belleville, Mich. (Term expires 1928); A. F. Har- man, County Superintendent of Schools, Montgom- ery, Ala. (Term expires 1929); Fannie W. Dunn, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City (Term expires 1930); Agnes Samuelson, State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Des Moines, Towa (Term expires 1931) ; G. C. Muerman, South- eastern State Teachers College, Durant, Okla. (Term expires 1932). Facts relating to the establishment of this De- partment and the record of meetings are found in earlier Proceedings as follows: 1906: 716 1911 31365-1391 1915:1131-1161 1919; 281-289° 1923:745 1908 :1187-1217 1912:1365-1391 1916: 613-637 1920: 271-278 1924:651-715 1909: 953-993 1913: 801-812 1917: 599-615 1921: 523-617 1925:522-563 1910:1081-1108 1914: 877-909 1918+ 271-295 1922:1099-1197 1926:536-600 [498 ] SOME ESSENTIALS OF 4A STATE’S SUPERVISORY PROGRAM FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION MRS. KATHERINE M. COOK, CHIEF, DIVISION OF RURAL EDUCATION, U. S. BUREAU OF EDUCATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. ROADLY interpreted, everything concerned with the educational B system, whether it be building program, school equipment, financ- ing, or what not, conditions somewhat the quality of instruction. For the purposes of this discussion, however, improvement of instruction is interpreted as having to do primarily with what Dr. Moore has recently described as “the functional side of the educational organization” and is treated from the standpoint of improving the teaching technic. Ultimately all administrative organizations and all administrative ma- chinery must be judged in the light of their ability to improve the quality of the instruction rendered in the school systems over which they have jurisdiction. This is true whether the organizations be state, county, or city. Considering our devotion to the idea that education is a state re- sponsibility, it would seem logical to expect that improving instruction would be universally accepted as a function of state education departments. Yet there are states in which apparently little concerted effort, except that very general in its nature, has been made in this direction. Indeed, the assumption of such work by a state administrative organization is in itself a sign of progress. When a state department definitely assumes the func- tion of improving instruction, the first essential is the formulation of a state- wide program for such improvement; in other words, a state-wide program for instructional supervision definite in the objectives set up and the pro- cedures advocated and thoroughly understood by all those who are con- cerned with carrying it out. Emphasis on these matters might seem unnecessary were it not for the fact that experience indicates considerable waste in the functioning of the educational machinery due to the lack of such definite and accepted pro- grams. Supervisors, hard-working and conscientious, go about their duties, seeing, of course, many things to be done, stopping occassionally to do what seems to them most necessary at the moment; and then going on to the next school or system, doing the same or a similar thing over again, with little at the end of the year to show for their work but mental and physical wear and tear. -It is not intimated here that the time is lost or the work of no avail. It is believed, however, that there is uneconomical expenditure of time and effort because of the lack of a definite, organized, understood program. While recognizing that lack of definite programs is the besetting sin of many rural supervisors, it is equally necessary to avoid the opposite extreme. Formal cut-and-dried aims and procedures, set, unchangeable programs, are even more disastrous to a state than on a local scale. Every acceptable state program should not only allow but plan definitely for the exercise of initiative and freedom in local plans and procedures. ‘The [499] 500 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION one certain, unchanging characteristic of a state plan is that it must pro- vide for wide differences in procedures and be flexible enough .to permit of additional ones to meet unforeseen emergencies. Once the essentialness of a program has been established, consideration to details of its formulation should receive most careful attention. ‘The first requisite is that it should be based upon a careful study of the situation to be met. Every supervisory program should have at least two large aspects, one for immediate guidance based on immediate ends, the other a long-term, forward-looking program probably extending over a period of years, though the period over which either program extends is, of course, governed by the situation itself. ‘The immediate program may be a program to construct a program. It seems unnecessary to say that the two should so fit each other that the immediate program both fills immediate needs and takes its place in the larger program, fulfilling its aims and objectives as well as its own. Both must be accompanied by very definite provisions for checking and evaluating their accomplishments. Besides definite, tangible procedures which they establish, both programs cast their weight for or against in- formal or rigid methods of teaching, for or against modern or traditional practice, and for or against definite or aimless organization of the local supervisor's work. In states in which the organization provides for a state supervisory force with a state director of supervision in charge, county or other rural super- intendents and local supervisors and principals, it seems logical to establish the general line of authority in supervision as—from the state superintend- ent to the state director of supervision and state supervisors, to the rural superintendent (county, district, parish, town, according to organization), to the local rural supervisor, to principals, to teachers. In states having county superintendents but no local supervisors, state supervisors must work through county superintendents, concentrating on the improvement of in- struction, depending upon the superintendents in turn to work through their principals and teachers in carrying out the state supervisor’s program. A suggested plan showing the line of supervision responsibilities and authority and the allocation of duties among the staff is offered. It is not applicable in all states. It is suggested as applicable in some and adaptable in others: (A) *The state superintendent—Establishes policies formulated with the coopera- tion of his staff. Is represented in the field by the director of supervision and state supervisors. (B) The state director of supervision and state supervisors—(1) Carry out the policies of the state superintendent and act as his representative with local super- intendents, supervisors, and principals, as they in turn work with principals and teachers; demonstrate with the teachers for the benefit of the local supervisor, focusing upon the professional needs of the local supervisor; assist in planning county or district programs or coordinating them with State supervisory programs and checking the results; provide certain minimum essentials which may act as 1 See U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 1926, No. 28. THE DEPARTMENT OF RuRAL EDUCATION 501 unifying agencies for all counties or districts in the state; take the lead in co- ordinating the work of general and special-subject supervisors. (2) Represent the state superintendent in relations with the local supervisors at the instance of the local superintendent. In this capacity the state supervisor acts more as a leader and guide and less as one planning definite procedures and checks on the children’s learning; more as a training teacher for the supervisory officers in service and less concerned with local practice, more concerned with policies than with immediate plans and methods; assists in planning in-service training for teachers in the local system; assists local supervisors to plan for unity and variety of activities while avoiding duplication of material furnished by the state or gathered from other sources; suggests characteristics of legitimate community work for local supervisors, explaining the place, extent, and relation of such activities to school work. (3) The state director of supervision and state supervisors act in an advisory capacity to the state superintendent, devising general administrative plans for promoting better supervision and better supervisory programs throughout the state. This advisory service may include setting up plans for differing situations, as supervision in districts having large schools with several teachers, supervision in districts having many small schools widely distributed; suggesting combinations of positions such as that of two or more principals in certain small districts, or, in certain instances, combination of districts, counties, or other units (having few schools and teachers) for supervisory purposes; determining supervisory needs of counties or districts where classroom visitation, demonstration, and the like, offer special problems, and setting up a program suitable to such conditions; hold- ing state or sectional conferences or short courses for supervisors and superin- tendents for the purpose of discussing educational policies, and for giving general directions or demonstrations on such topics as “How to conduct a teachers’ meet- ing,’ “How to analyze a recitation,’ “How to study classroom practice through stenographic reports.” (C) The local supervisor—(May apply to county or other rural superintendent, supervisor, or principal.) Carries out the suggestions of the state supervisors; interprets these suggestions in the light of local problems; unifies the county or district school activities and curricula; coordinates the work of special supervisors (if any), principals or other officers through whom supervisory ofhcer works with teachers; conducts and advises concerning in-service training for principals and teachers; carries on continuing follow-up and checking of achievement programs among schools and teachers. General and special-subject supervision—An economic and efficient state pro- gram for the supervision of rural schools will give first consideration to general supervision. A balanced curriculum in which each of the subjects in the elementary school course has its proper place as to emphasis, time distribution, and the like, is a primary objective of supervision. If the local system is one in which one supervisor only is employed, that supervisor should be a general supervisor capable of directing the teaching of both regular and special subjects, where special-subject teachers are not employed (as in the small schools); and of directing the special- subject teachers and coordinating their work with the general program of studies where special-subject teachers are employed (as in larger schools). In the larger systems where special-subject as well as general supervisors are employed, the special-subject supervisors should be trained in principles of general supervision and in the supervision of their special subject or subjects. It is the function of the general supervisor (or superintendent if no such supervisor is em- ployed) to coordinate the work of all supervisors, general and special. The dangers are that small systems unable to afford a sufficient number of supervisors may, in the employnient of special supervisors, only sacrifice the general supervisory program; that the functions and objectives of the two kinds of supervision—gen- eral and special—will not be definitely understood; that a special-subject super- 502 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION visor of strong personality or aggressive attitude may promote his special subject at the expense of the general program; and that chaos will result in the mind of the teacher who tries to promote a balanced classroom program of achievement. Having established the necessary immediate and long-term programs, the lines of responsibility and authority, and means of familiarizing all those who participate with the provisions and policies proposed, the state program should establish definite standards as to the quality of supervision expected and the qualifications’ of the supervisors to be employed. High standards of qualification for supervisors—whether through certification laws or regulations established by the state department of education, through state subsidization or nomination or selection of supervising officers, or whatever plan—should be established if results are to be worthy. In some states even ardent advocates of supervision are no longer encouraging local authorities to employ supervisors until they can raise enough money to pay adequate salaries to secure trained supervisors or until the sentiment of the people of the county, the county superintendent, and school officials generally, is such that work of a high professional nature is demanded and appreciated. The next step in a state program is to set up definite, thoroughly under- stood objectives for both immediate and long-term program materialization. It is unnecessary to enumerate here the general objectives of professional supervision. It would be irrational to advocate the same immediate ob- jectives for all state programs. “They are dependent, of course, upon the situation. ‘The important point is that they should be definitely set up and thoroughly understood and that all procedures advocated should lead to- ward their accomplishment. Both the scope and the purposes of supervision differ among states and within states and they change with the needs as our conception of what an adequate school is, changes. ‘Teaching and super- vision, and hence supervisory programs and their objectives, must be con- stantly adapted to the needs of a changing social order. The state supervisor, in working with local supervisors, avails himself of progressive methods of education. He applies the results of scientific research to methods of supervision. Local supervisors must learn to classify their teachers into homogeneous groups as well as to give individual help when and in the way in which it is needed, Passing on to supervisors practical means of effecting homogeneous grouping of teachers is becoming a recognized duty of state supervisors. In many systems grouping teachers according to training or ability or success or combinations of these has been found effective. One purpose of the state department of education, of which the state supervisor is the official representative among local supervisors and teach- ers, is to eliminate as rapidly as possible inexperienced, unprepared teachers. Certification laws or the regulations of state departments rigidly enforced . are rapidly making it impossible for boards of education to employ entirely untrained, inexperienced teachers. Where local systems continue to employ such teachers, the state supervisor must assist the local supervisor in finding a way to deal with them. , THE DeEpAaRTMENT OF RuRAL EDUCATION 503 Another important point of attack of the state supervisor’s program is the improvement of teachers’ meetings, Some means of evaluating teach- ers’ meetings—some criteria other than opinions for the number, kind, and type of grouping—is an outstanding need in supervision. Holders of teachers’ meetings sti!l depend too much on securing persons who entertain rather than instruct, ‘They seem to aim to please rather than to improve, or they have no professional objective. Misnamed “inspirational” talks, expositions of outworn technics, are still common in many teachers’ meet- ings. Supervisors should judge programs for teachers’ meetings by their power to effect better teaching. It seems unnecessary to say that a state program should provide also for curriculum revision and investigation, for carrying on some experimentation and research, however simple in its nature such research may be. Current research concerning classification and promotion, retardation and the prob- lem of over-age children, and studies now being carried on concerning the treatment of atypical children are all of special interest to rural school supervisors. Systematic and continuous training in service of supervisors and teachers is not so much an essential of a state program as it is the purpose of such a program. Professional growth in service is a sine qua non of improve- ment in technic. The program must engage the interest and secure the cooperation of all teachers, principals, supervisors, and superintendents of the system, must organize all its resources, human and material, for the accomplishment of its ends; provide definite opportunity for individual initiative and means and directions for systematically checking and record- ing results of its activities. REORGANIZING THE LOCAL SCHOOL UNIT IN TERMS OF SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONSHIPS C. C. MCCRACKEN, OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY, COLUMBUS, OHIO Shall the patrons of our public schools be allowed to send their children to school where they please or shall we definitely assign them to certain areas and then have them go to the school planned for that unit? Shall we allow a group of patrons to set themselves apart from any determined area and then organize their schools in such a way that they may capitalize on greater advantages of wealth or other special factors? To allow individual patrons to withdraw from one district and go to another without some reliable check on the procedure may and often does cripple an organization which they themselves have helped to set up. Or again, withdrawal of some relatively small group may mean the financial handicapping of a school community which will be left without recourse from the standpoints either of money or of leadership. Once the damage is done, it may take years to correct it. In 1924 I began a study of the factors which should determine local school district boundaries. “The New York Survey had suggested the 504 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION community boundaries as determinants of the school district boundaries. The question that arose in my mind was, “How stable are the community interests in determining community boundaries?” In order to make the study specific and meaningful, I turned to my own state, Ohio, to deter- mine the significance of the community factors. My first step was to secure a map of each county school district of Ohio. (A.county school district in Ohio is the county outside of cities and villages of 3,000. Such villages must vote exemption.) In 1913, Ohio schools were surveyed and a new code went into effect in 1914. So far as dis- tricting was concerned, the county board of education was given the power to- district the county for school purposes. Since distribution of moneys de- pended in part on this districting, the boards were compelled to district in 1914. No change in school district boundaries within the county could be made without consent of the county board. A petition must be pre- sented and a map filed. Patrons were able to stop transfers by a remonstrance of a majority. In certain cases, transfers could be made to another county without action on the part of the county from which the transfer was made, but with favorable action cn the part of the receiving county. In some counties proper records were kept but in many no rec- ords were kept, at least by the superintendent of schools. In order that I might know the exact condition of districting within Ohio in 1924, I requested that each county superintendent send me a map showing the local school district boundaries within his county. Since the evident principle was to allow transfers upon petition of the patrons in order to obtain better school advantages and since the board was given power to check any unreasonable transfer, this seemed an excellent point of departure. “Two years had elapsed since the first districting. In re- sponse to my request, twenty-two out of eighty-eight county superintendents submitted maps showing the approximate or exact boundaries. Some re- plied that they had maps, but that it was impossible to send me their official maps. ‘Thereupon, I secured state highway maps of uniform size and markings and sent one to each superintendent with specific instructions for marking the boundaries of local districts. Stamped envelopes were sent for return of the maps. At the end of a year and a half 66 maps had been returned. At this point the study came to the attention of the joint legislative com- mittee on economy and taxation of the Ohio legislature. After examining my materials they asked me to serve with them as a special investigator and then stated that they wished the set of maps completed. With their official backing, the set was made complete at the end of two and one-half years of requesting, cajoling and threatening. So far as I have been able to find, only one other state, Wisconsin, has such a set of maps. While these maps were being collected, I began with the cooperation of graduate students in school REANRE a: in the Ohio State University THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION 505 to study the influence of social and economic factors in relation to school districts already in existence and in relation to possible reorganization or regroupings. ‘The first study completed was that of Superintendent D. A. Pyers of Rushylvania, Logan County, Ohio. Closely related, but subsequent to, Mr. Pyers’ study, a similar one under my direction was made by Mr. Glenn Drummond, superintendent of schools of Logan County in which the territory of Mr. Pyers is located. In this case, the entire county was. undertaken, which called for a slightly different procedure. He prepared working maps for each school district. Ques- tionnaires were submitted to each teacher calling for practically the same information as in the other study. Each teacher located each pupil on the map by a key number. When the data were collected, lines were drawn to the center of greatest community interest. “These maps we called “summation maps.” ‘They were all built again into one map of the county. The county board of education now has facts that enable them to know where patrons logically belong. If transfers are requested that are not in line with the indicated interest of the community, the burden of proof in favor of the transfer falls upon the patron. ‘There are certain areas in this county which need careful consideration. Union Township is very progressive in regard to school matters, but still has only one-room schools. ‘There is no village in this area and consequently no point towards which these people tend to gravitate. ‘The high school pupils go to West Liberty, Degraff, and Bellefontaine. ‘The highways are excellent gravel roads, good the year round. ‘These people can establish a central school with all 12 grades and no one can stop them under the Ohio law. The county superintendent is using this map to show the board and these patrons where the lines of division should logically be drawn so that when a change does come, the establishment of another high school can be prevented and the children can be transported to easily accessible, well-established schools. In contrast, Monroe Township voted several years ago, against the ad- vice of a former county superintendent, to centralize their schools at a point in the open country and the center of the township. ‘This high school has had an extremely hard time ever since its establishment, even though the people are still enthusiastic over their school. High school teachers cannot be kept more than one or two years because of lack of social life. ‘The township is very hilly and rough. ‘There are two rich valleys, however, crossing the township. The richest is at the extreme south end. The lines show that these people are interested in West Liberty and not in a remote and not easily accessible hill top in the other direction. The con- stant pull is away from the school and in this fact lies the real secret of their constant difficulty. Zane township, which is the next to the east, has already met the fate which Monroe township must meet. The people voted to centralize at 506 NatTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION a ae Middleburg, two and one-half miles from a strong center at East Liberty. The people in the extreme southeast corner decided to transfer to a village across the county line. The Ohio law allows this in spite of all that the county board can do. ‘They took only a small area but it represented one- third of the total tax duplicate of the township. ‘The school building at Middleburg is fast falling into disrepair and the high school has already been partially abandoned because of lack both cf pupils and of money. Another very pertinent problem shown here and which has been very evident in every study thus far made, is the influence of the city, which is in this case not a part of the county school district. “The pull is definitely towards the city and yet the county and city are entirely separate. Studies of six other counties have been completed. These represent counties of different character. One is Franklin County, lying about the capital, Columbus. Other counties were chosen to show rich or poor, strictly rural, and counties with small cities. From these studies, the in- vestigation has reached out into county financial administration, establish- ment of high schools, effect of the city pull and other similar studies. The conclusion which has forced itself upon us in each study that we have made is that the local districts as separate units should be eliminated and all the school affairs in a county should be under one board and one superintendent. ‘The schools of the county could be arranged as social, economic and school factors determined. My answer to the question of how to district is, ‘‘abolish the local dis- trict.” This will apply except in the case of widely scattered population or where the civil organization will not allow. The board may then place schools where social and economic factors dictate. If local districts must be retained, then study out the social and economic factors and place them in definite form on maps of the county. Let these guide the school au- thorities in determining the boundaries of the local districts whether these be for taxation, consolidation or merely for attendance centers. The re- sults will pay in greater satisfaction of patrons and in case of administration of the school. The particular points which have been outstanding in the studies made, especially from the standpoint of practical use by county and local boards have been the following: 1. Small district “pockets,” formed for selfish reasons can be eliminated. 2. Areas about cities have been made a matter of joint study by city and county authorities. 3. Transfers to avoid reasonable taxation for schools have been denied. 4. High school centers can be more definitely determined. 5. Points of consolidation are more easily found. 6. Transfers can be made with facts as the basis. - Both patrons and pupils have been satisfied, which produces much better results in educating the child. THE DEPARTMENT OF RuRAL EDUCATION 507 SSS SS QUTSTANDING NEEDS 48 SHOWN BY A SURVEY OF THE SMALL HIGH SCHOOLS OF THE STATE G. IVAN BARNES, DIRECTOR OF VOCATIONAL EDUCATION, FRANKFORT, KY. In this study, a small high school is described as one situated in the open country or in towns and cities of less than 2500 population, maintaining at least two (usually four) years course of study, having enrolled 125 pupils or less and employing not more than four full time high school teachers for a term of 32 (usually 36) weeks. According to this description, there are 407 such small high schools in Kentucky, and with few exceptions, a larger percent of the student body comes entirely from the open country. The Small High School Problem in Kentucky—The first authoritative report, after the passage of the Compulsory High School Act in 1908 (effective 1910) on the high school situation in the state, showed a total of 171 public high schools, 158 of which employed four teachers and fewer. The high school files in the state department of education showed, at the close of the fiscal year 1924, 407 small high schools. There has, there- fore, been an increase, since 1910, of 157 percent in the number of small high schools in the state. “The same report (1910) showed an enrolment in these 158 small high schools of 4527 pupils, while in 1924 there were enroled in the 407 small high schools 17564 pupils—an increase of 313 percent. The mandatory law of 1908 required that the first high school in any county should be established at the county seat. County board members, at that time, desirous of having a high schoo] in their educational division (of which there were 5 in each county), made provisions for such instruc- tion near their respective homes. Many high schools were established be- cause small groups of people in a given community thought it more economical to organize high school instruction in a nearby center than it was to send their children away from home. As a result of such policy of establishing high schools, almost every conceivable inequality of opportunity for such instruction exists in the state. To illustrate briefly: Boone county has a high school for every 5 miles square and for every 280 families, while Edmonson county (16 miles square) has one high school at the county seat for 2266 families. The small high schools in Kentucky are distributed throughout 115 of the 120 different counties. In the 5 counties omitted, larger high schools exist. Since 73.3 percent of the state’s total population is classed, accord- ing to the Bureau of Census, as rural, it is to be expected that the larger percent of these high schools are located in the open country and in villages and small towns. Approximately 32 percent are in the open country and in centers of less than 100 population. Forty percent are in centers having a population from 100 to 500; 17 percent are in centers from 500 to 1000; 8 percent are in centers from 1000 to 1500; 1 percent are in centers from 1500 to 2000; 1 percent in centers from 2000 to 2500, and 1 percent in 508 NaTIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION centers of 2500 and over. ‘hus, it might be said that 94 percent of the small high schools in the state are located in centers where agriculture is the chief industry. During this period of unusual growth in the number of small high schools, many buildings were constructed with but little thought of the future, and are indeed inadequate. ‘The estimated value of all these build- ings averages $18,000, the average cost of equipment $825, laboratories $270, and libraries $320. While the above data are estimates only, they do present a picture of the inadequacy of the facilities for high school in- struction. Facing these conditions in Kentucky, which are not greatly different elsewhere, and the fact that there is yet to be established in the near future at least 150 to 200 more such schools in the state, obviously the first outstanding need is—a cooperative county and state program of establish- ing high schools. Such a program should be based upon a county survey, locating high schools, as far as possible, in permanent centers, permitting their patronage area to transcend political boundaries whenever desirable ; providing for some consolidation where necessary and some extension where it is needed, Organization Problems—In most of the small high schools throughout the state as well as elsewhere the grades are housed in the same building as the high school, with one person as principal of both. “The most common organization found in these schools, as shown by their program of studies, is the 8 year elementary school and the 4 year high school. Ninety-two percent of the 407 high schools included in this study are organized on this basis, while 8 percent operate on the 6-6 plan. ‘The most common practice in the high school is the 8 forty minute period organization. ‘The range in number of periods per day is from 5 to 10. The median number of periods for all is 7.7. The range in length of the recitation is from 30 to 50 minutes, while the median length of the recitation period is 39.5 minutes. One of the most serious problems to be anticipated in the small high schools is the number and size of the classes. The data for 3802 classes in these schools indicate that the most frequently occurring or model class con- tains from 6 to 10 pupils. The range of the middle 50 percent is from 8.4 to 20.1 pupils. The median for the 3802 classes is 13.4 pupils. Thus, under the most skillful management and with the most limited program of studies, we must expect the cost of instruction in the small high schools to be relatively high, This perspective of the organization problems in the small high schools of the state leads us inevitably to what appears to be the second outstand- ing need—a junior-senior high school organization—preferably on the 6-6 plan. Such an organization should make provisions for (1) larger classes, (2) departmental instruction, (3) promotion by subjects, (4) supervised study, (5) pupil guidance, and (6) a more adequate program of extra class activities. THE DeparRTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION 509 Teaching Staff Problems—A report on the preparation of the 866 teachers in the small high schools contained in this study shows that (1) 47 percent of the teachers including the principal, are college graduates, (2) a similar number have from two to four years college work, and (3) only 5.7 percent have less than two years college work. Reports from 672 teachers further show that 55 percent have had four years or less teaching experience. “The median teaching experience for all is 3.3 years. The salaries of these teachers range from $700 for nine months work to $3200 for 12 months work. ‘Teachers employed for 12 months are agriculture teachers. “he median salary for all is $1196. For convenience in presenting conditions as they exist with respect to the daily teaching load of the teachers in these schools, all courses in the program of studies have been grouped under the following subject heads: English, social studies, mathematics, ancient lenguage, modern language, science, agriculture and home economics. Data from the daily schedules of 843 teachers show that the teaching load of 6 percent of the teachers is made up from courses in a single subject group; that the daily teaching load of 34 percent is made up from courses in two different subject groups; a similar number is made up from courses in three different subject groups; while the daily teaching load of 4 percent is made up from courses in five different subject groups. “The median daily teaching load of all teachers reported is made up from courses in 2.3 different subject groups. ‘Twenty- six percent of the 843 teachers teach six or more periods per day. “The range in number of periods per day is from three to ten, while the median is 5.7 periods. This picture of the teaching staff problems directs us to what appears to be the third outstanding need of the rural high schools—a more definite scheme for the preparation of high school teachers. Such a scheme would contemplate preparing teachers for certain subject groups or combinations of groups. This would mean, of course, that license to teach be issued only in these groups or combinations. Such a plan would require that the pro- gram of studies of the small high schools be organized in accord with cer- tain groups, and that boards of education employ teachers for more definite fields of work. The Principal's Responsibility—A study of the distribution of the princi- pal’s time is indeed interesting. Data from 272 of the principals reporting shows that 83 percent teach five periods or more per day. ‘The median daily teaching load for all principals is 5.3 periods per day. “Thus, the principal is primarily a teacher. The principal is also a supervisor, responsible for the improvement of instruction in both the grades and the high school. Figures from 185 principals show that 55 percent give only one period per day to supervision, while 34 percent give two periods for supervision. ‘The median for all is +5 minutes per day. The principal is also the administrative head of both grades and high school. Data from 263 of the principals show that they spend from 36 to 510 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 80 minutes per day in administrative and clerical duties. “The median is 58 minutes. The principal, frequently the only man in the school, must of necessity assume the responsibility in certain extra class or pupil activities. Data from 231 principals shows that 67 percent devote one hour per day to such activities. From the above obviously we meet the fourth outstanding need of the small high schools—a more specific scheme in our teacher-training institu- tions for the preparation of principals. Curriculum Problems—For convenience in presenting the conditions as they exist with respect to the curriculum of the small high schools, all courses in the program of studies have been listed under the subject heads indicated above. Courses under each subject group are given in the order in which they are offered in the program of studies. English—Ninety percent of the small high schools offer rhetoric and composition, 74 percent American literature, 52 percent English literature, 46 percent grammar and the classics. Thirty-seven percent of all pupils enroled in the high schools take rhetoric and composition, 19 percent American literature, 16 percent English literature, and 11 percent grammar and classics. Social Studies—Social studies present a very interesting field for consideration. Of the 407 small high schools 67 percent offer ancient history, 44 percent modern and mediaeval history, 35 percent English history, 43 percent American history, 33 percent civics, 214 percent economics, and 4.4 percent sociology. Seventeen percent of all pupils are enroled in ancient history, 14 percent in modern and mediaeval history, 11 percent Engiish history, 12 percent American history, 8 percent civics, and one percent in economics and sociology respectively. Mathematics—The mathematics situation is not very different with respect to traditional practices. Ninety-nine percent of these schools offer algebra I, 54 percent algebra II, 71 percent geometry (usually plane), and 42 percent arithmetic. Thirty- three percent of the student body is enroled in algebra I, 14 percent in algebra II, 22 percent in geometry, 10 percent in arithmetic. Ancient Language—Highty-six percent of the schools offer beginning Latin, 66 percent Latin II (usually Caesar), 10 percent Latin III, and 3 percent Latin IV. Twenty-eight percent of all the high school pupils take beginning Latin, 14 percent Latin II, 1% percent Latin III, and less than one percent Latin IV. Modern language—Only 9 percent of the schools offer beginning French, 4% percent second year French. ‘Two and one-half percent of the student body take beginning French and less than 1 percent second year French. Two and one-half percent of the schools offer Spanish I, and 1% percent Spanish II. Less than 1 percent of the students take Spanish I and less than half of 1 percent take Spanish II, i Science—Forty-eight percent of the schools offer general science; 21 percent biology, 25 percent physics, 6 percent chemistry, 9 percent physical geography, and 6 percent physiology. Twenty-one percent of the student body takes general science, 7 percent biology, 5 percent physics, 14 percent chemistry, 2 per cent physical geography, and approximately 2 percent physiology. A griculture—Eleven and one-half percent of these schools offer farm crops, 61%4 percent animal husbandry, 8 percent soils, 4 percent farm management, and 4 per- cent general agriculture. Three and one-half percent of the student body is en- roled in farm crops, 2 percent in animal husbandry, 2 percent in soils, 1% percent in farm management and 1% percent in general agriculture. THE DEPARTMENT OF RuRAL EpucATION LY Gi Home. Economics—Nine and one-half percent of the schools offer home economics I (usually foods), 6 percent home economics II (usually clothing) ; 114 percent home economics III, and 242 percent home economics IV. Of the pupil enrolments 3% percent in foods, 2 percent clothing, and less than 114 percent in home economics III, and IV, respectively. From the above it may be said that the subjects offered in the small high schools of Kentucky, as well as throughout the country, are four years of English, four years of Latin, four years of history, and four years of mathematics. By any reasonable interpretation of the above data, one is led to conclude that the small high schools in general are under the in- fluence of the college preparatory concept of the function of a high school. Almost without a single exception the supposedly college preparatory courses occupy the most prominent place in the curriculum with respect to pupil en- rolments. Ini but few instances are there any attempts made to adjust the curriculum to the needs of those who are to become the farmers and home- makers of the community served by the high school. From the above it seems inevitable that the fifth outstanding need of the small high school is—a reorganization of the curriculum. Such a re- organization should be based upon certain fundamental assumptions, definite aims and objectives, and courses making up the program of studies should be organized into the curricula according to certain essential principles. ‘The small high school is a vital force in our secondary) educational scheme. ‘To make it most effective it is necessary that the entire pro- fessional staff view it sympathetically and understandingly. In conclusion, may I summarize briefly what appears to be the outstanding needs of the small high schools: 1. A comparative county and state program of establishing high schools. 2. A junior-senior high school organization, preferably on the 6-6 plan. 3. A more definite scheme for the preparation of high school teachers. 4. A more specific scheme in the teacher-training institutions for the preparation of principals. 5. A reorganization of the curriculum. While the problem of finance is always with us, yet it is believed that much improvement can be made by organizing the small high schools as indicated above. | AN: ATTEMPT TO DEFINE A. SCHOOL DISTRICT UNIT IN TERMS:OF CURRENT EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES AND IN RECOGNITION OF CERTAIN ADMINIS- i. TRATIVE ADJUSTMENTS THOMAS. J. SMART, UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE, KANS. This report is based on a study of school conditions in a portion of Brown county, Kansas. There are 576 square miles of rich fertile land in the county which is located in the northeast part of the state. “Thrifty native and foreign-born people settled the county just preceding the 512 NatIoNAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION a a a eS Civil War. Hiawatha and Horton have populations of three and four thousand. ‘There are ten cities and villages with five hundred and fewer people. More than 65 percent of the people lived in this’ territory in 1920, which is defined as rural by the United States Census Bureau. Almost 54 percent lived outside incorporated cities. The county had 2414 fewer people in 1920 than in 1900. The open country lost almost one out of five of its people during these two decades. Hiawatha and Horton gained about 16 percent. The smaller cities barely held their own. The people are engaged in general farming. ‘The average farm with its improvements represents an investment of $35,000, and the percentage of tenancy had reached approximately 45 percent in 1920. The facts per- taining to the schools here presented are for the school year 1922-23. The area covered in the study may be roughly indicated by a circle, with Hiawatha, the county seat, as the center and with a radius of twelve miles. Hamlin, Reserve, Robinson, and Padonia are in the area. The early settlers, apparently, organized common school districts when and where needed in the development of the county. Each of these common school districts was operating an elementary school in 1922-23 separately and independently of all other districts. There were twelve high school districts lying wholly or partly within the county. There are nine rural high school districts. Surrounding rural territory has been organized with each of the nine small villages into high school districts. “There are evidences that gerrymandering has been done. Parts of the Padonia district are twice as far from Padonia as from Hiawatha. If a proposed rural high school district included no incorporated city with five hundred or more people, a majority vote car- ried the election. Careful planning of the proposed high school district boundaries made it possible for the small cities to carry the election by overcoming the farm vote. If a city of more than five hundred people was included, those inside and outside the corporate limits voted separately. If the rural high school district was organized, majorities must be had from both groups. Hiawatha, Horton, and Morrill, the only cities in the county with more than five hundred people, have not organized rural high schools. The law has encouraged the growth in the county of many small high schools. Padonia, Reserve and Hamlin with 13, 21 and 27 pupils are classed in this report as small high schools. Robinson and Hiawatha ‘had enrol- ments of 88 and 300. The costs of schooling in the small high schools were excessive. Sixty minutes of instruction for one pupil in Padonia came as high as 2124 cents. Four and four-tenths cents was the lowest cost per student clock hour in Hiawatha. The cost of the median among the eighty-nine subjects being offered the first semester of 1922-23 in the five high schools was 1314 cents. “The lowest cost in Padonia per student clock hour was just double the median. The average (medians) for the quartiles were 624, 11, 21% and 53 cents per student clock hour. The three small high schools purchased all the instruction costing 53 cents and THE DeEparRTMENT OF RuRAL EDUCATION ols more than one-half that costing 2114 cents. ‘They received only 780 of the 120,240 clock hours with costs below the medium. ‘The. first yielded almost 23,000 more student clock hours of instruction than the other three quartiles: combined. The high costs of instruction in the small high schools were due largely to small classes and much teaching by high-salaried principals. Each of the small high schools employed a principal and a teacher. Two of the three principals were teaching six, and the third five, periods daily. Six periods was a full teaching load for the regular instructors. The enrolments averaged approximately the same in classes taught by principals and by instructors. Almost half the instruction was given by the principals. Instruction under the principals averaged (median) seven- teen cents more per student clock hour than under the regular instructors in the fourth quartile and ten cents more in the third quartile. The prin- cipals in Padonia, Hamlin, and Reserve were paid respectively 21.46 and 87 percent higher salaries than the instructors under them. The costs per subject per pupil per year were high in these small high schools. English I cost $105 per pupil per year in Padonia. yng ponies home, odonet tnsod te Sale See Ibjoneen/e a ages dreetegin aie at oy on tapve tanebihh dosisn tu yi a a8 Gtirdreriemnd 20m gneve off tall Mor eal it ot yaiisoter! bint 3 eéreal (on wrettibnas -naned: ne veoh rae <) sini02- enmdgallA ty weldigtiiinggas nse sheet chee qmsitooq bh Whonelaloe- one tea! wher pees f Ate ok dort oy venient) “yeulingana sormiilig Joradlye we cag line eqns’ adit, hasty idstrasisioe 4c Sheaves 38b4 ceneial bit oye tee 2Y wi eeeweaeth 9d) ind aa wot?) dasbas [Gi ek. aries my thes gl is +s gto ty Befgrches | cobebiosaalses eben Yep beiginde vi blivhise WMinsiess wide Mist Silt (ietleowity Vdd alee tian digo: HVS: LF geea ggh (emailes ook seule! son nakdoiaaeliedl ae boselo bed wd% ina) bec aphermeciak ly mead soit. t8} bebe Miwywe tics bask psdit sneurgone) ited Proms dete a bisa 34) 05> ante yd baw peo ede) ome, dD) beet OMT egganm sana ap i wtustive! GM nl) wo ie ator bdome? siete Mages bod Ob Lhimla eudoate deck) ined s( wal asl: eeeehectien aris ipa ot bese storey. vn cst bia 498 br ei ate ingle! Hive a> amhiny dendieaeveo nei weveitbdotibthawle + th bistnoby dias squie antieo 40 a 3 bowedlb? one eeleyee dies Le re..tph ina) mead ati. abwtmn, riety hac i ay & odd so) omy be gaigedde, shat xtoort kacsgorsdt nassycadd 0 ania 1s, Oh bates op webs Hahah seed dogg. trhiddie end qty othe ov) grill rosssew ogee ibite, cote: sence diy bog, as tow) Stowerdeliedl ogo 3 t a weer) ainhes) rset ambteder ood Terese yhads ogaiadses ipamesd anve slenedl sans {tions lnothitickel nuit tipinedsaw toes hedy "aerieth tte 8 ibhudide cay Awe resvaleywttr oil) es elise stotly Siew eves tied od tanh Sbiewolhod eerenzéo qb garde olnty ohewliisebitt alo cbonkd aman (ade ‘Resim tosrshih Ben Seidl) plane \TSetiegnaeih) pda. borers eno ageeah: ‘Baits ove gti er vita tye) ted stot adguend \y Hagtgled: ieebt aso bed Asilyn-ataigd sera gaiviadfatyady teastinn ote altig-bne syot sd de re le are 20 bene epee hioguime ods: colelered hwoopiecdo feito wl feveorgniy anit — sembrosiivhias bie. eabtaued: oe cabo dave potbyyopaede WRAY | breerpetis § averties oe pmhtcnne-iesanlia. Seigesbnn olka qua hates ld die co baie tay ekyeit: ed) bhanile . Chessidreset amiss idl Pelli godtedey soi30er Yq Weer wdgoe bhncae Levee edie ber nep Wea (heap ately tify ERR ogee Vit (qQiee tb Amie roby iomrdbing =: i fhowite ede orth ited | Lloeoebandieag tai. Lng awol awit See tl wae fr ‘ OOPS eS 1G? ettte at 7 ead ares \ arwiiew ta peuts 7 ce ya The Department of School Health and Physical Education EDUCATION was known as the Department of Child Study until July 13, 1911. See Proceed- ings, 1911: 870. The Department of Child Study was created at the Asbury Park meeting, 1894: 40. In July, 1924, the department was merged with the De- partment of Physical and Health Education under the name of the Department of School Health and Physical Education. See Proceedings, 1924: 96. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, James EK. Rogers, Director, National Physical Education Service, 315 Fourth Ave., Ash- land Building, New York City; Vicepresident, Mar- garet Bell, Director, Department of Physical Educa- tion for Women, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Secretary-Treasurer, Florence D. Alden, Di- rector, Department of Physical Education for Women, University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore. ; Hxecu- tive Committee: Ethel Perrin, American Child Health Association, 370 Seventh Ave., New York City, (Term expires 1928); N. P. Neilson, State Supervisor of Physical Education, Sacramento, Calif., (Term expires 1930) ; Melville Stewart, State Supervisor of Physical Education, Charleston, W. Va., (Term expires 1931). The Department meets once each year, in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the reord of meetings are found in earlier volumes of Proceedings as follows: 4 {HE DEPARTMENT OF SCHOOL HEALTH AND PHYSICAL 1893: 615-678 1902:737-759 1909: 745-789 1915:971-995 1921: 517-523 1895: 944-950 1903:817-847 1910: 921-949 1916:681-699 1922:1085-1099 1896: 893-937 1904:803-843 1911: 905-939 1917:521-535 1923: 744-842 1897: 870-916 1905:755-781 1912:1141-1153 1918:339-359 1924: 637-651 1898: 929-959 1906:711-713 1913: 667-695 1919:315-323 1925: 577-598 1899 :1064-1097 1907:925-951 1914: 683-721 1920:311-323 1926: 600-624 1901: 758-771 1908:999-1047 [562] THE SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY ATHLETICS W. A. KEARNS, DIRECTOR OF ATHLETICS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION, OREGON STATE COLLEGE, CORVALLIS, ORE. tion or athletics among school people and especially the physical educa- tion section of such a gathering. From the smallest or the largest in- dustrial community to the most exclusive and fully equipped estate of the wealthy, there is need in each human life for that which can be gotten through participation in such activities. “There is most certainly a real universal need. Interests which bring communities together are of tre- mendous value to the individual and the nation. ‘There is a real need in most communities for more “getting together’? because since the advent of this automotive age in which we live, families and smaller groups have become more selfcentered, capable of entertaining themselves. It is easier to go great distances and plan social and recreational occasions in small groups of ones own choosing. ‘This I believe has created a greater need for again rubbing shoulders with all classes of people, where the young people of rich and poor enter activities as rivals and often as teammates. It is being proven that the most common and appropriate meeting ground for better understanding of casts and classes is on the athletic field, floor, and playground. Surely the activities which hold within themselves the accomplishment of such an important thing as this for society are meeting a great need and we have but to observe to find such a need all around us. It is easy to assume from superficial observation that most everybody is having sufficient entertainment in these crowded days, but a closer investigation proves that some sections of society are starving for wholesome interests of a recreative nature which will not cost them excessively. Are public schools responsible for the promotion of community ath- letics?—This, of course, is a question that could vary with conditions to be found in the various types of communities. If I am not mistaken we are in the majority committed to the idea that the school should try to meet as many of the outstanding needs of a given community as is consistent with their equipment, location, and most of all their personnel. The increased use of school buildings for various groups and interests is an example of the change in viewpoint of the use of and responsibility of the school. However, it seems to me that relationship between the school and community whether in recreation or other channels should be looked upon as an opportunity rather than a responsibility. The whole value of such work can be measured somewhat by noting the tremendous growth and interest in the parent-teachers association organization. Many schools approach the recrea- tion and athletic needs of all their constituents through committees of the parent-teachers association. It thus becomes a simple and enlarged program of new branch of the work of parent-teachers association. le is obviously unnecessary to stress the need of any community for recrea- [563] 564+ NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ‘ People are experiencing a real bond of fellowship in the parent-teachers associations. Nothing will further this good work more than the promo- tion of an all around community athletics program with the same com- munity organization backing up the work. What might we not say of the moulding of public sentiment to support the whole school program by the popularizing use of school yymnasiums for various health building classes for middle aged and community leagues for the younger people. The modern gymnasium with especially first-class basketball facilities is capable of being used every night in the year and is always at a premium. ‘To my mind this is one of the most important serv- ices that can be rendered to a community. 4 It has been my privilege to observe the maximum uses of several large school gymnasiums in this manner. ‘The results have always been satis- factory where the organization has been proper. ‘There is seldom difficulty in getting leagues or special events to accommodate all who wish to par- ticipate. It seems people are waiting to be asked to get into these activities. It is also not a hard task to secure the necessary cooperation for the many detail jobs in conducting such programs. Methods—The most important consideration in the conduct of com- munity athletics is not the branch of activity which is adopted, important as that may be. I feel that the method used in working through the pro- gram is of vastly greater importance. Wherever you find competition you deal with the emotional life. “The method of procedure which is the fruit of your organization is the element which will make or break the whole plan. Here is where experience is needed, especially when it comes to con- ducting live-wire young men’s basketball and baseball leagues. Such matters as eligibility, officiating and protests must be covered by rules well chosen. Such regulations for leagues must be iron-clad. “They can be secured easily as they are almost as standard as constitutions. A spirit of good sportsmanship within all activities, especially where the officials are working without pay is the element for which to work. Giving respon- sibility to representatives and committees of various kinds who are re- sponsible for their own people is a splendid way to keep harmony. Democ- racy will work very well in the conduct of all these activities. HEALTH—AN OBJECTIVE OF EDUCATION WALTER H. BROWN, M. D., DIRECTOR, MARION COUNTY CHILD HEALTH DEMONSTRATION, SALEM, ORE. One of the striking developments of the last decade has been the wide- spread interest in public health. Since this involves the daily life and habits of the whole community, the schools have come more and more to be considered as the most important agency in influencing the health practices of both the individual and the community. “Che public seems pleased with what appears to be a new discovery—the importance of health. It has SCHOOL HEALTH AND PuysicaL EpucaTion 565 become a habit to turn to the schools for the promotion of any new project that appears desirable in community life. In this case it is seldom realized that the public schools have been working away for many years in an attempt to influence the health of children. It must be admitted that our methods have proven frequently to be unsound and our aims consequently have not been realized. No one recognizes this better than the educator. For this reason it would appear to be worthwhile for us to examine frankly the ways in which the school has tried to contribute to the health of children in an effort in determining their values. By this process we may be able, as specialized workers, to contribute more effectively toward a complete health program. No attempt will be made to discuss these efforts by various groups to realize health in a school program in the order establish- ment or relative value. Let us start with the medical group, for it is in this field that I am most at home and can speak with the greatest frankness. May I begin by saying that I believe that the medical man has made a very valuable contribution to school health. Further, that he has an increasing function in the school. On the other hand, the medical aspects of a school health are only one small part of a whole school program, one of whose outcomes should be health. But the medical man has made commendable progress since he acci- dentally got into the classroom in Boston a long time ago. You will remember that he was first called into the school to assist in the emergency of controling communicable disease. It was a sort of a rescue job or helping to put out a fire that was disturbing the school machinery. This was and is one of his valuable services to school health. The emergency of epidemic diseases opened another interesting field for the physician in the school. He was accustomed to see the application of the science of medicine to those persons who came to him complaining of illness. In searching for communicable diseases in the schools he realized for the first time that many of these apparently normal children were suffering from physical handicaps which were of vital importance to their health. Out of this realization has grown all of the activities and agitation for the discovery and correction of physical defects, which seem to bulk so large in many of our socalled health programs. It is not my desire to underestimate the importance of these activities nor to advocate any lessening of our efforts to secure the removal of the physical handicaps. 