BULLETIN OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION. ! Issued Five Times a Year _ January, March, April, May and October os ! Se eee — eS Proceedings of the ‘Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the. Department of Secondary-School Principals of the National Education Association ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. February 24, 25, and 26, 1930 Published by THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION H. V. CHURCH, Saretery 3129 Wenonah Avenue, BERWYN, ILLINOIS “J. Sterling Morton High School CICERO, ILLINOIS ‘ . iS % Ge rat e's r reais Satan, Mau Sh a rete ah THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION Proceedings of the Fourteenth Annual Meeting of the Department of Secondary-School Principals of the National Education Association >! : at ATLANTIC CITY, N. J. on February 24, 25, and 26, 1930 Edited by H. V. CHURCH Secretary of the Association Published by the Department, 1930 CONTENTS OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT.......cccccccccccccccccecs PROCEEDINGS OF THE FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING, 1929.... Senior HicH-ScHoot SECTION FIRST SESSION “Some Forgotten Viewpoints for Reorganizing the Secondary School,” Thomas J. McCormack, Superintendent of the La- Salle-Peru Township High-School and Director of the La- Salle-Peru-Oglesby Junior College..............cseceeeee “Integrating Guidance Agencies in the Reorganized Secondary Schools,” Eli C. Foster, Principal, Central High-School, Tulsa, CIM on 0 v0cccpswwe nes Riaceeh an ph Geel enbenndebeaeeaen “The Place of Technical Courses in the Reorganized Secondary School,” William J. Bogan, Superintendent of Schools, Chicago “The Meaning of Graduation in the Reorganized Secondary School,”’ Bancroft Beatley, Associate Professor of Education, ree VND ons cosa cnnthennghes (6one adienveeares SECOND SESSION “Mounting Costs of Secondary Education,” Harry E. Winner, Principal, South Hills High-School, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania “Where Not to Economize in Secondary Education,’ W. W. Haggard, Superintendent, Joliet Township High-School and Jentet CORRE oo cdc nasccnccitagescccvctevesvarteperees “How and Where to Economize in Secondary Education,” R. R. Ritchie, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Atlanta, Georgia “Financing Secondary Education,” Paul R. Mort, Director of the School of Education, Teachers College, Columbia University v 19 24 53 IO uU Contents THIRD SESSION PAGE ee ere es ea: Sakis eR wee WR Re ea AP 67 FOURTH SESSION “Junior College in the State’s Program of Education,” Thomas Lloyd Jones, Professor of Education, University of Wisconsin 69 “The Junior College in the State’s Program of Education,” George F. Zook, President of Akron University ............ 74 “Standards and Freedom in the Schools,” Henry W. Holmes, Dean, Graduate School of Education, Harvard University ... 83 “The Outlook for Secondary Education in America,” Wm. John Cooper, United States Commissioner of Education .......... G2 Juntor HiGgH-ScHoo. SEctIoNn FIRST SESSION “The Cry, More Education for Less Money: One Answer, the Cleveland Curriculum,” Wim. L. Connor, Chief, Bureau of Educational Research, Cleveland, Ohio ...............+2.- 99 “Some Aspects of Vitalized Reading for Junior High-Schools,” Clarence Stratton, Director of English in High-Schools, Cleve- an ED 5 i. ee die plese Watrree thw bees ork eee 129 “The Junior High-School and the Secondary-School Curriculum,” Philip W. L. Cox, School of Education, New York University 135 SECOND SESSION “Articulation Between the Elementary School and the Junior High-School,” Barnett W. Taylor, Principal, Patrick Henry Junior High-School, Cleveland, Ohio ..............000005 147 “Articulation Between Junior High-School and Senior High- School,” A. J. Burton, Principal, East High-School, Des Dita, BOGE 6 vn nds cevcbud bxehed gts beaieewedese ees Contents PAGE “Articulation Between Senior High-School and the College,” J. Stevens Kadesch, Headmaster, Medford High-School, Med- Sel, Dinaee ONG: «6. 6s canes Gh is eead's knoeeeseeeedenss 168 “Articulation: Some Fundamental Purposes and Its Ideals,” Thomas H. Briggs, Teachers College, Columbia University 176 Junior CoLLEGE SECTION FIRST SESSION “Integration in High-School and Junior College Curricula,” Jesse H. Newlon, Professor of Education and Director of the Lin- coln School of Teachers College ..........cccccccccccceces 185 “Terminal Courses in High-School and Junior Colleges,” J. J. Oppenheimer, Stephens Junior College, Columbia, Missouri 195 “The Organization and Administration of the Four-Year Junior College,” John A. Sexson, Superintendent of Schools, Pasa- Gens, CORIOCOe: ic wacdecce etc Recebeias ceunten teen 210 SECOND SESSION “Recent Development in the Junior College Movement in Cali- fornia,” Walter E. Morgan, Chief, Division of Research and Statistics, California State Department of Education ....... 229 “Curriculum Organization in Junior Colleges,” Leonard V. Koos, The Uniweralty of CHROGRD «ooo nccccececcecvcssdovccecess 242 “Teacher Load in the Junior College,’ Ralph H. Bush, Director, Santa Monica, Junior College, Santa Monica, California ..... 253 “The National Survey of Secondary Education,” Leonard lV. Koos, The University of Chicago ..........ccceeccceesees 263 “Codperative Research in Secondary Education,” William H. Bristow, Assistant Director, Secondary Education Department of Public Instruction, Harrisburg .............0eee scence 271 Vill Contents “Cooperative Research Among Secondary School Principals,” Jesse B. Davis, Professor of Secondary Education, Boston University School of Education .........ccccccsssccceece “Cooperative Research Among High-School Principals,” William Martin Proctor, Professor of Education, Stanford University, GRINNED 6b cess i vdseccndecddsesbuccsneacdunenstaaeee “National Council Meetings at Atlantic City, New Jersey,” Meet- ing of the National Council of the National Honor Society at Marlborough-Blenheim, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sunday, PONE Bey SO vo vccvnudbscdneedabekvs tieeneseuknen “The National Honor Society” (Replies to Questionnaire, Janu- ary, 1929), Edward Rynearson, President of the National SU DO a 5 cena cdecssausndieenswesacteeeneeseal “Constitution of the Department of Secondary-School Princi- OEE. onus s cxvanvarne ene eeeseen As te eeNraeene tse cie PAGE 276 280 287 THE OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT 1930-1931 President: Louts E. PLUMMER Principal, Union High School, Fullerton, California First Vice President: C. H. THRELKELD Principal, Columbia High School, South Orange, New Jersey j Second Vice President: Joun A. Larson Principal, Senior High School, Little Rock, Arkansas EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE F. R. Born Principal, Junior High School, Ardmore, Oklahoma W. C. GIESE Principal, Washington Park High School Racine, Wisconsin FOURTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS The fourteenth annual meeting of the Department of Secondary- School Principals was held in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, February 24, 25, and 26, 1930. SENIOR HIGH-SCHOOL SECTION First SESSION The first session of the fourteenth annual convention of the Department of Secondary-School Principals was called to order by the President, Milo H. Stuart, Principal of Arsenal Technical High School, Indianapolis, at 2:25 p. m. in the auditorium of the Senior High School of Atlantic City. The opening paper, Some Forgotten Viewpoints for Reorganizs- ing the Secondary School, was read by T. J. McCormack, Superin- tendent, LaSalle-Peru Township High School, LaSalle, Illinois. SOME FORGOTTEN VIEWPOINTS FOR REORGANIZING THE SECONDARY SCHOOL Tuomas J. McCormack, SUPERINTENDENT OF THE LASALLE-PerRU TowNsHip H1iGH SCHOOL AND D1RECTOR OF THE LASALLE-PERU-OGLESBY JUNIOR COLLEGE PAPER READ ON Monpay, Fesruary 24, 1930, BEFORE THE FIRST SESSION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS OF THE NATIONAL EpucaTION AssocraATION, ATLANTIC City, New JERSEY. INTRODUCTION—ToHU-vA-BOHU When [ was a young man I went to school in Germany. At that time, which is beyond the memory of most members of this audience, one of the requirements for junior college graduation was Hebrew. | take it that this ancient and honored tongue was then considered in the nature of an “exploratory course” for the future life, and that it occu- pied the same functional importance in the integrated curriculum of that distant epoch as does Community Civics or some such other rigorous study in the salvational schemes of our secondary school 1 Department of Secondary-School Principals systems of to-day. My general recollection is one of extreme chagrin at my ignorance of the language, but also one of intense delight at having retained a lapidary phrase of its great literature which to my mind expresses admirably the state of current belief and theory con- cerning secondary education. The phrase is Tohu va bohu, and means “without form and void.” My contribution to this programme, therefore, will be not so much a presentation of new points of view as a critical scrutiny of the anarchy of ideas that lies at the basis of much of our educational thought and practice, and which is simply the reflection of the ethical and logical fallacies implicit in the reigning popular philosophies of the goals and objectives of life. My animadversions are to be taken as directed in no wise to the many enduring and signal achievements of secondary schoolmen and schoolwomen in the never-ending battle for the salvation of adolescent humanity. These achievements, which some day will rank as veritable epics in the annals of human progress, will be recounted by the speakers that are to follow me in the sessions of the next three days. And, in order to clear the way for the dis- cussion of fundamental points, let me say at the outset that the major part of the topics or movements assigned by the program-makers and the president of this section for discussion has assumed almost the status of educational dogmas. Few would now have the hardihood to say that the junior high school and the junior college under the aus- pices of secondary school administrators have not come to stay. The srahmins and the Mandarins of the higher culture have emitted their final ululations on this last subject. Terminal courses in the senior high school and the junior college for those not going beyond for their education are admitted. Rational economy in educational administration is an axiom. The transformation of the high school from an elimination institution to one that embraces the welfare of all, is conceded. The transfer of the center of emphasis in teaching from subject-matter attainment to the arousing and the consolidating of the interest of the pupil in all the heritages of the race, in every- thing that is human, until that interest remains a permanent possession for life and the ceaseless source of educational transfiguration for every individual—all this is basic, all this is necessary assumption. But back of these grandiose practical movements and conceptions, which are all in a fair way of being realized, lowers and lurks a pernicious popular philosophy of values—a philosophy based on mate- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 3 rialistic and sensualistic theories of life, and on zoological conceptions of the worth of life. This shallow and fallacious philosophy, under the cover of popular approval, has subtly informed much of our edu- cational practice. If unchecked, it bids fair to de-humanize all our educational ideals. The destruction of it is, I take it, one of the major tasks of educational leadership to-day. And I am now going to address myself to that task. THE ZooLOGICAL CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION One of the chief forms this philosophy has taken is what I term the zoological conception of education. It is not formally taught by Schools of Education. It is a latent theory concealed deep back in the fogs of popular opinion. This theory conceives man as essentially an animal. It places the ultimate emphasis on animal health as the objec- tive of life. Health is not conceived as means to an end. It is con- ceived as an end per se. Its corollaries are that diversion and recrea- tion are the goals of human existence. It has elevated “sport” and the cult of the body to the dignity almost of a popular religion. In many of our communities it has made our schools cock-pits and gladia- torial arenas for the amusement of an animalized public. It has made in many places the ‘‘pug” and the “fan” the arbiter and the shaper of educational policies. It is rotting in these places the moral and the civic fibre of our student bodies. Every nation of history that has dedicated itself to the exclusive cult of the body has perished. No surveys, no statistical researches are necessary for the establishment of this truth. THE GASTRONOMIC CONCEPTION OF EDUCATION Another form the doctrine has taken is what may be termed the economic, or perhaps better, the gastronomic theory of education. This theory conceives man not as a human being, as a person, with human objectives, not as an intellectual, an aesthetic or a civic animal, but essentially as a producing and a consuming animal. Homo sapiens here becomes Homo consumens. His characteristic organs are the belly and the back. The struggle of life in this theory is the strug- gle for the trough. The holy ark of its covenant is salesmanship. It is the sire of the commercial philosophy of education, which has moved one modernist educator to recommend that the mysteries of the installment plan be taught in our schools as an integral part of 4 Department of Secondary-School Principals the equipment of American youth for the higher life. It has given us night football as an instrument for the ethical uplift of adolescence, and in many towns has put the three balls of the pawnbroker in the place of the escutcheon of Minerva. Novetty Not A CRITERION oF TRUTH But the offspring of this philosophy is legion. Let a final example suffice—the superficial but popular notion that novelty is a criterion of truth, that progress consists in the adoption by the school of every device of distraction invented by science or industry, that no thing of worth is old, and that innovation is always superior efficiency. It has not yet attacked the multiplication table, nor the 47th proposition of Euclid, although both are noisome with antiquity. But it has given us the squawkings of the radio, and it has committed that ultimate un- forgivable atrocious sin against the Holy Ghost of culture of seeking to substitute for Shakespeare, Wordsworth and Emerson, the vapor- ings and the flatulencies of contemporary journalism. THE THEORY OF VALUES What recourse have we for the refutation of these fallacious and pernicious conceptions? I have intimated that our recourse lies in a critical scrutiny of fundamental ideas. And the upshot of this scrutiny will be clarity as to our ideas of value. The theory of values is the result of some twenty-five hundred years of close human thinking, and acquaintance with it is a duty of both the curriculum-maker and the curriculum-executioner. This theory affirms that of the many things desired by human beings, of the many things sought to be incorporated in their persons, some are instrumental and some are final. It asserts that some are simply means to ends and should never be cultivated as ends; that some have in- trinsic and permanent worth and others have only temporary and con- tributory worth. It maintains, for example, that health and wealth, while fundamental and absolutely necessary, are instruments only for the realization of the complete human life, and that no species of them, whether sport, recreation, diversion, leisure or the consumption of material goods, should ever be made the exclusive goals of human existence. They are the sub-structure and not the super-structure of humanity. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 5 Put differently, this philosophy maintains that man is more than an animal; that he is an animal plus his humanity; that he is more than an economic man; that he is more than an efficient tool to be used for the exclusive purposes either of society or of industry ; that he is also an end in himself and not an agency to be used for the ends of other men; in fine, that he is an ethical person. It admits that so- ciety and the state have made him largely what he is and that in return for its bounties he owes to them a high loyalty. It concedes that com- merce and industry have discovered the dignity of the material life and are indispensable engines for securing the foundations of life. But it denies that man exists solely for them and asserts that they also exist for him. “My son,” said a father in a recent cartoon, “you should live for others.” “But, father,” replied the son, “what are the others living for?” GOING TO THE IGNORANT FOR KNOWLEDGE It is my belief that a thorough grasp of these fundamental points of view is necessary not only for research but also for the formation in every community of that background of sound public opinion which is the basis of successful conduct of the schools. We have too long been meekly accepting the shallow philosophies of the unthinking. It is time for the assertion of intellectual leadership. Too long have we sought the opinions of those who do not know. Too long have we been the slaves of the sad philosophy of the questionnaire, which assumes that when we do not know a thing we shall be enlightened if we go to those who know less, and which believes that out of the addition of innumerable ignorances, knowledge will have miraculous birth. We must cease going to the ignorant for knowledge. We must not ask the ignorant what they think; we must tell the ignorant what they think. Never in the history of the world has ignorance shown its present aggressiveness. Ignorance formerly was passive and dumb. Through superficial.education, it has now grown articulate. The real danger is not ignorance per se. The real danger is ignorance in motion. NorMS AND STANDARDS Furthermore, I would have some attention given to the laying down of a body of principles by which norms and standards are to be determined. For example, in determining what arithmetic or what 6 Department of Secondary-School Principals spelling should be taught in the schools, I would not inquire what arithmetic those who are ignorant of arithmetic know, or what words the illiterate, or the half or quarter-educated misspell. I should rather seek to determine what arithmetic the ignorant ought to know and what words the illiterate ought to spell in order to participate accord- ing to their powers in the heritages of the race. In other words, I would reject the philosophy that whatever is is right and would seek to establish the philosophy of the things that “ought to be,”—a phi- losophy that would hold democratic education to reasonably high and human levels and not suffer it to animalize our ideals, to debase our speech, and to corrupt our manners. THE EncycLopepic THEORY OF EDUCATION Another fallacious theory which aggressive minorities ignorant of educational problems have forced upon us is what has been termed the encyclopedic theory of education. The encyclopedic theory of education was shattered a century and a half ago, yet it is born again and again in multitudinous forms. It is the theory that if in later life we are to be everything and to know everything, then everything should be taught in the schools. And so nearly every branch of knowl- edge invented and developed since Aristotle has been thrust into the bag of the curriculum-makers. The result has been plethora, anarchy, and indigestion—again Tohu va Bohu. The solution once more lies in the examination of fundamental ideas. Nearly all human science, nearly all distinctively human achievement arises out of the need of saving physical and mental labor. Science is essentially economy of thought. Mastery of any field in- volves economy of effort. It should be our aim therefore to set up this fundamental principle of economy in all schemes for curricular reconstruction. It is not necessary to know everything,—it is neces- sary to know only significant things, only meaningful things. If we know significant things, if we know meaningful things, knowledge of other things will follow automatically. The desideratum is type-things, and education should concern itself mainly with the construction and inculcation of type-studies and type-activities. Before many years the corpse of “transfer of training” will be re-animated and borne back in triumph to its old state of prestige. No transfer of training, no humanistic education. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 7 THE SCHOOL AN ETHICAL oR Civic LABORATORY It will be seen that I conceive the end of education to be primarily the construction of the human person. Man is not only a physical ani- mal, a vocational animal,—he is also an intellectual animal, an aesthetic animal, and above all he is an ethical animal. The theory takes full account of “individual differences.” It is the commonest fact of ob- servation that few people are highly gifted vocationally, or intellec- tually, or aesthetically. But it is also a fact of common observation that every normal individual possesses tolerable ethical, civic, or social capacities. Few of us become Rockefellers or Carnegies; few of us become Newtons or Einsteins; few of us become Michael An- gelos or Raphaels. But we can all behave. The ethical, the social, the civic scene, is the playground on which every human being can act a royal role and in which he can achieve reasonable fulfillment of the human life. The school, like the family, must be conceived as an eth- ical laboratory, as a civic laboratory, in which the human person, the civic or the social person, can be created and shaped; and the better part of the elaborate machinery of the school is to be conceived as engines for ethical and social gymnastics. In the Utopia of the future, the ethical gymnasium will take its place by the side of the physical gymnasium. THE EDUCATION OF THE EMOTIONS: MENTAL HYGIENE But perhaps the greater problem of educational reconstruction still remains. It is involved in the theory last advanced. If the main task of the school and the family is the formation of character, the con- struction of the human being or the human person, then the stability, the vocational and ethical efficiency, the peace and the rational happi- ness of that human being must constitute preliminary objectives to be realized. But these objectives cannot be realized without according a high place to a factor that has often been emphasized by thinkers of the past, but has never been organically incorporated into our cur- ricula or into our formal techniques of educational control. This factor is the emotional factor. It is now a commonplace of psychology that in most instances our conduct and our beliefs are determined primarily by our interests and by our emotions ; that we act first and reason afterward ; that the ma- jor part of our intellectual processes are employed to justify what 8 Department of Secondary-School Principals we have done rather than to initiate what we ought to do; that the intellect is the slave rather than the master of human passions and desires. Under the pressure of this new knowledge, character education is assuming new aspects. It is being conceived under the aspect of mental health. The greatest need of to-day for peace, happiness, civic and ethical efficiency is the education of the emotions, rather than the education of the intellect or the education of the hand. Mental hygiene is now taking its place by the side of physical hygiene as an indispens- able instrument of education. Recognizing individual differences, it holds that every normal human being conceals within himself some ideal that can be liberated; that our maximum selves or optimum selves are frequently thwarted and suffocated in their development by wrong emotional hygiene; that our personalities are largely social creations ; that they are constructions and not miraculous births ; that our undesirable as well as our desirable traits, attitudes and habits have been acquired by a species of psychic infection; and that if our persons have been wrongly constructed they can within limits be reconstructed. EDUCATIONAL GUIDANCE The concept of mental hygiene thus contains the promise of fruit- ful educational transformations. Much of its literature is still un- critical, but common sense will separate the wheat from the chaff. From this point of view, which aims at successful and rational be- haviour in every field of life, all forms of organized guidance will be integrated under the single concept of ethical or humanistic guidance. Unity and dignity will be given to the numerous un-codrdinated de- vices that educators have invented for leading pupils to success. The causes of failure will now be treated and not the symptoms. Hitherto, nearly all devices, such as supervised study, have attacked resultant states and not initial causes, and have blissfully ignored the deeper- lying emotional obstacles that paralyze the mechanism of attention, poison the springs of interest, and banish intellectual repose. Pure vocational guidance, which rests upon a false conception of the ends of human life, will be absorbed in the larger function of character guidance, which will find for every normal child, whatever his talents or purposes, the conditions favorable for his growth to his maximum and to his optimum capacities. This concept will also involve a sys- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 9 tem of personal and character ratings supplementary to scholarship, records by which every child will be better understood and better con- ducted to the realization of his hereditary capacities. In other words, education will become humanistic and supply some justification for any of us being alive on earth. Principal Eli Foster of Central High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma, read his paper, The Integrating Guidance Agencies in the Reorganized Secondary School. INTEGRATING GUIDANCE AGENCIES IN THE REORGANIZED SECONDARY SCHOOLS Ett C. Foster, PRINCIPAL, CENTRAL H1GH ScHooi, TULSA, OKLA. This paper presents some of my impressions gained as principal of Tulsa Central High School after observing for a semester the in- tegrating influences in the school. There is no attempt to list or discuss here all such agencies existing in it since many of them have been pre- sented in the literature of this organization and in other publications which will be listed later. If one should suddenly be endowed with divine power to cause all secondary students to think and act as a whole, he would at once be confronted with the question, what shall they think and how shall they act? No one is wise enough to-day to say just what everyone should think and do a generation from now. In this paper integration is not interpreted to mean that all boys and girls shall be brought to think alike on all questions. Individuality and independent thought are to be encouraged. Yet, there must be sufficient unity of thought and action for the organized school to carry out its educational program. Group consciousness is essential. We are not living in a Robinson Crusoe world. A large part of the battle of life is learning to work with other people. Only as a man integrates his life with others can he make it count to the maximum. The efforts of one student may be futile. But when students are harnessed up in a school organization— when their efforts are unified in one group the arms of everyone are lengthened and strengthened for useful effort. When a group of students get together asking nothing for themselves but that through 10 Department of Secondary-School Principals their organization they may better serve the school something fine is bound to come out of it. The elementary-school curriculum by placing emphasis upon the fundamental tools of learning has long been recognized as a great integrating force. The secondary school must also have a group of fundamentals if it is to integrate the student life. And these funda- mentals should center around those higher ideals which ultimately result in that mythical thing called character. The opportunities to make the integrating agencies of Central High School become effective in the student life come through the home rooms, the class assemblies, and the general assembly. The home rooms are organized by classes and there is a printed home room manual containing the core content for each class. The core content of the sophomore home room guidance program is an orientation study of Tulsa Central High School.' The course also includes much emphasis upon desirable qualities of student citizenship both in and out of school, and the practices necessary for the attainment of trust- worthy leadership and exemplary character. The core content of the junior home room is a study of the world’s great inventions and discoveries which have lifted the burdens of man and contributed to his welfare, success, and happiness.” The core content of the senior home room is a study of the world’s great ideals and the contributions made by the men and women of history to these ideals.* The home room programs for each class con- tain many guidance activities which have been presented by Dr. Merle C. Prunty in an article on “Guidance in Tulsa High School.’’* I shall not take the time to present that phase of the work since it is available if you care to read it. In another article Dr. Prunty has presented the plan of organization of the home room as a guidance and integrating agency. 1 Sophomore Home Room Manual, Senior High School, Tulsa Oklahoma. 2 Junior Home Room Manual, Senior High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 3 Senior Home Room Manual, Senior High School, Tulsa, Oklahoma. 4 Guidance in Tulsa High School, Merle C. Prunty, Vocational Guidance Magazine, December 1927, pp. 122-128 5 A High-School Vocational Guidance Program in Operation, Merle C. Prunty, Bulletin No. 20 of the National Association of Secondary-School Principals, pp. 185-193. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 11 The activity program and the various student organizations have been presented by Miss Floy V. Elliott, Dean of Girls in Tulsa High School.! Therefore, I shall leave that out of this discussion. I have selected for this paper some of those integrating agencies in Tulsa High School which, in my judgment, are contributing very greatly to the development of a higher idealism and which are welding the student body into a unified group which makes possible the carry- ing forward of worthwhile projects. I am discussing these agencies as they were handed to me by Dr. Merle Prunty and if I should seem enthusiastic about this program, please remember that I had little or nothing to do with its organization. THE APPEAL TO THE GREAT SPIRIT.—This statue, which is considered Cyrus E. Dallin’s masterpiece, stands just inside the main entrance of Tulsa High School. A second one is in the trophy room on the main floor. The Appeal to the Great Spirit has become a great integrating force in inspiring the student’s life to higher ideals. The Official Seal, the Coat of Arms, the school song, and the school hymn are built around the ideal of the Great Spirit. The school paper, the annual, the home room manuals, and the Manual of Administration and many of the printed forms carry the message of the Great Spirit to the students. It is a silent reminder of things lovely and bright and up- lifting. Every loyal citizen of Central High School respects this statue as a symbol of the highest attainment of a worthy character. THE ART FUND.—This was started in 1924 with the National Honor Society as sponsor, for the purpose of securing money to pur- chase works of art and paintings of old masters. This is the only fund to which students are asked to contribute. Great has been the success of the fund for through it Tulsa High School has’ purchased: Autumn, by Weigand; Moonlight, by Bogart ; The Growth Under Difficulty, by Sandzen; Winter Stream, by Baker ; Woodstock Village in Winter, by Grouppe; Willit Lott’s House, by Schofield, and $2,500 worth of reproductions of famous paintings which have been placed in the classrooms. Picking Herbs, by Ufer, and Clipper Ships, by Tyler, have been given to the school by gradu- 1A Socialization Program for Girls, Floy V. Elliott, National Association of Deans of Women, Fourteenth Yearbook 1927, pp. 141-149. 12 Department of Secondary-School Principals ating classes, or by persons interested in the high-school project. The two marble statues, Venus de Milo and Apollo Belvidere, were given to Tulsa High School by J. J. Culbertson of Paris, Texas, as a token of appreciation of the city and schools of Tulsa. The students hope through this method to make Tulsa High School's art collection rank with the best high-school collections in the United States. Here I wish to include a part of a general assembly devoted to art. The introductory remarks by the student chairman follow: “Cyrus E. Dallin in his masterpiece the Great Spirit typifies the Indian in his worship of the supreme power. Following the Red Man as we have it is fitting that we place this symbol of inspiration in our school, because through the education that our school affords we look not only up but forward seeking progress with our aspiration. “While looking forward in material fortunes we seek to cultivate the youth and beauty that the marble busts of Venus and Apollo symbolize. “Recognizing these inspirational values we are constantly re- minded, by the busts of great men in our halls, that as the poet has said, ‘We, too, may make our lives sublime.’ “Voltaire was a leader in intellectual liberty ; Lincoln the interna- tional symbol of character; Lindbergh is resolution; Washington steadfastness ; Jefferson the seer who put the golden rule into prac- tical form; Napoleon the master of men; John Adams, a man whose religion was human fellowship; Van Buren, a man of single purpose ; Benjamin Franklin the sage who sweetened sincerity with wholesome humor. Washington Irving saw life through the eyes of the eagle; while Longfellow warmed men’s hopes on the home hearth; and Paul Revere taught us to dodge no duty. “No less great are the masters of art, of representation and design than these masters of life. Neither is their contribution smaller for by their understanding and appreciation of nature they make our lives fuller and richer. “The master painters bring us daily reminders of Nature’s beauty and bounty that act as a compliment to the inspirational powers of the great deeds.” Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 13 The chairman then presented another student who gave the fol- lowing talk on “The Angelus” : “Jean Francois Millet extended the subject of landscape so as to include the life of the peasantry. The son of a small farmer, at Gruchy in Normandy, he had the instinct of the peasant in his blood. And as he used to say, continually heard in his soul, ‘the cry of the soil.’ After trying to support himself by painting subjects in the vein of Boucher, he painted ‘The Winnower,’ which secured an immediate purchaser. He resolved henceforth to paint only subjects of his own choice so he settled in Barbizon. He studied the peasants in their personal connection with life. He was not a skillful painter; he did not think or feel in color, but in form. He treated his figures with planes and masses to which the actual lines served as contours. Millet is the interpreter not only of the laborer, but of the dignity of labor.” The curtains opened here revealing a life representation of the picture. This part of speech was given to a musical setting—‘“Organ Chimes” played on the Memorial Organ. “In Millet’s most popular picture, ‘The Angelus,’ the interest depends largely upon the sentiment of the picture. The expressed thought, the whole story, hinges upon the sound of a churchbell—the Angelus bell at sunset. Now, how does Millet attempt to picture that sound? Why, by painting, far back in the distance, a church-spire seen against a sunset sky and in the foreground two peasants with bowed heads. But, the most brilliant colors make no sound, so it is no wonder that there have been half a dozen different readings of the picture’s meaning. This picture is privately owned.” In a similar manner the following pictures were presented : 1. Reynolds . . . Age of Innocence 2. Hals ... The Guitar Player 3. James Whistler . . . The Artist’s Mother 4. Goya . . . The Water Carrier THE MEMORIAL ORGAN.—The class of 1924, looking far into the future, left its graduation gift to be applied on the initial pur- chase of a great high-school organ. The classes of 1925, 1926, and 1927 followed their worthy example. The other classes, adhering to the precedent established by these former classes, have voted to leave their graduation gifts to the organ fund. 14 Department of Secondary-School Principals The organ was purchased and installed as a memorial to the gradu- ates of Tulsa Central High School in 1926, at a cost of approximately $38,000. In the spring of 1929 the classes had paid a total of $17,613.04 of this amount. This great organ thus becomes an immortal gift to this community and to the graduating youth of Tulsa. Its spiritual values can be but vaguely estimated. It is, however, dedicated with the full assurance that it will in- spire, elevate, and intensify the emotions of all, both within and without the school, who experience its power, and its dedication will ever stand as a significant event in the impressive history of Tulsa High School. The students look upon the organ as an instrument which they are providing. A very extensive use is made of it through special assemblies, class assemblies, general assemblies, Sunday afternoon concerts, and all musical performances of the school. It plays an im- portant part in the life of the student body as well as the patrons. THE MESSIAH.—Each year, Handel’s great Christmas oratorio, the “Messiah”’ is studied and sung by the choral groups in the school. Merely to have enunciated the words of the text in this masterpiece must strongly influence one, but to have combined word and music, in a great ensemble with several hundred others, each one intent upon a faithful portrayal of the events pictured in the life of our Savior, pro- duces an emotional reaction which cannot be denied. During the three years of their membership in the school, many students take part in the presentations of the “Messiah” three times before the entire school body, and three other times before the gen- eral public. Furthermore, from year to year, students who have graduated from the school ask permission to return to sing the “Mes- siah.” In this manner, music is carried directly into the community life of the former students in a cultural and recreational capacity, a little more definitely, possibly, than other things studied in school. It does not require a very great stretch of imagination to hear large audiences joining in singing many of the great choruses of the “Messiah” in the near future, in Tulsa. THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY .—The students enter by home rooms to the tune of a march played on the Memorial Organ. The program is in two parts. Part I is a formal opening and is not varied. on Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 1 Part I Meomh& .§ « «© © ee «e @ es + eee Come. Beh. ic es et . « « « «+ Boy Scouts The Pledge of Allegiance . . . . . . «Assembly The Star Spangled Banner. . . . . . «Assembly The Student’s Creed . . . . . . . . Assembly “Where the Arkansas is Winding’ . . . . Assembly (School Song) Announcements. . . . . . . « ~~ ~ Principal ee Scripture and Prayer . . . . . . . . Student Amen Chant... . . . «. «~~ «Memorial Organ Part I proceeds without announcement. The assembly rises as the organ plays “To the Colors.” The flag is brought down the center aisle from the rear of the auditorium and placed on the stage. The scout steps out and leads the assembly in “The Pledge of Allegiance.” The director of music leads the Star Spangled Banner and a student leads the assembly in the Student’s Creed which is as follows; “T believe in honest work, in generous comradeship, in the courage of high convictions. I believe in the inspiration that comes from con- tact with all that is truest and best, in books, in people, in life. I believe in loyalty to our high school, the fostering mother of these ideals, and I pledge her my allegiance in all her undertakings ; in all that will make her a stronger and nobler school.” This is followed by the school song at the close of which the audi- torium becomes seated. The school song follows: Tusa Hicu Where the Arkansas is winding, and the Osage Hills look down, Proudly stands our Tulsa High School, bearing nation-wide renown, Its true bonds can ne’er be broken, nor its loyal spirit die, Ever staunch we'll stand together, ever bound by mem’ry’s tie. Chorus Let us now our voices raise In a joyful song of praise. For we love the Tulsa spirit—never drifting with the stream. Then in faith and charity May our motto ever be, “Here’s a heart for Tulsa High School For the Crimson and the Cream.” We are proud of our Great Spirit, that upholds ideals so bright, And our school shall e’er be noted for its virtue and its might. To our teachers and our classmates, may we ever loyal be, May the spark of present friendship live and burn eternally. 16 Department of Secondary-School Principals The principal makes announcements which are designed to help create an atmosphere for the program which is to follow or com- mends individuals or organizations who have made worthwhile contri- butions to the school or community life. The chairman, a student, is then presented by the principal and he presides through the remainder of the assembly. He then announces the school hymn to be followed by scripture and prayer. The words of the school hymn and Student's Prayer follow: Scuoo. Hymn O, Great Spirit, at thy call, We have pledged our youth: Ever climbing, one and all Seek eternal truth. With thy standard at our side, Bound by purpose high: Thou, Great Spirit, be our guide, Where thy way may lie. With thy vision light our eyes, Show thy heights above, Grant us wisdom, thou art wise, Teach us thy great love. Consecrate our aim sincere, Cleanse each inmost soul: O Great Spirit, be thou near, Distant shines the goal. For the beauty through each day Joy and friendship true, Gifts of things along the way, Hear our thanks anew. When we gain the farthest height, By thy wisdom taught, We shall find thee, Truth and Light, Thou art all we sought. STUDENT'S PRAYER To be ever conscious of my unity with God, to listen for His voice, and hear no other call. To separate all error from my thought of man, and see him only as my father’s image, to show him reverence and share with my holiest treasures. To keep my mental home a sacred place, golden with gratitude, redolent with love, white with purity, cleansed from the flesh. To send no thought into the world that will not bless, or cheer, or purify, or heal. To have no aim but to make earth a fairer, holier place, and to rise each day into a higher sense of life and love. Amen chant on the Memorial Organ. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 17 When Part I of the assembly was instituted a few years ago there was some doubt, in the minds of the committee, of its success. But after it was tried for a semester the students voted almost unanimously to continue the plan. It is now a very important part of Tulsa High School's integrating agencies. I have heard of nothing to equal this part of the assembly in any high school anywhere in the country. Its impressiveness and influence upon those in attendance must result in lifting them to higher and finer thoughts. The benefit to 2,500 students assembled each week is enormous. Part II of the assembly varies from week to week but is in keeping with Part I as an influence for developing higher ideals and in pro- moting school loyalty. SPEAKERS’ BUREAU .