DOCUMENT RESUME ED 328 370 RC 017 783 TITLE Community Resources in Rural Schools. Yearbook 1939. INSTITUTION National Education Association, Washington, D.C. Dept. of Rural Education. PUB DATE Feb 39 NOTE 108p. PUB TYPE Historical Materials (060) EDRS PRICE MFO1/PCOS5 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS xCommunity Resources; Curriculum Development; Educational History; Educational Philosophy; Elementary Secondary Education; *Material Development; *Relevance (Education); *Rural Education; Rural Schools; *School Community Relationship; Small Schools; Teacher Developed Materials ABSTRACT The discovery and use of community resources are necessary if the school is to assume the role of social agent and if the curriculum is to bring about desirable changes in the student and the community. This 1939 Yearbook sought to provide rural teachers with a philosophy concerning the school-community relationship and examples of programs implementing it. The first chapter discusses the close relationship of the local school to its community and examines philosophic trends toward conceptions of education as an important contributor to child development, as a continuous process, and as a process to improve the community as well as the student. Other chapters address: (1) methods for discovering community resources; (2) youth service to the community through the conservation and development of resources; (3) the use of community resources in curriculum development; (4) the @iscovery and use of community resources in the education of black and Spanish-speaking students; and (5) an evaluation of the educational movement to integrate the school and community. Each section contains references and/or photographs illustrating the program. (SV) REE EKEKKEKEEKRAERKKEEKEEAEKEKEKKAEKRKEKEAEKEKRKKEKRKREARAKRAREAEKEEAEERAREEEK x Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. x REE KEKKERAKREARAEARAARKRKARAKRKEARAARKEKKREKREARAEAARAEKRAER ts . “PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS U.S. DEPARTMEKT OF EDUCATION MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY Office of Educational Research and improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC hs document has bee eproduced «as received from the pers< wganization \ Onginating it > Minor changes have been made mp r ‘ 7 » ose occas oon. TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES @ Points of wew or opmmons stated in > Sis a INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC).” ment do not necessarily re = : sad ; OER! position or policy t "ee BEST COV COMMUNITY RESOURCES in RURAL SCHOOLS YEARBOOK 1939 THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION OF THE UNITED STATES Bulletin of THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION FEBRUARY 1939 Published by the Department of Rural Education of the National Education Asso- ciation of the United States and sent free of charge to all active members Executive and editorial offices, 1201 Sixteenth Street, Northwest. Washington, D. ¢ Sale price per copy, 50¢. Discounts: 2-9 copies, 10%; 10-99 copis : 100 or more 331% Copyright, 1939, by lucation Association of the United States All Rights Reserved HISTORICAL NOTE The Department of Rural Education of the National Education Association was organized at the Chicago meeting in February 1919. It was an outgrowth of the former Department of Rural and Agricultural Education, authorized by the Board of Directors in 1907. Its chief purpose is “to promote the general advancement of rural education thruout the United States.” The Department meets twice a year, in February and in June, and welcomes all types of rural education specialists to its membership THE DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EDUCATION Officers 1938-39 PRESIDENT VICEPRESIDENT Mrs. KATHERINE M. Cook Joun W. Conpre Chief, Division of Special Problems State Superintendent of Public Instruction U. S. Office of Education Boise, Idaho Washington, D. C. SECRETARY (To be appointed) EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Chloe C. Baldridge, Director of Rural Education, State Department of Public Instruc- tion, Lincoln, Nebr.; R. D. Baldwin, Professor of Education, West Virginia University, Morgantown, W. Va.; O. H. Bennett, Superintendent, Hamilton County Schools, 532 Court House, Cincinnati, Ohio; S. T. Burns, Indiana University, Bloomington, Ind.; Leis M. Clark, Supervisor of Rural Practice, State Teachers College, West Chester, Pa.; A. F. Elsea, Director of Rural Education, State Department of Education, Jefferson City, Mo.; Edwin R. Embree, President, Julius Rosenwald Fund, Chicago, II; Donald MacKay, President, Eastern New Mexico Junior College, Portales, N. Mex.; L. P. Terrebonne, Superintendent, Iberville Parish Schools, Plaquemine, La.; May Trumper, Head of Rural Education Department, State Normal School, Geneseo, N. Y.; President and Vicepresident, ex-officio members. MEMBERSHIP Eligibility—All persons engaged in rural education work and others interested in. this field are eligible for membership, provided they are members of the National Education Association. Benefits—Attendance at the biannual convention meetings of the Department. The right to vote and hold office and have a voice in shaping departmental policies. Opportunity for service to rural children thru active participation in a national organization. Membership (dues $2) entitles you to receive the following publications: 1. The 1939 Yearbook, Community Resources in Rural Schools 2. Official Proceedings of the Department 3. Research Bulletin of the N.E.A. (five issues a year) 4. Rural Service Bulletins (3 or more) [3] COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN RURAL SCHOOLS Kate V. Worrorp, Director of Rural Education, State Teachers College, Buffalo, N. Y., Editor CONTRIBUTORS Annie M. Cnrerry, Director of Spring Hope Experimental Program in Elementary Education, Spring Hope, N. C. Lois M. Crark, Adviser of Rural Education, Early Childhood and Elementary Divi- sion, Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pa. V. H. Cup, Professor of Rural Education, State Teachers College, Aberdeen, S. Dak. Fannie Wycnre Dunn, Professor of Rural Education, Teachers College, Columbia University, New York, N. Y. HELEN RuTtH HENpeERsSON, Supervisor of Elementary Education, State Department of Education, Richmond, Va. Lityian Mrwnor, Supervisor of Norfolk County Rural Elementary Schools, Norfolk, Va L. S. TrreMAn, Director, Nambe Community School, and Professor of Education, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex. HevLen AveLce Wurtinc, State Supervisor of Colored Elementary Schools, Atlanta, Ga. Kate V. Worrorp, Director of Rural Education, State Teachers College, Buffalo, N. Y. COMMITTEE ON PUBLICATIONS AND CONSTRUCTIVE STUDIES Kate V. Worrorp, Chairman FRANK W. Cyr, Director of Rural Education Assistant Professor of Education State Teachers College Teachers College, Columbia University Buffalo, N. Y. New York, N. Y J. E. Burterwortnu GRACE SHEPHERD Professor of Rural Education Professor of Rural Education Cornell University Northwest Missouri State Teachers College Ithaca, N. Y. Maryville, Mo Foreword The modern rural school is something more than an institution for train- ing the individual child in subjectmatter that will enable him to climb the educational ladder to higher academic levels. It is an institution whose program and procedures must be indigenous to the needs of the pupils and to the community it serves. The two fundamental factors in the educational program are the pupil and the environment in which he lives. The primary environmental influences are the home and the community, and any educa- tional procedure that neglects these influences will violate the fundamental psychological law that individuals learn and understand in terms of their own experiences. The discovery and use of community resources are neces- sary if the school is to assume the role of social agent and if the curriculum is to bring about desirable changes in the pupil and ir his community. The past emphasis on the standardized grading of pupils and the use of formal courses of study has often been well-nigh disastrous to the real use- fulness of the rural school. It is now evident that greater flexibility in the rural school program and a new philosophy on the part of teacher and parent are necessary. Dr. Wofford and her colleagues have presented the new philosophy and examples of programs for putting it into effect. This yearbook is in keeping with the program of the Department of Rural Education to produce publications that will be of immediate use to rural classroom teachers. It is hoped that it will by precept and by example point the way to restoring the rural school to its place as an agency for understanding, interpreting, and improving the rural community. For courteous permission to use copyrighted material, the editor and the Committee on Publications and Constructive Studies of the Department hereby express appreciation to the numerous state departments of educa- tion and to the following publishers: D. Appleton-Century Co., New York, N. Y.; Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, Mass.; Macmillan Co., New York, N. Y.; Public School Publishing Co., Bloomington, Ill.; Sturgis and Wal- ton, New York, N. Y.; Charles Scribner’s Sons, New York, N. Y.; Uni- versity of Chicago Press, Chicago, III. Howarp A. Dawson Director of Rural Service National Education Association February 1939, CONTENTS Chapter Foreword PART I-——-A PHILOSOPHY AND A TECHNIC . The School and the Community—A Phi- losophy upon Which the Yearbook Is Based Kate V. Wofford . Technics for Discovering Community Resources Lois M. Clark PART II—DEVELOPING COMMUNITY RESOURCES Youth Serves the Community thru the Conservation of Resources V. H. Culp ’. Youth Serves the Community thru the Development of Resources Helen Ruth Henderson 46 PART III-—-USING COMMUNITY RESOURCES The Use of Community Resources in Curriculum Development Annie M. Cherry and Lillian Minor The Discovery and Use of Community Resources in the Education of Span- ish-Speaking Pupils L. S. Tireman Contributions of the Negro Culture Group to Education Helen Adele Whiting An Evaluation of the Educational Move- ment To Integrate the School and the Community Fannie Wyche Dunn PART A Philosophy and a Technic Errata On page 4, in the list of members of the Committee on Publications and Constructive Studies, the name of the following member was inadvertently omitted: Caroline Evingson County Superintendent of Schools Fargo, N. Dak. On page 16, last paragraph, the sentence “As J. Cayce Morrison stated in the introduction o: his recent book entitled Live and Learn,” should read as follows: “As J. Cayce Morrison stated in an introduction to a recent book, etc.” Chapter I THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY—A PHILOSOPHY UPON WHICH THE YEARBOOK IS BASED Kate V. Wofford {pew CLOSE RELATIONSHIP of the local school to the community has always been a major consideration in American education and _ has, indeed, remained a constant factor in the restless movements which have characterized the system. Since its founding, the American school has tended to be a local folk school, and no hierarchy of centralized authority has been able to secure control of it. Not even state and federal subsidies, on the whole, have lessened the concern of the local community for the welfare of its schools, for while a distant authority frequently has assisted in the payment of the piper, local boards of control continue in the present, as they have in the past, to pipe the tunes. Originally the school occupied a strategic place in the life of the com- munity and was frequently the result of the cooperative efforts of parents and friends. Neighbors met and decided to put up a building; and it was thru the contributions of labor and materials from these pioneer farmers, for the time being turned carpenters, that the first schools of America gradually took fo.m. The pioneer school repaid this faith of the community in education in vital and significant ways because it met the needs of the children who attended it. Curriculum offerings consisted almost wholly of the three R’s, and these measured by a madern conception of education might be adjudged meager. In reality, however, the program was charac- terized by a sort of simplified adequacy in that the skills acquired in school actually functioned in life outside. The community in general, and the home in particular, supplemented the school and supplied many features of the educational program which the public now expects from a formalized system of education. Boys devel- oped vocational expertness from the tutoring of fathers, and girls learned from their mothers skills in the care and management of homes. Since voca- tional efficiency was to be developed under pioneer conditions, considerable education in many fields was necessary. For example, efficiency in agricul- ture included not only the knowledge of crops but also the care of animals, horseshoeing, carriage-making, and carpentry, because the pioneer farmer or village dweller had to become a “jack-of-all-trades,” if he hoped to sur- vive. Likewise, his wife and his daughter dealt with the primary materials involved in the making of soap, candles, bread, and cloth, and thus devel- oped considerable expertness in many phases of practical living in the home. [9] 10 Children, under this tutelage, learned easily and under conditions which many modern schools attempt to imitate. Motivation lay in real purposing, learning came thru firsthand experiences with primary materials, the proc- esses were cooperative, and the results were important.’ Moreover, the home and the church assumed virtually all the responsi- bility for the character education of youth. Recreation was indigenous to the community, a product of the ingenuity of its members. If the life of the individual was complex and difficult in this period, community life was relatively simple. Everyone knew everyone else; there was no history of the community except as it was being made; and children knew its resources because daily they worked with them. The school, in the meantime, pursued the task assigned to it: to make children literate, and thus to develop them into good citizens. Literacy has always been a prerequisite for good citizenship in a democracy, as many of the early compulsory school attendance laws reveal, and the attainment of this object was comparatively simple. Drill was the technic used and books were the medium. As the program became established, both the school and the public came to accept the role of education as that of passing on the social heritage, largely as it was recorded in books. This acceptance ex- plains, in part, the identification of education as schooling in the minds of lay and professional groups and the assumption on the part of the school that responsibilities for children ended when they left the classroom. This philosophy of education and its practices might have continued indefinitely in the public schools had not certain powerful economic and social forces routed the school from its old, comfortable position. ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL FORCES WHICH AFFECTED EDUCATION It is not possible within the scope of this chapter to indicate with any degree of accuracy the magnitude and the influence of the economic and social forces which affected education in the twentieth century. A mere sketching, however, may prove suggestive of their importance. As early as 1890 the United States gave promise of developing into a nation of cities. By 1910 the demographic pattern was laid and by 1930 the simple, demo- cratic, agricultural way of life known to the pioneer had vanished. By the latter date, the United States had experienced a metamorphosis never before witnessed in the history of the world: In less than a half-century a nation had shifted from an agricultural to.an urban type of civilization, a sudden shifi which of necessity created many tensions in national life. Primary processes disappeared from homes to reappear in factories, and women and children followed them there. Men and boys released from the farm by machinery followed them in large numbers, so that educational and vocational adjustments,Jong passed on from family to family, became 1 Wofford, Kate V. Modern Fducation in the Small Rural School. New York: Macmillan Co., 1938 p. 347 [ 10 ] 1] the responsibility of the factory. The creators of the American factory system, however, were suited neither by nature nor by inclination to assur this responsibility, and pressure groups from business and industry beg a successful campaign to thrust it upot The hurried development of cities and their ind other important institutions, notably the family more women went the factories, children were left to shift for themselves, and guidances the character education of young children was thu trialization developed further problems. speci!) health, crime, juvenile delinquency, and child | primarily the tensions characteristic ot industrial system had its repercussions o1 disturbing problems there. Soil erosion, the abu systems, the development of unfair tax burdens on lands, the concentratior of capital in cities and its consequent ill effects on rural schools were a few of the many problems which arose at this time in rural areas and which were destined for many decades to plague both the farn his EFFORTS OF THE SCHOOL TO MEF1 In answer to these community needs the scl began a series of adjustments to meet them. The adjustments were not only in the field of vocational education but also in the assumption by the school of many of the responsibilities formerly assumed by the home and the community. Programs in health services, character education, educa- tional guidance, civic education, and adult education; supervision of the out-of-school hours of young people; and organization of clubs were set up in an attempt to adjust the school to the newly created community problems. Altho these adjustments constituted a patchwork of good intentions, con- } fusion in philosophy characterized them. If one philosophy, more than others, dominated practice, it was to meet public demands as they came along and thus silence the critics. No serious attempt, save one, was made to analyze the fundamental difficulties of society and education. The one significant exception was the work of John Dewey who had recognized as early as 1899 that American education and society were facing profound changes. Dr. Dewey wrote of this awareness in a book entitled School and Society. Here he gave his conception of education as a social function, its aim being to pass on the social heritage. He thus set up a challenge to the then generally accepted function of education as discipline, and in issuing the challenge Dr. Dewey said in part: From the standpoint of the child, the great waste in the school from his inability to utilize the experiences he gets outside of school in anv complete and free way within the school itself; while, on the other hand, he igunab apy iilv lite what he is learning at school. That is the isolation of schoo isolation from life. When the child gets into the schoolroom he has to put out of his mind a large part of the ideas, interests, ind activities that predominate in his home and neighborhood. So the school, being unable to utthze this evervday experience. sets painfully to work, on another tack and by a variety ot means, to arouse in the child an interest in school studies.” School and Society was a clear statement of what Dr. Dewey conceived as the relationship of the school and community, and, philosophically at least, it pointed a way out of many of the difficulties of each. However, reforms have been slow. Forty years have elapsed since the publication of his book but interest in his plan became general only in the last decade. There were three reasons for this delay. In the first place, no technic for putting his philosophy into effect was readily available, and school admin- istrators were perplexed. A few pioneers were willing to accept his phi- losophy, but they were frankly bewildered for want of a plan to put it into use. Sincere and honest teachers were eager to “link education with life’ and thus avoid what Dr. Dewey called “waste in education,” and various practices were developed to achieve these two aims. Chief among them were: school excursions to industries, city halls, jails, and fire departments; use of the child’s environment in teaching; and development of lifelike activities within the tlassroom. These practices were an advantage over the older technics which directed children only to books. But reality was achieved only in degree. Excursions by children to a factory or to a farm to observe machines and men at work were only vicarious experiences. Children cannot actually participate in the experience of workers and are, therefore, mere observers. Making candles in a pioneer unit is another case in point. It has been assumed that children participating in such an activity would achieve a new appreciation and understanding of how the pioneer lived and enter directly into the life of that day. Such a,result is open to question. The fundamental difficulty with this activity and indeed with all of these plans to “link education with life” lies in the fact that a mechanized type of civilization makes children increasingly unnecessary to its processes. Candle-making by children in 1939 is a different process from that of 1739, even tho the same recipe is used. In 1739 candles were an everyday necessity and children were necessary to their making. In 1939 candles are decorative only, and machines, not children, turn them out colored and perfumed by the thousands. While machines have simplified our life processes, they have created other problems and these are the ones to which modern education should turn. The automobile and the airplane have minimized the problem of transportation, but they have at the same time created problems in safety. Good roads and rapid transportation have made doctors and hospitals available to the general population, but these mediums, part of the speed in modern life, have created serious health prob- lems~-for example, heart trouble. Dewey, John. School and Society. Chicago: University of Chicago ress (Rev ed), 1945 p. 67 [12] 13 The building of health, the making of a living, the adjustment of the individual to a mechanized civilization, and the direct participation of children in the actual life of the community are a few of the practical problems which the modern educator must take into account in his next step to make school, not “lifelike,” but a part of life itself. In taking this step it is impossible to ignore the implications of two recent natural catas- trophes which are destined to influence profoundly the future currents of American life and education. THE INFLUENCE ON EDUCATION OF THE WORLD WAR AND THE ECONOMIC DEPRESSION OF 1930 While the tensions developing from urbanization had done much to arouse an interest in linking education with life, it was the World War and the economic depression which have most vigorously aroused the school from lethargy to energetic efforts to make the purposes of education and of the community one and the same thing. The World War, fought, so said the leaders, “to make the world safe for democracy,” tended to focus attention upon education in relation to the democratic ideal and to raise disturbing questions about both that ideal and the school. Critics pointed out that the American school system was autocratic, not democratic, and that it was indeed an anachronism to edu- cate pupils for a life which did not exist. Counts and Chapman were two outspoken critics of the system and its divorce from life, as the following quotation indicates: “Greeting his pupils, the master asked: What would you learn of me? And the reply came: How shall we care for our bodies? How shall we rear our children? How shall we work together? How shall we live with our fellowmen? How shall we play? For what ends shall we live? . . . And the teacher pondered these words, and sorrow was in his heart, for his own learning touched not these things.” * These are significant and vital questions and suggest a realism in curriculum construction which the modern school functioning in a democracy cannot afford longer to ignore. The economic depression, on the other hand, made an equally important contribution to the educational philosophy of our time. It tended to em- phasize for the average man what had been dimly seen before only by the wisest ones: that the technological sciences had outrun the social sciences, and that in the race mankind bid fair to be lost. These resources, Gargan- tuan in their scope, according to the biologist, Lancelot T. Hogben, in his Retreat from Reason, have been placed at our disposal for better or for worse, and the financial and social collapse of 1930 inclined one darkly to the latter point of view. In the crisis, educational leaders began to question whether or not it was the business of the school so to equip those in it that *Chapman. J) Crosby. and Counts, George S. Principles of Education. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1924. 645 p L 13] 14 the two sciences could be brought together for the betterment of the com- munity, and hence of mankind. Questions about the school and its relation to the community have been the most hopeful aspects of the situation. Very few schools in America have given the educational process a social function, and virtually no system has made itself community-centered. Leaders like Edmund deS. Brunner, Morris Mitchell, and Samuel Everett have pointed the way—first in practical technics to make the community the basis for educational programs, and, second, in experiments, now in progress, to make the plans realities. MODERN PHILOSOPHIC TRENDS WHICH AUGUR WELL FOR THE FUTURE The combination of Dr. Dewey’s philosophy and the study of the eco- nomic and social forces of the past and present centuries augurs well for the future. Already there are trends in the air which indicate that the school of the future will be community-centered, that it will deal with realities in its curriculum, and that it will take the sociological approach toward the solution of educational problems. At present there appear to be three philosophic trends: (a) the conception of education as a social function in terms of child development; (b) the conception that education is a continuous process; and (c) the conception that education is a process to improve the community as well as the child in school. Education in terms of child development—In modern education a new emphasis has been placed upon the individual development of children, specifically in the field of personality growth. The belief that the social order is thus better served is gaining wide acceptance. In order to assist the children to a maximum of growth it is necessary for the school to know the child intimately and in great detail, and such knowledge is impossible without intelligent, well-directed study of individual children.. Now it is not possible to study children apart from their environment tho educators in the past have frequently succeeded in ignoring the importance of it. They have emphasized the physical, psychological, and spiritual features of the child’s growth as if it did not take place in a sociological milieu at all. Discerning teachers and parents have long believed that these specifics in child growth are what they are largely because of the child’s environ- ment, but recent research reveals that the educational environment of a child controls his growth to a far greater degree than was ever believed possible. Recent studies of the Iowa Welfare Research Station of the Uni- versity of Iowa indicate that the intelligence quotient, long regarded as a fixed quantity, can be changed by the right kind of educational environ- ment, as is shown in the following statement: “It may seem startling that during two years of experience in a nursery school a child’s intelligence may be permanently altered, but that is really what has happened.” * ‘Wellman, Beth. ‘Education Can Change Intelligence.’’ National Parent Teacher 30: 8-9: October 1935. [14] 15 The studies further indicate that the customary lack of change is not an inherent characteristic of the organism but that it is due in large meas- ure to the environmental conditions to which children have been subjected. “In a wider social sense,’ concludes Beth Wellman, “results such as these may even eventually lead us to the conclusion that, as a race, we are intellectually undernourished.” ° Che physical and emotional development of children is largely the result of the environment in which they live and an impressive list of studies bears out this statement.® leachers who become students of children can no longer ignore the fact that all child growth is doubly rooted; it is biological and at the same time ociological, In view of this fact the teacher who would understand his children must study the educational implications of the environment in which they grow, as well as the process of growth itself.’ Education as a continued process—A further conception of education in terms of its social function includes that philosophy which would in prac- tice extend the educational process to include both preschool children and adults. Education is thus conceived as a continuous process and is thereby divorced from the older ideology which made school and education synony- mous. Those who hold to this more recent conception of education believe that, since learning begins at birth and is continuous thruout life, much of the process lies outside of the controlled environment of the school and is the responsibility of that larger learning area called the community. Under this conception of education the school and the community become one in fact as well as in theory. George I. Sanchez emphasizes this point as follows: Whatever our definition of it may be, education is not limited to the classroom. The life history of the individual is his educational history. All relevant subjects, physical and mental, material and social, are educational. Education in its broadest meaning is the sum total of relevant stimuli. The classroom, the public health and welfare agencies, the agricultural, traders and industry, and homemaking departments, the public libraries, and the museum and auxiliary activities, such as those of the CCC, constitute our system of public education. The combined efforts of these agencies comprise community edu- cation’ Education as an agency to improve the community as well as individuals —Another trend in the changing relations of the school and the community is the conception of the school as a dynamic force in the life of the com- munity. This is not a new theory in education, but its practice is, and in order to assume the new role the school finds it necessary to develop 5 Wellman, Beth. “Mental Growth from Preschool to College.’’ Journal of Experimental Education 6: 127-28: December 1937. ®White House Conference on Child Health and Protection. Child Labor. New York: Century Co., 1932. 592 p. §Sydenstricker, Edgar. Health and Environment. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1933. 217 p 7 Skinner, Charles E., and Langfitt, R. Emerson. An Introduction to Education. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co. p. 80-118 8 Everett, Samuel S., and others. The Community School. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1938. p. 165 dynamic community leadership and to remake the curriculum. It is the latter task with which the school is now engaged and in the activity there is promise that dynamic community leadership may also be developed. The problems involved are suggested in the following statement: When the school accepts the role of a social agency the purpose of the curriculum changes to that of bringing about desirable changes in individuals and in the com- munity. The new role makes it necessary for the school to discover community resources and problems and then provide a sequence of experiences to utilize and meet the revealed additions. The school program and resources and community program are fused in a continuous process of mutual assistance to mect common needs.” Julius Youman thus succinctly sets forth the new responsibilities for the community-centered school of the future. While its large and significant objective is to change directly the individual and his community, its meth- ods for attaining this objective are equally as important. These are: (a) to discover community resources and problems, in itself a large creative task; and (b) to provide a sequence of experiences to utilize resources and to meet the problems, an assignment of responsibility for the curriculum- makers. This program gives promise of becoming one of the most significant movements in the history of American education. This yearbook is an indi- cation of the strength and widespread development of the movement. As J. Cayce Morrison stated in the introduction of his recent book entitled Live and Learn, “The frame of the present is broken.” A reading of this yearbook reveals to what lengths the break has taken place and thru it one may glimpse a brighter future for the schools of America. References CALIFORNIA CURRICULUM COMMISSION. Teachers Guide to Child Development in the Intermediate Grades. Sacramento: California State Department of Education,”"1936_ 631 p. ‘ Dewey, Joun. School and Society, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1915. (Rev. ed.) Everett, SAMUEL, and oturrs. The Community School. New York: D. Appleton-Cen- tury Co., 1938. 487 p. HANNA, Pau R., and oTHERS. Youth Serves the Community. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1936. 