1 merely wish to make clear the point that the discovery and correction of physical defects is only one small part of any school health program that aims to function in the lives of all of the children. We must focus our attention on health, not on disease and defects. Fortunately, the medical group interested in school are rapidly realizing the logical outcome of the two previously mentioned activities. “They know that it is necessary to provide for the proper protection of the child from communicable diseases and to afford him the opportunity for freedom from correctible physical handicaps, but they also realize that these alone will 566 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION not assure him of that measure of vigorous health of which he is capable. This will require the focusing of attention upon health promotion in dis- tinction to disease prevention. ‘This realization has led to the logical con- clusion that health can be attained only by an educative process. If the medical man attempts active personal participation in classroom work he steps beyond his own field. Slowly but surely he is beginning to see that in this newer and higher development of school health his larger contribu- tion can come through making available for the teaching groups the treasures of scientific medicine. Our effort to realize health through medical inspection has made a measurable contribution toward progress, but it has failed to secure a full measure of health for children because it is only one part of the influences which must be brought to bear upon the life of any individual who is to attain such a fundamental condition as health. We pass next to our efforts to attain health through physical activities or physical education. It would be entirely out of place for me to attempt to trace the evolution of the physical education group in its relationship to the schools. You are more familiar with it than I can hope to be. It may not be amiss for me to voice my great appreciation of the large and vital contribution which this group has been and is making to the health field. Your group were the pioneers in attempting to influence the health of school children through physical activities. It has been a most interesting experience for me to trace the evolution of your group for my own information. ‘This interest has become more intense and practical as I found how you had gone through an experience quite comparable in many respects to my own group. Of more immediate importance is that your leaders had come to approximately the same point in their thinking that we have, namely, that health was more than mere physical fitness. It is gratifying to learn how fully the leaders of the physica! education group have come to see where their plans have proven inadequate to assure the highest health for all of the children. For we now know from our experience that they must fail because health is not merely a matter of physical activities, however fundamentally they may be conceived. To me the analysis of these facts points inevitably to the same conclusions arrived at by a consideration of the medical activities in the school health program, namely, that health cannot be realized for all of the children without an actual integration of all the activities of the specialized groups within the school, not to mention the real cooperation with the home. This presentation would not be complete if we did not consider the prolonged and almost universal effort to influence health by means of in- struction in physiology and hygiene. It is needless to discuss how ineffective in the lives of children much of this instruction has been. We know that the mere imparting of health knowledge contributes imperfectly to health even though the knowledge is essentially sound. So much of the past in- struction was based upon knowledge that could not possibly function in the life of the child that it is small wonder that health instruction, as such, has contributed so little to health. However, the picture in this field is ScHooL HEALTH AND PuysicaL EpuCATION 567 changing. Just as the medical and physical education groups have grad- ually broadened their viewpoint and improved their technic, so the class- room teacher has peeped beyond the wall of a hard and fast curriculum into the effects of her teaching in the lives of the children. ‘The result of this excursion beyond the four walls of the classroom has been the dis- covery of the possible assistance which the specialized groups can render her in attaining the goals toward which she is directing her work. This completes our brief survey of the evolution of health education -in the schools. Each of the specialized groups have contributed toward prog- ress. It would be begging the question if we did not face squarely one of the serious results that has grown out of our method of approach. Too often the specialized groups have attempted to attain their ends inde- pendently. ‘he time has come for us to look at this problem squarely and work out an actual correlation of our possible contributions to the attainment of health as a real objective of education. The first step in this process is a willingness upon the part of each group to see beyond the boundaries of their own speciality. The second step would appear to be a realization that health is an objective and not a subject of instruction. For some strange reason we have acquired the idea that we can instruct or inspect people into health. Unfortunately, all of us have been wrong. By the very nature of what health is, it must be lived to be learned. ‘This means that what should primarily be given to the child is hygienic training and not instruction. [he whole discipline of the school should be so ordered as to develop habits of healthful activity. Rote, memorization, and formal practice will not build in these finer char- acter traits which are such an important part of health. We must find a way—all of us together—to interest the child in living these traits zest- fully to the end that they will be favorably conditioned toward them. Manifestly such a conception of health as an objective of education takes it entirely out of the classification as a subject of instruction. It will ‘depend largely upon incorporation in the daily life of sound practices relating to nutrition, exercise, cleanliness, fresh air, sunlight, mental poise, and similar fundamentals. ‘The size and complexity of the problem seems overwhelming. Nevertheless, there are an ever-increasing number of school systems where it is in operation. It can be done wherever there is a recognition of true value of health and a willingness to work patiently and open-mindedly. It seems desirable to include one more suggestion. I feel that we should examine and perhaps revise our concept of “health.” In attempting to understand physical and mental life, man has been studied necessarily by the analytic or rather the synthetic method. Anatomy has sought to disclose his various parts and describe the size, form, and relation to one another. Physiology has sought to define the functions of these parts or organs. These methods cannot really discover or reveal to us the meaning of the organism as a whole. For the living human being is more than the mathematical sum of his several parts. But it is un- fortunately on this point of view that we have built our concept of health. 568 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION All too frequently, even today, health is conceived as a mere negation— an absence of sickness. ‘Chis has been the natural consequence of our approach to health through the study and treatment of disease. It is gratifying to note that there are definite signs of a newer and better idea of health which is based upon a positive conception. With the rapid development of interest in health, we are hearing more and more about “normal” people. Many efforts are being made to define this term. They may be illustrated by the one proposed by Seham: “A normal child is one who is free from physical defects and nutritional dis- orders; possesses stable nerves and good emotional control; equipped with well functioning senses, especially sight and hearing; rebounds with vitality, energy and enthusiasm; and good social adaptability.” “This is a useful conception, but a broader and more satisfactory one can be found in Health and Disease, by Sit W. Leslie Mackenzie—which may be summed up in a consideration of the objective and subjective signs of health. He defines that person as healthy who exhibits objectively a readiness to act without external stimulus; who has capacity to act for long periods without fatigue ; and who has a regularity in the daily physiological cycles of appetite, mus- cular action, excretion, and sleep. On the subjective side, he has a feeling of satisfaction and ease in activities with a general feeling of well-being; who is free from the sense of effort and environmental oppression; who is not oppressed by work; afd who is free from inner uncontrollable moods or tempers. In brief, this person is able to maintain his physiological nor- mals at their highest potency. “This also involves on the part of the in- dividual a knowledge about his own organism if he is to have a useful, usable concept of what constitutes health. This concept will only become worth while if the individual is willing to pay the price. And the price of health is for man to be master of both himself and his environment. ‘ THE ADMINISTRATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION GEORGE H. BLACK, PRESIDENT, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, ELLENSBURG, WASH. Educational workers are now quite definitely agreed as to the aims of any health education program for public schools and for higher educational institutions. It seems to be conceded also that the term health education does not really define the whole scope of this particular educational unit and doubtless the general aim of what is popularly known as health educa- tion must now be interpreted as including the promotion of all agencies for the conservation of human efficiency and human life. Many factors, coming directly either from industrial life or from ordi- nary environmental changes surrounding children today, have resulted in our decision to include accident prevention in this division of educational work, and these same factors have indirectly called attention to the neces- sity for greater emphasis in the field of play and recreational activities especially for vacation months, and to the desirability of an enlargement ScHooL HEALTH AND PuysicaL EDUCATION 569 of the playground facilities and free space available for play in order to keep children out of city streets. Suggestion of the importance of this emphasis is found in the following summary based upon a report on deaths and injuries from street accidents to children 6 to 16 in New York City, March 1 to December 31, 1923: ; Killed Injured Grossinpustree(smnotratyCLOssiN SeePerere anil sccei Eee oat oe 184 3,583 Crossingestreetsvat street: Crossing aac) eile cladee ss -cacece nase: 40 1,274 Playin peeAMmesminetheToadw aye eenmassmenecrn ener cteccic aon. 56 1,865 Runningsotssidewalk into’ streetaessmeen sats cs ee eee een noe eS 677 Stealingpnidesmongveliclesa. wate teres mente hee oe tine 19 431 Rollerskating, coasting, etc, in roadway....+..0+....6++a+ees 11 207 ICY ClomelG iN f MCALCLCSSIY Mie carina is cassis w 55.0. ar aya ube pere’s 10 522 Gollrsinnsmotmviehiclesmmreee nels circa ts kcs er oec es cco en 3 622 Jumping on or off cars, etc., in motion...... PART Ree eee, BAe 1 147 Other causes. peers bent tevaci crs < yaseetores yak’ otto bs waderetiel gepeees 19 504 Falling over) obstacles or into excavations. ..................:.. 1 145 Ghmbinggtreesmpoles mien ces) etCnanens aot aati ecet ooo a nee viet 66 227 Vinlenatt player emer etna ey. seiner aeecee site eo chee te aces 7 155 Otherticauses: Peeree is seeek ote tomee Le ates Seether died Gh 302 10,425 MLO tg 1S a tee aoe erro leer Shea Sis yates ues haste: 750 20,784 A glance at this summary shows the need of added emphasis in the field of supervised recreational activities. Health education workers, therefore, must not forget that a death from accident is as final as is a death from disease and probably also a greater tragedy. There are in particular three main groups of workers most directly charged with the responsibilities connected with health education. ‘These are; 1. The activities and physical development group—including all types of physical education workers, recreational leaders, also kindergarten leaders, playground directors, scout leaders, etc. 2. The scientists, including especially the food and nutrition specialists and the home economists, the biologists, and the psychologists. 3. The diagnosticians and treatment-specialists, which include physicians, bio- chemists, bacteriologists, nurses and psychiatrists. Thinking particularly of the administrative problems involved, we note that there are but few social or political units of territory in our country that would not have within their boundaries some or all of the above types of workers. The chief need, therefore, is for leaders and these leaders should be teachers or other educational workers. These leaders must be not only good organizers but interpreters and coordinators. Such leaders should be by training preferably teachers with some insight in educational administration. Io be successful coordinators they must be, if not special- ists, at least trained workers in some unit of the health education program. What shall be the method or the approach in such service? It should be not a classroom approach placing our faith wholly in a course of study for children of different grades. Its machinery must, however, include a 570 NaTIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION eee ese nytt ttt A A it A A TA AAA well adapted course of study appropriate to elementary, to junior, and to senior high school. ‘The method used here must be analogous to that used by the workers trained for social service, and the teaching where done must have recourse to the “project teaching technic.” ‘The fundamentals of the method to be used therefore will be: i. The general philosophy back of the social service worker. 2. The scientific approach typified by the best procedure today in medical — science and practice, namely—scientific diagnosis must always precede prescription—health surveys must precede health projects. 3. The instruction must be undertaken as a project achieving, first, what is essential, and adding to this later what is desirable. The county superintendent could assume responsibility for all children in districts having no high school organization. Either by planning in advance of appointments for the year or through selection of a known qualified teacher in the group, a leader could easily be designated to act as organizer and coordinator of the three types of workers referred to above. A series of conferences could be arranged for the purpose of clarifying aims, and of formulating the details of an inter-community health educa- tion program. ‘This work when undertaken would be continuous from year to year even if the personnel should change from time to time and inevitably would be extended to include parent-education and home- participation with the school’s program. Misunderstandings would be supplanted by cooperative efforts and even the children and the homes in remote communities could easily be reached by a permanent and continu- ing service organization. A similar type of organization could be adapted to smaller towns and cities in any county in this state and the leadership and number of workers available would keep pace with the increasing density of population. The lists of references published in the Report of the Joint Committee on Health Problems in Education could well be taken as a basis for a good library for these service units organized for the promotion of health education in outlying communities. ‘There should be some specialist in health education provided as a health consultant either by virtue of appointment or other type of designation by the state whose services would be available to all unit leaders. “These designated specialists should be persons trained from the educational view- point as well as prepared in a special field. In short we wish, through this work to become less and less conscious of health and more and more conscious of the joy of efficient living. We do not desire to add to schoolroom tasks—rather we desire to remove in- terferences which make tasks out of what otherwise should be pleasurable opportunities for self-development, self-expression, and the enrichment of life. ScHooL HEALTH AND PuysicaAL EDUCATION 571 THE RELATION OF HEALTH EDUCATION TO SOCIAL SCIENCE AND ENGLISH ORPHA MCPHERSON, SUPERVISOR OF RURAL EDUG@ATION, STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, BELLINGHAM, WASH. Realizing that an understanding of the local community health needs and those of the individual child are basic to any type of health curriculum, a group of rural teachers set about to improve, step by step, the health conditions of their various schools and communities. "These schools are rural training centets in a consolidated system cooperating with and under the supervision of the Washington state normal school at Bellingham. ‘The teachers also recognized the fact that, if any health program is to func- tion, it must have the hearty support of the school, the home, and the community and that the final test of such a program is the degree of desirable differences in conduct that it effects. To rely upon a mere knowledge of proper health habits is a fallacy. The child must not only know certain facts about health, but know when he needs them and he must be willing to practice them. It was the plan of these teachers to begin with the habits already formed and to lead the children gradually to see that health is not solely an individual matter but concerns the community also. It is a thing to be done, not just talked about. It involves the social as well as the physical. The logical approach was by means of the hot lunch as the communities believed in its value. It was more than two years before all accepted the policy of a community fund to be used for all children. Previously each child bought his own lunch and those needing it most were denied its benefits. Here was an opportunity to learn about various food values. The hot lunch had its usual ascribed social values but was unattractive when eaten with dirty hands. Sinks were installed when the need became more apparent. It was then that the most important health habit had its real beginning. Water was heated and placed in each of two small tea kettles. To one was added liquid soap. ‘The children lined up at the sink where first soapy water and then clear water was poured over their hands by certain other children. Soon children felt miserable when, for some reason, their hands could not be washed. Many parents have reported that their children have been more careful about washing before meals at home although in some cases there has been no apparent improvement. Feeling that at least some of the retardation in the first grade is due to physical handicaps and realizing the value of socializing the rural begin- ning child, the teachers planned a special day in the spring when all of next year’s class could be present to see what school is like and to learn what physical defects could be overcome before they entered school. Some of the outcomes in the terms of social growth as related to health education and English are: 972 NatTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION 1. An opportunity to enlarge the children’s environment and to know their community better. 2. An opportunity to cooperate in showing hospitality to others. 3. The writing of real invitations and the acceptance of responses. 4, Learning to mail real letters. 5. The feeling of joy that comes from doing something for those less mature and capable. 6. Sharing food, pleasures, and properties with others. 7. Cleaning and making the schoolroom attractive for guests. 8. Reading and dramatizing for a real and appreciative audience. 9. An interest on the part of parents to help with a health program. 10. An opportunity to show the necessity of being physically fit for entering school. 11. An opportunity to stress cleanliness in some individual cases. 12. A friendly attitude toward new children at school. 13. Much discussion of plans and acceptance of only desirable ones. 14. An opportunity to see the need of helping others form desirable health habits as well as to practice them one’s self. We must keep in mind that health education must spread to the com- munity if healthy living is to become a practice of the children in whom we are interested. Since school progress is dependent upon the physical condi- tion of children, they must be guided in forming specific habits, gaining adequate knowledge, and creating desirable attitudes toward healthful liv- ing. ‘These may be arrived at through life situations and are not the result of formal teaching in periods set aside for the teaching of health education. If health is an objective, not a school subject, then all subjects of the curriculum, all activities in which children are engaged should make a wholesome contribution toward healthful living. HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE COLLEGE RUTH GLASSOW, DIRECTOR OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION, OREGON AGRICUL- TURAL COLLEGE, CORVALLIS, ORE. We begin, at Oregon Agricultural College, with physical and medical examination upon entrance. ‘The reason for this procedure needs brief mention—first, the desire to place the student in a type of activity which will be most beneficial to her, second, to detect defects which can be remedied, and third, to aid in the development of the ideal for a yearly examination. ‘This portion of our program is itself defective and we hope that the next few years will see corrections in the form of (1) a more thorough and detailed examination than is now given; (2) a closer check- ing on the correction of defects; and (3) provision for re-examinations for every one—at least one each year. The student next encounters the health program in the physical educa- tion requirement. Each freshman woman finds that she must take some form of physical activity for four hours each week; and, in her sophomore year the same. Upper class women must have two hours each week. The department offers a varied program of athletics, tumbling, and dancing. ScnHoot HEALTH AND PuysicaL Epucation 573 From these the student makes her own selection of activities with the fol- lowing exceptions: 1. Every student must pass an elementary swimming test by the end of her sophomore year. 2. Each freshman must take two hours a week in a course which we have called “physical education practice.” The work in this course is divided into three sections. In the first, particular attention is paid to posture—the development of a posture ideal, methods of correcting common faults in posture, and a knowledge of exer- cises which develop a subjective control of the muscles controlling the customary weakness of position. Special emphasis is given to the feet—and to the proper mechanics of walking. The first ten weeks of work might be thought of as a prolonged discussion of the habits of walking, standing, and sitting with opportunity for criticism of each individual. Results are tested in an objective way with the aid of the silhouette photograph and foot prints. Shadow pictures are taken at the beginning and the end of this section of the work. Foot prints are taken also. “These prints are dated, cut into standard notebook size and kept with the health index note- book, of which I shall speak later. In addition to the work on posture and feet, exercises which may be helpful for constipation and dysmenorrhea are learned. ‘These, too, are printed and added to the notebook. The second and third sections of the freshmen required work are more directly planned to aid in the acquisition of physical skills which are con- cerned with the control of the body with reference to objects in the environment rather than with subjective control. Aside from these courses—the swimming and the physical education practice—a student may choose what courses she pleases during her college course. The student next encounters the health education program in the course in hygiene given during the second term of the freshman year. While this course is in the department of physical education, it is really given by faculty members from several departments. ‘The nutrition staff has given splendid cooperation—with the talks on balanced diets and selection of foods. ‘Tables of approximate energy value of common foods are given the group for the notebooks and every girl keeps a record of the food eaten for one day. Additional lectures are given by bacteriology department, by the psychology staff on mental hygiene, and by the pharmacy staff on the \ use of home remedies. i One feature of our work with which the physical education staff has been especially satisfied is the provision for individual conference. [uring the past year each freshman had a ten minute conference with an instructor at least once each term. “Chis has made possible a personal contact with the students which is so often lost in large colleges. We have been so pleased with the results of these conferences that we hope to arrange meet- 574 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION ings with every student next year. Our tentative plan is to continue the work with the freshmen as we did during the past year. Each instructor who has a section of students in the course required of all freshmen will meet her students individually once each term. This will give the fresh- men opportunity of becoming acquainted with three members of the de- partment during her first year. During the last three years, one confer- ence a year will be arranged and the same instructor will meet the girl each year. This will mean that each student will know that someone is interested in her personal problems—and it will mean that some instructor will be making an effort to know every girl and to aid her in realizing health. ‘These conferences are our effort to apply health principles to the individual case. Immediately after each conference, the instructor notes on the medical examination record card her comments regarding the girl, what is her estimation of the student, what are her strong and weak points, and what special advice has been given. “Through these comments, accessible to the staff only, the health conferences are tied together, and each may be a part of a progressive development. It also means that the medical exami- nation record card is brought from the files once a year and progress noted. In order that there may be some means of measuring developments and of interesting the student, we have been using a notebook which we have called the “Health and Efficiency Index.” In this we keep records which are indications of physical condition. “hese notebooks are a basis for part of the discussion in each health conference—and by the advice given regarding improvement, it is hoped that each student will realize that she alone is responsible for weaknesses. The first page of the book is a record of illness up to date. Here is kept not only those periods in which the illness was severe enough to require absence from school but also slight colds and headaches and other indispositions. We hope in each case to develop the tendency to look for the cause of illness. The second page of the notebook includes a record of weight—taken each month and a record of the condition of the skin—noting clearness and color. The weight is taken by the individual; the skin condition is noted by the instructor and is checked only at the time of conference. Organic tests make up another page. Here are included a pulse record before and after exercise, and a record of lung expansion and capacity. These will be compared with the records for the group in order to give the girl an opportunity for rating herself in comparison with her classmates. A posture record appears on the next page. This is analyzed in detail that the student may know where correction is needed and that, on succeed- ing examinations, an estimation of improvement may be made. Av fae ie 3 tle Gees ‘ e ; ¥. mag aig ; ll 4 be qc > . ww Sule enon i? Pe t . tr on = : oa : a\MAr re os ae : re > ae = ea - Lay - - Ad nee aa & % “ee ” - ~ , @e - 7 > i. ide. ~~ 7 The Department of Science Instruction HE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTION is an TP reuterowth of a State Department of Natural Science Teachers which was organized at a meet- ing of the Colorado State Teachers’ Association in 1894. See Proceedings, 1895:951. It was first known as the Department of Natural Science Instruction. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Hanor A. Webb, Professor of the Teaching of Chemistry, George Peabody College for Teachers, Nashville, Tenn.; Secretary, Francis D. Curtis, Professor of the Teaching of Natural Sci- ence, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich. This Department meets once each year, in June. Facts relating to the establishment of this Depart- ment and the record of meetings are found in earlier volumes of Proceedings as follows: 1895: 951-959 1896: 937-968 1897; 916-959 1898: 959-985 1899 :1097-1118 1900: 592-609 1901: 771-803 1902 :759-790 1903 :847-897 1904 :843-897 1905 :781-827 1906 :719 1907 :951-959 1908 :965-999 1909: 789-829 1910: 949-969 1911: 939-993 1912 :1153-1195 1913: 695-717 1914: 721-773 F594] 1915 :995-1029 1916 :699-751 1917 535-557 1918 :295 1919 :289 1920 :305-309 1921: 663-667 1922 :1239-1267 1923: 843-861 1924: 753-775 1925: 598-609 1926: 624-636 AN OUTDOOR MUSEUM—ABSTRACT FLOYD W. SCHMOE, PARK NATURALIST, MOUNT RAINIER NATIONAL PARK, WASH. IxTy miles from Seattle is a great outdoor museum whose millions of natural history exhibits cover more than three hundred square miles of “floor space.” All these interesting exhibits center around one big display which can be seen for a hundred and fifty miles! This is Mount Rainier, America’s greatest mountain, and the natural history museum which includes it is Mount Rainer National Park. Mount Rainier is not only our greatest mountain, but strange as it may sound, it combines at the same time one of the finest examples of vulcanism to be found in the country and an equally fine example of glaciation, for it is the largest of the entire series of old volcanoes which form a “chain of fire’ from Mexico to Canada along our west coast, and also carries the largest system of active glaciers to be found in the United States. Unlike some museums the government in its national parks has not stopped with merely exhibiting the things of interest found within its borders. A small museum of the conventional order with labored speci- mens, reference library, and information service, serves as a “card index” to the big outdoor museum which is the park itself. Here also are given daily illustrated lectures on the national features of the park, free nature-guide field trips are conducted to acquaint the people with the story of the mountain, its glaciers, forests, and other trail-side displays, and nature bulletins are prepared for free distribution. THE SECOND MILE IN TRAINING TEACHERS IN NATURES Li DY KARL HAZELTINE, PROFESSOR OF NATURE STUDY AT THE SAN JOSE STATE TEACHERS’ COLLEGE, SAN JOSE, CALIF. As I was coming up on the train I saw a sign at a dangerous crossing which read, “The greatest safety device is a careful man.” At this time, when people are becoming alarmed about our civilization, and the more pessimistic are predicting its decline, and the optimistic are turning to the teacher for guidance, we may well say that the greatest safety device civilization has is a trained child. Any program which is forward looking must begin with the child. In representing the teacher training institutions at this meeting, I am primarily interested in those who will teach the nature work to elementary school children. Proper teaching along this line is more important today than it was a generation ago. When our fathers wished to know how a bird built they could go out and find a robin’s nest or the home of an oriole. Today many children are unable to get this information so readily. In other days children learned much along this line from reading or from [585] 586 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION parents around the family lamp in the evenings, but today we have the movies. The fundamental tool subjects are being stressed. Children are being taught utilitarian facts which will make for better opportunity for ad- vancement along economic lines. Our schools are producing better doctors, keener lawyers, more skillful artisans and more efficient laborers. “This is as it should be, but we must not neglect the more inspirational side of the child’s nature. We must equip for proper use of leisure time. Each one should have a worthwhile avocation as well as a vocation. Nature training will give a wonderful chance for relaxation and never ending enjoyment. Accurate observation stimulating careful thought will develop independent ideas which will result in a lasting interest in Nature. “This is what nature study should do. If we agree as to the advisability of this type of training we must con- sider the child’s source of knowledge—the elementary school teacher. In looking forward there are certain things one must consider as we enter the second mile in training teachers in nature study. First, there must be a solid foundation of science. We must not allow one to cover his lack of knowledge with fanciful tales any longer. Some people spend the later years in life readjusting falsehoods taught them in youth. The teacher must be interested in things and get the child’s point of view. Psychology is important. Professors can tell us about the synapses and complexes, but who can tell why boys have marble or top or ball seasons? Yet these mean much to them and seem to be just as necessary and important as do spring or summer. ‘There is much difference in a biological study of an organism and a nature study viewpoint, but both should be scientific and truthful. The teacher should be imbued with im- agination so as to be able to “‘suppose things” with the child. “This im- agination if properly directed will give an impetus to the child’s desire to acquire scientific facts for himself. The teacher should be trained to follow a scientific procedure in de- veloping the nature work. The knowing how to observe accurately is essential. ‘The senses of sight and hearing are extremely important to a nature teacher. After a thing which is interesting has been observed we train our teachers to record it. With this done he is required to form some hypothesis as to the way and wherefore of what he has seen. After forming his scientific guess he should experiment or observe further until he is able to accept, modify, or reject his hypothesis. A series of nature study observation cards will do much toward increasing the first hand knowledge of nature study teachers. If the teacher is to go the second mile there are other things to consider. We must develop a certain technic. Minimum requirements must be de- termined and a flexible course of study must be constructed. We must have courses which will teach nature study as such and not depend upon the other science teachers to do our work. There is a place for a specialized THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 587 nature study course as well as geology, chemistry, or hygiene. Basic science training is essential, but does not constitute nature training. ‘The properly conducted field trip is essential. We should study animal life as far as possible in its natural environment. We should follow those who are at the forefront of nature teaching and gain from their experience. I know the teacher training institutions will gladly accept the challenge and will so educate those teaching our children nature study so that they as teachers will go the second mile. NEED IN RESEARCH IN ELEMENTARY SCIENCE TEACHING FRANK A. SIPE, INSTRUCTOR IN BOTANY, OREGON AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, CORVALLIS, ORE. Probably no characterization of modern life is more generally accepted than the often heard statement that this is “an age of science.” The im- mense advances made in our material civilization during the past few decades, most of them traceable directly to certain specific discoveries of scientists, have made this assertion selfevident to everyone. We know immensely more about the laws of nature than did our ancestors, and what is more important, as far as our material advancement goes, we are learn- ing how to control the forces of nature, as a result of our knowledge of nature’s laws. An examination of recent investigations reveals a constantly increasing tendency to include some kind of science in the elementary school curricu- lum. But it also reveals another thing, which I think we as scientists should take to heart. And that is, the almost total lack of careful research that will answer the specific questions of the educator as to what should be included in this science curriculum, and how it should be presented. In most of our common school subjects there is a constantly increasing body of research material, the aim of which is to indicate to the school administrator the exact status of the particular subject; just what the subject should aim to give the child in the way of valuable habits and knowledges, and how and when to present it. But such research is noteworthy for its absence in elementary science. To the trained scientist this situation represents a distinct challenge. Science has become the dominating influence in modern life, permeating our every day thinking and acting with a thoroughness hardly yet realized. Educators are asking how to organize this mass of subjectmatter, so that it may become an integral and functioning part of the curriculum, Since education is a process of adjustment to environment, and since our envir- onment is becoming more and more a product of man-controlled forces of naure, it is evcident that our educational system should devote definite time and energy towards enabling the developing child to acquire familiar- ity with this environment. 588 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION I feel very strongly, that our greatest need just now is well directed re- search that will fix more definitely and firmly the exact status of elemen- tary science in our educational system. Such research should be carried out by persons with good scientific training, both in the fields of pure science and in educational science, and with intelligent understanding of the problems and outlook of childhood. It is greatly to be hoped that there will be those who will be fired with a real zeal for research in this field, and that at some of our great institutions, students may be encouraged and urged to start some real investigations in this almost virgin territory. Such investigations, if of genuine merit, will certainly be welcomed by educators who are facing the practical problems of adjusting the curricu- lum to meet the needs of the social order now evolving. NATURE EDUCATION THROUGH MOTION PICTURES WILLIAM L. FINLEY, DIRECTOR OF WILD LIFE CONSERVATION, AMERICAN NATURE ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. Since education is knowing life itself, the better knowledge we have of the world about us enables us to live a life worth living. Contact with nature may come in a limited way in the classroom, but with better results in contact with the out-of-doors itself. Since it is not always possible, especially in the cities, to bring children in close touch with the various phases of nature, the still and motion picture cameras have become im- portant educational factors. The aim of American Nature Association, which I represent, is to stimu- late public interest in every phase of nature and the out-of-doors, and it is devoted to practical conservation of the great natural resources of America. It seeks to find an essential place for nature study in every school and in every American home. Clean, healthful outdoor recreation is a key to good citizenship. What are some of the practical problems to be accomplished in nature education, especially in the Pacific Northwest? 1. A very large part of the timber of the United States is in the Pacific North- west. This is a valuable resource which we are cutting and destroying, without adequate reforestation. 2. The fishing industry is another of our valuable resources, yet we are destroy- ing the great runs of salmon, not only by over-fishing but by the poisonous -pollu- tion of our streams. 3. We are draining some of our greatest marshes and lakes, destroying the homes of wild birds and fur bearing animals, and losing their recreational value. In the first case, the forests that cover our mountains are of value in a commercial way when trees are turned into lumber. It is difficult to adjust the relations between the man who builds up a prosperous business and gives employment to many citizens, and say what his duty to the people as a whole is when he destroys a forest. The forests of the moun- tains conserve our soil and water supply, matters of vast importance to the THE DeparTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 589 commonwealth. Should not those who cut the forests be responsible for the planting of trees and growing new forests? In the second place, the rivers that rise in the high mountains, flow down across the valleys and enter the sea, have many services to perform. The water may be used for drinking, for the irrigation of arid areas to produce crops, for the development of power to advance industry, and to produce fish as a food supply for our people. As a nation we are interested in the practical uses of our streams so they will serve the greatest number for all time, yet we are the most careless and destructive people in the world. Mills and factories have been allowed to dam the streams, and irrigation companies have been allowed to take the water in ways that destroy vast numbers of fish. "Towns, cities. and manufacturing plants are permitted to dump their filth and sewage into public waters, killing fish life, and destroying their value for recreational purposes. One of the greatest crimes attendant upon our civilization is this pollution of public waters. And lastly the swamps, ponds and lakes that dot our country from one end to the other are often of value in building up wild life resources, yet promoters have drained these in hundreds of places. Where valuable agricultural land is developed we cannot find fault, yet in many places drainage has proved utterly worthless, and as a result the ancestral homes of many birds have been destroyed until some species are on the verge of extinction. Since these areas are of value to the public in producing fish, furbearing animals, and wild fowl, and for recreational purposes, they should not be destroyed unless it is definitely proved that the results that accrue will be of public benefit. The public as a whole must be taught to protect and enjoy its natural resources. ‘Che problems are those that can only be solved with education, and in this the motion picture camera has proved of lasting value. THE CHAINS OF PROMETHEUS BENJAMIN C. GRUENBERG, MANAGING DIRECTOR, AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR MEDICAL PROGRESS, NEW YORK CITY While every increase.of knowledge means an increase, of power, it means also an increase of sorrow. ‘This is not to say that ignorance is bliss, or that wisdom is folly. It is only to recognize that knowledge does inhibit action, does dampen enthusiasm, does increase the burden of care. It is not necessary to defend knowledge, or its modern equivalent, science. But it is necessary for us to understand something of its nature and its limita- tions, of its dangers and its implications, as well as some of its concrete products and applications. When Prometheus stole the flame from heaven he not only embarrassed the gods. He conferred upon man the most precious of gifts, and set the pattern for all subsequent revolutions. 590 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Consider fire. At one time this was an innovation, and a violation of the normal and divine order of the universe. For thousands of years, then, to play with fire meant not merely to incur the known risks of a partially controlled force, but it was like hunting wild beasts at the risk of getting killed. ‘Throughout the ages countless eulogies have been pro- nounced in praise of fire, its virtues have been widely extolled, and it was earnestly defended against its enemies. Today, this strange force has become assimilated into our daily lives. We no longer fear that a wide distribution of strike-anywhere matches will increase the temptation to commit arson. Although the destruction due to fire amounts to hundreds of lives and millions of dollars in property every year, even children today accept fire as part of nature and of the orderly routine of life. We have become so thoroughly habituated and indifferent to the presence of fire that friends and foes alike have all but forgotten Prometheus. The fire of Prometheus comes, then, to be considered a matter of course, and a valuable gift from on high. If now we accept the benefits of this wonderful process of oxidation, we must recognize also that, like every other advantage, this gift has carried with it serious dangers, whether we consider the material benefits of fire in the concrete, or the spiritual benefits that are symbolized by the torch. There are two points here for our consideration. On the one hand there are the unquestionable risks and dangers inherent in every form of force. The ancients had no practicable steam engines, but neither had they boiler explosions. You discover that mushrooms are good to eat, and that is clear gain. You discover only later that there are mushrooms and mushrooms; then there is wailing and sackcloth. ‘That is to say, there is the danger of knowing, but knowing too little. On the other hand, there are the capacities for understanding and control and utilization inherent in the spirit of man. We can learn to distinguish one mushroom from an- other, we can learn to use steam without boiler explosions. That is to say, there is the hope of clear vision and deeper insight. Whether in any given case mastery or disaster will be realized, or how much of each, constitutes the whole issue between fear and superstition and inertia and reaction on the one side, and science, vision, enterprise, and progress on the other. Every new instrument whereby man has increased his control of natural forces has carried with it the possibility of destroying both human life and the things we value. The revolutionary thought or device often does violence to the things of the spirit as well as to our material possessions. Every innovation must meet the resistance and active opposition of a cer- tain portion of the population. To all people the familiar way of life, the customary, appears as the natural. An attempt to obtain uniform practice, for reasons which seem to be good and sufficient to those who have studied the problem, is sure to be met with resistance. Now it is strictly in accord with human nature to THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 591 acquire habits, as we may call them for short; but it is also in accord with human nature to resist every pressure to change habits. All of us, how- ever, will admit that it would be highly desirable for other people to adopt our customs. The customary and familiar are not only natural, but they accord with common sense. If we find peoples with different customs, it is evidence that they are queer. With certain peculiar sects, respect is indicated by covering the hair; yet we consider it common sense for the male of the species to manifest respect for persons, monuments, churches, or symbols by removing the headgear. In any case, however, it seems to be common sense to do as we have always done. Any demand for a change in customs or usage is resisted by us not on the ground that we do not like to change our habits, but on the ground that the new proposals are in violation of common sense. That is to say, we are inert because we are inert, and we rationalize our inertia because our in- tellectual vanity requires justification of our conduct in terms of reason or sense. In many cases, also, the demands and proposals of innovators are offensive because they presuppose knowledge which is not shared by all, that is, knowledge which is not common; and we cannot help resenting the insolence of those who set themselves up as superior. , Closely related to the rationalization of our accustomed behavior and values as being natural and in accord with common sense is the sensitive- ness of the personality to any invasion from without. We insist upon our natural rights; we are all strong for personal liberty. Without searching too closely into the nature and sources of these rights, and without determin- ing critically the sanctions of personal liberty, we are satisfied that our rights do somehow coincide with what is natural and proper. But per- sonal liberty turns out very often to mean no more than our insistence upon our right to continue to do as we have always done. In the absence of knowledge impulses find free play without inhibition. It is this that constitutes the happiness of the infant; it is this that makes the idiot cheerful. It is the inhibitions of painful experiences, the inhibi- tions of conflicting impulses, that;make knowledge and thought possible. And with every new addition to our knowledge and thought there appear new inhibitions, new obstacles to doing what we feel like doing. Science comes to be wicked because it threatens our liberties. “To the degree that scientists are permitted to, influence our customs and our laws, to that degree are we beset with regulations and restrictions and interfer- ences with our natural-——that is to say, our habitual—modes of life, with our happiness. It is for these reasons that science has become anathema, for those who do not understand its methods and its aims. In making application of the younger sciences, those that have emerged from a study of organic processes, the public is not so well prepared to re- nounce and to cooperate. People who pay rent can see why the building of tenements and the installation of plumbing should be regulated by law; 592 NatIionaL EpucaATIon ASSOCIATION I I OMIT EE TN LE TE es but they cannot all see why established industries should be regulated by law as to hours of work, or as to output of smoke and noise, or as to sex discrimination. Pedestrians can see why the state should restrict car driv- ing or the erection of bridges to those who can demonstrate some degree of skill and proficiency in these arts; but they cannot all see why the practice of the healing arts should be thus restricted. Healing is for too large a part of the population still akin to the miracles and magic of religious practice. In every case we are ready to submit to the prohibitions and compulsions of the mechanisms which we understand or control; in every case we are disposed to revolt against the constraints and checks of the instrument that we do not control or understand. Attempts of legislatures, and of others placed in authority, to impose restrictions of various kinds are likely enough in many cases to be arbitrary and to lead to abuse of power. It is possible to rationalize arbitrary acts and those that do indeed constitute abuses just as it is possible to rationalize our fears of the new and our dislike of authority. The fact that knowl- edge is power places those who know at an advantage; and naturally those of us who do not know become suspicious and resentful. Those of us who are engaged in education, and particularly in the teach- ing of science, are in danger of becoming rather complacent. We are apt to rely too easily upon the widely accepted doctrine that knowledge is power, and ipso facto of benefit to mankind. We take for granted the adage that truth will make us free. This assumption is seldom challenged and very seldom do we ask ourselves just how it is that truth brings freedom, or what kind of liberty it is that truth insures. Man’s ability to discriminate among phenomena that are superficially alike, his ability to doubt and to question, his ability to look two or three or a million times to make sure, his ability to experiment, all those things about man that differentiate him from other anthropoids and from all other living things, have made possible an accumulation of reliable facts, and an elaboration of workable theories, which compel a form of living that is anything but “natural.” With each addition to man’s equipment there have come, however, a host of restrictions which to the uninitiated seem arbitrary and dispropor- tionate to the alleged benefits. Improved and cheapened means of transportation, witH increased leisure, tempt us to travel abroad; science, that is, would free us from certain types of provincialism. We find, however, that in addition to the political re- straints of passports and vises, which are the very embodiment of ignorance and supersitition, we have to submit also to quarantine restrictions and vac- cination requirements, and even to the discomfort, not to say humiliation, of medical examinations—which are supposed to be the very embodiments of light and learning. Scientific knowledge has accumulated faster than the general population can assimilate it. Moreover, new knowledge is always the discovery of specialists, so that at every point all but a very few must remain in outer THe DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 593 darkness. We must take a large part of the liberating truth on faith. It is necessary to take the public into our confidence and to tell it how we have come to know. And increasingly, the diffusion of new knowledge de- volves upon agencies outside. the schools. Masses in the future will have to learn what only a few men have learned in the past, namely, that the attainment of truth is a continuous process and never an accomplished fact; that with every gain there comes a new set of inhibitions. It is no paradox to say that the liberations made possible by the truths which we know as science are made possible by selfimposed prohibitions and compulsions. The most difficult conditions which ad- vancing science imposes upon us is that of starting each day prepared to scrap some of the cherished beliefs of the past. Advancement of science means not only deriving new power and new freedom out of new insight; it means also the acceptance of new discipline, new obligations, new re- straints upon our impulses and prejudgments. We cannot have the torch without the chains. JUNIOR COLLEGE SCIENCE TEACHERS GUY H..VANDE BOGART, DEAN, HIBBING JUNIOR COLLEGE, HIBBING, MINN. The functions, the methods of doing work, and the results obtained by junior colleges have been the subject of much discussion by educators in recent years. Like every comparatively new institution, the junior college has been compelled to devise its own methods and to determine to a large extent its own field of work. Like every new institution, too, it has been subject to scrutiny from the standpoint of the successful presentation of subjectmatter and the effective methods by which this subjectmatter is presented. This paper will be limited to an investigation of the preparation of our science teachers with particular reference to subjectmatter and technic of teaching. Five objectives have been used to determine the scope of this study: 1. To determine the preparation in science courses and in education courses of science teachers in junior colleges 2. To determine what changes, if any, in academic and professional preparation these teachers would advise based upon their own experience 3. To determine what methods of instruction are most successfully used in junior colleges 4. To determine what academic and professional preparation has been com- pleted by those teachers who are at present entering upon junior college work 5. To determine the policies and preferences of junior college administrators with reference to the academic preparation and teaching experience preferred in employing teachers. Four sources of information were available: Returns from questionnaires sent to junior college science teachers, reports from questionnaires to junior . . ) = college administrators, data from placement bureaus and teachers’ agencies 594 NatIionaL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION which list prospective junior college teachers, and, finally, the observations of the writer while visiting a number of representative junior colleges. In order that the results of the questionnaires might be representative, a cross section of the junior colleges of the United States was taken. Among the fifty schools reporting, the enrolment varied from 25 to 3000. The geographical distribution extended from Virginia to California, and from Minnesota to Texas. Included among these institutions are three types: Public junior colleges—those supported by city or high school districts, state junior colleges—institutions supported by state funds, and private junior colleges. The data from these 50 junior colleges are grouped ac- cording to the objectives of the study. @ As might be predicted, a very wide range of results is shown in the matter of academic and professional preparation of teachers engaged in junior college science work. This phase of our problem was explored by ascertaining what proportion of the science teachers in these 50 junior colleges had majored in science, in education, or in other subjects during their undergraduate years. “The same data were compiled with reference to their graduate courses. In the public junior colleges these teachers during their undergraduate courses have completed majors as follows: Science subjects 84 percent, education 2 percent, other subjects 14 percent; and in the graduate courses 80 percent had completed science majors, 13 percent education, and 7 percent other subjects. “Teachers in the private junior colleges had completed during their undergraduate courses 88 per- cent of science majors, no majors in education, and 12 percent majors in other subjects. During their graduate courses 88 percent had completed majors in science, 6 percent majors in education, and 6 percent majors in subjects other than these. A combination of the data for all these junior colleges shows that the undergraduates completed science majors to the ex- tent of 85 percent, education majors 1 percent, and majors in other subjects 14 percent. As graduate students 82 percent had majored in the sciences, 11 percent in education, and 7 percent in other subjects. Approximately 75 percent of the science teachers in junior colleges hold graduate degrees. ‘This is not always indicative of the amount of graduate preparation. It was observed that in several cases teachers with a year or more of graduate work in a science had not been candidates for the master’s degree. An investigation was also made to determine to what extent our science teachers had changed their majors between undergraduate and graduate courses. It was found that a very appreciable portion had done this. In the public junior colleges 68 percent did not change their majors, 32 per- cent had changed. In the private institutions 82 percent did not change, while 18 percent did. ‘Taking the totals of all junior colleges reporting, 71 percent did not change their majors, and 29 percent did so. This shift- ing of the field of interest would tend to work to the disadvantage of the teachers. THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 595 In reply to the question in the questionnaire, “What changes, if any, would you make in the distribution of your courses between science sub- jects and education subjects if you were to repeat your undergraduate work?” forty-six percent stated that no changes would be made, 54 per- cent would arrange their undergraduate courses differently. Of those teachers who would advise a change in their undergraduate courses, 39 percent would increase the amount of time devoted to science subjects, and 61 percent would give more attention to their professional preparation in education courses. The above question was asked, also, with reference to graduate courses in science and in education. Fifty-six percent reported that they would make no change in the emphasis placed upon science subjects and education subjects during their graduate courses. Forty-four percent would advise a change. Of this group, 61 percent would increase their preparation in science subjects, and 39 percent would give more attention to education courses. A correlation was apparent between the number of education courses compléted and the number of education courses which science teachers would have taken had they repeated their graduate work. Those with undergraduate courses in education totalling 20 hours or less indicated a decided preference for more courses in this department. An investigation was made also of the methods of instruction considered most effective in junior colleges. Probably the better technic in the junior colleges may be accounted for in part by the fact that a large majority of junior college teachers have had high-school experience where technic is regarded as fundamentally important. Obviously, a mere classification according to methods determines neither the success of the instructor nor the benefit derived by the students in the course. This phase of the study is interesting to junior college science teachers merely because it indicates the frequency with which the various types of methods have been selected by teachers in charge of this work. It is important in connection with this investigation to know what prepa- ration is being given those teachers who are applicants for junior college work. Data for this purpose were obtained from two sources: the place- ment bureaus of four universities, and three widely recognized teachers’ agencies. The most significant result of this portion of our study was the evident lack of recognition of junior college standards and requirements. Nearly all of the papers submitted by two of the placement bureaus: and by two of the teachers’ agencies indicated that they considered strong high-school teachers fully able to do junior college work provided that they had com- pleted even a small amount of graduate work. Up to this point we have discussed our problem with reference to the science teachers. Certain findings will now be presented which will indicate the relationship of junior college administrators to the problem of main- taining the most effective possible work in the science departments. It was 596 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION found that 77 percent of the executive heads of junior colleges prefer that a science teacher shall have a major in science and a minor in education during his graduate preparation. In only one case did a school administra- tor prefer that a candidate for a science position should have had a major in education with a minor in the science in the graduate school. ‘The science teachers, as you will remember, tended to emphasize much more the importance of preparation in subjectmatter during the graduate courses, and favored reducing the work in other departments even though certain of these courses might directly or indirectly improve the technic of teaching. A canvass was made of the catalogues of 38 of our largest colleges of education in order to ascertain to what extent courses are offered which are specifically planned for junior college teachers. Of the 38 schools, 6 offered courses dealing with one or more phases of junior college work, and 8 presented offerings in the college field which are apparently broad enough to be of value to junior college educators. Another phase of this study which will be of particular interest to pros- pective junior college teachers is the attitude of administrators relative to the type of experience which they consider most valuable as a preparation for junior college science teachers. Forty-eight percent favored college or university teaching experience, 39 percent preferred high school teaching experience, and a third group representing 13 percent were insistent that the junior college teacher could do most effective work with a foundation of both high school and college experience. An attempt was made also to determine from the standpoint of the junior college administrator what objectives are considered most important in offering junior college sciences. “The following choices were expressed : 1st choice 2nd choise Professional cr preprofessional training......:............. 