—This is an organization made up of students whose citizenship and scholastic record and ability as public speakers justifies their becoming spokesmen for the activities and ideals of the school. There are approximately twenty-five students under the direction of the director of extra-curriculum activities. They assemble each morning at 8:00, thirty minutes before the regu- lar opening of school, and continue through the home room period until 9:00. They are called upon by the Advertising Board, civic organiza- tions, special assemblies, class assemblies, and home rooms. They are constantly in demand and help to carry to the students and patrons the program of activities sponsored by the high school. HOME ROOM PATRONESSES.—Each home room selects a patroness who becomes associated with the students of the home room, meeting with them and with the teacher and attending regular monthly meetings with the class director and all the home room patronesses of the class. It is the duty of the patroness to keep informed as to the needs and activities of her home room, to get in touch with all the mothers of the children in the home room, to advertise and support the activities of the school, and encourage the attendance of patronesses at the regular Parent-Teacher Association meetings. These patronesses become disseminators of correct information about the school. Many instances could be related of where they have corrected erroneous im- pressions which might have spread discontent had the school not had the interest and support of a patroness who had the facts. 18 Department of Secondary-School Principals This common understanding which results from these people coming together in the school and learning of its program through personal contact is one of the valuable contributions of the Parent- Teacher Association. ACTIVITIES BUDGET.—The Activities Budget has been dis- cussed in detail by Ward H. Green, Vice-principal of Central High School and in this paper I shall merely mention some of its influences which contribute directly to the theme of this paper.’ This system has been working in Tulsa High School since 1927. Each of the three years it has been in operation has seen a gradual increase in the per cent of students who subscribe to the budget. This is due not to an increase of tenacity in the campaign but to the belief among the students that they are getting value received and it has steadily grown in popularity so that in the current year 85% of an enrollment of 3,212 students have subscribed to the budget. Many of those who did not are students who are working or for various reasons are unable to attend the activities of the school. Some of our students are financially unable to pay the amount. Such students are taken care of through recommendations by the deans or class directors and they are presented with an order on the school bank for a paid-up activity budget without any embarrassment to themselves. This is done because it is the desire that every boy and girl should be made to feel themselves a part of the school by having the opportunity to attend all of its activities if they so desire. For the amount of $4.00 the student is entitled to some fifty events in athletics, forensics, dramatics, music and the “Tulsa School Life,” and the “Tom Tom.” Under the influence of the activities budget the attitude of the students towards the school has been revolutionized. They recognize the opportunity for a program of wholesome entertainment at a price which all can afford. No student need go home feeling he is not a part of the school because he cannot furnish the price of admission to its programs. His loyalty to his school is increased and he gives extra- ordinary love and respect and honor to it. His interests become cen- tered in the activities of the whole school and he takes a pride in rendering service to the institution which so well serves him. ‘Activities Budget, Ward H. Green, Junior-Senior High School Clearing House, January 1930. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 19 This plan has not only been a financial success but it has been one of the greatest forces in developing unified action and loyalty in the student body. It is my judgment that the agencies described here together with the student control organizations—the Senate, the House of Repre- sentatives, and the Courtesy Service Club, and the extra-curriculum program of the school are rendering an everlasting influence for good on the lives of the students. Every loyal citizen takes a genuine pride in his school. He becomes a dependable and enthusiastic worker in his organization for the things that are fine and wholesome and uplifting. The Place of Technical Courses in the Reorganized Secondary School was presented by William J. Bogan, Superintendent of Schools, Chicago, Illinois. THE PLACE OF TECHNICAL COURSES IN THE REORGANIZED SECONDARY SCHOOL WituiaM J. Bocan, SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, CHICAGO To the educator of to-day who has inherited classical ideals and traditions, the coming of the machine civilization has been a shock. He deplores and regrets this and will never be comforted until he hears fate shouting, “Be your age.’ With the passing of the years the slang expression, “Be Your Age” has lost some of its tang but none of its philosophy of education. “Be Your Age” is a prescription which, if followed carefully, will build up some of the weak places in modern education. It suggests such profound truths that it might well be adopted as a slogan by curriculum builders. It tends to draw the schools from their everlasting contemplation of the past to thought and action for the present and the future. Educational systems are distinctly conservative and doubtless will always be conservative, for every generation reveres its own type of schooling. Every man is an example to himself of the efficiency of the educational program which he followed in his youth with more or less regularity. Hence, educa- tional systems lag behind other types of social agencies, thereby tend- ing to perpetuate the status quo. True, in a mad world, conservatism may be a virtue, but over-indulgence in it may lead to vice. To illus- 20 Department of Secondary-School Principals trate: For many years the schools have proclaimed the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome, while ignoring the machinery and the technology that were modern Europe and America. As they studied the ages of stone and bronze and the civilizations of Egypt, Babylonia, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, the schools hardly noticed the suction from the onward rush of the machine civilization guided by science and technology. Reverence for the past should not hide the facts of the present nor the possibilities of the future. Unfortunately many educators have been slow to realize the value of experiment. Theories picked from the air have served many purposes when facts were irritations. According to John Dewey in The Quest for Certainty, “The whole classic tradition down to our day has continued to hold a slighting view of experience as such.” Again he says, “The depreciation of action, of doing and making, has been culti- vated by philosophers. But while philosophers have perpetuated the derogation by formulating and justifying it, they did not originate it. They glorified their own office without doubt in placing theory so much above practice. But independently of their attitude, many things conspired to the same effect. Work has been onerous, toilsome, associated with a primeval curse. It has been done under compulsion and the pressure of necessity, while intellectual activity is associated with leisure. On account of the unpleasantness of practical activity, as much of it as possible has been put upon slaves and serfs. Thus the social dishonor in which this class was held was extended to the work they do. There is also the age-long association of knowing and thinking with immaterial and spiritual principles, and of the arts, of all practical activity in doing and making, with matter. For work is done with the body, by means of mechanical appliances and is directed upon material things. The disrepute which has attended the thought of material things in comparison with immaterial thought has been transferred to everything associated with practice. In the face of theory appeared the facts of Copernicus, Galileo, Newton, and Watt. The fact of the steam engine, important as it was, was long ignored but now it is so generally appreciated that a modern Chinese philosopher proposes to divide history into two periods separated by the milestone labeled 1769. In that year Watt performed a feat which had thwarted the mighty Atlas. He lifted the world on his shoulders as he stood in the muck and mire of an outworn civiliza- tion and showed the star of economic hope to all mankind. The steam Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 21 engine abolished human slavery and placed at the service of every man, woman and child a score of mechanical slaves to provide neces- sities and luxuries that even kings could not command. Like all other forces steam may be used for evil or for good. Man is free to decide whether Muscle Shoals shall make nitrates for war explosives or nitrates for agricultural fertilizers. The industrial revolution was execrated for its evils but apparently the cure for the evils of machinery is more machinery. Now overproduction, on account of new and improved machinery, is so serious that if consumption is to keep pace it will be necessary to shorten days and weeks, increase wages, and extend the period of school life to eliminate the competi- tion of minors with adults. With the lengthening of school life schools will be forced to provide an education for modern needs. Machinery, science, technology will be emphasized in the new system. What a glorious prospect this program unfolds for the secondary schools. Will they rise to the occasion and give an education suited to the needs of the coming generations? Or will they continue to follow the prescription of the dead hand of antiquity? Will they ignore the teachings of science and machinery? Will the working man be satisfied with a choice between: (1) A narrow education for leisure; and (2) A narrow training for work? The signs seem to indicate that the self-respecting, self-supporting man will wish his children to have a third choice, a judicious mixture of science, tech- nology, machinery, and academic subjects. It is a constant source of wonder that this nation, the home of mass production, the destroyer of the obsolete, should be so slow to utilize the modern. The contrast between the old order and the new is well expressed by Charles Beard in IVhither Mankind: “Though machine civilization has been here treated as if it were an order, it in fact differs from all others in that it is highly dynamic, containing within itself the seeds of constant reconstruction. Every- where agricultural civilizations of the pre-machine age have changed only slowly with the fluctuations of markets, the fortunes of govern- ment, and the vicissitudes of knowledge, keeping their basic institu- tions intact from century to century. Pre-machine urban civilizations have likewise retained their essential characteristics through long lapses of time. But machine civilization based on technology, science, invention and expanding markets must of necessity change—and rapidly. The order of steam is hardly established before electricity invades it; the electricity hardly gains a fair start before the internal combustion engine overtakes it. There has never been anywhere in 22 Department of Secondary-School Principals the world any order comparable with it and all analogies drawn from the Middle Ages, classical antiquity, and the Orient are utterly in- applicable to its potentialities offering no revelations as to its future.” Why should the secondary schools be concerned with these rapid changes in the economic world? Have these schools a special function to perform in this new civilization? Is there a legitimate demand which the schools should fill? All recent investigations seem to show that there is such a demand and that the schools are not filling it. In nearly every phase of industry there seems to be a serious shortage of technically trained men and women. In the past this demand was met by promotion from the ranks of men with skill but little education. They glorified their lack of education and by making mysterious the so-called secrets of the trade they retarded technical education. The college trained technician and the more practical technician from the high school were derided and made to appear as interlopers. To-day industry is becoming so specialized that mere training will not suffice to provide competent supervisors and technicians. Reduc- tion in the number of immigrants means reduction in the number of skilled workers, but fortunately it means an increase in the number of educated American workers, provided the schools accept this opportunity to serve industry through the expansion of technical education. Technological colleges are meeting in a very efficient manner the demand for men of the highest engineering skill, but there is a great demand for technicians on a lower and more practical level. The supervision of production demands a great number of graduates from technical courses and technical high schools, as well as from technical institutes that include the first or second year of college. A report by President William E. Wickenden of the Case School of Applied Science emphasizes this need for technical education. Accord- ing to this report, “Greater efficiency demands that technical education should be diversified to meet a wider variety of individual and industrial needs. To maintain but one type of school is to invite blurring of aims and compromise of standards. Progress is in the direction of schools having more definite purposes and more clearly visualized aims.” Plainly, the new type of course or school must meet specific needs. Europe is dotted with technical schools of all types necessary to meet the demands of industry for technically trained men, and as manu- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 23 facturing in this country increases in extent and variety many more technical schools will be needed. Already there are ten or fifteen technical schools of secondary grade that have very high rank in scholarship and practical training for industry. These schools were the pioneers in technical education that blazed the way for the forward move which industry now seems ready to take. At a time when faith and hope were their greatest assets they set standards of achievement that force a tribute of admiration to-day. At a time when narrow trade education was the cry throughout the land they maintained high academic and technical standards, for they realized that the trades themselves would in time demand these higher standards, and that fathers and mothers would object to circumscribing the ambitions of their children by a narrow education. But this small number can- not meet the demand created by the rapid growth of industry... In every large industrial city there will soon be need for several pply- technical schools of secondary grade of the type which provides training in the production and distribution phases of many industries, and in a few of the very large cities there will doubtless be a demand for several mono-technical schools of secondary grade which provide training in all phases of a single industry as production, distribution, testing, applied art and applied science. In New York City, the center of style in clothing, are more than 700,000 employes in the textile trades. Surely in that city is a demand for a mono-technical high school that will provide technical education for textile workers. Other industries are making similar demands. This demand can not be met by a mere re-adjustment of courses in the traditional sec- ondary school, for these schools lack industrial and technical atmos- phere. The high schools that provide the training and education necessary for “non-commissioned officers of industry” and at the same time leave a real opening at the top for entrance to technological or other colleges are doing a real service to the coming generations. There should be terminal courses for all who are limited by nature to terminal,courses but there should always be the outlet to higher education for all who have the desire and the aptitude for higher education. The paper, Meaning of Graduation in the Reorganized Secondary School, was read by Bancroft Beatley, Associate Professor of Edu- cation, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. Department of Secondary-School Principals THE MEANING OF GRADUATION IN THE REORGANIZED SECONDARY SCHOOL BANCROFT BEATLEY, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF EDUCATION, HARVARD UNIVERSITY At the present time, graduation from the American public second- ary school is almost devoid of meaning. I propose to show you: (1) How our present practices with respect to graduation have evolved; (2) Why secondary-school graduation at the present time is practically meaningless; and (3) What steps might be taken in the reorganized secondary school to make graduation meaningful. The Evolution of Present Practice in Secondary-School Gradua- tion. In the early days of American education, graduation from the secondary school meant what it still means in European secondary schools—achievement justifying admission to college. As long as secondary education was synonymous with a rather narrow type of academic education, it was not difficult to maintain this meaning for graduation. The secondary schools of the early nineteenth century as well as earlier schools limited their enrolments to those who could pass examinations for admission and who could withstand the rigorous methods used to eliminate the unsuccessful. The extensive introduction of commercial subjects in the latter half of the century gave rise to the problem of redefining high-school graduation. The problem was solved for the time being by introducing a commercial diploma, the requirements of which differed both quali- tatively and quantitatively from those of academic curricula. This difference in standard between diplomas granted by the same school led the Committee of Ten in 1893 to recommend that high standards should be maintained in all courses irrespective of whether or not the pupil was intent on entering college. In spite of this recommenda- tion, standards have steadily lowered owing to the unprecedented growth of secondary-school enrolments and to the introduction of curricula in industry, agriculture, and home economics. Everyone recognizes that the modern secondary school admits, retains, and pro- vides education for students whose ability and achievement do not justify college admission—at least as college admission is now conceived. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 25 In view of the changing character of the secondary-school popu- lation, it has proved impossible to maintain the conception that com- pletion of secondary-school curricula and readiness for college are synonymous. Studies of elimination by Ayres, Strayer, and Thorndike around 1910 showed the effect of former standards on the groups of pupils then enrolled. As a result of these findings and findings of studies of individual difference, superintendents and principals have been encouraging elementary- and secondary-school teachers to reduce retardation and elimination, and thus to keep pupils moving through the schools. The development of educational theory has also played a part in the evolution of practice in secondary-school graduation. Secondary education must be democratic. It must admit and provide for all normally constituted pupils of secondary-school age. (“Normally constituted” has come to mean “not definitely feeble-minded.”) New curricula and new fields of study have found a place in the program of secondary education to provide for those pupils for whom academic education is neither appropriate nor profitable. The practice of curriculum designations at graduation has been frowned upon as un- democratic. The total effect of these and other forces has been that graduation from the American secondary-school has ceased to mean capacity and readiness for academic education on the college level. The higher standard, represented by the certificate grade, is now required for college admission. Graduation, which in the early second- ary schools meant achievement of a high order if academic study, no longer necessarily means either a high level of accomplishment, or that the pupil’s education has been essentially academic. The Present Conception of Secondary-School Graduation. If secondary-school graduation no longer means competence in work of a narrowly academic type, what does it mean? Anything or nothing. It means a different thing in the cases of different schools and of different pupils within the same school. The confusion of meaning is most pronounced in those schools which have attempted to provide diversified types of education for youngsters of varying abilities, interests, and needs. It is these schools that Learned had in mind when he wrote that “the pains taken to guard the border-line, not to keep the unfit out, but to keep the tottering pupil in, is one of the anomalies of American education.” The truth of Learned’s con- 26 Department of Secondary-School Principals tention will, perhaps, be readily granted. An illustration, however, may help to clarify the point. In a certain four-year high school are two boys whom I shall call Brainard and Harvey. You will recognize their parallels in your own schools. Brainard is just completing his freshman year. He is fifteen years old, has a mental age of nearly seventeen, and is well developed physically for his age. He is coéperative at home and school—a posi- tive influence for good. His school record of B’s and C’s is good but not impressive. On the Columbia Research Bureau English Test, which has just been given to the entire school, Brainard’s score is slightly below that of the average twelfth-grade pupil. In reading, he handles difficult material with fair competence ; he has good reading habits. His language abilities are adequate for all practical purposes. He observes the language conventions well, though his style of writing is immature. His spoken English is free from gross errors. In mathe- matics, his achievement is good for the work he has taken. On the Kepner Background Test in Social Studies, he makes a score above that of the average eleventh-grader. On the basis of one year’s study of French, he exceeds forty per cent of the group which has studied French for three years. Brainard’s out-of-school activities include work at his father’s store, puttering with tools, and stamp-collecting. He plays tennis and baseball with fair competence. Harvey is a nineteen-year-old boy in the senior class, about to graduate. He has a mental age of over fifteen years, and is physically average for his age. In social situations, Harvey is highly suggestible ; he follows the crowd. In this school, he is no serious problem as the leadership is in the hands of well-meaning youngsters. Harvey's school record is mostly C’s and D’s. He has spent five years in high school, but there is every indication that he will gain enough credits to graduate. On the Columbia Research Bureau English Test, Har- vey’s record was no better than that of the average ninth-grader. In spite of his contacts with the high-school literature course, his achieve- ment on the literature test is no higher than Brainard’s. In language work, Harvey exhibits little sentence sense, he misspells relatively common words, and organizes his ideas poorly. His spoken English is slovenly. He knows more mathematics than Brainard, but his work is inaccurate. On the Kepner test, Harvey’s achievement was below the tenth-grade average. In chemistry, he was exceeded by seventy per cent of his class. He took French for one year, received a D in it, Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 27 and dropped the study. His work in commercial studies is untidy and inaccurate, but he has received passing marks in this work. Harvey has few outside interests. He works evenings as a pin-boy in a bowl- ing alley. He is interested in athletic sports as an onlooker rather than as a participant. As a result of his accumulated credits, Harvey will be graduated. Brainard, who on almost every count is superior in achievement to Harvey must remain in school three more years to gain his diploma. If Brainard should leave school on the basis of his present attainments, he has the better education of the two. In so far as it is true that secondary schools of this country are graduating the Harveys, yet requiring the Brainards to continue in pursuit of credits, the diploma can have little substantial meaning. The objection may be raised that the Harveys are not the typical graduates of our secondary schools. We award diplomas to many pupils whose achievements in physical, social, and intellectual develop- ment are superior. Granted. But does not that point serve to strengthen my argument? We also graduate pupils whose achieve- ments in secondary education are of little value either to themselves or to the state. The fact that the latter are graduated contributes to the confusion that surrounds the meaning of graduation. Secondary education has ceased to be an integrated intellectual undertaking, especially in the larger schools. Pupils have large free- dom to choose combinations of courses which may or may not exhibit any particular coherence. As the result of changes from curriculum to curriculum, the programs of many pupils exhibit a hit or miss accumulation of credits. It is probable that this practice can to some extent be justified on the ground that the high school is in part a “finding” school. Whether justifiable or not, it is certain that the practice contributes to the cheapening of the diploma. The conclusion cannot be escaped that secondary-school gradua- tion means merely that the pupil has served time. It is necessary to mention only in passing the well-known facts overlapping in achieve- ment between grades in the high school, the variability in requirements of work in various curricula and courses, and the absence of agreement among teachers on standards for determining credits. Failure still eliminates a few of the less competent. For the group as a whole, 28 Department of Secondary-School Principals however, the diploma is not a certificate of competence, but an indica- tion that incompetence has not been proved. Our present dilemma with respect to the meaning of graduation results from our failure to recognize that we are attempting to work out in the American secondary school two mutually incompatible philosophies of education. The first philosophy postulates that sec- ondary education must be equally open to all the children of all the people. This philosophy implies that the secondary school must pro- vide types of education as varied as the interests of secondary-school pupils demand. Each pupil must have the opportunity to progress as rapidly as he can, or as slowly as he needs. The second philosophy, inherited from the past, assumes that secondary education is a privilege to which only those of proved capacity are entitled. It implies that the secondary school must be progressively selective by eliminating all those who cannot maintain a high standard of performance. In our provision of differentiated curricula, ability-grouping, indeterminate assignments, and individualized instruction, we are clearly following the theory of universal secondary education. Yet in our requirements for passing courses and accumulating credits, espe- cially in those fields of study where failure rates are high, we are adhering to the theory of selective secondary education. As the result of the chance interplay of these forces, graduation has lost most of its former significance. Proposals for Making Graduation Meaningful. In the attempt to make graduation meaningful two obvious alterna- tives are open to us. First, we might attempt to re-establish the theory that secondary education is a high privilege to which only the superior pupils should aspire. We might maintain rigid objective standards for admission, promotion, and graduation. This proposal is essentially the program of the Reform Movement of 1924 in the German Re- public. It is not likely to recommend itself to any large proportion of American educators. Second, we might attempt to establish more completely the theory that secondary education should be freely avail- able to all of appropriate age. This alternative would involve conscious recognition that graduation means only that the pupil has attended the secondary school for four or six years. We should have to abandon all idea of failure. Diversity in ability and achievement within a given Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 29 grade or class would necessarily be even greater than at present. Everyone who persisted would be graduated. This alternative, implied by Counts in his “Selective Character of American Secondary Educa- tion,” appears to be the logical end-point of our present tendencies. Less obvious proposals involve an attempt to gain such advantages as inhere in each of the theories without bringing the theories into conflict in the case of any individual or group. We might, as Learned suggests, segregate the superior pupils as a separate school or as a distinct group within a school, and adopt rigid objective standards for admission, promotion, and graduation in this group. A diploma earned in such a group would have significance. Closely allied to this proposal for segregation is the suggestion that we create honors groups in secondary schools paralleling those established on the college level at Swarthmore. We could abandon the system of credits for this group. Pupils could be admitted and grad- uated on the basis of objective evidence of ability, achievement, and social development. Students completing the honors course would be graduated. The other pupils would receive a certificate evidencing the fact that they had served time. Another proposal is that we adopt the plan of making graduation depend upon the passing of a school-learning examination such as is provided in the European secondary schools. Such an examination might consist of a general examination of the objective type on the social core of the curriculum and an objective examination in the field of the pupil’s specialization. To make graduation meaningful, such examinations would need to be formulated by some central agency. Pupils might be permitted to take these examinations whenever they felt competent to do so. In view of the current attitude toward exami- nations, this proposal is not likely to prove popular, yet there is much to recommend it. The final proposal is that we eliminate from the secondary school those pupils for whom we are unable, in view of our present knowl- edge, to provide a type of education which will be worth the time spent either from the point of view of the individual or of the state. Failure would come to mean that the school had failed to provide worthwhile education for the pupil concerned. A failure mark would be a danger signal raising the question of the wisdom of the pupil’s further con- 30 Department of Secondary-Schoel Principals tinuance in school. Pupils would be graduated on the basis of the time spent. The diploma would indicate the fields of study undertaken by the pupil and the testimony of the school that, in its judgment, the expenditure of time and money on the part of the pupil and of the state was justified. Before we come to conclusions with respect to the merit of these or other proposals for making graduation meaningful we must evalu- ate them in the light of a theory of American secondary education. I favor the point of view which would open the secondary school theoretically to all—practically to all who have likelihood of profiting by the experience. Such a theory implies great diversity in the types of education provided and corresponding diversity in pupil achieve- ment. If this theory of secondary education is sound, any attempt to develop a standardized meaning for graduation from the secondary school is doomed to failure. The diploma must necessarily represent a different achievement, both qualitatively and quantitatively, in the case of every pupil graduated. The only common ground of meaning for graduation in the secondary school organized in accordance with this theory is the school’s belief that secondary education has done something for the pupil which, in terms of his abilities, interests, and needs, was worth doing. The President, in accord with Article V, Section 1 of the constitu- tion, called for nomination of a nominating committee for officers. The following nominations were made from the floor: (1) Eastern: John Adams, J. H. Workman, I. B. Somerville, Clement C. Hyde, J. Stevens Kadesch, and A. C. Kambour. (2) Central: A. J. Burton, Eli C. Foster, D. W. McCoy, L. E. Loos, W. N. Van Slyck, and Foster S. Randle. (3) Western: R. B. Leland, Edgar M. Draper, and H. H. Moyer, John L. Loundsbury, J. W. Ayer, and R. H. Bush. The following were elected by ballot: Adams, Hyde, Workman, Burton, Foster, McCoy, Draper, Moyer, Randle, and Bush. The President adjourned the meeting. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting SECOND SESSION The second session of the convention was called to order in the au- ditorium of the Senior High School of Atlantic City at 2:25 p. m., Tuesday, February 25, by the President of the Department of Sec- ondary School Principals, Milo H. Stuart, Principal of Arsenal Technical High School, Indianapolis. The President announced appointments as follows: V. K. Froula, Principal of Roosevelt High School, Seattle, Wash- ington, in place of L. W. Brooks on the Committee on International Understanding. W. C. Reavis, Associate Professor of Education, University of Chicago, in place of L. V. Koos on the Committee on Standard Blanks. On the National Advisory Committee on Education: J. Orin Powers, George Washington University; Ellsworth Warner, Hine Junior High School, Washington, D. C.; and M. Channing Wagner, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, Wilmington, Delaware, were named. C. O. Davis, University of Michigan, in place of Patrick T. Camp- bell, Chairman of this Committee ; and Arthur Clevenger, High-School Visitor of Illinois, in place of J. B. Edmonson, were appointed on the Committee of the Observance of the 300th Anniversary of the Ameri- can Secondary Education. M. R. McDaniel, Superintendent of Oak Park and Riyer Forest Township High School; Francis L. Bacon, Principal of Evanston Township High School, and H. V. Church were appointed as a Finance Committee. The Mounting Costs of Secondary Education, a paper, was read by Harry E. Winner, Principal of South Hills High School, Pitts- burgh. Department of Secondary-School Principals MOUNTING COSTS OF SECONDARY EDUCATION Harry E. WINNER, PRINCIPAL, SoutH Hitts Hicu ScuHoor, PItTspurGH, PENNSYLVANIA In opening this program this afternoon it is the understanding of the speaker that his duty is to present the problem. The gentlemen who are to follow will present remedial measures. We admit that secondary school costs are becoming larger each year, and we contend that they will continue to increase as long as the desire of people for advanced educational training continues. We do not admi: that there has willingly been wasteful and needless expenditure in carrying forward the secondary program. Like all great enterprises there may have been some unwise procedures, but progress comes from recognizing any errors that have been made and proceeding accordingly. Henry Ford finds an imperfection in some part of his car or a vigilant competitor points one out—the result is a marked improvement over the original conception. The secondary schools of America do not resent honest and com- petent criticism, but they do reserve the right to analyze and to discuss criticisms when offered, and in doing this seek to make more certain the best method for a solution of their many problems. Now what has happened in the secondary schools and is continuing to happen that makes for increased cost ? According to a report of the Bureau of Research of the National Education Association the enrollment of secondary pupils in the United States in the year 1926 was 3,757,466 as compared with 519,- 251 in 1900 or 2,199,389 in the year 1920. This increase may be ex- pressed in another way by saying that in 1910 there was one pupil in high school for each 100 in population, that in 1920, one pupil for each 48, and that in 1926, one pupil for each 31. To still state the matter in another way the enrollment has in- creased 71% in secondary schools from 1920-26, and if figures were available for the years since 1926 we would see that the enrollment has more than doubled during the past ten years. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 33 If you will study this report of the National Education Association as published in the January, 1930, Journal you will find some most interesting state developments : For instance, the state of Florida has increased its secondary enrollment 176% during the years 1920-26. The increase in North Carolina during this same period has been 174%. The Philippine Islands has increased 146% in this six-year period. My own state, Pennsylvania, has increased 94% and I am sure has more than doubled its enrollment during the past decade. We sometimes fail to appreciate the difficulties facing our cities in meeting the demands for secondary education. Pittsburgh, my own city, has had a remarkable development in high-school facilities since the enactment of a centralized system in 1911, and the selection of a Board of Education and a Superintendent of Schools, who have worked hand in hand in providing new buildings for all sections of the city. The following brief summary of the graduates of the high schools of Pittsburgh since the establishment of secondary schools in Pennsyl- vania in 1854 indicates the desire of the people for secondary training during the passing years. GRADUATES BY DECADES.IN H1GH SCHOOLS OF PITTSBURGH, PA., SINCE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF SECONDARY SCHOOLS 1855-1859— 30 1860-1869— 91 1870-1879— 635 It was: during this decade the first individual building was pro- vided. 1880-1889—1045 1890-1899—1960 1900-1909—2333 6094 in a period of 55 years 1910-1919—7765 Buildings were being supplied. 1920-1930 February—21,847 34 Department of Secondary-School Principals The enrollment in all the high schools of Pittsburgh in 1912 was 4288. Ten years later it was 13,855, an increase of 200%. During this period a number of new buildings were provided and as soon as opened were filled to capacity. These gains in enrollment cannot be accounted for on the basis of increased general population, as Pitts- burgh increased only in population from 1910-1922.... 13.6% Increase in total enrollment for all schools............ 51.9% Sepsnunied Gar Dis GEE ss « 660 he dias desc keke awens 223. % As a further index as to mounting costs of secondary schools, it has been ascertained that the per capita cost for educating a child in the Pittsburgh Public Schools from the first grade through the twelfth grade, is as follows: HicuH Scuoor Four YEARS AVERAGE Dat_y ATTENDANCE, BASED ON NUMBER BELONGING 1922 $ 155.75 $ 147.76 1923 173.95 163.45 1924 193.25 181.80 1925 197.50 190.00 Total $ 721.45 $ 683.01 Cost of 8 Grades 505.39 463.71 Grand Total $1,226.84 $1,146.72 It has been the writer's privilege to organize and to administer one of these new schools provided for the youth of secondary years in Pittsburgh. This school opened its doors first April 9th, 1917, just three days after President Wilson’s Declaration of War upon Germany. The pupil enrollment on opening day was 255, the faculty numbered 16. This school is in a section of the city which had been denied readily accessible school facilities before. Today the enrollment is 2,600 with 95 teachers. This building built to accommodate 2,000 pupils now has an overload of 600 pupils. This condition can be duplicated in every large city in the country. In addition to the problem of the Junior and Senior High Schools, there is the demand in many localities for the Junior College and adult education. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 35 Not the least item of expense to be recognized in secondary schools is the demand for expansive and elaborate stadia for high-school con- tests. This idea is being encouraged by the attitude of higher institu- tions of learning. The National Industrial Conference Board in a recent report gives us another measure of the growth of the American Public School System. Expenditures for Public Elementary and High Schools: Per capita of population 1900-1926 ee GN IS on 0 vv Sc baeanccwiwes $ 2.84— 17.30 Per pupil in average attendance........ 20.21—102.05 This same report states that the expenditures for the school year of 1925-26 included the following items: Total annual current expenses for salaries, and all other purposes.................. $1,615,270,416 Outlays for new buildings, sites and equipment 411,037,774 Total expenditures ............. $2,026,308,190 Total payment to debt service including pay- ments to sinking funds................. 