303 p MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF PusLic INstrUCTION. Instructional Guide for Elementary Schools. Bulletin 301, 1936. Lansing: the Department, 1936 ProcRESSIVE EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. ‘Resources and Education.” Progressive Educa- tion 15:184-264; March 1938. ProGRESSIVE EpucaTion AssocraTion. “Where Is Education Going?” Progressive Edu- cation 14:397-489; October 1937. “Schools That Serve the Community.” Journal of Educational Sociology 9: 321-84, February 1936. SKINNER, Cuartes E., and Lancritt, R. E. An Introduction to Modern Education. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1937. Chapters IV-V. 491 p. *Vouman, Julius. “The Coordination of Fducation and the Community Journal of Educational Sociology 2.304-20; January 1938. [ 16 | 17 Wetman, Betu. “Education Can Change Intelligence.” National Parent Tearher 30:8-9; October 1935. WeLLMaN, Bertu. “Growth in Intelligence under Differing School Environment.” Jour- nal of Experimental Education 3:80; December 1934. WELLMAN, Betn. “Mental Growth from Preschool to College.” Journal of Experimental Education 6:127-28; December 1937. Worrorp, Kate V. Modern Education in the Small Rural School. New York: Macmillan Co., 1938. $82 p. Chapter II TECHNICS FOR DISCOVERING COMMUNITY RESOURCES Lois M. Clark M** oF us who work in the public schools find ourselves inadequately informed about the communities in which we live and work. During recent years we have come to believe that the life of the school is and must be closely related to the life of the community. Yet our knowledge of the specific forces and experiences which touch the daily lives of children is usually sketchy and incomplete. Furthermore, we are not expert in our attempts to increase this too limited knowledge. Too frequently our very lack of knowledge leads us to believe that our particular communities, unlike other more fortunate ones, suffer from a dearth of significant edu cative resources. Or, if our common sense frees us from this misconception, we may find ourselves so bewildered by the complexity of forces and activi- ties within the community that we do not see where or how to begin our search for greater and more meaningful knowledge. DEFINITE TECHNICS ARE NEEDED It seems clear, then, that we must develop and refine the technics which will make it possible for the educational philosophy expressed in the pre- vious chapter to become a reality. We must find the means by which our knowledge of the actual and potential experiences of school children can be made reasonably complete and usable, rather than haphazard and incidental. To be of maximum helpfulness, our knowledge of the community must be more than an encyclopedia or catalog of facts. It must be organized in such a manner that it implies and suggests ways in which it may be used. Effective technics for the discovery of community resources must include means of recording and organizing information in ways suited to its pos- sible uses, in addition to the methods found suitable in gathering the infor- mation or data. Since attention is being given by educational leaders to all three phases of this problem, certain specific suggestions can be offered. CLARITY OF PURPOSE IS IMPORTANT The first point to be considered in preparing for any study of community resources is that of purpose. What do we wish to achieve thru making the study? What use do we expect to make of the findings? Obviously our awareness of the purposes and the values to be attained may and probably should be modified as the study progresses. Nevertheless, the answers given [ 18 ] 19 to these preliminary questions are of basic importance, for they influence the decision as to who shall participate in carrying on the study as well as the selection of technics to be used. One teacher may be concerned only with the problem of increasing and making more accurate his personal knowledge of the forces influencing the lives of his children. His purpose in doing this may be twofold: to be able to develop more efficiently the skills and understandings considered im- portant by the school, thru being able to relate them to experiences already meaningful to the children; and to be able to plan school experiences which will in some measure supply the inadequacies of the children’s out-of-school lives. In another instance, a group of teachers may wish to make a coopera- tive study of their community in order that they may develop a curriculum growing directly out of genuine needs and interests of the children living there. Their purpose differs from that of the first teacher in that they are less interested in finding appealing and effective ways of teaching subject- matter already selected by people in authority than in discovering which of the many possible learning experiences are best suited to these children, with their particular backgroynds and needs. They feel that a survey of the community, planned and“ewert@d on cooperatively by their own com- mittees, will help them to be more sensitive to the educative possibilities in situations which arise in the daily lives of children, and will enable them to develop a general curriculum pattern adapted to local needs. It is evident that the two situations mentioned above call for the secur- ing of similar information about the community, its activities and experi- ences. Yet differences in purpose inevitably affect the choice of items to be given special attention as well as the interpretations and use made of the information gained. A still further purpose, with somewhat different emphasis, might enter into the thinking of this teacher or group of teachers. They might come to believe that the experience of discovering important facts about their com- munity would develop important habits, attitudes, and skills in children, as well as add to the vitality of their interest in and understanding of the community. Hence they might decide that a community survey in which the children shared would be of even greater worth than one made entirely by themselves. In this case, they would be faced with the necessity of choosing two types of technics: first, those which would best help them to get the preliminary information which would determine the limitations and possibilities of a later, more extensive study by the children; and second, those which would be suited to use by these particular children in a com- munity of this type. It becomes evident that purposes must be clearly understood before technics and procedures can be determined satisfactorily. The nature of these purposes is implied above, in part. They may be summarized under [ 19 ] four major heads, each of which would add to the quality of learning ex- periences provided by some school, if carefully chosen in terms of what is now being accomplished by that school. They are as follows: 1. The discovery of out-of-school experiences of children in order to develop specific learning exercises on a more meaningful basis. This purpose is directly related to the so- called law of apperception which indicates that learning proceeds from the known to the unknown. Knowledge of what already has meaning for the child, whether it was acquired in school or out, should enable the teacher to improve any teaching that is largely verbal, concerned with the mastery of subjectmatter from textbooks for its own sake. 2. The discovery of out-of-school resources and needs or lacks as the basis for ex- panding the curriculum without changing its essential patterns. This purpose is illus trated by the many teachers who seek to enrich their schoo! program by adding so-called extracurricular or other supplementary experiences to make up for deficiencies in the lives of children at the same time that they continue the regular work of the school in its traditional form without change. 3. The study of the life of the community to discover outstanding needs and poten tialities as the basis for revising or adapting the general curriculum pattern to suit local needs. This purpose is in harmony with the belief that the general objectives of education are the same in all types of communities, but that the specific means of achieving them must be worked out in terms of the differences in local situations. It presupposes that this adaptation can and should be made by the school staff, or teachers of an area, and that the resulting curriculum should then become the accepted one for that community. 4, The study of community life as the basis for child participation in the life of the community on an appropriate level. This is closely related to the growing interest in the community-centered school and implies that the child should himself be active in dis- covering and doing something about community needs and problems While these four major groups of purposes undoubiedly vary in their depth of insight into educational values, they nevertheless indicate that it is important for the teacher to know his community regardless of the edu- cational level on which he is prepared to work. WHO MAY PARTICIPATE IN THE DISCOVERY OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES? ' Mention has been made of studies carried on by teachers, either indi- vidually or in groups, for the purpose of improving the curriculum. A number of such studies have been reported, together with suggestions, plans, or outlines for carrying on the studies.? Certain of these are general in scope, aiming at an increase in the general information of the teacher con- cerning his community. Others are more specific, focusing attention on some particular phase of community life. 1 Helpful discussions of this question will be found in the following references listed at the close of the chapter: Ann Arbor Board of Education. Helping Children Experience the Realities of the Social Order ; Georgia State Department of Education. The Community as a Source of Materials of Instruction. Newell, Bernice. “Trends in Community Surveys’’; National Education Association, Department of Superintendence. Fourteenth Yearbook. The Social Studies Curriculum. 2See: Donlan, Kathryn. A Survey of Peoples, Places and Things in a Local Environment Which Will Provide First-Hand Experiences and Enrich the Background of First-Grade Children; Georgia State Department of Education, op. cit.; National Education Association, Department of Rural Education Newer Types of Instruction in Small Rural Schools; National Education Association, Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction. Matertals of Instruction 20 } o] The chart, “Community Resources for Learning,” is of the first type, for it was planned chiefly for the purpose of arousing in teachers an awareness of the wealth of educative resources at their command.’ In spite of its gen- eral purpose, however, it attempts to make some classification of resources in an effort to help teachers to use them more readily than would be prob- able in a more miscellaneous listing of the same items. Community Resources for Learning * The following resources are all related to the child in a rural community: 1. Homes in the community Family membership Housing of the family Ideals and standards Cultural resources—books, music, schooling, etc Participation in community life Racial background The school People: schoolmates, teacher, county superintendent, school directors, school nurse, etc. Grounds: building Organization: schoolboard, school district, etc History: former organization, former pupils, etc 3. Community organizations Church and related groups Grange, Farm Bureau, cooperating marketing groups Four-H Clubs, Future Farmers, home economics, and agricultural extension Scouts, Camp Fire Girls Parent-teacher associations . Agencies for health welfare State department of health Red Cross, Junior Red Cross Tuberculosis and health societies Humane society, Children’s Aid Society Inspectors: dairy, factory Playground association, service clubs, safety council Means of communication Telephone, telegraph, postal service Radio, movies, newspapers, magazines, etc. Trolley, railroad, bus, family car, airplane, boat Itinerants in the community: salesmen, peddlers Traveling library 2 Other outlines of items to be considered in a general survey of the community are suggested in: Mississippi Program for the Improvement of Instruction. Procedures for Production of Curriculum Matersals, p. 155-56; and National Education Association, Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction, op. cit., p. 27-32. * This is a revision of a chart entitled “Environment for Learning Experiences of the Child in a Rural Community” previously issued in tentative form by the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. It appears, together with suggestion. for its use, in Bulletin 230 of the Department, ‘Special Oppor- tunities of Small Rural Schools,”’ which is scheduled for release March 1, 1939. (2 ] 22 . Government How it functions: elections and campaigns, town meetings, tax assessor, issuing of licenses, etc. Government sites: courthouses, etc. Services: postal, health, road-building, highway patrol, conservation Agricultural extension, power, and light . Professional services and others Medical: doctors (physician, dentist, veterinarian), nurse Minister, priest, rabbi Lawyer, merchant, statesman, banker Community leaders, welfare workers Artists, musicians . The cultural heritage Language spoken Books and literature—at home, libraries Art: architecture, landscaping, home-furnishing, handwork Music: folk. songs, radio Other races or nationalities Cultured individuals . Sources of historical knowledge Fossils, relics, Indian sites Colonial homes, furniture, old bridges, deeds to property, costumes, stamps, money, old newspapers Sites of early settlements, government buildings, historic incidents . Nature Land animals, insects, birds, plants Water animals, insects, birds, plants Land forms, topography Weather The night sky—stars, planets Beauty spots—for picnicking, hiking, etc. . Natural resources Soil, clay, gravel, sand Petroleum, coal, gas Grane, slate, et Minerals Water (for power), ice Timber Semiprecious stones Farms in the community Crops raised Ownership and management Machinery and equipment Disposal of farm products Use of experimental station findings and other scientific data . Farm service occupations Creamery, grist mill, grain elevator, blacksmith, farm masket, trucking Farm machine factory, box and basket factory, hatchery Canneries, slaughter house, cheese factory [ 22 “= 23 14. Other occupational activities Transportational services Manufacturing: generating power, producer's goods, consumer’s goods Fishing, lumbering, mining Buying and selling Garage, laundry, bakery, bank, insurance company, etc. Illustrative of the second type of teacher survey, and one directed at some specific phase of community life, is the following brief survey sheet or study outline: Governmental Activities in the Rural Community Types of governmental activities | Governmental activities and institutions and institutions in the local community 1. Seats of government which may be visited County courthouse; city hall or muni cipal building; state capitol; polling places; etc Governmental. processes which may bx observed; Town meeting; election held in school house, village store, or nearby town hall; records; court proceedings; tax assessment and collection; issuing of licenses, Governmental services: Postal services—R. F. D., local post office; county health service—school nurse; road building and maintenance ; police service—safety patrol, local con stable, United States Coast Guard; forest rangers; fire department; United States Extension Service—county agri- cultural agent, home economics repre- sentative, bulletin service; care of unfit —county home for aged, hospitals for the insane, the mentally defective, the blind, and the deaf; weather reports; filtration plant and water reservoir; sewage disposal plant. Note: Every child as he grows older has increasing need to understand the government of his local community and of larger political units. He needs to know the processes of government and his relationship to them; he needs to understand the services which [ 23 ] 04 vernmenis offer; he needs to become aware of the problems which governments face endo. the necessity of change to meet changing needs. Certain bases tor these understandings are present relatively early in the child's life Whatever the schoc! does to broaden his understandings and attitudes must be in terms of the experiences he has had or can have with government. The outline presented here is intended to help the teacher to be more aware of children’s opportunities to know sovernment and its services. It does not attempt to give a complete list of possible e\periences; rather it suggests important types to be observed. A detailed list of items observable in the local community may be placed in column two. rhis study outline’ is illustrative of the type used by an individual teacher previous to any evidence of pupil interest in the question. Believing that it is an important phase of the life of the children and one with which they should have greater familiarity, he undertakes to clarify his own knowledge before attempting to arouse pupil interest in the subject. Often 1 quite informal type of survey is carried on by the teacher when a child or group of children evidence interest in some particular problem and he nds it desirable to discover what resources are at hand for the study of the problem \n instance of this centers around children’s interest in soil erosion, An unusually heavy rainstorm had caused considerable washing, including a bad gully in the school driveway. Children were interested in it but the teacher was uncertain as to how extensive this interest might become, with value to them, His search to discover all possible sources of information and experience led to the library, to people who had information on the subject, and to places where problems of erosion could be observed. He found that material was available to make this a worthwhile major topic of study. Studies of this type by individual teachers have great value; probably group studies have even greater worth. This is especially true when a group of teachers conducting a survey make a practice of discussing their find- ings in the group and of recording for future use all significant findings. In this case, as in so many others, several people working together accom- plish more than those same people working individually, because of the opportunity for exchange of ideas Closely related to the work of teachers in discovering community re- sources is the rather extensive work carried on by nonteachers who are educational leaders. With the growth of a desire to use these resources, the demand for readily available information about state and national resources and places of interest has increased. To meet this demand or to provide materials for which it is hoped a demand will develop, a number of pro- fessional groups have gathered together important data for states or local 3 Similar ones on homes in the community, occupational activities of the rural community, occupa- tional tools in the rural community, and others have come to the attention of the writer [ 24 ] 20 areas and made it available in printed form.® In other instances compila- tions are made of the important sources of such information so that teach- ers can more readily discover what is obtainable.’ In many instances lay groups have an important contribution to make in the discovery of community resources. Much information concerning local customs, folklore, traditions, health conditions, and business practices can be secured best from individuals or organizations who have special information along these lines. Frequently, however, the service of the com- munity is more direct. Where community planning groups exist, surveys have usually been made which bring together much of the information desired by the school. Or, it may be that the community planning group is in its beginning stages and may welcome the interest and help of the school in carrying forward its program. Wherever opportunity occurs for the school to enlist such cooperation or to offer its cooperation with the out-of-school group, a fine type of community survey can usually be carried on. In addition, the way is opened for a helpful participation of school children in worthwhile community enterprises." Reference was made earlier to surveys conducted by children, under the direction or with the cooperation of their teachers, as a regular curriculum experience. There is a growing interest in this type of school activity. It may, like teacher-conducted surveys, take one of two essential forms. It may be a general survey of the community, out of which specific problems and interests grow, or it may be a study of some specific problem which is of major concern to the group, The first type of study is sometimes re- garded as having serious limitations,® yet examples of its use under certain circumstances indicate that worthwhile outcomes have resulted.'® Whatever type of pupil study is carried on, two points need to be kept in mind. In the first place, the fact that pupils are to conduct the study * Materials of this type from three state departments of education have recently come to the attention of the writer. They are: Georgia Program for the \mprovement of Instruction in the Public Schools Natural Resources of Georeia, Atlanta: State Department of Education, 3938. 1 Michigan Department of Public Instruction. Michican Today: Its Human and Physical Resources as They Affect Education Lansing: Eugene B. Elliott, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1937. € Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. Pennsylvania: An Inventory of the Human and Economic Resources of the Com- monwealth, Harrisburg: the Department, 1936. © Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction. Axr- pandine the Classroom. Harrisburg: the Department, 1938. p. 41-72, “Places of Educational Interest in Pennsylvania.” TA partial list of the state departments or agencies in Pennsylvania which supply interesting and valuable materials will give some indication of the extensiveness of such sources. In addition to the State Department of Public Instruction, the following are important to teachers for the information they nake available: Board of Fish Commissioners, Board of Game Commissioners, Department of Agricul- ture, Department of Forests and Waters, Department of Health, Department of Internal Affairs, Penn- sylvania Historical Commission, State Publicity Commission. The information offered includes: minerals, soils, ground water, caverns, and other geological data; parks, recreation areas, scenic spots, and natural monuments; wild life, fishing, hunting; historic spots and documents; resources and industries; crops and pests * A helpful instance of this type of school-community cooperation is reported in: Everett, Samuel, and others. The Community School. p. 414-30. (See references at close of this chapter.) ® Lynd, R. S., and Lynd, H. M. Middletown in Transition’ New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1937. p. ix., for an opinion on this point © The following references give reports of significant pupil surveys of local communities: Everett, Samuel, and others, op. cit., p. 409-14. Juckett, Edwin A. “Community Survey in Ninth-Grade Social Science.”’ Clearing House 11: 215-18; December 1936. { National Education Association, Department of Elementary School Principals. Socsalicing Experiences in the Elementary School. p. 545-48 [ 25 ] does not eliminate the necessity for a teacher study of the situation; rather, it changes the purpose of the latter. Second, the fact that the teacher, or teachers, have made preliminary plans does not make pupil planning unnecessary. Students themselves must have a clear notion of the purpose of their study, of the means to be used, and of the possible use they may make of their findings." TECHNICS FOR GATHERING COMMUNITY DATA ™” Chere are five major ways in which community data may be secured. Cho at times a specific method may be singled out for use, usually a com- bination of methods is desirable if reasonably complete information is wanted. The methods used are: 1. Observation—This involves gaining information thru firsthand con- tact or direct experience. It may be carried on in a scientific manner, using carefully controlled methods and making possible the drawing of scientific conclusions, Or it may be carried on less formally for the purpose of devel- oping a general appreciation of the situation or thing observed. Both types of observation are valuable but should not be confused. Adults, as well as children, need to make a Conscious effort to keep their observation on the highest possible level. To do this they need always to have two things in mind: (a) that it is necessary to be clear as to what they wish to observe; and (b) that it is extremely difficult to be completely objective and unbiased. Conscious effort will need to be made to find ways to check their observations for objectiveness. Checking one person’s obser- vations against another’s, or checking against data collected under more objective circumstances, are methods that are useful.'® 2. The conference or interview—Interviews may be held with people who are, themselves, the original sources of the information desired, or with people who by profession, occupation, or special interest have become especially informed. They may be carried on in an informal manner with a view to getting whatever information seems important at the moment. Or they may be more carefully planned and conducted with the use of a questionnaire or schedule of items to make certain that all important points are included. The interview is a fairly complicated method of obtaining information, as well as an interesting one, because of the human relationships involved. Attention will need to be given to the whole question of how to make pleasing and satisfactory contacts with people, in addition to the other problem of deciding what information is desired from them. 1 Aldrich. Tulian ¢ 4 Guide to Cooperative Community Study. Contains a helpful discussion of the preparation needed in making a study of this type Among references which discuss technics for gathering community data the following are helpful Aldrich, Julian C., op cit., Everett, Samuel, and others, op. cit, Ch. X; Georgia State Department of Education, of. cit., Newe HKernice, op. cit * For a helpful discussion of this problem, see Aldrich, Julian C., op. cit. [ 26 ] 27 3. Documentary research—Much desirable information is not obtain- able by direct observation or by interview or conference. It is to be found largely in the printed and manuscript records which have accumulated locally or in governmental or organizational files. It is of infinite variety, ranging from old letters, diaries, and land-grant titles, prized by some local citizen, to the scholarly historical documents found in archival libraries, and the infinitely detailed information collected by the United States Census Bureau or published in the World Almanac. Certain of these materials are public property and hence are available to anyone. School or governmental records and library materials are of this type. Others, such as the records of churches, welfare groups, and civic organizations, are somewhat private but can probably be viewed thru per- mission of their leaders. The more personal type of records, which usually has special significance for local community study, may be the property of local museums or historical societies and is then available to the public. More frequently this type is privately owned and its existence may not be generally known. To gain access to these records requires private informa- tion and the effort to arouse personal interest in what the school is doing. In such instances, as in many others, the interview technic is necessary to supplement or make possible the discovery and use of documentary data."* 4. The questionnaire—The questionnaire has frequently been used as a separate means of securing information. Because it comes to the person who must give time to filling it in without the benefit of any preliminary introduction to arouse interest in it, its value is somewhat limited. Under such a system of use, the planning that goes into it must be carefully done. The purpose of the study must be made clear to someone who, presumably, has given it no particular thought; the matter must be presented to him in such a way that he is willing to cooperate; and each item must be so clearly stated that there can be no doubt as to what is asked for. Many people have come to believe that a better use of the questionnaire is in connection with the interview. In that case, any needed interpretation can be made by the person conducting the interview, and the data secured are likely to be more reliable. Tho suggested forms for questionnaires are available each group should, for best results, work out its own,’® 5. The schedule—A schedule or checklist of items concerning which in- formation is to be obtained is frequently used as the basis for observation, particularly when a number of people must share in the observation, or it must be continued over an extended period of time. Its purpose is to make certain that there is reasonably complete agreement as to what is being looked for and to make certain that no serious omissions occur. It is helpful 4% Aldrich, Julian C., op. cit., has an inclusive list of documentary sources. p. 37-54 % The Georgia State Department of Education, op. cit., p. 38-69, gives a number of carefully planned illustrations of questionnaires directed at the study of specific phases of community life [ 27 ] £8 gut School reporters interviewing resident about old school records found. in her attic, Brie County, New York. in carrying on any type of study because it systematizes and prevents over- lapping and serious disagreements. SUMMARY Any effective effort to discover the educative resources of the rural com- munity will involve three major steps: 1. Deciding what purpose or purposes are to be served by such a study. 2. Determining who shall participate in the study and considering the purpose to be served and the nature of the community to be studied. 3. Selecting and developing the specific technics suited to the study. If these three steps are carried out in the most effective manner, a fund of information will result that is sufficiently well organized to suggest ways in which it may be used for the enrichment of school living. References ALprICH, JULIAN C. A Guide to Cooperative Community Study. St. Louis County Commission on the Teaching of the Social Studies. St. Louis, Mo.: Washington Uni- versity, 1937. 67 p. (Mimeo.) Ann Arspor Boarp oF Epucation. Helping Children Experience the Realities of the Social Order. Chapter X. ‘Local Resource Survey and Social Planning—A Service Bulletin.” Ann Arbor Course of Study. Ann Arbor, Michigan: the Board, 1933. BRUNNER, EDMUND DES. Surveying Your Community. New York: Doubleday, Doran and Co., 1925. 109 p. DonLAN, Katnryn. A Survey of Peoples, Places and Things in a Local Environment Which Will Provide First-Hand Experiences and Enrich the Background of First- Grade Children. Bulletin G99. Delmar, N. Y.: Board of Education, 1936. 6 p. (Mimeo.) Everett, SAMUEL, and ormers. The Community School. Chapter X. “Techniques Used in Community Programs.”” New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1938. 487 p. Grorce Peapopy CoLLece ror TEACHERS, CurricULUM LaporaTtory, An Outline for a Community Survey. Bulletin No. 64, April 6, 1938. Nashville, Tenn.; the College, 1938. 8 p. (Mimeo.) GeorGiA STATE DEPARTMENT OF EpucaTtion, The Community as a Source of Materials of Instruction. Atlanta: the Department, 1938. 80 p Juckxett, Epwry A. “Community Survey in Ninth-Grade Social Science.” Clearing House 11: 215-18; December 1936. MIssIssipP! PROGRAM FOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF INSTRUCTION. Procedures for Production of Curriculum Materials. “Sources and Kinds of Materials.” Jackson: State Depart- ment of Education, 1935. p. 155-65. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF ELEMENTARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS. Socializing Experiences in the Elementary School. Fourteenth Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: the Department, 1935. “Rural School Children Contribute to Community Improvement,” p. 545-48; “Some Basic Considerations,” p. 549-50. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF Rurat Epucation. Newer Types of Instruction in Small Rural Schools. 1938 Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: the De- partment, 1938. Chapter VII, “Local Environment as a Source of Instructional Mate- rials,” p. 98-109. NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE. Fourteenth Yearbook. The Social Studies Curriculum. Washington, D. C.: the Department, 1936. Chapter XI, “The Utilization of Community Resources,” p. 246-78. [ 29] NATIONAL EpucaTIon ASSOCIATION, DepARTMENT oF SUPERVISORS AND DIRECTORS OF Instruction. Eighth Yearbook. Materials of Instruction. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1935. Chapter II, “The En- vironment as a Primary Source of Materials of Instruction,” p. 14-42. NEWELL, Bernice, “Trends in Community Surveys.” Educational Method 18:7-13; October 1938. PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF PuBLic INstrUCTION. Special Opportunities of Small Rural Schools. Bulletin 230. Harrisburg: the Department, 1939, Chapter VII, “Your Community Offers Valuable Learning Experiences for Children.” SASMAN, Irwin. Surveying Our Environment for Educative Materials. Service Bulletin No. 1. Evanston, Ili.: Curriculum Laboratory, Northwestern University, 1936. 