25 8 Semicprotessionalettainin gerne erate ee eee tee 3 11 Cultural’values Syo 4 aioe Cen cee tea Ceres oe ee 18 12 Frequently, of course, two or even three of these were regarded as im- portant in a given junior college. ‘The emphasis upon the various objectives naturally varies with the interests of the community which the junior college serves. Conclusions—It is evident from the material presented, gathered from 50 representative junior colleges, from the placement bureaus of graduate schools, and from the observations of the writer, that certain changes or developments are desirable in order to still ferieen improve the teaching of science in junior colleges. The minimum preparation for teaching in a junior college should be one full year of graduate study during which major attention has been given to the subject to be taught. In many of the smaller junior colleges which are under the same general organization with lower school units, there is a tendency to maintain sepa- rate faculties for the college and for the high school or academy. This would seem to be desirable except in those cases in which a junior college THE DEPARTMENT OF SCIENCE INSTRUCTIONS 597 teacher attempts to offer courses in which he has not had the minimum preparation of one year of graduate work. Primary emphasis should be placed upon preparation in subjectmatter, with additional courses particularly adapted to the methods of that special- ized field of education, the junior college, which is neither a part of the senior high school nor yet a part of the senior college, but should rather maintain its individuality. The preparation of teachers of science by our graduate schools of educa- tion might well be organized to some extent as a specialized field of educa- tion preparation rather than as a field which a high-school teacher of superior ability strives to enter, or into which the student who has com- pleted graduate courses enters if he finds himself unable to qualify for a position in a senior college or university. . STATISTICAL STUDY OF THE PREPARATION OF SCIENCE TEACHERS IN THE ACCREDITED SCHOOLS OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON IN 1922 AND 1927— ABSTRACT F. A. OSBORN, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON SEATTLE, WASH. The cause of the condition that the science teachers of the State of Wash- ington have little preparation in the courses they are teaching may be lack of prepared science teachers, but from other facts it is very largely due to an improper selection of the teaching staff with what amounts to a practical denial that knowledge of one’s subject is of the first importance. As a result of a questionnaire sent to the teachers of physics in 1922 and 1927, their preparation for teaching physics and the other sciences, if they were chemistry, biology, or mathematics, was obtained. In the schools with five or less teachers about 55 percent of the science teachers had not had 24 semester hours of college work in any one of the four subjects taught. In schools with six to eleven teachers, less than 20 percent of the physics teachers had 24 semester hours in physics and 40 percent were teach- ing without this preparation in any subject taught. In the third group of schools from twelve to seventeen teachers where one might expect to find better preparation, a third of the teachers had no major preparation in any of the subjects taught and slightly over 20 percent of the physics teachers had majored in the subject. The last group, schools with eighteen or more teachers, we find only 40 percent of the physics teachers offered 24 semester hours of preparation in physics and 20 percent were teaching science with no major in any one of the subjects taught. Several remedies were mentioned, the one most favored being a plea to our schools of education, where principals and superintendents are trained, that they impress on their students that with all the professional training in education, a thorough preparation in the subjects to be taught is still basic. eee ee 0 fet ee Kp ‘ aoe = ee 3 | yo - ah nas nal Rowe , » i 7) Basis Hee about sa ft setter hese sell pens ae i tou taaee ha wate wr eae we Bk ae i11P tne ntl Ls eaten a on Sea jen He 1 in wilt ea 4th % a en aa Eatuestain at : a pte Waite 74 ttre t ava AA AwY ; ae an S08 he : * i : pris? i) wy " te - \, 7 cee cre a sriaiithe 73 ite | af Pes k ask ip [as i v7 Les. ey) pe wits tis ae och ymth redken st RE Fny oikt. ar . STL rgprei paves ih biged ariehlevi 10H ; FT, angus dole Boe Teng adh 1 RUE CME Sen!) “etna r4 sd a . fe ecut if irely Ki oadtboainn antl ae - mah 7 ents dt earmaie = pile adf pciracsies ste gokdaady 9 es {cnation aa oink ctyt dertler agoe! hea or n rid ; 1 Bat ‘syed ‘Snsh- ule th thors cereale: ot itha al a errvidi 1G SEE AG Seine vio ole syatlns bn, eit + Yee la tetaten sg UD piitig Peck ceterdinieg » cheats] ha ea ditioredas cell Honshsiow saayiee Gb hae Poovihy te e Viviltniedleseoecie oat ] "do quety flee) peduner ceed ia iw nicely eras ' “at rat hnithgy deeper Higiel die sroilh elem) Hotes a aloes itt “eh ore (hhancdedeeraiete wend oe baw va wbansis sats 7 iid st” ipa ioiautla oda lacteay eng, OS gna ve ecihilys fart pam gored ul ae mnt solLnSsetHhyle vitew shulwe ies ipa Pat lik fnsepiigugerpala it tetetars Ab syaha neorkne))' ely in sit tis rhwan ne y OP Salmawbdiit + ay) aie re Kia wuieipecpentsogs wie if af u Syrin ‘wu ad Ai tals Aryarey? SF ented , ody Diba spa th abe he De on a shot £ Gre bow et tise ceils ining, Sew eadiotcaen luvs a we ne S18 tiny bots ye Hin alaqitierd Sales aniivauhs fe ‘slonioaal : A vest hen iiaytohpulity Tigltive toedp atts lige fap 7 int 5-P eet hye anal ‘ hk : ctrit paki ddowruds < ~ . = “aA " “Fah as - he ah yy ae The Department of Secondary School Principals HE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Lives organized in Topeka, Kansas, in 1886, under the name of the Department of Secondary In- struction. See Proceedings, 1887:396. Antici- pating the proposed merger of the National Associa- tion of Secondary Principals with the National Edu- cation Association, the name of the Department has changed to the Department of Secondary School Principals. The officers for the year 1927-28 are: President, F. L. Bacon, Principal, Newton High School, Newtonville, Mass.; First Vicepresident, Jessie M. Hamilton, Principal, Morey Junior High School, Denver, Colo.; Second Vicepresident, Charles F. Allen, Principal, West Side Junior High School, Little Rock, Ark.; Secretary-Treasurer, H. V. Church, Principal, J. Sterling Morton High School, Cicero, Ill. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier volumes of Proceedings as follows: 1887: 395-442 1895: 579-635 1903: 429-486 1911: 555-657 1919: 195-204 1888: 403-433 1896: 557-619 1904: 473-536 1912: 663-765 1920: 209-230 1889: 499-533 1897: 644-699 1905: 423-479 1913: 469-499 1921: 667-678 1890: 615-655 1898: 664-700 1906: 633-637 1914: 445-488 1922:1267-1293 1891: 617-687 1899: 601-818 1907: 521-710 1915: 723-753 1923: 861-880 1892: 332-373 1900: 428-453 1908: 577-667. 1916: 517-574 1924: 775-802 1893: 177-242 1901: 565-604 1909: 479-522 1917: 253-284 1925: 450-477 1894: 743-794 1902: 455-492 1910: 443-533 1918: 177-189 1926: 636-652 [600] CHARACTER TRAINING THROUGH REGULAR CLASS- ROOM WORK WYLIE A. PARKER, PRINCIPAL, FOREST AVENUE HIGH SCHOOL, DALLAS, TEXAS ESPONSIBILITY OF THE CURRICULUM—In order that the high school R may render proper aid and reinforcement to the home, the church, and the elementary school, the curriculum must take into account traits and ideals as well as activities and information. It is necessary, of course, for the high school to find out what activities and information ought to be emphasized in order to assist all pupils in character develop- ment. At the same time, however, it is imperative that curriculum build- ers determine what traits and ideals should be emphasized among adoles- cents in connection with activities and information. Furthermore, the subjectmatter must be so arranged that the proper traits and ideals will be given their rightful place in the classroom. How traits and ideals may be incorporated into the curriculum—There are two methods of incorporating traits and ideals into the curriculum. The first is the indirect method which makes traits and ideals secondary to activities and information. “They are used in this sense as standards for the performance of duty and the acquisition of subjectmatter which is in- corporated in the curriculum. Three steps are involved in the indirect method. First of all, each teacher makes an analysis of the activities and the subjectmatter which he teaches. This is done by outlining the operations and subjects in the textbooks in such a way as to outline the tangible results in character development. For the intangible matters in the lives of pupils, the in- structor will teach them methods of ordering their lives and getting along with other pupils and members of the school. Under this plan youth will acquire certain attitudes, skills, and information. In the second place, while the teacher is analyzing the materials at his command, he must decide upon the pupil traits and ideals to be developed in order to make the teaching process efficient. For example, the mathe- matics teacher will decide that the adequate mastery of his subject requires of his pupils a certain degree of accurary, speed, neatness, industry, intelli- gence, and the like. These are necessary standards in the field of mathe- matics, and are traits and ideals which can be taught well in this subject. He may decide further that his pupils should show a certain amount of forcefulness, or helpfulness, or ambition. “The history teacher may decide that for his work to be effective, the pupils must possess certain degrees of retentiveness, neatness, intelligence, love of country, honesty in report- ing facts, and open-mindedness in weighing facts. To these traits and ideals, he may add forcefulness, helpfulness, ambition, etc. If accuracy is needed, accuracy exercises will be used. For industry, sufficient work will be assigned to keep the pupil busy. If intelligence is set up as an ideal, pupils will be thrown upon their own initiative. [601] 602 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION In the third place, after the subjectmatter has been organized in this way, the teacher will see that his pupils are held to these standards until mastery is attained. This, of course, applies in the mechanical sense. When these traits and ideals are applied on the emotional level, it is the teacher’s business to develop in his pupils a love for these traits and ideals, so that they will cooperate with the school in making the application of their own volition. The second method used in incorporating traits and ideals in the curric- ulum is the direct method. By this method traits and ideals become cen- tral topics of consideration and discussion, and the subjectmatter of the course is the means by which these traits and ideals are developed. The direct method involves four steps. First, the faculty of the high school makes a list of the traits and ideals which they think high school pupils should have woven into the fiber and fabric of their character. They base their selections upon what they consider to be the .needs of society at its best, and upon the character of the faculty itself. The traits and ideals, thus selected, will be weak or strong according to the personality of the individual members of the faculty. In the second place, the school must measure the ability of the pupils in these traits and ideals, in order to discover those in which the pupils are strong, as well as those in which pupils are weak. ‘The traits and ideals in which pupils are strong become mighty dynamos of central power for developing the weak traits and ideals. If a pupil is very ambitious, this trait can be appealed to in overcoming his lack of interest or inaccuracy. In the third place, it is possible by this method to give group instruction, in order to stimulate interest in ideals as well as to apply traits in work- ing out proper types of action to express these standards. Biography, literature, history, the experience of other boys and girls of high school age furnish a wealth of material for class discussions. Groups may be or- ganized to study problems of conduct. Also, conduct projects may be made invaluable to classroom work. ; In the fourth place, informal curricula may be organized for individual instruction. After individual pupils have rated themselves, they are given advice to stimulate their interest in the development of traits and ideals, and aided in the application of desirable traits to practical situations. In- dividual instruction of this type may be made very practical, individual, and detailed. Classroom procedure in relation to character education—The experi- ences, undertakings, and achievements of the classroom ought to minister to the realization of every end which the high school should accomplish. Classroom work should possess five characteristics pertaining to ethical development: (1) be meaningful, significant, and purposeful to all the pupils at the time they are engaged in the activity; (2) be socially valu- able to the end that pupils may be equipped for doing successfully any legitimate thing which they may undertake; (3) be so carried on that it THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 603 appeals to the whole child, physically, mentally, morally, socially, spiritu- ally; (4) secure thoroughness of mastery and integrity of effort on the part of every boy and girl; and (5) constitute an on-going, developing, integrat- ing process of growth and development. It is only through classroom activities which are significant and purpose- ful that the learner’s efforts may be expected to be honest and sincere. The least a high school can do in its character training efforts in the class- room, is to provide learning conditions which enable pupils to be honest and sincere with themselves. “This condition obtains when pupils realize that what they are doing is of value to them. It is an inalienable right of every pupil to have his personality respected by those who seek to guide his learn- ing. To establish right character is basic to all other considerations in promoting the development of rich, righteous life in all pupils of the high school. Not only must the classroom activities be meaningful and _ satisfying to the learner, but, in the second place, they should be socially valuable. They ought to be of definite life use to him at the time of mastery. The high school should exercise great care as to the experience and influences to which it permits its pupils to be subjected in the classroom. Only those activities which have a real life use, or which accord with accepted social practices and standards, should be planned or accepted by the high school as a part of the educative experiences of pupils. In this way the pupil’s time is economized by the fact that it is not spent in doing things which produce anti-social effects, or that result in the acquisition of some knowledge or skill which has no life value. Classroom activities must be so carried on as to appeal to the entire pupil nature. ‘The procedure of assigning pupils something to be learned from books concerns the intellectual life of boys and girls mainly, and this only partially, and it falls far short of the main purpose of the classroom ac- tivities, namely, to develop character. In contrast with this formal, book- ish, mechanical method is the well-tested method of procedure in which the pupils learn in much the same way that mature persons learn when work- ing freely, or without detailed directions. Under this procedure, the members of the class go about gathering information and improving their skills in order to do well the thing for which they have accepted a responsi- bility. For example, they may be preparing a program for a home-room exercise, an assembly, a socialized recitation. Or they may be working out a project lesson in ancient history, or developing an exhibit of products at the conclusion of a chapter in commercial geography. Or they may be rehearsing to give a dramatic production of some masterpiece which they have studied. The concepts and ideals of accuracy, honesty, thoroughness, helpfulness, fair play, and the like, pervading such a learning situation, tend to be productive of the highest ethical eftects. The largest ethical values cannot be secured to pupils unless integrity of effort and thoroughness of mastery are secured from each and every 604 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Se eee pupil in the class. Each pupil owes it to himself to do his work honestly and well as long as he is a member of his class. He also owes it to his classmates to do a piece of work upon which they can depend. The pupil in the classroom working cooperatively for ends of concern to himself and his group learns that he lives not unto himself alone, but in binding, far- reaching relations to his classmates. To be of the greatest ethical value, classroom work must be cumulative in its nature.. We expect a pupil to add to his language abilities from year to year as he goes through high school. We should likewise expect him to add to his habits and ideals of ethical living from year to year, and im- prove his ability to work and live the righteous life while he is in high school. ‘Their ideas of duty should become clearer and deeper as they mature, and their devotion to living the righteous life should become more and more complete. Responsibility of the classroom teacher—The devices and the technic employed by the classroom teacher are of vital importance in the matter of character training. Technic in daily teaching planning should include a definite set of habits which should be practiced faithfully. Complete de- tails of the lesson ought to be worked out at least two days before the teaching is to take place, in order to insure detailed planning. The in- structor should set up a definite, obtainable goal to be achieved by each assignment. ‘To be effective the lesson plan should include an outline of the exact points or problems which will be assigned to the class, and the specific instructions that will be given to guide the study in preparation for the classroom work. Good technic in conducting the recitation involves a number of im- portant habits which should be thoroughly formed. ‘The teacher should begin and close on time. Promptness is an important ideal in efficiency. The new study assignment should be made clear and concise. The in- structor should form the habit of carrying out his detailed lesson plan. Here is a splendid opportunity for the teacher to make his influence count for character development. Of equal importance is the technic in classroom management. ‘The details of daily practice in looking after the physical condition of the class- room should be routinized. A daily inspection of the room with reference to temperature, ventilation, and light should be made with the least dis- traction possible. Furniture and equipment should be inspected daily to detect dust, markings, cuttings, or any other defects, and kept in place for the very best grouping of the class.) Maps and other apparatus ought to be placed properly before the class assembles. Blackboards and the teacher’s desk and cabinets should be free from distracting stimuli, and present an attractive appearance. ‘The physical condition of pupils should be noted at once as to dress and disease, especially contagious or infectious diseases. It is essential to good work that the teacher have a well- planned seating arrangement, and that there be an accurate accounting of pupil attendance. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 605 Technic in directing the study habits of pupils is of the greatest importance in effective classroom work. Two goals should be aimed at in supervised study: (1) there should be such mastery of subjectmatter dur- ing the teaching period under the personal direction of the teacher that definite results in the education of the learner are secured; (2) inde- pendence on the part of the pupil should be developed to the end that he is capable of directing his own study habits in working on any problem, now or in the future. If the classroom technic is to be effective, as it should, the recitation should be socialized so as to create natural situations. Also, it is desirable to set up as many projects as possible. ‘Two illustrations will be taken from classroom work which is being done in Forest Avenue High School at this time. Miss Kate Hassell teaches first and second year algebra. It is thought, by many, that the socialized recitation in mathemathics is well-nigh im- possible. Near the beginning of each semester, Miss Hassell directs her classes in organizing for classroom activities by electing a president and a secretary who serve one week. After the first week, officers are appointed to serve one day only. ‘The president presides over the recitation, sees that the room is in order according to the plans of technic outlined above, and appoints committees. ‘The secretary takes the roll, places the attendance slip on the desk for the office monitor, prepares and reads the minutes, presides while the president is at the board, and may write tests on the board. ‘There is a room committee whose duties are to put the room in order, place erasers and crayon in troughs, and regulate windows and shades on recommendation of the teacher. “The purpose of this plan of organization is to teach individual responsibility for assigned work; to develop selfcontrol; to embolden the shy and timid pupil; to cultivate the critical powers; to evolve the power of selfcriticism; and to exercise the qualities of justice, honesty, courtesy, accuracy, promptness, selfreliance, independence, gratitude, humility, helpfulness, truthfulness, etc. The method of technic is as follows: (1) the chairman is supplied with a seating-plan of the pupils; (2) to receive recognition, a pupil must rise and address the chair; (3) the chair recognizes one pupil, and allows only one pupil on the floor at a time; (4) a pupil rises to a point of objection, to a point of criticism, to a point of information; (5) a pupil expresses grati- tude for correction or assistance; (6) each pupil corrects his notebook and weekly tests in recitation under supervision of teacher; (7) pupils are not coached for examinations, and are not kept in to make up unprepared work. They understand they must make good or fail; (8) no daily work is handed in, all assignments, seat work, tests, and night work are kept in notebooks; (9) notebooks are graded weekly. General results of this plan have been highly gratifying. Boys and girls who are timid, either through nature or fear of the sound of their own voices have come to recite naturally; the boisterous have quieted down; the domineering are learning to yield; the doubtful have the cour- 606 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION Ne ee SS age to defend their work; the slothful manifest some activity ; the cheat more often is honest at the board and at his seat. The social side is further developed as pupils learn the names of their classmates, as they offer to assist the one who was absent the day before, or to offer an ex- planation to that one who is a little slow. Leaders are discovered and leadership developed. In the observance of some parliamentary usage respect for the rights of others is practiced. In requiring pupils to correct their own notebooks, the power of selfanalysis is fostered. The other illustration is taken from a plan followed by J. L. Bergin, who teaches first-year history in Forest Avenue High School. The aim and purpose of the plan of technic which Mr. Bergin follows is to teach the facts and movements of history as comprehensively as possible; to stimulate and guide the imagination of the adolescent in his search after selfdiscovery ; to awaken the inherent individuality and the native creative tendencies; to suggest patterns of character and citizenship, and expect corresponding behavior in the daily routine of the classroom activities. Procedure of class organization—Two critics, known as captains, are elected for a term of six weeks, a grade-making period in the school. To be eligible to hold the office of critic, the pupil must have an average grade of at least ninety for the preceding division.. The candidate must be known to the class to be pupil of character, and to possess qualities of leadership. Critics must attend school regularly, must be on time, must be neat and accurate in their work, must be enthusiastic and consistent workers. ‘These critics, automatically nominated by the quality of the work they do, are elected by secret ballot. The critics proceed to choose opposing sides, and divide the class into two competing groups. Selection is made on the basis of scholarship, rather than friendship, and the critics sit at the head of their respective groups. “The other pupils are re-seated once a week, ranging backward in the order of the average grades. Careful effort is made not to embarrass any pupil in regard to his record; the effort is made to stimulate a desire for improvement, rather than force it through humiliation. Critics receive from one to five points additional credit on their division grades for serving their class, depending upon the leadership and efficiency displayed while discharging the duties of the office. A critic is eligible for re-election as long as his service is acceptable and his average maintained. Election and duties of the parliamentarian—The parliamentarian must be an earnest pupil, must have a good record in deportment, and must be sincerely interested in the esprit de corps of the class. This officer serves as general supervisor of the class. He runs errands for the class or teacher, if necessary. He supervises the raising of grades, cleaning of boards, etc. He also makes a daily report in regard to the general conduct of the class. The parliamentarian holds office six weeks, but may be re-elected at the will of the class. He receives from one to three points on his division grade, depending on his efficiency in office. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 607 The duty of the critic—The chief function of the critic is clerical; he is the chief bookkeeper of the class. The critic is supplied with a ruled sheet on which he makes out his roll in alphabetical order, and on which every record made by every pupil is recorded, the instructor acts as judge, and determines the worth of the contribution, and instructs the critic to place the due credit on the record of the pupil. In this way, each and every pupil receives full credit and the teacher is relieved of any distract- ing bit of bookkeeping. ‘The record is even more complete than it would be possible for a teacher to keep without some assistance. The critic is re- quired to copy the diagram on the blackboard and to supplement it daily with complete records. Each pupil keeps his own record daily and checks it with the critic’s record. In case of differences in these two records, the instructor acts as judge. The record of the critic analyzed—Absence: if a pupil is absent, the critic records the fact. Demerits: on the assumption that a pupil’s grade is to represent not only the facts acquired during the division but is to reflect as completely as possible a general estimate of the pupils’s general conduct, this column is used to record demerits assessed against him for any sort of misconduct of a non-social nature. Three demerits cancel one point of the pupil’s total grade. Times called on: each time a pupil is called on to recite, the fact is recorded in the proper column. An effort is made to call on each pupil about the same number of times each division. Criticisms: after each recitation the class is given an opportunity to bring out any point which has been overlooked by the pupil reporting on the topic. Reading reports: from one to ten points are given on reports gotten from any outside, authoritative source bearing on the lesson. Projects: from one to sixty points are given to a pupil making a project, and giving a detailed report on the same. ‘These projects must be his- torically correct and accurate. ‘They must portray in wood, soap, stone, clay, etc., some phase of the life and work of the people studied. A few typical projects are listed here to illustrate this phase of the work: a group of pre-historic animals moulded in clay; pyramids with mummy and contents of the tomb; raised maps of early cities and coun- tries; Greek temples carved out of soap; a Greek door with key to match; Greek sculpture in clay; statutes of great Romans in clay; raised map of Rome; a Roman catapult; an early German village; implements of tor- ture; a medieval manor; two crusading swords; an early Norse ship; and the like. Poems: any original poem relating to the work is given due credit. Pictures: scrapbooks, clippings, cartoons, and original pictures are en- couraged. Term contest: at the end of each term a contest of all the classes is held to determine the best project, picture, cartoon, map, and poem which 608 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION has been produced during the semester. Competent judges are procured, and small prizes are given the winners. / Examinations: since an effort is made to call on each pupil the same number of times every division, frequent tests are given to keep all pupils’ preparing each day’s assignment. For “pop quizzes’ a device is used whereby each pupil grades his own paper, and then has it graded by a classmate and checked by the instructor in a short length of time. A special effort is also made to check by examination the pupil’s opinion on the political, social, moral, philosophical, and spiritual conception in- volved. This is attempted through thought questions, true and false tests, and other devices. Weekly averages: at the beginning of every week pupils are required to average their grades in the following way: credits plus examinations equals the total. Then all the points gotten under the heads of criticisms, reading reports, projects, pictures, and poems are added and divided by fifteen. “This sum is added to the total for the weekly or division grade. The weekly averages are placed on the blackboard and the class is re- seated in accordance with the respective grades. In line with the policy of the principal’s general staff of the school, a strenuous effort is made to encourage every pupil to better hi$ record of the previous month or week. Pupils falling below passing averages are required to interview the teacher privately in an effort to get at the cause of failure, and find a remedy for it. Division averages: at the end of each division the critics average the grades of all the pupils, and hand the instructor a neatly copied and complete record of all the work done by each and every member of the class. “The total average for the competing sides is also arrived at, in order to ascertain the winner. The plans of Miss Hassell and Mr. Bergin are simply used as illus- trations of what is being done and can be accomplished by every teacher in Forest Avenue High School. ‘Teachers of art, physical education, social science, occupations, home economics, journalism, the commercial subjects, English, and various other high school subjects are doing work very similar to what these two teachers are doing. Whether they follow the same plans or not, the results of each individual teacher are practically the same; they are building character among the pupils who meet them in the classroom. CHARACTER TRAINING AS A HIGH SCHOOL PROBLEM WALTER M. MAY, DEPUTY COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION, CONCORD, N. H. Among the purposes of secondary education, eithical character, though listed last in the seven cardinal objectives, is the chief. It is appropriate therefore that this Department of Secondary Principals of the National Education Association should give first place on its program to this, the most important purpose of the high school. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 609 ———$———————— At the outset, I desire to express the opinion, based upon annual ob- servations of the pupils in the high schools of one New England state and conferences with the heads of these schools during the last seven years, that the youth of today are as clean, wholesome and essentially sound morally as were the youth of a generation ago. Moreover, this opinion is con- firmed by statements of headmasters of private schools with a nation-wide constituency, such as Alfred E. Stearns of Andover and Mather A. Abbott of Lawrenceville School. The latter in an Armistice Day address before the Rotary Club of Trenton, New Jersey, said: The youth of the present generation, as far as I know—and I know five hundred of them very intimately—are on the way to great discoveries, have made a step toward happiness and a step toward selfgovernment far ahead of anything we had in our youth. They need very careful handling. They need all the love and affection that a man can give them, and they are going to bring this old world of ours one step nearer heaven in the end. Moreover, statements about the increase in juvenile delinquency through- out the country have not been fortified, as far as I have been able to dis- cover, by statistical proof. Last spring, however, the Children’s Bureau of the United States Department of Labor at Washington, published some illuminating statistics regarding juvenile delinquency. The purpose was to determine the truth of the statement that the average criminal is now younger than formerly. This study covered delinquency rates in fourteen of the leading cities of the United States and an analysis of the age-distribution of the adult population of prisons, reformatories, jails, and workhouses from 1880 to 1923. In nearly all of the fourteen cities the delinquency rate per 1000 children of deliquency age was found to be considerably lower in 1924 or 1925 than in 1915. Typical of this general situation in the cities studied is the record for New York whose delingeuency rate per annum per thousand children dropped from 11.1 to 6.8. Moreover, in 1910 the admission to institutions of delinquents below the age of 18, among whom were included dependent children, was 171.7 per 100,000. In 1923 the ratio was 161 per 100,000 including dependents. In 1910 the percentage of children committing such serious crimes as homicide, robbery, and burglary was 7 per 100,000, and in 1923 it had dropped to 6.8. In 1923 only 9.4 percent of admissions to prison were of persons between 18 and 20 as compared with 9.8 in 1904, 12.1 in 1890 and 11.8 in 1880. There has been no increase in the proportion of prisoners between the ages of 21 and 24, or between 25 and 34. There was, however, a slight in- crease between the ages of 35 and.44. This fact prompts one writer in commenting upon this report of the Children’s Bureau to raise the question whether we should not be more alarmed about wild middle age than about wild youth. 610 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Shea ald Al MNS SOME A hs Ei i Though compelled by observation, report, and careful studies to afirm our faith in the youth of today, we know that like adults the pupils in our schools who are right need to be kept right and those who are wrong, gen- erally a small minority, need to be set right. We know also that while there may be no proportionate increase in youthful delinquency the actual number of youthful delinquents is all too large and challenges the three institutions most concerned with developing good character in the youth, the school, the church, and the home. This morning’s program provides generously for consideration of what may be called indirect methods of character education through the regular subjects of the school and through extracurriculum activities. This ap- parent program emphasis is in accord with traditional practice in our schools. In this country we probably have not emphasized sufficiently the economical method of attacking the problem through systematic class and group instruction. In the reported proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Schoolmen’s Week at the University of Pennsylvania, there appears the following statement from an address by William C. Bagley on “Education and Crime in Europe and America.” In view of the current proposal to introduce religious instruction in American schools to counteract the rising tide of crime, however, it is interesting to note the experience of France under quite the opposite policy. It is clear enough that crime can be reduced without teaching religion in public schools. Whether crime can be reduced without some form of direct and systematic ethical instruction, I do not know. We are, I think, the only great country in which neither religious instruction nor systematic, secular moral instruction is required in the schools. That we are also the only great country that exhibits mounting crime curves may be in no way related to this fact. There seems to be, however, a growing conviction that our traditional indirect methods should be supplemented by more direct systematic pro- cedure. It is an interesting fact that in the 1926 Report of the Committee on Character Education of the National Education Association there is an approval of direct, systematic instruction to develop the moral judgments of children and youth through study of moral situations in the concrete. On page 26 of the report the following suggestions for work are made: In the senior high school more direct attention may well be given to the study of problems of the moral life, both as it relates to the individual and to society and social institutions. This principle was recognized in the character education resolutions, adopted by the World Conference on Education, San Francisco, 1923, as shown by Resolution No. 4: As to ethical instruction—That the educationists of the nations be encouraged to arrange for school instruction leading definitely toward sympathy with the ideals of civilization and international good will which interprets the wisdom of human experience as to right and wrong. This instruction should be adapted BREF e era” to the developing intelligence of the pupils, culminating in a course in ethics. Such courses in ethics in senior high school have been in successful operation for more than a decade. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 611 In the outline for character education in Grades I to XII, soon to be published by the New Hampshire state board of education, the recom- mendation for the study of professional and business codes, such as are reported in the Annals of the American Academy of Political Science, Vol. 101, May, 1922, is made. The following paragraph from the sum- mary in the pamphlet, “Character Education in High Schools,” issued by the New York City board of education, suggests a similar trend. The use of section and general assemblies for instructional and inspirational work in character education; and necessarily, provision in programming for sec- tion periods long enough for this purpose. Successful procedures in other social sciences will be serviceable in con- sidering the materials suggested above. Informal presentation, problems, projects, class discussions, special reports and socialized recitations suggest themselves at once. Contributions of other members of the group tend to expand individual viewpoints, to clarify principles and make them more serviceable as guides of thought and action. In addition to systematic group consideration of the ethical import of situations arising in contemporary social, economic, and political life, there will always be need for counsel and guidance of individuals. For this necessary service of individual guidance, teachers of insight and sympathy with youth are especially needed. ‘The number on most high school staffs qualified by aptitudes and interests for the work is not large. This places the burden upon the principal to train and develop such mem- bers of his staff as give promise of success in the work. In addition, the principal is under obligation to have available for the use of these advisers personal data about each pupil in his school. In all of our high schools there should be much information about the health, previous school record both scholastic and social, home environment, com- panions, and leisure-time activities of each pupil. Some schools report also the value of periodical ratings of personality traits by their teachers for each pupil in the school. Record of traits such as trustworthiness, selfconfidence, cooperation, respect for authority, etc., should be-assembled in each high school. After the personal conference with the individual pupil and the study of all the records that any high school might reasonably be expected to have available about him, there remains the difficult task of determining the real cause of the anti-social conduct and of making specific recommenda- tions for improvement. ‘The counsellor needs to be especially on the watch for manifestations of such mechanisms as compensation and rationaliza- tion. Frequently misbehavior represents a determination to compensate for lack of distinction in school work by gaining notoriety through some overt act of misconduct. The following statement is as true of some pupils as of certain adults to whom it was originally applied: “Those who can not get in the limelight by ordinary means will endure incredible discomfort and martyrdom to satisfy the desire for distinction.” 612 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION $< - = ———$———<—— Fortunate is the counsellor who finds the pupil as ready to recognize his real motives as was Franklin in the following account of his experi- ence at Block Island on his first voyage from Boston: In my first voyage from Boston, being becalmed off Block Island, our people set about catching cod, and hauled up a great many. Hitherto, I had stuck to my resolution of not eating animal food, and on this occasion I considered, with my master Tryon, the taking of every fish as a kind of unprovoked murder, since none of them had or ever could do us any injury that might justify the slaughter. All this seemed very reasonable. But I had formerly been a great lover of fish, and when this came hot out of the frying-pan it smelt admirably well. I balanced some time between principle and inclination, till I recollected that, when the fish were opened, I saw smaller fish taken out of their stomachs; then, thought I, ‘If you eat one another, I don’t see why we mayn’t eat you.’ So I dined upon cod very heartily, and continued to eat with other people, returning only now and then - occasionally to a vegetable diet. So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do. There is finally the problem of enlisting the support of all members of the staff in observing carefully both in school and out the conduct of pupils subsequent to the group consideration of moral questions and the personal and intimate help given in the individual conferences. Just as the work of the teachers of spelling or grammar is undermined by failure of the teachers of other subjects to reject written work containing mis- spellings or ungrammatical expressions, so the efforts both direct and indirect in character training are undermined by the teacher of debating who does not hesitate to have his charges take unfair advantages of their opponents or by the athletic coach who permits his athletes to break training rules repeatedly and to resort to rough playing against opponents. In conclusion, the youth of today are worthy of our best efforts. To enable them to gain in character, we need to employ all the methods and devices that have proven their worth, direct systematic ethical instruction in groups, sympathetic individual counsel and guidance in school work or in conduct, careful observation of individual behavior both in and out of school. The work of character education challenges the best efforts of princi- pals and teachers. May we, like Tennyson’s Ulysses, be “strong in will to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.” CHARACTER TRAINING THROUGH HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT ACTIVITIES RICE E. BROWN, PRINCIPAL OF SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, EMPORIA, KANS. Good conduct leads to good character. Good character results in good conduct. ‘Training in right conduct is character training. Emerson has said that character is higher than intellect. Within recent years the real value of high school student activities has come to the attention of school men and women in a marked way. The ‘ THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 613 writer of this paper chose as the subject of his master’s thesis which was written several years ago, “Student Activities in the High School.” When I began to search for literature on the subject, I was surprised to find that little had been written. However, at the present time one can scarcely pick up an educational paper or magazine without finding some discussion concerning student activities. It is well known that some student activities contribute more to char- acter training than do others. For example, all of us certainly consider the Girl Reserve and Hi-Y as outstanding in character training. But other activities also lend their influence or at least should lend their influence in character building. I believe every one present will agree with me when | say that unless an activity accomplishes some real good in the student’s life, it should be abolished. If it is tearing down character rather than building it up, it deserves no place in our high schools. It would be well for all of us to carefully examine our high school student activities to see whether or not they are really contributing to the student’s good. Three or four years ago we had a certain boy in our high school who, during the Christmas vacation, was almost burned to death in a gasoline explosion. He lay in our hospital for months, in fact he could scarcely move for a year. It was necessary to do considerable skin grafting. Our students offered their skin, as did students from the two colleges located in Emporia. In fact, not only the entire high school, but the town as well became interested in this boy’s case. “The time passed slowly for him, since he was scarcely able to move any part of his body. Finally, at one of our Hi-Y meetings, someone suggested a radio set to help him pass away the long, tedious hours. The entire school was asked by the Hi-Y boys to contribute. A sufficient amount was contributed to purchase the material and the: set was made by boys in our physics department. These boys installed the set in his room at the hospital and as a result he was able to pass away hour after hour listening to music and other features from all over the country. Thus the Hi-Y inaugurated a plan whereby the lives of a number of high school students were touched and they were able to help one of their student friends. Possibly you may wonder just how this is related to character training. If character is what one is, then character has much to do with what one does. Most certainly the students who helped in this enterprise were receiving character training. We have all heard the old adage that ‘“‘actions speak louder than words.” Training boys and girls how to act right is certainly character training. Similar examples could be mentioned in the Girl Reserve work, provid- ing a Thanksgiving dinner for the old folks at the county farm, having a Christmas tree for some of the poor children of the community, training in right conduct and thus training in character. The responsibility of character training is laid at the doors of the public school today as it never has been before. We all know that in many homes the parents either assume no responsibility for the conduct of their children, or they have permitted their children to get entirely beyond their control. 614 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION This situation exists in far too many homes today. The school should assume its part of the responsibility in the character training of its pupils, but the homes should not expect the public school to be responsible for all of this character training. If some students would act in school like they do in their homes, they would be asked to leave school at once. 1 wish we could get it over to the parents that the public schools are most certainly not entirely responsible for the character training of the boys and girls. How often when high school students get into trouble outside of school hours, often during the summer vacation, the public is prone to lay the blame at the doors of the public school. ‘The blame should be placed where it belongs—in the homes of the offenders. We must assume the responsibility that is placed upon us in the proper training of character in our high schools, but often the parents seem to think that it is the school’s business today to assume the entire responsibility for the actions of high school students throughout twelve months in the year. What is needed is team work—a three-horse team: the home, the church, and the school— all working together for the good of the child, all endeavoring to give the high school boy and girl that character training which will enable him to act right at all times. Now to get back to the student activities as aids in character training. I wonder if the advisers of student activities realize how much influence they exert over the members of the activity. Let the adviser grow care- less in his or her actions and it is not long until members of the activity will be doing the same. ‘The adviser can “make” or “break” a student activity. It behooves administrators to see that the right kind of advisers are chosen to direct the work of the activities. How often it has happened that through the carelessness of this adviser or that teacher, he or she has completely lost whatever influence there was for the character train- ing of the students and his or her dismissal has become necessary. In my discussion of this subject time forbids to mention the part that each high school activity plays in character training. But there are two more activi- ties which should be mentioned before closing. One is the high school assembly and the other is athletics. The high school assembly most certainly should contribute to character building. We should endeavor to use this opportunity of placing the best before the students. I wonder how many of us can look back on our high school days and recall some assembly speaker who influenced us in right conduct—that is in character training. If we are unable to do this, that means that for some reason or other the faculty and administrators of that high school failed to utilize the high school assembly as a character training agency. Oftentimes pageants and other features in assembly carry home character training. Just at this time athletics are probably being discussed more than ever before. In the Thanksgiving copy of our daily paper, The Emporia Gazette, an editorial entitled “Bye-bye Football” appeared. This article THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 615 we are sure was written by either William Allen White, owner of the paper, or his son, Bill, Jr. The Thanksgiving edition was an appropriate one for this article, since the big game of the season was to be played in ; Emporia on Thanksgiving afternoon between the College of Emporia and the teachers college, for the state championship. Most of the people in our town and surrounding country were interested in this game and of course were attracted by this editorial. But this editorial was not only of local importance. For several days after Thanksgiving lengthy discus- sions about football were found on the front pages of leading newspapers. Such men as Chancellor Lindley of Kansas University, Chancellor Brooks of Missouri University and a number of other college and university presi- dents located all over the country expressed their views in regard to football. One of the charges against football, as all of you doubtless recall, was that along with this sport, in the crowd of rooters and fans, are found certain evils, such as drinking and betting, which certainly do not lead to right character training. Those who upheld football said that the good derived to the institution through football outweighed the attendant evils. The main thing which has come out of these discussions is that it does be- hoove us as school men and women to be on the lookout for any tendencies in athletics which are liable to break down character training, and to use our utmost influence to counteract these tendencies and bring about the real beneficial results of athletics. “There is character training in athletics. All of us probably could give concrete examples of high school boys and college men who have received character ‘training through athletics which probably they could not have received in any other way. A college man might stand on the side-line and swear, but place him on the team out on the gridiron and see what will happen to him if he continues to swear. I have come to believe that the conduct of the high school boys in athletics depends to quite an extent, I was about to say almost entirely, upon the character of the coach. Oh! for coaches of such character as Gwinn Henry, present football coach at the Missouri University, formerly coach at the College of Emporia; no swearing at the boys if they do not play to suit him, no loud “bawling out,” but in a kindly way pointing out the mistakes they make and doing it in such a manner that the boys would almost die before making the same mistake over again. Is it any wonder that his boys love him and are willing to fight so hard for him? Yes, there is character training in athletics, and the one man who is responsible for that training more than any other is the coach. Thus, have we taken a brief glimpse of the part high school activities are playing in proper character training among our high school boys and girls. And with the home, the church and the school working together, this training will carry over into adult life and the products of our high schools, colleges, and universities will take their places in society as men and women of strong character. 616 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION HOMOGENEOUS GROUPING CHESTER C. HAYWORTH, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, BURLINGTON, N. C. Fortunately, nature has made no two things exactly alike, least of all two human beings. It is generally enough conceded that some degree of homogeneity is desirable and necessary in the classification of pupils, yet the term is a comparative or relative one. What manner of homogeneity we should have and some of the methods for determining it will be the first consideration of this paper. In the current issue of one of our leading educational journals is a discussion by a high school principal of the use of intelligence tests. After speaking of his own experience he says, ““The fundamental principle which the evidence tends to substantiate, however, is that homogeneous grouping should be made on the basis of those traits which are not subject to change through education.” Then he obligingly tells us how easily this may be done by saying that, ““The mental test is probably the only measuring de- vice, now developed, for measuring an unchangeable trait,’ and finally he states that, “mental tests, at present, afford the only proper basis of homogeneous grouping at our command.” In justice to the gentleman quoted, it should be said that, “the pupil’s probable learning rate for academic material,” is the unchangeable trait which he considers can be measured by means of the best known group intelligence tests. ‘This is true of a large majority of children, but the exceptions are sufficient in number to warrant other bases, in addition to the finding of mental tests, for the grouping of pupils. As hard as some have tried, psychologists have as yet been unable to prove false the opinion expressed several years ago by William Hawley Smith that some people are “born long” in certain subjects or fields of thought. Many are the examples of persons, even with low I. Q.’s, who are geniuses or near geniuses either in mathematics, music, memory work, or something else. Mental ability, special aptitudes, and general classification tests often help in the discovery of special powers but they lack much of being sufficient in themselves. Perhaps it will be well to consider intelligence tests a little further, since they are the crux around which revolve many of the differences of opinion today concerning the proper grouping of pupils. “The term “general intel- ligence” is rather vague and we may as well admit that no one knows what it is. Some claim that mental tests measure native intelligence ; others that they only measure what the person has actually learned to date and are not a reliable measure of inborn powers; still others that they have no validity at all. Mental tests are valuable in prognosticating the rate of learning and are safe so long as their limitations are recognized and remembered. They should be used, and as a result of their use they will probably undergo almost unlimited refinement. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 617 ee eee ee ee The physical condition of pupils constitutes another basis for considera- tion in grouping. ‘Terman and others have demonstrated, contrary to popular belief, that mentally superior children are generally physically superior. However, the exceptions are of importance. Acute or chronic ailments, temporary or permanent conditions of various natures, are not infrequently decisive factors in grouping, especially in certain subjects. The stage of physiological and social development of the pupil is also some- times worthy of consideration. Various studies of city school systems reveal that among the bases used for the classification of pupils are the teacher’s judgment, and educational age. This is as it should be. It is readily admitted that the teacher’s judgment is not reliable, but it is doubtful if the time will ever come when we should dispense with it. Educational accomplishment will remain one of the desirable bases for grouping as long as continuity of content matter in various subjects is important in the learning process. This is a truism and yet it is denied by administrators holding responsible positions. Special aptitudes and interests constitute still another of the desirable bases for grouping. “These may be determined in part by mental and special aptitude tests, but supplementary aid must be furnished out of the knowledge and information of parents and by the observation.and com- ments of the elementary grade teachers, as revealed in the permanent school records. Furthermore, consideration must be given the answers of the pupil to the usual questionnaires and his verbal expressions of choice to his special counselors. ‘The elective system as it has been generally prac- ticed means that parents and teachers admit to themselves that they do not know what the high school youth should study. Therefore, in their vexatious dilemma they generally turn to the youth, informing him that he has reached a new stage in life and they are going to allow him the liberty of choosing his own course of study. The result is that a large percent of the high school and college students decide they have elected the wrong course, when they discover some work is involved in the program. They then demand a change and not infrequently get it for no other reason than the one just given. Homogeneous grouping for the academic and vocational subjects based in part an special aptitudes and common interests makes for a type of comradeship and good fellowship somewhat different from that engendered by sports and games, and yet just as desirable. “This basis should also be used for grouping pupils in the elementary grades, under the head of educational guidance. Educational guidance finally eventuates into voca- tional guidance in the high school, ‘There can be no clear perspective of the latter unless it is recognized as comprehended in the former. Character may not well be used as a basis for grouping pupils, except for purposes of moral instruction. Here it should be used, for what would be the sense of dwelling upon and stressing ethical and moral standards regardless of the individual weaknesses and needs of the pupils? Fair 618 NationaL EpucaATIon ASSOCIATION a ee progress is being made in the development of character tests and doubtless something of recognized merit will be evolved. When this is accomplished and moral conditions more accurately diagnosed, then courses of moral instruction can be planned to meet the needs of homogeneous groups. The signs of the times point to the necessity for something different from what is now being done along this line. We may say that moral instruction should be incidental and diffused throughout the entire curriculum and all school activities. Nothing could be more true, yet the fact remains that things taught incidentally are too often taught accidentally. We need definite courses of moral and ethical instruction in our high schools of today, buttressed and reinforced by all the teaching of the incidental type we can get. Will-power and ability for sustained effort, whether innate or acquired, constitute the last basis for homogeneous grouping which will be con- sidered in this paper. It is easy to say that the teacher should so inspire the pupil and interest him in the subjectmatter that he will work up to the maximum indicated by his innate mental ability. However, this is often rendered practically impossible on account of the previous training ,of the pupil and the habits he has acquired. We are interested only in that type and degree of homogeneity which will give all a fair chance and make it possible for the entire group to succeed in the pursuit of any study. It is occasionally advisable to put a pupil of average ability alongside one of superior mental heritage for the reason that the first one has other qualities which insure that he will accomplish as much as the other. In making actual decisions we are usually confronted with a condition and not a theory. What the mentally superior pupil should be able to do now, had his earlier training and the remainder of his heritage been different, does not particularly concern us in the treatment of his case in the living present. We must take all material as it comes to us and do our best with it. Elasticity in the system of transfers will make it possible to take care of marked differences in accomplishments as fast as they arise. The main bases for grouping have now been considered. At this point it should be said that after homogeneous grouping has been effected it may be found to be a profitless device unless the technic of teaching and the curriculum have been thoroughly adjusted, with the differences in the various groups and their needs in mind. No plan, of itself, will insure the success of the scheme, whether it be the Gary plan, the Dalton plan, the Winnetka plan, the platoon system, or a combination of various plans. There has been a justifiable demand in recent years for a greater degree of individualization of instruction. Some claim for their scheme that it has achieved complete individualization of instruction. Be not deceived. It is not true, and it would be unfortunate if it were true. A proper balance between individualization and socialization in instruction is necessary. It THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 619 can be maintained by teachers of strong personalities, under helpful super- vision and in various types of organization. When we consider the extravagant claims made for some present day plans it is well to recall Pope’s lines regarding government, For forms of government let fools contest Whate’er is best administered is best. The best that can be said of homogeneous grouping can be summarized as follows: First: It makes for more rapid progress in the mastery of the subjectmatter on the part of all types and groups of pupils. _ Second: It does away with unfair competition. To unequally yoke a very com- petent pupil with a slow one is no more sensible or fair than to hitch up a Shet- land pony with an eighteen hundred-pound draft horse. Third: It creates wholesome competition, thus preventing the mentally superior from becoming indolent and conceited and the “below average” from becoming discouraged and developing a feeling of inferiority. Fourth: It results in better discipline and character by keeping all pupils busy and conscious of progress consistent with their various abilities. Fifth: It conserves special talent and genius by enabling the mentally superior to learn and maintain proper habits of study and work. This is a result which we should devoutly seek. Sixth: It makes possible a sane program of vocational guidance by discovering the special talents of pupils and affording opportunity for their development. The charge has been made that homogeneous grouping is undemocratic. The opposite is true. The ideal in democracy is that all individuals shall have equal and adequate opportunities for selfdevelopment, selfexpression, and selfrealization. The aim of education is to make possible the carrying out of such a program. We, in America, see in the highest good of the individual the most satisfactory promotion of the public welfare There are many angles to homogeneous grouping, but the weight of the evidence is in its favor. THE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY AND SCHOLARSHIP C. W. GETHMANN, PRINCIPAL, CENTRAL HIGH SCHOOL, OKLAHOMA CITY OKLAHOMA To improve scholarship is one of our major problems. We have never been able to do this merely by setting up standards, however important that is. It can’t be done entirely by carefully selected courses taking in consideration the aptitudes and interests of the individual students. We have students in the high school that maintain a high standard scholarship just because they enjoy it, some others could, but don’t; still others refuse to try, and some, of course, can’t and don’t. In order to reach those who are generally satisfied with getting by, all sorts of incentives have been tried. Rewards have been offered in the various subjects, but our experi- ence has proved that where the number that are eligible to receive the reward is limited, only a few strive for it. 620 NaTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION Thus the National Honor Society permitting the selection of 15 percent of the senior class has set up a reward which most students feel is worth striving for. It is a national organization. Boys and girls like to belong to an organization that is national in scope. hey are just like adults in that respect and the goal is attainable for those who have ability and will use it. Ever since we received a charter of the National Honor Society, in assembly, through the school paper, by a suitable initiation ceremony, we have tried to keep the National Honor Society before the student body as a fitting reward for excellent scholarship. In order to test out the effect of this type of publicity, I asked the present membership of the National Honor Society when they really determined to strive for membership. To my amazement about 65 percent had set that as their goal while they were still in the junior high school. The rest of them had made up their minds to become members while they were sophomores. Of course, many who set that as their goal did not attain, but have not those who have strived and failed helped themselves in the striving? Some say that is undemocratic. If that be true, then we should have no student council, no athletic teams, no class or club officers, in fact, no con- test of any kind. But life itself is a contest, and he who strives but fails, is better for the striving. What can the National Honor Society establish as a program?—Let me quote from the initiatory ritual: “Do you promise to hold this society sacred and by your words and actions to make the other students of the Central High School regard it with respect and honor?” ‘The answer is: “T promise.” “Do you promise to do everything in your power to encour- age high standards of scholarship among your fellow students?” The answer is: “I promise.” ‘You answer well. As your knowledge of the significance of your vows becomes deeper, may your life be more abundant.” The glory of membership is a real, worthwhile incentive; but here are some positive results: 1. The honor society offers a scholarship cup each year to the class maintaining the highest scholarship average, and another to the boys’ club maintaining the highest average. The boys’ club to whom the cup was awarded last year claims that it will be impossible to take the cup away this year. 2. The American Association University Women is offering annually three scholarships to three deserving girls that are members of the National Honor Society. 3. Most of the members are given an opportunity to go on to college because the parents feel that since they have proved themselves to be honor students, they should continue their education. 4. Many of the members of the National Honor Society, because of their leader- ship qualities, are members of the student council. They have been instrumental in passing legislation that requires scholarship to accompany leadership. Here are some of the rules: a. No student can hold an office in class, club, or home room, or hold a position on the staff of the weekly paper or annual unless he has passed in every subject the preceding semester. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 621 b. No student can have a part in a play or operetta unless he presents a weekly clearance card during the weeks of practice, the same as athletes. c. The student council eligibility committee enforces these rules rigidly. Last year at the meeting of the North Central Association a report was made by Dean Maxwell of the University of Wyoming on the failure of freshmen in colleges of the north central territory. He showed that from 6 to 17 percent of the students failed during the first semester of their freshman year. This report showed that there was a rather large variation in the percentage of failures among the colleges. “Therefore a resolution was passed to investigate the causes of the existing percentage of failures in the respective colleges and universities. After that report I was very anxious to know if the graduates of our high school who had been members of the National Honor Society would be among those failing at colleges. In other words, where did the failures at college rank in the high school graduating class. This is what I found. Most of our graduates attended either Oklahoma City University or the University of Oklahoma. A study of the students that passed in all sub- jects revealed the following facts: 1. In the Oklahoma City University all but 7 of those who passed in all hours were in the upper or middle third of the high school graduating class. 2. In the University of Oklahoma all but 5 of those who passed were in the upper or middle third of the high school graduating class. 3. At Oklahoma City University 5 students made an average grade of A. AlJ of these were in the upper seventh of the high school graduating class. 4. Twenty averaged B. Eight of these were in the upper third of the class, 8 in the middle third of the class and only 4 in the lower third of the class, and these 4 were students who had a high I. Q. but failed to apply themselves while in high school, this accounts for their high average grade in university. 5. At the University of Oklahoma 8 students made an average grade of A. Six of these were in the upper seventh of the high school graduating class and the other 2 in the upper third. 6. Thirty made an average grade of B. Fourteen of these were in the upper fourth of the graduating class, 7 in the upper third, 4 in the upper half, and only 5 in the lower fourth. Again these 5 were students of normal intelligence, but had not applied themselves very’ diligently while in high school. A study of those who failed revealed several positive conclusions: 1. At Oklahoma City University 8 students failed in from 4 to 7 hours of work. None of these ranked in the upper third of the high school graduating class and five ranked in the lower 50 percent of the class, 3 in the lower third. 2. At the University of Oklahoma 12 students failed in from 3 to 17 hours of work. Nine of these 12 ranked in the lower sixth of the high school graduating class, 2 in the lower third, and only 1 in the upper third. 3. Only 13 students failed in more than one subject. Seven of these 13 had an I. Q. that was subnormal. Five of the remaining 7 were boys who had a fairly high I. Q., but who had taken from 5 to 6 years to complete the high school course, always failing in from 1 to 3 subjects each semester. Their failure in high school was due to lack of application and a desire to do efficient work and therefore their failure in the university was not surprising. In a class of 625 they ranked as follows: 554, 471, 616, 592, 543, 417, 373, 552, 586, 521, 563, 571, and 609. A study of the success of the students attending other colleges and universities revealed the same facts: 622 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 1. A student ranking highest in her class attended Vassar College. During her freshman year she ranked in the upper 5 percent of her class. 2. Another honor student attended Yale University and made honor grades in Mathematics and English and his average was 7 percent above the average of the freshmen class at Yale University. 3. Two students attended the University of Pennsylvania. ‘They ranked in the upper 25 percent of the high school graduating class and at the end of the first semester at University of Pennsylvania they ranked in the upper 25 percent of the freshman class of the University of Pennsylvania. 4. Three students attended the University of Michigan, 2 of whom ranked in the upper 25 percent of the graduating class of Central High School. These 2 students made an average grade of A during the first semester at the University of Michigan. Some positive conclusions can be drawn from these facts: 1. Students making A’s or B’s in Central High School are very likely to make A’s and B’s in the university in which they enrol. 2. Students ranking in the lower third or lower fourth of the Central High School graduating class are very likely to fail in one or more subjects at the university they attend. 3. Students with a high I. Q. who ranked low in high school because of lack of application generally fail in one or more subjects at the university they attend because of continued lack of application. There is a very positive correlation between I. Q. and high school rank and success in college. The percentage of failures at the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma City University is higher than at other colleges because very few students ranking in the lower 25 percent of the graduating class will attempt to enrol elsewhere. Students from the lower 25 per- cent of the graduating class of the high school will likely not succeed in college. Since honor students have all made good at college, it is selfevi- dent that any organization that fosters scholarship, that encourages those who have natural ability to strive for excellent scholarship is exceedingly worthwhile. This the National Honor Society has done. Therefore we should encourage the work of the National Honor Society. THE TEACHERS PLACE IN STUDENT ACTIVITIES C. J. GOING, PRINCIPAL, PHILLIPS HIGH SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM, ALA. May I call your attention to the important cog in student organization work—the adviser or sponsor. The success of every student activity de- pends upon the selection of a sympathetic and understanding director ; one who guides and advises, rather than one who directs and_ bosses. There is a technic in this business of organizing and directing student activities; a technic easily mastered by some few teachers and entirely impossible of mastery by others. The teachers’ attitude toward extra- curriculum activities varies (1) according to their own training and experience (2) according to their temperament (3) according to their sense of obligation to the students in their charge. It is therefore highly im- THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 623 portant to select with care the teacher who is to direct the student activi- ties in any modern high school. Upon this teacher’s shoulders must also fall the task of educating the entire faculty and winning each teacher’s sympathetic support for the work. ‘This teacher should possess a socialized viewpoint, should realize the educational possibilities of all these activities, should see in them opportunities for more direct control of the various stimuli that educate, and should regard them as means for developing de- sirable character reaction. In all activity programs it is most important that the teacher refrain from taking the lead. If the organization is to be a student association it should put the students foremost, with the teacher or faculty in the background, that is, the students should hold all the offices, hold the elec- tions, conduct the meetings, do everything that they can do. Then just what is the part of the members of the faculty? Let them cooperate, advise, and suggest. Let them be members of the student organization on equal terms with the student. This gives the student a feeling that the teachers are “with him” or a feeling of “‘ourness.” To give aid when needed, yet not jump in and do the whole thing is quite a delicate task. It is often much easier to do the thing one’s self, save time and energy, than to let the students try for themselves, make mistakes and try again. But remem- ber we learn by doing. The just, well-balanced, well-liked teacher in the background, who holds the power of approval or veto, increases the incentive to worthy student projects. Let.me state that all cannot fill such a place, but as the demand increases a greater number are becoming equal to the new task. May I take an illustration from our school. Each year the high schools of the city compete for a loving cup given to the school displaying the best brand of sportsmanship for the year. This term sportsmanship has grown to be all inclusive with us and it now embraces much more than just the attitude and deportment of players and spectators during athletic contests. The athletic committee of our general organization suggested that we write and adopt a sportsmanship code; and that it be submitted to the judges as one of our projects in sportmanship. It was suggested by one of the committee that each pupil be asked to contribute suggestions in writing. About two thousand pupils responded. ‘The student committee after many days of hard work succeeded in sifting the wheat from the chaff. The result was the code as given below. A Good Sportsman Is Courteous On the field he does not jeer at errors; he does not cheer at the opponent’s penalty; he treats them as guests, not enemies. In school he is considerate of the faculty, of the fellow students, and of visitors. In life he is respectful to elders and superiors; he treats the other fellow as he would be treated. 624 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Is Modest Ache. On the field he works for the good of the team rather than for individual honor; he will even sacrifice his own prestige for his team; he is a gracious winner. In school he does not become conceited over his success, neither does he feel himself superior to his classmates. In life he does not “blow” about what he is going to do; he does not boast about what he has done. Is Generous On the field he applauds a good play of his opponents; he gives the other fellow the benefit of the doubt. . In school he does not “knock” other schools or individuals; he appreciates another’s merit. In life he does not ridicule the man who is “down,” but encourages him. He is not afraid to think for himself and to voice his opinions straight- forwardly and clearly. Is Game On the field he plays hard; he fights though he may be already defeated ; he accepts adverse decisions; he is a good loser. In school he does his work, he keeps on working in the face of almost certain failure. He has “the vim to think straight, the pluck to act straight.” In life he does his part, however hard it may be; he accepts reverses with a smile and tries again. Is Obedient On the field he observes the rules of the game. In school he observes all of the regulations. In life he respects the civic laws and the demands of the community. Is Fair On the field he competes in a clean, hard-fought but friendly way; he helps an injured opponent; he has no alibis. In school he does not waste his time nor that of the faculty; he does not copy his classmates’ work; he does not receive aid from any source on his examinations. In life he sees impartially both sides of a question; he uses no underhand methods ; he is not influenced by money; he is not partial in administering justice. All the time the adviser had remained in the background, with only a suggestion from time to time. The code belongs to two thousand pupils. It is theirs. Who dares attempt to estimate the value to these pupils of such a piece of work? Give us more teachers capable of and willing to advise and direct wisely. CIVIC VALUES IN EXTRACURRICULUM ACTIVITIES WILLIAM DODGE LEWIS, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, THE JOHN C. WINSTON COM- PANY, PHILADELPHIA, PA. The seer and prophet of an education that is evolving from our time of transition has recently written a little book of 136 pages which doubtless most of us either have read or will read soon. This little bible of educa- THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 625 tional progress sets forth with matchless clarity and power the difference between the aims of an education for a static and one for a changing social order, and in my judgment gives by far the best answer thus far rendered to that most fundamental educational question of all—“Why do we have public schools?” Education for a Changing Civilization, by William H. Kilpatrick, is, I believe, the most fundamental, the most significant, the most convincing, and the most prophetic book of educational discus- sion that it has been my good fortune to read. Dr. Kilpatrick bases his discussion upon the changes which have come to civilization as a result of tested thought. In 1590 Galileo simul- taneously dropped a one-pound and a five-pound ball from the top of the leaning tower of Pisa. Their coincident impact upon the ground pro- duced a mental and spiritual earthquake still reverberating in the revolt of modern youth against unreasoned, although not always unreasonable, authority. Obviously, I shall not attempt to make an adequate review of Dr. Kilpatrick’s book. Some of his conclusions, however, furnish a much better basis for evaluating pupil participation in school administration and other extracurriculum activities than I have ever discovered elsewhere. He notes as growing out of tested thought a changed mental attitude, lustrated by a waning submission to unreasoned external authority; in- dustrialization, the result of man’s control of nature through modern invention—a direct application of tested thought; and democracy, ‘‘prac- tically a fundamental demand of modern ethics.”” “The interaction of these forces has given us a world which in its mental, moral, and social aspects is coming to parallel the revolutionary changes that have so completely transformed our physical environment. The old purpose of education was to fit for a static social order. It taught what to think about static problems, what to do on well-defined occasions. The purpose of the new education is to develop ability to recognize new problems, the habit of thinking in terms of social welfare, including a realization of individual profit in social well-being, and skill in the cooperative activities through which a democratc social order must function. As illustrations of the problems unsuspected in our youth but of vital present concern, we note the increasing narrowness of individual interest consequent upon vocational specialization. Specialization of work often means specialization of group contacts and unionized class jealousies and hatreds. Again, the size and complication of modern business, social, and political organization dwarf the individual. It is easy to say, “What's the use? I don’t count anyway.” Paradoxically, alongside a revolt against authoritarianism, the citizen finds his destiny in a so-called democracy irrevocably determined. So he washes his hands of social responsibility and if his business seems to require special favors, comes to terms with “the gang,” which at least has the virtues of personality and tangibility. 626 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Most unfortunately in many cases the potential leader abjures his civic duties and opportunities in a Pharisaical aloofness which deprives society of his guidance. We need not, however, “go I know not whither, fetch I know not what.” If we clearly recognize the problem of education and of civiliza- tion today, we can concentrate upon the development of social thinking, social conscience, and social skill. From the psychological laboratory we may redefine the learning process, and here I quote from Dr. Kilpatrick. To learn is to acquire a way-of-behaving. A thing has been learned when, at the appropriate time, that kind of conduct can and will take place. There is an inner dynamic to learning such that the learned conduct will at the right time come forward of itself, even against considerable opposition. We readily recog- nize this in “bad” habits. The same thing is true in greater or less degree of all learning. With this meaning for the verb “to learn,” how then does such learning take place? First, what we would learn we must practice. We learn the responses that we make. Precise exercise is necessary. These three statements, differing only in the wording, include inner attitudes and appreciations as truly as knowl- edge and skills. A second rule of learning is that we do not learn everything we practice. We learn only what succeeds. To put this a little more exactly: When we try to attain an end, with some of our efforts succeeding and others failing, we learn to do the ways that succeed, we learn not to do the ways that fail. And what about the pupils—can they be trusted? ‘The answer is to ask what it is we seek. Do we wish to fix in advance just what our children shall be and think, fix for them the answers they shall return to their problems? If so, then we cannot trust them. We have no assurance that they will by real thinking hit upon our answers. Some of our answers, yes. ‘The situation that taught us will teach them. Others, no. The situation frankly viewed may teach a different story. But if we are willing to trust the situation to teach and if we wish our children to learn to think and act for themselves, we must trust them. It is only as they practice thinking and choice and responsibility for results that they can learn to think and choose and accept responsibility. Must we then keep hands off and withdraw entirely? By no means. We have to do with growing characters. We must help them grow. How much stimulation and suggestion and direction should come from us? As much as they can use wisely. And how much is that? How can we tell? The test is what is learned. If our suggestions make any child to grow in dependence on us or in aversion to us, then we are probably overdoing our active part. We should give the child a freer hand. How free? How much freedom shall we accord the child? As much as he can use wisely. And again the test is the learning that results. If the child grows selfish and increasingly decides without due regard to known pertinent facts, then something is wrong. He is not using his opportunities aright. Possibly we have not helped enough. Possibly we have helped wrongly. Each case must settle where its own fault lies; but always the test is—what is being learned. The wise teacher will know the signs. rusting the child in the proper way is the only path to edu- cation. From Dr. Kilpatrick’s presentation of the contribution education must make to our changing civilization, from his definition of the learning process, and from his estimation of the character of our young people, the values of extracurriculum activities, particularly of pupil participation in the administration and government of our schools is obvious. It is hardly necessary to mention the social values of such activities. The THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 627 problems that confront the young people ‘are real and vital. . Upon their solution depends not only the success of the school as a scholastic institu- tion, but also the happiness the pupils find in their daily tasks. With proper guidance they will provide a much more genuine and dynamic institutional life than can be had without their cooperation. They will readily recognize that the political responsibility of the school authorities invest in principal and teachers the veto power and will welcome from a sympathetic but firm principal the direction and restraint that he should exercise. At the same time they will not fail to detect the fraud if alleged delegation of responsibility becomes a mere device for executing autocratic decrees. What is perhaps of greatest importance is that student participation furnishes a genuine social situation with constantly changing problems. It provides a medium for social action, for group activity, for the training of leaders and followers. The recognition of qualities of leadership, dis- crimination as to policies with well-studied examination of their social consequences, the presentation of various points of view, the clash of interests, the correction,of mistakes—all with the interests of the group rather than of the individual as the final criterion of judgment—are essential processes in a democratic social order. In the light of these processes the curriculum material in the social studies and much of it in English takes on new meaning. ‘The relations of pupils and faculty become cooperative, quite as often transforming the spiritual attitude of faculty as of pupils. Literally the school becomes a new institution alive with vital interests and electric with a new spiritual force. If we learn by experiencing, and if we learn the processes by which we succeed, we are here laying the foundations for successful participation in the varied activities essential to good citizenship. It cannot be too strongly ’ emphasized that these are democratic processes. If we were training these young people to be subjects of a despotism, our extracurriculum activity would be sadly out of place. Probably it would in the long run be fatal to our purpose. Numerous as we are finding the defects of democracy to be, a glance at the history of even the most benevolent despotisms makes us bear those ills we have rather than fly to others that we know too well. We know that the efficiency and wellbeing of democracy can rise little above the mass thinking and feeling, but we also know that, imperfect as may be its aims, all measures will be ultimately determined by what the mass of people believe to be their own interest. The New England town meeting was the prototype of American democracy. Its popular decision to build a new bridge over Plumb Creek has expanded into the bonding of a state for $50,000,000 for roads and the taxing of the nation to build the Panama Canal. Similarly, the village store council has expanded into the grange, the club, and the forum; and the political pamphlet into the many-voiced press with its weekly and monthly messages to all of our many-minded millions. These in turn decide the personnel of our legislative, executive, and judicial servants, and 628 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION oe ee eee in the long run determine the laws to be enacted, their interpretation by the courts, and their enforcement by the police agencies. The good citizen touches life at many points, not only in the organiza- tions through which public opinion is voiced, but also, and sometimes quite as important, in his personal contact. The breadth and influence of his personal contacts will depend, of course, very largely upon his position in the community and upon his personality. For all of these influences as well as for his political relations, the extracurriculum activities of the school are the best kind of direct preparation. In them he has learned ways of behaving, he has learned how his behavior affects other people, and in proportion to his success, he has learned the methods of personal and social contacts which will produce the results he desires. If he has had a successful experience in extracurriculum activities, he has learned that social wellbeing affects him personally, and let us hope that in many cases he has also developed the native idealism of his youth into an altruistic concern for social welfare. Obviously the contri- bution of the curriculum in the social studies can help here amazingly, but without the extracurriculum activities they will Jack the enacting clause which seems most likely to make the instruction effective in passing over into character and action. It seems clear, therefore, that the potential value of properly conducted extracurriculum activities may be made one of the greatest—in my opinion by far the greatest—asset of society directly creditable to the school. This instruction has a particular significance in the high school. The best statistics available indicate that we have today in our high schools approximately four out of ten of our young people of high school age. We have them in this institution at the one time of their lives when they are most impressionable along social and civic lines. ‘The desire to work together in groups is almost a passion. “They are forming their habits of thinking as at no other time in their lives, but no other habits are so much in the foreground of their consciousness at this time as those which have to do with their relations to their kind. This is the time of all others to develop not only intelligence concerning democracy, but also a passionate devotion to the welfare of democracy and a skill in the cooperative activi- ties through which democracy functions. Consider again the representative character of this high school group. From them will come practically all the leaders of tomorrow. Nearly all our college students go through’ the American high school. It trains the vast majority of the future doctors, lawyers, preachers, teachers, editors, publicists, and leading business men—in other words, those who will be most influential in shaping public thought and action. It includes those who must form the large and more intelligent group of followers as well as the leaders. If they have learned to think, and perhaps more important, to feel, socially, if they have developed skill in democratic group activities, they will justify the enormous expense society incurs in their training, and THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 629 will effectively answer the query whether we can continue to pay the price for public secondary education. To summarize briefly, Dr. Kilpatrick has given’us in his book, Educa- tion for a Changing Civilization, a statement of a philosophy that em- phasizes the civic value of extracurriculum activity. He has called our attention to the fact that tested thought has largely removed unreasoned external authority as a basis for action, that industrialization has brought changes that are revolutionizing our daily life and that affect profoundly our mental attitudes, that all our human relationships must increasingly assume democratic form. The keynote of the civilizations which our young people are to face is changed. ‘Their problems cannot be foreseen. We can no more state the problems than we can give the answers to them. It therefore becomes necessary for education to prepare youth to recognize and define the problems as it meets them, and intelligently to seek their solution. He says that to learn is to acquire a way of behaving and that it is measured by successful experience. In view of this philosophy it seems logical that the extracurriculum activities, particularly pupil participation in the administration and govern- ment of our schools, provide the changing problems of vital interest to our young people through which they may successfully acquire the mental and emotional basis for successful citizenship. If the social order in which they are to live is to be of a democratic character, its decisions will register public opinion. So far as we can see at present, the best institution through which the public opinion of the future can be directed is the public high school. Here we have a large body of the citizens who will direct the thinking of the future. ‘They are in the school at the most significant time in their lives for determining their mental and emotional social attitudes. If through their extracurriculum activities, they learn to recognize social problems as they arise, if they can think out intelligent solutions of these problems, and skilfully apply these solutions in a democratic way, they will justify the thought and expense involved in the American public secondary school. é LITERARY APPRECIATION THROUGH CREATIVE WRITING MAURICE R. ROBINSON, EDITOR, THE SCHOLASTIC, PITTSBURGH, PA. Witter Bynner has said that there are three approaches to judgment of any art. ‘The first approach he mentions is through one’s likes or dislikes. Second, he says, “there is the approach of the cultured individual who tries to combine his own judgment with the majority judgment among those whom he considers his peers. . . . Third, there is the conven- tionalized approach of the complete academician who subdues personal judgment to the accumulated judgments of other academicians deader than he is.” “The first approach,” he adds, ‘“‘might be called a love-letter, the second, an invitation to tea, and the third an obituary.” 630 NatIonaAL Epucation AssoclATION I have talked of this art gallery incident because it represents the kind of appreciation that I am not going to talk about when I say a few words about “literary appreciation through creative writing.” It is rather the approach that Witter Bynner says might be called a “love-letter” apprecia- tion! Love is blind to many things: mayhap to angles, shades of color, absence of all technic; but love loves the beauty it sees, even if its inex- perience and simplicity may be blind to some of the homeliness that is apparent to technical critics. This simple, untutored approach to art in any of its forms is first evi- dent in children when they are babes-in-arms. And therein, I believe, lies the justification for emphasizing appreciation as an important part of the educator’s job. And, of course, educators must justify their theories to a sometimes critical and cynical public. Let us, therefore, include here a brief justification. As I said, this untutored approach to art is first evi- dent in babies. If it were possible to take a censorship of the mothers of all persons who constitute this audience to ascertain the first word each of you learned to say, I wager that the word “pretty” in some form or other would win out even over “papa” or “mamma.” At least, the word “pretty” or “‘pit--ty,” accompanied with an outstretched hand, would certainly be listed as one of the most-used expressions and gestures of your childhoods. And what becomes of this desire to seek beauty? It is thrust aside during the child’s infancy by us elders who wish to keep dirty little hands off our neckties, or off the attractive tapestries or prints in our homes. ‘Then, when the youngster reaches school, unattractive formule, theorems, and facts necessary to learn how to make a living take the center of the stage. Perhaps the desire for beauty gets a period or two a week in a drawing class. Eventually, however, this quest for beauty does find expression. But in the majority of girls it has its outlet in rouged cheeks, painted lips, calcimined necks, permanent waves, ermine coats, and expensive gowns. In a great many men—at least I have known many such—this desire to appreciate beauty consists of falling in love, and after the novelty of that wears off, the desire is expressed by some carefully selected adjectives, which—mind you—are directed against the educational institutions from which they have been graduated. ‘They condemn their high schools and their colleges because in four or eight years these institutions did not culti- vate in them a taste for what they choose vaguely to call “the finer things of life,” meaning, of course, good books, music, paintings, that is to say, beauty. Apparently, so many things have been taught to these men by rule, or formula, in short by authority, that they supposed that they could have been given a series of theorems by which they could prove or disprove the quality of beauty in any of its forms. They had not even been told of the “love- letter” approach to beauty. They were:still looking for the “invitation-to- tea” formula or, better still, the “obituary” notice. Yet these men of my acquaintance whom I have heard condemn their alma maters on this score have enjoyed a meager amount of leisure time THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 631 compared with the leisure that is to be the legacy of their children—the children who are now in the grades and high schools. The eight-hour day has displaced the twelve-hour day, the five-day week is almost upon us, and prominent American industrial leaders, more conservative than Henry Ford, have recently predicted that in the not distant future our industrial pro- cesses will be so highly developed that four hours’ work a day will supply us with all material necessities. Henry Ford says that the five-day week is merely a cold business proposi- tion—more leisure means more time to enjoy luxuries, more motor cars, more tires, more gasoline, more wearing apparel, more food! Perhaps from the standpoint of commerce more leisure is a business proposition, but many social thinkers realize that although America is not threatened by starvation or want, it perhaps is threatened by a vast amount of leisure which may destroy us because we have not the character or culture to turn it into value. In other words, education for leisure is rapidly becoming one of America’s chief needs. We still hold great ability to produce wealth in higher esteem than great ability to use it. Now, I am not presenting these ideas as something new, or as something that may have escaped your thought or attention. I mention them merely as a justification for placing more emphasis on appreciation. Nor do I have any magic formula to present that will save us from huge commercial programs for amusement, or from competitive vulgarities in dress and housing. But I am interested in the ‘development of literary appreciation as one means of providing a more satisfying use of leisure time. I wish also to point out the similarity between the simple, untutored approach to art—of which I have spoken—and the approach to literary appreciation through creative writing. Let us suppose for a moment that we are high school pupils in an English class, studying poetry. Suppose our teacher were to hold up a little crimson handkerchief and ask us to write down the thoughts it suggested to us. (Suggesting a subject, I realize, is not good teaching technic, but I am merely developing an idea.) Following the teacher’s suggestion, we all try. One of us produces this little thought, which, by the way, is from a 16-year-old high school girl: You speak of me as being always gay. Is grief, then, less than grief, When crimson handkerchiefs are used to keep The strained and silent tears in that I weep? Or is an autumn leaf Less dying, as it dies a scarlet way? Wouldn’t we all, even as high school. pupils, see the superiority of that little poem to the thoughts the rest of us had jotted down? On the other hand, suppose the teacher had handed us each a little volume of Milton, and directed us to read, or rather study, Comus. In eleven lines we would find these ten words: Tethys’, Nereus’, Carpathian, Triton, Glaucus’, Leucothea’s, Thetis’, Sirens, Parthenopxos, Ligea’s. 632 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION A contrast of no mean proportions! An exaggeration, I admit. But it serves as an example of the distorted opinions that high school students often get concerning what they are expected to believe is good poetry. I speak from experience. ‘Poetry?’ they shout derisively, “nothing doing! That stuff is too deep for me. I never want to read any more of it. I was forced to read plenty!” Yet poetry they or their fellow-pupils write will interest them. It can be read without a dictionary, encyclopedia, or mythology. Then they can be introduced to good modern poets who write of simple subjects in simple terms. Poets like Robert Frost are popular with high school pupils for that very reason. Hughes Mearns has said in one of his many articles on “Creative Youth” that one reason we grownups are beginning again to notice the child as a creative artist is because we are taking a new interest in the beauty of all primitive art. Certainly the child is genuinely primitive. His creations do interest us, but what is far more important, they interest the children themselves. Perhaps it is because children are genuine primitives that they appreciate their own primitive creations. “The fact itself, however, satis- fies me. I supposed until recently that these ideas were evident to teachers, but that experience had proven them unwise; and that, after all, perhaps there was something besides tradition to recommend the “classics” as the best approach to literary appreciation. (And as Hughes Mearns would add, “with the same classic result.”) But not long ago I reviewed a com- paratively new book on the teaching of English in high schools. ‘The author, I suppose, must represent the opinion of a large number of teachers. And here, in a modern book on teaching methods, I found no considera- tion given to this idea. In fact, the author can see no value in devoting time to creative writing. He ridicules the idea; chides teachers who are trying to improve the expressive ability of their pupils, and brings one chapter of his book to an ironical close with this paragraph: Fifty years from now the student of educational history will be puzzled to know what the schools thought they were trying to do in the first quarter of the twentieth century. His comment will run something like this: “Those teachers were not stylists—at least very few were. Why did the great majority suppose they could impart what they did not possess? They must have seen that only a small minority could achieve a graceful style. . . . Did they even flatter themselves that the minority’s charm of style was due to instruction? Did teachers conceive that they were training professional authors, or were they counting on theme-writing as an enjoyment comparable to amateur painting or piano-playing. It is hard to see the similarity.” He missed the idea entirely. He confused the by-product with the product itself. Like many critics of creative education, he thought it was the product in which we are interested, instead of the process through which the child’s mind develops. Hard to see the similarity! Why, even THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 633 as the amateur musician is far more likely to be capable of enthusiastic enjoyment of Rachmaninoff or Kreisler, than is the uninitiated, so is the dabbler in poetry or prose far more capable of thorough appreciation of the skill of Hardy, or James, or Edith Wharton, or Zona Gale, or Edna Millay. Certainly the fact that so many children at sometime in their lives take up the special study of at least one musical instrument is no minor factor in the popularity of good musical concerts. The same factor is true in any other form of endeavor. Attend an ordinary vaudeville show. A gymnast performs one hair-raising stunt after another. Each stunt, to us who are uninitiated, seems as thrillingly difficult as another. Then the performer executes a twist or a turn or a flop that to us may not seem at all sensational, yet here and there throughout the audience there is wild applause. It comes from the amateur gymnasts. They have tried that trick. They know the skill it requires. That, in the simple approach to any art, is appreciation. A most successful college English teacher with whom I am intimately acquainted uses almost exclusively the creative efforts of his students in approaching appreciation of any literary form—whether it be the essay, the short story, the news story, or poetry. His results, both in expression and appreciation, are, to say the least, unusual. One of the most successful high school teachers of English that I know has creative writing as the central theme of her course of study. (Inci- dentally, she is not hampered by a set course of study that she is com- pelled to follow.) The chief desire of her pupils is to create a piece of writing during the year that will satisfy their own personal judgments, and also—but not important—win the approval of fellow-pupils. All phases of the course of study are merely means by which they will achieve the end. Grammar, the study of literary forms, the reading of essays, novels, poems, short stories, all are thought of in the light of their helpful- ness in producing an extraordinary literary production. I checked this teacher’s results in three ways: First, I read numerous essays, short stories, book reviews, and poems that her pupils had produced. “There were only one or two examples of exceptional talent, but the general average of the quality of the work was far above the average quality of the manu- scripts received by The Scholastic in the competition for the student-writ- ten numbers. Second, the librarian of the school attested to the fact that the number of pupils from this teacher’s classes who used the facilities of the library was one of the joys of her work. And third, the proprietor of a book store near the school, impressed by the number of pupils who were actually buying books—and books of real literary merit, sought the reason, and found it in the work of this class devoting itself to creative writing. That’s appreciation. I think you will agree that that third fact is the supreme tribute to a teacher who has “appreciation” as her goal. 634 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION STUDENT COUNSELING B. FRANK BROWN, SUPERINTENDENT OF GULFPORT CITY, GULFPORT, MISS. As Dr. McMurray has so forcefully brought us to see, “The greatest thing in teaching is to help students find themselves.” To succeed in this, the greatest work of the teacher, we must be pre- pared for the work. We must have trained counselors. . We must have departments of vocational guidance through which the entire community life is studied and correlated with the students in school and those leaving school before and after graduation. The establishment in our schools of departments of student counseling, if started on the right foundations, will certainly bring a new relationship between the student and the teacher, and the student and his work. It will enlarge the teacher’s vision and increase his sympathy for the student’s needs, and bring a keener sense of appreciation for the possibilities in each individual. If we have faith in our profession and faith in our school systems, we will make the product better; we will not be satisfied to send out from our schools hundreds of boys and girls who do not know what they want to do, who are not sure of their ability to render an acceptable service. The criticism most often made against our school system is that we send boys and girls, men and women, into the world without definite prepara- tion to do the thing for which they are fitted by nature to do. Whether this be true or not, we must admit that our schools do turn out many mis-/ fits; there are, in spite of all that we have been able to accomplish, many square pegs in round holes and many round pegs in square holes. We have not been able to help the students to find themselves in life. ‘‘Education,” says Huxley, “is training the mind and will to do the things that should be done when they should be done, whether we want to do them or not.” The tragedy of our educational system is that so often it fails in this very thing. As an effort to meet this situation, there are at present a number of city systems which have established departments of student counseling, and the demand is constantly increasing. Many conscientious teachers who desire to be of service to the boys and girls, welcome every opportunity which will strengthen them for increasing usefulness. ‘The number of paid and unpaid advisors both inside and outside of the school systems is increasing. How- ever, though expert counsel will be rare, and errors will be common, the obligation to deal with the situation is imperative, and it is the duty of every school executive, one which we must face if we are to render the service we owe our several communities. The need is already existent; we and our school boards must face the situation. But when we have come to the place where our school board is ready to establish a department of counseling we must go about the matter in a sane and cautious manner. We shall need many conferences with inter- THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 635 ested co-workers, with cooperating agencies, and with those who have had similar experiences. There will doubtless be little information already available in any com- munity that can be used, but one of the real assets of establishing the de- partment will be the contacts made with the commercial, professional, re- ligious, and social life of the community when collecting this needed mate- rial. If possible, this survey should be made under the direction of the person who will later be the chief counselor or head of the department. The survey, if well planned and carried out, may be used as an excellent method of educating the public on the need of student counseling. In this connection, may I say the factor of educating the public on what we are doing in public schools has too long been neglected. Many of the criticisms which have come to us in recent years have not been due to what the public knew about our schools, but what they did not know about them. I think, therefore, that it is very important in establishing new de- partments of any kind that we go about the matter in a way to create the demand in the mind of the public for the thing we wish to do. Experience is a dear teacher, and I think you will agree with me that we have paid a dear price for many of the innovations in educational progress in America. If we can help the general public to formulate its ideas on the relative value of the effort and money spent in new departments, if we can secure a favorable public expression in the beginning, we will find the road much easier to travel. From the very beginning, due publicity of all activity should be given, because one of the greatest needs will be to gain complete confidence of not only the boys and girls to be served, but their parents, their teachers, and their employers. Having assured ourselves of the need for student counseling, and having led the public to be assured of the need, our next, and perhaps our most difficut task, is that of choosing the counselor. We cannot give this work entirely to the teachers, because their schedules are already crowded to overflowing with many of the activities which formerly belonged to the home, the church, or other outside agencies. Then, too, we are expecting, and rightfully so, that our teachers be spe- cialists in their own work, and we have no right to place upon them a new responsibility which is in itself a profession worthy of the prepared and highly specialized worker. The chief work to be done, after all, will have to come through the personal interview of the counselor with the individual students. Realiz- ing this to be true, especially in the beginning, the work will be slow, and results will be hard to determine, because the chief value of the interview lies in the selfdisclosures and reactions of the student, and these do not come from formal, official, or temporary interviews. They must be friendly, intimate, and more or less continuous. For this reason, it is most desirable that no mistake be made in choosing the counselor, and service should be for as long a period as possible. 