147,242,144 a eer ae 2,173,550,334 The value of all school property, according to this report, has in- creased from $4,252,328,900 to $4,676,603,539 from 1925 to 1926, and the latter value is nearly twice as large as that for 1920. The payroll of the nation’s public school system, including ele- mentary and high schools, includes approximately one million people, these being teachers, superintendents, principals, supervisors, techni- cal experts, clerks, stenographers, elective and appointive officials, janitors, etc. According to an estimate recently compiled, the number of em- ployees on the public school payroll, as given by this report is exceeded only by four of America’s leading industries: agriculture, construc- tion, railroads and textiles. Ranking just below public education in number of employees are the industries of machinery manufacturing, lumber, iron and steel, automobile, and oil. 36 Department of Secondary-School Principals The writer has no desire to weary you with statistical details, but believes enough has been stated to convince all that the American Pub- lic School has now reached the plane of “big business.” It is not to be supposed that the product of the school can be esti- mated on a money basis. The product of the schools will be valuable as it contributes to the citizenship of our country; in promoting the happiness and well being of its people. It is not to be wondered at therefore that at periodic intervals the school people shall be called upon to give an account of their steward- ship in caring for the boys and girls of our public schools. In the rapidly developing program of secondary education the high schools have had to face tremendous problems. In the desire of the American people that nothing is too good for their children and that a high-school education must be secured, many acute problems of adjustment have been presented. Not all children who have sought entrance upon the high schools have been able to carry on under existing courses and procedures. It has been a real problem to maintain scholarship standards, which are still necessary and at the same time provide for that large number to whom study seems a weariness of the flesh. To meet this challenge, buildings have been provided, courses altered, teachers increased, and other officials provided. All this seems to be most necessary, but while it is being done building and educational costs are mounting. Another item that has done much to increase the cost of secondary schools has been the rapidly increasing development of junior high schools throughout our land. In many cities, new buildings have been demanded. Often these buildings have been patterned after senior high schools, and building costs with added equipment have increased the annual budget. May I suggest however at this point that lest you may think that school costs are the only costs that are increasing, that we must keep in mind that all forms of government are requiring more money with which to meet the improvements demanded. In my local community there are three taxing bodies which levy taxes locally, The Board of Public Education, The City Council, and a Board of County Commissioners. During the current year all three Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 37 of these bodies found it necessary to increase the tax rate, but the lowest increase of all was in support of the schools of our city. The American people are demanding more and better roads, more tunnels, more bridges, better services from all public utilities. Just as the American home must have the new four speed car, or the newest eight-in-line or the latest ten tube radio, or the most modern over- stuffed furniture—so the American public school must be provided as demanded. Just here is where the poise and good judgment of the high-school administrators of America should come into action. Roger W. Bab- son says that the weakness of the American people is that they are so busy that they take no time to think. If we cease to do some clear and definite thinking in the matter of our school programs, not only in relation to buildings, but to provide a program which shall meet our changing social needs, the product of the next generation may not be as we would desire it. Accepting the fact that secondary education is increasing in cost, what can high-school administrators do to justify these increased ex- penditures, and thereby allay criticism of those who take exception to the existing program. Without attempting to settle any of the following, may I suggest that our attention needs to be focused upon these and other questions : 1. Should high schools be of cosmopolitan or special types ? 2. Have junior high schools accomplished what has been hoped for in greater ability to carry on as a result of wide exploratory ramblings ? 3. Is it feasible to expect early differentiation by high-school pupils in a choice of college or non-college courses ? 4. When have we exhausted the capacity of our schools? 5. When is a class too large for satisfactory instruction by an efficient teacher ? 6. What would be saved by a better disposition of our problem cases ? Where Not to Economize in Secondary Education, was read by W. W. Haggard, Superintendent of Joliet Township High School and Junior College. Department of Secondary-School Principals WHERE NOT TO ECONOMIZE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION W. W. Haccarp, SUPERINTENDENT, JoLIET TowNSHIP HIGH SCHOOL AND Junior CoLLeGe Any movement for expansion or retrenchment in education should not be separated from the current theory of educational costs. This theory is that an educational program must be evaluated in terms of the individual achievements and social results obtained for the amount of money spent. In this period of mounting expenditures for second- ary education, there is need for constant appraisal of results, but we are confronted at once with our inadequate methods of measurement. After attempts to measure our product, we conclude that time must tell. The following statement may be found in, “The Financing of the Public Schools in Illinois” (p. 149), a report reviewed and presented in 1924 by the Educational Finance Inquiry Commission under the auspices of the American Council on Education: ‘Education is a long-time affair if viewed as an agency which progressively con- tributes to the capacity of society to hold itself together, to the capacity of the people to regulate successfully their own affairs in a democratic age.” Professor Thomas H. Briggs in his recent Inglis lecture at Harvard more than intimated that time is not telling an encouraging story about the secondary school. If Professor Briggs is right, he, with the rest of us, must suffer for the sins of omission and commission of the last several years in secondary education, to which I am sure he will agree. The leaders in secondary education have defined and re-defined our objectives with the theory in mind that right objectives have something to do with guaranteeing right results. The most recent definition of the functions of the secondary school is found in the Seventh Year Book of the Department of Superintendence. These special functions are ten in number: (1) Integration of Students, (2) Satisfaction of Needs, (3) Revelation of the Racial Heritage, (4) Ex- ploration of Pupils’ Interests, Aptitudes, and Capacities, (5) Sys- tematization and Application of Knowledge, (6) Establishment and Direction of Interests, (7) Guidance, (8) Expansion of Differentiated Education on the Evidence of Interests and Capacities Revealed in Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 39 Earlier Years, (9) Employment of Methods of Teaching and Learn- ings Conducive to the Development of Independent Thought, and (10) Retention and Direction of Pupils. Without a doubt, we should continue to re-define the functions of secondary education. If mere opinion is of any value, evolution is taking place. But re-definition of objectives does not tell us what secondary education ought to cost. It falls in the same category with our present methods of measurement. Probably time provides the most reliable test, but we have not been able to and cannot wait now. The art of living together becoming more and more complex reveals new duties the schools should assume, entailing greater costs. It is a fact that money costs in education furnish only trends and do not insure the desired changes in our society. Trends in comparative unit costs are where we turn when confronted with the financial problems of our administrative task. We forsake the theory of educational costs mentioned at the outset and attempt to ascertain what the other com- munity is spending for the phase of our program in question, which, of course, is not valueless, especially from an immediate administra- tive point of view. Where not to economize in secondary education leads one to in- quire into the factors that contribute most to the success of a school. A successful superintendent in Illinois recently said the four factors of a good school were good teachers, an enriched curriculum, an attrac- tive building, and esprit de corps. These four factors are very in- clusive and may be sub-divided at length. In my attempt to determine where not to ecgnomize in secondary education, I selected fourteen phases of the secondary school instead of four for consideration, namely: (1) Teachers’ Salaries, (2) Teachers’ Loads, (3) Instruc- tional Supplies, (4) Class Size, (5) Clerical Assistance in Office, (6) Clerical Assistance for Teachers, (7) Administrative and Supervisory Assistance, (8) Length of School Day, (9) Planning of Plant or Additions to Plant, (10) Operation of Plant, (11) Use of Plant, (12) Curriculum Offerings, (13) Methods of Instruction, (14) Extra- curriculum Activity Program. If one were confronted with a financial retrenchment program, in which of these fourteen phases of a sec- ondary school should one not retrench, keeping in mind that one must administer the best school possible on the funds available ? 40 Department of Secondary-School Principals Obviously, all of these fourteen phases are not of equal functional value in the educative process. Which will lower school efficiency less, the reduction of teachers’ salaries or an increase in the size of classes? We have some rather definite evidence to the effect that large classes do not endanger the possibilities for scholastic achieve- ment. Which will lower school efficiency less, the lengthening of the school day in order to house a larger student body or the curtailment of extra-curriculum activities? The experience in certain large cen- ters indicates that it is possible to lengthen the school day for purposes of accommodating a larger student body without affecting school efficiency. What is the effect of reducing the clerical staff, assuming that efficient office management already exists, as compared with in- creasing teaching loads? It is easily conceivable that both may reduce school efficiency in a very significant sense. Money may be saved in the planning of the building or the operation and use of the building without any injury to school efficiency. Some boards of education build unnecessarily large auditoriums to be used once a week, while others buy coal on the basis of heat unit tests, indicating a great con- trast in the manner the taxpayer's dollar may be best spent. Some administrators employ extra clerical help in order that fewer and better teachers may be employed. Some administrators buy educa- tional supplies purely on basis of actual use and remove from the cur- riculum offerings subjects failing to meet the needs of any consider- able group of pupils. Some methods of teaching demand equipment and supplies beyond the actual results obtained, in so far as we are able to appraise results by administering achievement tests. During the examination of a high-school principal as a candidate for the doctorate in a certain mid-western university a year or two ago, a hypothetical situation in secondary-school administration was set up by a faculty representative from a department other than edu- cation which elicited the statement from the candidate that he would rely on common sense. I understand this answer threw the examin- ing committee into a lengthy and heated argument as to the relative importance of common sense in modern school administration. I fear in attempting to effect economies in any one of the aforesaid phases of secondary education, common sense and personal opinion must have a part, since it is extremely difficult to isolate any one of these fourteen phases and measure its actual contribution to the educative process. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 41 I sought a cross-section of opinion among high-school principals and professors of secondary education on the relative importance of each of the fourteen phases of secondary education under considera- tion arranged in this order, namely: (1) Teachers’ Salaries, (2) Teachers’ Loads, (3) Instructional Supplies, (4) Class Size, (5) Clerical Assistance in Office, (6) Clerical Assistance for Teachers, (7) Administrative and Supervisory Assistance, (8) Length of School Day, (9) Planning of Plant or Additions to Plant, (10) Oper- ation of Plant, (11) Use of Plant, (12) Curriculum Offerings, (13) Methods of Instruction, (14) Extra-curriculum Activity Program. The recipient of the brief questionnaire was asked to indicate by the numeral one where he would economize first, two where he would economize next, etc. I received forty-three replies, ranging from advice to economize on nothing to many very thoughtfully worked out rankings. In a few of the replies, some phases were not ranked. It is obvious, of course, that some reactions were colored to a degree by the local situation, but nevertheless the replies indicate rather definite trends of opinion. The following table indicates the rankings each phase received. Twenty-nine out of forty-one said economize on teachers’ salaries last and seven next to the last. The opinion relative to the importance of the competent teacher cannot be mistaken. ‘D9 ‘pUOSAS BZIWIOUOSS P[NOM AY ‘jUR][q JO asf UT SI azIWIOUODA P[NOM INO; “O29 “YSIY UL[q JO 9S UO azIWOUODds **3'a ‘ssuLyzULI aytsodwiod azeoIpul spesaWINU ULWOY | | SOURRS SYyVAL “AIX | soyddng yeuononiysuy ls IYO UldoURIsSISSy [BOWI]D “ipa speo’] siauoray UOTJONIYSUT JO SpOyIy] wes -O1d AVWANDY JB[NOLING-B1YXY chool Prine sue ysIsSy Aszostagodng pur aanesysturupy s8uusyO wnynowing si9yoRa JO} BUR \SISSY [BOLII[D ' => ~ ~ ~~ S = = ~ S ~ 1) 9ZIG SSID Aeq jooyds jo yysuary juR]q jo uoTjeisdg wUe|d 1 SuOI}Ippy JO jUuR[g jo Sutuurld —_—— a |_ 2 | yurid JO asp | | Department of I . | . . uoljeonpy Alepuosasg el ol 6 8 yo aseyg ‘gireuUOT{sanb ay} Ul Japso Yj JO peajsut sSuryues apisodwiod ay} jo Japio ay} Ul pesuelie aie saseyd usaziNo}j ay |, NOILVINGY AAVGNODAS NI LSW’] AZINONODY OL aYaH AY UTaAVL Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 43 The salaries paid teachers is the greatest single force determining the character of the teaching profession. Magnetic personality, thor- ough training, and good morale in the teaching profession cannot be secured without some financial attraction. Mediocre salaries attract and hold teachers of mediocre ability. Salaries for the right types of teachers will never be too high for the services they render. The far- sighted board of education will not attempt to retrench in teachers’ salaries because in teachers’ services, as well as in things material. one gets what he pays for. Destroy the incentive of a teacher, and you destroy teaching efficiency. Assuming ability and training obtain, incentive outweighs all other factors entering into the teaching situa- tion, and lack of incentive is closely related to unsatisfactory salary conditions. It is the surplus effort that counts most. The maintenance of a good school in the face of forced retrcnch- ment, necessitates the avoidance of reduction of expenditures where the greatest contribution to the development of the adolescent is being made. Touch the most vital spot last. Rather than reduce salaries or employ inferior teachers increase class size and teaching loads to the limits permitted by regional accrediting agencies and allow clerical assistance which is of nominal cost as compared with the cost of the valuable time a dynamic teacher loses when typing guide sheets or checking details. Four superior teachers with clerical assistance will secure far better results than five mediocre teachers without clerical assistance. I should much prefer six hundred fifty American History pupils to be taught by four strong teachers than to have them taught by five average teachers. The total financial outlay in each case should be about the same, but the teaching situation produced by superior teachers would be far more effectual. The composite ranking of cleri- cal assistance for teachers is sixth, that is, eight of these phases are of greater relative importance to school efficiency. Seven indicate econo- mize first here. I do not find myself in agreement with those who do not attach much importance to this matter because I believe it is one means of avoiding the sacrifice of results. The employment of cleri- cal assistance for teachers is not a wasteful procedure. The opinion regarding the relative importance of instructional sup- plies is clear. The composite ranking of instructional supplies is thir- teenth, ranking next to teachers’ salaries in importance. Supple- mentary reading material, laboratory supplies, achievement tests, visual education apparatus and the like are not unusually expensive 44 Department of Secondary-School Principals items in the budget. Attempts at saving money in the matter of edu- cational supplies will have to be very drastic in order to reduce ex- penditures to any extent. If properly used, their value to the teaching situation does not warrant hasty attempts at retrenchment, since sav- ings in other phases of secondary education can be effected with less injury to school efficiency. The composite ranking of clerical assistance in the office is twelfth. Some write statements to the effect that if efficient office management obtains, it is false economy to attempt to retrench here. The com- plexity of the modern high-school organization and the demands of a thriving community necessitate efficient results from the office. Accu- rate pupil and financial accounting, complete records, prompt and correct reports, correspondence and the like cannot be neglected. The principal without an adequate office force is in the predicament of being unable to see the forest because of the trees. The office is most vital to the success of a school. It should be one of the last phases of the secondary school in which to attempt any drastic saving. The loads that teachers carry have a very definite relationship to school efficiency both in the matter of quantity and in the matter of allocation of teaching and other duties. The composite ranking of teachers’ loads is eleventh. Ten write that except for salaries saving money by increasing loads should be the last resort. The assumption may be made that in many of the schools represented, the opinion is that teachers on the whole are as heavily loaded as the current demand for results will permit. Some of these schools reporting may be near the limits set by regional accrediting agencies. The number of prep- arations, the number of classes, the size of classes, the nature of the subject, the type of pupil, and the physical environment, in a given school determine the possibilities for increasing the load. Unless the standards of accrediting agencies forbid, I should prefer in the light of school efficiency the increasing of loads of teachers to economies in their salaries, instructional supplies, the office, or another phase which I shall mention. Extra-curriculum activities occupy a very important place in the minds of secondary school leaders. The extra-curriculum ranks ninth in matter of importance to school efficiency. I submit that the extra- curriculum should rank next to clerical assistance in the office. It Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 45 would be exceedingly difficult to administer the modern high school without some provision for the expenditure of adolescent energy. Life activities in our school when the grain is removed from the chaff pro- vide experiences most conducive to the development of personality. Extra-curriculum activities as real enterprises mould conduct, develop character, promote social efficiency, train for citizenship, explore aptitudes and abilities, and provide worthy avocational interests. There is need, however, for a careful scrutinizing of the functional values of many of our extra-curriculum activities as they are carried on at present. The Honorable Newton D. Baker makes the plea that the public school continue to go forward in its march away from the cloister. Extra-curriculum activities are surely a means of teaching the youth the ways of life today in which youth must later participate in a positive manner without too much time for the apprenticeship. Assuming that proper guidance obtains, much searching analysis should be made before retrenchment. It has been the purpose of this paper to point out that the factors basic to school efficiency are of relative importance, and that it is the duty of the administrator in the face of neceSsitated retrenchment to touch last the most vital aspects of the good school. In my opinion and in the opinion of others, reduce expenditures for teachers’ salaries, educational supplies, the office, and extra-curriculum activities last. Superintendent of Schools, Willis A. Sutton, of Atlanta, Georgia, read a paper by R. R. Ritchie, Assistant Superintendent of Schools of Atlanta, on How and Where to Economizse in Secondary Education. HOW AND WHERE TO ECONOMIZE IN SECONDARY EDUCATION R. R. RitcHie, ASSISTANT SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS, ATLANTA, GEORGIA School administrators are hearing much these days from various critics about the mounting cost of education. At the same time they realize the increasing demand that is being made upon their high schools to turn out a more efficient and highly trained graduate. Be- tween these two elements a compromise is being made in order to give the most to the student for the smallest tax dollar. Such a task calls into play all of the knowledge of science, engineering architecture, as 46 Department of Secondary-School Principals well as the latest developments in the realm of educational adminis- tration. Modern public high-school plants in recent years have developed into vast machines for moving man’s social inheritance from the vari- ous sources to the mind of the waiting youth. The tendency in the planning of high-school buildings is toward the larger layout with a high degree of diversity in the various unit spaces and equipments. Centralization of the various activities calls for a closer coordination between all of the different departments in the curriculum setup. The school administrator at the time that he is planning to care for the ex- panding needs for educational opportunity must give heed also to the demand for high efficiency in business procedures. Mass production methods found in the industrial world must find their counterpart in school management. To know how and where to economize, let us first list some of the causes of increased high-school cost. CAUSES 1. The chief cause for increased cost of secondary education has been the increase in high-school enrollment. This increased enrollment has been due to many causes. The World War gave considerable im- petus to high-school enrollment. High-school education was made the basis of eligibility and classification. During the war and immediately thereafter, the economic status of wage earners was greatly improved. The great masses of the people are now demanding high-school oppor- tunities for their children. Modern business and industry is placing a premium on high-school education, in fact many large companies will not employ young men and women unless they have a high-school diploma. This has had a tendency to keep boys and girls in school for a longer period. The reputable business colleges have taken cognizance of this demand for high-school graduates and are now requiring a high-school diploma of those who enter the business colleges. 