19 p. (Mimeo.) Worrorp, Kate V. Modern Education in the Small Rural School. New York: Mac- millan Co., 1938. Chapteg XVI, “The School and the Community.” PART II Developing Community Resources Chapter [Il YOUTH SERVES THE COMMUNITY THRU THE CONSERVATION OF RESOURCES V. H. Culp outH has not been told the truth regarding the vanishing natural re jp jeice es of our country. As a matter of faet, even the educational leaders seem to be unaware of the real status of affairs, for they have remained silent despite the chorus of patriotic Conservationists. Millions of youths beginning life with high ideals must be carefully educated to the need of conserving our unequaled national resources before they reach the dwin dling point. For no nation can be great unless it controls within its own boundaries most of the raw materials to carry on its multiple activities, If we of the older generation are too inert or too set in the grooves of ancient thought to apply drastic remedies to correct the waste of our na- tional resources that is still going on almost unheeded, the least we can do is to firmly implant the necessity of early action along all lines of conserva- tion in the minds of the youth now passing thru our public and private schools. The field is overripe, for there are thousands of youths who are anxious to serve the nobler purposes of the nation as were ever the most ardent crusaders of the Middle Ages. So let us start a new nationwide crusade, embracing all classes, a crusade with the ultimate purpose that our children’s children shall continue to enjoy the blessings of a country endowed by the Almighty to be the greatest on earth. This instruction of youth along the lines of conservation of our national resources is our bounden duty, and we have already tarried too long. In the words of Omar Khayyam: Open then the door! You know how little while we have to stay, And. once departed, may return no more In the Colonial days when our forebears were all foreigners in a new world it was the custom when disputes arose along the Eastern Seaboard for hundreds of families to pack up and drift farther westward to settle a new community where they were a law unto themselves. Most of them got the habit, and continued to be a law unto themselves even after civiliza- tion overtook them. And as these seminomads explored the continent they discovered wealth unparalleled on the face of the globe. Quite naturally the strongest grabbed the lion’s share without much regard for the weaker members of society. In this grabbing process they were generally aided by devious politics, and in return the politicians were usually content with a 33 few crumbs from the rich man’s table. It was a great game while it lasted. But an aroused populace at last is becoming aware that th stakes were, and still are, too high for the benefit of those who shall come a er us. Even as our Revolutionary forefathers builded for us, so must we build for gen- erations yet unborn. Now that the last frontier has vanished before the advancing hordes—the last hinterland pre-empted—we can no longer move away from our local troubles but must face them as best we can. We know now what we have, and how we are being robbed for the glorification of the few. But let us take stock of some of the most outstanding items which the limited scope.of this chapter will permit. Our vanishing forests—Except in the vast central region of America, which has come to be known as the Great Plains, the early pioneers found the country covered with a primeval forest which, in its variety of hard and soft woods and in its pristine grandeur, had no equal anywhere. Had this forest been intelligently conserved it would today prove one of the most prolific sources of national wealth. It was ruthlessly destroyed, and millions of feet of good lumber were burned in order that the farmer might devote all the land, instead of just part of it, to crops. The bitter fruits of this profligacy are being reaped in our own time in the dust bowl, in the spring floods along our rivers that annually destroy thousands of homes and ruin millions of acres of arable land, as well as in soil erosion where the top-soil is carried away by the unimpeded spring freshets, thereby wasting the farmer’s, and incidentally the nation’s, most valuable asset. Yet the despoliation of the forests went merrily on, and in less than a hundred years we had conquered an entire vast continent, but at what a price. It was not until the time of Theodore Roosevelt that the nation became conscious that a great natural resource was being despoiled by a selfish and greedy group, and a temporary halt was called, almost too late, to the forces of destruction. More recently the Civilian Conservation Corps has become active in saving what is left of our national forests from fire and from wasteful practices. Millions of acres of cut-over lands that are useless for the growing of crops should be replanted with trees. Even yet, in many places, this legalized thievery of our forests continues, directed by those whose greed is their dominant trait, and aided by dishonest politics as well as by the indifference of a populace that either does not comprehend the despoliation or does not know what the despoliation finally spells. The soil—¥From the manner in which our soil has been depleted in the past one might have thought that we were living on a planet larger than Jupiter, or that our own America extended clear across the Pacific to Asia and that it would be hundreds of years before an increased population would feel the pinch of soil poverty. It is no longer practicable after a farm has been robbed of its fertility to add more acres or to move to a new location. [ 34] 34 Courtesy Soil Conservation Service. Sodding a Gulley. Meanwhile thruout the entire nation the forces of erosion, coupled with ignorant agricultural practices, take their yearly toll from the soil, despite the forebodings of those purblind seers who argue that the whole program of agricultural well-being is solely a local one. Conservation of the soil thruout America is a patriotic venture in which the youth of the nation must be promptly enrolled, or else in a few years there will be nothing left to save and the forward march of the nation will go into reverse. Wild life—Along with our vanishing forests went most of its wild life. A continent once teeming with wild game, jarge and small, has become in most places a succession of scenes of quiet domesticity, where flocks of sheep and herds of cattle have taken the place of the deer, the bear, and the buffalo. Gone are the vast herds of buffaloes that once roamed our western plains; now only a comparatively few exist in our national parks. And if one is to seek the bear and deer he must travel to the more remote sections of the country. In most places their numbers are dwindling with alarming rapidity before the onslaughts of the army of hunters that yearly invade their last refuges. If complete extermination of the above-mentioned animals is to be retarded in many sections of the country, laws with teeth in them must be passed in the near future. Otherwise coming generations will know them only by the moth-eaten specimens in museums or pictures in books and magazines. [35] 35 The American Indian was the true conservator, for he never killed more game or caught more fish than he actually needed for his supply of food for perhaps two or three days. Possibly he has received more praise for this trait than he deserves, for it must be remembered that hunting and fishing were not mere diversions to him but part of the day’s work. Our fish supply—The lakes and streams of America teemed with edible fish of many varieties when the early settlers first arrived on the scene. Back in the days before the law had fixed a limit to the number that the fisherman could catch in a day the real limit was all that he could carry home. Today fish have become almost as extinct as the dodo bird because of the acids, alkalies, and other poisonous sludge poured into streams from the factories along their banks. It is still customary in most of our cities for factories to use a nearby stream as a handy sewerage system to get rid of their waste material, thereby poisoning the waters at their very source. Thanks to the efforts of such public-spirited organizations as the Izaak Walton League of America and to various patriotic individuals, highly successful accomplishments have been attained in rearing fish and trans- planting them to our inland lakes. The restoration of perverted waters is a fight that is still going on. Bird life—The average adult is woefully uninformed or quite largely misinformed about the great importance of birds. The smaller birds live mostly on insects and their place in the scheme of things is to keep at a reasonable minimum the myriads of insects that take their annual toll of millions of dollars from hard-working farmers. Devising new methods of exterminating the insects has become a matter of scientific research in every university in the land. Still the insects continue winning the battle mainly because no determined effort has been made to increase the bird population except in a few sporadic instances. A farmer may go out in the morning and sprinkle insecticide on a certain field and destroy ten million insects but an afternoon shower may wash the poison into the soil, and the next morning he finds that ten million more insects have moved to the same site. But if plenty of cover is kept for the smaller birds they will increase remarkably (if too many cats are not harbored about the place), and they alone can preserve the balance of nature in the insect world. People everywhere are slowly being educated to recognize birds as their feathered allies in the never-ending fight against insect hordes. Other issues—There are other problems in the jigsaw puzzle of conserva- tion that can only be touched upon briefly here. For instance, the draining of thousands of acres of swampland and lakes has in many places upset the natural balance of plant and animal life and cost the taxpayers of the surrounding community millions of dollars. Then there is the wasting of tremendous quantities of water in artesian basins and the subsequent rush of waters to the sea that destroys hundreds of farms every year, even cities. These are but a few examples of the vicious laissez faire policies of the past. [ 36] 36 Our immense tracts of scenic beauty should likewise be carefully guarded. Along many a thorofare the beautiful view is often obstructed by huge billboards. Such signs not only hide the scenery but constitute a menace to modern traffic. Thanks partly to the automobile and partly to a slowly arousing public sentiment, the billboard is gradually and steadily disap- pearing from our public roads. HOW MATERIAL WAS COLLECTED Letters were sent to all superintendents of public instruction, organiza- tions having youth programs, and groups interested in conservation. The wholehearted response and cooperation of the individuals or organizations addressed speak eloquently of the awareness of the adult leadership of American education. The tenor of many responses is to the effect that there should be a broad, nationwide program of information and activities. A large amount of material was offered as proof that a vast amount of work has already been done in the field. Whole states have been informed re- garding the necessity of a program of conservation of the natural resources of the nation. Various groups have made conservation one of the worth- while avenues of expression. While some states have accomplished little in initiating a program, they will undoubtedly do their full share in this great patriotic venture, once a national program is suggested. The whole matter seems too haphazard and incidental, what the country needs now are ideas, ideals, and action in order that some part of our national resources may be made available to an awakened people. PRACTICAL SUGGESTIONS GATHERED FROM THE FIELD Remarkable progress has been made in enlisting the youth of the nation in this important movement. There are many organizations, institutions, and individuals that have rendered distinguished service not only in awakening youth but also in directing projects of local and national import. The writer wishes to offer some practical suggestions of what may be done and give a few details regarding notable contributions in the field. 1. Arbor Dayv—A large number of states have Arbor Day exercises. Not only are schools requested to plant trees but also they are taught to protect wildflowers and birds as well as beautify the schoolgrounds. A number of states issue attractive bulletins in connection with the observance of Arbor Day. One of the best in the nation is the Arbor Day Bulletin issued every year by the New York State Education Department. A large number of schools in the state of New York have reforestation projects where an- nual planting is carried on under the supervision of the state conservation department. In fact, a number of school districts will soon be entirely tax [ 37] free due to the income which these plantings bring to the fortunate com- munities. 2. School beautification—Several states have carried on school beautifi- cation programs. In other regions local organizations have assisted by fur- nishing help or materials. Some groups which have engaged in this field of service are: Future Farmers of America, Four-H Clubs, Young Citizens League, city service clubs, Izaak Walton League, Boy Scouts, NYA, and parent-teacher and other local organizations. School beautification consists of grading schoolgrounds; making lawns; planning ample playgrounds; and planting trees, shrubs, and flowers. Children’s efforts in this type of work should be sponsored by an outside organization when possible. In this line of effort the schools of Hawaii have made an enviable record, for nearly every school has a school garden and a school beautification program. 3. Work of the Future Farmers of America—This is one of the most significant movements in the United States. Here is a case where rural youth is laboring untiringly to make America a better place in which to live. The conservation program is an essential part of their activities. Theirs is a happy combination of theory and practice. The constitution and by- laws of the Texas Association of Future Farmers of America is particu- larly meritorious. 4. Conservation week—-A comparatively few states set a week apart in order to make the pupils and parents conscious of the necessity of con- serving the natural resources of the state. Those few states distribute a wide variety of material that is invaluable to school officials and teachers The material prepared by the office of public instruction in New Jersey is worthy of duplication in other states. 5. Nature study and elementary scicnce—Each year an increasing num- ber of states add materials common to nature study and elementary science to the elementary- and high-school curriculums. The teacher who has no knowledge and appreciation of nature misses one of his most important contributions to rural life. It is one of the fields of knowledge that makes the rural school distinctive. There are objections by many teachers to the study of such material on the ground that the daily program is already overcrowded, Some materials found in the schools might well be eliminated but not nature study and elementary science because they help to interpret the environment of the child for a complex civilization. Both are elemental in a conservation program, Numerous states and cities have set up guide- posts which lead in the right direction. 6. Conservation material—Some progressive states have included defi- nite units on the subject in their courses of study. A few states have issued special bulletins for both teachers and pupils. Other sources of information are textbooks in science, conservation magazines, publications of the United [ 38] States government, reports of state conservation commissions, material from agricultural educational institutions, and educational magazines. The State Department of Public Instruction in Wisconsin has issued a valuable book- let entitled Helps in Teaching Conservation in Wisconsin Schools. The Fish and Game Commission of South Dakota publishes monthly a booklet, South Dakota Conservation Digest. The California State Department of Public Instruction publishes a monthly bulletin entitled Science Guide for Ele- mentary Schools. These bulletins have a thread of conservation which runs thruout the pages. The Colorado State Department of Public Instruction is now preparing a course of study which seems destined to be a landmark in this field of interest. A number of states, cities, and counties are col- lecting and constructing curriculum material which should have a much wider distribution. 7. Contributions from the National Youth Administration—-At the peak of the program in 1938 there were 182,477 young people enrolled in this program. Among other projects these young folks are cooperating with other governmental and private agencies which have determined to prevent further desolation of the country’s natural resources by flood and erosion. The NYA also assists in a nationwide program of soil and water con- servation. 8. Field trips—Many schools thruout the nation have taken advantage of the field trip as a means of supplementing classroom activities, In a field trip, under proper direction, the pupils will be able to draw their own con- clusions and have an appreciation for nature that will last a lifetime, Such trips are an essential part of a conservation program because they give firsthand contact with various phases of the subject. The State Department of Connecticut has an excellent booklet entitled Reports on Field Trips that will serve as a guide for other states 9. Conservation projects of the Civilian Conservation Corps This gov ernmental agency has selected more than 1,800,000 young men for distin guished service in conserving the diminishing natural wealth of the nation Its tale of accomplishment reads like a Paul Bunyan saga, The efforts of the young men have been directed in fighting forest fires, planting forests, building dams, cleaning forests, conserving wild life, rodent control, soil conservation, checking erosion, and numerous other types of necessary jobs in a broad conservation program, In future years the fruits of this service will make the United States a better country in which to enjoy the great out-of-doors, 10. Work of the Four-H Clubs—The Four-H Clubs are an important factor in enlisting the young people of America in projects that are prac- tical and looking toward the conservation of local natural resources. Thou- sands of boys and girls are laboring under trained leadership to make a [ 39] 3J wise use of the rural environment and at the same time to prepare for the duties of citizenship. 11. Local projects—Individual schools, organizations of various kinds, and county groups are realizing the desirability of having a forward-look- ing program in conservation. One of the most distinctive programs in the United States is in Carrol County, Missouri, under the direction of the teachers and County Superintendent J. E. Evans. The creed of this group of conservationists is worth repeating: “We believe that education in con- servation is a long-time job, but it is more economical of property and human life to teach it to the young than to rehabilitate those who have thru ignorance of Nature’s great laws found themselves late in life stranded.” The demonstration farm is a rugged, worn-out, forty-acre tract, owned by the Carrol County Teachers Association. Under its twenty-year reclama- tion plan, besides constructing a 15-acre lake, the association has a pro- gram of reforestation, soil improvement, and protection of wild life. This out-of-door laboratory of practical conservation is divided into 120 lots which are sold to school districts in order to give every boy and girl con- crete interest in the objectives of the program. Examples of important phases of the work may be experienced in the park. Included are correct methods of cutting trees, planting crops, and reclaiming worn-out farms. The summer camp on the farm is an important phase of the project. This object lesson in conservation is deserving of the highest praise. 12. The Young Citizens League of America—This organization for ele- mentary-school children is largely composed of rural children. It, too, has shown an appreciation of the rural environment. The league in South Da- kota recently had an essay contest in which the members considered ways of conserving the natural resources of the state. Numerous adult groups, as well as staté authorities, encouraged the pupils in many ways and as a result of the contest the school children of the state became conscious of the prob- lems involved and of how theories can be carried into the realm of action. 13. Vocational agricultural courses—A large amount of work is being done in several states in the field of conservation by directors and students in high-school vocational agricultural courses. The classroom work is vital- ized by frequent field trips and experimental plots. The states of Pennsyl- vania and Indiana have tried to hitch their programs to a broad conserva- tion interest. The Junior Garden Clubs of Indiana have also brought many of the best practices in the field to their members and have sponsored worthwhile projects in conservation 14. In connection with other subjects—-In some states the conservation work is carried on in connection with related school subjects such as home economics, agriculture, biology, and civics. Virginia has conservation as a part of her core-curriculum. The units of instruction that have been pre- [ 40 ] pared in connection with regular school subjects are giving the pupils a valuable body of conservation information. These units show little uni- formity and indicate a wide variety of interests. 15. Institutions of higher learning—Volumes might be written of the services performed by the land-grant colleges in various parts of the nation. They have sponsored projects, taught youth to think correctly, and taken an interest in the natural wealth of the United States. In fact many colleges frequently have speakers of national renown to talk on related topics. A number of teachers colleges have introduced courses in this field and have prepared teachers to become leaders in a great national campaign that is just around the corner. The weakness of too many of our self-appointed leaders of today, in the pulpit, on the rostrum, and in the press, lies in the fact that they possess no settled convictions that can enable them to become real leaders of youth. SUGGESTED CONSERVATION PROGRAM FOR YOUTH 1. There should be a school program for both the elementary- and high- school levels. That is the easiest way to make the America of tomorrow conscious of the value of our natural resources. The National Education Association or the United States Office of Education representing the whole nation might properly prepare a suggested program on a national basis for the various grades. These units should be supplemented by units on a state basis under state departments of education which attack special problems that do not pertain to all the states. Practical material covering important phases of the subject should be well illustrated with photographs, drawings, and maps, and in addition there should be numerous laboratory and field activities to enrich the course. Conservation naturally would be an integral part of the science, geography, or civics courses of study. By introducing it in the fifth grade it could cover in each grade some particular phase. This curriculum material should not be a whitewash of former practices, but it should include a survey of natural wealth and should show the necessity for a conservation program. The United States government should have a director of youth activi- ties in each of the counties of the nation similar to the farm agent. This officer should spend his time directing the activities of the boys and girls, particularly in vacation periods, in conserving the natural resources of \merica, The positions would be filled thru civil service examinations in order to avoid the odium of politics, and work should be done under the county superintendent of schools. Candidates should be required to have teaching experience, professional training, leadership ability, and a broad knowledge of conservation and its implications. The work of the Four-H Clubs in rural districts and city groups would be the major part of the pro- gram. School gardens, planting trees, raising flowers, providing for bird [41] 4] sanctuaries, and rearing fish under a suitable environment would be avenues of useful effort. The proper use of the soil and the improvement of crops need to be studied by the children of the nation. This program is impera- tive because the pattern of life must be altered in this country due to wide unemployment, low standards of living, and the increased production per man in the manufacturing plants of the country. Much of the program for youth in recent years, especially in the eities, is nonproductive, leads nowhere, is a waste of time and money, encourages habits of idleness, and gives a false idea of values. The problem of unemployment is closely con- nected with the soil and the development and preservation of natural resources. Once the frontiers to the West were used to relieve the shock of depressions but the road to better conditions is tied up with correcting the evils and sins of previous generations. The soil is still a source of new wealth and prosperity. 3. The Izaac Walton League might well organize a junior organization. This important force in preserving the great out-of-doors for posterity has served the nation well, but it spends too much time trying to educate peo- ple who were reared in the days when an advocate of conservation was considered a radical. If more attention were devoted to informing the youth of the land, many of the destructive practices of the day would disappear. The hope of the nation is not in the old men but in the boys and girls who will be future leaders. By enrolling youth in an organization with high ideals and a forward-looking program the Izaac Walton League could achieve its larger aims in a single lifetime. The progress that has been made in conservation up to date is in no small way due to isolated individual and group projects. These local programs usually succeeded because of a happy combination of capable leadership and suitable environment. Local and individual emphasis should not be relegated to the junk heap because of a broader vision; it should still be encouraged. Public-spirited local indi- viduals and groups can often engender greater enthusiasm and secure more cooperation in a project that is close to the community. Some of the pos- sible lines of endeavor are: school gardens, school beautification, planting trees, erosion control, protection of wild life, elimination of signs from the countryside, and water control. 4. The work of the CCC and some phases of the NYA should be made parts of a permanent program. The Future Farmers and Four-H Clubs should be encouraged by state and nation. It is desirable to give them financial assistance in many of their projects. The youth organizations and the institutions of higher education should be encouraged to continue phases of work that are related to conservation.' 1 Readers who desire bibliographies on conservation in the elementary- and secondary-school fields are asked to write to the United States Office of Education, Washington, D. C References Atten, Artuur A. American Bird Biographies. Ithaca, N. Y.: Comstock Publishing Co., 1934. 270 p. ANperSON, ELLen L., and Batnuurst, Errit G. Good References on Conservation Education in Secondary Schools. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Bibliography, No. 55. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1938. 16 p. Arizona Epucation Association. Arizona Teacher 24:30-59; October 1936. Batuuurst, Errie G., and ANperson, ELLEN L. Good References on Conservation of Trees and Forests for Use in Elementary Schools. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Bibliography, No. 71. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1938. 11 p. BatTHuurst, Errre G., and Annerson, ELLEN L. Good References on Conservation of Birds, Animals, and Wild Flowers for Use in Elementary Schools. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Bibliography, No. 72. Washington, D. C.: Govern- ment Printing Office, 1938. 11 p. Bristow, WILLIAM H., and Cook, Katnertne M. Conservation in the Education Pro gram. U.S. Dept. of the Interior, Office of Education, Bulletin, 1937, No. 4. Washing ton, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1937. 78 p. Burces, Austin E. Soil Erosion Control. Atlanta, Ga.: Turner, Smith and Co., 1936 202 p. BuTLer, Ovin M. American Conservation in Picture and Story. Washington, D. C American Forestry Association, 1935. 144 p. CALIFORNIA RoaApsipe Councit. Your Roads and Highways. San Francisco, Calil.: the Council, 1935. 15 p. Cnase, Stuart. Rich Land, Poor Land. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1936. 361 p. “Conservation.” Building America 2:1-32; April 1937. CorNELL University, STaTE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE. Conservation. Cornell Rural School Leaflet, Vol. 29, No. 3; January 1936. Ithaca, N. Y.: the University, 1936. CorNeLt University, State CoLLece or AGRIcuLTURE. Save the Soil. (Prepared and supervised by E. Laurence Palmer.) Cornell Rural School Leaflet, Vol. 29, No. 4 Ithaca, N. Y.: the University, 1936. CorNELL UNIVERSITY, STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE. Spiders and Their Kin. (Pre- pared and supervised by E. Laurence Palmer.) Cornell Rural School Leaflet, Vol. 30, No. 2. Ithaca, N. Y.: the University, 1936. 32 p. Cove, Davin C. Waste. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1936. 96 p Curtis, Francis D. Improving Methods of Using and Conserving Energy. Boston Ginn and Co., 1934. Dac.isH, Eric F. How To See Beasts. New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1933 127 p. Doane, RENNIE W. Common Pests. Springfield, Ill.: Chas. C. Thomas Co., 1931. 384 p Duncan, C. D. Wad Flower Roads to Learning. Sacramento, Calif.: State Department of Education, 1936. 44 p. Duranp, Herpert. Wild Flowers and Ferns. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1925 394 p. Gasie, Cuartes H. Teaching Conservation. Washington, D. C.: American Nature Asso- ciation, 1937, 31 p. Gustin, Marcaret, and Haves, Marcaret L. Activities in the Public Schools. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1934. 290 p. Henperson, Juntus. The Practical Value of Birds. New York: Macmillan Co., 1927. 142 p Huey, Epwarp G. Child's Story of the Animal World. New York: Reynal and Hitch- cock, 1935. 355 p { 43 ] 43 Juxius Rosenwatp Funp. Suggestions for Landscaping Rural Schools. Nashville, Tenn.: the Fund, 1936. 7 p Lutz, FranK E. Nature Trails: An Experiment in Outdoor Education. Miscellaneous Publications No. 21. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1931. 38 p Mattoon, Wixsur R. Stop Gullies: Save Your Farm. U. S. Dept. of Agriculture Farmers Bulletin, No. 1737. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1934. 14 p. Pack, Cuartes L. The Forestry Primer. Washington, D. C.: American Tree Association, 1936. 32 p. PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF Pustic INstrRUCTION. Arbor Day; Bird Day. Bulletin, No. 82. Harrisburg: the Department, 1934. 48 p. Person, HArtow S., and otuers. Little Waters: Their Use and Relations to the Land Soil Conservation Service, Resettlement Administration and Rural Electrification Administration. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1936. 82 p. PicKweit, Gaye. Birds. Science Guide for Elementary Schools, Vol. I. Sacramento, Calif.: State Department of Education, 1935. 51 p. Price, Overton W. The Land We Live In: The Boys’ Book of Censervation. New York: Dodc, Mead and Co., 1936. 237 p. Pryor, Wiitiam C., and Pryor, Heten S. The Steel Book. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1935. 100 p. Ross, W. A., and Scranton, L. L. Landscaping the Farmstead: Making the Farm Home Grounds More Attractive. Vocational Education Bulletin, No. 189. Agriculture Series No. 51. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1938. 60 p. SHANKLAND, FRANK N. The Bird Boo. Akron, Ohio: Saalfield Publishing Co., 1934 52 p. Smitu, Nia B. In City and Country. Book I, Unit-Activity Reading Series. New York: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1935. TENNESSEE VALLEY AUTHORITY. Soil—The Nation’s Basic Heritage. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1936. 59 p. Turner, Cram E., and Pinckey, Jeanie M. In Training for Health. Malden Health Series. Boston: D. C. Heath and Co., 1935. 152 p. Unitep States DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. Arbor Day: Its Purposes and Observance. Farmers Bulletin No. 1492. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1936 24 p. Unitep States DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE. Our Soil: Its Wastage, Its Preservation. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1936 23 p. Unitep STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE. Ten Billion Little Dams. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1936. 20 p UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE, REGION Five, SOIL CONSERVATION SERVICE Topsoil: Its Preservation. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1937. 22 p. Unitep STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE. Series of bulle- tins describing flora, fauna, scenery, and historical landmarks of national parks Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office. Write for list. Unitep STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, OFFICE OF Epucation. Curriculum Con- tent of Conservation Education in Secondary Schools. Bulletin, No. 29. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1938. (Ih press.) Wisconsin DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. Teaching of Conservation in Wiscon- sin Schools. Curriculum Bulletin, No. 1, May 1937. Madison: the Department, 1937. WorpveN, NATHALIE M., and Perry, Ernestine. Growing Beauty: A School Study and Activity Outline in Appreciation, Preservation, and Creation of Outdoor Beauty. Springfield, Mass.: National Highway Beautification Council, 1933. 64 p. [ 44 ] 44 Magazines Birdlore. The National Association of Audubon Societies, Harrisburg, Pa Junior Natural History Magazine. American Museum of Natural History, New York, m8 Nature Magazine. The American Nature Association, Washington, D. C National Nature News. Washington, D. C. Wild Flower. The Wild Flower Preservation Society, Washington, D. C American Childhood. Milton Bradley Company, 74 Park St., Springfield, Mass. Educational Method. Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction, National Education Association, Washington, D. C. Elementary School Journal. University of Chicago, Chicago, IIl Journal of Geography. A. J. Nystrom and Co., 3333 Elston Ave., Chicago, Ill. School Science and Mathematics. Central Association of Science and Mathematics Teachers, Inc., Menasha, Wis Science. The Science Press, Garrison, N. Y (45 ] se Ci Chapter IV YOUTH SERVES THE COMMUNITY THRU THE DEVELOPMENT OF RESOURCES Helen Ruth Henderson N RURAL COMMUNITIES people are working, cultivating and harvesting I crops, moving, keeping homes, buying, selling, enjoying health, visiting neighbors, feeling joy and sorrow, attending meetings, singing songs, having conflicts within themselves, facing problems of insecurity, discussing cur- rent happenings, listening to the radio, receiving relief, developing their loyalties, going to parties, reading the local paper, adapting themselves to seasonal changes, passing on their particular heritage to those around them, and dreaming their dreams, Participating in many of these activities are the boys and girls of these communities, Lack of maturity restricts the par- ticipation of youth in some of these activities as does the lack of faith of adults in the ability of youth to understand, Recently in one school the pupils were discussing procedures, for their assistance in a diphtheria clinic, Someone suggested that the pupils not only tell their mothers about the opportunity but that they make posters con- cerning the clinic and place them in prominent places in the rural com- munity. Other pupils mentioned the fact that many parents of small chil- dren did not come to town often and probably would not see the posters before the date of the clinic and suggested that the pupils visit the homes and talk to mothers about the advantages of having their children protected against diphtheria. One girl questioned this suggestion by asking: “Would the mothers listen to us? Would they think that we were just children and did not know what we were talking about?” Be the limitations what they may, young people are nevertheless vitally involved in all aspects of the social life of the communities. Thousands of teachers in rural schools live in such an environment, many of them observing and reacting to these activities but too many failing to appreciate their possibilities for experiences in the school. Some parents and some teachers realize that education should lead to an intelligent partici- pation in and an understanding of the life of the community. Such persons see that the organized school in the community should start with these simple day-by-day activities and conditions and improve them thru the cooperative process of planning, working, and evaluating. Some parents cause teachers to feel, however, that reading, ’riting, and “rithmetic are the sole content of education or that successful textbook memorization marks the educated boy and girl. An ever increasing number are realizing [ 46 ] 46 that it takes life itself to educate and that the most effective schooi practice is based upon this fact. Sensitive, powerful teachers identify themselves with the moods and movements of the community, and guide boys and girls into a richer, more intelligent relationship with the forces with which they interact continuously. SUGGESTIONS FOR USING COMMUNITY RESOURCES Chapters in this yearbook and those found in the yearbook of 1938 dis- cuss how teachers may utilize community resources in the instructional program. Other current literature for teachers contains suggestions for surveying the community, becoming familiar with conditions, and inter- preting and introducing the material and experiences into the work of the organized school. Some books and bulletins which teachers should find help- ful for this purpose are listed in the bibliography at the conclusion of this discussion. The description of an educational endeavor and experiment in the development of community resources is given in such books as Youth Serves the Community by Hanna and others, and The Community School by Everett and others. The Community as a Source of Materials of Instruction, prepared by committees in the Georgia State Program for the Improvement of Instruc- tion, should be read by every rural teacher for point of view and for sug- gested activities for teachers and pupils. Smith and Frederick's recent book, Live and Learn, gives a comprehensive list of community resources for edu- cative activities in country schools, All these references should prove stimu- lating to rural teachers as they call attention thru questions or outlines to such resources as the following: Occupational activities Historical resources Institutions Cultural heritage Recreational opportunities Natural phenomena Conditions and attitudes thru physica!. mental, and emotional health Problems of earning a living in the community Responsibilities of citizenship in the home, the state, and the nation. and relations with other nations The utilization and control of the natural environment for individual and social needs Facilities for the receiving and transmitting of ideas and the transportation of persons and commodities Opportunities for the development of esthetic and spiritual impulses The utilization of education as a means of acquiring and transmitting the social heritage and as an emergency for conserving and improving human and natural resources. Various procedures in community development are available for the assistance of teachers, but the important thing, of course, is to understand the processes of the community and not to depend upon any one pattern [ 47 ] 47 of approach and content. Teachers need to see the community as an organic whole, education as a full-time process, and the function of the organized school as related to the living environment of boys and girls and men and women. The community as it is with its varying attitudes and practices may appear discouraging to the teacher, and to attack its problems may appear too dangerous at times but the demands and possibilities for com- munity growth present a real challenge. The dynamics of intelligent execu- tion of a common purpose in community education are too little appreciated and too infrequently used. Many categories of community resources have been listed, but too little attention has been called to the greatest resource of any community—-which is youth itself. This fact has not been sufficiently stressed in suggestions for teachers in developing community resources. Our communities will become increasingly aware of the value of children since their number is decreasing so rapidly in our nation. There are a few states, particularly in the South, where this population trend has not yet been felt seriously, but the census figures show that the birth-rate in the farm and non-farm rural population groups is declining as it also is in the urban group. Children will receive increased attention from all social agencies. Youth has imagination, crea- tive power, enthusiasm, initiative, driving force, interests, and purposes, and these things shou:'«) be developed in each community. Living thru social problems with children is not sufficient; it is also essential to provide for the development of the personal power and integrity of the individual within the social group. The spirit of the individual needs to be released and expanded. REASONS FOR HAVING YOUTH PARTICIPATE IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES There are fundamental reasons why youth should share in the develop- ment of community resources. Learning in this manner becomes real to them. When they share with adults in planning and executing an improve- ment, the activity takes on increased importance to them because of the association with older and recognized members of the community in which they desire to feel security for themselves. Community activities offer youth the opportunity to participate in socially worthwhile undertakings and give them insight into democratic values and processes. Such activities develop within youth the desire to improve conditions about them, an attitude which is fundamental to the processes of improving society and developing within boys and girls sensitivity to community needs and a feeling of social responsibility. Something beneficial also happens to adults as they work with children. The rapidity of social change necessitates continuous educa- tion of all persons of whatever age and former educational experiences. Adults have sometimes “looked down” upon boys and girls in their im- maturity, but by working wjth them. understanding their problems, anc observing their frank and-éffective methods of work older persons receive an increased respect for young people. Thus, the democratic process moves on. The community is improved not only by the product of better children and improved conditions but also by the very nature of the process which has educated the total group. The process of “becoming” is the experience of all. ILLUSTRATIONS Parts of this discussion may appear to the practical teacher to be too much in the realm of theory—-ideas to be thought over, talked about, but not to be taken too seriously by the busy teacher who faces the same group of pupils in a school for five days of the week, The ideal may not have been reached in any community, but experiments are going forward because some persons have caught the gleam and are reaching out to help youth develop community resources. At a certain school the pupils and teacher noticed that su’.ace water was entering the spring which supplied the drinking water for the school. They felt that the water was not safe, took samples of it, and sent them to the state department of heaith laboratory for analysis. The report came back stating. that the water was impure. It was then decided that a well should be dug, and a request was made to a member of the local schoolboard. He could not be convinced that the water was impure since the water from that spring had been used for many years and he had never heard of any resulting sickness. The pupils talked in vain and soon realized that their tactics needed to be changed. They bought a large bottle of ink and poured it in the field above the spring. When the rain came the spring was colored by the ink, and the boys and girls had the gentleman come and observe the water. Needless to say the well was dug. In one seventh-grade group the problem of recreation in the community was being discussed. Someone asked what the boys and girls actually did with their time out of school. A survey of the activities of the pupils in the grade led to a survey of the activities of their schoolmates. They found that many attended motion picture shows frequently, others less frequently because of parental policy or lack of funds, others read, went driving with the family, played games with their friends, and engaged in other activities, but the group came to the conclusion that some inexpensive recreational facility should be provided in their community. After exploring various possibilities, they decided that a skating rink would meet the need. The question of financing the building of the rink arose. Immediately the group began estimating the size necessary for the number of children to be ac- commodated, the availability of a lot, the cost of the lumber, the necessary finishing of the floor, and other details. After the findings of the survey were in hand and the estimates completed, some means of providing the [ 49 } rink kad to be found. It was decided that it should be a community affair and, therefore, that the mayor was the proper person to interview. With their prepared data a committee visited the mayor and asked him what possibilities he saw for a town appropriation for building the rink. He was enthusiastic and appreciative of the suggestions from the boys and girls and promised his cooperation. The investigation of the pupils and their earnest- ness in solving this problem became community news. Commercial interests sensed the possibilities of the need and soon three skating rinks were byilt. At the present time skating is available for the payment of a small sum. The pupils in Brink School, a four-room country school in Greensville County, Virginia, come from homes of ‘‘share-croppers.’’ They are members of large families with whom they share a two- or three-room house in a poor, colorless region where one drives for miles without seeing a painted dwelling. In this environment, boys and girls with the guidance of their teachers went to work and as a result both human and material resources in the community were improved. The teachers described the development as follows: Before the arbutus bloomed in the spring the children of Brink School began telling their teachers how much arbutus they were going to bring to them. Following this dis cussion, one teacher and her pupils went for a walk in the woods to find an arbutus plant. The woods near the school were full of the dark green arbutus peeping out from among the dead oak leaves. When the children picked the stem the teacher showed them how they also gathered the roots of the plant. The children saw readily that if they picked the arbutus when it bloomed they would destroy the plants. They decided that the best way to preserve their arbutus would be to take a sample of the plant to each of the other three classrooms and demonstrate how picking the arbutus would eventually kill all of it. They studied the type of soil where the arbutus was found, the type of plant, and why it bloomed earlier than other plants. Discussions led to classify- ing plants into those that can be picked freely and those that should be picked sparingly. Specimens of the different flowers were identified and dated according to their first blooming. Pictures were made of the flowers for a class book to be kept in the school library. New flowers were identified and added t» the class collection. Thru their reading, observing, and collecting flowers the pupils discovered that they lived in a county having more native wildflowers than any other county in the state of Virginia. The interest of one classroom influenced the whole school. Instead of one teacher participating with her pupils only, the other three teachers and their pupils joined in the activities and beautification became the interest of the entire school. Each group did indoor work separately but teachers and pupils worked together on the schoolyard and the surrounding environment. All the work was highly respected because everyone had a part in it. The children made a nature trail and made markers to label trees and flowers. The trail wound around the woods back of the school and led to arbutus, dogtooth violets, oak, a spring, a swamp, a brook, etc. Many understandings in the field of elementary science resulted from the nature trail The children decided that their schoolyard should be equally as pretty as the woods because it had the same kind of soil except that the soil in the schoolyard was packed too tightly. They prepared plots of soil on the school lot near the edge of the woods and transplanted many specimens of flowers and dogwood. Before landscaping [ 50 ] 00 they went on a trip to a nearby country town to see how the people there planned pretty gardens. For the first time in their lives they saw goldfish ponds, and beds of tulips, evergreens, and dogwoods growing in people’s yards. While on the bus on the way back to school, they made plans to substitute native cedar trees for the evergreens they had seen and to transplant some cedars in their schoolyard. While they were planning to get cedar bushes for shrubbery, one boy said that he did not want to help plant the cedars because he did not want to die. He told the other children that if one planted a cedar tree, when that tree became large enough to shade his grave the person who did the planting would die. The teacher discovered that this was a prevalent superstition and that many of the parents shared in the belief. The class studied the life and growth of a cedar tree and came to the con- clusion that by the time the trees became very tall they, the people, would all be old enough to die anyway. Thus they solved the origin of the old superstition. Mountain laurel, wild azalea, and dogtooth violets were planted. Many happy hours were spent selecting flower seeds for a garden of cultivated flowers. Some of the children brought to school old-fashioned perennials and shrubs for the garden. Care was taken in planning the flower beds. The children cultivated and watered the tlowers all spring and summer. When school opened the following September the whole schoolyard looked like a different place The county superintendent of schools became interested in the children’s work and when they interviewed him as to how he made a bird bath for his own yard, he volunteered to build one with the children at their school. He brought his materials to the school and the children assisted in making the bird bath. It was of cement, built on a pedestal, and placed very tastefully in among a clump of trees. The children made and painted many bird boxes for their bird sanctuary. During garden week the children were taken to visit gardens which were noted for their beauty. The garden they liked most was one in which there was a collection of wildflowers. There was one flower which the owner could not identify. The children informed her what the flower was. and in turn she showed them how to make two kinds of bird feeding stations. During the time that the children were beautifying the yard they became conscious of the ugliness of their schoolrooms. They washed floors, windows, and woodwork. They made curtains for their windows and on the outside made attractive window boxes. They painted all the furniture in the school with bright paint. With lumber from an old stage they built a strong worktable and painted it to harmonize with the rest of the furniture Some of the classroom work, besides the planning and carrying on of the work of beautification, was writing stories, drawing pictures, making posters, making flower boxes, collecting and mounting flowers, telling stories, writing wall charts, reading stories and poems, arranging furniture, arranging flowers in the rooms, adjusting window shades and curtains, planting seeds under glass and watching them ., cout, performing scientific experiments, collecting and exhibiting science materials, studying drainage and conservation of soil, and many other activities. The term’s work cul- minated in an original operetia which the children gave just at sundown in their own flower garden, using as a background the clump of trees which had been turned into a bird sanctuary. The work of tne school carried over into the life of the community to such an extent that the parents of the children cleaned up their yards and planted flowers. One patron near the school cleaned up a trash heap which had existed for years and planted in its place a lovely flower garden. Parents cleaned out ditches an@ picked up old tin cans and other rubbish from their home grounds Many of the parents cooperated with the school by lending to the larger bovs mules plows, and other tools for use on the schoolgrounds. The parents visited the school 51] a1 and approved all the work. Since the teachers went into town every night, many of the parents sent money to school and asked them to purchase curtain materials, paint, flower seeds, and bulbs. As a result, the entire community became happier. Their school and homes are not just places in which to stay but are actually places in which to live A school which had been an eyesore was turned into an attractive place. Where there was once an ash pile there is now a circle of flowers with another on the opposite side of the walk to match it. A walk to the school is outlined on each side by large stones. Outside of once ugly windows are colorful flower boxes with blooming petunias A parking place for the automobiles of visitors was outlined to keep the cars from ruining the flower beds. Against the corners of the schoolhouse grow attractive ever- greens which the children moved in from the woods. To one side of the schoolyard is a well-planned flower garden and bird sanctuary. Back of the schoolhouse in a lovely pine woods, underbrush is no longer a fire hazard. The bed of the woods is smooth and kept clean for the many shade-loving wildflowers Every room has an attractive color scheme. Instead of gloomy desks there are attractive tables and chairs, built-in book cases with new books in them. window seats. clean walls, and pictures. There are vases of fldwers in the rooms if flowers are in bloom. Since frost has killed the flowers the vases have been filled with pine branches and berries. Grasses and pine cones also help with winter decorations. Such things give evidence that the children of the school have learned the value of beautiful surround- ings and that their outlook on life is enriched School discipline has improved so that one gets the impression of a very large but happy home. The children know that their lives are their own* responsibilities and they plan their own schoolwork with the teachers as guides in their development In Dinwiddie County, Virginia, a rural county located near the cities of Petersburg and Richmond, the public welfare officials became concerned over the lack of recreational! facilities for the youth of the county. The superintendent of welfare consulted with other officials, influential indi- viduals in the various communities, and found them interested in the prob- lem. From this effort a meeting was held at which a county council was formed. Members of the council represent county government, the welfare department, schools, civic clubs, the agricultural extension, lodges, profes- sions, and, uniquely, youth itself. After surveying conditions, the group decided that a camp for the summer months would be the most effective first step for meeting recreational needs. Plans for organizing the camp went forward with the various responsibilities assumed by appropriate groups. The camp was held in the county last summer. The superintendent of schools assisted with the organization of the camp and furnished the school buses for transportation on excursions to nearby towns and on other trips. The home demonstration group, with the aid of the women of their clubs, planned the food for the camp, doctors gave necessary medical atten- tion and care, the welfare department supervised the camp, and all agencies contributed financially to its support. The camp proved a great success and plans are already under way for a similar one this summer. In this county, which has no health unit, the council last fall sponsored a campaign against diphtheria and the local doctors administered the immunization. A dental clinic is the next project. [ 52] The planning and the resulting understanding of a common purpose have brought together these various agencies and the boys and girls of the com- munity. Thru their problems youth has contributed to the development and coordination of vested interests of adults. The process itself has been im- portant for all concerned, and the results have been outstanding. Other illustrations of how youth is serving the community thru the devel- opment of its resources could include accounts of the cooperative selling and buying done by vocational agricultural groups enrolled in the secondary schools, the music festivals in rural counties, the forums for parents where men of business and trade are developing into real counselors of youth, the Christmas celebration when parents come and join with their children in singing carols and a mother is led to remark, “My tub of washing won't look nearly so big when I get back home.” These illustrations are given in the hope that rural teachers will find stimulation for increasing their efforts in this direction. It is realized that each teaching situation is different and that the activities significant for one school and community would not be significant perhaps for other com- munities. Some readers may wonder when “school was kept,” but these illustrations represent the best efforts of the school at this particular time. Such activities constitute the program or schedule of school living. Atti- tudes, understandings, and skills are developed altho the latter is given less mention in the descriptions. The illustrations have dealt too heavily per- haps with external evidences of development within the community but a spirit of social sensitiveness may be felt following thru the accounts—the spirit which furnished the drive for the various projects. This same spirit finds expression in individual experiences furnished youth in poetry, in painting, in telling stories, in opportunities for creative touching of other human personalities, in respect for the contribution of other persons, and for conditions which they face in allowing the same freedom to others which one demands for oneself. All of these present opportunities for democratic living in our communities. Teachers can also assist rural youth by sensi- tizing them to the beauty and wonder of their natural environment. CHARACTERISTICS OF TEACHERS Since rural teachers compose the group for which this material is pre- pared, they are interested, of course, in some of the characteristics of teachers who guide pupils and adults in the community into such develop- ment. The accounts of their work indicate that the teachers possessed a keen insight into child nature and social needs. Behind this insight was a social-mindedness, a real feeling for people, and a genuine respect for their personalities. There was an alertness in observation, an intellectual ap- proach to seeing the community. The teachers were evidently god listeners, allowing parents and children to talk to them, catching from conversations at the school and in community gathering places the attitudes and moods (53 ] 03 of the group. These teachers were students of practical psychology, having an understanding of group action and the limitations of the immaturity of pupils. The problems were significant to the groups participating; neither too difficult nor too complex for youth and adults to expect to do something about them. The teachers had the ability to recognize the leaders in the group who could educate the group. Pupils at certain times follow members of their own group more than leadership from their elders. At another stage of development they follow their ideal characterized by some adult, a teacher, mother, father, or club leader. The subjectmatter needed for the interpretation and guidance of the groups was known by the teachers. Above all else, these teachers had a point of view about the relationship of the organized school to the learning process of individuals and groups. QUESTIONS FOR TEACHF RS’ CONSIDERATION Teachers who desire to improve their guidance of youth may find these questions stimulating: Do I have an active, creative attitude in my sense of values which gives me perspec- tive and poise in my living? Am I creating with my pupils an atmosphere in which they are intellectually free ? Am I assisting my pupils in providing an informal physical environment which is conducive to freedom of action and thinking? Am I encouraging and guiding individuals to take initiative and assume responsibility ? Am I a participating member of the school group? Do I belong? Am I bringing leaders to the front? Am I identifying myself with the ideas, ideals, and experiences of the school and community group? Am I realizing and utilizing the power of the group in the teaching-learning situa- tion? Do I see the potency of the interaction of teacher and pupils, pupils and pupils? Am | observing children everywhere for their various reactions, degree of maturity, and background of experiences ? Am I seeing the total community, with its day-by-day activities of young and old as my classroom? Am I identifying myself with the activities of the community? These questions are not thought to be all-inclusive but are suggested to teachers because of their important place in providing situations in which youth can put forth its best efforts. QUESTIONS FOR YOUTH'S CONSIDERATION Obviously, these questions are not stated in child language but are given to teachers as indicators of the direction for the growth of personality traits and individual action of boys and girls. Many children are and do these things but not in the conscious, analytical manner of adults. Am I entering into the life of my group? Do I think in terms of the welfare of the group? Am I a keen observer of activities and situations in my community? { 54] o4 Have I the courage of my convictions? Do 1 support them with facts or with idices ? ldo I recognize authority ? Have I a personal program of living? Can I take care of miyself after school, on holida on rainy days, etc. ? (Am | tolerant of the opinions and experiences of others ? lho I weigh my action intensely ? \m I developing a sense of belongingness and importance in my social group ? Can I sense a real problem and propose solutions which are for the good of the Will [ accept responsibility ? i Do T use treedom intelligently and allow others the same privilege ? loo IT have the judgment to start improvements where things are and as they are? In conclusion, the success of a teacher is likely to be in direct proportion to his personal knowledge and sympathetic understanding of children and the community. There is a real difference in the way a sociologist analyzes forces in a community and in the way teachers see the same forces oper- iting in the lives of children. Teachers must be sensitive to these forces and see them thru the organism of the child. If they fail to do so, there is danger that problems will be presented to children in forms appropriate for adults rather than on levels which have meaning for the child. Democracy is a large concept for a first-grade child, but democracy is real to him when his nother and father consider him in planning the activities of home life, when the teacher helps him to develop some independence in the care of clothing and learning tools, in sharing his crayons and books with others, in moving with freedom thru the room and halls, and in other experiences. Rural communities furnish an excellent laboratory for the development of both human and material resources. They do not have the same degree of complexity in their processes as do urban centers. The small size of these communities is an asset for intimate and congenial planning, participating in and evaluating community development. The consolidation of rural schools is recognized as a desirable administrative procedure, but the appro- priate size of the consolidated school community must be kept in mind. Youth serves the community thru the development of material resources. As important as material resources are to any community, they are but incidental to the development of human resources, The interdependence of the two is obvious. The development of human resources will inevitably improve the material, and the opposite is also true. The development of the material, however, has been more, adequately and more broadly dis- cussed in previous articles and that fact has accounted for the emphasis on the human element in this chapter References Byrncron, Marcaret F. What Social Workers Should Know about Their Own Com- muniti?s New York: Russell Sage Foundation, 1924. Crouser, Li W., and Mitiiken, Cuore E. Kindergarten-Primary Activities Based n Community Life’ New York: Macmillan Co., 1929. 307 p [55] o5 Cook, Lroyp A. Community Backgrounds of Education. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1948. 397 p. Dunn, Fannie W. “Natural Sciences in the Modern Rural School.” Newer Types of Instruction in Small Rural Schools. 1938 Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: Department of Rural Education, National Education Association. Everett, SAMUEL, and oTHeRs. The Community School. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1938. 487 p. Georcia STATE DEPARTMENT OF EpucaTion, The Community as a Source of Materials of Instruction, Atlanta: the Department, 1938. 80 p. Hanna, Pau, and ormers. Youth Serves the Community. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1936. 303 p. Henpverson, H. Rutu. A Curriculum Study in a Mountain District. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1937. 189 p. Joun Dewey Society. The Teacher and Society. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1937. 360 p. Kors, J. H., and Brunner, E. veS. The Study of Rural Society. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1935. 642 p Lancritt, R. E., and oTHers. The Small High School at Work. New York: American Book Co., 1936. 660 p Rankin, Paut T. “Environmental Factors Contributing to Learning.” Educational Diagnosis. Thirty-Fourth Yearbook, National Society for the Study of Education. Bloomington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Co., 1935. p. 79-92. Smitu, Donnar V., and Freperitck, Ropert W. Live and Learn. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1938. 220 p. Worrorp, Kate V. Modern Education in the Small Rural School. New York: Macmil- lan Co., 1938. 