636 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION We should choose for the counselor, trained, well-equipped specialists who will work in constant cooperation with the teachers, and who will use all available data which the teachers alone, in most cases, can supply. The type of person best adapted for the position of counselor can best be determined by the character, by local conditions, and needs. It is evi- dent that the small town or rural community needs would be quite dif- ferent from those of a large city. ‘The predominating business of the com- munity will determine largely the type of counselor best suited for work in that community. We realize that frequently parents and teachers who know children better than anyone else, find it difficult to advise them because it is so hard to ascertain the vocational bent of the child, and unless one knows the particular fitness or aptness of the child for a certain vocation, it is dif- ficult to be of any assistance in the matter of selection. Effective counseling can be done only when there is a clear understand- ing of student life. and a close bond of friendship existing between the counselor and the individual student. It is my opinion that the greatest asset a counselor can have is the ability to make and hold friends. ‘The counselors whom I have known and remembered most pleasantly are those who, I believe, liked me and showed their faith in my ability to succeed. They were my friends. Thus, the factor that enters most into the work of counseling is a sympathetic understanding. “This factor is concerned most with the personal relations and emotions—a warm heart, leading to a strong friendship, is a bigger thing than scientific analysis of type cases. Not only is it most essential that the counselor know the boy or girl and his particular inclination toward certain vocations, but it is equally im- portant that he have an intimate knowledge of what is required in the industrial, professional, and social field to which he is about to introduce a new workman. From the very effort sincerely to meet the present need of intelligent counseling there is much good to be derived; active cooperation between the world of work and the school life, between the teacher and the em- ployer, between the parent and the counselor cannot fail of genuine help- fulness, of corrective value and of mutual service. I would not leave the impression with you that vocational guidance or student counseling is new. We have been doing something along this line for many years, but in a most haphazard manner. However, our approach to the problem is new. We are now attempting to apply intelligent energy to the situation, and to treat it more sanely from the business and from the human viewpoint. Nor would [ have you blame the school for the conditions which have been existent for many years, nor is any other agency to be held responsi- ble; but in the future, we all shall rightfully be condemned if we see the need for giving assistance and the great good that may be done, and do not meet our responsibility. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 637 In conclusion, then, may I make a plea for the establishment in our public schools of well regulated and well equipped departments of student counseling, under the direction of properly trained workers? Is it not fitting that we consider our schools the lighthouses of the nations, and the départments of counseling and guidance the beacon lights along the chan- nels that lead to the high seas of life, and the students the ships we send forth to weather the voyage of life? One ship sails east and another west, With the self-same winds that blow; It’s the set of the sails and not the gales ‘That determine where they go. May you, as the ships come in whose sails you have set on the sea of life, receive many gracious messages from those who have sailed from your ports, thanking you for the beacon lights you have kept burning along the channels of your shores. PUPIL ADJUSTMENT THROUGH SUPERVISION OF GRADING GEORGE E. DAVIS, PRINCIPAL, HIGH SCHOOL, DES MOINES, IOWA The general subject under consideration in these discussions this after- noon is pupil adjustment. My paper will deal with a phase of super- vision that I believe is related to pupil adjustment. This audience is familiar with the various types of supervision expected of high school principals, so I shall not review these types. While we are all familiar with the various types of supervision desirable, I suppose we have all found that in actual practice all types are not afforded through the average principal, if so, not so extensively as could be desired. In this paper, on the phase of supervision that I will discuss, I will make no mention of the number of hours per day or the number of days per week that I spend in supervision in the classroom. I have listened to one recital after another, of the number of hours that various principals spend in the classroom in supervising the work of the teacher. While my experience has been very limited, I have found that in any meeting of principals where the subject of supervision is being discussed, everyone has high aspirations, but few are able to convince the body of principals present that the major portion of their time is spent in actual classroom supervision. While we are prone to deny the charge that we, as principals, spend the greater amount of our time in our offices doing work which the average stenographer could do, yet I believe that the details of administration consume the major portion of the time of every principal who is not above the average. It is probable that I spend less time in classroom supervision than any other principal in the audience. I do not make this statement with any feeling of elation. Such an acknowledgment probably places me in the 638 NaTIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION we epg pee ee ee en ae ee lowest quartile. I suppose my case is an exaggerated case of the principal who allows the details of administration to cause him to degenerate into a mere office boy. But having stated that the amount of time I spend in ‘classroom supervision is the minimum, it follows that I am immensely interested in any type of supervision which can be done with a minimum expenditure of time with maximum results; hence, my attempts to explain a type of supervision with which we are experimenting. In matters of discipline, the principal has had the final authority in most cases. There has probably been too great a tendency on the part of teachers to refer disciplinary matters to the principal. What is true of discipline has been true of some other phases of school management. In most instances in a high school with an enrolment of between four and five hundred, which is the size of our high school, all school publicity, to which I am inclined to think we have paid too little attention, has been left to the principal. In some instances, at least, there is evidence of the fact that the high school principal has been anxious to gather unto himself all the lines of control possible with a subsequent detriment to the whole school. But even in those cases where the principal has set himself up as a sort of czar, my belief is that investigation would show that in those as well as in other schools, there is one thing over which the principal has little, if any, supervision. I refer to the grades that are given to individual pupils in various subjects. It seems to me that the following statements relating generally to grad- ing will be accepted as true: 1. The ability of classes will vary from year to year 2. Some teachers have a habit of only receiving answers worded according to their preconceived ideas, as unchangeable as the laws of the Medes and Persians 3. Some teachers will raise the grades of a pupil because the pupil complains that he should have received a better grade 4. Some teachers take the stand that no pupil can do good work for them the first few months of school; that is, they grade low to show parents and others how poor the work of the teacher before them was 5. Some teachers give grades according to their liking or disliking of a certain pupil. If the above statements are true, then it would seem to be highly desirable for the principal to have some supervision over the grading of individual pupils. I am aware of the fact that it is a quite common practice for principals to call for a distribution of grades from individual teachers with the idea of securing a distribution that in the main follows a normal distribution curve. But how much effort has been spent to determine whether or not the individual pupil has been given a fair grade? In the grading of the individual pupil, has not the teacher had absolute authority? Has the principal had any supervision over this phase of grading? Is it not true that the teacher has been absolute czar in this situation? Has the principal THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 639 had anything to do with determining whether or not the teacher’s judg- ment has been correct ? I have found some evidence that the attempt we are making to super- vise the grades given to individuals by teachers is not a pioneer movement. In a recent article appearing inThe High School Teacher, reference is made to a number of principals who are using standard tests as a supervisory aid in the determining of grades. I, therefore, do not claim the honor of being the first to conceive of this device, nor have we been able as yet to reach any conclusion which would place us in an impregnable position. It is my purpose in this paper only to call attention to an investigation which we are conducting, and to raise certain questions regarding our present prac- tice, in which the teacher has the entire determining of grades, and regarding a possible practice in which the principal might have some sort of supervision over the grading through the use of standard tests. Briefly, our procedure has been as follows: Two weeks before the end of the semester of the school year 1925 and 1926, we asked each teacher to submit a list of pupils who would un- doubtedly be failures. We also asked the teachers to submit a list of pupils who would in all probability fail. Each teacher was then asked to prepare an examination for those pupils for whom they predicted failure. Instead of giving this examination, which was a comprehensive examina- tion of two hours’ duration, to only those who were indicated as probable failures, the examination was given to the entire class. “Time does not permit of my reporting for each subject the reliability of the teacher’s judgment, as disclosed by these examinations, when the examination grades were compared with the list of predicted failures. Suffice it to say that considerable unreliability appears when the grading of many of those appearing on the predicted failure list placed them among those making a passing grade, and when others whose names were not on ‘the list were not among those making a passing grade. In addition to this, standard tests were given in various subjects. These standard tests were chosen with a view to using those tests which most nearly tested over material covered in the work of the class. We are aware that certain standard tests could not be used advantageously because they did not test closely enough the work which the class had covered. It is possible that tests devised by ourselves might be used to better advantage than standard tests. However, recognizing the undesirable features of standard tests in some subjects, they were used in this study. I shall not take time to list the names of the standard tests, but I shall indicate the subjects in which the standard testing was done. They are as follows: Geometry ; biology ; English, in which a composition test, reading examina- tion, penmanship test and English form test were given; American history, two standard tests in Latin; European history, algebra, sewing, physics and chemistry. In all, there were about 2800 different standard test papers. After these standard tests were given, some significant findings were made. 640 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Seen ee eee ee ee I shall only mention a few to indicate the type of thing discovered. Among the biology people, we found one individual who had a standard test score on the Ruch-Cossman biology test of forty. This individual was given a failing grade. Our grading system runs from A to F. There was one of the biology students whose standard score was 37, who received a final erade of A, one whose standard score was 32 who received a final grade of B plus. Two who got a standard score of 37 and 35 received a final grade of B, and so on. Altogether, there were 31 pupils in this subject who received a standard score of less than 40 whose grades ranged between Aand D. Do you not think it probable that this individual with a standard score of 40 who received a failing grade was done an injustice? Is it not further probable that others in the distribution were done an injustice? In a Latin class, one individual received a score on the Ulman-Kirby test of 19, and was given a failing grade. There were two individuals who had a final grade of C — whose standard test scores were 17 and 11; one who had a grade of C plus whose standard test score was 11; one had a grade of B — whose standard score was 19; one whose final grade was A whose standard test score was only 21. Do you not think it probable that the individual who had a standard test score of 19 and who received a fail- ing grade should have had his case reviewed? Continued samplings would show similar findings. At the beginning of this semester in our physics class a comprehensive test, not a standard test, was given to all physics pupils at the beginning of the semester. At this time the scores on this test ranged from 10 to 100. In January, or at the end of the same semester, the same test was given and the scores ranged from 41 to 196. “The individual whose score on this paper at the beginning of the semester was 20, had a score at the end of the semester of 77. The one whose score was 100 at the beginning of the semester had a score of 105 at the end of the semester. Both of these individuals received a final grade of C. ‘The one whose score at the end of the semester was 196 had progressed from a score of 84 to 194, whereas the one who had a high score of 100 had only progressed to 105 at the end of the semester. Should not the amount of progress each one makes be a factor entering into the determining of the grade finally given? Should not progress evidenced rather than approach to an absolute standard, be the determining factor in the grading of a pupil? This year we have repeated the standard test program in the subjects in which they were given at the end of the last year. These standard tests will act as a prognosis for this semester, and the scores made at the begin- ning of the semester will be compared with those made at the end of the semester, when the standard tests will again be repeated. At the end of the third semester of this program, there will be between eight and nine thousand standard test scores on which we hope to base some conclusions, following which conclusions we hope to materially alter our present practice relating to determining of individual grades. I wish it to be understood that we are not using this standard test pro- THE DeparRTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 641 gram as a sort of detective agency to discover criminal tendencies on the part of teachers. We expect the teacher to consult with the principal as to her grading in the light of the results of the standard test program. Conclusion: The above procedure as followed in our testing program seems to us to be desirable for: 1. It helps the teacher to recognize that the ability of classes will vary from year to year, recognizing which she will be better able to determine individual grades, 2. It removes the possibility of a poor grade being given a pupil because of poor wording of an examination paper written by the pupil, 3. It will tend to eliminate changing of grades by teachers because of complaints of pupils, 4. It will make the grading fair and impersonal. TEACHING PUPILS HOW TO STUDY JOHN A. LARSON, SENIOR HIGH SCHOOL, LITTLE ROCK, ARK. We are all creatures of habit. We are bundles of habits—good, bad; helpful, weakening; stress-relieving, burdensome, and so forth. Whether we succeed or fail in life depends upon what sort of habits we have acquired or developed. An individual pupil is living just as really in high school as he does when he leaves, is graduated, or goes to college, or out into the busy, everyday world. If the pupil early acquires the habit of succeeding, he will continue to succeed in school and in later life—be it in college, in the home, or in the business world. In order that a pupil may be taught to study most successfully in high school, the speaker feels that certain factors or conditions must be ar- ranged so as to combine or work together. “The pupils must be in the right mood to receive instructions. Nearly 100 percent are in this condition. The exceptions are those who have had a taste of earning their own spend- ing money and who are reluctant to return to school. ‘Their interests are often elsewhere. Employers for the summer are often to blame as they selfishly try to induce some of these summer workers to stay, forgetting that the foundation of the pupils will bar them from advancing rapidly and surely to the highest places in the organization. Many pupils feel that their families need their help, and hence their attention and interests are not on their work. Many pupils come to high school from the traditional 8-4 or similar type of school and the things they have been getting the last year or so have not been inspiring or challenging and their attitude must be changed before they are going to make the satisfactory pupils they ought and can be. Other factors tend to make pupils of such a nature that their school- work will suffer. The speaker believes that pupils should have general and specific instruc- tions on how to study. With this in mind, all pupils entering the school where the speaker is the principal are given a series of lessons on how to study. The lessons or instructions are handled in two ways—through the child’s home room teachers in the home rooms and through the class- room teachers. 642 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION One of the first questions with which the groups deal is that of learning what the high school has to offer. A good high school handbook of the local school is here invaluable. This leads naturally to the topic of going through high school and later on into college or business. A copy of the outline for the second lesson in this course is given below: I. Fundamental requirement for effective study Motive or Aim. (This may be termed enthusiasm, interest, etc.) A. General—consider the value of studying and mastering your present tasks—reference to something permanent, something for your future. B. Specific—consider the value of study for the present—for mastering the particular subjects in your course. C. Questions for discussion 1. What feeling always follows success—in anything you try? 2. What feeling always follows failure—to do anything you try? II. Things helpful and necessary for beginning effective study A. Definite assignment book—with regular order for keeping assignments. B. Notes (notebook or assignment book, A) with helps or suggestions for class work. C. (1) If in study-hall at school—decide on what particular subject you are going to study’ and what part of the assignment you aim to cover during this period. (2) If studying at home—decide what subjects to be studied, and the time that may be allowed to each. D. Feel an interest in getting started to work. E. Feel that whatever is assigned you to do is something which you can do, and which you are going to do, III. Things to be avoided from the start: (especially in home-study) A. Irregular time for study. B. Postponing time for study by indulging in other things which you would rather do. C. Being satisfied with (1) looking merely at the first part of the assign- ment; (2) doing just enough to “get by” at recitation period. D. Allowing yourself to be distracted by other things, after you have once begun studying. E. Stopping (“quitting’’) as soon as you strike something difficult. Every pupil coming to our high school is given a copy of the “Study Suggestions” which have been worked out by a committee of the teachers. ‘These suggestions are printed on gummed paper and are to be pasted on the first inside cover of the assignment book used for general assignments. We suggest that a pupil use a pocket-size looseleaf notebook for an assign- ment book. These “Study Suggestions” are as follows: Study Suggestions 1. Find out how to keep yourself in good physical condition by forming correct habits of eating, sleeping, and recreation. 2. Make up your mind that you can, if you will. The moment you say, “I can’t,” or, “I am not interested,” you prevent your mind from working and make success impossible. THE DepartTMENT oF SEconDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 643 ce co SE ns See ink a i ai 3. Take pains to try to understand your assignment. Take notes in a definite assignment (note) book. 4. Follow your definite plans of a time and a place for study and shut out of your mind everything except your lesson. a. If possible, study the assignment immediately after the recitation, or review the lesson briefly just before the recitation. 5. Do individual study, form your own judgments, and apply for help only when you have to. 6. Give most time and attention to weakest points. 7. Talk over your work at home and apply as much as possible, and as soon as possible, the facts you are learning to present-day conditions. 8. Get rid of the idea that you are working for the teacher or “working the teacher,” and decide to invest time and energy that will bring you interest. The speaker believes that pupils need help in budgeting or arranging the time at their disposal so that they may use it economically. The home- room teacher, rather than the classroom teacher who would oftentimes give too much time to her subject or subjects in making a time-schedule, should help the pupil early in the term to make a study schedule for every pupil who is under her charge in the home room. We have used the following form in our school. It is simple, short, and contains a pledge for the pupils to try to meet or live up to: Study Program Little Rock Senior High School TIME RECITE TIME STUDY OF) 8.16 ©) B10 © 6 ioe 6 lelee io 1p 4 6 # 7s iol eee ee 0.08 @ ore & © e106 0 8 6 610010 010) .e © O18 0.19) 0 sis el elelerere) sie bie eis 6 ¢ oe ne 0 6 PWT, Caton ye te Mee Jee Ch ont LO ee a OI a cae dt et Oe eS Rt et Pt eC) ONGC it eect ie ee Ce Ce pielis aie @ bn cicls « @ 60> 0 » siete 6 16 oe 1016 10 9 016 0 0 <9 016 0 vidios ceo 6 9 6 © b ® eee 0 © « cele « 31 (ni [@\ (a) el 16|.#\lw. 6)’ (0) @ (0) 6 (61a bse 0) elem ale 16 $01 019) @(0(6 6 6 6-6 61016 6.16 0 0 6X9 06 0 Wi 006 00 #6 #6 Oe a 6 dl 0 0) eee 6 (eee vonern 4) ere ws is were) «| 6 kw se alae le] wile © © +e wlisle. 6 © 0.0 1F 019.6 (0 016 01.09.6850. 6 6.0. 00: 01 6.0 (0 8: 8) W),8) 0 0 (60:6, 60,0) 6 4) 01 6,4 6 #6 m8 19/6) 9/88 fells Fs, lees! 06) v4 ls 01 pip tele © » isle) *\ yp y!'s is 6 8 6 0 6 els 44 G0 0 viele es 0 'o 0 6 Cor eer ere rere eee sree essereeesesreereeereesreresesesoee In order that I may use the time at my disposal to the best advantage and so become a better citizen, I shall try to adhere to the schedule shown above. Approved by: There should be frequent checking to see that pupils are adhering to the study schedule after it has been made out. It is not enough to have a plan. One should try to follow the plan. The parent, the pupil, and the teacher are partners and each should be honest with the others. 644 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION The great burden of teaching the pupils how to study devolves upon the classroom teacher. The speaker is a thorough believer in directed study and feels that the big job of the teacher is teaching a pupil how to study— secure data, weigh it, cull it, draw conclusions, and act upon those con- clusions, and not the hearing of lessons where facts are given back as learned without making them the pupil’s own. If the school periods may be long enough that at least 30 minutes or 50 percent of the time of a 60 minute or longer period may be used in directed study, the opportunity for helping the pupils to learn how to study is greater. Give us good teachers who know when to help, how to direct, when to leave the pupil alone to work out his problems and the chance of success of the pupils sent out will be much greater than they will be with teachers who are lesson-hearers and rapid-fire questioners only who give the pupil no time to think. It takes time to think. If a teacher is to help the pupil become independent of her, she must develop a technic in teaching pupils to study. This technic will be general for suggestions and help that will cover everything as for the home-room teacher with home-room group. It will be specialized for her specific subject or subjects she is teaching. “The teacher should have lessons that are purely and simply “‘study-lessons” for the real purpose of showing the pupils how to study. The lesson assignments should be of a nature that pupils will know how to attack the problems that have been assigned them. The teacher must also know how to give individual help and guidance. Because of the matter of homogeneous grouping, we should find that the problem should be simpler because she has not so many different types in the same classes, although no two pupils are alike. Suggestions that will be helpful to a normal group will not fit a slow-moving group. Happy is the child who has a teacher who sees his problems and can help him with them. Lessons in teaching a child how to study, be it in the home-room group or in the class-recitation group, should bring the teacher to see more clearly some of the problems of the child and the home. ‘The parents and the teacher should get closer together than before and special difficulties be- cause of early diseases, such difficulties as bad eyesight, defective hearing, and the like, may be corrected and the child saved to society as a useful and happy citizen if he learns to succeed by the development of habits that make for success instead of failure, if he learns to save time, energy, and health. We are creatures of habit. Let us make these habits those that make for success—habits of honest, happy work, time and energy saving through lessons that are the most worthwhile, the ones that may be hardest at first, those that we think the pupil should have learned before he comes to us, and did not, those that are the ones he will use in becoming a success or a failure—lessons in learning how to study, to work, to forge ahead, to reach heights not otherwise in sight. The challenge has come to us. Will we succeed or fail? THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 645 PUPIL ADJUSTMENT IN THE SECONDARY SCHOOL W. C. REAVIS, SCHOOL OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO, CHICAGO, ILL. There is no problem of greater importance in the administration of a modern secondary school than that of effecting a successful adjustment be- tween pupil and school. High schools have changed very markedly in recent years. The small homogeneous group of pupils preparing for college has been changed to a large, heterogeneous group seeking profitable education for adolescents. This change in pupil personnel has necessitated sweeping changes in the secondary school and its methods of administration. It now attempts to serve all pupils of high-school age who seek to avail themselves of its op- portunities. It recognizes that pupils of adolescent years cannot be turned loose to shift for themselves in a school environment which requires nu- merous adjustments without responsible and competent supervision and guidance. The failure of the high school to render a better accounting for its pupil personnel is due very largely to the fact that its methods of diagnosis have been inefficient and unscientific. ‘Too many administrative officers have no adequate conception of the processes of diagnostic study and its relative importance in high-school administration. If the causes of pupil failure within a given school are found to be very largely institutional in character, then the school must diagnose its short- comings and make the readjustments required. On the other hand, if the causes of failure rest with the individual pupil, it becomes the responsibility of the school to develop methods of diagnostic study and to provide as far as possible for remedial work. The diagnostic study of maladjusted pupils is no playtime affair; neither is it a job which can be entrusted to people without professional training and special qualifications. It requires knowledge, technic, and skill. ‘This means that the diagnostician must possess case knowledge regarding the in- dividual pupils he is called upon to treat, must be able quickly to discover symptoms and to trace them to their casual sources; and must be able to advise the corrective or remedial treatment which the case requires. The case method is new in education, but its technic is virtually the same as in other fields in which it has been extensively applied. It always centers about two important problems, namely, daignostic study, and remedial treatment. In medicine, for example, in which the case method has been highly perfected, diagnosis involves two steps: (1) the systematic study of the symptoms and signs of disease by interrogation and examina- tion of the patient; and (2) the interpretation of the information collected. Every patient is always regarded as a case within himself. It may be evident to a physician, when he first sees a patient, that the case is analogous to other cases which have come into his experience, whether in professional 646 NatTIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION lnm Dime cats a eR ON I a study or in practice, but he is not content to make a diagnosis by inference or to prescribe treatment until he has interrogated the patient regarding the present symptoms; studied the patient by the four cardinal methods of quali- tative diagnosis, namely, inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation ; and supplemented his judgment by clinical measurements and. the patient’s previous medical history. In troublesome cases the family history is care- fully scrutinized, laboratory examination of the patient is called for, chemical analyses are performed, bacteriological tests are resorted to, and R6ntgen-ray observations are required. Educational diagnosis is the process of collecting, analyzing, and evaluat- ing educational facts with the purpose of determining their bearing on the future treatment of the case. It is a process with which entirely too few high-school principals are familiar. As long as they are unable to perform it with a degree of reliability approximating that with which, for example, a physician is able to diagnose his patients, education can scarcely claim to be a science. The methods of educational diagnosis are not difficult, but they require a background of professional training and experience, which merely “serving time” in education does not develop. “The diagnostician must study the child as well as the subject-matter to be taught. He must accustom him- self to the making of appraisals of the progress of pupils, must become keen in sensing the conditions which lead to maladjustment and failure, and must acquire skill in tracing symptoms to their causes. Unless he develops the abilities mentioned he will fail as a diagnostician. In the diagnostic study of a problem pupil the first prerequisite is an ac- curate appraisal of the individual’s educational status. If nothing has been done previously to ascertain the status of the pupil as a subject for educa- tion, a real educational emergency exists. If, on the other hand, the de- termination of educational status is made a part of the admission procedure, the diagnostician has a known point of beginning in the study of the case. It is not always possible to obtain a full case history of a pupil at the time of admission to school, but an effort should be made to assemble all of the personal and educational information possible to secure. The parents of high-school pupils may be asked to answer orally or in writing questions pertaining to physical growth, health history, family history, and the de- velopmental history of their children in school. “The questions which should be asked are such that they need not be considered impertinent when it is known that the school requires full knowledge of the pupil in order to render to him its greatest service. If the data are required as a matter of admission procedure, the school is enabled thereby to know its pupils better from the beginning and to render more intelligent service. The personality of an individual is the resultant of the various forces both hereditary and environmental which have operated on him since he became a conscious being. ‘This being true, it is impossible adequately to interpret an individual’s behavior without knowledge of the dominant in- THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 647 fluences which have contributed to his character. The school must, there- fore, probe into the past experience of its pupils for causative factors or be content merely to temporize with symptoms when emergencies arise. At the present time the means of determining mental status are developed to a degree of perfection which will enable any teacher or administrative officer to appraise the mental ability of a pupil reasonably accurately. The group intelligence test enables one to examine children in groups, to de- termine mental weakness or strength, and to predict the prospects of failure or success in certain lines of school work with some degree of certainty. It is not wise, however, to draw conclusions from point scores or trans- muted scores. ‘The character of the pupil’s responses to the test material should be carefully studied. For example, did the pupil work rapidly and make few mistakes? Did he work rapidly and make many errors? Did he work slowly and make few mistakes? Did he work slowly and make many errors? What kind of mistakes did he make? Were they caused by carelessness? Were they due to lack of knowledge or to lack of under- standing of principles? The mental status of the pupil will be much better understood when the teacher knows the answers to the foregoing questions. The following example will illustrate the value of the general intelligence test in the educational guidance of pupils. Pupil A had been badly malad- justed during his first year in high school. He managed to pass one sub- ject out of three. He was regarded by his teachers as mentally immature and decidedly subnormal. His work at the beginning of the second year was even more unsatisfactory than during the first. Inasmuch as his home conditions were good and he was declared by a physician to be in fit physical condition for school, mental examination was decided upon as a means of determining his mental status. Accordingly, he was given the Terman group test of mental ability for Grades 7 to 12, Form B, along with the other pupils of the school. His reactions were carefully observed during the period of the examination. He worked consistently and with a high degree of concentration. His point score was 185 out of a possible 220, which, when transmuted into mental age, gave him a maturity of 2 years and 6 months beyond his chronological age, and an intelligence quotient of 116. From a study of the test results, it was noted that Pupil A finished four of the ten tests in the allotted time. Three were finished with the ex- ception of two questions which were omitted in one test and one question omitted in each of two other tests. He failed to complete three of the tests in the required time. From his performance on the series as a whole, it was discovered that he could begin work quickly without floundering and was able to continue work with a high degree of concentration in spite of the frequent interruptions made necessary by the short time limits of the different tests of the series. He made only ten errors in the examination, or an average of one error per test. Such errors as were made did not signify any mental disability or deviation from the normal. 648 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION ee ee eee Analysis of his responses to the different tests of the series showed that in exercises which involved logical selection, analogies, and the rearrange- ment of mixed sentences he reacted more slowly and delibrately, but not less accurately than in the other tests. He displayed keen power of dis- crimination, accurate mathematical reasoning, and a wide range of informa- tion. His reactions to the examination as a whole revealed a well-balanced mind, considerably above the average in inherent power, and without evi- dent disabilities. From the administration of the mental examination it was ascertained that Pupil A’s maladjustment was not caused by mental immaturity as had been suspected by his instructors. Indeed, he was a better than average mental prospect for secondary education. He had not been carrying on at the level of his ability. Some other cause was responsible for his mal- adjustment. Subsequently, the real cause of his difficulties was discovered and remedied, but from the time the results of his mental appraisal were known to pupil and instructors, the character of his work began to change for the better. It is not sufficient merely to determine the mental ability of the pupil. It must also be known how he uses the ability he possesses in the various fields of school work. Achievement tests in the different high-school sub- jects enable the diagnostician to appraise the degree of skill or the extent of basic knowledge of pupils along different lines. With the knowledge of individuals thus obtained, the materials of instruction may be varied or the method of teaching may be modified to provide for individual needs. For example, one or more standard reading tests may be given at the beginning of the term to the pupils of a given class or school. By com- paring the scores of the pupils with the standards of their grade or grades, an appraisal of reading status can be obtained; weakness or strength dis- covered ; individual or class needs determined ; corrective or remedial work planned. Without an appraisal of reading status, it would not be possible to give the pupils educational guidance in the development and use of this most important power which the school seeks to develop. General assign- ments in reading or blanket prescriptions for remedial work could not pos- sibly meet the needs of the individuals of any group. It is only when the reading status of the pupils as individuals is definitely known by the per- son who presumes to direct, that progress can be intelligently directed. Prior to the opening of school each year, the pupils who are entering the university high school for the first time are required to take a series of 22 achievement tests, the results of which are turned over to the depart- ments concerned for analytical study. In English, for example, a series of five usage tests are administered for the purpose of ascertaining the status of the pupils in English usage. If an individual’s power to use English correctly in written work is low he is scheduled for the usage course his first semester in school; if average or high he is placed in appropriate sec- tions of literature, subject to the condition that he maintain a satisfactory THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 649 standard of English usage in written work in all subjects. Failure to pro- duce satisfactory written work regularly is at first penalized by returning the work to the pupil for re-writing. Continued failure to measure up to the standards of the school in written work places the pupil in the usage section at the begining of the second semester. Similarly in the other subjects of instruction, the determination of the achievement status of the pupil at the time the teacher receives him for in- struction is imperative. When the achievement status of a pupil in a given subject is known, his progress can be directed intelligently from the known point. Goals can be projected toward which he can work. Progress can be measured from day to day or semester to semester. Guidance can be given by the instructor with greater certainty and education thus becomes a matter of science, not a chance result. In educational diagnosis, a search for causes is made when symptoms of maladjustment are discovered. One or all of the following methods may be tried: 1, The pupil is observed at work. The observer notes the pupil’s habits of work, the character of his attention and application, the quality of his written work, and the character of his oral work. If weak or strong points are found they are noted and are observed further. A general notion of the success to be expected of the pupil with the kind of habits of work employed is arrived at and checked with the character of work actually accomplished. If a reliable determination of the pupil’s education status has been made and his previous educational history is known, it is frequently possible to trace the symptom to cause and to make an accurate diagnosis. 2. Failing to find the cause of maladjustment by the previous method, the pupil may be asked to describe in his own way the conditions which trouble him. If he can be induced to diagnose himself, he will likely take greater interest in removing the cause of his present difficulty. In case the pupil is unable to define the cause of his difficulty, he may be asked to repeat to the observer step by step the method of his work in order that through the oral tracing the cause of the trouble may be discovered. 3. If either of the foregoing methods fails to result in a diagnosis, special tests are administered, the results analyzed, the whole educational history of the pupil examined, strength and weakness noted, relationships determined between the different bodies of information, further tests made if necessary to throw light on specific problems; in brief, a case history is assembled. This procedure usually results in a diagnosis, although it may require a considerable period of time. The successful adjustment of the hypothetical case under discussion will depend on the ability of the administration of the school to carry out the supplemental remedial program advised simultaneously with the efforts of the instructors to develop more effective habits of study and a wiser dis- tribution of the student’s time. In this connection it should be pointed out that remedial treatment is invariably an individual rather than a class prob- lem. It must be so conceived by those who undertake it, and it must be planned on the basis of definite case knowledge. ‘To do otherwise is to waste both the pupil’s and the teacher’s time. I have tried to show that the secondary school must prepare to diagnose accurately and to treat scientifically the educational maladjustments of its 650 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION varying pupil personnel. It need not hesitate to undertake this important responsibility, for the trails of progress in related contributing sciences are well marked and the practical contributions are plentiful. Systematic case study points the way, and the administrator must learn to assemble the important facts in the developmental history of his pupils, to record what goes on in his school, to measure the quality and quantity of performance, to diagnose the needs of individuals, and to adapt the means of education at his disposal to the realization of its ends. Through such educational service pupils are adjusted to school. It is a service which the high school of today and tomorrow must render if it is to have the confidence of those who support it and who entrust their children to its care. THE CHALLENGE TO THE MODERN CITIZEN AND HOW OUR SCHOOLS MAY HELP HIM MEET IT—ABRIDGED A. L. THRELKELD, DEPUTY SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DENVER, COLO. For reasons which I take it are obvious, I shall not attempt to deal with the minutiz of this problem. “This would be a task for the combined efforts of all of our scientific students of social life working for all time to come. I shall limit my paper to a brief outline of four characteristics which I believe modern life is demanding of the individual, characteristics which can be acquired but which are not by any means adequately developed at this time. Since they are needed, learnable; and not adequately possessed, they constitute a special challenge to the profession of education. “The needs stated in terms of character traits desired in the modern citizen are: 1. A social consciousness 2. The attitude of adaptability to change 3. The habit of scientific thinking 4. The appreciation of knowledge and leadership. I shall discuss these in the order stated. I shall then have the temerity to suggest a rather sweeping reorganization of school procedures to meet these needs with special reference to the high school situation. A social conscionsness—It seems that our problem here is due largely to the rapid change that has occurred in the nature of our society. Having rapidly developed from that situation in which the individual lived in com- parative isolation to our urbanized civilization which in turn is interrelated the world over, we carry habits and attitudes of mind which were workable in the old order into a new order to which they are antithetical. We con- tinually meet the citizen who wants to have the material advantages of modern life but who is unwilling to depart from the philosophy and behavior of the individualism of the good old days. This to me represents a problem in education. If we want our schools to produce the type of citizen who is most worthwhile in modern life he must be the type of citizen who sees life in the whole, one who makes no separation between his own individual life and that of society at large, but THE DEPARTMENT OF, SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 651 sees both as one unified, integrated process. Just as a fish cannot thrive in water that is poison to its essential nature, so the human being cannot live best in a social medium that is poisoned with narrow views and all the characteristics that are found in the person who lives in a small world. Social consciousness as a common attitude of mind is, | believe, so poorly developed today as to constitute one of the big needs that we must meet through our process of education. The attitude of adaptability to change—The second need listed, adapta- bility to change, seems to be one of the hardest characteristics for an indi- vidual to acquire. ‘There seems to be innate in every person a tendency to settle into a life of routine, a life which has been reduced to the level of automatic performance which requires no thinking. Such an individual becomes a drag upon society for social life is dynamic. In the business world it is made very clear that the individual who does not change with the times does not succeed. He becomes worse than no good in the economic situation—he becomes a liability. Society has to stand the loss which he represents. But how is it with regard to other phases of our total life? It is probably more serious for an individual to be static in his religious, political, educational, and other social modes of behavior than to be unadaptable to new conditions in the business world. In education, such a person insists upon the pursuit of educational objectives which have little, if any, significance for present-day life. I hesitate to say much on the subject of religion though since life is unified, educators have a right to discuss all important phases of life. I need only to refer to the controversies that are going on in the field of religion today between those who see in our new life bigger and broader religious concepts, concepts which are applicable to modern life and abso- lutely necessary as a means of giving it soundness and worth, and on the other hand those who hold to religious tenets typical of the dogmatic, tyran- nical, ignorant life of the Middle Ages. Our changing life we hope is also a growing life, and if this be true it is only natural that those who are growing with it should have bigger, more comprehensive, deeper, and more valuable religious concepts than the world has ever known before. I insist that one of the greatest of human needs which we have to meet in education at this time is the problem of giving the individual that insight into the nature of life which causes him not only to accept but to relish a philosophy of life for himself individually which is adapted to any change that may occur. The habit of scientific thinking—The third need on my list, scientific thinking, is a characteristic that I believe is entirely too lacking among our people today. Just what do we mean by it? I prefer the simplest kind of a definition for, after all, scientific thinking is a simple process. We mean by it, still speaking in general terms, just plain common sense. It is straight thinking.1 As Dr. John Dewey has stated it, a disposition to face facts 1 Reconstruction in Philosophy by John Dewey, p. 140. 652 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION and to begin with facts is the first characteristic of thinking. Then we must connect facts with other facts through the observance of cause and effect. So much for what we mean by scientific thinking. The question perti- nent to this paper is: How much of this kind of thinking characterizes our public today? It is difficult to say, but there is certainly much evidence of the lack of it. In order to support this statement I shall briefly refer to some illustrations which I assume have come under the observation of all. We hear a great deal today about a crime wave. Many writers and speakers of the alarmist and sensational types make very strong statements to our public about the crime wave. Generally the second step in this ti- rade, although sometimes it is the first, is to connect most of the wrong be- havior of today with our young people. It is interesting to go back over one’s own experience in listening to these people and try to pick out one who began his discussion with a consideration of facts. If one does this, one will find that most of them have not gone to the trouble of looking up any facts whatsoever. Recently, in an effort to check up on this, I decided to do some reading from the specialists in the field of criminology. While one will find investigations here and there, each one of which has revealed certain facts that ought to be considered in relation to all other facts, yet there is no body of facts relative to crime which by a process of scientific thinking would lead anyone to the conclusion that we have a crime wave. Much less is there a body of facts which would lead anyone to the con- clusion that our young people are worse than they used to be. In truth, the facts that are available indicate, though they do not prove, an im- provement all around. I was very much interested in the exploitation of one investigator’ who decided that she would go over the files of two of the largest newspapers of this country for the last fifty years in order to see if those papers were giving a greater proportion of their reading space to crime news today as compared to fifty years ago. The papers are frequently blamed for the alleged crime wave on account of the space they give to crime. As far as I know, this position has not been substantiated by any study of facts. This particular investigator found that these two metro- politan papers which she considered reasonably typical were giving slightly over half as much of their reading space to crime today as they were fifty years ago, speaking in terms of percentage. This sort of study would be necessary on a wider scale were we to draw any conclusions as to whether newspapers are giving relatively more or less space to crime than formerly. But how many of us withhold our judgments until we have a sound fac- tional basis for them? In politics, what percent of our citizens reason scientifically? What per- cent get the facts in the first place and then reason from cause to effect? I am reminded of the story of the faithful soul who was asked if he was 1 Spectacular Aspects of Crime in Relation to the Crime W ave, by Hon. Ellen C. Potter, Secretary of Welfare, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in Ans tals of the Americ 4c , } American Academy of Political and Social Science, May, 1926. “ne THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 653 going to vote for Bryan when Bryan was running for the presidency for the third time. “Certainly, I am going to vote for Bryan,” he said indig- nantly. “I voted for him twice and we have had good times ever since.” In this field, this is about as close as even prominent people come, in the main, to an accurate reasoning from cause to effect. The tariff is good for one line of business, therefore it is good for every line of business, includ- ing the farmer. No discrimination is made in the thinking of our citizens on economic issues which get wrapped up in partisan politics. It occurs to me that we do not have a good sign relative to the existence of scientific thinking when large percentages of our population automatically inherit their political and religious faiths. Educational theories are accepted and widely used without an examina- tion of facts and without an effort to connect cause with effect. One could go on at great length in making observations of the lack of scientific thinking on the part of our citizenship and yet our schools exist for the purpose of correcting such defects. The appreciation of knowledge and leadership—The appreciation of knowledge and how this bears upon the selection of leaders, I have stated as the fourth need in our present situation. Democracy has been severely criticized because of its failure to respect expert leadership. No doubt there are arguments on both sides as to whether such a defect actually exists, but it is the position of this paper that there is too much truth back of the criticism. No doubt progress has been made in the attitude that the people take toward various types of experts, but it is still true that our thinking is very crude upon this question. Every school man knows that it is characteristic of the man on the street to think that he knows how school systems should be administered. ‘There is a certain definite dis- respect for trained leadership in education. People put their money into banks which are not administered by trained bankers, and I need not relate the result. All kinds of quackery in the field of treatment for disease flourishes among our people. Few people want the political scientist in political office. One could go on at great length with such examples, but time requires that I turn abruptly to the fifth division of my paper. As stated in the beginning, I shall try to make a few brief suggestions as to how school education should be reconstructed to meet the needs here set forth. Suggested reconstructions for the school program in consideration of the foregoing discussion—I shall limit myself to suggestions as to points of view and general methods of procedure that we must take if we are to put our program of school education upon a basis that will meet the de- mands that I have tried to describe. I shall begin with the last one first, namely, the problem of developing an appreciation of knowledge and leadership. It is here necessary to use the term “leadership” in a broad sense. To proceed directly to the meaning that I have in mind for it, let me say that a leader is any person who definitely contributes a value or a set of 654 NATIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION values to the use of others. He is a leader to the extent that he contributes values to others which they can use without having to work them out for themselves. Again using terms in the broad sense, we can speak of leaders and followers as respectively producers and consumers. A few people produce poetry, a large number consume it. The same is true with regard to music, all of the fine arts, and all of our inventions that give us our material values. For whom is our school program, particularly the high school, organ- ized—the consumer or the producer? My answer to this question is that it is organized primarily and almost exclusively for the producer and this notwithstanding the fact that most of the life of any student who goes through the high school is the life of the consumer. As I said in the be- ginning, I cannot go very far into this, but let us examine each course of study offered in the high school and see what the point of view back of it really is. Let us ask ourselves this general question: Are highly specialized courses consistent with the idea of the education of consumers? Is it not true that departmental teaching, unless most thorough precautions to the contrary are taken, tends in the direction of highly specialized teaching which is the type appropriate to the training of specialists in production? It should be kept in mind all of the time that the terms “production,” “consumption,” ‘“‘producer,” ‘“‘consumer,” “leader,” “follower,” are being used in the broad sense. Consider a typical course in physics. Is it not clearly implied in such a course that those who take it are to become specialists in physics? Is not this true in the other science courses such as chemistry, biology, and the like? Let us go to the English department and there we run into the old story that we teach literature as if the boys and girls in our high school literature classes were to become poets, novelists, expert producers in the field. We even teach history as if our main job were to produce historians. Likewise, we teach Latin and the modern foreign languages as if the typical citizen were to be a linguist. Mathematics is taught as if every- one were to be a mathematician. Naturally, all courses that are immedi- ately for the purpose of preparing for vocations are on this basis, but where in the high school do we find a broad, comprehensive, synthesized program that will give any individual a unified view of the civilization in which he must live? I do not in the least believe that we should depart from highly specialized courses. I affirm most emphatically that it would be the extreme of stupidity for us to fail to give the most thorough-going of specialized train- ing in order that we might have efficient producers in all lines of worthy activity. What I am trying to say is that as a foundation for this, as that which will constitute most of the life of any individual, we should have a broad program rather than a specialized one. By a broad program I mean one made up of the essential contributions that are now available from all of the important phases of life. To get at this, probably our first tendency should be in the direction of THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 655 synthesized courses of study made up of the important findings in the various fields of life. ‘The consumer should not think of science merely in terms of physics, chemistry, biology, or any other “ology.” But further, the organization of these general, generalized, integrated courses by subjectmatter fields would not yet represent a unified education. Each field would have to be related to the life situation or situations in which it functions. So we should probably get to a program based on life situations, the study of each situation calling for an examination of the fields of knowledge in order to see what each might contribute. Life is made up of situations. By relating a bit of special knowledge to a life _ situation we see its importance to life. Hence our appreciation of it and those who produce it. But again further, let us not forget that this broad! program would need to be parallelled or followed by a program of intensive courses or specialized training. It is obvious that we must have ever better trained specialists or leaders. Nothing is here being advanced contrary to that idea. On the other hand, for reasons that any educationist should be able to think of immediately, a higher type of intensive, specialized education should emerge from the background provided by the broad program fol- lowed by all. It is unnecessary for me to make an extended application of this pro- posed reconstruction to the remaining three needs that I have discussed in this paper. I shall conclude rather abruptly by a brief reference to each. Scientific thinking under this program would have a better chance of emerging through the process of generalization. It is a matter of common observation that the present program of specialized courses in science has not produced the scientific attitude of mind even among those who have become specialists in the various fields of science. Who will claim that a course in chemistry makes one’s views on the race question perceptibly less prejudiced? We teach about the same pro- gram in science in the south as in the north, but has that program per- ceptibly developed impersonal, scientific thinking on this question in either the north or the south? Someone may say that it is the function of the social scientist to deal with such problems as the race question, political issues, and the like, and it may be agreed that that is his special function. I believe that the social scientist is on the ascendency, but he stands very much in the same position in the face of our modern prejudices as did Galileo in his time when he was*forced upon pain of death to retract his statement that the earth was round and moved. ‘The interesting thing about this to me is that, as far as I have observed, nobody is more intol- erant toward the social scientist than the physical scientist. “This further convinces me that we can never develop the scientific attitude of mind in general through the sutdy of a particular science or field of science. Such a specialized process may serve the purpose for the exceptional few who will be able to generalize from the insight given them by one good, inten- 1The term “broad” is here being used to mean comprehensive with regard to the essential contributions made by the various important fields of learning. 