2. The extension of the compulsory age limit to 16 and 18 years of age has also kept more pupils in high school. 3. In Atlanta as in many other cities, a change from the 7-4 to the K-6-3-3 plan has served more than any one factor in accounting for the growth of high-school enrollment. This change made in 1923 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 47 is shown clearly by the table of enrollment below. See also Figures 1 and 2. TABLE I YEAR Junior Hicu Senior Hicu Grades 8, 9, 10, 11 1918 2739 1919 3271 1920 3559 1921 4124 1922 4731 1923 5667 1924 4427 (a) 4257 Grades 9, 10, 11, 12 1925 7895 (b) 3046 (c) 1926 7544 3186 1927 285 3250 1928 8774 4006 1929 9127 4547 A. Grades 7-8. B. Beginning with 1925 the Junior High Schools, 7, 8, 9 grades. C. Since 1925 the Senior High Schools have had 10, 11, 12 grades. 4. At the time of this change in organization an equally impor- tant one was also brought into consideration and has undoubtedly accounted for a large portion of the increase. I speak of curriculum changes and the effect of giving life and vitality to the subject matter in the curriculum. This has had the effect of holding in school a type of pupil who formerly dropped out of high school. 5. Practically all cities have a higher salary schedule of junior high teachers than that for elementary schools. In many cities the salary schedule for junior high teachers is the same as that for senior high teachers. 6. There is a growing demand on the part of the public for mod- ern, well equipped high-school plants. The expanding curriculum has created a demand for special laboratories and special equipment. The extension of state and county high schools has created a general demand for better secondary educational opportunities. 7. One of the chief factors chargeable to administrative inef- ficiency is the lack of coordination between educational and business officials. The history of school management shows that these two phases of school control have come through the vears more or less separated. The educational group have busied themselves with the problems of the classroom and the business officials have attempted, 48 Department of Secondary-School Principals in their blind fashion, to serve the needs. Such maladjustment costs many thousands annually to both high and elementary schools. FIGURE I AVERAGE COST PER PUPIL - ATLANTA PUBLIC SCHOOLS 1924 - 1929 1925 $74.31 1926 $58.08 1927 | $64.51 $46.22 1928 $64.00 $48.44 $62.00 — =1$46,00 Legend [J Average Daily Attendance ae | Enrollment 8. Lack of Reasonable Standardization. This heading covers a legion of items from the choice of building materials, and equipments to the design and arrangement of the unit spaces themselves. 9. Poor Utilization of the Plant. Of all of the atrocities in school management the factor of utiliza- tion is probably the most open for criticism especially from the public. ° Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 49 Studies made by the writer show that as low as 50% utilization in spaces and equipment exist, and that in buildings reputed to be crowded. FIGURE 2. COMPARATIVE PERCENTAGE INCREASE OVER 1915 IN CITY AND SCHOOL POPULATION ATLANTA, GEORGIA. May 1927 RO aon eae ie i ae ace a ca init a= Gin Ags > daca laa So 1 ' 140% -— — << eee @ 2 @2 SO 2 O22 fF @ O22 @e@ @ | Ce ne ic: i’ i uk Se il lg cee se ih. a a | ~ ' | 120% —_——— — — eee we i] { 2 ae a ee ee | \ ! fa: ee od a ere | ! | I ! | a | | 8 Rm -—-—-—----——------/ | | , oy . 2 3 ) i Ec tw ani i eh es a | 1 \isog _ abet F ae bs Oi I sah pae taunt siiteiiieiiiined adel | re y \ | \ " { Wi beaa+ em a mien a ae oe | | | Fs " 84 Je e-em wm wm —- -- -Y--4+--4- H- 4- = =! i I | ' one’ | | aad siedeaetesher” -¢-4a-4° 1 om ‘i a ' ' Ps | i} | vt | | t ! Pree ge ema) 8 Ot be 4 = rr as | { ' ' ! " 1 i on ee a | l ! Ricoal a 1915 16 17 "18 "19 120 "21 122 123 124 125 126 | School Population 1 City Population 4 ; ° rs 10. Poorly Designed Service Systems. The gullable and unbusinesslike educator has allowed his school system to be played with, experimented upon, and changed before con- 50 Department of Secondary-School Principals clusive results demanded such changes, probably more often than any other profession in existence. In the category of service systems one finds every imaginable device operative by hand or automatically and yet more are purchased every year because the school architect who never operates them tells the school man who doesn’t know that they are “just about the best trick he knows of.” Having reviewed briefly some of the major causes for increased cost of secondary education we will now suggest some remedies for meeting the situation. The problem effecting economy in secondary education naturally divides itself into two major fields: I, Remedies chargeable to educational administration, II, Remedies chargeable to business administration. I. REMEDIES CHARGEABLE TO EDUCATIONAL ADMINISTRATION 1. Administer high-school curricula in large plants. This will facilitate homogeneous grouping of pupils, the standardization of teaching procedures, the modification of curriculum content to meet the needs of the various ability groups. It will affect economies in the scheduling of teachers so they will have a pupil-period load which will approximate the maximum set by the accrediting associations. We are also of the opinion that teaching techniques can and should be de- veloped which will permit of classes of much larger size than that sanctioned by the accrediting associations. The studies made to show the relation of size of classes to instructional results seem to indicate very conclusively that a good teacher can get as good results from large classes as from classes having a small enrollment. While it is true that superior teachers cost more money we believe that this increase can be more than offset by the better techniques developed by the improvement in leadership and the possibility of larger classes. We venture the opinion that no one has proven the present accepted optimum in class size. If an outstanding leader and teacher can bring about an equal teaching result in a class of 100 for a salary of $5,000 per year as against a teacher getting $2,500 with classes of 25 then the thing sought has been found. We will save and at the same time elevate the teaching profession to the realm of masters. 2. Reduce Retardation to the Minimum. The high-school principal should keep himself informed at all times as to the amount of retardation in his school. He should, there- = ef "Ss a Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 51 fore, collect such statistical information as will give him a picture of the situation which exists in his school. Departmental summaries of subject failures or promotions should be made quarterly. Some sys- tems have a policy of setting limits above which the per cent of failures should not go. Another way to reduce retardation or repeaters is to adopt the curriculum content to meet the needs, interests, and capacities of high- school pupils. Far too many high schools still set as their chief func- tion the preparation for college. This means great human wastage as well as increased cost. 3. Continuous Testing Program. Every large high school should have a continuous testing program which will make it possible to reveal weak spots in the instruction. Standardized educational test results can be used to diagnose instruc- tional problems. Survey tests prepared by teachers themselves also have considerable value in determining whether or not pupils are up to standard. Remedial measures should be applied before a large per cent of pupils fail. I feel that a continuous testing program will be of great value in reducing cost of teaching repeaters. 4. Accelerated Classes. There is a strong tendency in some parts of the country to develop a school organization which will permit pupils to finish high school in 101% or 11 years. The 11th grade system is still prevalent in most of the states of the South. I am not at all in favor of the 7-4 plan of organization, but I am in favor of a plan which will be flexible enough to permit the upper 10% or 15% of pupils to be accelerated and complete the high school within a shorter period. In the Atlanta Schools we have approximately 1,000 pupils who are in accelerated classes. In some cases pupils finish the 7-8-9 grade work in two years and other pupils finish in two and one-half years. The same holds true for senior high school. I believe that this is one of the ways that sec- ondary education costs can be reduced. II. REMEDIES CHARGEABLE TO BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 1. Unify School Management. Educational superintendents and business superintendents can no longer afford to stand aloof from each other in pursuing a common 52 Department of Secondary-School Principals goal. Unfortunately in many of our large cities this separation of thinking and planning is still in force and the smaller city in many cases has been able to overcome such a handicap with substantial re- sults educationally and financially. The dawn of the new day in pub- lic school administration cannot help but contemplate centralization of authority and demand the closest coOrdination in the planning and operating of the school facilities. This is not a plea for the reconciliation of conflicting minds but it is a plea to all educational and business officials to see that no real lasting good can come from a false conception of their authority. 2. Establishing Bureaus of Engineering Research. No lasting good can come in planning school buildings until we learn by the mistakes of the past and apply them to the future. Con- tinuous engineering and planning service for school systems, large and small, is the answer. This means building a department which would have full knowledge of the daily operational and maintenance difficulties with the power to change policies when the cold facts justify such a change. Such a service properly set up should keep the record of the past as carefully as human ability would permit. Continuity of observation is the key and with scientific instruments as the tools—much is possible. In this connection administrators should not be stampeded into providing newer things if there is a likelihood of the enthusiasm of various instructors and departmental heads dying out before a thorough trial. Let the demand force the change. 3. Simpler Architecture. Confine architectural ornateness to relative small cubages in the building to save cost without losing the result desired. Diversify the floor plans so as to break up the sameness in exterior walls thus per- mitting the utilization of cheaper materials with as little trim as possi- ble. Invest in landscaping effects instead of too much terra cotta and marble. Careful consideration should be given to the possibility of narrow- ing corridors and eliminating all obstructions, recessed lockers and other factors which tend to slow up the movements of pupils at the passing time. Consideration should be given and study should be made to determine the points of greatest congestion in typical high school schedules with the idea of providing enlarged spaces at the point of o Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 53 greatest congestion. Observation in our own system would indicate that sufficient stairway facilities are not available and that the area at the intersection of the entrance of the stairwell and hallway is also too small. Serious consideration is being given to placing the wardrobe in the individual home room rather than using either recessed lockers or locker alcoves. Further consideration involving the reduction of ceil- ing heights of classrooms, thus reducing the cubage cost of buildings is still a live issue worthy of investigation. In the design of heating, lighting and plumbing systems the re- search engineers should again be brought into play in order to de- termine the point of saturation where the first cost as against the final cost shall give the lowest possible cost. In many instances the writer is aware of having seen extremely high costs of maintenance rolled up due to inferior materials having been used in the first place in order to save on the first cost. The examples of this are many. Give more attention now to controversial items in heating and ventilating and avoid being the prey of some fad or fancy. In conclusion, it is hoped that those present here to-day may see that there are many and divers ways whereby school administrators can bring about savings through better school management and at the same time not impair the instructional program or lower standards of scholarship. By so doing we may remove some of the criticisms of mounting costs of secondary education directed at Boards of Educa- tion everywhere. (I wish to give full credit to my colleague, Mr. H. Reid Hunter, Assistant Superintendent of Schools for many suggestions in prepara- tion of this article.) Director Paul R. Mort of the School of Education, Teachers Col- lege, Columbia University, did not cling closely to his manuscript in presenting his paper, Financing Secondary Education. FINANCING SECONDARY EDUCATION Paut R. Mort, DIRECTOR OF THE SCHOOL OF EpucATION, TEACHERS COLLEGE, CoLuMBIA UNIVERSITY One of the world’s outstanding tax experts recently stated that the American people have just begun to support education. If we are 54 Department of Secondary-School Principals to compare the actual amount of money being expended for education with the ability of the American people to buy education either as something of economic value or something of purely consumptive value, we cannot but realize that economically this is possible. When we turn to the statistics on the growth of attendance in high schools throughout the country, and turn over in our minds the experiences that we have all had which have led us to come to the conclusion that high-school education must be provided for all, we must conclude that it is in the temper of the American people to continue to support edu- cation liberally. In my own work with legislative committees on the problem of financing education, the thing that has surprised and thrilled me over and over is the fact that such committees are much more apt to take the position that the state should provide the kind of education which you and I would like to see provided than the position that the public is already overtaxing itself for education. I cannot believe, therefore, that there is any question about the truth of the statement that we have just begun to spend money for education. The real problem that we have to face is the problem of vamping our systems of financ- ing education in such a way that boys and girls in many of our com- munities will no longer be denied that which the thinking citizens of the state would be the last to deny them, and in such a way that school support will no longer fall unfairly upon the shoulders of some and too lightly on the shoulders of others. There are still a number of states in the Union which deny free high-school education to those children who do not happen to live in a district which has established high schools. The families of these children not only have to provide transportation for the children, but must also pay for their education over and beyond the taxes which they pay for the local schools. There are vast areas in the country where even those high schools which are operated are staffed by teachers with inadequate training and narrow background for the reason that, in spite of the tax levies that are almost confiscatory in nature, the amount of money available for the support of high-school education is woefully inadequate. Add to this the situation which is common to all types of commun- ities in the large number of states where tax reform has not been seri- ously attacked, the situation where the ability of the people in a com- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 55 munity can only be tapped through those who own property. This sit- uation means that the small property holder is often required to pay unreasonable taxes, while those whose ability to pay taxes is not measured by the property they own or the rent they pay escape their fair share of the burden. In such instances the property tax owners can hardly be blamed for opposing the elaborate types of high schools which the people as a whole desire and the people as a whole, includ- ing the taxpayers, are willing to support if they can be shown the way to provide the support in a fashion which is not discriminatory. The whole problem of financing high schools is tied up in these two situations,—the inability of some communities to support a fair type of program, taking all of their ability to pay into consideration, and the discriminatory nature of the system of financing schools in those states which are financing government by an outworn tax sys- tem. If we were to review the development of tax supported schools we would expect no other situation than that which we find ourselves facing to-day. The schools in all of our states developed largely as local affairs. They represent more the desire of the individual citizen to give his boy and girl and the children of his neighbor an opportunity for abundant living than for any theoretical service to society itself. Legislation in most of our states on educational matters has been more a response of the state to the urgings of localities than any telic atti- tude of the state itself. So long as education was not expensive, and so long as our ability to pay was fairly well represented by the amount of property we owned, the system of local support for schools was not bad. With the development of more expensive education, however, radical reorganization is necessary. What is the answer to the situation which we are facing? In the first place, the answer for the financing of secondary education is the same answer as that for the financing of elementary education. Some workers in this field impressed by the development of independent organizations for financing high schools locally suggest that the an- swer is in a different type of local organization than that used for elementary schools, or in a different type of state responsibility than that which is recognized for elementary schools. My own thinking in this field recognizes the importance of proper local organization to the welfare of the school organization, but it denies that the answer to the situation in general can come through a 56 Department of Secondary-School Principals different type of local organization. The answer to the financing of high schools is found in the answer that has been developed for the financing of all public schools. The state has the responsibility for setting up a minimum program of education which will recognize the whole span of education that is fairly universally accepted throughout the state. This we may say, for all of our forty-eight states, takes us from the first grade through the high-school period. The state should make a decent minimum program of education on both the elementary and high-school level available to every boy and girl in the state regardless of where he lives, regardless of whether or not he is of college entrance calibre. Further, the state should so provide that the burden of supporting this program of education should fall upon the people in all localities in the state according to their taxpaying ability. By this means, and by this means only, can high-school opportunities be carried into the poorer sections of the state. In this aspect of the problem it is necessary for the state to recog- nize the fact that in actual practice we have found smaller classes and more expensive teachers necessary in high school. Many states at the present time fail to recognize these two facts in their method of par- ticipating in the financing of public schools. A measure must be used which is as fair to the high school as to the elementary school, which is as fair to the small high school as to the large high school, which is as fair to the rural school as to the city school. Such measures are now available, based upon data which cannot be tampered with by local communities and which require no interpre- tation of a judgment kind from state department officials. These measures take into consideration the fact that high-school education is more expensive than elementary-school education, that a small high school is more expensive than a large high school, and that a rural school must transport pupils. I refer to such measures as are now in operation in the system of financing public schools in the state of New York. The program which the state should make available to every boy and girl in the state should be the type of program which communities of average wealth are finding it possible to offer. Based upon the analyses that have been made to date, this represents about $2,400 per high-school teacher for all current expenses in such states as New York and Pennsylvania. It represents in the neighborhood of $2,000 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 57 per high-school teacher in such states as Missouri, Nebraska, Kansas, Florida, and Colorado. From this you may judge the significance of the present move- ment towards a thoroughgoing refinancing of public schools as it affects high schools. It means that in a state similar to Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, or Colorado a high school should pay on an average a salary of not less than $1,500, and in states such as New York and Pennsylvania, a high school offering the minimum program only should pay teachers an average salary of approximately $2,000. These are not standards based upon the practice of outstanding communities which have ability to pay. They are based on practices in