582 p. PART III Using Community Resources Chapter V THE USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT Annie M. Cherry and Lillian Minor N EVERY COMMUNITY there are distinctive environmental resources that I offer productive possibilities for opening up the world to children in far- reaching ways. Their proper use fosters some of the psychological prin- ciples basic to desirable child development and in turn leads to valuable social and educational outcomes. Therefore, children’s wide experiences with all phases of community life will serve not only as a fundamental basis for increasing and enriching their daily living, but also as the best available means for developing a growing and an appreciative understand- ing of the relationships between learning and living. It follows then that teachers should make a reliable study of the larger school community as a major source of persistent problems and potential materials that can be utilized for worthwhile activities. For until a teacher knows the resources which his community has to offer and uses this information to better serve the needs found, his usefulness is limited by the horizon he draws for him- self and for those he serves. However, to be able to recognize the values involved in utilizing intelli- gently the materials at hand represents only the beginning in the solution of the problem. More important than the technics in this instance is the experience itself and the subsequent activities resulting. The teacher who isinterested in using the realistic experiences of firsthand observations and contacts in these fields will have little difficulty in helping the child to relate to his life what he is learning. Therefore, the crux of the whole mat- ter depends upon whether or not the school program makes use of these resources to the best advantage in the development of meaningful experi- ences that will carry the particular learning group progressively forward in more desirable ways of living. Such a wholesome program of living and learning will involve coopera- tive school, home, and community planning and sharing. However, the most potent factor in its development is the teacher’s sincere desire to guide the learner intelligently and skilfully in helping him to live happily and suc- cessfully as a worthy contributing member of the social group. In many rural situations thruout the country, there are teachers with vision who have the courage continually to reorganize and develop coopera- tive democratic programs, based upon the needs of the individual child regardless of his present stage of growth and development. Accounts of [59] 08 such contributions to rural education should be made available to teachers in the field. The three different types of records which follow are illustra- tive of how environmental resources have been used successfully in develop- ing curriculum materials. GROUP EXPERIENCES WITH COMMUNITY RESOURCES The use of community materials at Spring Hope, North Carolina—The artist teacher is continually building a practical program of education by making use of children’s vital experiences with environmental resources. The work carried forward in Ada E. Valentine’s classroom in a village con- solidated school at Spring Hope, North Carolina, is a striking example of how community materials may function in promoting desirable child growth. Here the environmental resources are being used to introduce the chil- dren to the social, industrial, artistic, and natural phases of their surround- ings and to give them a growing understanding and appreciation of the world in which they live. The whole community has become this artist teacher’s schoolroom, her laboratory; to the children, it is their world, their workshop, their home, a place where they can search intimately for truth and light rather than vicariously, Factories, stores, museums, woods, fields, and streams—all become inviting sources of educative experiences. By means of direct observations and contacts the children are led to investi- gate, interpret, enjoy, and utilize their environment better from both a social and a natural science point of view and likewise to project them- selves into new fields of thinking, feeling, and doing. In this way the children are becoming acquainted with and are learning more about the valuable services that such resources as local business con- cerns, individuals, and other agencies can offer. Often they make purchases, sell and exchange farm produce in the interest of their class work, and fill orders for products made in the woodworking shop. Likewise, the various wholesale and retail firms cooperate by doing business with them in supply- ing the materials needed. The children make their own arrangements with local businessmen, either by telephone or by personal interviews, when they wish to secure transportation for their different trips. While making plans for the financing of their weekly paper early in the year, pupil com- mittees visited twenty-one firms to solicit advertisements. As a result of their efforts, a bank account was started by the group in the interest of this enterprise. : When visits are made to the post office, the postmaster cooperates in helping the children learn how the post office department serves the public. Many business and friendly letters are written and dispatched by airplane, train, boat, and rural route. Money orders, special delivery letters, and insured packages are also involved in this experience. These activities have led to a study of the post office system and the desire to open a branch [ 60 ] og office in their schoolroom that would serve the entire school community. Definite plans concerning the establishment and operation of a substation early in the fall, in accordance with government regulations, were formu- lated and decided upon by the-entire class. Now the post office is an estab- lished school institution operated entirely by the children. Upon invitation, a ninety-tWwo-year-old Confederate veteran visited the group and shared with them some of his many interesting experiences. One of the grandmothers spent the entire morning teaching the children how to card and spin. Another day an uncle of one of the children came in and gave a demonstration on saw filing and talked to the group about the proper care of their shop tools. In order to awaken scientific interest in their surroundings and to develop an increasing awareness of the esthetic values involved, excursions that give opportunity for close observation and discussions are participated in by the children to advantage. A stream near the schoolground is visited often for the study of water life, water power, soil erosion and formation, water supply, and the uses of water; while the adjacent woodland, rich in animal, bird, and insect habitats, furnishes an excellent setting to teach forest preservation, bird adaptation, and interdependence of plant and ani- mal life. Interesting evidences of field trips, such as various nature speci- mens collected, models, paintings, drawings, booklets, poems, and stories made by the children, are always found later in the science center. A record of all reported observations is filed. As an outgrowth of such an educative experience, the development of a most creditable museum, an aquarium, a forestry study, and other varied activities has been stimulated. The schoolroom also serves as an inviting science laboratory. Here the weather conditions are determined thru temperature and air pressure read- ings; plant life is studied thru seed germination and bulb growing. The life cycles of plants, animals, and insects are observed and the correspond- ing histories are recorded. Thru participation in such activities involving real life the children are becoming curiously conscious of some of the wonders of nature about them and as a result are beginning to attach more meaningful significance to their importance in the general scheme of things. Furthermore, the children are made aware of social changes and social needs and are aided in developing those understandings needed for effective participation in society about them, by enlarging the school environment to include the neighborhood and by projecting the enterprises of the class- room into the broader area. Even the smallest children are led to under- stand increasingly the importance of the various aspects of community living and of their personal responsibility and relationship to the indi- vidual members participating. In this way, the experiences are not limited to a study of the various agencies involved but are broadened to include an appreciation of the activity itself and the corresponding interrelation- ships. [ 61 ] 60 For example, the group became actively interested in the problem of community safety on account of the increased number of serious accidents in their own neighborhood and in adjoining districts and set about to bring proper information to the school group and to the community at large. After a long and profitable discussion period, led and participated in by the entire pupil group, it was decided to call a mass meeting. A committee was appointed to confer with the local railroad agent in regard to securing the services of the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad safety representative as their speaker. The program was planned, advertised, and conducted by the children themselves. As a result, they became keenly aware of their indi- vidual obligation to help each other observe the safety rules that they had formulated for use on the playground, when crossing the street, on trips downtown, on the highways to and from school, and when riding the school bus. As evidence of growth along this line, the children developed ability to load and unload their school buses safély without giving the teachers on duty undue concern. When plans concerning an excursion to Durham and Raleigh were being made, much attention centered about the safety aspect of the trip. Patrol- men were appointed by the group to be responsible for guiding and direct- ing the teachers and the pupils in their charge, when such services were needed, in crossing the main thorofares, getting in and out of the trucks, going up and down steep stairways, and on other similar occasions. At no time did an officer forget the importance and dignity of his position and all that it entailed. Later, their pra .ical observance of Safety Week further expressed their growing ability to accept active responsibility regarding matters of concern to the larger group. The chief of police and the fire chief and his associates -at the request of the group—made three visits to the Spring Hope Ele- mentary School during the week. Many important questions relating to the safety of human life and property were discussed. As a result of the con- ferences, one of the firemen who works at the Atlantic Coast Line depot interested the railroad company in installing “Stop” and “Go” lights at the railroad crossings. Thru the use of posters, chapel talks, and conferences, the children par- ticipated, as far as they were able, in interesting all other children in the school to observe every day in the year the Safety Week rules that the policemen and the firemen had given them. Their group newspaper and also the town paper carried articles regarding the program projected. However, in the larger sense, the children are making their biggest con- tribution to society thru their school, which is the largest growing enter- prise in the community. They consider it their privilege as well as their duty to help make it a going concern. On many occasions certain promis- ing school activities have been participated in from start to finish by the group. Notable among these was the renovation of their school quarters, [ 62 J 61 including thé painting of their classrooms and the hallway; making book- cases, magazine racks, picture frames, flower stands, what-nots, couch cover, pillows, mats, and curtains for their room; shellacking their rug, etc. This led to a program of beautification in the elementary school. CHILDREN'S RECORDS OF EXPERIENCES WITH COMMUNITY RESOURCES Children’s records of their own school experiences will further help to reveal some of the positive values accruing from a program which reaches out into the larger community for vital curriculum materials. Excerpts taken from cooperative classroom diaries, newspapers, yearbooks, and other forms of pupil record keeping and accounting, developed in Norfolk County, Virginia, rural schools under the direction of Lillian Minor, super- visor of elementary schools, give concrete evidence of this fact. These excerpts from diaries are not only good examples of pupil records but they also give a useful insight into the activities of the children. The Flower Show First Grade—Deep Creek School (Used at the beginning of school to develop reading readiness.) The Garden Club had a flower show. The Club held the flower show in the new community house They invited the first grade. They asked us to bring some flowers. The first grade wrote a letter to the Club. The first grade said: Dear Garden Club, We will come to the flower show. We will bring some flowers. Tue First GRADE. We brought some flowers to school to take to the flower show. Jack, Bettie, and Sue were the committee to fix the flowers. They put the flowers in vases. The flowers did not look very pretty. Miss C. said too many flowers were in the vases. Some of the stems were too long, too. Miss C. helped us fix them better. Mrs. H. gave us a table. Our flowers looked pretty on the table. . That day everyone went to the flower show. We saw many pretty flowers at the flower show. We saw some evergreens. We liked Mr. W’s dahlias best of all. Mr. W. gave us each one dahlia to take home. He invited us to see his dahlia farm. [ 63 J 62 Elemeatary-school committee at Spring Hope, N. C., making 4 with local policeman for observation of Safety Week. We wrote some stories about our flowers. We said: Allen brought some asters. He brought them on Monday. He put them in a duck vase. The asters grew near the canal bank. Charles brought a blue bottled gentian. He found it near a ditch. We liked this flower. Everybody wanted one. We went to get some. But there were not many gentians there. Not many gentians grow in one place We wrote a poem about the cosmos. Here it is: : Cosmos! Cosmos! Grow in the ground. Grow in the country, Grow in the town. Some are pink; Some are red; Some are white; Some are in bed. Mr. W. took us to see his farm. He told us about his dahlias. He had many kinds of dahlias. Mr. W. said: “Mr. D. from Norway found the dahlia He found it in Mexico.” Mr. W. gave us some bulbs. He showed us how to plant the bulbs. They will come up in the spring. We learned about the roots. We learned about the stems. We learned about the flowers when they bloom. We learned about the leaves, too. We put flowers in vases every day. Studying Landscapes Third and Fourth Grades—Norfolk Highlands It was a very, very rainy day at school. The third and fourth grades asked Miss J they could make some pictures. “What are you going to make?” asked Miss J. Most of us could think of many things to puf in our pictures. But Jack said he just didn’t know a thing on earth. “Look out of the window, Jack,” said Miss J. “Will rain do?” asked Jack. “Jack cannot draw anything like rain,” said Mary. [65] 64 “Yes, I can, too,” said Jack. And then Jack drew a very pretty picture about the rain falling down on the ground. Now everyone wanted to draw what they could see out of the window. The class found many pretty things outside. Mary made her picture show the river winding its way by Dr. G.’s house. Earl wanted to make the bridge over the river. Stanley drew the river bank with many weeping willows in the background. Soon nearly everyone had a “window picture.” Miss J. told us that our window pictures could be called landscapes. She told us about some great artist who painted landscapes. Then we looked at our beautiful picture book and found some of these pictures. We looked at pictures which were from English, French, Dutch, and American painters. We especially liked “Crossing the Brook” from the English artist Landon, because it was almost like our river pictures. When the sun shone. we went out in the yard and painted some more pictures. The sun made pretty shadows. We made shadows by making them much darker than the real things. The tiny trees in Jane’s picture show ‘hat they are far away. Nearly every day some one paints a landscape ww are planning to make a portfolio of beautiful landscapes during the year Interesting Happenings Sixth Grade—Portlock School John reported to our class one morning that a Norwegian tramp steamer had docked at the Jones Storage Dock, and was unloading potatoes “Why are they unloading potatoes, do you reckon, Miss J.? Looks like we should be sending them potatoes instead,” said John. No one could answer the question. That afternoon several of the group went to the steamer and asked the captain what about it. The captain told them: “A tramp steamer picks up its cargo anywhere and goes anywhere. That is the reason it is a tramp steamer. This boat picked up these potatoes in New England. But it has no refrigeration, so they have to unload them here to keep them from spoiling.” “What will you do now?” asked Lois. “We are exchanging these potatoes for flour, fertilizer, and some canned goods, which we will take and sell somewhere down the coast. We expect to go to South America before we are thru. Then we will go back to Norway.” The boat stayed only three days. Then they chugged out of the harbor. A pilot boat carried them safely out into the ocean. Miss J. told us that nearly every foreign vessel has to have a pilot boat guide them in and out of the harbor as a safety measure The story about the tramp steamer was so helpful that every day or two we try to find some interesting news item or happening to share with the class. Sometimes we just tell it. Sometimes we hurry to school and write the happenings on the board so that everyone can read our stories. Our stories are much better now. So far we have found many things of interest to report, especially about the foreign vessels which come so often to our harbor Guidebooks for Our Historic Trip Sixth and Seventh Grades—Great Bridge School The County Federation of Student Cooperative Associations was hostess to the annual state meeting in October. As one of the entertainment features, a drive around the historic shore line was planned for the visitors. Very few of our guests had ever been in Tidewater Virginia before, so the sixth and seventh grades thought it would [ 66 | 65 be well to help them see the most interesting things on the trip. We went to work to make guidebooks which our friends could carry with them as they rode in the big buses. The Norfolk-Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce answered our request for material to help us. They gave us a beautiful map of our historic section for each one of our guests. Then the children in the grades traced on the map with red ink the route we took, putting large dots at places we were to stop. We put pictures in the book of every place we stopped A cooperative class introduction was written to be used in each book. The book was dedicated to our state secretary. Several boys acted as guides in each bus, telling our guests about other things to be seen all along the way. How they enjoyed the megaphones they used! Sometimes they deafened us. We enjoved making our books and hope our guests enjoved them, too A Safety Precaution Elementary Grades—Westhaven School At our regular school assembly Franklin brought up the fact that many people drive by our school very rapidly during our recess and play periods, making it very dangerous to cross the road to get to our playgrounds. After much discussion by the group, we decided to appoint a committee to go to the county supervisors and ask for help. We wanted to close the road during our play hours. The supervisors said we had made such a good report and had asked for this in such a fine way that they would give us some signs—“Road Closed—School Zone’’—to put at each end of the road. Every day two honor patrols go out early and put up these signs. Now our children can cross the road to play without being afraid. Items of interest taken from the Spring Hope, North Carolina, Classroom News-Record, published by children in the Valentine Experimental Pro- gram, also bear testimony to primary children’s ability to recognize and record valuable school and community experiences: Our Young Dove Mr. L. brought us a young dove with a broken wing. We gave the dove some worms. We had to open his mouth to feed him. Willard and Allen got the worms Willard and Alton went for some seed this afternoon. Ruby and Helen bandaged the hurt wing. The third grade fixed a cage for our bird. We had to read in several books to find out about the dove. A dove is a beautiful gray bird. He is a cousin of the pigeon. The dove builds a very shoddy nest. Sometimes he takes the deserted nest of a robin. The mother bird lays two white eggs. The call of the father bird is lonesome. . . . Our Halloween Pumpkin Ruby grew a big yellow pumpkin. She brought the pumpkin to school and put it in the window. The seed of the pumpkin were taken from our Halloween pumpkin last year. Several children in our room took some of the seed to plant. Only Ruby could grow a pumpkin. We are saving the seed from this pumpkin to plant next year. Maybe we will have better luck. We made a jack-o’-lantern out of our pumpkin for Halloween and put a candle inside. Eddie and Willard made its face. We sat around on the rug and watched the boys cut out the eyes, nose, and mouth. It looked like a man. Miss C. brought us two candles to burn in it. We invited Miss J.’s room to come and see our jack-o’-lantern. [ 67 ] 66 Our Trip to the Forest The forest is bright and beautiful now. We saw many different wildflowers on our trip today. We gathered some that we did not know We will look in our book to find out their names. We got some pretty moss and plants to put in our dish garden We found a ground cricket, some earthworms, and a grasshopper We found the shell of two snake eggs under a stump. We will examine a piece of it under our microscope We saw a gall growth on a green leaf. We found a little egg on the inside of it. There were lovely red, green, yellow, orange, and brown leaves everywhere. We brought some home to put in our red pottery jar. Many birds sang to us while we were enjoying our lovel: forest There have been so many things to talk about and read aoout since we came back We spent ‘an hour with our forest friends today. We caught several crawfish. We heard a robin, a blue bird, and a warbler. We listened while our friends, the frogs, sang to us. All of us wanted our visitors to go with us, so we could introduce them to our beautiful forest full of friends. When we got back, we read some wonderful poems that reminded us of our forest We think they are beautiful and true A Visit from Our Policeman Our policeman talked to us about safety today. He told us always to observe all police signs carefully. Earl wanted to know why we could not have a “Stop” and “Go” light at the Baptist Church corner. Chief L. said that it would cost $150 to install it and $20 a month to operate it. Then we discussed buying a cheaper signal. All of us thought that was a good idea. If we work hard enough, some day we will have that light. Elementary-School Group Cleans Vacant Town Lot March 21 to 26 was Clean-Up Week in Spring Hope. Our group decided that we should help make our town cleaner and prettier. We called a meeting to talk about what we could do. We invited each grade in the building to send a committee to tell us what their room thought. Ihe vacant lot on the avenue leading to the school grounds was the ugliest spot in town. A committee was appointed to find out about our cleaning it. They first visited the mayor and found out who owned the lot. Then they went to see the owner and asked him to give us permission to clean it for him. The next day we worked for an hour moving tin cans, trash, paper, and other rubbish. It was our responsibility, so we did not stop until there was nothing left but green grass Everyone said that the school had done a lot to help our mayor clean the town SITUATIONS INVOLVING THE USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES The following examples of typical s:tuations involving the use of environ- mental resources for the enrichment of children’s daily living suggest the wide range of varied possibilities present in practically every community: [ 68 ] 67 Norfolk County, Virginia, Rural Schools Using Summer Vacations On the first day of school, the fifth grade at Great Bridge began talking about the summer vacations enjoyed by members of the group. When the supervisor came in, she was immediately invited to tell the class about her trip to Mexico. Then began an intensely interesting study of Mexico, followed by an elaborate “Geography” (in pictures) of Mexico, Canada, and other countries especially selected by the group. The Old and New Lighthouses A picture of the old lighthouse nearby was brought to school in connection with a historical celebration. Some child asked, ‘““Why are lighthouses needed ?” That question led to a two weeks’ research to find out the location of every lighthouse in the United States, as well as the reasons for building new ones. Writing letters for information, taking trips to Virginia Beach to see and study the lighthouses there, filing pictures of the historic ones, and compiling old and new stories into a portfolio of acceptable lighthouse stories are typical of the many activities engaged in by the group. Down by the Sea 4 particularly interesting illustration of the utilization of community materials is to be found in a study of sea life by a group of third-grade children in the Norview School. The group took a picnic lunch to the beach and stayed all day studying the wind, waves, tides, and changing beach, and making a collection of pictures and seashells. Upon their return to the class room, the information gained was written up in story form. The shells were studied and identified. An unusual amount of knowl- edge of scientific facts relative to water and its work was accumulated. The Weather Bureau A fifth-grade group of the Great Bridge School became interested in the weather bureau from an account of the amount of snow which had fallen during a three-day snow storm. “How could any one know how much snow had fallen?” was the leading question which projected a detailed study of the bureau located at Norfolk. This led into many fields of government services for the people. Valentine Experimental Program at Spring Hope, North Carolina The Snowy Owl A snowy owl that was killed near town was sent to the children by a frienc. Many questions arose regarding his home, food, color, habits, and family. This involved much research work, resulting in the development of some fundamental understandings Meanwhile, the group voted to use some of their funds to have their owl mounted at the state museum. Later, they visited the museum, and among other interesting things, saw the taxidermist preparing a bird for mounting Furnishing the Director's Office There were no available funds to use in furnishing the director's office. The children looked the situation over and decided that they could provide practically all of the necessary furnishings. Discarded chairs, a desk, bookcases, and cabinets were recon- ditioned. Several new articles were added efforts from their shop. In the end, the children were so pleased with their share in the final arrangement that they began a special program of beautification in their own classroom. [ 69 J 68 Children Petition for Christmas Decorations Miss Valentine's group wondered why their town was not lighted for Christmas like other places nearby. Soon the entire elementary school was organized for action All grade lines were broken down on Friday before Christmas when the mayor met in conference with representatives from the first thru the seventh grades to discuss this matter. The children united in a unanimous request for a town Christmas tree and other decorations. After various angles were explained in detail by members of the group the mayor offered his cooperation in trying to get special lights for the street and for the large evergreen in the town flower plot. These young citizens have resolved never to let their town spend another Christmas in darkness CONCLUSIONS \s a result of using profitably such vital and stimulating environmental curriculum materials as have been cited, the following permanent desirable changes are taking place. In the child—(1) A greater knowledge of the world about him and a growing understanding and appreciation of the values of his total environ- ment thru wide experiencing with all phases of his surroundings. (2) An appreciation of the contribution his community is making and can make toward helping other people live happier, more successful lives; also a social interest and pride in having a definite share in helping his community serve others. (3) A satisfaction and joy thru observing and discovering things in the sciences and the habit of using the knowledge gained to further one’s activi- ties in the home, the school, and the community. (4) A keener realization of the interrelation of man, plants, and animals as well as a desire to protect and preserve life in all of its forms. (5) The habit of accurate observation and investigation when studying natural phenomena. (6) Ability to think more critically and scientifically in planning and meeting individual and group needs. In the teacher—(1) The formation, development, and application of an ever broadening philosophy of education and of life. 2) The habit of applying the scientific method to every phase of the work 3) A desire to further study and develop valuable materials to be utilized in practice. In the community—Such a program is making for the expansion and enrichment of better individual and cooperative living thru the acceptance of enlarged interests and opportunities for combined, intelligent participa- tion in community affairs. References Cuerry, ANNIE M. An Experimental Program in Elementary Education at Spring Hope, North Carolina. Raleigh, N. C.: State Department of Public Instruction, 1937. 78 p. ConNECTICUT RurRAL ScHOOL PupPiIts AND TEACHERS. Reports on Field Trips. Hartford, Conn., 1934-35. Everett, SAMUEL, and oTHERS. The Community School. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1938. 487 p. GusTIN, MARGARET, and Hayes, MarcareET L. Activities in the Public School. Chapel Hill, N. C.: University of North Carolina Press, 1934. 290 p Hanna, Paut R., and orners. Youth Serves the Community. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1936. 303 p Harap, Henry, and otHers. The Changing Curriculum. Yearbook of Department of Supervisors and Directors of Instruction of the National Education Association and the Society for Curriculum Study. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1937. 351 p HocketTt, Joun A., and Jacopsen, E. W. Modern Practices in the Elementary School. Boston: Ginn and Co., 1938. 346 p McGavucuy, James Ratpu. An Evaluation of the Elementary School. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill Co., 1937. 421 p Murray, JOSEPHINE, and Baruurst, Errie G. Creative Ways for Childreh’s Programs. New York: Silver, Burdett and Co., 1938. 396 p NATIONAL COUNCIL FOR THE SoctAL Stupres (a department of the National Education Association). The Social Studies Curriculum. Fourth Yearbook. Philadelphia: Mc Kinley Publishing Co., 1934. 227 p NATIONAL EpucaTION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF RURAL EpucCATION. 1938 Year book. Newer Types of Instruction in Small Rural Schools. Washington, D. C.: the Department, 1938. 144 p NATIONAL EpvuCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF SUPERINTENDENCE. The Social Studies Curriculum. Fourteenth Yearbook. Washington, D. C.: the Department, 1936. 480 p. NATIONAL EpuUCATION ASSOCIATION, DEPARTMENT OF SUPERVISORS AND DIRECTORS OF InstrucTION. Materials of Instruction. Eighth Yearbook. New York: Bureau of Publications, Teachers College, 1935. 242 p. NATIONAL SOCIETY FOR THE StTupy OF Epucation. Educational Diagnosis. Thirty- Fourth Yearbook. Bloomington, IIl.: Public School Publishing Co., 1935. 563 p PROGRESSIVE EpucaTiIon Association. “Resources and Education.” Progressive Educa- tion 15: 184-264; March 1938. Tippett, JAMES S. Schools for a Growing Democracy (Greenville, S. C.). Boston: Ginn and Co., 1936. 