656 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION enn a sive course in science, but for the large number it will be necessary to present a program that shows definitely the workings of the scientific method in all of the important fields of life. By thus adding to the scope of the individual’s observation of the workings of the scientific method and the results that it gets in every field, it should be possible to develop on the part of most people an appreciation of such a method throughout all of life. It follows that the appreciation of knowledge, how it has evolved, how it is still evolving, and an appreciation of the scientific method, would continually disclose the fact of perpetual change. As someone has put it, nothing is permanent except change. ‘This would become a controling point of view in the citizen’s philosophy of life and thereby the way would be cleared for social growth and development to move straight ahead, as contrasted to the present medley of spurts and reactions, with all of their attendant evils. Likewise, the interdependence of all life would be observed and appreci-’ ated. ‘This would produce the socialized attitude of mind stated as one of the four needs discussed in this paper. “The brotherhood of man would become a scientific fact in contrast to its all too common status as a vague, meaningless sentimentalism. PROBLEMS CONCERNING THE STATE COURSE OF STUDY S. M. N. MARRS, STATE SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION, AUSTIN, TEXAS The American public school is an agency organized in the various states to train the youth of the nation in such manner that in their maturity they will be desirable citizens. If this agency functions properly; if it justifies the financial expenditure necessary for its maintenance, there must be some centralized authority which, acting for the state, will direct and correlate the work in such manner as to attain the various objectives. Some of the problems for solution are those involved in deciding upon the proper subjectmatter, the minimum and maximum time to be devoted to certain subjects, or even topics as subdivisions of subjects, the adaptation of directions to the ability and preparation of teachers, the varying oppor- tunity of students to use laboratories and to consult libraries, and the in- equality of length of school terms. ; If the population of the state is homogeneous and the occupations of the people are generally similar, the problems of differentiation will be lessened but if the state is large and has various interests, it is exceedingly dimeule to arrange a state course of study that will be sufficiently flexible to produce the highest degree of efficiency. ; The last quarter of a century has witnessed remarkable development of the vocational institutions of learning since public education of the masses has induced the great throngs of young people to aspire to higher education. The influence of the World War and the general prosperity of the country THe DrparTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 657 ry have greatly increased high school enrolment, and if the state shall meet her obligation of educating all the children of all the people or of providing equal educational opportunity which is essential in a democracy, there must be a reversal of the old order resulting in a large degree of flexibility in the requirements of the state course of study. The first great problem then is setting up minimum essentials, and its solution will depend upon the cooperation of the faculties of the higher institutions with those who are connected with our secondary schools. So long as certain members of the faculties of the higher institutions sneer at vocational work in the high schools, and so long as some members of high school faculties neglect the fundamentals of English and mathematics and history and natural sciences, saying nothing of adequate preparation in foreign languages, and give the students only a smattering of home eco- nomics, manual training, and commercial subjects, there will be lack of thoroughness, and large numbers of those graduated from the secondary schools will fail to meet reasonable requirements of any institution of higher learning whether it be of the humanistic or the vocational type. While the state should be concerned in the efficiency of a system of public education which includes all phases from the free kindergarten to the university, it is also intensely concerned in the preparation for citizen- ship of those who drop out of the system from whatever cause, either from economic reasons or intellectual limitations. We are all familiar with the seven objectives of secondary education which have had such influence upon courses of study during the past ten years. [he committee which made this report has exerted an unparalleled influence on the education of the American citizen and no state in the Union in preparing its course of study would ignore the topics suggested. We may not agree that the arrangement of topics is in the order of their importance, but from the standpoint of the state in the preparation for citizenship, health takes high rank. ‘The prosperity of a commonwealth depends largely upon the ability of the individual citizen to produce at least as much as he consumes so that he will not be a burden on the social order. The problem here is to present topics in hygiene and sanitation and disease prevention in such manner as to secure the best results with the least objection from those who do not fully endorse the program. ‘The state should require thorough physical training without emphasis upon athletics. Certainly, a sound mind in a sound body is desirable for good citizenship. A thorough knowledge of the fundamentals of an education should be included in minimum essentials. While this should be required in the course of study of the elementary schools, for proficiency in writing, spell- ing, reading, numbers, etc., depends upon drill work during the memory stage of development, these subjects should not be neglected in a high school course of study. Vocational guidance should have its place, for good citizenship demands proper attitude toward labor. It is here that 658 NATIONAL EpuCcATION ASSOCIATION the student who leaves the secondary school without further training re- ceives untold benefit. Is the state interested in the training for the worthy use of leisure time? The problem of how much attention is to be paid to appreciation of art, and of music—those cultural subjects that will enable the individual to rise above the coarser things of life and enjoy his leisure time—should demand most serious thought. Fifty years ago, the state was not concerned in this problem. ‘The shortening of the hours of labor, the universal use of modern means of communication and transportation, the wonderful oppor- tunities for influencing the thought of the public by radio, cheap literature, and moving pictures demands that the state emphasize the cultural subjects in the course of study. The social sciences in their relationship to civic duties should have careful consideration. Loyalty to the government expressed in a practical manner by obedience to law and recognized authority should occupy a large place in the scheme set forth by the state. The building of character is probably the most important function of public education. With right principles instilled into the youth of the nation, the ideals of individuals will cause crime to decrease and world relationships will be determined according to the principles of justice as exemplified by the Golden Rule. Shall the course of study be constructed independent of the trend of popular textbooks? In the nation-wide study of the curriculum, authors and publishers of textbooks have had great influence. Popular books on the market have a tendency to maintain a status quo in curriculum making, and this is probably the most effective argument in any state against the uniformity of textbooks. But frequently authors of certain popular texts have served on nation-wide committees and their reports, it goes without saying, do no harm to the presentation of the subjectmatter in their own texts. The enterprising publisher points with pride to the fact that the textbook of a well-known author conforms to the recommendations of the very learned and esoteric committee but very ingeniously fails to call atten- tion to the fact that the author was a member of the committee. The problems which have been presented deal with the selection and presentation of the subjectmatter; let us now consider questions bearing upon administration. Varied conditions relative to length of term and homogeneity of interest and population require adjustment of the course of study. The village high school of two or three years should place greater emphasis on certain subjects related to the life of the community than the city high school of four years does on the same subjects. The junior high school organization in our larger cities can rarely adapt its work to the requirements of the state, and if it does, it becomes a segregation of grades and not a real junior high school. Rigid standardization hinders progress, and one. of the most perplexing problems in setting up a state course of study is to provide for sufficient flexibility to encourage initiative and THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 659 originality without which the sources of knowledge become stagnant pools rather than living fountains. The best modern pedagogical thought opposes a slavish subservience to a state course of study. It should be a guide to the teacher followed more closely by the unprepared and inexperienced but suggestive only to the expert professional teacher who is a specialist in his field. To the latter, it should be a means of keeping his feet upon the ground and giving him proper perspective of his own subject in relation to those of other members of the faculty. The problems concerning the state course of study cannot be solved by any one person. ‘hey deserve the best thought of the college professors of education and the skilled teachers who have had practical experience in the various fields represented. In their solution, the main objective of good citizenship must be kept in mind; provision should be made for such flexi- bility as will recognize the needs of the subnormal; for those who are forced to have a part-time or evening program although yet of educable age. [he state is responsible for such children to the same degree as those who attend school regularly. ‘They are citizens, and a democracy makes no class distinctions. ‘There are many problems of curriculum-making which time forbids dis- cussing, such as placement of subjects in the various years; the content of grades relative to factual material and the emphasis to be placed upon skills and the importance of projects. May we close with this quottion from Harold Rugg of Teachers College, Columbia University: Curriculum making demands the cooperation of several specialists. Such matters as length of class exercise, size of classes, arrangement of school programs, range of individual differences, library facilities, laboratory and shop equipment, etc.— each is important. The day is past in which a single individual—be he professor, teacher, administrator, psychologist, sociologist, or research specialist of whatever brand—can encompass all of these tasks singlehanded. REVISING THE CURRICULUM H. F. SRYGLEY, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, RALEIGH, N. C. There are demands made upon public school administrators, school boards, superintendents, principals, and teachers, to increase and revise the present high school training for our young people to develop more effectively a citizenship for a changing civilization. New inventions, the application of science to modern life, machine production, specialization in industries and professions, difficult problems in democratic government, especially in cities, the critical attitudes of individuals, and the waning of respect for autocratic authority in religion, morals, and law, promise quick social changes for our young people to face. The philosophy of change is the éssential element in curriculum construction. A bewilder- ing mass of organized subjectmatter for social studies, a philosophy that we must have schools of. life where learning must be connected with 660 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION ~ purposeful, worthwhile activities, old prejudices to be removed, suggest that both curriculum and method must be constructed on the dynamic principle of change. The schools must become a place where life experi- ences go on. All this, and more, will call for changes in school equip- ment, textbooks, management, method, and objectives. Continuous cur- riculum revision is perhaps the best method of keeping a modern high school from lagging in a growing world. ‘The traditional school of yesterday will not meet the modern demands of tomorrow. The object of this paper is to suggest methods of attack in revising a high school curriculum and to attempt to answer the question, “How shall a program of revision be organized which will result in the best possible course of study?” The experiment which I shall discuss originated in a school system with the ustal advantages and handicaps of a small southern city of 35,000 population. Briefly stated, the conditions were as follows: Six years ago, (a) the system was behind with its building program. The build- ings were overcrowded and antiquated, and courses of study were, for this reason, reduced to bare essentials in subjectmatter. (b) Socially the city public schools had been neglected because of private school domination. (c) The course of study was of the formal, obsolete, college-preparatory type. (d) Taxes were inadequate, so there was a deficit in the treasury. (e) Teachers were poorly paid and many were poorly prepared. (f) The school board was in ill-repute and school affairs rundown in general. In less than five years, conditions have been reversed. An extensive building program has been completed. More support has been gained from townspeople. ‘The course of study has been strengthened. ‘Taxes and money have been provided and better teachers have been employed. The school board has adopted the liberal policy of employing experts in school supervision and management. ‘Thus the time is ripe for some constructive, progressive movements for improvement in instruction and subjectmatter. Many mistakes have been made in the old system and many will be made, perhaps, in the name of educational principles, but it is clear that curriculum research has advanced to the place where its results cannot be ignored by those who would draft a truly modern course of study. Curriculum revision should be impressed upon school boards and com- munities as a major duty. Small appropriations from school funds should be made each year. Four or five hundred dollars a year and part of the time of some of the interested teachers is not too much for such important work. There are four ways to go about the task of the revision of the course of study. First, the “‘scissors-and-paste-pot” method of selecting something because some good school has it. Copies of curricula frém numbers of cities are selected and the best, as judged by some executive, is put into the hands of teachers to teach. ‘This method usually proves heartless and un- teachable. THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 661 Second, specialists are paid to write a model curriculum. This has the disadvantages of the first, and the cost is usually prohibitive for small school systems with limited funds. Third, local committees are set to work on the task. This is the best plan of the three, if expert supervision can be had as the work progresses. Fourth, a combination of specialists and local talent is ideal. This prevents overemphasis on individual subjects, and directs inexperienced curriculum makers in the technic of the latest methods employed. It also checks novices from making vain efforts to explore in fields of research. It aids them to profit by proven investigations. There is no need to start at the beginning, but direction is needed to find the good in this field of knowledge. It is my purpose in this paper, therefore, to suggest a plan of procedure and record some outcomes which are noticed in one system which has adopted this fourth plan. As a preparatory foundation for this work on curriculum revision, one year was given to education of the principals, supervisors, and heads of departments to an attitude of mind to undertake the problem. ‘The chief duty of the principal is to supervise his teachers. Usually his time is consumed with petty details about the school. A good project for this problem was a study of the question of budgeting the time of the super- visory staff, which resulted inevitably in a conscious attempt to modernize the curriculum. When the supervisory staff, made up of the superintendent, assistant superintendent, supervisors of special subjects, heads of departments, both white and colored, began to see the need of revising the curriculum, expert advice was sought. As a result of this movement a steering committee was organized. “This was made up of an expert in the field of curriculum study, an expert in the field of tests and measurements, an expert in sec- ondary education, an expert in elementary education, the superintendent and assistant superintendent of schools. The supervisors in the special subjects formed a local substeering com- mittee. It was their duty to furnish special help when called upon and they were subject to the call of the local subjectmatter committees. At the beginning of the second year, subjectmatter committees were formed. Service on these committees was purely voluntary. No _ pro- vision had been made for extra pay or extra time off from other school duties up to this time. Each committee was made up of people interested in that particular subject. “They organized, elected a chairman, surveyed materials available in their respective fields, made assignments to members to read and report on, and met with the steering committee when called. The best way to revise the high school curriculum is to start in the first grade of the elementary school. ‘The “gap” between the high school and the grammar school will not be bridged unless revision starts in the early grades. The local subjectmatter committees are made up of teachers 662 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION from the first grade through the high school. In the organization of the committees, the teachers chose the grade or section on which they wished to work. Primary, elementary, and high school teachers should see the whole field, not a section of it. This is possible only where every grade is repre- sented on every committee. The committees named were as follows: (a) aims of education; (b) English; (c) social science; (d) foreign languages; (e) natural science; (£) mathematics; (g) commercial subjects; (h) music; (i) art; (j) in- dustrial arts; (k) home arts; (1) health and physical training; (m) extra- curriculum activities. The second year, teachers read widely to set up general objectives in each subject. During the third year of this curriculum project, specific objectives by grades, in each subject, had been set up, subjectmatter selected, correlations pointed out, materials to be used indicated, and method to be employed suggested. A form for the use of the various committees was developed by a group of classroom teachers, representing each grade, with the help of the steer- ing committee. ‘This form was tried out by a teacher in each school, who discussed it with the teachers in that building. It was then revised and put into final form. All subjectmatter committees sent in their report, by grades, on this uni- form blank. ‘To date, we have on hand, from the various committees, suff- cient material to form the basis of the course of study. “These reports, as they are completed, are being submitted to subjectmatter experts to check on the content of the subjectmatter proposed. It is not necessary to go back to Adam to begin this work. ‘The com- mittees are making use of the professional library which is made up of the best courses of study and books on curriculum construction and method, using adaptable material for the local course of study. Grade committees will take the subjectmatter committee reports and articulate them into lateral units. It is then our purpose to put these subjectmatter committee reports and the reports of the grade committees into the hands of four people, one from the early elementary grades, one from the intermediate grades, one from the junior high school, and one from the senior high school. “These coordinators will see the subjectmatter as a whole, and organize the course of study into a unified whole from the first grade through the high school. This work will be done under the direction of the steering committee. A careful record is being kept of all units of work developed in the schools this year, showing the outcomes in skills, knowledges, attitudes, and habits. ‘These records, also, will be turned over to the grade committees and the coordinators, and the most desirable units incorporated into the course of study. By the beginning of the fourth year of the experiment, certain units THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 663 in each grade will have been selected and put into the course for the purpose of selecting the best units. Outcomes will be checked against subjectmatter that has been suggested for each grade. Gradually, by trying out and testing from year to year, the best units to be used in each grade will be found. Each year units will be withdrawn and new units which come up will be tried and checked against the units which are more or less constant,. until a decision is reached as to which would be of greatest value in the course of study. In this way we expect to deter- mine (a) what units to teach, (b) grade placement, and (c) sequence of units. Children who have come through a program in the grades which has caused them to grow in initiative, resourcefulness, and ability to think and evaluate, will not fit very readily into a formal high school program. It is to be expected that a course of study organized around units of work in the grades will project the same idea into the high school where each year’s work may be organized around a central theme, as, for example, in the last year, “Problems of a Modern Democracy.” The core of the course may be based on this theme and various electives will grow out of it to take care of the pupil’s particular interests. This will take care of individual differences and at the same time the constants in the course of study will safeguard college entrance requirements. In the past, the high school course of study has been influenced largely by the demands of the college. “The next step seems to be to build on what the elementary schools are sending the high school and help the child continue to grow in his ability to deal with real life situations. When should an administrator begin to revise the high school curricu- lum? Now. How long a period should be set for this revision? Any number of years, but not less than twelve. The points of attack should be the first grade, the fourth grade, the sixth grade, or beginning of junior high school, and the ninth grade, or the beginning of the senior high school. We need not throw aside every- thing we have learned and start anew, but gradually grow into a more sery- iceable organization for promoting modern citizenship in our high schools. We should work fast enough on our problem to keep pace with the chang- ing conception of education and slow enough to prevent our throwing overboard things that are good. We should start in the first grade and work through to the completion of the high school, measuring the results obtained by this group and strengthening wherever possible before and after this group. The junior high school has no history, is surrounded by no prejudices, and is free to work out any purpose for which it may be established. In the Fifth Yearbook of the Department of Superintendence, just oft the press, 59 public school administrators and 20 college specialists listed 15 special purposes of the junior high school. Fifty-four out of the 59 public school administrators (or 91.5 percent) stated that one of the special purposes of the junior high school is meeting individual differences of pupils, enabling pupils to follow the lines of their interest and ability. 664 NATIONAL EpucCATION ASSOCIATION Nineteen out of 20 college specialists (or 98 percent) also stated this as a special purpose of the junior high school. ‘This seems to be, therefore, one of the main reasons for its being. If we are going to collect from several grade schools all pupils of a certain age, and call them junior high school pupils, we ought to have some reason for it. We are sure to make serious mistakes if we allow ‘‘interest and ability” to mean a line of ledst resistance for pupils. A junior high school should be a place to make a wise choice for later school courses and life work, but it should also offer definite opportunity for the choices. We ought to decide early what the core of the curriculum is to be. The early grades of the junior high school should be enriched by adding more and newer subjectmatter than is possible in the grades, but this subjectmatter should be required until the boy and girl can choose wisely from the courses of electives which are offered in the senior high school. There is no particular advantage in housing the junior high school in a separate building from a senior high school group, but a five-year high school allows pupils all the special privileges of both a junior and a senior high school. For small southern cities and rural communities, a five-year high school seems best, where we have a constant course of study, made up of many knowledges and skills in the lower grades, and a freely elective curriculum in the upper grades. Longer periods a day for recitations, fewer periods per week for some subjects, and more courses of study for every child, seems to be the tendency in our community. “This would provide specific training as to needs. When we come to abilities of pupils, we could make the proper adjustments by grouping as to ability, and offering opportunity classes for the exceptionally bright and the hopelessly backward in any subject, but the constants in the course of study would be required of all pupils. The following results have been noted in the three years of our ex- periment in curriculum construction: (1) ‘Teachers are more profession- ally minded ; more teachers are granted leave of absence for further study; extension work takes on definite meaning. (2) Type teachers are de- veloped in many grades. ‘These aid in supervision by furnishing examples of good teaching. (3) Supervision becomes more effective, and profes- sional libraries are constantly necessary and in use, (4) By placing value on merit, the experiment aids in making teaching more humane. (5) Curriculum revision takes time and convictions. (6) It is not nec- essarily a costly project, if use is made of local university professors for the steering committee. One of the most important things in this curriculum revision plan is the steering committee, composed of Thomas Alexander, of ‘Teachers College, chairman and director of the experiment; M. R. Trabue, of the University of North Carolina, whose duty it is to tell us how to measure and interpret the results obtained; Lucy Gage, Peabody College, advisor in the field of early elementary education, the superintendent and assistant superintendent. THe DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 665 EXPLORATION IN JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOL EUGENE S. BRIGGS, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, OKMULGEE, OKLA. According to the authors of the “Sacred Seven,” “Education should de- velop in each individual the knowledge, interests, ideals, habits, and powers whereby that individual will find his place and use that place to shape both himself and society towards ever nobler ends.” Exploration is the medium through which the individual finds tha¢ place. Exploration is, according to the great majority of those who have studied intensively the junior high school field, one of the outstanding, if not the most important objective of the junior high school. In fact, this particular phase has been stressed to the extent that it is apparent that any school that fails definitely to provide for exploration has no right to be called a junior high school. When we realize that 96 or 97 out of every 100 members of this democracy never reach the portals of higher learning, and that 4 out of every 5 fail even to persist in high school, we are compelled to recognize the fact that we must create in each junior high school boy and girl, while we have them, an ability to adjust themselves to the work-a-day program of the world. In the minds of many men and. women today, there is a latent feeling of regret because they feel that they have chosen the wrong program in life. While they do not charge this directly to any particular agency or institution, still there is the unexpressed feeling lurking in the background that the school could have and should have helped them early in their careers, to ascertain, to some extent at least, their own interests and abilities. They do feel that the school should have revealed to them the major fields of human activity in such a way that they would have found a place for happy service. In order that this paper be not overcome with ideals and theories, and further that it may offer a reasonable program for the organization and administration of any school capable of becoming a junior high school, attention is called to the system that has been developed and is now in operation in Okmulgee, a progressive city of 30,000 population. Twenty-eight finding and broadening courses are offered. “These courses are nine weeks and eighteen weeks in length. ‘They offer a sampling, as it were, of the various fields of activity. “They are called finding and broadening for two reasons: “Finding” because, in the opinion of those who have studied them throughout the experimental period since their organization eight years ago, they assist materially in finding the new courses to be taken in high school and which likely will be continued in finding his life work. ‘‘Broadening” because they enrich the experiences; college. In many instances they have materially assisted the individual in extend the interests and broaden the sympathies of those who follow through. Each course has for its initial objective the cross-sectioning of one major field of activity. 666 NaTIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION ag Before any course of study is developed or curriculum built, it is neces- sary that certain well-defined aims be recognized and outlined. The follow- ing aims for the exploratory courses are offered: 1. To acquaint the pupil, by a try-out or a sampling process, with the possibilities in the vocational fields of activity. 2. To offer a choice of future work, through a glimpse at the represented typical cross-sections of the major fields of activity, to explain the more advanced situation, and to show the possibilities if the pupil will but persist in school. 3. To acquaint the pupil, through a previewing procedure, with the specialized secondary school courses. 4. To give the pupil, through reliable experience, an estimate of his educational adaptabilities early in his career. 5. To present only material in itself worthwhile to the extent pursued and en- tirely justifiable from a pedagogical standpoint. Attention is directed to the fact that not all finding and broadening courses are courses in industrial work, as is sometimes wrongfully supposed and advocated by some. It is just as necessary to give the boy an idea of the demands made upon one by the legal or medical profession as it is to introduce him to the desirable and distasteful offerings of the machine shop. The following list of finding and broadening courses are given in Ok- mulgee: Preparatory Class Subfreshman Class Art Art* Auto mechanics Auto mechanics Cooking Building trades Electricity Business Expression Cooking* Home nursing English-Latin Journalism Interior decorating Mechanical drawing Mechanical drawing Music Music Science Premodern language Sewing Printing Vocational information Public speaking Sewing Sheet metal and forging Vocational information Woodwork ‘This number seems to be most desirable in a school the size of those in Okmulgee. Fewer courses for smaller schools and a greater number for larger schools can well be offered. The selection will vary considerably, according to the demands of the community. There will always be a few courses found in common because of the demands of the state and nation, but locality will color considerably the selection. It was the tendency at first to teach too much subjectmatter and facts. ‘The teachers, not being accustomed to teach directly about the activities * Those courses repeated in the subfreshman year are of two kinds: weeks course in another’ section of the great field; (2) the nine weeks study offered in the preparatory class. : (1) Regular nine An eighteen weeks course continuing THe DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 667 of life, confined themselves to recorded tables and list of vocations, but soon they began to see that the important thing was for the teacher to allow the pupil to learn about these great fields of humanity by actually living in replica, “getting out and getting under,” “shooting the trouble,” making ‘““The plea” in a courtroom, producing something of value in a shop. Finding and broadening courses cost very little more than the “regular” school courses. ‘The per pupil cost-of instruction in F and B courses, based on average number belonging last year, was $5.85, the average class cost being $118.75. Correlated with and in many ways supplementing the F and B courses is the activity program. ‘These activities offer that active training in living and leading that the boy and girl needs at this age to round out the fullness and abundance of life. “They, too, are exploratory in nature. Every boy and every girl is actively interested in this program. Leaders, presidents, secretaries, committee chairmen, councilmen—responsibility, organization, advisors to help and assist activities are popular in Okmulgee. A word must be said about the activity hour. All student body organiza- tions, clubs, student council and similar bodies meet Monday and Tuesday during the regularly scheduled time. “These are intensely exploratory in na- ture. hey cover practically all the fields of student interest. Incidentally there are no ‘“‘afterschool”’ sessions. ‘The student assembly, with the student- body president presiding, meets Wednesday. ‘This assembly affords the opportunities for student participation in a public way. The assembly is a student body project for the school. No “outsiders” are allowed on the program, neither is there admitted any propaganda or announcements. The regular “efficiency” hour comes Thursday. This is a forty minute home-room period. Special school projects are discussed. All student problems attendant upon the management of the school, the school citizen- ship program, the student council problems, and the student programs for assembly are discussed. With Friday come contests, the intramural and the interscholastic. In order that the regular classroom work will be unimpaired, the activity hour is shifted to 3:24. ‘This allows all students to go to the football game or the debate—student body activities. The activity hour and the school night programs work as ‘‘matinee and regular performance” on Friday. ‘The lyceum, an organization for student activities, has charge of all “Friday activities’ (except contests). The student body productions are marketed through this organization. Glee clubs, band, orchestra, the little theatre, the ‘review’ and fashion shows, worthwhile and educational movies, stunts, athletic exhibitions, addresses, all are scheduled for “‘activity hour and evening” on Friday. ‘The parents come to school—the community comes to school on Friday. The home-room advisor knows through first hand knowledge the home environment, the parental handicaps and aspirations for the child, the child’s own hopes for future years, his schedule, his curriculum, his grades— 668 NaTIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION in fact about all there is to be known about the individual. ‘This makes it possible to analyze more definitely the child’s interests and formulate the program that will best fit him for his future wellbeing. While homogeneous groupings seem to classify pupils in regular English, mathematics, citizenship, and combination courses, the really democratic offering in the most democratic institution in the world is the finding and broadening courses and activities. No restrictions, except those inherent in the individual interests, aptitudes, bents, and abilities are placed upon the F and B courses. ‘Che shop foreman or “your excellency” the judge is selected by those over whom he will exercise authority. ‘The activities probably go further in that they provide for definite organization and administration. If your boy or my boy has been through the school shops, where manual labor has been employed, he may not choose to follow the pathway that leads from this shop into life, but he will always have a different feeling toward the laboring man, even though he is never called upon to fit a screen door, mend the kitchen chair or fix the “Hoover,” he will have a better feeling of the value of that kind of work, and a more wholesome respect for the person who performs it. We need two things today in our democracy that the school shop properly managed can give. First, a respect for honorable labor; second, a broader sympathy for the other fellow. When a boy has produced something with his own hands, has experienced the “feel” of tools in his hands, has overcome the obstacles that arise in the everyday course of happenings in a shop or laboratory, he has built for himself a foundation on which a respect for honorable labor may and will in all probability find a permanent resting-place. He will, I am sure, always feel a sense of pride when he views the results of work well done. It is evident, too, that since he knows the difficulties encountered in ‘‘shooting the trouble” and in overcoming that trouble, he will have more patience for the man who earns his livelihood in that way. A sympathetic, under- standing people will succeed in a democracy. The one boy or girl who goes to college must be prepared for the future work there. “The eight boys and girls who go out daily from the influence of the school into life must be prepared for work there. It behooves us, therefore, to give to each of them all of the knowledges, skills, experiences, and ideals that it is possible to give, and to so organize the work that each may profit by its influence early in his career. mc INTRAMURAIPATHLETI GS V. K. FROULA, PRINCIPAL, ROOSEVELT HIGH SCHOOL, SEATTLE, WASH. “Supreme regard for health” was enunciated 20 years ago as a para- mount objective of education. ‘Ten years later, the notable report on the cardinal principles of secondary education properly placed health at the head of the list. During the recent world cataclysm, and for a brief period thereafter, supreme regard for health became such a popular doctrine THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 669 that its complete enthronement seemed to be secure. But the cessation cf hostilities produced a new breed of ‘conscientious objectors.’ Not entirely new, either, for they appear periodically. Whenever a platform of re- trenchment is proposed, cutting of school costs is sure to be its principal plank. During the war the erection of school buildings was temporarily halted. Raising of liberty bonds, building ships, and turning out munitions were given the right of way in their demands on all available resources. Natu- rally, this gave rise after the war to the necessity of unusual activity in construction and consequent unprecedented expenditures of vast sums to house adequately the school children of the nation. On top of that was the remarkable increase in school enrolment. War experiences of the youth had given them a vivid realization of the importance of schooling. As a result, expenditures for education began to “mount by leaps and bounds.” School expenses, amounting to such heavy ‘“‘burdens’’ as to threaten to completely crush the taxpayer, must be cut, of course. Curricular enrich- ments, for which noted educators had labored for two decades, received the first onslaughts. Physical education, even child welfare, came in for their share of criticism. If children and youth possess surplus energy that has to find an outlet why not let them work it off in factories or in other useful employment? ‘That would be more profitable and would not require gymnasiums and costly equipment. The passing of laws by state legislatures, calling for physical training in schools, so popular at the time, also came to a sudden halt. In one state, at least, such a law passed by the legislature was actually repealed at the very next session. Are we to understand that physical education and good health are needed more in war time than in peace? Were the cardinal principles, which placed health at the head of the list, enunciated for national emergencies only? Is not a good physique the very first requisite for steady occupa- tion, good pay, and a contented mind? And, if physical vigor is needed for war, then why in the name of common sense wait to lock up the barn door until after the horse has been stolen? Just what is preparedness anyway? Is not vigorous manhood the very first line of defense? Let us consider the economic phase first; perhaps that will make a hit with those who look at the investment side of the question. And here I want to be on safe ground so let me quote from accepted authority. A recent report of the Department of Labor, commenting on the physical defects and the rejection of one-third of the young men drafted for war, stresses our need of a more adequate program of physical education and health service. Estimating that the economic loss for a single year from preventable disease and death amounts to the stupendous sum of $1,800,- 000,000, the report makes this significant declaration: ‘There is experi- mental basis in the statement that this loss could be materially reduced and leave an economic balance in the working population alone over and above the cost of prevention of at least a billion dollars a year.” 670 NATIONAL EpUCATION ASSOCIATION For forty years the late Charles W. Eliot was a recognized power in American education. Whenever that great leader spoke it was always with judgment and authority and sometimes with prophetic vision. His views on this subject, therefore, uttered only a short time before his death, should command our respect. In his plea for “Protection Against Ignorance,’ he recommends as the first step universal physical training from the age of six to eighteen. It is to include the means of remedying defects and malformations as well as develop normal bodies. It is to consist of drills and setting up exercises, but more especially of games and sports. When- ever possible it is to be carried on out-of-doors. It is to cover carriage, posture, gait, rhythmical movements, and team play. ‘This universal physical training is to be accompanied by the universal employment of physicians and nurses for incessant diagnostic and preventive work in schools of every description. Furthermore, since the question of health is intensely national, the whole program should be prescribed by the Federal Bureau of Education or some other national board. Now, with its implications such a program constitutes a large order. But, if we may agree with this modern seer, it will be worth the price. He assures us that with such a health service in operation, “within twenty years an immense improvement will be seen not only in the aspect of the population as affecting posture, relation of weight to height, and muscular development, but also in the comfort, health, and productiveness at daily labor.” But, those of us who are familiar with public school administration know that such adequate health education as Dr. Eliot advocates is not going to be realized all at once. Progress in the fundamental things of life is slow. It required a generation of temperance teaching in the schools to bring about natural prohibition. And if the present generation is making a poor job of its enforcement, the next generation will be trained to rise to the occasion. Something more than we are doing is possible even in spite of retrench- ment tendencies. I am pleading for the more general introduction of intra- mural sports, already in favor in many schools, not as a complete system of physical education, but as a step that promises large returns with a minimum of expense. Nor am I ready to offer them as a substitute for inter-school athletics which as an agency for welding the school into a social unit have no equal. They are carried on, however, more for the glory of the school, let us frankly admit, than for the bodily benefit of the students as a whole. Again, the trend of physical education at present is away from the more formal work of the gymnasiums which does not contain enough mental relaxation and inspiration, and is often referred to as “physical torture.” Such formal exercises and gymnastics are good body builders, but they make no contribution to the building of character and citizenship. Group games and play, on the other hand, have a hereditary sanction; they furnish absorbing interest, afford joyous and self-forgetting enthusiasm THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 671 which fosters a driving power unequaled by any other form of activity. “We ought never to forget that, after all, human beings, whether children or adults, do things because of certain satisfaction which they get from so doing.” Play is a spontaneous expression of enjoyment in activity; it tends to deprive even work of its drudgery. It is, therefore, of the utmost im- portance to encourage such play and recreation as the youth may carry over into adulthood as something that can be used in the fulfillment of his life purpose. ‘“The final test of value for any activity,” says Dr. Curtis, “is how far it carries over into life, how many months or years it is prac- ticed after it has been taught at school.” ‘This test is particularly appli- cable to physical education. Now, intramural sports have many of the advantages claimed for inter- school athletics without the objectionable features of the latter. Take, for example, the inborn desire to be a winner. That is a primitive trait. Selfishness was essential to life in prehistoric days. Now, in the joyous spirit of cooperation and service of the group, this perfectly natural desire finds its normal expression, but does not degenerate into an abnormal craze to win at any price by subordinating individual honor to partisan passion fomented by thousands of frenzied followers. The players quickly sense the attitude of the spectators which in these great contests is generally not wholesome. It is then readily and, more or less unconsciously, trans- lated into action on the field. Again, recreation is uppermost in the minds of intramural players. The loser has had as much spontaneous fun as the winner and leaves the field refreshed and moderately invigorated. In the interschool contest, on the other hand, the loser goes off the field utterly downhearted, and completely exhausted. Furthermore, intramural sports furnish a year-round program, rather than an intensive seasonal campaign followed by prolonged lull. Partici- pation is encouraged in at least one of a variety of each season’s sports, and this gives the player during the year a fair first-hand experience in several different activities no one of which he follows as an exclusive specialty. He learns the important lesson that he does not have to excel in any sport, or go through a grueling grind of training to enjoy participa- tion therein. This enjoyment of and experience in several different kinds of sports is more likely also to furnish him in adult life with incentive to continue their enjoyment. Learning the rudiments of sports in early youth provides the essential condition for a carry-over interest. The excessive exertion of the specialized athlete, on the contrary, is too often brought to an abrupt end after the season and especially after graduation. One of the main criticisms against our present athletic sys- tems is that they do not create a lasting interest in participation. Enlarged heart and lung capacity is fraught with grave danger to the athlete sud- denly forced into sedentary indoor life as is so often the case. ‘There are instances on record where such a condition has shortened life or impaired the athlete’s usefulness. 672 NatTionAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION For some years one of our gymnasium instructors had been carrying on voluntarily a limited intramural program of athletics. “The wholesome results of his efforts were brought to the attention of the school board who had been interested in wider student participation. “The matter appealed to them and, accordingly, on recommendation of the superin- tendent, the board established intramural sports for boys as a part of the physical training in all of the high schools of Seattle. In addition to the physical director and athletic coach, an instructor in each of the high schools was elected to the position of intramural sports director with a small increase in salary. Asa result, a salutary system of intramural sports for boys has now been in operation for two years. ‘The girls have an athletic director of their own, but their program is more limited. You will understand that this was not intended to take the place of interschoolastic athletics of which we have our full quota. The only change in interschool participation was the requirement of more rigid eligibility rules, calling for higher scholarship and lowering the upper age limit. ‘The hardship thus imposed on the school athletes was easier to bear by opening up a new field for them. In fact, the seasoned athletes, thus rendered ineligible for interschool sports, found new oppor- tunities to serve their schools as leaders, officials and managers, positions in which they are rendering valuable service and incidentally gaining ex- periences in leadership that are quite remarkable. Indeed, without their help the scheme would be impossible. One of the most inspiring sights is the number of games played simul- taneously on the athletic field before school in the morning, at noon, and after school. “Twice a year, in September, and again in February, man- agers are elected. Each applicant when signing up indicates his first and second choice of sports. “The director, the boys’ advisor and the vice- president of the boys’ club constitute the election board. "These two men together with the student representative have a pretty good line on the applicants and choose managers to serve for five months. It is the duty of the managers to take care of all equipment, make the schedules, post notices on a special bulletin board, make out reports of the games and participants and, sometimes, officiate. They wear “official” jerseys when on duty. It is their business to keep their schedules moving and how well they do this is one of the sources of gratification. The school calendar has to be studied at the beginning of each season to determine the possible number of games in the several sports. ‘The schedule of games is then drawn up and posted from week to week. These schedules are typed in triplicate, one for the bulletin board, one for the manager, and one for the director. ‘The manager of each league notifies his respective teams by bulletins sent to the session room the day before the game to avoid the possibility of a forfeit. It is interesting to note that only one game was forfeited during an entire season and that was due to the failure of a teacher to read the notice. Records of games THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 673 are kept and posted regularly by managers or their assistants who also serve as timekeepers and sometimes as referees. Similarly, but somewhat more easily, schedules are drawn up for hand- ball, tennis, golf, horseshoes, track, volleyball, and soccer. Before all of these games, the boys of the respective teams are called together and all im- portant rules are explained to them. The managers make their drawings, have them typed in the office-training class, and post them on the intra- mural bulletin, which is a constant source of interest to large numbers of boys. Results of matches are written in by the players themselves. Just one more observation. “Two years ago and again last year in the winter meetings an eighth objective, international understanding, was urged upon us. The general fostering of certain identical games among the civilized nations of the world may be more significant in the promotion of world-understanding than appears on the surface. ‘Sportsmanship,” says James F. Rogers, of the Bureau of Education, “is only ‘playing fair’ expressed in one word. It has been the unwritten rule of play since play began. It is the moral code compressed and expressed in thirteen letters, and it applies to all social activities and not merely to athletics. For this reason its observance and practice in athletics leads to its observance and practice in other relationships of life. .’ Now, the fostering of sports- manship through identical games among nations and the meeting of interna- tional representatives in athletic competition is a thoroughly wholesome tend- ency at present. Who will say that it was a mere coincidence that the ‘‘al- lies’ in the recent war were those nations which were most widely committed to international sports? Not a single one of the “central powers,” on the other hand, was devoted to the cause of sports, nationally or internation- ally. ‘The seeds for mutual understanding are planted when two nations play the same games and meet in competition on a common playfield where good sportsmanship and fair play dominate. Among such nations the playfield tends to replace the battlefield. Racial jealousies disappear where common enthusiams nourish the spirit of tolerance. ‘The representa- tives of small nations are received with the same enthusiasm and accorded the same honors when they win as representatives of big nations. Racial customs, religious beliefs, and provincial prejudices are forgotten there. To be sure, only seasoned athletes are honored with international partici- pation, but whole nations share in the enjoyment made possible by the general appreciation of the rules of fair play and good sportsmanship. REVISING THE HIGH SCHOOL CURRICULUM MARGARET M. ALLTUCKER, ASSISTANT DIRECTOR, RESEARCH DIVISION, NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, WASHINGTON, D. C. How shall we determine what should be taught the three and a half million children enroled in the high schools of this country ? What demands has childhood a right to make on adulthood? In the past we have been prone to emphasize the demands that should be made 674 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION of the child, Let us consider some of the rights of childhood which society. should recognize. “The more or less obvious rights of childhood appear to be these: . 1, The right to be well-born—It is estimated that of the children who live to be six years of age, less than 10 percent suffer from physical and health defects at birth. 2. The right to physical care and protection, such as food, shelter, and clothing— Such food, shelter, and clothing must be provided as will result in as nearly perfect physical development as possible. Today 90 percent of children who reach the age of six have some form of physical or health defect. The child has a right not only to healthful environment, but also to a knowledge of the laws of health. 3. The right to be understood—Since the child is not a diminutive adult, the study of children’s growth needs at various levels of development and their inter- ests and abilities becomes the duty of both parents and teachers. It has been so much easier to love children without trying to understand them, to expect them to conform to an illy-defined pattern and punish them when they did not succeed in conforming. ' 4. The right to companionship and love—The growing child has a right to the strength that comes from the knowledge that someone believes in him, has confidence in him, and expects something of him. 5. The right to play—The development of motor coordination, of initiative, self- control, social relationships, and joy in living demands that the child have ample opportunity to play. He has a right to the development of skill in those sports and activities which later will result in the wholesome use of his leisure time. 6. The right to a knowledge of the tools and technics of learning—Reading, writing, spelling, and arithmetic are tools through which the child comes into pos- session of facts about life. 7. The right to short-cuts to race experiences—Such understanding of natural phenomena and social experience as past generations have achieved is a heritage which the child has a right to, insofar as he is able to acquire it through books and to capitalize upon it. 8. The right, within limits, to freedom of choice and opportunity to experience the results which a particular choice brings—Only in this way is character de- veloped. 9. The right to an environment with such stimuli and rewards as will develop right emotionalized attitudes—Parents and teachers have the opportunity to decide whether a feeling of satisfaction or dissatisfaction accompanies the child’s action. The developing child has a right to such rewards and punishments as will build habitual living and which result in right emotionalized attitudes and high ideals. 10. The right to beauty—lf the latent spiritual powers of the child are to de- velop, then the inner satisfaction that comes from beautiful surroundings must be supplied. _ ll. The right to interpretation of that spirit that is in and through all life, making it better, finer, more nearly divine—A reverence for God and an understanding of man’s relationship to God are among the rights of childhood. 