338 p Chapter VI THE DISCOVERY AND USE OF COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN THE EDUCATION OF SPANISH-SPEAKING PUPILS L. S. Tireman A HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OUR HUNDRED YEARS AGO New Mexico became an outpost of the far-flung F cotoniat empire of Spain. For three centuries adventurers and soldiers flocked to recoup their funds in this fabled land of gold. They journeyed back and forth on the old trail between Santa Fe and Chihuahua, with Mexico City as the center of their political activities. The customs and language of these hardy people wete Spanish, modified only by the Indian contacts and the rough life of the frontier. The brilliant life of a Spanish grandee persisted undiminished on the great estates of a few rich leaders. In the nineteenth century there was another invasion of this southwest- ern territory. In those years there was a gradual and subtle infiltration of Americans from the North which culminated with the entrance of New Mexico to American statehood in 1912. These Americans were also adven- turers, but they were interested chiefly in trapping and trading. They journeyed between Dodge City and Santa Fe with California as the ulti- mate goal. Their customs and language were those of the Anglo-Saxon— free churches, free schools, representative governments, and equality of men. It was inevitable that there should be a clash between the two different types of culture. On the one hand there was the aristocratic and domineer- ing type of Spanish government with its attendant culture and on the other the democratic and liberty-loving. Anglo-Saxon type of government with its culture. One would think that these issues might have received consider- able consideration by the conquering civilization, but in the main they were ignored. It is true that some facts were recognized. Spanish was legalized as an official language, and the ballots, the laws, and public notices were required to be published in two languages. Indeed, a member of the legis- lature may today speak in Spanish or require an English speech to be trans- lated if he so desires. But in that great institution for the indoctrination of our national culture—the public schools—Spanish culture was ignored. No thought was given as to whether a Spanish-speaking child would make better progress if his schoolwork started in Spanish. No consideration seemed to be given to the utilization of the local environment. The little red schoolhouse of New England which had exerted such a potent influence [72] 71 on that section of the country was imposed upon New Mexico and expected to effect the same results here. The federal government failed to realize that in New Mexico there existed an environment which might require some modification of the curriculum of the little red schoolhouse. The people of New England were literate and deeply interested in education. The people of the Southwest were largely illiterate and not interested in the type of education which was given to them. While New England was rural, it had a great interest in the sea, and its land was populated with numerous small villages where trade flourished. New Mexico was a land of magnificent distances and few people. It was essentially a grazing and mining state with a semiarid climate. The cur- riculum brought in by the newcomers was foreign to the customs of this land and it has made little impression on the daily life of the people. It was based upon the supposition that each child should go to high school and college, which may have been a good plan for New England but has been a bad one for New Mexico. Elementary pupils are taught the abstracts of institutional law but not the significance, the happenings of. history but not its meaning, the rules of grammar but not its use, the laws of physiology but not their application. Forty percent of the total school enrolment of Spanish-speaking pupils is in the first two grades and only 4 percent in the eighth grade. Does this indicate that this portion of our population found the school interesting, helpful, vital? In forty-two cultural indexes cited by Odum in his study, Southern Regions, we find that New Mexico is ranked below the lowest quartile in thirty-nine. It would seem to be a sound principle of education that the schools should meet the pupils at whatever level they may be located and give them the richest curriculum they can utilize. One questions whether this has been done in the rural schools of this state. Since this chapter is de- voted to “The Discovery and Use of Community Resources in the Educa- tion of Spanish-Speaking Pupils’’ we will confine our remarks to that part of our school population tho we feel that the same principles have a wider application. The curriculum that will be discussed is being evolved in the Nambe Community School! located in the mountains of northern New Mexico. THE CURRICULUM AND HOW IT EVOLVED Surveys—In planning the work of the school for this current year four sources of information were used: (a) a survey of the land; (b) a health survey; (c) the publications of the curriculum laboratory of the state de- partment of education; (d) the diaries and observations of the teachers from the previous year. What the survey revealed—-Nambe is a community of 602 people, situ- ated in one of the many valleys running out of the southern tip of the ' Staff of Nambe Community School, 1937-38: Mrs. Mary Watson, Frank Angel, Kathryn Gallegos, Mrs. Mary Little, Pauline Mater, Tersila Olguin, Cordelia Ortiz, Marie Casias [73] le Rocky Mountains. Its people are Spanish-speaking and their customs and thinking are colored by this cultural background. Agriculture is the main occupation, tho a few men secure seasonal em- ployment in the beet fields of Colorado or herd sheep in other parts of the state. The agriculture is of the small farm type. The largest farm is 60 acres, the next 30 acres, with a median of three acres. Of 120 families inter- viewed by the Soil Conservation Service in 1936, 54 had no horses, 25 had 1, 29 had 2. Sixty-six families reported no cows; 22, one cow; 19, two cows. There were very few sheep and goats. The land is badly eroded with the consequent destruction of much of its productive capacity. Irrigation is necessary and in dry seasons the crops suffer. Health conditions are inadequate. Self-trained midwives assist most of the youngsters into the world. Many children die or suffer from ills which could be remedied with proper medical attention. Lack of proper sanitation increases the normal amount of disease. In 136 families surveyed by the school nurse in 1938, there were 103 deaths of infants; of a total of 145 children born in these families, 29 percent were dead. Of 175 children examined by the county health department, 23 were listed as malnourished, 24 with diseased tonsils, 2 with running ears, 17 needing glasses, and 40 with dental defects. Canning of corn, carrots, string beans, peaches, and apples has been well established by the county agent tho the popular foods remain pinto beans, potatoes, and chile. Meat is scarce. As in many rural communities there are several factions which strive vigorously for control. There is little organized community enterprise for mutual improvement and enjoyment. The attitude toward the school has been one of indifference or resignation, and they have sent their children when it was convenient. Interest in church matters has also been somewhat perfunctory. While this description sounds discouraging, this community is probably above the average of numerous other communities scattered over the north- ern half of the state. With these facts in mind, the school sets itself certain problems: Is it possible to construct a curriculum which would be more beneficial to the children of this community than the traditional one? Is it possible to influ- ence the whole community in such a way that greater initiative would be developed on the part of the people in correcting such conditions? BASIC CONSIDERATIONS ON WHICH THE CURRICULUM WAS PLANNED In planning this curriculum, we have had in mind certain basic con- siderations: 1. We believe that children do their best work when in the grip of strong purposes growing out of their needs. [74] 73 Native music recognized and encouraged at Nambe School. 2. Accordingly we shall try to find out what is most needed in the lives of the people of this community as they live within the general pattern of our society and minister to that before all else. 3. We believe that we can understand the child only in terms of the environmental influences under which he lives. 4. To that end, we shall constantly seek to discover and utilize the re- sources of the homes and community. . he fields, the arroyos, the store, the kitchens, and the shops shall be part of our laboratories with the parents and workers numbered among our teachers and accepting responsibilities as such. 5. We consider the playground and general recreational program of the community as an integral part of our curriculum. 6. We are concerned with the development of desirable attitudes and interests as well as proficiency in the basic skills. In addition, we hope the children can read and speak good Spanish. . 7. We shall utilize and coordinate the services of all the available agencies of the county and state which other schools can also secure. 8. The starting point in every part of the curriculum will be Nambe. The pupil may go to the farthest point of the earth, but he must follow the plan of going from something that is’familiar and well known to something that is over the horizon. Unless that connection can be established by the pupils, we will relentlessly omit that part of the curriculum no matter how sanctified it may be by tradition and academic respectability. [75] 74 9. We shall not attempt to teach everything that is taught in a conven- tional curriculum. If we follow these principles it means that more time will be needed to develop the selected areas of experience than is cus- tomarily given, and this will be secured at the expense of the omitted topics. 10. We shall allow the pupils sufficient time for planning, discussing, experimenting, and creating. 11. The curriculum will be kept flexible so that the present units of work may be shifted to different levels to meet the interest and changing ability of the various groups, and so that other areas of experience may be explored as our increased understanding makes their inclusion desirable. 12. We believe that it is the definite responsibility of the school to assist actively in the solution of all community problems, be they health, moral, economic, or social. Just as we have envisioned the community as a part of the school, so in a reciprocal way do we believe that the school must be considered a part of the community. The teacher and his function in the evolving curriculum—In discovering and utilizing community resources it has seemed to us from experience in several schools that the following considerations are necessary: 1. There must be a common philosophy between the various teachers and administrators of the particular schodl. It is very difficult for an indi- vidual teacher to do this type of work unless the teacher in the next grade above him is willing to build on the experiences which the youngsters have when they come to him. 2. The teacher must be genuinely interested in people and be sensitive to the problems of their daily life. 3. There must be a certain amount of ingenuity and alertness on the part of the teacher to discover the usable resources of the community. Many teachers are like the person who had never seen the beautiful sunset tho confronted with it every day. 4. The broader the cultural background of the teacher, the more easily he can find and encourage desirable interests on the part of the children and add to the material which they will need to study. 5. Above all, the teacher must be primarily concerned with the individual child. It is his development, not the mastery of the textbook, which is his chief interest. 6. In such a school the teacher must be conscious that his most effective work may be done on the playground, to and from school, or as he visits the homes or participates in the community activities. He must be “on the job” morning, noon, and night for seven days a week. In this sense he lives in the community as the best type of parent Jives there. And while it is not so accepted at the present time, we may look forward to a time when the school will be open (with a far different curriculum) for eleven or twelve months per year. [ 76 J UTILIZING COMMUNITY RESOURCES WITH YOUNG CHILDREN Because space is limited we can only illustrate the discovery and utiliza- tion of community resources. This will be done for children of ages eight to eleven. Bearing in mind the assumptions underlying our curriculum, we selected from the Scope and Sequence Chart * the following areas for this year’s work in social sciences: gardens, pets, farm animals, milk, clothing, food, occupations. No difficulty was experienced in initiating this work. When Abelito re- ported that the squash bugs were killing his vines and that the cows had gotten into the alfalfa and were bloated, the discussion naturally developed that information should be sought from the county agricultural agent or the state agricultural college. As excursions were taken to the farms, the mill, the dairy, and the.store, the children made lists of questions which they wished to have answered. When they found that much information was to be secured from the workers in their own community they were sur- prised, and as this was corroborated by the information gained from books they gained a new respect for these humble occupations. This has reacted in a subtle way to give them more confidence and respect for the daily life of which they are a part. It helps to dignify this life, whereas too frequently the rural school unconsciously urges the child away from the farm. For example, there were no tortillas or plain sewing exhibited at the school fair because they were “ashamed” to enter such common things. Here was a good place to begin to discuss this point. The exhibit at the school fair provided many leads for the various units regarding food. The display of canned goods enabled the teachers to stress the variety of foods which could be utilized for the diet and also to point out notable omissions. It was discovered that little cauliflower was raised in our community. Upon investigation, we found that a certain family had raised it a few years previously and thought that the only way to prepare it for the table was to fry it. Since this was unappetizing, they had ceased to raise the vegetable. This discussion introduced the possibility of pre- paring foods in different ways than was customary in Nambe. It was found that the people made little use of salads. Accordingly, the girls in the Four-H Club prepared several inexpensive salads which they sold at the fair. They also gave away copies of the recipes that were used. When the children observed the teacher’s interest and approval, their own pride and respect for their mothers’ work was increased 2 This chart represents an attempt to outline the topics which are to be followed, in the various grades, in the social studies. Ten major areas of experiences have been selected Securing Food, Securing Clothing, Securing Shelter, Transporting People and Goods, Communicating with One Another, Earning a Living, Conserving Human Resources, Conserving Natural Resources, Cooperating in Social and Civic Action, and Exploring the Natural World. Suggestive topics are listed under each maior area for the various grades. This chart may be secured from the Curriculum Laboratory of the State Depart- ment of Education, located at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, N. Mex 76 In the work on food it was discovered that many pupils did not know how to make cheese. It followed naturally that a committee should visit certain homes, report to the class, and actually make cheese. Recipes had to be written, hectographed, and read, all of which required thinking and planning. A study of clothing grew out of the interest in farm animals. They secured samples of cotton from schools in the southern part of the state. This brought in much geographical information. They secured samples of cloth from the Four-H Club girls and studied in an elementary way the weaves, use, strength, durability, and cost. Since many pupils were poor in reading, the discussions were summarized and dictated to the teacher who printed them on charts. These charts were much more interesting to the nonreaders than the conventional textbooks which often presented ma terial quite foreign to the lives of the children. Che discussion concerning rice was supplemented by a father who had been in the Orient. Certainly this added not only to the pupils’ experience but made a more interested patron The question arose, Why can certain farmers grow vegetables whereas others cannot? This led to a discussion of soils and the use of fertilizers At this level of school the children could not be expected to master all the information which could be developed on this topic, but many of these areas of experience will be touched upon again at higher levels where further knowledge can be gained. This vear we found a very fine “jelly-maker” in the community who was glad to share information. A mother invited the class to her home to learn more about weaving. \ father gave a demonstration of fine wood-carving the mail carrier told something of his work: one father showed how he tanned deerskin to make Joe's shoes. We discovered twenty-four occupa- tions in all in Nambe. The result is that the school and the community have been made a more integrated whole. It is not possible to do these things if the teacher is primarily concerned with teaching the textbook. The textbook is relegated to its proper place as a reference book. It becomes a source of information to be drawn upon as this living organism, the child, develops. The health survey made everybody conscious of the manv unsatisfactor, conditions in the community. The high death-rate of infants indicated that more attention should be given to child care, to proper diet, and to general sanitary conditions in the community. It was felt that on this level much could be done with the children in studving the locations of outdoor toilets in relation to the wells. Community survevs were made, diagrams were drawn, and models were constructed to show proper location. The neces- sity of screening the homes was discussed. In the summer, classes for older girls were held in which a great deal of attention was given to child care. From this interest grew a regular baby clinic which is doing excellent work. ree / 77 The following reading charts were developed from the above discussions and activities. They provide an organized record of the thinking and make a fine supplement to the more conventional reading program. Ernesto’s shoes—Ernesto has some new shoes. His father made them Saturday He worked all day. They are made of leather. The soles are made of cowhide. The tops are made of deerskin. The baker—The baker works all day in the bakery. He takes care of the machinery that makes the good bread and cakes we like. He wears a clean, white suit every day He keeps his bakery clean so we will buy his bread The garage man—The garage man sells oil, gasoline, and tires for cars. He repairs automobiles and trucks when they break. He greases our cars and trucks so they will run better and last longer. The men who build the roads—-Men make good roads so the farmer can go to town to sell his crops. The tractor pulls the grader to make the road smooth. When the road is finished a machine puts oil on it. We like oiled roads The old mill—The mill grinds wheat into flour. It takes out the bran. The water makes the big wheel go round. This turns all the little wheels in the mill. These wheels turn the grindstones and grind the wheat. Sometimes the miller grinds corn, too Ground corn is calléd meal. Meal makes good cornbread The carpenter—The carpenter is a good worker. He builds houses, barns, and garages He has many tools. He uses a ruler to measure the lumber. He uses a saw to cut the boards. He uses a plane to smooth the boards The doctor—The doctor does many things to help us. He gives us medicine when we are sick. He does many things to help us stay well. We should ask the doctor to examine us each year The nurse—The nurse helps us. She puts bandages on us when we have a cut or a sore. The nurse vaccinates us so we will not have smallpox. She is a kind friend. Beef—Meat from cows is called beef. Herefords are good beef cows. They are easy to fatten. Beef from a fat cow is very good. Beef from an old cow, or a poor cow, is tough. It does not taste good ‘lowing the field—The farmer is plowing his field. He is getting ready to plant wheat. He needs four strong horses to pull the big plow. He wants the plow to go deep down in the land. Then the water will go deep in the land to make the wheat Mutton—The meat of sheep is called mutton. The butcher sells mutton. If we keep our sheep fat the mutton will be good. The fleece from iat sheep is heavier, too. How does your mother cook mutton? The grocery store—The grocer sells coffee, flour, sugar, and beans in the grocery store The grocer keeps his store very clean. We like to buy our food in a clean grocery store. The food in the grocery store comes from all over the world The fiy—The fly is very dirty. Flies carry many diseases. Flies like to live in dirty places. We should keep our homes clean so that flies will not live in them. We should have screens on our doors and windows The following charts are offered as samples of the kind of charts which were developed to stimulate the very poor readers. The better readers used bulletins from the agricultural college and other books of conventional type Litter—There is ground litter under the trees. There is usually some litter under the bushes. This litter helps to hold the moisture in the ground. It helps the rain [79 ] 78 and snow to go down to the water table. People and plants get water from the water table. Native chile—Yield per plant, about 10 pounds; average size of plant, 24 inches; average size of pod, 5 inches; market price, 2 cents a pound; hard to peel; poorly formed pods; it matures and we get seeds; good for strings; 60 cents for 30 pounds. Anaheim chile—Yield per plant, about 18 pounds; 2' 2 times taller than native chile; average size of pod, 9 inches; market price, 6 cents a pound; average size of plant, 36 inches; needs more water than native; it doesn't mature; it can’t be used for strings; $1.80 for 30 pounds. Different vegetables—At the Nambe Fair we saw plants which many of us do not raise. Not all of us raise citron, eggplant, cauliflower, and summer squash. A good kind of preserves is made from citron, lemons, and sugar. Eggplant is very good peeled, sliced thin, dipped in beaten egg, and fried. Cauliflower is cooked in boiling salted water. Summer squash is white and scalloped, and is cooked just like yellow squash How to raise better crops—Some of the fruits and vegetables at the fair were much better than others. There are many things we must do if we want to raise good crops. First, we must choose plants that do well in our soil and climate. Second, we must choose the best seed. Third, we must plow, irrigate, and weed the garden. We must thin the plants if there are too many. Last of all, we must gather them at the right time Willie's farm—This is Willie's farm. His house has a flat roof. The house also has three windows and a door. There is a nice trail to the screened well. The well is screened to keep out everything so the water will be clean and good to drink. This well has a pointed roof to keep the rain water from running into the well. There is a good fence around Willie's farm, This fence is to keep out the animals, so they cannot eat the plants that are planted on the farm. The fence is made of strong wire and good posts There is also a good gate where [riends can come to visit Willie's mother and her family. This is the summer season. The clouds are bringing rain to the flowers, grass, and vegetables. The plants are glad to have the rain because they can make some seeds to plant another year, so we will have more grass, trees, and vegetables. When visitors come to see this farm Willie will have to explain what he has done to make this a good farm. The porcupine—The porcupine has a wide flat nose. His legs are short and his feet are flat. His body is covered with quills about three inches long. On the end of each quill there is a hook. When the porcupine is frightened, whack goes his tail and the enemy usually has many porcupine quills in his body. Many of the dogs around Nambe have been hurt with porcupine quills. The porcupine eats evergreen bark, green corn, and wood that has a salty taste. Protect your young trees Mother Skunk and family—Mother Skunk is teaching her family how to hunt for food. These little animals are good friends of the farmer as they eat grasshoppers, beetles, army worms, tobacco worms, mice, rats, pocket-gophers, and ground squirrels; they also eat berries, and if they are very hungry they will eat chickens’ and birds’ eggs. Under the skunk’s tail there are two little scent bags; when they are scared they throw off a liquid which has a bad odor. Wherever this liquid falls the smell stays for a long time Prairie dogs—The prairie dogs live in holes in the ground. They build up mounds of earth around their holes so they can see their enemies coming. Prairie dogs eat grass, weeds, and alfalfa. These animals are very bad for the land as they cut the roots of the plant life around their holes. This leaves the land bare so it will wash or blow away. The farmer should poison the prairie dogs on his land. Many times these little animals live together in “prairie dog towns.” [ 80 } 19 The poor types of plants—When conditions are bad on land there will be very poor kinds of vegetation. Droughts and overgrazing are especially bad for plants If these conditions last for a long time, plants that have adapted themselves to these conditions can live. They have very long taproots. A rabbit bush that Longins and Joe C. brought had a taproot that was twenty-five feet long. These roots can reach far down into the soil for moisture The in-between types of plants—If overgrazed land is fenced an! stock is kept out, and if there is a little more moisture than during a drought period, better plants begin to come on the land. These plants are well adapted to these conditions. They have both taproots and lateral roots. They are not the best types of edible plants, but are much better than those found on overgrazed land. Sacaton and brome grass are some of these plants. The climax types of plants—On range land, or on grazing land, if it has been pro- tected, there is a type of vegetation that is called “climax vegetation.” These plants are good for the land because their lateral roots are good soil-binders, and because they slow down running water. They are plants that are adapted to growing and thriving when there is moisture and grazing is restricted. They are very good edible plants for stock. The grama grasses, galleta grass, and others are “climax plants.” UTILIZING COMMUNITY RESOURCES FOR PUPILS FROM AGES TWELVE TO SIXTEEN From the Scope and Sequence Chart, we selected such topics as: Wild and Domestic Animals of Northern New Mexico, Birds of Nambe, Preser- vation of Food, The Story of Chile, Irrigation, Land Study, Transporta- tion—State and National, Pan-America, Water Cycle. Since soil erosion has ruined so much of our land, it was perfectly nat- ural that this topic should receive great emphasis. The soil conservation people came with pamphlets, movies, excursions, lectures, and demonstra- tions. A bit of land nearby was given to the class and they proceeded with shovels and hoes to put it in shape to resist further erosion and to start the long way back to productiveness. The forest ranger came and talked about the trees and the water cycle. In the study of our state a study was made of land formation, population, and crops in relation to water. We have found that the schoolgrounds make an ideal laboratory for this work. The ground is being terraced; trees, shrubs, and wildflowers have been planted. Every bit of rain water is diverted to a useful place in this pattern. All of these things have helped to make the children “land conscious.” In a few cases it has carried over into the homes; gullies have been filled up, cover crops planted, and water conserved. Next year we hope to begin an experiment in crossing native chile grown in the community with the best variety produced at the agricultural college. This will be a part of our schoolground laboratory. If we are successful it means a big improvement in the economic life of Nambe. American history is begun with a study of Indian life and the incoming Spanish civilization. This gets us into the European background and is much more natural than the traditional approach via Plymouth Rock. [ 81 ] &0 Utilizing one corner of the schoolgrounds as a land management laboratory at Nambe School. Pan-American Day gave us a desired lead to the study of South America. The children read about this in their weekly readers. They began to ask questions which the teachers promptly wrote on the board. What does “Pan-American” mean? What countries are involved? Does the United States buy anything from them? Do we in Nambe get anything? Do we send them anything? How does it get there? When the teacher felt that a reasonably good list of questions had been secured she asked, “Where can we find the answers?” So they got out their geographies, encyclopedias, and other reference books and went to work to find their own answers to the questions. The school fair led to a more advanced study of fiéld crops of Nambe than was possible at the lower level. The necessity of proper selection of seeds and rotation of crops became more evident to the pupils. The pupils also studied the effect of overgrazing on the land, asking, “What animals, and how many, could best be supported with the resources of Nambe?” The diets of the children in relation to the products grown in this com- munity were also studied. When it was found that certain things were im- ported, we had a direct lead into the geography of other countries, which was natural and extremely interesting to the pupils. In fact there seems to [ 82] 81 be no limit except that the study must be directly related to Nambe. For example, in our study of chile we were led into the field of transportation and altho this is a very secluded community, the pupils began to under- stand their relationship to distant markets. The children realized their dependence upon factories which were located in the East and the reasons for their absence in the Southwest. Someone will be thinking that there are large areas of information to which the pupil may never be exposed. This is probably true. On the other hand, the alert teacher gets leads which would not be suspected until he actually engages in this type of work. For example, when the children were talking about the irrigation ditches which are needed in our district, some- one in the class said, “T saw a picture in one of our books about drainage in Holland.” Or when the pupils were talking about the animals which live in Nambe, someone asked, “Why do we not have camels?” Again, in the fall they noted the migration of certain birds and wondered where they went. Any of these examples can be pursued if the teacher wishes to do so to bring out life in other countries or the adaptation of life to geographic influences. The planting of trees on our schoolground has been a great factor in making the pupils conscious of the need of conserving our forests. This easily developed into a study of lumbering in the United States. One could multiply these examples at length. The difficulty has not been in securing leads into interesting subjects of study but to select the areas which we felt would be most profitable to this particular group of children While it was not directly a part of the social study work, the girls were given an opportunity to do a great deal of sewing thru the Four-H Club. This is not regarded as an extracurriculum activity but as a regular part of the school. In their program they study various fabrics and have actual practice in sewing simple things. It should be noted that the conventional work in the elementary school has not been neglected. Diagnostic and standard tests have been utilized. Spelling, writing, and reading have been taught thruout in a functional way. English has been practiced because the youngsters have had something interesting to talk about. We have not tried to force arithmetic into this program unnaturally; it has been taught much in the conventional manner with a separate period in the daily program. Health has been taught thru the study of practical situations rather than thru the memorization of abstract ideas. Geography and history have not been presented as separate subjects. We find that the knowledge from these fields which is really im- portant to these particular pupils is gained thru the study of the units out- lined on the Scope and Sequence Chart. When they took the customary eighth-grade county examination, they were ignorant of some of the facts that are ordinarily tested in such examinations. On the other hand, the county examinations did not test their knowledge of conservation or land [ 83 ] 82 use. This situation was anticipated, and we had made arrangements with the local high school to accept them on this basis. The high school was will ing to gamble that these youngsters would have as much ability to attack new problems, to utilize the basic tools, and to think, as their other entering freshmen from the more conventional elementary schools. ADULTS IN THE EVOLVING CURRICULUM The effect of utilizing community resources upon the adults of the com- munity should be noted. The average daily attendance for last year was 95 percent as compared to 75 percent in the state as a whole. This affords concrete evidence of the attitude of the parents. They are glad to make the necessary sacrifices to send their children to school when they see the in- terest evinced by the children, and when they themselves feel that this type of curriculum is really beneficial. Occasionally someone is disturbed because ertain conventional subjectmatter which he studied is not stressed, but we have been able to convince him of the value of this approach especially since he knows that if the pupil goes to high school that he will have further opportunity to study conventional matter. Another evidence of the people's interest is found in their participation in our school fair, our school garden, the health work, baby clinic, building a carpenter shop, furnishing trans- portation for excursions, and contributing money for supplies. We do not feel that we have found a perfect solution. It has been neces- sary to readjust some of our units as the classes vary in ability and interest n succeeding years. In some cases the location of the particular area of experience depends upon the availability of materials. As new teachers ome into our system, it is necessary to build with them a philosophy and help them to orient themselves into this type of work. It has been found that when the teacher is given the necessary freedom and encouragement, he finds greater joy and happiness and challenge than he found in work f the conventional program. The chief argument for continuing this type f curriculum at Nambe is found in the greater interest and growth of the pils. They want to come to school. Last year a rural school six miles petitioned the county superintendent to allow them to transport all to Nambe. When the customers show sufficient interest to we feel that we have achieved a product that is worthwhile References Teachers’ Guide to Child Development: For Sacramento: State Department of Education N. Teachers’ Guide to Child Development in the State Department of Education, 1936. 