12. The right to a knowledge of prevailing social customs, and code of ethics— The child must be taught the difference between right and wrong and why certain acts are considered ethical and others unethical. The desire to be thought well of by one’s fellows is a desire that is common to all human beings. Youth has a right to such training as will result in the realization of this universal desire. 13. The right to a knowledge of government—Intelligent civic participation can only result from a knowledge of the purpose and forms of government, an under- standing of the individual’s responsibility to the state and the state’s relationship to the individual. 14, The right to the development of a wide range of interest—Only upon this basis can the right of choice really function. THe DeparTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 675 15. The right to an opportunity to discover one’s particular talents, abilities, and powers and such training as will develop these latent powers—Life should offer the child sufficient opportunity for exploration so that he later can find that niche in which he can do his share of the world’s work. This means also the right to Creative activity. 16. The right to social development and orientation—If the child is expected to become a contributing member of society, then there must be developed within him a social consciousness and a right perspective as to the relationship of the indi- vidual to society and vice versa. 17. The right to counsel and guidance—The child has a right to the protection which the knowledge and experience of his elders affords, but they, on the other hand, have no right completely to dominate his action. Every child has a right to training in responsibility—facing life, seeing the consequences and results of actions. 18. The right to the power that comes from experiencing success—The school must do something for a child other than fail him. 19. The right to work—induction into industry at proper time and under proper conditions—The desire to be selfsupporting, to be financially independent is com- mon to all human beings. Industry has a responsibility to the young worker which has not yet been fully appreciated. Along with the right to work goes the right to an appreciation of the value of money—what money costs in human effort—its purchasing power and its earning power. 20. The right to look forward sometime to establishing a home—The desire for a home and children is more or less universal. It places upon adults the responsi- bility of inspiring youth with the sacredness of home and parenthood and of training youth for worthy home living. If all these are the rights of childhood—thena we must have courses of study that will provide opportunity for the child to achieve for himself such of these rights as the public school is responsible for. How can these courses of study be built? A survey of current practice reveals these six approaches to the problem: (1) Acceptance of tradition; (2) imitation, or scissors and pastepot; (3) acceptance of prevailing style as shown by frequency of occurrence; (4) determining activities through occupational or job analysis; (5) statement of adult abilities and selection of pupil ex- periences necessary to their acquisition; and (6) study of children and their normal activities. A synthesis of curriculum theories is not only necessary but also possible— No one method of curriculum building used by itself results in a satis- factory course. ‘‘Education must clearly see child and man, but not in a social vacuum.” ‘There must be a union of the above approaches to curric- ulum revision. ‘There should not be a complete break with the past, neither should the present and future be ignored. A curriculum should not be built wholly on the basis of children’s in- terests and spontaneous activities. “hese must be directed toward goals that are socially desirable. On the other hand, a curriculum should not be built wholly upon the basis of adult needs and activities. ‘The learner must retain his rightful place in the scheme of things. Furthermore, courses of study should not be designed merely for children of one level of ability. 676 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION A curriculum can be built which has large social adult values, appeals to the interests of children, is suited to their growth wants, and at the same time is sufficiently differentiated to meet the needs of pupils of vary- ing levels of ability. When a curriculum is built in-this fashion, the. demands which childhood has a right to make on adulthood will be met, and society in turn will be served. SECRETARY’S MINUTES Seattle Meeting The Department of Secondary School Principals of the National Education Asso- ciation met in Eagles Hall, Seattle, Wash., Wednesday, July 6, at 2 P. M. The president of the association, Charles E. Keyes, Principal of the Oakland High School, Oakland, Calit., presided. The president appointed Bertha C. Knemeyer, Principal of the Elko County High School, Elko, Nevada, to act as secretary, as the secretary of the association, Margaret Durkin, was unable to be present. The president introduced the speakers scheduled for the program as follows: EXPLORATORY COURSES IN JUNIOR H1GH SCHOOLS Eugene S. Briggs, Superintendent of Schools, Okmulgee, Okla. INTRAMURAL ATHLETICS V. K. Froula, Principal, Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Wash. THE HicH ScHOOL LIBRARY. Lucile F. Fargo, American Library Association, Chicago, III. Discussions touching upon various phases of the problems submitted by the speakers followed. The meeting adjourned. The Department of Secondary School Principals of the National Education Association assembled for the second session as scheduled in Eagles Hall, Thurs- day, July 7, at 2 P. M. President Charles E. Keyes presided. President Keyes announced a business session to follow the program and appointed a nominating committee as follows: Mr. McDaniel, Oak Park School, Chicago, Ill.; C. A. Anderson, Hamilton Junior High School, San Francisco, Calif. ; Albert Netherly, Black Diamond School, Washington. The committee was in- structed to report immediately after the close of the program. President Keyes introduced the speakers of the session as follows: THE Story OF SIXTEEN THOUSAND MANUSCRIPTS Maurice R, Robinson, Editor of the Scholastic, Pittsburgh, Pa. JUNIOR COLLEGE DEVELOPMENT IN CALIFORNIA C. S. Morris, Modesto Junior Co!lege, Modesto, Calif. “ReEvisinG THE HicH ScHooL CuRRICULUM Dr. Margaret Alltucker, Associate Director of Research Division, National Education Association, Washington, D. C. Discussion based upon the briefs submitted closed the regular program. President Keyes called for the report of the nominating committee. Mr. McDaniel, chairman of the committee, paid a fine tribute to President Keyes for the splendid work of this department under his efficient leadership. He then submitted the report of the committee. The committee recommended that THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 677 in view of the contemplated consolidation of the Deparment of Secondary School Principals of the National Education Association with the National Association of Secondary School Principals the officers elected at the St. Louis meeting be elected to the same offices in this department as follows: President—F. L. Bacon, Principal, Newton High School, Newtonville, Mass. First Vicepresident—Jessie Hamilton, Principal, Morey Junior High School, Denver, Colo. Second Vicepresident—C. F. Allen, Principal, West Junior High School, Little Rock, Ark. Secretary-Treasurer—Harry V. Church, Principal, J. Sterling Morton High School, Cicero, Ill. A motion was made and seconded that the report of the committee be accepted and that the officers herein named be elected to the positions as indicated. The motion was carried and so ordered. ‘The meeting was adjourned, lt ae 1 ae iam mi adel ee : = * 5 aes: Pati) ees 7 Sian Wt 44d ne Mind fe ) ARE oy avails We oy oe hd Te he Sobek, EANiy Tey edt ey a Wher 8h) WU Ne yey te ithe ip evhatbones: Kpiandaltisag.e 4 speak Hired lie e's ‘nett é Le | ‘ats Weide ot eg ry dh pee ea 7 irae te fe RB Fepta mds Neale @ ey gt tt oe or ye | Sear: Pee Fey, Ae jae Pure aah,” [au ), MLAS PAN AAnt TNE ee mn ma given ihe Stan ol 2) Saray, Abs iahin i ‘Shnet atin) Rr! ue Leys fabe Ty Stn a gree, My ne li endo hot os jer. uae Twapiel de ia wie talfod Petts a te tae k gy rail Soa i ante Mp LJvca Lo iA, Te) a beat, Hin f at A) ag Sah Py Ne pant | Soiply re WEARS, Rent a fe Pop Ota Bil ye ate The etc. HA Prey ty | Ty Pavncn a a me 4) beri ar ; Petr Slay ee ieee Tote ny APL WY vae é os ry bts apres) eR i eal ET iy A te bat li Faasing, oat A : As oy A. 1S COU a cies eis ny ba Nid ; eee eee, Orin, Da Ties scone Pe es te a 1h, 6 eri Adbdebay 4? ita ey Ht git ee if : 4 Ue. MST apres Silas iie) \ seen lang aN : ig tiles Tone LOU AS Mata, 1’ aut ve vA, om sept tela ne Laurel Sie byt? ‘saat ebiee on is, Seentyrd, ae iden Rev te agli’ h rae on) Vs ri eatin wolh ls yo! gee a . a” — 4h, whine! Pak Letcal Ky J 2 «tebe A Sade Ege «leit eae at Sk. alia done a i me th peer nf Lie ORGY vy Thee reves HK ‘ 4 Nee The Department of Social Studies HE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES was formerly the National Council for the Social Studies and was created as a Department of the National Edueation Association by the Board of Directors at the Indianapolis meeting of the Association in 1925, The officers of the Department of Social Studies for the year 1927-28 are: President, J. Montgomery Gambrill, Associate Professor of History, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York City; Vice- president, Kidna H. Stone, Supervisor of the Teach- ing of Social Studies, University High School, Oak- land, Calif.; Secretary-Treasurer, Kdgar Dawson, . Professor of Political Science, Hunter College, New York City; Corresponding Secretary, Mary V. Carney, Teacher of History, Central High School, St. Paul, Minn. Facts relating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier. Proceedings as follows: 1926: 652-663 [680] PATRIOTISM AND THE CONSTITUTION WALTER S. DAVIS, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, COLLEGE OF PUGET SOUND, TACOMA, WASH. i | ‘HERE is in the world today a mighty force which we call patriotism, or the love of country. It belongs exclusively to no age or clime and illustrations of it are found scattered throughout the pages of history. It had its beginnings no doubt, in the love of home, in attachment to the scenes amidst which one’s childhood had been spent, in the feeling of pos- session that came to the early human families in their rude tents, in their fondness for the hills and streams and land and familiar scenes surround- ing their homes. It grows by our interest in those with whom we are most closely as- sociated. It no doubt owes something to the spirit of selfinterest, of self- preservation in every human being, causing us to value the association with others in a political capacity. Other sources of patriotism are the country’s flag, the ideals of the Republic, great documents such as the Declaration of Independence, heroic events of our history, the character of the leading men and women of our history, our free institutions, our economic opportunity for the common man. To each and every one of these origins, we acknowledge a debt beyond valuation. Each one is a spring running into the mighty stream of Ameri- can love of country. This afternoon more especially we stress the debt of American patriotism to the Constitution of our country and the consequent duty of the school. Under this Constitution, the American people have grown mighty and prosperous. The three millions of 1776 have become the more than one hundred millions of 1927. ‘The republic has marched from ocean to ocean. It has become the greatest moral and political force in the world today. In human affairs it speaks with a power unequalled. The function of the school is to socialize the child, to fit him for citizen- ship in the republic. Almost one-half of the state’s income is spent in nourishing young people up into citizenship, not only for their own happiness and well-being, but for the perpetuity of the state. It then becomes the duty of the American teacher to help develop a love for the republic and its institutions. Now, in developing love of country in the mind and life of the childhood of America through the Constitution, we must not neglect the history of that great instrument. ‘The youth should know the biography of the men who drew it up and gave it to the country. ‘They should know the struc- ture, powers, and history of the three great departments created by this constitution, the congress, the presidency, and the supreme court. _ They should know something of the speeches of Webster, the Constitu- (681) 682 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION tion’s greatest defender and interpreter. ‘They should know of the struggles of brave men who died that the Union might live. In order to appreciate at its true value the greatness of the American Constitution, the youth of our land should get some conception of the Articles of Confederation. ‘This is necessary in order to appreciate “the more perfect union.” After studying the weakness of the Articles as a form of government and the dangers of the country outside the Articles, we see the force of John Quincy Adam’s declaration. The “Constitution was wrung by grind- ing necessity from a reluctant people.” Contrasting the weakness of the Articles with the strength of the Con- stitution of the more perfect union will awaken in our students a whole- some respect for the Constitution. ‘There were also forces binding the states together in this Critical Period of American History. Among these were the western lands, the memories of the revolution, and the love of the people for Washington. ‘The people knew that Washington desired “a more perfect union.” The respect of the youth for the Constitution will be increased when they come to know the greatness of the men who were members of the Phila- delphia Convention and gave to the world this noble document, and that with a few exceptions they were the first citizens of the Country. This respect for the Constitution will be heightened when the student learns that the wisdom of the two greatest living men, Washington and Franklin, was given to its framing; that the brilliant Hamilton, the scholarly Madison, gave to it of their best; that James Wilson of Pennsyl- vania whose name, according to Bryce, is growing larger with the lapse of years, contributed much; that these were only a few of the men of great and varied talent now met to perform a work the greatness of which only the years can measure. In the ratification of the Constitution the student will share the anxiety of Washington, the serene hope of Madison, be deeply moved by the eloquent reasoning of Hamilton and James Wilson, and rejoice in the final victory for the Constitution. The teachers of America must not be satisfied to teach about the Con- stitution. The Constitution itself must be taught and made clear. In the Middle Ages it was said by Abelard, “‘God is loved in proportion as he is known.” May we not believe that to the degree that our country’s Constitution is known and understood by our youth they will revere and honor both the Constitution and the country. The preamble will well repay study. According to Chief Justice Mar- shall, “We, the people of the United States” means just that and not the people of the states. “A more perfect union” means more perfect than the government under the Articles of Confederation. Each one of the purposes will well repay study, closing with “and to secure the blessings of liberty THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES 683 to ourselves and our posterity,” the purpose for which they had been fighting in the long struggle with Great Britain. The phrase “do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America,” has in it the ring of purpose, of finality, of decision. A proper presentation of the provision of our great instrument of gov- ernment cannot fail to kindle the patriotism of the youth of our land. The statement of the eighteen powers of Congress was one of the high achievements, solid and enduring, of the Philadelphia Convention. While Congress has not always been above censure, accompanying the study of the powers of Congress, all through American history attention should be called to the noble work of Congress. In the debates in the Washington Legislature of 1925, and among the people, more or less distrust was expressed of Congress, that it would exercise to the full and abuse the powers given to it by the Child Labor Amendment to the Constitution. To those of us who were friends of the Amendment it fell to point out the patriotism, the good judgment, the farseeing statesmanship of Con- gress as shown in more than a hundred years of legislation. It was also pointed out that seldom if ever has Congress abused its great powers, as, for example, the power to declare war, only three or four declarations of war in our entire history. It should be the proud privilege of the teachers of America to inspire trust and faith in the great departments of our government. In studying Articles II relating to the presidency, the teacher has the opportunity of pointing out the powers of the presidential office, exceeding the powers of almost any other ruler of the earth; that these powers have for the most part been wisely and beneficently used. Attention may be called to the high character of the men placed in that exalted office: All have been men of high personal character and while in office led exemplary lives, and were animated by a high sense of duty and lofty patriotism; some, like Washington, have left names which are synonyms of love of country; certain presidents have not only exalted the office but were a great moral force, lifting up the nation. Certain presidents were men of great courage, moral and physical ; certain ones were famed for scholarly attributes; certain ones were men of rare sweetness of character; and in the presidential office certain ones exhibited rare and striking qualities. The history of our supreme-court should make the American youth take a renewed pride in his country and her institutions. When James Bryce asked Andrew D. White, of Cornell University, to name the greatest success of the American Government, President White replied, ‘““[he supreme court.” In a letter inviting John Jay to be the first Chief Justice, President Washington expressed his solicitude to draw into the court the first char- acters of the republic. 684 NaTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION —$—$ im If we may except certain decisions, the history of the supreme court justifies the high encomiums that it has received. In naming the members of the supreme court, the Presidents have exer- cised exceptional care. For the most part only men of the highest character have been appointed to the supreme bench. Witness Webster’s eulogy of John Jay: “When the spotless ermine of the judicial robe fell on John Jay, it touched nothing less spotless than itself.” The decisions of our supreme court have called forth the tribute that they have caused renewed admiration for the strength and stretch of the human understanding. The student’s love of country will be further increased by other provi- sions of the great document. The youth’s loyalty to and admiration for the Constitution of his country will be increased when he makes a part of his study and knowledge the nineteen amendments. The first ten, the American Bill of Rights, should have found a place in the original instrument. In fact the agree- ment to secure their adoption won the ratification of the Constitution in certain close states. “They are muniments of liberty thrown around the individual. They represent steps in the history of liberty wrought out by the Anglo-Saxon race in the struggle with despotic kings and governments. The Amendments from number thirteen to nineteen inclusive represent great steps in the moral and political progress of the American people and will make a strong appeal to the right minded American youth. In your hands, and in your classrooms, fellow teachers of the social sciences, is the destiny of the republic to be decreed, and the republic speeded onward in a grander career in the twentieth century. SOCIAL STUDIES AND CITIZENSHIP JESSE H. NEWLON, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, DENVER, COLO. First it is necessary to see the social studies in relation to the total school program and insofar as possible in relation to the total process of education. Social studies play an indispensable rdle in education for citizenship, but the classes in these subjects in schools and colleges constitute by no means the total education of youth for his duties as a citizen. Let us mention, then, preliminary to our discussion of the réle of the social studies, other agencies that function often in a determining Way in giving the individual attitudes, prejudices, and points of view that may govern throughout life his feeling, thinking, and acting in civic matters. _ One of the results of the scientific study of education and of society is a growing realization of the fact that the individual is being educated, whether we will or no, in his every experience literally from the cradle to the grave. The home plays a réle in education for citizenship equal to and sometimes greater than that of the school. The entire environment of the child—the home, the church, the school, the playground, the Boy THe DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES 685 Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, the gang, every social situation in which he is placed—is creating his personality, his viewpoints, his methods of react- ing to the world in which he lives. In recent years I have heard school men speak pessimistically of the proneness of large numbers of the American people to be swayed by one hysteria after another. ‘These teachers have contemplated the intolerance and the fanaticism that have characterized the blatant “one hundred per- centers’ and their sympathizers, or the silly hunt for red revolutionists regardless of facts or of the constitutional rights of American citizens, and have been inclined to the view that there is something seriously wrong in the work of the schools in the education of boys and girls for good citizen- ship. “The schools must take their share of the blame for situations of this kind, but we should not be assessed with more than our share of the blame. Without question a far greater proportion of the American people of thirty years hence will have been educated in our public and private schools through the secondary grades than is true of the population today, and therefore in the future it will be legitimate to assess on the schools more blame for failure than at present. But the people should be made to realize more clearly the functions and limitations of the school in the educative process and the vast extent of the responsibility of the home in these matters. You and I know that often the school cannot undo that which is done in the home, no matter whether it be good or bad. “The home often saves the child from the mistakes of the school, and the school frequently cannot undo the mistakes of the home. Mind-sets and preju- dices are acquired in the home that last through a lifetime. Coming now to the school, our first observation is that we have changed our ideas as to the ways in which it contributes to the education for citizen- ship. We no longer hold to the view that the school contributes to this objective solely through formal class work in history, civics, and related subjects. The school is a school for citizenship, regardless of how the social studies are organized and taught. In recent years we have more and more wisely used the corporate life of the school for the education of boys and girls in their civic duties. “Today in every well-administered school the pupil is a citizen. He is participating to a large extent in the management of the affairs of the school through student government organizations and through many other socalled extra-curricular activities. He is learning to be a good citizen by practicing the arts of good citizen- ship. But we have yet much to learn about how to capitalize fully the life of the school in this way. We have yet largely to develop the technic of this type of administration, but whether our technic is good or bad youth is being educated one way or the other, and we should remember this great fact when we talk about the function of the school in education for citizenship. Many who are condemning us today for our shortcomings in civic and moral education know little of what goes on within the walls of a modern school in these respects. Let us never forget that the school, like the 686 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION oo ae home, by its very life and spirit, is educating boys and girls in their every relationship. For example, all the good work that is done in the civics class may be undone on the football or the baseball field, or competitive athletics may be made to contribute definitely to the major objectives of education. We come now to the specific rdle of the social studies in education for citizenship. Before attempting such inadequate statements of the value of the social studies as can be given in this brief paper, let us ask what are the qualities of the good citizen to the development of which the social studies should especially contribute. Do you agree with me that no person can be a good citizen of our country unless he possesses at least the follow- ing qualities, and that in the development of these qualities the social studies make an indispensable contribution ? 1. The good citizen has some comprehension of the present social, economic, and political order. In order to gain any understanding of the principles upon which the present order is based, it is necessary to understand its origin. ‘This implies some understanding of the history of humanity from prehistoric to present times in all of its aspects. Formerly, it was thought sufficient if boys and girls were given information about wars, revolutions, the rise and fall of dynasties and governments, and about the mechanics of the American form of government. We now know that to understand the present order we must have some conception of the social, economic, political, religious, and intellectual life of those peoples in all ages and in all parts of the world who have contributed anything to the making of the culture in which we live. 2. The good citizen understands the form and the spirit of our government and his duties as a citizen of the United States. 3. The good citizen has some conception of the problems that confront American democracy. He is conversant with the major problems in our economic, social, political, and intellectual life, and knows something of what the leading thinkers in the various fields have said about these problems. 4. The good citizen has acquired an abiding interest in these civic problems, a divine curiosity which relentlessly urges him to acquire more information in order that his civic judgments and acts may be more wisely taken. 5. The good citizen has acquired a technic of finding out about civic problems. He knows how to look for information and evidence and how to evaluate this information and evidence. He knows how to use and evaluate magazines and newspapers. He knows something of the working of public opinion. and he has the ability to distinguish between facts and mere propaganda. 6. The good citizen has acquired the habit of performing his civic duties, and assumes his civic responsibilities. He is not indifferent to the exercise of the franchise; he is not unwilling to hold public office; he will not speak or think of politics as something that is contaminating and beneath the dignity of an American citizen. I know a man, a graduate of a great university, a success in his profession, who was willing to accept a public office that carried no financial remuneration but entailed a considerable civic responsibility, but who was prevented from becoming a candidate for this office at the solicitation of leading citizens because a decade previous he had entered into a pact with his partner in business that he would not accept ‘public office without the partner’s consent. To my way of thinking such a man can never look upon himself as a good citizen. He is a slacker just as much as the man who is unwilling to bear arms for his country in time of war. The good citizen is not unwilling to do his civic duty. 7. The good citizen understands that our government is a government of law, and he is obedient to the law. He knows that by the exercise of the franchise, THe DeparTMENT oF SociaL STUDIES 687 by orderly processes, the laws of the land, including the fundamental law, the constitution, state and national, can be adapted to changing conditions. The good citizen believes in the Constitution of the United States. He is loyal to every part of it. He obeys the Eighteenth Amendment. He believes that the Constitution means exactly what it says when it guarantees freedom of worship, the right of petition, trial by jury, freedom of speech, right of assembly, and protection against unreasonable search and seizure. 8. The good citizen is tolerant and sympathetic. He does not “see red.” He is not a fanatic. He does not give lip service to that part of the Constitution which guarantees freedom of worship and then engage in religious persecution. He believes that the lowliest citizen is entitled to exactly the same kind of justice as the most famous or the richest. He believes in his country, but he can see good in other countries. In brief, the good citizen is a good Christian. I have attempted to list a few of the qualities to which the development of the social studies should contribute. It must be borne in mind that the list is entirely inadequate and that in the construction of courses of study the analysis must be far more detailed. For example, one measure of the good citizen is the extent to which his aesthetic tastes have been cultivated. He exhibits good taste in the selection of his clothing, of the furnishings for his home, and in the design of the home itself. If he is an urbanite he knows something of city planning. He has a love for all things of beauty. In short, the artistic interests and tastes of the good citizen have been cultivated. To this end many activities of the school contribute, in- cluding work in the social studies. Another illustration might be drawn from the domain of public health, but I have desired to list only a few of the outstanding qualities, general in character, of the good citizen, to the development of which in my judgment the social studies are indispensable. The catalogue might be continued indefinitely. “The good citizen might be viewed from many different angles. ‘There may be some duplication in the qualities which I have enumerated, but I think you will agree with me that the social studies should contribute to the development of these qualities. “The question is how can the social studies best contribute to the development of these qualities. This in- volves two problems: the problem of the selection of subject matter or of the content of the courses of study, and the problem of methods of teach- ing, the latter involving the organization of this content into courses of study and, the adoption of methods that are to be used in the work of the classroom. I shall not attempt to enter into any detailed discussion of either of these problems this afternoon, but will content myself with a brief characteriza- tion of the spirit in which subjectmatter should be chosen and then attempt to point out the importance, from the standpoint of citizenship, of nethods of teaching in the social studies. If it is necessary that the good citizen should have some understanding of the present social, economic, political, and intellectual order, then the subjectmatter of the courses of study in the social sciences must be chosen with reference to this objective. We are all aware, of course, of the gradual change that has come about in this respect in the past twenty years. 688 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Textbooks in history include more today of a presentation of the facts as regards the economic and social life of peoples, and devote less space rela- tively to a recounting of wars and the rise and fall of political dynasties. Likewise our courses in civics or in civil government devote relatively less attention to the mere mechanics of government, as, for example, to memoriz- ing the Constitution, and more to the spirit of American demoeracy and to an understanding of its problems. It is not easy, however, to decide what subjectmatter shall be included. The great question of values arises. The time at our disposal in the schools is very brief indeed. Wise selections must be made. For these selections criteria must be developed. Pioneers such as Rugg, Washburne, and others are pointing the way to new technics for the selection of subject- matter, but these pioneers have probably only made a beginning in the development of these technics. If the good citizen needs to know the problems that confront American democracy, this need dictates an analysis of present-day problems as one of the ways in which to determine what subjectmatter shall be included. If the good citizen needs to be enlightened regarding the forms of gov- ernment, the ways of transacting business, the economic resources, the mores of the peoples of other nations throughout the earth, then these are im- portant considerations for the curriculum maker. We need to set up the objectives to be attained in education for citizenship in terms of the qualities of the good citizen. We need to ask ourselves what contribution the social studies should make to the growth of each of these qualities in the indi- vidual. We shall have, then, in rough outline the criteria to govern in the’ selection of subjectmatter. As regards methods of teaching, we face very much the same problem as in the selection of subjectmatter. For example, if the good citizen should have an abiding interest, a divine curiosity, which urges him relentlessly on- ward to acquire more information regarding civic problems, then our meth- ods of teaching should be calculated to develop within him this desire, this curiosity, this divine fire. If he needs a technic for finding out the facts about civic problems, his work in the social studies should very largely give him this technic. If as a citizen he will be concerned with the necessity of helping to find solutions for the problems of democracy, the methods of teaching should contribute to this end. The child as a child must have practice in the development of those desirable qualities that characterize the good citizen. If he does not develop some curiosity about civic problems before he leaves the school, it is extremely unlikely that he will ever develop it after he leaves the school. If. he must pass judgment on civic problems as a citizen, he should have a maximum of practice in the’formulation of such judgments as a youth. It is futile to attempt to give the youth of this generation solutions for the problems which they will confront in the years to come. No one can foretell what these problems will be. Who could have foretold in the nineties, when some of us were in school, what problems we were to con- THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES 689 front in the first quarter of the twentieth century? We cannot foretell what specific problems the youth of today will confront in the years to come. Solutions will be of little value to them in all probability. Methods of attacking problems, of finding solutions, will be invaluable. It is need- less to point out the important bearing that this fact has on the methods that are employed in the classroom and throughout the school. We find here the true significance of the socalled socialized recitation, or problem or project method of teaching. Here again we only dimly see our way. A world of research needs to be carried on in the development of the most effective methods of teaching. It must be more apparent, then, than ever, that the whole life of the school must be used in education for citizenship. Through participat- ing in the solution of problems that arise in the management of the school, through holding office in student government associations, ‘ in yielding obedience to the regulations made by these associations, and in a thousand other ways the boys and girls should be given opportunity to grow in the qualities of good citizenship. When it comes to a consideration of the part that is played by the home, by the church, by the gang, the Boy Scouts, the Camp Fire Girls, and innumerable other groups and activities, we are entering upon an un- charted sea. We only know in a general way of the tremendous import of these factors in producing the citizen. As I have said before, that which is done in the school may be largely undone by other factors in the child’s environment, or it may be impossible for the school to undo that which has been done in the home or by other factors in the child’s environment. We must take cognizance of this life outside the school. We must study it and come to a better understanding of the forces that play in the education of the child. Ultimately there must be a closer cooperation between the home and the school. We must also learn how to use the communal life to foster in the youth of the city or town or rural neigh- borhood the highest ideals of citizenship. “The movement for a more ade- quate program of adult education in America is most significant. A dy- namic theory of education calls for the provision of educational oppor- tunities for the individual throughout life. Certainly this whole field needs to be studied by those who make the curriculum in the social studies. I shall now summarize briefly what I have said down to this point. Education for citizenship is a process to which many agencies contribute. The entire environment of the child is educating him for citizenship by giving him mind-sets, habits, prejudices, attitudes, which will cling to him throughout life. The part that the home. plays is extremely im- portant. The school, therefore, can be held only partly responsible for the end result of this process of education for citizenship. Likewise, the school contributes in many ways to this end, two of which I have mentioned. ‘Through its corporate life it does or should give the boys and girls practice in those activities that will develop in them the 690 INATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION qualities of the good citizen. ‘The contribution of the school in develop- ing in the boys and girls ideals of good sportsmanship, habits of law obedience and of assuming one’s civic responsibilities, tolerance, a sense of justice, alertness to civic conditions, and other qualities that might be mentioned, is made not only through the social studies but through the life of the school. When it comes to the social studies themselves, the school must select subjectmatter and adopt methods of teaching in the light of the qualities of the good citizen. ‘To this end we are slowly creating a technic, but have only made a beginning. I wish now to discuss very briefly a condition that has arisen in recent years that vitally affects our program of education for citizenship. Every generation, no doubt, will face its big problems of education. We face a situation as regards the social sciences that constitutes one of the most fundamental problems of American democracy. Who shall make the course of study in the social sciences? Shall it be made by legislative enactment? Shall it be dictated by economic interests? Shall it be writ- ten by chauvinists, or by militarists, or by pacificists, or by modernists, or by fundamentalists, or by any other group in our society? Many groups are attempting to influence the course of study in this field. Some very vocal members of societies that style themselves patriotic and have high standing in the land, men and women who ought to be exponents of true Americanism, who ought to recognize that in a dynamic, changing society political institutions must be modified to meet changing conditions, would have us teach that the Constitution is so sacred that it must not be touched or modified in any way whatever. Even some mem- bers of our most worthy hereditary patriotic societies seem to have their faces turned entirely to the past. Unfortunately, some of these people would keep alive ancient ani- mosities. “The truth cannot be told about the Revolutionary War, and those who would tell the truth in history textbooks are outrageously charged with disloyalty to our country. Apparently these narrow-minded bigots cannot understand that the historian may tell the truth about the Revolutionary War and yet believe in the cause for which the patriots of that period’ fought. There are a few among us who look backward to old allegiances and would keep alive even in America old national hatreds. ‘There are a few Americans of Irish extraction who apparently can see nothing but evil in the British Empire and would have their extreme point of view written into our textbooks, and there are jingoists who are so wrought up about the Yellow Peril that they can only look at Japan and China through yellow glasses. It would be nothing short of a calamity if such schools of thought should be permitted to influence teaching in our schools. The most important problems which America faces in the future are problems of foreign relations. We are all nationalists; we are intensely loyal to our America. But you and I know that the fate of civilization itself hangs on the cultivation of a better goodwill among nations. THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL STUDIES 691 cae nee ee ee ee When we come to domestic affairs we are confronted with a similar group of problems. It is inevitable that each economic and social group should have its peculiar slant on economic, social, and civic problems. ‘The American Manufacturers Association has one point of view, organized labor has another, the farmers have another. We cannot avoid the dis- cussions of controversial issues in the schools. In the discussion of these issues teachers must preserve a judicial point of view. Our function is not to teach you what to think but rather to think. Above all, we should remember that all of these groups are composed of good Americans, Al- though we shall find among them extremely shortsighted radicals and reactionaries, it is very rarely that we find in America a person who be- lieves in changing our political or economic order by violence. And yet the influence of these minority groups has been felt already to an extent that must give pause to the thoughtful citizen. Witness the inquisitions into textbooks that have been conducted in New York and in other places by groups who would use the public schools not for the teaching of truth but for propaganda of one kind or another. Finally, I must call your attention to the attempts to write the curricu- lum by legislative enactment. Miss Bessie Louise Pierce, Associate Pro- fessor of History, University of Iowa, in her excellent study “Public Opinion and the Teaching of History,” depicts in a vivid manner the growing tendency to legislate the curriculum, particularly in the field of history and government. Some of this legislation is not to be condemned. It is general in character. It sets up the broad objectives to be achieved in the schools. But other proposals go into details as to how certain sub- jects shall be taught. For example, last winter a bill was introduced into the Colorado legislature requiring the teaching of the Constitution as a separate and distinct subject thirty minutes each week in the seventh and eighth grades and one hour each week through the high schools and colleges of the state. Such a schedule would cut right across the program of the school. To fit it into a scientifically planned course of study would be impossible. This bill was sponsored by the local bar association and in a general way by the American Bar Association, although we found that many of the most intelligent lawyers of the community knew nothing of the provisions of the measure, and when they were informed about it were strongly opposed to it. The proponents of the measure were good citizens. They did not know what we were doing to teach the Constitution. They did not realize the absurdity of such a measure, ‘They did not realize. that if one group could secure the passage of a measure of this kind some other group holding exactly opposite views might in time secure similar legislation. ‘They did not realize that in time, through such a process, the curriculum would become crystallized and soon with the’ passage of years sadly out of date, and that those charged with the responsibility of the administration of the schools and of the teaching of youth would find their hands tied. 692 NatTIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION nT a RENAME OR SOROS Who, then, shall make the social studies curriculum? It should be made by the teachers and specialists in education and in the social sciences who are devoting their lives to study in these fields. That means that you and I must measure up to our responsibilities in this respect. Our work must be so broad, so soundly based on scholarship and on considera- tions of good citizenship, so excellent from a technical standpoint, that it will command the respect of the public. America faces no greater problem in the next generation than that of deciding whether the schools shall be used for propaganda purposes or to teach the truth about American history and institutions. Those who would use the schools for propaganda and who at the same time as good citizens believe in American institutions and in the American spirit, are very short-sighted indeed. A few years ago it looked as if this situation would become very acute. It now appears that there is less hysteria and that if we teachers, students of education, and historians rise to the occasion we may lead the way in making a curriculum in the social studies that will contribute the utmost of which the school is capable to the perpetuation of the spirit of American institutions. THE TEACHING OF SOCIAL SCIENCE IN WASHINGTON HIGH SCHOOLS READ BAIN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF SOCIOLOGY, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WASH. A more complete investigation should be made of the actual preparation, pedagogy, and objectives of the social science teachers, as a preliminary to a thoroughgoing definition of the aims of the social studies, of standards of training for teachers and methods of teaching. This should be followed by a fundamental revision of the entire course of study but especially for the social sciences, and this revision should be followed up by a campaign for cooperation of the teachers, school au- thorities, and the community in carrying out the provisions of the new scheme. Although about 95 percent of the teachers of social science conform to the law which requires a college degree for teaching in high schools, it is found that over one-half have had comparatively little preparation in their particular subject. ‘The scholastic training for teaching civics and American history, the only two social studies required by law, appears to be especially defective. About 87 percent of the teachers belong to the Washington Education Association, 45 percent to the National Education Association, and 38 percent to local organizations. Moreover, the periodical reading of the teachers seems to be quite professional, of high quality, and of considerable quantity. THE DEPARTMENT OF SocIAL STUDIES 693 The most common participation of the teacher in community work was Sunday school teaching. ‘Twenty-five percent of the teachers engage in this activity. Girls’ work, including scouts, camp fire, etc., was partici- pated in by 12 percent; boys’ work, scouts, Hi-Y, etc., by 11 percent; and church work by 9 percent. The principal obstacle to the teaching of the social studies appears to be lack of library equipment. This is followed by inadequate teaching force and too many subjects. There was slight indication that patrons’ fear of radical ideas being propagated by the social studies was operating to prevent the extension of such work. LEGISLATIVE REQUIREMENTS IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CIVICS E. D. RANDOLPH, PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON, SEATTLE, WASH. In the last few years legislators, persuaded by organized societies repre- senting the convictions of small minorities, have given the schools of many of the states certain specific topics for courses in civics and “citizenship,” — namely, the study of the origin, sources, and principles of the constitu- tion, and “the study of and devotion to American institutions and ideals.” This phrasing seems to have emanated from the citizenship committee of the American Bar Association; and the legislative drive upon the teach- ing of the Constitution seems to have been fathered by the American Bar Association (with curious unconcern about some important American ideals and institutions). The prestige of this powerful organization has furnished for the numerous patriotic societies the assurance needed for vigorous lobbying at state legislatures, with the result that most of the states have enacted laws requiring the teaching of the Constitution in the elementary schools. ‘These laws vary in character from the general and unobjectionable type to the highly specific and prescriptive type which ignores the expert knowledge of teachers. It is the latter type which the bar association now apparently favors. Everyone must be sympathetic with the bar association’s concern about the quality of American citizenship, and about the importance of the study of American institutions and ideals. Everyone must concur in their belief that the study of the Constitution (written and unwritten) is a valuable part of such orientation for pupils old and able enough to en- gage in it. There is serious doubt, however, whether the bar association is right in its insistence upon a separate course on the Constitution for elementary school children. This doubt becomes conviction when the details of the bar association’s idea of a proper elementary school course on the Constitu- tion are examined. 694 NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION ee ed ee EES It is no exaggeration to say that it is such a course as is proper for a political science major in the university. “he time allottments necessary to make such a program effective could not be had without serious preju- dice to other crucial courses in the elementary school curricula. And no possible time allottment could make it largely effective with elementary school children. ‘The curricula of normal schools would have to be sub- stantially reshaped to prepare teachers of such a course for anything but perfunctory work. Extensive in-service education would have to be inaugurated for teachers already in the field. If the bar association’s view of American needs in regard to knowledge of the genesis and development of the Constitution is a sound one they are right in insisting upon a separate course. But they are assuredly wrong in their idea of the equipment necessary to pursue it. Their course belongs in colleges and universities, primarily. At the lowest it might in parts be attacked in the senior year of high schools. It is impracticable in the elementary school. Two principles of selection of curriculum materials must always go together: (1) ‘What society needs” is doubtless the first one; but (2) “What little children can learn” will always limit it severely; and the equities of other subjects of study will continue to deserve consideration. About the first, the bar association may in most cases be a better judge than most teachers. About the second, the professional teachers will in most cases be better judges than the bar association. May we rely upon the bar association’s sense of the nature of evidence to make them moderate their zeal for political science education to the capacities of little children? Is it not our duty to appear as advocates of children, with a brief for what is attainable in the elementary school period and a statement of the equities of the other school subjects? SECRETARY'S MINUTES Seattle Meeting Joint Meeting with Faculty of Social Science of the University of Washington— The meeting was held Tuesday, July 5, in Philosophy Hall, Room 233. It was called to order at 2:10 P. M. by'the presiding officer, Charles E. Martin, Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Washington. Dr. Martin welcomed the audience—over three hundred in number—and then called on Edna H. Stone, Vicepresident of the National Council for the Social Studies, for remarks. Miss Stone conveyed the greetings sent by letters by J. Montgomery Gambrill, President of the Council, and Edgar Dawson, Secretary of the Council, who voiced their sincere regret that they were unable to attend the convention. Walter S. Davis, State Senator, and Professor of Political Science, College of Puget Sound, Tacoma, gave an address on “Patriotism and the Constitution.” Then followed an analysis of “The Social Studies and Citizenship,” delivered by Jesse H. Newlon, Superintendent of Schools, Denver, Colorado. “Teaching the Social Science in Washington High Schools,” a study made by THE DEPARTMENT OF SocIAL STUDIES 695 eee eee Read Bain, Lecturer in Sociology, University of Washington, was read by a col- league of Mr. Bain, in the absence of the writer. Edgar Randolph, Professor of Education, University of Washington, then gave an address, “Requirements for the Social Studies in the Primary Schools.” In all of these papers there was evidence that the writers were cognizant of the importance and value of the social studies, and they thoughtfully and seriously presented views as to guidance and control. After announcing the session for the following day, Dr. Martin adjourned the meeting. Second Session, The Teacher as a Factor in Social Studies Teaching—This ses- sion, held July 6, in Philosophy Hall, Room 233, was called to order at 2:10 P. M. by Edna H. Stone, Vicepresident of the National Council. Following a word of welcome to the audience and the delivery of messages from Dr. Gambrill and Dr. Dawson, Miss Stone voiced the appreciation of the officers of the worthy services. of the local committee and speakers. Then came the introduction of Frederick E. Bolton, Dean of the School of Edu- cation, University of Washington, who delivered an address on “The Teacher’s Opportunity Through the Social Studies.” Next came the address by Miss Crystal Harford, Assistant Supervisor of Social Studies, University High School, Oakland, California, on “The Teacher and the Need of a Social Viewpoint Throughout the Social Studies.” Miss Harford had an illuminating collection of illustrative materials displayed. The final address was given by Milton Bennion, Dean of the Department of Education, University of Utah, whose subject. was “The Place of Ethics in a Program of Teacher Training for the Social Studies.” A lively discussion of the three papers followed, many taking part. As a result of a motion to the effect that the papers of both sessions be printed and made available for reading by ‘all interested, Miss Stone stated that certain publicity would come through the Proceedings of the National Education Associa- tion and that in the Historical Outlook doubtless at least part of the papers will be printed. She appointed ‘a committee, headed by Dean Martin, to look into the matter still further. There was no election of officers as those elected last February are to serve until next July, at which time regular election will take place. The meeting was adjourned. 7 2 b Siitheat shale ad Oye a a Pal e ws he ae Lf harwrie tam tf, rei vile i f ¥ ahady ad? , ati nh! ailnie Teo at ‘ay i eves os ~ hs itt "7 Nit wre iets ted tye beret gothaes ley ks ~ v r 1 er pe itean 7. nthe yor A gt Welt | ba" Meahe 2 Lf & oh ‘mnelige “s . . “goa wetic t eee he ai bf e 1 30 ta | i dani i bist ‘ - i - 4 svn, MAME > ‘es Pests. - aE ci onl aa _ om only ag itzee Patel Dalat tat f 1” { 5 ig _ ae 7 FP ee ale oT TEs oles Shyer r a’ 4 P A ae hd ya x iy ade miesdep vel dav eal! aie 7 rs ae or soe oirhthe se pas - aS z ae fein t Poe 4 : : \ : s 7 oe 7 “@ % - e 2 A ed ie . . 