631 p ition. New York: Macmillan Co.. 1938. 116 p . 84 Everett, SAMUEL, and oTHERS. The Community School. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1938. 487 p. Hanna, Paut R., and otHers. Youth Serves the Community. New York: D. Appleton- Century Co., 1936. 303 p. Horrati, A. H., and otrHers. Let’s Go to School. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Co., 1938. 434 p. Worrorp, Kate V. Modern Education in the Small Rural School. New York: Macmillan Co., 1938. 582 p. Zyve, CLARE. Willingly to School. New York: Round Table Press, 1935. 108 p. Chapter VII CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE NEGRO CULTURE GROUP TO EDUCATION Helen Adele Whiting lie CONSIDERATION of the environment in determining the teaching con- tent of school and school-community activities for the development of the child, adult, and community life is not new. Yet the question confronts us as to what systematic progress is actually being made. This chapter contains an account of what is being done thru state super- vision of Negro education to lead supervisors, teachers, parents, and chil- dren to greater appreciate the value and use of community resources and to utilize all available educational and social agencies to assist them in their efforts. The first illustration deals with what is actually being done in Georgia but it is typical of the possibilities of programs in any one of the southern states where there is a negro supervisor associated with the special state agent or director of Negro education. The Louisiana program will then be described to show a more elaborate organization and procedure, due jo the coordinated efforts of an able staff of teacher trainers, Jeanes super- visors, demonstration teachers, health supervisors, and home economics and agriculture agents under the direction of the state agent of Negro education. THE GEORGIA PROGRAM FOR CHILD AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT The Georgia program for Negro rural elementary schools is attempting to capitalize on the lack and need, as well as the presence, of resources in the community for child and adult education. It is placing great emphasis on continuous study of rural community life, the rural families in these communities, and the pupils’ interests and needs in order to improve child, adult, and community life in terms of the “Persistent Problems of Living,’ as conceived by the Georgia Curriculum Program The program of the state supervisor of colored elementary schools is con- fined to in-service training of the Jeanes county supervisors and teachers in fiftv-nine counties in Georgia. The activities are typified by cooperative study, cooperative planning, execution of plans, appraisal of results, recog- nition and use of outstanding work for the benefit of all thru (a) regular school term activities, and (b) summer school guidance COMMUNITY NEED—THE STARTING POINT OF THE CURRICULUM A case of the use of community resources has been selected that will serve to illustrate both regular school term and summer school guidance in one [ 86 } 85 for the sake of brevity. The teacher tells us in her initial publication on Chapel Hill School and Community that. . . the old well gave very little water . . . the location was very poor All the surface refuse .. . could easily wash into it . . . the clay was soft. . . . We then resorted to a nearby spring. The water was tested by the State Department of Health and reported safe. Very soon, a pasture was made on the hillside near this spring. . . .” The development of this study was under direct supervision of the state supervisor thru visits to the school, conferences, and corre- spondence. Three studies were issued on Chapel Hill School Needed a Weil including A Day in a One-Teacher School which has given great impetus to the pro- gram thruout the state. AN ANALYSIS OF THE ENTERPRISE The following analysis of this enterprise is representative of the critical thinking of the Atlantic University summer school curriculum seminar mem- bers under the direction of the division of Negro education of the state department. This seminar was composed of Negro educational leaders from Georgia. Their deliberations, therefore, will afford an unbiased and more thoroly representative appraisal than anything which the author of this chapter may attempt to write. The seminar members undertook to answer the questions in considering “Democratic Society and the Task of the Schools.” 1. How does the enterprise show cooperation of the people of the com- munity?—-The group report noted that “the adults helped to dig the well; secured and delivered the material—cement, terra cotta, etc.; shared their wagons, farm tools, mules; attended a meeting called by the teacher two weeks before the holidays. The pupils helped to dig the well; helped to mix the mortar; carried water and mortar to the workmen; picked up rocks to put in the well; gathered the tools and put them away after work time.” 2. Are there evidences that the school worked cooperatively with the home and other social agencies?—The parents were consulted before begin- ning the enterprise. The teacher held a conference with the minister regard- ing the well; the minister suggested the enterprise to the church members and urged them to cooperate; the teacher @btained the cooperation and assistance of the county superintendent. 3. What desirable attitudes were probably developed in the pupils?— Learning the value of sharing work and tools and learning to appreciate help from others; learning how school life can be made happier; realization that common interest makes work enjoyable. The evaluation of this enterprise in terms of the aims of education and how they function was guided by the following questions and analyses: 1. Docs the enterprise serve to form any desirable habits of conduct?— [>] 86 5. Docs the enterprise” provide for parent participation’?—Varents brought the windlass, carried the pick to the bl. “smith, and dug the well. The study of the “Scope of the Curricuium s:eveared the following ques- tions and inferences from the seminar members 1. How does this enterprise deal with the problem of health? —One of the main objects of this enterprise was to create in the pupils a desive for sani- tary wells. In order to give children the ability to protect the water supply in their homes and to give the pupils a greater appreciation of the impor- tance of water to the life and growth of plants and animals, the pupils were taught (a) the use of individual drinking containers, (b) kind of water best for drinking, (c) how to purify water, (d) use of water for other than drinking purposes such as frequent bathing, laundry, and cooking 2. Are any of the other persistent problems dealt with in this enter prise? The problem of earning a living was dealt with. Mr. Long was an old well- digger, and he explained many things about well-digging. Thru this enter- prise the children learned a great deal concerning health, earning a living, and the utilization of natural resources, such as location and distance of the well from out-houses and from the school, proper depth of the well, finding the cost of the material, estimating the minimum cost for a well at home, and appreciation of natural environment The study of the application of the principles of teaching and learning brought out some of the most fundamental considerations. For instance: 1. Did the teacher guide and stimulate the pupils? —Walking toward the well the children could be seen playing drawing water from a well. I asked, How would you like to draw water for our real use?’’ This was the cue for our enterprise The teacher’s approach was thru reading and discussions regarding wells and thru pictures of wells 2. Were the “Laws of Learning” used?—The teacher put the children in the frame of mind to want to know about wells. She aroused a state of readiness thru the children’s needs. The activities involved practice in and development of cooperation, creative expression, and attitudes toward and appreciation of pure drinking water. The success noted in the specimens of writing, language, reading, spelling, health, and in the expected out- comes achieved were remarkable. The pupils learned from actual experience how a job can be accomplished when a need for it is recognized by a num- ber of people. They gained a greater appreciation of the natural resources for use in their community 3. Was original supplementary reading material written for this enter- prise?—The reading material consisted of the story of why the idea started and what was done about it 4. What activities of the school were closely related with out-of-school life?—-This enterprise included conversations with well-diggers, seein and handling tools used in digging wells, study of the best ways to dig Oy &§ and prepare the wells for use, study of how to get our drinking water and of ways in which wells and springs are formed, study of how water is steri- lized, study of how wells are cleaned, study of the number of families using spring water or number of wells in the community, and appreciating that money can be earned by digging wells. 5. Were all the agencies of the community and elsewhere used in consid- ering the organization of the enterprise?—The home, church, minister, school superintendent, blacksmith, men who knew how to dig wells, brick masons, state department of health, state department of education—all co- operated in this enterprise. 6. Did this special enterprise arise out of the particular region in which the school was located?—The need for good drinking water in this community as well as the need of the school for drinking water instigated this project. 7. Was the enterprise well planned and evaluated?—The problem of health was exemplified thru pure drinking water and personal cleanliness. The problem of communication was exemplified thru reading, writing, and conversations about the advantages of construction and cost of sanitary wells. Thru the problem of earning a living they found out that it cost money to dig a well; it took men’s time to dig a well; material had to be paid for and bought from somebody; and that well-digging was a means of making a living. The problem of utilization of the natural environment for individual and social needs was paramount in this enterprise. THe Use oF SCHOOL GARDENS AND OTHER PROJECTS Every school is encouraged to have a school garden, and home gardens are promoted thru the furnishing of plants from the school hotbeds. Poultry raising, fruit growing, bee culture, and dairying are suggested as much needed occupations in our state. Year-round school and community gardens have made greatest progress; poultry raising is less frequent to date. The success of the vocational aspect of these enterprises is due not only to the use of the United States and state arriculture bulletins on the subject, but thru the cooperation of the state supervisor of agriculture in guidance of Negro schools of Georgia and occasional assistance from an agriculturist on the Atlanta University faculty. SoME SPECIAL SUPERVISORY ADAPTATIONS To MEET OuR NEEDS IN GEORGIA Technics current in rural supervision are advocated and widely used, such as county supervisors study groups, county teachers study groups, pro- gram planning, mimeographed bulletins, letters, outlines, schedules, special studies, demonstration teaching, and exchange visits to community schools used for demonstration purposes. Our three-year program has made some- what of a departure in point of view of a number of these technics. There- [ 90 89 School gardening enterprises are frequently seen in small rural schools in Georgia. fore, a few of them merit some explanation due to our consistent effort to identify supervisory and teaching procedures with the state educational platform, and the departure from the title and function of the so-called demonstration schools as they are generally thought of and as they operate universally at present. The Georgia prospective demonstration centers—The Georgia state super- vision program of elementary schools is focusing its attention on the estab- lishment and operation of prospective demonstration centers in the counties under Jeanes supervision. This administrative step is a device to teach a wider use and appreciation of community resources by all schools and to demonstrate what rural and city schools can do toward the development of the child, the adult, and the community according to the Georgia Pro- gram for the Improvement of Instruction. We maintain that a demonstration center embraces not only the school but the other agencies of community life with which the school should cooperate. It is my opinion that the universally used term “demonstration school” or “center” is inappropriate and too ambitious a term, sirice, with- out close supervision and guidance, it too often demonstrates what not to do. A developmental scheme for prospective demonstration centers has, therefore, been devised and circulated for our purpose. This scheme attempts to avoid misleading all concerned by placing persons in positions which demand leadership beyond their training and experience. It rather allows for a gradual developmental program of teachers, sciiools, and community life according to their respective needs. It holds that the teacher of such centers is never a finished product, but {91 ] 90 always a learner. This developmental program allows for a preparatory period thru which the schools must pass before they even meet the require- ments of Prospective Demonstration Centers I, the beginning stage of the course which is to be followed. An advantage of the prospective demonstration center is to provide the opportunity for teachers to see one of their group doing successful work. It also serves as a means of objectified theory, for directed observation and conferences. When all the centers will have met the requirements thru the several stages, there will be no need for this graded scheme as all centers will be relatively on par. The problem will then be, as stated in the guide for these centers, to mainiain their rating by the highest stand- ards of school and community organization, management, and progressive teaching. The practice book for child and community development——This adminis- trative device employs outlines for observation or teaching in a demonstra- tion center, and conferences to precede and follow the observation of demonstration teaching and community activities. It directs the teacher to specific teaching technics conducive to child development in life-related teaching: (a) physical conditions of school for healthful living, and (b) teaching and learning conducive to improved living. This book has proved a very useful instrument, not only for everyday teaching and supervision of school and community programs for improved living thru the use of com- nunity needs and resources, but also for observation and analysis of teaching and community organization by the county supervisors and prospective demonstration teachers in study groups conducted by the state supervisor and in county-teacher study groups led by the county supervisors. Supplementary reading material on rural life and needs—A set of stories for supplementary reading was written and circulated during 1935, the first year of supervision of instruction in elementary schools. This set of reading material was designed to give information on and appreciation of the use of natural resources and included such stories as: Construction of a Sanitary Well; Building a Sanitary Toilet; Growing Georgia Peaches; Using Georgia Clay; and Dyeing with Roots, Berries, Bark, and Vegetables. Since that time, the supervisors and teachers have developed reading mate rial on the pine tree, turpentine industry, peanuts, and tobacco Summer school curriculum seminars use of community resources—The 1936 summer school curriculum seminar studied phases of health, earning an adequate living, and communication vital to Negroes in Georgia. This resulted in the publication of The Herald. This bulletin was used as a study guide for supervisors, principals, and teachers of the state. Needless to say that suggestions for the promotion of healthful living were given foremost consideration. The state of Georgia was studied as a source for leads to life- related teaching. As a result, curriculum leads were established which in- volved materials concerned with: (a) agriculture in Georgia; (b) other , [ . | 92 9] industries of Georgia, and (c) the industries of the Coastal Region. Em- phasis was thus placed on the science and social studies aspect of the environment and effective teaching of reading as a means of acquiring in- formation. During the summer school of 1937, seminar study became intensified in the further study of life-related teaching and vital problems of Negro education with the use of the community as a source of materials of instruction. This seminar resulted in the publication of The Open Road. The term “life-related enterprise” was introduced and accepted by the seminar as characterizing the unit of learning in our state program. It is thought of as an individual or group undertaking based upon meaningful situations in child or adult life and is directed toward improved living. The 1938 curriculum seminar on “Program Making” continued to carry forward the idea of basing the curriculum on the interests of the pupils and the needs of the community. The group consisted of supervisors, principals, and prospective demonstration center teachers. The supervisors were requested to bring copies of their previously made community studies. The thinking and planning of supervisors, principals, and teachers pointed toward improved living in rural communities starting with conditions as they found them. The following is an excerpt from an anticipatory enterprise outlined during this seminar. Waycross is situated in the southeast section of Georgia. This section is noted par- ticularly for its pine forests. We realize that there is a growing need for forest care in order to perpetuate the various industries which depend upon these trees. With a realization of this fact the Waycross Elementary School is undertaking a life-related enterprise on forest preservation in Georgia The work of the enterprise will be divided among the classes as follows: Grade III the value of trees to man; Grade IV, lumbering; Grade V. turpentine; Grade VI and VII, the pulp industry. There are no first and second grades in our school A suggestive reference list and a suggestive outline with activities have been made for each grade based on the Georgia free textbooks and free and low cost materials. The Jeanes supervisor of Henry County, a member of the curriculum seminar of 1938, included as a part of her year’s plans an activity with the adults which was to take place immediately after summer school. Her report, received this fall, reads: Last winter we tried to give hot lunches in several schools thruout the county but due to a shortage of canned foods in the homes of these school communities we found it very difficult to get enough foodstuff to justify the hot lunch enterprise. It was found that most mothers can peaches, apples, and tomatoes and let gallons of okra, beans, carrots, pimentos, squash, and corn dry on the stalk or vine or die in the field simply because they had no knowledge of ways of preserving these foods for winter use while they are plentiful during the months of July and Augusi To meet this difficulty in communities where possibilities pointed toward a prospec- tive demonstration center, we gave three weeks of our vacation to helping the mothers to learn the advantages of canning vegetables as well as fruits 92 [ 93 ] The patrons brought along whatever vegetables or fruit they could spare. The canned vegetables were given to the schools for the purpose of supplying the hot lunches during the term 1938-39. After learning the methods and procedures of home canning in the canning classes each mother was to use the same recipe in her home Ways of preparing and serving foods were studied and ck monstraced in the canning classes. Each patron expressed much appreciation tor the information received Outcomes of This Community Enterprise 1. At Red Oak and Unity Grove schools the patrons who enrolled in the canning classes were organized into sewing classes to begin under the supervision of the Jean supervisor in October 1938 The county office has promised the use of the textbook, 7 he Vew First Course Home Making, to be used as a guide Services of the home economics teachers are veing secured in directing the work o these groups in planning and preparing balanced meals 2. School gardens at these schools were planted for early fall gardens to help suppl) green vegetables tor s hool lunches. §. Community cooperation in the school was aroused 4. The supervisor gained a closer relationship with the people and patrons o} the school communities The membership of the parent-teacher association was increased lure Use or COMMUNITY RESOURCES IN LOUISIANA NEGRO SCHOOLS From Jane E. McAllister who has been periodically engaged to supervise and develop the teacher-training program in Louisiana comes the follow- ing evidence. The training of the Louisiana teachers in the use of community resources is carried on (a) thru a supervisor at the rural normal school in Grambling, Louisiana, who does followup work with the graduates; (b) thru supervisory conferences during the regula: school term; (c) thru the summer school instruction by Jane E. McAllister in the in- service training of the Jeanes supervisors; and (d) thru the traveling unit composed o! rural teacher intrainers; home economics and agricultural shop teachers and a public health nurse who work with individual rural teachers and schools adopted for special guidance and supervision The work of the summer 1938 emphasized the survey of individual communities and a curriculum based on the discovered needs of the community. The result was a number of bulletins issued by the Curriculum Laboratory of Louisiana Rural Normal School during the 1938 summer school The Curriculum Units, simple but detailed descriptions of work which had actually been carried on in rural schools during the preceding school year 1937-38, contain several references to the informal surveys of community needs which supplied the bases for the units. In one case, the teacher made surveys of the sugar industry and cotton industry respectively; in another, the survey dwelt on standards of living, and units introduced poultry raising and vegetable raising as incidental means of raising the standard of living. The college nurse developed a number of units based on health needs of various communities The Jeanes supervisors made a survey of socially useful projects carried on by rural teachers, most of which met community needs and used community resources They also gathered classroom or school illustrations of community-school trends These they compiled in the form o1 two bulletins [ 94 | 93 The Course of Study Units was a collection of suggestive pre-plans based upon what the supervisors knew of the respective community needs and resources. One pre- plan which comes most clearly to mind was based on the recreational needs and re- sources of the town of Grambling and the campus The curriculum materials for social studies made special use of the industries peculiar to different sections of Louisiana. It appears that this type of realistic education among Negroes is re- ceiving more emphasis at present than it has since the time of Booker T. Washington, who so strongly advocated it and incorporated it in the pro- gram of Tuskegee Institute and its community. From Tuskegee Institute it has spread thru this and foreign lands. The principle so simply stated by Booker T. Washington, and with such universal appeal, was “Let down your bucket where you are!”’ References The following references are published by the Division of Negro Education, State Department of Education, Atlanta, Ga. A Day in a One-Teacher School Adjusting Schoo] Programs To Fit the Individual Needs of the Child Chapel Hill Poultry Enterprise, 1938 Chapel Hill School Needed a Well—Analyzed in the Light of the Georgia Curricu- lum Program Communication (Teaching Children Language Arts) Community Organization Curriculum Adaptations with Special Reference to Needed Improvement in Home and Farm Life of Negro Children in Fairplay School, 1936. Free and Low Cost Material: Classified under the Seven Persistent Problems of Living Guide to Developmental! Progratns of Demonstration Schools in Georgia Industrial Arts in Rural Schools Monthly Home Duties Record Our Life-Related Enterprise on the Hotbed—Chapel Hill School Practice Book for Observation and Teaching in Small Rural Schools of Georgia Principles of Democratic Supervision Reading and Language Materials on Our Life-Related Enterprise Building a Better Community, Tucker Prospective Demonstration Center, 1937; Gardening at Center-Hill, 1937; Soil Conservation, Red Oak Prospective Demon- stration Center, 1937 Reading Related to the Study of Sea Food. Risley School, Brunswick, Ga., 1938 Schedules for One- and Two-Teacher Schools with Emphasis on Reading, 1935; 1936; 1947 Sketches from the Field (Periodic Bulletin for County Supervisors and Teachers of Georgia on Life-Related Teaching) Solution of the Transportation Problem of Douglasville Colored School. Story of the Pine Tree—Evans County, 1937 Study of the Peanut for Life-Related Teaching, by Teachers of Early County, 1937 Teaching Pupils To Read To Understand Arithmetic Problems on Gardening and . Poultry Raising—Chapel Hill Prospective Demonstration Center, 1937 -The Life-Related Enterprise The “Open Road” (Study Guide)—Division of Negro Education, 1937 Turpentine Industry, Montgomery County [95 ] 94 We Needed a Well at Chapel Hill School—Chapel Hill Prospective Demonstration Center, 1936 The following references are published by the Grambling Rural Normal Training School, Grambling, La. Curriculum Bulletin—Suggested Units on Family Lilie Outline of Course in Health Education Rural Life Problems—Foods Phase—Unit Rural Life Problems—Health Education Phase, A. M. Stephens. Rural Life Problems Syllabus—Agricultural Phase, W. E. Downs, instructor Rural Life Problems Syllabus—Home Making Phase, Irma Green Jackson Rural School Teaching—Curriculum Adaptations (Syllabus). Unit on School Lunches Units on “Know Your Louisiana through Its Improved Ways of Travel.” Chapter VIII AN EVALUATION OF THE EDUCATIONAL MOVEMENT TO INTEGRATE THE SCHOOL AND THE COMMUNITY Fannie Wyche Dunn iy THE FIRST CHAPTER Of this yearbook, Kate V. Wofford has clearly analyzed the education of American youth thru the total of youth’s experiences in and out of school and has quoted a statement from John Dewey's Schvol and Society which initiated a new conception of school- community relationships for the twentieth century. In the development of this idea Dewey set forth the necessity of a radical change in the curriculum of the school “if education is to have any meaning for life.” ' The change he deemed necessary involved the introduction of active occupations “rele- gating the symbolic and formal studies to a secondary position.” He called attention to the waste in the school because the child was able neither to use freely and completely within it the experiences from his life outside, nor to apply in that outside life the learning which the school was pro- viding. This isolation of the school from the actual living of the home and the community must, he conceived, be broken down, the school must develop an “organic connection with social life,” and its “unifying aim” must become a “larger and more vital union” of the child with life, and his “growth in the direction of social capacity and service.” This new conception, in a somewhat elaborated form, and with a new title, focused extensive attention in a few years. In 1902 Dewey was invited to address the National Education Association on the philosophy underlying ‘the school as a social center.” In this address* he reiterated the inadeqdacy of the current curriculum for the education of children and added a new affirmation that everyone of whatever age or station was entitled to full opportunity to develop his particular capacities or abilities, expressing his confidence that in time the community would come fo see this as its duty, as much as it now regarded instruction for children. The school, he held, must become a social center, in the sense that it must in active and organized fashion promote universal sharing in all the intellectual and spiritual resources of the community A similar statement, with specific reference to the rural community, was made in 1907 by Kenyon L. Butterfield.? He affirmed the long-held y of Chicago Pr Proceedings. Washir tion Association, 1902. p ’ * Butterfield. Kenyon L. Chapters er 96 position that the school must train the child to live and assume his re- sponsibilities in human society, emphasizing that this training was to be for the good not only of the individual but also of society as a whole, and indicating as a means to this end that the pupil in the school should be brought into closer touch with the life of the community. In addition, Butterfield stated that “the school as an institution can be made more useful to the community as a whole.’ According to him the idea then beginning to be phrased, “make the school a social center,” included both these concepts. This new idea, he said, was being slowly worked out in a number of city ‘schools, and he raised and discussed the question of its possible realization in country schools. He pointed out, as Dewey had done, the course of study as a “means of making the school a social center,”’ and made the specific recommendations that the country child should be brought into close touch with “the whole life of the farm community” thru an “intelligent study of his environment,” and thru vitalizing and “humanizing”’ the subjects already in the curriculum by beginning with firsthand experiences of the child and working out to those things he must imagine; and that country children should be trained “to work to- gether for common ends,” thru social activities in which the pupils would cooperate, with resultant benefit to their own characters and to the welfare of the whole community. In addition to these recommendations with respect to making the schoo} a social center thru changes in curriculum, Butterfield indicated relation- ships specifically in terms of adult members of the community. These included cooperation between home and school, making the schoolhouse a place for the community meetings, “especially for the intellectual and esthetic activities of the community,” and community leadership on_the part of the teacher in “the things that make for culture and progress.” As agencies to be employed in effecting such relationships, Butterfield sug- gested some form of organization of teachers and school patrons to discuss matters of their common interest, with leadership and assistance from county school administrators, state normal schools, the Grange, farmers clubs, state agricultural departments and departments of public instruc- tion, and the country teachers and farmers themselves. By 1911 the idea of school and community relationship had evoked such widespread interest that both parts of the Tenth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education were devoted to it, Part I dealing with The City School’as @ Community Center, and Part II with The Rural School as a Community Center. The enterprises reported in Part I of the yearbook, as “actual experi- ments” in making the school a social center in cities, included adult educa- tion thru evening lectures, vacation playgrounds, organized athletics, eve- ning recreation centers, home and school associations, and civic and mothers clubs. Practically all of these were examples of only one of the two con- [98] 37 cepts which both Dewey and Butterfield had included in the idea of the school as a social center. They showed communities recognizing the needs of adults for personal development and a share in the “intellectual and spiritual resources of the community,’ and “making use of the schoolhouse as a meeting place” for “intellectual and esthetic activities of the com- munity.” In the few cities where they developed, they were community- supported, either by appropriations by the local board of education or common council or thru private contributions and volunteer service. Teachers and principals of schools collaborated in numerous ways, as hosts for meetings in their schools, as members of parent-teacher organizations, as counselors and cooperators, or as volunteer leaders of school children’s athletics during out-of-school hours. Thruout this part of the yearbook, however, it is apparent that the type of school-community relation which it reports was regarded not as the function of any single group of citizens but of the community as a whole. Indeed, the Social Center Committee of the Cleveland Board of Education specifically was “most careful not to put upon the teachers’ shoulders the responsibility for the success either of the program or the attendance,” altho it reported that teachers were ‘most hearty in their support.” Similarly, in an account of the Home and School Association in Philadelphia, the following statement * appears: With a system of education so overcrowded with that which has to be done “by the book,” there is little time or energy left for the initiative required in the new field of social education. Yet so loud are the demands of the age for the service of brother- hood, so great are its claims, that, despite their overburdened days, many teachers are rising to this opportunity and responding with the gift of themselves to the needs of their neighborhoods No instances of the curriculum aspect of the school as a social center appear in Part I of the yearbook, its references to educational provision for children being all extracurricular in nature. On the other hand, examples of curricular adaptation in terms of the child’s environment, as well as active teacher participation in community life, definitely characterized Part II of the yearbook. Jessie Field, super- intendent of Page County, Iowa, an outstanding rural educational leader of the period, gave numerous examples of such adaptation.* She maintained that if these schools were to bring a richer social life to the country they must be “redirected,” becoming “country schools for country people . thoroly efficient, and in line with the newer and better things for farming,” and bringing boys and girls a vision of the “great possibilities of farm life if rightly lived.” The teachers in such schools should belong to the Grange and the Farmers Institute, “but also the Grange and the Farmers Institute should belong to the school.” The teacher would know and use agencies * Grice, Mary V. ‘“‘Home and School Associations '' The City School as @ Community Center. Tenth Yearbook. Part I, National Society for the Study of Education. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 19il. p. 62 5 National Society for the Study of Education. The Rural School as Community Center. Tenth Yearbook, Part IT. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1911. p. 17-19 [ 99 ] 98 “working for more intelligent farming,” in such ways as making accessible in the schoolroom pertinent farm bulletins for the use of his “larger boys,” who in that day were frequently in their late teens. Schools in Page County conducted germination tests of the farmers’ seed corn, and farmers, coming to school to see how their corn had turned out, saw also the work of the school. The county educational office owned a Babcock milk tester which the superintendent passed from one school to another in dairying com- munities, and which farmers asked to borrow after the pupils had learned to use it by testing samples of milk from their own farms. To schools which had thus become social centers, farmers came and spent the day terracing the grounds while their wives brought dinner which everyone ate together. A teacher of such a school helped the farmer in whose home he boarded to select a sample of seed corn which won first prize at the county fair, or fostered meetings of the community in the schoolhouse, where the serving of coffee and cake contributed by farm wives made a social affair of the occasion. It was the superintendent herself, however, who made the Babcock tester available and who instituted a ten-day boys farm camp and later a girls camp, the instructors and helpers in both being drawn from the extension department of the state agricultural college and the county Y.M.C.A. staff. It was the superintendent who organized’ a boys and girls corn show and industrial exposition for the county schools each year, and an annual county parents day at the schools; who promoted the growing of corn by 600 county boys to be exhibited at the county fair; and who stimulated and helped each teacher to guide these activities for the boys and girls of his own school. Similar leadership and organization of boys and girls agricultural clubs were demonstrated by numerous state and county superintendents “as a form of rural school extension’’* in Nebraska, Illinois, lowa, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, and other states. In this work they had the cooperation of state agricultural colleges and extension departments, or similar agencies, which sometimes initiated the enterprise, as was especially true in the case of Cornell University. This type of activity was frequently incorporated into the regular school program. In the state of Ohio it was said that agri- cultural clubs, as such, were coming to be a thing of the past, so fully were their interests “merged with and served by the common public schools.” ’ O. J. Kern, a county superintendent in Illinois, while also mak- ing provision for agricultural clubs and extension courses for older youth no longer in school, gave special attention to improving the esthetic aspects of country living; promoting beautification of schoolhouses and grounds; emphasizing “outdoor art” in township graduation exercises; and stimulat- ing the desire for traveling art exhibits, well-selected pictures on school- 1 Tbid., p. 46 [ 100} gg room walls, and traveling libraries for country schools. He promulgated these ideas thru evening community meetings in the country schoolhouses and thru monthly study groups and round-table discussions of teachers. In these teachers meetings he said, *. . . the first thing emphasized . . . was better schoolroom work. . . . This is fundamental, for a teacher’s first business is to teach school.” * The leadership of the county superintendents of the period in the rural school-community movement of the day is one of its striking features. The civic, professional, charitable, and other organizations which in the cities of the day initiated and supported the social center programs reported in Part I of the yearbook had few counterparts in country communities, where, besides the superintendent, the only available agencies were the Grange, farmers clubs, occasional school improvement leagues, part-time ministers, and local teachers. It was this situation which made Butterfield, realistically facing the situation, question the possibility of developing the social center idea in country schools, determined his temperate recommendations, and called forth his suggestion of assistance and cooperation for the local com- munity from state departments of education and agriculture and state normal schools. An enthusiastic young school principal of the period, B. H. Crocheron of the Agricultural High School of Baltimore County, Maryland, strikingly demonstrated one interpretation of the rural school as a social and educa- tional center, upon which he reported for the yearbook.’ In a small newly consolidated school with ninety elementary- and fifty high-school pupils he threw himself vigorously into a community program. He early enlisted the aid of two small farm clubs, one of men, the other of women: organized a series of monthly Saturday meetings for the teachers of the small rural schools, as a means of introducing elementary agriculture into the curricu- lum; offered a series of ten evening lectures on soils and fertilizers for farmers, terminating in a two-day corn congress with speakers from the federal Department of Agriculture and the state college and experimental station; provided for women a series of Saturday afternoon monthly classes; developed a literary society of 100 young people, meeting fortnightly; ap- pointed and guided a committee of ten young men who conducted regular Sunday night meetings for young people; and made part of the high-school agriculture course the testing of seeds and milk for farmers, and summer experiments conducted by high-school boys at their home farms, with fre- quent visits from the principal. It was the education of the adult com- munity upon which this program centered. Crocheron felt that “ultimately one of the greatest fields of work of the agricultural high schools may be with that portion of the community which does not usually attend school * Ibid ® Ibid., p. 9-16 [ ror ] 100 at all and for which the school funds are not usually appropriated.” ‘" It should be noted that this school was from its initiation designed to serve the whole community. B. M. Davis,'’ referring to it in his summary of the yearbook, remarked that such service could be provided only where “the voting population” had adequate vision to make budgetary provision for an equally adequate building and staff. Among the soundest expressions during this decade of Dewey's and But- terworth’s conception of the redirected curriculum were the work of Hetty Browne '* in Rock Hill, South Carolina, and of Marie Turner Harvey in the Porter School, Missouri. It may be useful at this point to summarize these interpretations and expressions of the “social center” idea during the first decade of the cen- tury. Clearly it involved at least four contributory concepts: (a) the need of vitalization of the curriculum of elementary and secondary schools by means of active and intelligent relationship with environmental life, with the special desirability of an expansion of the area of school-directed experi- ence to include the home farm; (b) the desirability of further extension of educational opportunity to serve adults as well as children of school age; (c) the possibilities of the schoolhouse itself as a resource not adequately utilized: and (d) the existence of social agencies other than the school which might be coordinated and directed to educational ends. Not so clear was the means of implementing these ideas. Some teachers and school administrators attempted to encompass within their individual efforts all the needs of their communities, while others, recognizing the limitations of a single individual, enlisted the cooperation and contribution of many agencies. Some felt strongly that their primary duty was to teach the children of their schools, while others heard more clearly “the demands of the age for the service of brotherhood.” Few analyzed as definitely as Butterworth both the needs and the resources and formulated plans with both in view. During the second decade there developed a more marked divergence of expression of school-community relationship in city and rural areas. Neither space nor time permits tracing here the increase in budget-supported agencies for adult education in urban groups. Progress was made along these lines by boards of education, settlement houses, churches, and other social organizations, but the inadequacy of the provision is indicated by the extent of the work found to be done by the WPA adult education projects, the CCC, and the NYA of the last few years, and of that which yet remains uncovered by these agencies. We are still very far from Dewey’s ideal of communities offering educational opportunity to all their mem- ” Ibid, p. 16 U Jbid., p. 60-66 ‘? Eggleston, J. D., and Bruere, Robert W. The Work of the Rural School. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1913. p. 50-61 * Dewey, Evelyn. New Schools for Old. New York: E. P. Dutton and Co., 1919. 337 p [ 102 ] 101 bers as they now do to public school enrollees. Those enrollees, however, have increased tenfold among the teen age group in the total population, from 519,251 in 1900 to 5,974,537 in 1936,'* and in this mode at least has it become increasingly possible for everyone, of whatever age or station, to develop his particular capacities or abilities. This, within the present decade, has become almost as true of rural as of urban youth. Budget- supported adult education was also found in about half of the 100 rural villages recently resurveyed by E. deS. Brunner. It was in the redirecting of curriculum that important differences arose at this period between city and country schools. The change in the former came about in large part thru the elaboration and expression of Dewey’s idea of vitalization of education by relating the school offerings to life, and was developed, mainly in private and experimental schools, under the leadership of Bonser, Kilpatrick, Meriam, and others. Bonser’s industrial arts approach was the basis of the now widespread organization of subject- matter in such units as food, shelter, clothing, transportation, and commun+ cation. Meriam’s chief emphasis was upon the purposes of boys and girls which would arise in the course of their daily living, in school and out, as the basis of curriculum selection. Kilpatrick’s contribution, in the devel- opment of the project method, is too well-known to need more than men- tion. All of these partook of the element of activity, which Dewey had pointed out as essential to genuine school education, in a day which had eliminated so much of educative activity from the environment. All of them made perhaps larger contributions to educational method than to a changed educational content, tho Meriam’s selective factor, Bonser’s concern for intelligent use uf industrial products and sympathetic apprecia- tion of their production, and Kilpatrick’s emphasis on the felt need were all closely related to the content of environmental life. Moreover, there was rising into prominence, with McMurry’s Problem Method as an early expression, the new educational emphasis on developing the ability to deal WRelligently, thru application of scientific thinking, with the affairs of one’s world. As a result of these various influences the school began to look at its environment, to take excursions, to ‘study about” the physical and social aspects of the community, to provide active work with tools and colors, to practice “health habits” rather than to study physiology textbooks, and .to provide for “socialized recitations.” In the beginning there was, how- ever, little explicit statement of the direction toward which this activity was headed, altho the term “education for social efficiency’’ had become familiar in educational parlance. During the decade, however, were formulated two statements which have been widely accepted as guides or criteria for curriculum selection. «U. S. Department of the Interior, Office of Education. ‘Statistics of State School Systems, 1935-36." Biennial Survey of Education in the United States: 1934-36. Vol. Il. Bulletin, 1937, No. 2. Wash- ington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1937. Chapter ?, p. 55 [ 103 ] 102 The Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education of the National Education Association preposed the following as the seven “cardinal objectives” of education: health, command of fundamental processes, worthy home membership, vocation, citizenship, worthy use of leisure, and ethical character.’® Bonser specifically defined the field of the elementary school, as for years he had taught his classes, as follows: It is the purpose of the elementary school to provide experience in meeting the common needs of all, regardless of sex, vocation, and social status. Its content is made up of those activities in which everyone must participate with a like degree of knowl- edge and skill and with like attitudes and appreciations, in order that there may be a unified, efficient, and stable social life . . . Its purposes are to provide that general basis for health, equally desirable for all; to develop that practical efficiency in activities shared by all in daily work and intercourse; to develop those ideals and habits of civic and other forms of group activity of equal value to all; and to cultivate interests and means of recreation common to all.”* Further guides to the desirable content of education were offered, in 1926, in the Twenty-Sixth Yearbook of the National Society for the Study of Education: '* The curriculum can provide for effective participation in social life by providing a present life of experiences which increasingly identifies the child with the aims and activities derived from the analysis of social lifeeas a whole . . . Curriculum making includes three technical tasks of major importance: (a) the de- termination of the ultimate and the immediate objectives of education; (b) experi- mental discovery of appropriate child activities and other materials of instruction; and (c) discovery of the most effective modes of selecting and organizing the activities of the respective grades... . Thruout their school careers, pupils should be given opportunities to think about the problems, practices, and institutions of social life, to develop attitudes of understanding and tolerance, and to perfect habits of right conduct and creative self-expression. . . . Since the final test of learning is the emergence of appropriate conduct, the curriculum should be conceived in a succession of -xperiences and enterprises having a maximum of life-likeness to the learner. In all these appear steps in the development of a new type of curriculut “redirected” in terms of individual capacities and interests of the learners, and of the experiences possible for him in the social life of his environment That the “projects” and “units” which progressive education, beginning with the third decade of the century, began to stimulate and develop have been criticized as lacking in clear direction and social goal is not surpris- ing, in view of the fact that the leading curriculum specialists of the nation in 1926 indicated as the first task of major importance “the determination of the ultimate and immediate objectives of education.” Child needs and 15 National Education Association, Commission on the Reorganization of Secondary Education. Cardinal Principles of Secondary Education. U. S. Dept. of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Bulletin, 1918, No. 35. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1918. p. 10-11. 1 Bonser, Frederick Gordon. The Elementary School Curriculum. New York: Macmillan Co., 19/ Pp. 61-62 17 National Society for the Study of Education. The Foundations of Curriculum-Making. Twenty- Sixth Yearbook, Part II. Bloomington, Ill.: Public School Publishing Co., 1926. p. 14, 15. 18 [ 104 ] 103 interests were still the main available guides for selection among the potential experiences of the community. In rural America, however, two major occurrences in the second decade sharply affected the direction of the school curriculum and developed for it a quite distinctive conscious emphasis. These were the Report of the Commission on Country Life and the impetus to consolidation of schools given by the report, in 1910, of a study by the United States Department of Agriculture '* of the then existing rural consolidations. It was in 1908 that Theodore Roosevelt, recognizing that the problems of farm life had received very little consideration, to the detriment of the whole national life, appointed his notable Commission, composed of L. H. Bailey, Henry Wallace, Kenyon L. Butterfield, Walter H. Page, Gifford Pinchot, and two other members later added. Their report, which was published in 1909 pointed out “special deficiencies” in country life in six fields: disregard of the inherent rights of land workers; highways; soil depletion and its effects; agricultural labor; health in the open country: and woman’s work on the farm. The Commission suggested five ‘ corrective forces that should be set in motion”: agricultural or country life surveys; a “redirected education’: cooperative endeavor on the part of “the people of the open country’; the country church and personal ideals; and local leadership. Comparison of these deficiencies and recommenda- tions with those enunciated by the present Roosevelt and the present Henry Wallace evidence that the thirty years that have elapsed have not yet brought adequate solution of the problems. So pertinent are some of the findings and recommendations of the Re- port of the Commission on Country Life to the relations of school and com- munity both at that time and today, thirty years later, that excerpts are here given: ‘general Everywhere there is a demand that education have relation to living, that the schools should express the daily life, and that in the rural districts they should educate by means of agriculture and country life subjects. . . . The schools . . . are ina state of arrested development. . . . The country communities are in need of social centers There is difference of opinion where this center should be. . . . Inasmuch as the school is supported by public funds . . . it should form a natural organic center The school must be fundamentally redirected until it becomes a new kind of institution It . . . should serve the real needs of the people . . . not alone the arts by which they make a living, but the whole range of their customary activities . . . The most necessary thing now to be done for public school education in terms of country life is to rouse all the people to the necessity of such education, to coordinate the forces that are beginning to operate, and to project the work beyond the schools for youth into continuation schools for adults. The schools must represent and express the community in which they stand, altho, of course, they should not be confined to the community.” “Knorr, George W. Consolidated Rural Schools and Organisation of a County System. U.S Dept. of Agriculture, Office of Experiment Stations, 1910, Bulletin 232. Washington, D. C.: Governmect Printing Office, 1910 ® Report of the Commission on Comntry Life. New York: Sturgis and Walton, 1911. p. 121-24 [ 105 ] 104 Elsewhere in the report is the following: We must picture to ourselves a new rural social structure, . and then we must set at work all the agencies that will tend to bring this about. . Most of the new leaders must be farmers. . A new race of teachers is also to appear in the country. A new rural clergy is to be trained. . . . Together they will work, each in his own field, for the one goal of a new and permanent rural civilization.” These are brave, inspiring words—a call to action. But what action and by whom? It was far easier to call for a ‘new kind of institution,” “new rural social structure,” “new race of teachers,” “new rural clergy,” than to blueprint their specifications. These recommendations had to be in- terpreted in practical terms before they could be applied. Nor were efforts at interpretation lacking. The report was congenial to the impulse that has been stirring for ten years previously, and the educational leadership and would-be leadership of the day climbed on the bandwagon. As might be expected, however, the interpretations were not always harmonious with each other or with the report itself. Brim, in a “Critical Study of the Objectives and Needs of the Rural Elementary School,” has assembled scores of quotations *' from the publications of the decade follow- ing, from which some of the emphasis may be seen. Chief among them, perhaps, were the importance of keeping rural youth on the farm; increasing agricultural production, especially of food; vocationalization of the ele- mentary school; general improvement of the economic status of farming; and in respect to all these, the scope of the rural teacher’s function. In the main, they were in the realm of economies rather than of education, and, from our present viewpoint, none too sound in either. The consolidated schools which developed during this period usually offered agriculture, and, because agriculture teachers usually commanded higher than average salaries, this teacher was commonly the principal of the school. Consequently, the elementary grades of such schools usually had no expert direction, excepting in the few states where, in about 1915 or 1916, provision had been made for rural supervision, and so curriculum redirection on this level, whether in one-teacher or consolidated schools, consisted largely of agricultural “projects,” textbook agriculture, or the substitution of farm arithmetics and farm readers for the usual texts. Meanwhile rural teachers, continually admonished that the “work of social redirection and community building” was as truly their function ‘as the instruction of boys and girls in the fundamentals of an elementary education,” and that their social obligation was to build civilization “in every part ... not receiving adequate attention by other agencies,” tended, if they departed at all from the barren routine of brief textbook recitations in some forty daily classes, to focus on some recognized “‘social service,” rather than on the more difficult and less appreciated social service ® Jhid., p. 30. ™ Brim, Orville G. Rural Educetion. Rural Education Series. New York: Macmillan Co., 1923. p. 3-54. [ 106 } 105 of developing a new type of education for the children in their charge. The actual loss was probably small, however, for most of these teachers were too ill educated to make any fundamental change in curriculum, and at least their attention was held on the importance of school-community rela- tion, even tho that relation was perhaps more narrowly and less soundly conceived than it had been in the preceding decade. By 1930, however, it seems fair to say that distinct progress had been made in incorporating the life of the child into the education of the school, in the city schools largely thru observation of important aspects of social living and active expression in some art form; in the rural schools thru a narrower focus, mainly on the economic aspects of farm living, and to a less extent on the biological and physical features of the rural environment, with some form of actual participation supplementing observation and with far less opportunity for esthetic development. During the decade since the debacle of 1929, urban and rural educators have come much closer together in their thinking and practice than ever before. This is largely because of the rapid advance in the educational and professional preparation of rural teachers during that period, and the surprising fact °° that rural supervision not only has survived during these depression years but also has actually slightly increased in extent, thus continuing to afford for rural schools in about half of the states the leader- ship of a highly qualified professional group which maintains educational contacts on a statewide and nationwide scale. Before the nation’s educators there is now laid the task of the school in a form which builds upon the inevitable fumbling and mistakes, as well as the constructive and creative thinking of a third of a century. Perhaps the best single siatement of this task appears in the 1933 yearbook of the National Society of College Teachers of Education.** As therein conceived, the school faces the only partly solved problem of finding its place in the program of social reconstruction which is essential to the actual survival of our society. The period of crisis in which we find ourselves today brings out in sharp relief the social objectives which the school must serve. The citizen of twentieth-century America must realize the values involved in the struggle of the common man for security; must appreciate the fact and implications of international interdependence; must sense the edu- cative impact and influence of all our social institutions: and must learn to work cooperatively and under the guidance of intelligent leaders to continually remake and readiust the life of which he is a part as the rapid changes of our modern world necessitate. Society is no longer as static as it seemed to the rural leaders whose slogan was “Keep the boy on the 22 Gaumnitz, W. H. Status of Rural School Supervision ix ihe United States in 1035-36. U S Dept of the Interior, Office of Education, 1937, Pamphlet 72. Washington, D. C.: Government Printing Office, 1937. 20 p * Kilpatrick, William H., and others. The Educational Frontier. New York: D. Appleton-Century Co., 1933. p. 160-212 [ 107 ] 106 farm.” It perhaps can never be in the stable equilibrium which Bonser en- visaged. Adjustment in this changing society is to be achieved only thru a coordinated and continuing educational nrocess, in which the school plays a part, but not an all-important part, even for its own students. Its first contributiton to the total task is so to modify its own inner organiza- tion and processes that the individuals it trains grow both in ability) to deal intelligently with their world, and in the disposition so to do. At least it must (a) “progressively orient the student” in the life of which he is a part; (b) provide situations in which the learner will develop the atti- tudes and abilities necessary to direct his own action; (c) encourage in its students the development of a range of interests; (d) set up an environ- ment congenial to the democratic way of living for all its members; and (e) pursue a program of experimentation in reconstructing itself. In May 1938, the Tenth Conference of Elementary-School Workers met at Teachers College, Columbia University, to discuss, with the participa- tion of educational, social, and welfare organizations of the metropolitan area, the general theme ‘‘Community Agencies and the School.”’ The most striking point of the conference was the isolation of the school from all other social agencies, far greater than the isolation of those agencies from each other, and this in fields of distinct educational implication. The school knew little or nothing of what social workers were doing; social workers knew quite as little of the school. An important, if simple, reason brought out in the discussion was the fact that meetings constitute an important technic of social agencies, whose representatives have unprogrammed time free to attend, whereas the teacher is held in the classroom during the hours when such meetings commonly occur. There was, apparently, no organized way whereby teachers, at least in the city, could open or keep open the avenues of communication with other agencies. It was such a situation as this which the authors of the First Yearbook of the John Dewey Society ** had in mind in specifying, as of their concluding recommendations for the integration of the teacher and the community, that the school should be “so organized and administered as to free the time of the teacher for more effective community service.” A similar need of recognition in the teacher’s schedule of the demands of “‘social education” had been voiced in the 1911 yearbook. Perhaps no better presentday statement can be found of the chief social function of the school than an excerpt ** from an address by Kilpatrick which concluded the Tenth Conference of Elementary-School Workers re- ferred to above: We assume, to begin with, that the most important thing is the growing child. .. . For myself, I think that the school is the agency set up by society primarily to co- ™ John Dewey Society. The Teacher and Society. First Yearbook. New York: the Society, 1937 255 p * Kilpatrick, William H. “Granted the Task, What Shall We Together Do?’ Community Agencies and Children. Proceedings of the Tenth Conference of Elementary-School Workers. p. 65-67. New York, 1938. [ 108 ] 107 ordinate all the education of the child during school age. As the agency thus set up it has a primary duty to coordinate the educational effects of all the various agencies. The school is the one especially responsible for all the educative effects. . . . The school must, therefore, make a long-term program as it undertakes to deal with the problem. And as always when we have a long-term program there are two parts: one part that we can live day by day as we are introducing the new and better; and the other part, that which actually introduces the new and better We as school people have then to start out in each community studying with respect to the problems that have been brought out, to see the conflicts that assail our children, to see the possibilities for cooperation that the school has been ignoring. The school must be increasingly sensitive as to how a child is affected for ill, or how it might be affected for good by better cooperation between the school and other agencies. . . . The conventional teacher of a generation ago stayed within the four walls of the school, taught the lessons laid out in the book, and was content to stay there. We are now coming to see partly, not yet fully, that as the child grows up-into society he must live increasingly in that society; and the work of the school, therefore, cannot be confined to the four walls of a room but will reach more and more into the life of the surrounding community. Cooperative community activity seems the indicated line of work The school of the future is going to work along such lines. This will mean a school that puts the child-growing-up-into-the-community first. Not subjectmatter first, but the child-growing-up first; not a child-centered school; not a society-centered school. This new school will be child-growing-up-in-the-community-centered, child-growing- up-into-society-centered. And this new school will enthrone democracy in the school and in the relationship of the school with the community in all the things that the school is trying to work out... . And it must be so. Unless our children tvve democracy they will not learn democracy Unless they live and exemplify democracy they will not grow up to exemplify de- mocracy. Unless the teachers give most intelligent care to their chiidren, which involves study of other agencies and what they are doing with and for the children; unless the school accepts this sort of responsibility, and unless the school is able to work out along with the other agencies appropriate means of cooperation, unless these things happen, the education of the children will not go on as it should. It is this point we have achieved in the forty years of the school-com- munity movement. Forty years of feeling our way, but not of ‘wandering in the wilderness.”’ It has been more like climbing a mountain. New vistas have opened, new perspective has been gained as we have advanced thru the years. We have much better compasses than when we set out, and we are increasingly sure that our direction is true. Thru the devoted applica- tion of intelligence we may yet hope to reach the peak and at last see the way clear before us.