2 he : f « , iry - ¥ ~ oo eu a ‘ * ey és inane s ogy ere st” _~, ~ . z > i The Department of Superintendence HE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE—At the meeting of the National Teachers’ Association in Harrisburg, Pa., 1865, the state and city superin- tendents present decided to form an organization, to be composed exclusively of those engaged in super- visory work in the schools. This group decided to meet in Washington, D. C., in February, 1866, at which time the work of organization was completed. The new organization was called the National Asso- ciation of School Superintendents. Nine states and twenty cities were represented In 1870, the National Association of School Super- intendents merged into the National Education Asso- ciation as a Department. Following a change in the Bylaws of the Association, adopted in 1921, the De- partment was reorganized under a new constitution, with a full-time secretary. It publishes a report of its annual meeting's, which appears also in the Asso- ciation’s Proceedings, and a yearbook which is sent only to members. The officers of the Department for the year 1927-28 are: President, Joseph M. Gwinn, Superintendent of Schools, San Francisco, Calif.; First Vicepresident, Randall J. Condon, Superintendent of Schools, Cin- cinnati, Ohio; Second Vicepresident, Frank D. Boynton, Superintendent of Schools, Ithaca, N. Y.; Exzecutwe Secretary, 8. D. Shankland, 1201 16th St. N. W. Washington, D. C.; Executive Committee: M. G. Clark, Superintendent of Schools, Sioux City, Iowa; Norman R. Crozier, Superintendent of Schools, Dallas, Texas; EK. E. Lewis, Professor of School Administration, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; Frank M. Underwood, District Superintendent of Schools, St. Louis, Mo. Facts re- lating to the establishment of this Department and the record of meetings are found in earlier volumes of Proceedings as follows: 1873 :244-271 1886 :335-353 1897:195-317 — 1907:145-329 1917: 661-853 1874 :297 1887 :511-538 = 1898:303-489 1908:129-329 1918: 473-685 1875 :291 1888 :515-547 1899 :251-380 1909:159-232 1919: 483-675 1877 :253-261 1889:613-617 1900:183-297 1910-143-307 1920: 407-537 1879 :223 1890 :367-545 1901 :189-349 1911 :161-331 1921: 679-851 1880 :235-237 1891:379-527 1902:151-306 1912:329-499 1922:1295-1465 1881 :252 1892 :559-745 1903 139-301 1913: 99-355 1923: 881-1025 1882: 7-112 1894:252-592 1904:173-333 1914:133-293 1924: 803-963 1884 :281-292 =1895:213-429 =: 1905:155-271 1915:253-527 1925: 633-863 1885 :160-192 1896:231-391 1906: 29-215 1916:895-1099 1926: 663-838 [ 698 ] OPENING OF THE EXHIBITS RANDALL J. CONDON, PRESIDENT OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE RANK BRUCE, presiding—Ladies and gentlemen: This is the formal kK opening of the Convention of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association. ‘This monumental exhibit has been built for you. It is unfortunate that we cannot give you some appre- ciation of the time and effort that has been spent on the preparation of this wonderful exhibit. Dr. Condon will tell the story of the exhibit. On behalf of the commercial exhibitors I want to thank the local com- mittee and the officers of the Department of Superintendence for this un- usual and very highly appreciated exhibit hall. It is unfortunate that you cannot understand the professional service, the professional background, which has preceded the planning and which is now expressed in these exhibits here today. Professional service is the keynote of the commercial exhibit. In the past decade we have equipped thousands of schools of all kinds. We appreciate that in the next decade we must equip thousands and thousands of schools for you. We sincerely trust that as professional school men you will come more and more to the commercial exhibitor with the idea that the commercial Sibites is with you, rendering you a professional service. Dr. Condon has sensed the significance of this idea in suggesting this opening meeting this afternoon. It is the first time in the history of the Department of Superintendence that a president has come forward with a real appreciation of the place and function of a technical exhibit of this character. It is a privilege to present to you at this time President Randall J. Condon of Cincinnati, who will formally open the Convention. President Randall J. Condon—Friends, I am pleased today to meet you here on this Fifty-Seventh Anniversary of the founding of the Department of Superintendence of the National Education Association, and officially to say the word which brings this Convention into being. And yet this Convention has been in process of evolving for one year. From the time the meeting adjourned at Washington last year the officers have been busy projecting this meeting. We went to nine cities and the Executive Com- mittee went to two or three others looking for an exhibit hall, among other things, that should be worthy of the installing of an exhibit such as is in place here today. When we came to Dallas and looked into this hall and saw the stretch of it, 92,000 square feet of floor space, I said there was no other place where the Convention ought to be held in 1927 except in Dallas. The Executive Committee agreed, for I said we could afford to be crowded a little bit in the hotels if we could have plenty of space to exhibit the things that make for educational welfare, the commercial, the technical, and the school product of America. I came again in October when the State Fair was in progress that I might see that great exhibition and see whether it fully met my expectations. [ 699 ] 700 NatTIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION ft es) ee REED AE Ae eee Mr. Allan came down when the American Medical Association was in session and had its exhibit here. As we came into this hall and visioned it, it was as we see it today. Whether or not you are satisfied, we are, for it expresses the thing which we dreamed for you—plenty of space, with fine environment, with an opportunity for all the technical and educational exhibits to have free access, with plenty of circulation, a lounge where the people might gather and converse and rest, and then beyond, the products of the school. We see American school education at its best as it is being exhibited here today, and in all of the school houses of the land you will find some of these things in process of development and in use by the children and the teachers of America. As Mr. Bruce has said, for fifty-seven years this Department has been meeting, and it has not occurred to anyone, or if it did occur it has not been put into operation, that this exhibit ought to be opened formally and dedi- cated to the cause of education. When I said I wanted the opportunity to open formally this great exhibit and to dedicate it to the welfare of edu- cation in America, and then I wanted to make clear that six days thou shalt labor and on the seventh thou shalt rest from thy labors, I had in mind that the exhibit closes its doors tonight, but they will open at 7 oclock on Mon- day morning, and from that time on we want the 10,000 superintendents and others who are in Dallas to circulate through these corridors, to look into every exhibit that is on display, and to pass beyond and to see the exhibits that are installed there. Great work and much expense has been involved in bringing together this great exhibit. We have not assembled this exhibit primarily for the purpose of making money. “The Department of Superintendence is a going concern, we can meet our own bills and pay them from the income we have. But we do believe that no meeting of the Department is as it should be unless it brings together with the superintendents the men who supply the material that makes it possible for the superintendents to give education to the school children of America. We are one, and from this time forward, whether you are producing books or furniture or equipment or visual education or radio or what-not, you and the superintendents of the country are one in the process of working together to use this material to produce finer and better citizens for America, and we join hands. with you today in this one common purpose and pledge ourselves that the doors of all the superintendents of this country shall be opened to those who make textbooks and produce furniture that you may come in and tell them the thing that you have to produce and to sell that it may be better for the children. But we ask you in coming to leave outside anything except the merits of your production. You shall always be welcome when you bring that thing which calls to our attention the thing we ought to have based upon its merit, upon its use to the children. But the doors shall be forever barred against any man or woman who attempts to influence the superin- tendents or teachers of this country by any unworthy means. THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 701 This has been planned that you may have the opportunity of circulation. When we laid out all these avenues and within forty-eight hours every foot of space was taken either by long distance telephone or by telegraph or letter, then I said, “There is just one other thing that I want, and that is the thing which shall give the idea of national unity, of patriotic citizen- ship motive, and I know where that thing is; it is in the Town Hall of Lexington, Massachusetts.” I sent to Lexington and I said to the select- men, ‘‘Will you let us have the flags that were flying on Lexington Common when you celebrated the One Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of the first battle for independence?” And the selectmen met, and they said, “No. We have had innumerable requests. They asked that they might have our flags for the Sesquicentennial Celebration, and we refused.” I refused to take that no as final. I wrote to Mr. Allan to go from Wash- ington to Lexington, and I sent this telegram to him: We expect Lexington to be as patriotic in 1927 as she was in 1775. Then I said to him: “We must have flags from Lexington. Go to Boston and take Payson Smith with you to Lexington. Put it up to them as a patriotic duty. We cannot have the kind of convention we have planned without their flags.” They are displayed along the walls here. Every state flag is represented, beginning with the last states admitted, Arizona and New Mexico, and coming down far beyond to our national flag flanked on either side with the flags of the thirteen original states, Massachusetts on one side, Vir- ginia on the other, to symbolize the fact that at Jamestown and at Plymouth was laid the foundation of our great country. We have gath- ered here, with these flags about us symbolizing not only the unity of all the states into the one great flag of our country, but symbolizing the fact that Lexington sends her choicest possessions to Dallas, that Massachusetts sends them to Texas, that New England sends them to this great gather- ing of the superintendents of the nation, to make clear that national unity and the ideals of the nation must be born in the hearts of the youth of today. We gather, then, under these fine auspices, we gather under sunny skies and with peach blossoms all about us. When I sent the letter saying that on Sunday we would ride through peach blossoms, some of you fellows who live in the north said I must be stretching it. On the train coming down, a man from Illinois said, “I guess you will be able to deliver your program, because it is in print, but I don’t have much stock in your peach blossoms.” I said, “Wait until you cross the Texas border.” And my heart was elad when I looked out of the window and actually saw the peach blos- soms on the trees, for I was a little in doubt whether the cold draft from the north wind might have kept them from developing. I said, “We will take a chance on it, and I don’t believe Texas will disappoint us.” Texas has not disappointed us; Dallas has not. The city and the state are here 702 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION to welcome us into an environment of good will and cordial cooperation and hearty greetings that make it worthwhile for us to meet within the borders of this city. We are here to open this Convention formally, and to say that this ex- hibit is yours to look at, to use, to buy, to produce. I don’t like to use the word that Mr. Bruce used; it comes better from him than from me; I don’t like to use the term ‘‘commercial exhibit.” Mr. Allan, you know, has coined another one—‘“‘technical exhibit” and “school exhibit.” I have been trying for six months to find one expression which ties the two things together and I haven’t got it yet. But it is one from this end to the other end; there is no separation. In the lounge are the finest examples of school architecture; beyond are the finest exhibits of schoolroom interiors; there is a model schoolroom showing not only how children’s vision may be saved, but how it may be prevented from becoming defective. I have not the slightest hesitation in saying that it is the finest exhibit of art products applied to life that has ever been assembled. “Then there are the finest printing products from all over this country, with seventy-five cities from thirty states represented. We are in the presence of a living exhibit, a piece of applied education, a piece of education applied to useful ends. I believe that is about the only kind of education that amounts to much anyway. Back in Timothy II, there is something like this: Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. The reason so much of our learning is fruitless is because we never apply it to anything that is worth something. If we somehow find out how to apply the thing that we are learning to a useful end, it shall function in terms of character and citizenship. Some years ago I had a dream that I had been visiting the night school and I had been looking into the faces of something like a dozen or fifteen different nationalities, and I thought somehow in my dream that it was my business to help Americanize those people. In my dream I thought the way one could do it was to give them a cheer as the college does when it urges its team to victory. I gave the word to them, and it came back in confusion and discord, without any harmony of action, one voice against another. I gave it again, and it came back a little clearer, but still very much confused. Still again | gave it, until by and by there came back to me the clear words that I arose that night and wrote on a slip of paper that I might not forget them. These were the words I gave: “Now all to- gether, once again, each for the help of the other.” I would say to every one of the 200 exhibitors and to all who have a part in this great exhibit, in Americanization and in working for the good of the children of America that is the call which must ring in our hearts: “Now all together, once again, each for the help of the other.” This Fifty-seventh Convention of the Department of Superintendence is officially opened. THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 703 THE IDEALS OF THE NATION JUDGE WILLIAM H. ATWELL, UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT DALLAS, TEXAS The dictionary advises us that the word “ideal” means existing in the imagination only, visionary, a mental conception. Idealism in art means the elimination of or the adding to so that there may be an ideal object attained. An idealist is one who pursues an ideal, of course; he is the visionary. In thinking of the subject during the last day or two days, I have asked myself this question: Is it true that if all of the minds in America were placed in a gigantic receptacle and shaken from side to side and up and down by some giant hand, there would appear upon the surface eventually certain outstanding national ambitions, a composite of the Amer- ican people? Is that true? A survey of America, of course, is more difficult than a survey of any other nation. England is inhabited by the English, France by the French, Germany by the Germans, Russia by the Russians, Japan by the Japanese, China by the Chinese, but America is populated by all of these people I have named and by every other people on the globe, and they become Americans, if at all, after having lived between our oceans and upon our rivers and in our forests and in our mountains and after having visioned to a little degree something of the great dream of our founders. So, after all, the subject is fraught with great difficulty. But there is a principle, my friends, in individual life that is invariable. Whether it holds good in national life I do not assert. I merely display it for you and leave it to the individual judgment as to whether it is equally true there. That principle is the growth that comes in solitude. I ask you to go with me in the full measure of that word and that phrase, the growth that comes in solitude. The heroic figures of history, the rugged characters, the great fellows who have towered above their associates in all generations have found their strength just there.. Gianthood is within us. The Scriptures tell us that the kingdom of God is within us. If so, the king is in his kingdom. Henry Knight Miller, in an impelling article called “Can we go alone?” takes us into the mountains with the Savior and there in the very center of solitude, at the very heart of power, there comes the exclamation, “T and the Father are one.” It is then that history is unrolled; it is then that destinies are made; it is then that the tents are moved forward into a new initiative. This solitude is impervious to the attacks of those who are outside; ineffectual are they against it. Shifting sands are the founda- tion of the man who builds his life to be in harmony with the scoffs or the congratulations of the world that is about him, because the world may criticize in the morning and congratulate with the going down of the evening sun. 704 NaTIONAL EpucaATion ASSOCIATION Dewey, when he returned, as we all remember so well, from his great work in the Far East, was received in his land as a conqueror, he was paraded and feted and congratulated and loved and honored throughout the nation. A popular subscription was taken, and he was presented with a home in the capital of the nation. Later he took unto himself a wife and he transferred this property to his new queen, and instantly, almost, the people who had been at his feet were at his throat, so fickle is even the popular opinion of a great nation like America. This very strength that comes from solitude, however, is the strength that sent Ulysses S. Grant tunneling beneath the embankment at Vicks- burg, charmed a Stonewall Jackson at the head of a matchless cavalry, fired the heart of Martin Luther as he stood in the Diet of Worms exclaiming, “Here I stand, God being my helper, I can do nothing else.” It was the fire and the soul of George Washington that he found on his knees in the snows of a forest of the East, which carried almost naked soldiers to glory and to victory. “That is what it was, I am sure, that sent a praying Columbus to America in 1492, and I believe that is what it is. that sends the great souls out from their loved ones, whether they come trom Europe or from great distances, seeking after the victory that calls to them as they come. “That is what inspired the heart and drove the hand of the fathers in the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia when they penned the preamble to our Constitution, saying: “We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquillity, provide. for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.” Ay, also, perhaps it was the flowering of Washington’s great wisdom when he wrote in his farewell address for this same nation: ‘‘Keep clear of entangling alliances.” ‘The nation was literally going it alone; it had cut all the cables, shattered every tradition, formed a new sort of govern- ment, repudiated kings and emperors. He said there should be no longer birth by blood or rule by preference, no longer government monopoly or distinction, but a new order of things when all men were equal and these equal men were to choose one of their number to rule for a limited time. Literally the nation was going it alone and rapping on the knuckles any hand that was reached toward it. Again, solitude had answered the statesmanship of the mountains, the fundamentals of the forests and the everlasting prairies, and had proven the efficaciousness of that wisdom in the formation of an unknown govern- ment. Oh how it does reach to us and call us this morning! Having builded a new government, having erected a new mansion out of their own material, having founded their own architecture the like of which had never been known before, a new something that an hundred ; THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 705 and fifty years afterward is more glorious than it was at the hour of its completion, whose solidity is more astonishing through the centuries than it was then, the cynosure of all the eyes of all the statesmen of all the world, they were then out of their virile wisdom to fashion simple faiths for those who were to live in that mansion. First of all, it was to be a godly nation. Where that God was to sit, how that God was to be worshipped, where that God was to rule was to be a matter for the individual citizen. That God was to have a crest expressed on every coin; His name was to lisped by every witness in Christendom’s courts so far as this land was concerned. There was to be public obeisance by every executive, whether of the state or of the nation, in covenant with that God before he could become such executive. Oh, let the discussion of no scientific accomplishment or no scientific discovery rob America of her God! Then there was to be in this new nation the solemnity of the family, of family life, one man for one woman, a monogamous civilization. All the new-fangled theories and writers and doctrines that would suggest or would substitute anything else are mere sounding brass and _tinkling cymbal. The man was to hew and draw, and the woman was to sew and prepare and shed the glory of womanhood throughout the home, and the twain were to teach the little ones something of the God of Amer- ica, something of the glory of honest toil, and make them love the warmth of the home in which they lived. And then this nation was to have schools, schools for the rich and schools for the poor, schools for the black and schools for the white, schools for all creeds and all conditions, and these schools, like the religion, were to be without money and without price, and millions of children during certain seasons of the year were to wend their way toward the school- house where they were to receive from the emperor and empress who presided there great arms full of the common knowledge that should make them foursquare men and foursquare women. Since the time when Betsy Ross sewed with her nimble fingers our first banner, since the time when the blue jacket and the red lining and the white petticoat made the first starry banner, since the time when the first blood was shed upon land and upon sea, everyone who has had the op- portunity to be an American citizen worth while has been proud to be called such and has gloried in the majesty of the institutions of his coun- try. And that has been the fourth pillar in the great foundation of American ideals. America has never sought to be known as the greatest nation in the world, the richest nation in the world, whose coffers were bursting with coin and gold; America has always loved her flag more than she has her dollars, and America has had the quickest heart and the strongest arm and the men who were more willing to fight than has any other nation in the world. Today, big, magnanimous, strong America is disappointed when she 706 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION hears from across the waters criticisms from the same lips that begged her to help them just a few years ago. This, in short and in brief, is my conception of the ideals of America in composite: simple faith in God, a simple home life, a simple universal education, a simple immortal, everlasting love of country. An approxi- mation of this simplicity will build anew, not only liberalizing the churches and filling the need of the country, but filling the churches them- selves with the people, rekindling the fires on the home hearth, filling our schools with school teachers who have a vision of their duty and its bigness rather than a desire to have position, and finally promoting the general welfare of the country by diluting and decreasing the stream of 500,000 prisoners who go every year to and from the American prisons. God bless this God of America, if such a prayer is possible. God bless the American home, God bless the American school and all those who represent that school here today. God bless America with all of her greatness from ocean to ocean and with all of her entrancing beauty. Does America have ideals? THE CONSTITUTION HERBERT WENIG, LOS ANGELES, CALIF., WINNER, INTERNATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL ORATORICAL TROPHY, 1926 There is a movement in our schools known as the National Oratorical Contest which seeks to teach the necessity of maintaining that democracy which allows education and thought to flourish, and of teaching patriotism and citizen responsibility to the government. ‘The field of education is daily becoming wider, and the teaching of patriotism and citizenship is just as important a part of the school curriculum as the proverbial three R’s. But the teacher must do more than teach; he must imbue the student with a love of country. The year 1927 witnesses the fourth National Oratorical Contest. The first International Oratorical Contest was held in Washington on last October 15. On that occasion five boys representing Great Britain, France, Mexico, Canada and the United States, speaking in different tongues, spoke on their respective governments and institutions. On that occasion a bond of understanding and good will was formed. But that was but the beginning, but the basis. Rather do I prefer to look forward ten years hence to another International Oratorical Contest, and there I believe you will see the true basis for the realization of that world ideal when race will live alongside of race, nation will help nation, and man love man, when the war drums will roll no longer, and the battle flags will remain unfurled in the Parliament of Man, the Federation of the World. My oration today is the one which I delivered at the National Ora- torical Contest in Washington on June 4, and which I delivered again THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 707 at the International Oratorical Contest in Washington on October 15. From the beginning of recorded time, the force that has propelled civilization onward has been man’s desire for freedom. When that desire fails, the nations must give up hope. Born beneath the sunny skies of Greece, nurtured in England’s island empire, fostered in the United States by the men who had to write our Constitution, their greatest task was met by those men who in May, 1787, in the city of Philadelphia took up the task of consolidating and perpetuat- ing our Constitution, for the crown and the consummation of freedom’s forward march was the American Constitution. Look with me at that group of men who in four months wrought out of the chaos and the confusion of the Confederation a Constitution for all time. Into that Constitution went the wisdom of Franklin, the majesty of Washington, the vision of Hamilton, and the legal learning of James Madison. It had as its inspiration the dash and the vigor of the Minute Men at Lexington and Concord, the courage in the battery smoke of Bunker Hill, the prayers at Valley Forge, and the patriotic sacrifice in the ice and snow along the frozen Brandywine. For the first time since governments had been instituted among men that Constitution provided for a government whose base was in the bedrock of the God-given rights of the individual. For the first time a government had been formed which protected its citizens against the en- croachments of class and arbitrary power. For the first time man’s desire for freedom found complete fulfilment in the Constitution of the United States. In its check and balance system, safety is assured; in its presidential message and presidential veto, in its representative initiative and sen- atorial clarification, in its judicial review for constitutional violation, and finally in its amendatory prerogative, the Constitution furnishes to the United States of America the greatest written guide for law making and potential progress ever devised by the human mind. And almost as a part of the covenant itself, incarnate and forever enshrined, a Bill of Rights guarantees to the individual his life, liberty and property, undis- turbed except by due process of law. One hundred and thirty-eight years have passed since Washington took the oath of office to uphold that Constitution; one hundred and thirty- eight years of constitutional blessing to America is the gift of the immortal men of ’87. My fellow countrymen, only an American, pne who knows our history, can feel the sacred symbolism of that Constitution; only one whose ,soul is steeped in the spirit of the far-off days, when the old Meeting House in Philadelphia felt the throb of the great hearts of the Constitutional Fathers can understand. What solemn obligation ours to teach those who come amongst us from foreign shores and who often, all too often, come to scoff because they do not understand. Here is our duty and here is our obligation, too; for those who do not know must be enlightened, and 708 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION those who do not care must be taught to love our institutions and the Constitution by which they live. *And for those who come with hatred in their hearts, ladies and gentlemen, no words of mine could fully ex- press the indignation which should rouse every true American heart to stand on guard as they did on Concord Bridge who gave to us our flag, our country, our Constitution. For this sacred Constitution the soul of the great John Marshall still speaks to us from his tomb. At the foot of the storied statue of the immortal Chief Justice, within the shadow of our Capitol’s dome, in grateful remembrance the American people shall always kneel in devout recognition of the vigor and vitality he wrote into our national document. For this flag, for this country and this Constitution, Webster’s voice still reverberates in the old Senate Chamber. Grant fought before Vicksburg for this Union and this Constitution; Lincoln wept. prayed, and died. The flag, says Justice Holmes, is but a piece of bunting to one who insists on prose. Oh! but its red is our lifeblood, its stars our world, its blue our heaven. It owns our land at will; it throws away our lives. Without the Constitution there would be no flag with its beautiful sym- bolism, there would be_no united country, no Supreme Court to safeguard our liberties.. Without the Constitution there would be no American Republic founded upon equality, no justice founded upon law, there would be no representation founded upon the ballots of a free people. Was there ever a document like this? Was there ever such a challenge to’ intelligent citizenship? Was there ever a martyrdom so sweet as death for its perpetuity ? The past has given us this Constitution. Let us guard with hallowed hand our inheritance and transmit it to the generations yet to come, with no blot from our neglect and no blemish from our misdeeds. The indifference which exists today toward our government institutions .must be replaced by a spirit of interest upon the part of an intelligent and courageous citizenry. We must exercise that eternal vigilance which is the price of liberty. If our Constitution is to remain a vital, living or- ganism of government, if we are to hand down to posterity a constitution stronger and better because we have lived under it, you and I must stand sentinel at the gate of constitutional promise, guarding our education and our Constitution. For there are real dangers appearing on the horizon. Today disturbing reports reach us of the activities of organizations seeking to teach the necessity for a new national constitution. We are asked to throw away our Constitution and to replace it with another made to satisfy the personal and selfish desires of class. Ladies and gentlemen, if ever such a call comes, may every true citizen set his face like flint against the change and with universal voice let us bring back the answer, Remove not the ancient. landmark which thy fathers have set! The pages of this sacred document are fast crumbling away, but theit meaning and their significance are carried in your hearts and in mine. THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 709° baptized by our fathers’ blood, consecrated by our mothers’ tears, dedicated to immortality by the sacrifice and prayers of a free people. May our Con- stitution stand, the sacred embodiment of the soul of the American people, the charter of peace on earth, good will to-men. THE BIRTHRIGHT OF AMERICA’S CHILDREN SARAH LOUISE ARNOLD, NATIONAL PRESIDENT, GIRL SCOUTS, LINCOLN, MASS. When Helen Keller, blind, deaf, dumb, an imprisoned soul, found her teacher, she began to understand, and when that silent child began to ask questions about the beginnings of things, about God and His message for her, they led her to Phillips Brooks, the great teacher. He talked with the child and answered her questions, and when he had done she looked up into his face and said to her teacher with her finger language, “Ah, but this I have always known. How did it come?” I shall bring to you a very simple message. As I have been thinking of it I have been seeing three pictures. The first is of that twin brother who came back from the hunt laden with the toll of his hunting, tired, hungry, as he smelled the pottage that his brother who stayed at home had been served. “Give me of your pottage,” he said, and the brother answered him, “What will you give? Your birthright?” “Anything,” answered Esau, and he gave his birthright for a mess of pottage. The story has followed down the years. How can we help it today? My answer is only a hint, and you will say when I am done, “Ah, that is what we have always known.” My title really is “Safeguarding the Birthright of America’s Children.” How can it be safeguarded ? The next picture which I want you to see is that of a small boy, the son of a professor in the West. The absent-minded father took the child with him when he went into a book store, and after he had sought his wares at the various counters he went home and left the boy. “The small lad, half frightened, yet knowing what to do, went out into the street, and when he met a policeman he said to him, “Mister Policeman, have you seen any man walking around here without his little boy?” Let us hope he found his father. That is where he belonged—with his great teacher. But the third picture of which I shall be thinking as I speak my few paragraphs is that which I found in the Grand Canyon long ago. It was a picture of an Indian chief sitting at the door of his wigwam, if that is what one calls the door, and prone on the sands before him was the Indian lad, lying flat, with his chin in his hands, and looking up into the face of his chief, who was safeguarding the birthright of the lad by telling him the story of the tribe. How does it come? In the heart of youth is that infinite longing, that urge, that asking of the hungry heart, and we are told that it is the asking soul that shall re- ceive, it is the seeking soul that shall find. In the heart of youth, as the 710 NATIONAL EpuCATION ASSOCIATION ee ee ere ee eee blind and deaf and dumb Helen Keller proved, is heard that voice of God urging the child onward and forward to the thing that is to be, hungry, how hungry to know. Next to that divine hunger is the hunger in your heart and mine to safe- guard the youth in his search for his ideals and to insure his finding when he seeks, and his hearing and receiving when he asks. Seek and ye shall find. Ask and ye shall receive. How can we make the promise true to him? First and foremost let me say that there is no greater error into which we can fall than to think of education in the terms merely of the school and to assume to ourselves the only part in this marvelous process which we call education. Schooling is not the whole of it. All life is a climbing toward understanding. We thank heaven that in the heart of youth has been placed that undying desire to know, that will enable him to be taught. It is because of what he brings to the school that the school is able to give him its most precious gift. I sat once as a pupil in the railway station at Springfield, Massachusetts. It was during the war, when we were at work all times of the day and night. The station was crowded, and there was a heavy storm outside. I heard the door bang, and I looked to see a young mother leading in a little girl of four or five, beribboned, becurled, wet, dripping from head to toe. The dear old Irish woman who had been teaching me, sitting beside me and telling me what she had learned in life, handkerchief on her head and shawl over her shoulders, and a face beautiful with understanding, turned to me, looked into my eyes and said, “You can’t learn ’em nothin’ because they don’t want to know nothin’.” Ah, how I’ve loved it ever since. Heaven be praised for that urge in the heart of youth that wants to know, that wants to be taught. If there is any miracle on the face of the earth it is when you and I help youth to want it more. That is the victory in our teaching. Along with us in this adventure in understanding which we call educa- tion are those other great teachers of whom I want to say one word. The home, ah, the indispensable one; the school, we have always had it and known it; the church, we must maintain it; the task, do we ever give it its due? Then the neighbor without whom we should never come into our own; and God’s out-of-doors. ‘These are all part and parcel of the birth- right of America’s children, and you and I have done our work only when we have helped to make the home better and have multiplied its teachings and redeemed its weaknesses, when we have enabled the neighbor to lend a hand and have understood the one who lives next door before trying to teach his children and his children’s children, and when we have bowed reverently with those who remember that era is in His heaven and is the light of His world, and when we have toiled with those who work from sun to sun, almost, to earn the bread for their children, and when we too have been taught in God’s out-of-doors. It was in Oregon when we had been having a week’s session of their state teachers, 8000 of them, that we sang at the end of the session, “My Country “Tis of Thee,” and all at once there came to me in the heart of THe DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE #11 that great throng the consciousness that I had sung into the woods and rills and templed hills only those of New England, and there I was in the heart of the great Rockies, with their sky above and their earth below, and all at once I knew that that, too, was my country. As I have seen your broad dome of sky and your far-reaching plains down here in the South, I have thought that I do not envy them to you, I share them with you, and I love my country more and sing into that hymn more because I know your priceless treasures. Ah, God’s out-of-doors must be the heritage of America’s children. Now only a word as to each and to ourselves. We have done our part not when we have graduated our boys and girls and counted their credits and given them all that the law requires. Ah, unless we know the heart and spirit of their homes we can never speak their language. In a great city where my work for seven years was with the public schools, as I visited a teacher I saw a little waif come in from what we called the entry where the children’s cloaks were hung. ‘The teacher looked down at her feet as the child slipped in late, and said, “Mary, you didn’t take off your rubbers.” Mary said, “No, mother told me not to.” “T don’t care what your mother said. Go out and take off your rubbers.” How it hurt then and how it hurts now to think that any one of us could forget that our highest duty to Mary is to help her to love and to understand the teachings of that home from which she comes. I hope that always and always as the days go on, those of us who ad- minister and those of us who teach will realize the sacredness of the teach- ing of the home, the rightness of its traditions, and the hope of the country that lies in our making it more gacred, more true, more intelligent, and more and more the first and aways the best teacher of our youth. Then the school we deal with in passing is to take the neighbor who in- terprets life for us and leads us beyond this little circle in which we have grown up. When I was a little girl and went berrying I went after huckleberries and blueberries growing low on the ground, and each and every one of us ran to the place where we thought the berries were thickest drew a circle with a fat forefinger, and said, “This is my spot.” ‘That is the beginning of understanding. Another picture of our later growth is the prayer of the man who said, “Bless me and my wife, my son John and his wife, us four and no more.” It we have good neighbors we grow to understand that no life can be pure in its purpose and strong in its strife without them, and all life ought to be stronger and purer thereby. It is our neighbors who teach us; as we go out more and more we discover that all of us are neighbors. ‘Texas will be nothing less than a neighbor from this day on to Massachusetts and Maine and Oregon. How good for all of us that we walk abroad amongst our fellowmen and travel far and wide and find them all to be neighbors. And our teaching will fail, too, unless we understand the work of our fellowmen, those who work in the factory and in the field. 712 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION Recently in Washington we had a very remarkable document written by a man who looked into the heart of the farmer and looked into the heart of the shopmen and dared to say what he thought was right, seeing the whole field, and remembering that everybody is there and climbing toward understanding. If he tried to help us all to understand it was because he himself is beginning to read the hearts of men more clearly than ever before, and is seeing what it means for men at their work to face the obstacles that their very work brings to them. Oh what long patience and what depth of understanding must come before we can half begin to understand the prob- lems of toil. And beside that put this truth, which will always be a truth, that there is no more sacred teacher given to humanity than toil itself. The child is to be congratulated who has to do a genuine work that the world needs and who is taught by his school to do that work better than it has ever been done before. Heaven bless the task and teach us as teachers to interpret the task truly to the hearts of our children as a blessing and not as a curse, as an indispensable teacher without whom the words of our books are idle in the extreme. Then the blessing of the out-of-doors. Go back to your New Testament and read it again and take out of it every word that refers to God’s out-of- doors, and then see how much you would understand of its teachings. “Be- hold the fowls of the air,” “‘Seedtime and harvest shall not fail,’’ on and on and on, and your thought goes back again and again and again to the thing that helped you to understand. Out under the wide sky, or there in the shade of the woods, or sitting beside what would be with us a brown brook, but not quite like your brown brook, bathing your feet in it and loving the whisper of the leaves in the trees, you were being taught by God Himself, and there is no other teaching like that. : If you were living in the heart of Massachusetts as I must be today, and if you were seeing the rural population dwindling and the children hurried into the towns to live, if you were seeing, as you would in New York or Chicago, children playing in the canyons that we call streets, sitting on the curbstone in the crowd, then you would understand about the little lad who went out with his mother for a country week, sent out from the city by wise-minded, charitable people, and who, as his mother came on the hilltop with him, pulled her skirt and whispered to her, ‘Mother, the sky is round!” ‘The child had seen only an arc from the bottom of those deep-walled streets of New York. Think what we have taken out of the lives of the children when we have defrauded them of this great birthright, this one great tongue through which God speaks to the children of men. Whatever may happen down here, don’t build Dallas so high and so close that your chidren will forget that the sky is round. — That is all. It does not matter whether we say more or less. We are part and parcel of the teaching universe. We work with the home, with the shop, with the country; we work with the fields and the winds and the sky, and we are here helping to teach God’s truth. _ The method? I don’t dare to say to you, after many years, with heated discussion of method at almost every one of your meetings, that I have come Tue DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 713 to think it doesn’t matter much how they come and go, still we are slowly, yes, slowly, climbing toward understanding. But the thing that does matter is that we ourselves are safeguarding the birthright of the children and answering the askings of their hearts by living the lives that we long to have them live, and that is the only answer. Through purer and finer and sweeter and kinder homes, through honest tasks well done, through giving and maintaining always to them the sky that is round and the air that is pure and the world that God made, not shutting them into the canyons that men make, then we shall help children to come into their birthright, we shall have sacredly guarded it, and that cannot be done except as we reverently guard in our own hearts those deepest askings, those heaven-sent askings for our own souls. THE KEY THAT UNLOCKS THE DOOR OF UNDER- STANDING MRS. PERCY V. PENNYBACKER, AUSTIN, TEXAS We are today the most disliked nation on earth. This does not mean that visitors from the United States are badly treated; this does not neces- sarily mean that we deserve unpopularity; but it is the truth, and thinking people are willing to face the truth. Some of us say: ““We don’t care. We are absolutely independent of the rest of the world. It makes no difference to us what they think.” But is this true? You care and I care. It is only natural that we should. We want to be on good terms with out neighbors in the communities where we live. We don’t ask flattery or fulsome praise, but we are human, which implies we like for others to feel kindly towards us. In my home town of Austin for three years some man has been selected as the most worthy citizen. He has always been one who served his fellow man, sharing all blessings that came his way; he has always been a sympathetic neighbor—loved, trusted, respected by his com- munity. Is the United States a sympathetic neighbor in the family of na- tions? Or are we standing outside the broad door that opens into the shining highway of understanding, down which we must all travel to bring lasting peace. The key to this door is sympathetic knowledge of other na- tions. You, the teachers of our Republic, are the forgers of this key. Today we must know real conditions in other lands. My judgments may be wrong, but I beg you to share with me a few impressions formed in 1925 and 1926. Come first to beautiful Salzburg, Austria. From the moment of our arrival we were impressed by the friendliness of the people. If one asked his way, at least five people answered. Everywhere we met signs of poverty, signs of a kind of hopelessness, because no one can under- stand what is to become of Austria, since the great treaty did not leave her enough territory to support her cities. Max Reinhardt, whom we all admire for the creation of The Miracle loves Salzburg: each summer, he spends weeks presenting there the choicest plays and most alluring music. Day after day we went, each day seeming to reach the climax. ‘The dramatic artists of the German speaking world gave their services, for it 714 NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION eS SS EES ES SS SSS SS SS is considered an honor to serve under Reinhardt and to work out the vivid creations of his art. The Austrians were unable to attend most of these performances on account of their poverty, but this seemed to arouse no ill will. It moved us deeply to see the adoration of even the rank and file for beauty, harmony, and exquisite setting. ‘This was all the more remarkable, because down beneath the surface, they were sad. We saw many coming at midday into the restaurants bringing their bit of bread and perhaps a slice of cheese, ordering only something to drink. ‘They fear cold and hunger. The war is to them a horrible memory. Germany came next. Far back in 1909 we had spent a happy year in Munich. Now we heard that all South Germany was hostile to the United States. We could not believe this because the Bavarians had been noted for their friendliness and a certain sympathy of understanding, so we re- solved to go back and see for ourselves. Fair Munich impresses one as living under a shadow, but her people are still kind. Buildings are neglected; there is no money to keep fresh the ornamental facades. The comfortable pension where we were housed gave delightful rooms, with three perfectly cooked meals, for two dollars per day. The landlady was struggling to make ends meet, for ten of her eighteen rooms were vacant. Two German friends asked us to dinner. We found that this was the second time since the war that they had entertained guests. “Their most bitter memories concerned the suffering endured by their grandchildren. One little grandson will never be of normal strength because his mother was undernourished before his birth, and he himself for a year and a half afterward. No baby of more than seven months in Germany was allowed milk. ‘They described how the food blockade on England’s part crushed them into deepest suffering ; how the morale of the German army was de- stroyed by letters from wives and mothers telling of the starvation of the children. Germany has passed through deep waters, but she has a more hopeful attitude than either France or England. She stabilized her mark, although this meant, literally, the destruction of the property of the middle class. One can picture the feeling of those who had saved for old age, when the investments made in governmental bonds so decreased in value that one had left only bare existence where plenty had seemed assured. Germany kas now became partly accustomed to her republican form of government. There is little strife in Germany between labor and capital. Most of the people have work, though there is more unemployment than we realize. The picture in France is more dark. The franc has no fixed value. The small moneyed people have loaned their government some twenty-five billions of dollars. In order to stabilize the franc, in all probability, this middle class must be reduced from moderate comfort to poverty. A great Frenchman told me that he saw no possibility of the franc’s being stabilized at more than four cents, but even that would be better than the present uncertainty. Think what it means when one never knows in the morning what the unit of currency will be worth at twelve o’clock. France has no settled leadership. It is encouraging to note, however, that France and Germany are growing more and more to realize that they have much in THE DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE TS common, and that economically they must stand together. The French have work; but France is grey today with despair. She knows that when her money does assume a fixed value her foreign trade will decrease and many will be idle. I heard from many, many sides, ‘How cold we shall be this winter because of England’s strike and our depleted currency!” England presents a still gloomier picture. To be sure, long ago she stabilized her pound sterling; but, to do that, she increased her domestic debt until now her taxes are unbelievably enormous. Labor and capital are arrayed against each other. The coal strike, so long drawn out, sent dismay to all groups. Her unemployment problem more than two million with nothing to do with the makeshift of the dole brings ten thousand terrors in its train. Long ago she gritted her teeth and without a murmur refunded her war debt to us; and what terms did we grant her? Added to this, Great Britain’s critics rise on every side. Ireland is always ready with an additional stab, and this summer several of the other nations of the League never lost an opportunity to take a fling at the British Empire. It is a sad, sad world in Europe today. If returning visitors, who per- haps stopped at hotels where they saw only other foreigners, tell you that things seem quite as they were before the war, or that the people are happy and prosperous, I beg that you do some investigating on your own re- sponsibility before accepting their verdict. ‘The people are literally obsessed with terror of the cold and the uncertainty of food; war is to them a dia- bolical nightmare. While these conditions exist, they know that across the ocean there is a great Republic rolling in wealth. It is hard to convince them that any of us Americans must practice economy. They read of our lavish living and then they think of what life has dealt out to them. You know human nature well enough to realize that no one likes to have enormous prosperity come to a neighbor while hard trial and rigid poverty are his lot. “They admit that we have been most generous in our philan- thropies. They are willing to give us full credit for this, but they ask themselves again and again, ‘“Why did the United States desert us in our hour of greatest need just after the war? When the American Republic has all the money it needs and more than it needs, when it is the great money-lender of the world, why will she insist upon our paying the money joaned us to carry on the war, the goal of which was, as she herself said, to save civilization for the world? “When we borrowed to repair war wastes and ravages (which happily she was spared) what became of the money? Where did we spend it? Did it not go to increase her colossal trade and thus add to her wealth?” I am not defending their opinion. I am only trying to show their side, for we must study questions from every angle. More and more are other nations realizing that they must come to an understanding one nation with the other. More and more do they despair of the United States in her aloofness being a helpful agent in bringing order out of chaos. Let us turn now from these more or less dark pictures to Beautiful Geneva, that each September opens wide her doors to the meeting of the Council and the Assembly of the League of Nations. One cannot linger 716 NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Tee in Geneva, one cannot enter even the Secretariat without being thrilled. In the space of five minutes I heard nine different languages. I saw a conference arranged between people from South Africa and Norway; a luncheon set up between visitors from China and South American Countries ; everywhere one saw people journeying down the road of understanding; everywhere one saw men and women meeting around a council table to talk over amicably problems on which they differed. This has grown to be called “the atmosphere of Geneva.” The great day in the Assembly of 1926 was that never-to-be-forgotten Friday, September 10. The sun shone as if glad to have a part in sucha day. Long before the time of meeting the Hall of the Reformation was packed from top to bottom. Even downstairs, where the elect of the earth are supposed to be, people were standing in the aisle, crowding every- where; no one entered without a ticket. The second gallery looked suffocating, except for the press sections, and they were bad enough, while the top was simply a seething mass of eager spectators gathered from the four corners of the earth. Calmly, the President called for the report of che Committee on Credentials. The chairman stated that the Committee had examined the credentials of the German Reich and found them to be perfect; whereupon, the President said “I now call upon the delegates of Germany to take their place among us.” A side door opened and in filed the German delegation; the spot lights of the world flashed upon them; there was unanimous and prolonged applause from the Assembly. After a few words of welcome to the new delegates, the President said, “I now call upon Herr Gustav Stresemann, first delegate of Germany, to address the Assembly. He is requested to mount the platform.” A moment more and there stood before us the representative of the German Reich. He is a man of good presence and excellent voice. He was logical, serene, dignified, free from all bombast, all mock humility, blest, however, with no marked charm of personality. His was a most trying position, but he measured up to it, and the audience showed a certain fine appreciation. He was wise enough to say nothing to offend, and thus disappointed those who were looking for trouble. He indicated that “Germany would like to see the League of Nations stress economic problems and hasten to remove barriers and to bridge over the gulf separating different national economic systems.” Great applause came at these words: ‘“The Divine Architect of the world has not created mankind as a homogenous whole; he has made the nations of different races; he has given them their mother tongue as an expression of their spirit; he has given them countries with different characteristics as their homes. But it cannot be the purpose of the Divine world-order that men should direct their supreme national energies against one another, thus ever thrusting back the general progress of civilization. He will serve humanity best who, firmly rooted in the faith of his own people, develops his moral and intellectual gifts to their highest significance, thus overstepping his own national boundaries and serving the whole of mankind.” He closed with ‘May the great destinies of the League of Nations be ful- THe DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE F1Z filled on the basis of the lofty conceptions of peace, freedom, and unity. It is the firm resolve of Germany to assist whole heartedly in that task.” Again the President spoke: “I now call upon Monsieur Briand, first delegate of France, to address the Assembly.” Then the crowd went wild. Few statesmen have received such an ova- tion. It was so spontaneous that you knew the man was tenderly beloved and fundamentally admired. The highest praise that can be paid is to say that Monsieur Briand excelled himself. He was a true orator, he had logic, he had pathos, he had wit. What a blessing it is to be able to cause smiles just after you have brought tears. You knew Briand meant what he said. His whole body yielded itself to the deep emotion that stirred his heart. He was alive to his finger-tips and his audience responded to every motion. He played upon us like a harp. He did not hesitate to turn directly to the German delegates and speak to them as man to man. I wish my countrymen would read every word he said. ‘There is so much that belongs to all of us. It is a great human document. Listen: Generally speaking it is not the people themselves that are to blame for war, but their leaders. Let us, therefore, make the leaders, and through them the people, whom they direct, understand that it is in arbitration and the acceptance of the reign of law that hope lies for the future and for the peace of the World! That is the spirit that inspires Germany, and I am very happy to be able to welcome Germany here, This day it means no more mourning, no more suffering, now that we have accepted a judge and will appeal to the law; when we want to settle our disputes, we will go before the courts like private individuals and we will no longer regard rifles and cannons as our best arguments. It is not only heroism on the battlefield that makes a country great, it becomes even greater if it can show patience and appeal to law rather than to force to protect its interests. We need no further demonstration of heroism and no more does Germany. We have both shown heroism in the past; there is glory enough for both. We have had enough of the glory of the battlefields to satisfy both countries. Let us now seek peace. It is generally acknowledged that Briand’s speech has never been ex- celled in the history of the League and that Friday morning was a supreme moment. While I was deeply touched by this whole scene, yet I was more pro- foundly moved by the effect that this Friday morning had upon the atmos- phere of the Assembly. Up to that time, the delegates had been more or less depressed ; but out of the spirit of such noble eloquence hope was born; trust took the place of distrust; delegates and visitors alike were lead from the dark valleys to the mountain tops and caught there a glimpse of the Promised Land. This meeting will go down in the annals of history not alone for the admission of Germany into the League, but for two other great achieve- ments: the Assembly voted to hold an Economic World Conference ; also to call a conference for the study of the beginning of limitation of arma- ments: these are decided steps toward bringing about understanding be- tween the nations, which is only another way of saying towards the bring- ing of lasting peace. 718 NATIONAL EpucATION ASSOCIATION THE EVOLUTION OF A SUBSTITUTE FOR WAR, AND HOW AMERICA MAY SHARE IN IT WITHOUT BE- COMING ENTANGLED IN EUROPEAN POLITICAL AFFAIRS JOHN H. CLARKE, FORMER ASSOCIATE JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT, CLEVELAND, OHIO Just about 100 years ago, in 1818, when a case involving the atrocious murder of a young girl was called for trial in the court of the King’s Bench in London, the defendant arose and addressing the judges said in sub- stance, ‘I demand trial by battle.”” No such demand had been made in a British court for three centuries, and the judges were amused at first, but when they saw the man was in earnest they adjourned the hearing, and after looking into the cases, announced that the case being what it was and the demand having been made in the form in which it had been made, the defendant was entitled, under the laws of England, to trial by battle. The battle was never fought because the prosecuting witness, the appellee, was not as belligerent as the defendant and declined to fight, and so the case was dismissed. That was the last case in which trial by battle was allowed in any court in England, because the whole Empire was so shocked when it realized that such a barbarous method of trial had been continued as a legal institu- tion almost to the end of the first quarter of the nineteenth century that the statute was promptly repealed. But now, ladies and gentlemen, although this method of trial by battle has not been in actual use for many centuries, I hope it will interest you for me to describe it very briefly. During the last two or three hundred years in which trial by battle was allowed, it was permitted only in certain cases of murder and in certain cases involving the ownership of land. Whenever it was allowed the case was set down for trial on a given day and on that day the judges, the court officers, the parties, and you may be sure a great crowd of spectators, adjourned to a near-by field to fight it out. ‘The parties were each given a staff or club and a leather shield, and thus armed they were ordered to fight to a conclusion.. If the man charged with murder was able to beat down his adversary to the earth until he cried “enough,” or if not able to do that he was able to maintain the fight until in the evening when the stars came out, he was solemnly adjudged to be innocent, and if the man in possession of land was able to beat down the claimant to the earth until he cried enough, or if not able to do that he was able to maintain the fight until in the evening when the stars came out, he was solemnly adjudged to be the owner of the land. Women had some rights in those days—even the right to trial by battle, but since women in general are not so strong physically as men, provision was made in the trial to compensate for this difference. The man was THE DepaRTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE 719