those com- munities which are neither handicapped nor unduly favored by the present inadequate financing system. In other words, they are com- munities with average ability to pay. Funds should be available for high schools on this level and com- parable funds should be available for elementary schools without ex- hausting the taxpaying power of any locality. Techniques are now readily available to make this an easy task regardless of whether high-school and elementary organization are the same, or whether high-school organization is separate as in Illinois or as in the case of county high schools in many western states. In no case does an ade- quate financing system demand that a district pay its all before par- ticipating in state funds, and in no case does it give a state the right to limit the budget of any district receiving state aid as is now prac- ticed in Ohio and Indiana for example. The difficulty that is faced in all states which do not have an ade- quate system of taxation and the necessary remedies may be easily described. In most of our states public schools use approximately half of all state and local tax money. Since the public schools in most states are still largely financed through local taxation, this means that the very method of administering taxes demands that the schools shall be supported by property taxpayers. If we may depend upon the statements of economists to the effect that property is overtaxed in most of our states, it naturally follows that the schools—the most expensive single item of state and local government—not only are handicapped by having to depend upon un- fairly taxed individuals, but also must unjustly bear the brunt of the 58 Department of Secondary-School Principals blame for unfair taxation. Naturally the objections which arise strike first at the newer aspects of our educational organization, and the result is that high schools tend to be placed under fire. The solution to this problem can only come from a reorganization of the taxing system such that property taxpayers will no longer carry an unfair share of the total burden of government. While this at first thought would seem to be merely a matter of tax reform, there are certain aspects of tax reform itself which throw the solution of the difficulty back upon the system of financing the public schools. In the development of tax reform it has been found that no new tax source of any importance lends itself to local admin- istration. All new tax sources of any consequence must be tapped on a state wide basis. The result is that tax reform brings about a situa- tion where the state has large sums of money available and the local- ities have no additional money available. The only way the property tax can be relieved through tax reform is through the assumption by the state of governmental activities for- merly carried on by the communities or by a system of distributing returns from state tax sources back to the localities according to some index of the necessary cost of local government. To these two, of course, may be added the lowering of state wide property tax, a source of relief which is minor compared with the other two mentioned. There is objection to any great assumption on the part of the state of activities formerly controlled by the communities. There is always the cry of the loss of local self-government, accompanied by the fear that officials far removed from the public hand will develop expensive types of government which will, in the long run, increase rather than decrease taxes. The most outstanding example of assumption of state responsibility for activities formerly considered local is the building of highways by the state. While vast sums are being put into high- ways from state sources, the amount of relief involved is not as signifi- cant as one would at first believe. The reason is that the greater part of such funds are being expended for new capital outlays rather than for the relief of taxes already being paid by the localities. In other words, this movement relieves the localities of desirable new expendi- tures, but does not, to any great degree, relieve the localities of the actual tax burdens from which they are now suffering. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 59 There is no single branch of government in which the way is clear for state assumption of responsibility to a sufficient degree to result in real tax relief except public education. In the case of public educa- tion, we now can propose means by which the state may take over the financing of any desired share of the cost of the state’s minimum program without unduly increasing state control and without the un- fairness that has been experienced from the rule-of-thumb methods used for the distribution of state moneys both to education in the past and to other branches of government. To-day we have measures of the needs of communities for that part of local government which is by far greater than all other local government combined,—measures which are not subject to local manipulation or to bureaucratic domina- tion. We find, then, in the system developed for financing the public school system, the most feasible vehicle for bringing about a readjust- ment of the burden of taxation upon various tax sources. A recent statement by the Kansas Tax Code Commission brings out this point in an excellent manner. Referring to a scientific plan of financing the public schools that was developed by a legislative commission known as the School Code Commission, the Tax Com- mission says : “The plan proposed to the state by the School Code Commission has been carefully studied by our own commission in its relation to the subject of taxes. We are satisfied that the plan the Commission has prepared supplies the right place for the allocation of whatever revenue is obtained from new sources, up to eight million dollars, the amount that meets the need of an equalized educational program. . . . “An allocation of the revenue from the proposed new sources of revenue—the gross production tax, income tax, and sales tax if adopted—to the school code plan accomplishes two objects: It will fi- nance the code plan to whatever extent revenue is produced; and it assures, what in the Commission’s judgment is a vital matter, that the new revenues will not be an added tax burden. “This matter of the allocation of new revenue is difficult without the code plan. The only other use that the commission sees for the proposed new revenue is to allocate it to the general fund of the state, and this does not offer any guaranty that it will not be an added tax upon the people. “Tt should be kept in mind that new sources are not desired merely to obtain larger funds from taxpayers. The new sources are recom- mended entirely on other grounds ; namely, that they distribute the tax burden more widely, bring in new taxpayers and so relieve present 60 Department of Secondary-School Principals taxpayers who are carrying the support of the government. It is es- sential that for every dollar raised by new sources a dollar should be saved to present tax bearers. . “For the above reasons the Commission strongly recommends allocation of revenues from new taxpayers and new and now untaxed ability to pay taxes, to the school code plan.” In short, through a scientific revision of our system of financing public schools we can bring about relief of the major difficulties facing the financing of high schools in American states. One of these diffi- culties is the inability of the poorer areas of a state to finance an ade- quate high school program even with prohibitive tax rates, and the other is the unfair criticism that comes to high schools as the most obvious target for the property taxpayer who is carrying an unfair share of the burden of state and local government. Principal F. L. Bacon of Evanston Township High School, Evans- ton, Illinois, presented the report of the auditing and finance com- mittee. AUDITOR’S REPORT February 14, 1930. Messrs. M. R. McDaniel F. L. Bacon Finance Committee. At your request, I have audited the books and records of the Treasurer of the Department of Secondary School Principals of the National Educational Association—for the calendar year 1929. Following is a statement of the receipts and disbursements for the calendar year 1929. This statement correctly sets forth all the receipts and disbursements, properly classified. During the year an additional investment was made in First Mortgage 6% Real Estate Bonds, in the amount of $5,000.00. This purchase, together with bonds on hand at the beginning of the year, makes a total of $20,000.00 Real Estate Bonds (6%) on hand. These bonds are in a safety deposit vault at the Mid-West State Bank of Cicero, Illinois. Made an examination of bonds and verified amount, as shown on following pages. Balance of Cash on Hand, amounting to $2,377.06, as shown, has been verified and agrees with bank statement. All monies received were deposited in bank, and all payments made by check. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 61 Have examined all checks and vouchers, and found all disburse- ments properly accounted for. The books of the Treasurer have been properly kept, and I found everything in the best of order for auditing. Respectfully submitted, F. E. RoBerts C.F. A. We hereby certify that we have examined this report and found it to be correct. Committee on Finance. F. L. Bacon M. R. McDANIEL REPORT OF TREASURER DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS of the NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION January 1, 1929 to DeceMBER 31, 1929 RECEIPTS Balance in Bank December 31, 1928............ $ 528.87 Cam Oe TO win dh Sea ecwesns heks dawn Cateees 282.96 Annual dues from members...............+-55 $ 4,523.60 CANO TRS. 6 anc ad Cos UES O06 0 08) Weeeeas 881.40 CE ov vba tecencKiadscesiutteccue 417.70 WemOr TOC FON aa coc ct chesVcakccsencenss 6,710.00 Fetinent Gtk OR ood. oc cindc cvccenccesunsceeces 900.00 Partial Payment on Premiums, Insurance...... 4,747.35 Balance on Luncheon Tickets................ 4.10 18,184.15 $18,995.98 EXPENDITURES SECRETARY'S OFFICE DOOR ci sc kha vetnivicuscateeencxe taeeeee $ 649.59 ME istic vs cetacean in cececdsecstuwee 262.23 Refund of dues to members............eeee008 27.00 Refund of blanks returned..........eeeeeeeees 7.95 COE TINUE hs oc ces hi dvdeeauadecoannees 1,673.28 OCMR0 SOMME oon x cdsedevccccndecsedivectédee 31.19 DGGE PRICES: < dv ccdicdeccavedeesaveresse 20.50 Security bond, Secretary .........ccseeeeeeees 2.50 BE CME oi oo Soce cc cacivecnodentsceseees 8.30 2,682.54 Honor Society Charters and engrossing charters.............- $ 294.08 Refund of Charter Fees. ...........ceeceeeees 20.00 Expense of Committee—Questionnaire......... 18.00 Refund on Emblems ...........+.seeeeceeece 4.70 62 Department of Secondary-School Principals Butietin No. 24 (January, 1929) ERE OC LIL EE ECO OO REE CT OPE $ 1,458.46 I 5 505.6 s Ue ce cas ye diss coswene Soaked 40. Clerical Work on Bulletin ................... 44.43 Buttetin No. 25 (Thirteenth Year Book) EC TEE Pee ee |RSS, SRO Rn Seer ey ge Peek eae Butetin No. 26 (April, 1929) I 5 5. ata bans enatts eas iamewenss te : REE 66's os. ca he 40 sis 4.510 Bed 6 OER 17.66 Buttetin No. 27 (May, 1929) POE nc cn ceria ae eNse cs bet et cure ote $ 248.40 Bu.tetin No. 28 (October, 1929) Postage Bulletins 27 and 28................... $ 32.36 Butcetin No. 16 (April, 1927) Payment (Balance due $150.00).............. $ 50.00 Bu ietin No. 19 (Reprinted) | Te ET Pree ee rr eH ney moe $ 547.50 CONVENTION IN CLEVELAND AE 4 aii nacreds b650054s co aeeseeee eeeee $ 60.00 Spenmiers HXGCNSES 2... ccc cccccccsesscccevee 124.96 SD MIE IIE oo 9.0:0.054-64's's's seb caeatenlewec 78.71 President’s Expenses ............2ssecceeeece 225.24 CONSULTATIVE COMMITTEE Expenses in Chicago ............cceeeceeeees $ 749.70 SUMMER MEETING, ATLANTA Expenses of Secretary ..........ssccccesccees $ 88.34 Expenses of President..................-e0005 7.17 Ce MEI 6 06 ddan see che cad daewsanereaces 6.90 INSURANCE Partial Payment on Premium................ $ 2,000.00 CE PII oc bbb evensndccaarvacdcarcaen 24.10 1,543.56 2,347.18 339.66 32.36 50.00 547.50 488.91 749.70 102.41 2,024.10 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting Bonps ‘ 5 First Mortgage Real Estate 6%............. $ 5,000.00 pe De Ceres terre ee 24.50 Rental (one year) safety deposit vault box, (Total bonds on hand ,000.00)........ 2.50 5,027.00 ConvENTION, ATLANTIC City Expenses of President ............ccccceccees $ 98.82 98.82 16,618.92 $ 2,377.06 Balance in Bank December 31, 1929........... $ 2,377.06 Cash in Treasury at Washington, D. C........ 178.00 $ 2,555.06 LIST OF BONDS IN SAFETY DEPOSIT VAULT AT THE MID-WEST STATE BANK CICERO, ILLINOIS One First Mortgage 6% Real Estate Bond, due February 1, 1933— property in the name of James Kittigillon and Irene Kittigillon, situated at 706 So. Third Ave., Maywood, Illinois................ $5 The following 6% Leasehold Estate Gold Bonds, due January 15, 1936, on property situated at N. W. Corner Irving Park Boulevard and North Crawford Ave., Chicago, Illinois : J TIMID oo evs cctoetccecicdecveuwens $ 1,000.00 1O6—-GIOP Bada .. .. ccccccccewsccseccvcedec 1,000.00 The following Real Estate Gold Bonds, due August 15, 1936 on property situated at N. E. Corner Austin Boulevard and Park Avenue, Cicero, Illinois : 3—G1,000 Bonds .........cccccesceececess One 6% Real Estate Bond, due August 10, 1932, on prop- erty in the name of Dominick Nemunis and wife, situated at 4915 W. 24th Place, Cicero, Illinois................. One 6% Real Estate Gold Bond, due February 1, 1938, on property at Elston and Central Avenues, Chicago, Illinois Two $500 Bonds on Presbyterian Church, Berwyn, Illinois, Ce WARE By WO ac ce Ry hvc Ca dee skews dew eeres eho: The following First Mortgage 6% Bonds, due June 21, 1933, on property in the name of Ed J. Rock and wife, at 1162 Highland Avenue, Cicero, Illinois: py ere ee er eee rrr ee $ 2,750.00 Be Fe NE sc ccee ho pewrcedecincauecies 250.00 The following First Mortgage Real Estate Bonds on Donald Cliff Apartments, at 4153-57 North Mozart St., Chicago, Illinois—due November 1, 1935: 2—$500 Bonds (6%).......ceeeeceeeeeees $ 1 10— 100 Bonds (6%).......ceececeeeeeees 1 2,000.00 3,000.00 3,000.00 1,000.00 1,000.00 3,000.00 2,000.00 Tomas, ROmne TT sida olddn Ci ctaccen tbecnweess vives: 64 Department of Secondary-School Principals Principal Wm. A. Wetzel of Senior High School, Trenton, New Jersey, presented the following report from the National Committee on Research in Seconc.. » Education as follows: During its four and one-half years of existence the Committee has carried through to completion a number of projects in secondary education among which the following are of special significance : 1. Formulation of a statement regarding research procedure. This statement, prepared by a committee of which Arthur J. Jones was chairman, was printed by the U. S. Bureau of Education as Bulletin, 1926, No. 24, An Outline of Methods of Research with Suggestions for High-School Principals and Teachers. 2. Preparation of bibliographies of completed and in-progress studies. a. Bibliographies of completed studies were printed as Bulletins of the U. S. Bureau of Education, 1926, No. 2, and 1927, No. 27; E. E. Windes was chairman of the committee organizing these materials. b. Under the chairmanship of John K. Norton, two bibli- ographies of in-progress studies were prepared and cir- culated in mimeographed form in February, 1926, and February, 1927. The demand for bibliographies of these two types indicated the advisability of extending this service to education on all levels instead of limiting it to the secondary school field. Following the announce- ment of the U. S. Bureau of Education that such service would be instituted the National Committee abandoned its projects for future bibliographies of studies in secondary education. 3. Investigation of rural junior high schools. E. N. Ferriss was chairman of the committee conducting this special study. The results of the investigation were published as Bulletin of the U. S. Bureau of Education, 1928, No. 28, The Rural Junior High School. 4. Sponsorship, including services of consultation and advice, in connection with the following studies : a. Montague, J. F., Senior High School Promotion Plans. Manuscript submitted to U. S. Office of Education for publication. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 65 b. Baer, Joseph A., Men Teachers in the Public Schools of the United States. Awaiting publication by Ohio State University. c. Proctor, Wm. M., and Brown, E. J., College Entrance Requirements in Relation to Curriculum Revision in Secondary Schools. Reported in sixth and seventh Year- books of the Department of Superintendence. d. Roemer, Joseph, Secondary Schools of the Southern Association. Published as U. S. Bureau of Education Bulletin, 1928, No. 16. e. Foster, Frank K., Status of the Junior High School Principal. Completed and manuscript considered by the U. S. Office of Education for publication. 5. Sponsorship of a series of articles appearing in School Life. The practice has been to have at least one article prepared by a member of the Committee appear in each issue of School Life. Thirty-five articles have been thus sponsored, eleven of these during the last year. 6. Assistance to the U. S. Office of Education in its service to secondary education. Specifically the Committee has been active in the following directions : a. Extending the subscription list of School Life. b. Furthering the plans for a National Survey of Secondary Education. c. Studying the services of the Office of Education to secondary education. The efforts of the Committee in these regards have been generally successful. The last-mentioned item has been a subject for considera- tion under the chairmanship of A. J. Jones during the present year. 7. Preparation of a list of topics suitable for investigation in the National Survey of Secondary Education. This list of problems was prepared by a committee of which E. J. Ashbaugh was chairman. Reactions to the outline were secured from more than 150 educators. The survey staff has found the outline and the reactions to it very valuable in planning the survey. 66 Department of Secondary-School Principals During the current year the policy of the Committee has been to leave its membership free for such service as may be requested of individual members in connection with the National Survey of Sec- ondary Education. At the time this is written 17 members of the National Committee have been appointed to important committee positions in the work of the Survey. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the National Survey of Secondary Education will, dur- ing the next two and one-half years, claim the time and services of the membership and will at the same time perform many of the functions of the National Committee on Research in Secondary Education. Mr. Wetzel then moved that the Department of Secondary-School Principals instruct the Executive Committee to send the Committee on National Research $450.00. Discussion from the floor followed. Mr. Bacon moved that it be referred to the Executive Committee to report to the Department at its next general session. Carried. The meeting then adjourned. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting THIRD SESSION LUNCHEON At 12.30 p. m. on Wednesday, February 26, in the Bronze Room of Hotel President, 238 members sat down for luncheon. President Stuart presided. Mr. Merle Prunty, superintendent of schools of Tulsa, Oklahoma, presented the past presidents. Mr. Edward Rynear- son, President of the National Honor Society presented some facts in regard to the National Honor Society and the National Junior Honor Society. Mr. F. L. Bacon, presented the following amendment to Article V. Section 1 of the constitution. President Stuart called Past President Kadesch to the chair and then presented the following report : Action of the Executive Committee of the Department of the Secondary-School Principals was as follows: With respect to a yearly contribution of one hundred fifty dollars from the Department of Secondary-School Principals to the National Committee on Research in Secondary Education which was to begin three years ago but was left without action for the last two years, your Executive Committee recommends full payment to date amount- ing to $300.00. Mr. Stuart moved the adoption of this report. Carried. Principal A. J. Burton of East High School, Des Moines, Iowa, reported as chairman of the nominating committee : OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT 1930-1931 President: Louts E. PLUMMER Principal, Union High School, Fullerton, California First Vice President: C. H. THRELKELD Principal, Columbia High School, South Orange, New Jersey 68 Department of Secondary-School Principals Second Vice President: Joun A. LARSON Principal, Senior High School, Little Rock, Arkansas EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE F. R. Born Principal, Junior High School, Ardmore, Oklahoma W. C. Giese Principal, Washington Park High School Racine, Wisconsin President Stuart called upon U. S. Commissioner of Education William John Cooper who asked for the codperation of the members in the National Survey of Secondary Education. Adjournment at 2 p. m. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting FOURTH SESSION The last session of the convention was held in the auditorium of the Senior High School, Atlantic City. President Stuart called the meeting to order at 2.35 p. m., Wednesday, February 26. Thomas Lloyd Jones, Professor of Education, University of Wis- consin read his paper on The Junior College in the State’s Program of Education. JUNIOR COLLEGE IN THE STATE’S PROGRAM OF EDUCATION Tuomas Ltoyp JonEs, PROFESSOR OF EpUCATION, UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN. It is a great pleasure to meet with this group. You represent insti- tutions which mold the lives of millions of boys and girls and we all nurse the hope that this molding is all to the good. Of your tasks, of your depressions, of your exhilarations I have a sympathetic under- standing, for not so long ago, I was one of you. In fact, I am one of you yet, since both my work and my inclinations cause me to keep in touch with the hopes and the ambitions and the achievements of sec- ondary-school principals and their co-workers. Each year your prob- lems become more complex, and at times, I think that each year shows a positive decline in the influence of the home. There are, fortunately, hopeful signs of a wholesome reaction, and there are those who claim to believe that intelligent parents, in increasing numbers, are coming to realize that too much has been expected of the school, that the home must function in the creation of ideals and standards or our vital tra- ditions and conventions will be wrecked. There are those of us who feel that administrative measures alone can not bring about the desired attitudes toward things social, intellectual, moral, and spiritual. Instead of speaking to you this afternoon about “The Junior Col- lege in the State’s Program of Education,” I wish that I might hear of the efforts which you are this year making to guarantee to each of your pupils the privilege which should be his, namely, the right to all the training he is willing to take and able to use, either directly in the making of a good living, or indirectly in the practice of the most 70 Department of Secondary-School Principals important of all arts, the art of sound living. Among my acquaintances, many are making conspicuous progress along this line. The problem is ever acute in the elementary school, the secondary school, and in the college. Each institution gets each year a new batch of personalities, and these individuals must be handled as individuals if the greatest returns to society are to be secured. Mass instruction is, I believe, expensive because ineffective in the development of mastery. The secondary schools, and the colleges to some extent, have those who can think and work only in the presence of materials. They are to become the “section-hands” in our industrial, commercial, edu- cational, social, and other enterprises. These “Section-hands” are important members of our society; they do much of the work of the world, and upon them, in no small measure, depends the safety of social structures. These people are entitled to all you are trying to give them; they are entitled to all the training for their work and for their leisure they are willing to take. If they are cramped it is not necessarily the school nor the college which handicaps them ; they are most frequently handicapped by their own interests and affections. In the secondary schools, and in the colleges, are to be found, in large numbers, very bright and clever people who learn chiefly by see- ing things and by hearing people talk. People of this type, regardless of age, rarely work things out for themselves; they seldom master books; they love “contacts’’; they carry, as ends in themselves, the extra-curriculum activities for which we have been praised and blamed ; they sell tickets and serve on committees for credit; they serve as cheer-leaders ; they try to acquire that characteristic known as “personality-plus,” etc. These young people are good folk ; they become useful members of society, seldom, however, do they become our outstanding teachers, or doctors, or lawyers, or engineers, or industrial leaders. They may be- come wealthy and help to endow colleges; they usually become good neighbors, fine friends, and in general a source of national strength. These people are entitled to all the training they can take, but not at the expense of any other group. Then too, in our secondary schools, and in our colleges, we have always a very considerable group of real students, those who have power to do their share of the abstract thinking necessary for vital Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 71 social progress. These young people not only have the ability but they have the love of learning and willingness, yes the desire, to pay the price necessary for real achievement. These superior students are likewise entitled to all the opportuni- ties which they can use, for from among them will come those who are to be the real leaders in the fields of education, engineering, law, medi- cine, statesmanship, science, mathematics and letters. Any system of education which neglects this group, which favors one group over an- other is inefficient and unworthy. The stability of our form of govern- ments depends upon our ability to offer educational opportunities to each individual in proportion to his ability to take. Organization must be only a means to an end, not an end in itself. At present we are apt to put undue emphasis upon the form of the organization and upon method thinking them synonymous with education. We are concerned this afternoon with organization only as a means to an end; we are considering forms of organization for the first two years of post high-school work which will assure the results to the students which are felt to be desirable. The exact organization to be selected should of course depend upon the conditions in each state. There are several solutions. I desire to direct your attention to a form seldom mentioned ; the organization of one or more junior col- leges in connection with the State University. As it has been announced, I have the honor to be connected with a state university, but I assure you that I am not here in the interest of greater power for the University of Wisconsin, nor to pose as a special pleader for state universities in general. Also I ought to make it clear that the “junior college” is not in any way an issue in our state, nor do we expect it to so become. Wisconsin is a state with less than three million people, but with 19 degree granting institutions, 11 of which are state supported. (We have 10 state teachers colleges, 8 private colleges and the University.) Nor have I any thought that some of you will fear domination by a university for I know that the real men in our colleges and universi- ties are just as anxious to understand and to help the high schools, as the secondary-school men are anxious to deal fairly with higher insti- tutions. 72 Department of Secondary-School Principals I have only two desires: to do as Mr. Stuart wanted me to do, to take 15 minutes on this program ; and second, to toss into the hat a sug- gested organization. which would, I believe, help us realize the aims referred to a few moments ago. I believe the organization of junior colleges as a part of a state university to be feasible. At the present time we have a variety of organizations, and it is my understanding that things are going very well. Let me enumerate a few of them: 1. We have the junior college organized as part of a city school system. Usually, or at least frequently, the work is closely articulated with the work of the senior high school. Consequently, due to the small enrollment, teachers are not infrequently asked to teach in two or three fields. Instead of a chair, it is often necessary to assign a teacher a whole settee. Thus it becomes more difficult to interest Class A persons in the vacancies as they occur. Due to the relatively small enrollment, the development of esprit de corps in a real sense becomes extremely difficult if not impossible. A two-year college is a rather lonely institution. To meet this we see growing up the 644 plan, thus merging the last two years of the high school with the first two years of the college, with a new type of school as a result. Much good work may be done, but there are many needs unmet. 2. There are junior colleges attached to the University of Pitts- burgh. These are nearly self supporting, and that fact raises many questions in my mind. A charge of $300 a year seems to me to be excessive. 3. There are private junior colleges attached to splendid academies. While few in number they render excellent service. The tuition charge is usually high. 4. Many of our large cities support a municipal University. Such a one is at Akron, and it enjoys an excellent reputation. Akron is a great industrial city; it has major interests and great wealth. Such institutions render splendid service both as junior colleges and as colleges. They have friends everywhere, but only cities with large resources can support adequately its libraries, parks, elementary and secondary schools and in addition adequately house and conduct an excellent college, or even junior college. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 73 In his inaugural address, Charles R. Van Hise said in 1904, that the ideal University should be “as broad as human endeavor, and as high as human aspiration.” Boys and girls leave the high schools “with tastes and aptitudes as varied as mankind” and they have a right to continue their studies along the lines of their greatest inter- ests. A university, supported by the state for all its people, can place no bounds upon the lines of its endeavor, else the state is the loser. Thus a state university should serve a state in all ways possible, and the cost of higher education seems to me to be a just charge upon the resources of the State. And in the interest of the society which is to be, fees ought to be kept as low as possible in order that the real test of fitness to remain a matriculated student should be one of ability to comprehend and to achieve, independent of the ability to pay. Not only ought fees to be kept down but living costs should be reduced also. So: I favor, as a means of extending the opportunities and the influences of our great state universities, wherever conditions warrant, the organization of one or more junior colleges to be operated and controlled by the state university. Each junior college to be under the direction of a dean or a director, to be appointed by the president with the approval of the board of regents. The junior college fees shall be the same as those charged freshmen and sophomores at the mother institution. The teachers assigned to a junior college will be members of the faculty of the University and with equal privileges as to rank and salary and tenure. This will ensure continuity and quality and range of work, for the faculty of any real university constitute the living force. The young men and young women who would be enrolled in these junior colleges would have the advantages of the university with a varied program of studies and with connections ahead. The dormitory system of the university would be duplicated for each junior college. The cost of living for the first two years of university life would be less at the junior college than at the mother institution and this without a lowering of efficiency. In fact, there are reasons for believing that the net results might be even raised. I do not believe all the charges made against our high schools nor against our colleges and universities. Idealism still exists in abundance, as evidenced by the general attitude maintained by our state univer- sities, our colleges and by this organization. We now have in prac- tically all our state universities at least a three-fold duty. Productive 74 Department of Secondary-School Principals scholarship is emphasized and as a result, the field of knowledge is enlarged, education, of the highest type possible with the facilities at hand, is offered; and by extension work of broad type, education is carried to the state. The State really becomes a campus. The establishment of junior colleges connected with our state universities would give to a greater number of young men and young women the advantage of a university, provide better preparation for the advanced work of the senior college, and at the same time reduce the cost in money and in nervous energy of the first two years of university work, Existing colleges need not be disturbed. There is more work to be done than we can do. If we keep our eyes on the needs of young people, forms of organization will be evolved. The Junior College in the State’s Program of Education, was a topic continued by George F. Zook, President of the University of Akron, Akron, Ohio. THE JUNIOR COLLEGE IN THE STATE’S PROGRAM OF EDUCATION GEorGE F. Zook, PRESIDENT OF AKRON UNIVERSITY In 1921-22 when Professor L. V. Koos made his notable contri- bution to the study of the junior college movement he counted approxi- mately 200 junior colleges with an attendance of about 16,121. Since that time the number of junior colleges has doubled and the enroilment increased to more than 50,000 students,—far more rapidly than any other form of so-called higher education. Those who are interested in junior colleges may therefore refer to this movement, as I fre- quently have done, as of the utmost significance touching both the fields of secondary and higher education. Therefore, in this discussion I do not propose to justify the movement or to analyze the several functions which junior colleges may perform. The history of the last decade provides ample examples of these things for anyone interested in the subject. I shall also assume that junior-college education is the completion of general secondary education and not actually the first two years of higher education, a conclusion which has now been quite generally established in the minds of educators. The higher education people, Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 75 or, perhaps I should say a part of them, were the first to realize this situation. Now happily those interested in the secondary schools are also beginning to appreciate the truth of the statement and are assuming their proper responsibility in the solution of junior-college problems. The Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools of the Southern states, for example, now accredits junior colleges through a joint committee representing the secondary schools on the one hand and the colleges on the other. The North Central Association will consider a similar arrangement at its next meeting in March. A few days ago I heard a high-school teacher remark, after several weeks’ study of the junior college situation, that she had found out for the first time that junior-college education was regarded as a part of secondary education and that consequently she had a responsibility for correlating the high-school and junior-college program of study. May her tribe increase! Parenthetically may I remark that wherever these two educational units, now torn asunder in unnatural divorce, are united in holy wedlock, a discussion of college entrance requirements will read like ancient history. If, then, junior-college education is the completion of secondary education, the arrangement whereby junior colleges are established as independent two-year units, whether privately or publicly con- trolled, is essentially incorrect. I refer, for example, to the large number of private junior colleges where often at the command of the regional accrediting agencies the high-school work below has been abolished or completely separated from the junior college work. I am glad to say that the North Central Association seems about to repent of this action and has already authorized three experiments at Stephens College, Columbia, Mo., and in the public schools of Joliet, Ill., and Kansas City, Mo., contemplating the elimination of the arbitrary line now so widely found between the secondary schools and the junior colleges. In the same way the establishment of state junior colleges in West Virginia, Texas, Utah, Idaho, Mississippi, Tennessee, Okla- homa, and Arkansas sometimes with a vague connection with the state universities and colleges but with none whatever with local high schools is indefensible and far from meeting the requirements of a state-wide system of junior colleges such as we have under discussion this afternoon. rote Pt 2 emer 70 Department of Secondary-School Principals On the other hand, to allow junior colleges which may fulfill our fondest hopes to close connection with local secondary schools to be established without restraint and without proper facilities and person- nel, in other words, in disregard of minimum standards of good prac- tise as has been so freely done in Kansas and Iowa is also indefensible and is, I believe, doing the junior college movement serious damage, especially in the eyes of critics already too willing to search for flaws Such a situation is also a long way from being a proper state system of junior colleges. In fact our unhappy experience with these situations makes us realize that those of us who profess to be friends of the movement should do what we can to see that proper conditions and standards prevail before we encourage the establishment of junior colleges. Otherwise, they cannot possibly fulfill our hopes and predictions. A single instance suffices to make clear what I mean. Professors Koos and Reeves who have looked into the situation agree that an enrollment of at least 200 students is necessary for an effective junior college and yet the median enrollment of 382 junior colleges reported by Professor Whitney for 1927-28 was only 76. It is no wonder that as yet only a small proportion of the junior colleges of the country have been accredited by the several regional accrediting agencies, notwithstanding the fact that the present standards of these agencies are a low minimum. It is therefore significant and heartening that Professor O’Brien studied focal conditions thoroughly before advising on the location of junior colleges in Kansas; that Dr. Morris analyzed the situation thoroughly leading to the establishment of a junior college at Union- town, Pa., instead of at the small village of Mt. Pleasant, which had heen seriously proposed; that Dr. Blauch recommended 8 cities in New Jersey for junior colleges only after extensive study; that Pro- fessor H. F. Clark of Indiana University showed that there were only 6 or 7 cities in Indiana in which junior colleges should be located instead of approximately 100 as would have been possible under a bill submitted to the Indiana legislature in 1927; that when a junior college bill was introduced in the Ohio legislature a year ago without restrictions it was straightway amended to require a property valuation of $50,000,000 behind it; that a state system of junior colleges was proposed for 13 centers of population in Massachusetts only after an Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting | 77 extensive study of costs, accessibility, and superior standards of work ; that the Iowa people seem to be much alive to the present loose stand- ards and a few days met in conference to lay plans for its solution ; that Mississippi seems determined to establish its state-supported junior colleges in 13 zones each containing several counties and vary- ing in property valuation from $25,000,000 to $94,000,000 and in supporting high school enrollment from 1,400 to 4,700; and finally that Professor Whitney’s studies were instrumental two years ago in preventing a hasty establishment of too many junior colleges in Colorado. These are all heartening examples of a more defensible policy which should enable us to avoid some of the mistakes of the past. This more critical attitude should not of course prevent us from realizing the present need for expanding junior college facilities into many centers of population in our states now entirely devoid of educational facilities beyond the high school. There are, for example, at least 7 cities in Indiana where the high-school enrollment and the property valuation would justify the establishment of junior colleges ; New Jersey ought to have at least eight junior colleges, one of them right here in Atlantic City; Massachusetts, with all her famous insti- tutions, would profit by six to twelve of them. My own state of Ohio has many colleges too but most of them, both state and privately controlled, have followed the monastic principle of locating them- selves in the country where the people are not rather than in the midst of our centers of population. There are at the present time 16 or 17 cities in Ohio each with a population of 25,000 or more and with property valuations in excess of $50,000,000 which at the present have no facilities in higher education of any kind. A junior college in every one of them would be amply justified. As we look about these cities all too casually perhaps we do not realize that we are actually denying aspiring young men and young women the opportunity for further education who would be glad to secure it if it were made more accessible. Professor Clark of Indiana University showed that it was at least $200 per year more costly to go away from home to college than it is to remain at home. If the student attends a public institution at home with small fees as against paying the larger tuitions at privately controlled institutions, the difference may be doubled. It is not surprising therefore that both 78 Department of Secondary-School Principals Professor Koos and Professor Holy found a substantial increase in the proportion of high school graduates who go to college if these facilities are available at home. Professor Holy found, for example, that high schools which are located in the same city with a four-year college have 45.1% of their graduates enrolled in the first two years of college; those located in the same city with junior colleges have 42.3% enrolled in the first two college years as against only 31% for high schools located in towns and cities without any facilities in higher education. In other words, the chances of a boy or girl securing at least two more years of education are 36% better if he or she lives in a city with a local junior college than if he happens to live in a city which is so unprogressive as not to have at least a junior college located in it. The surveys in Massachusetts and New Jersey under my direction led to the same conclusion. We must therefore conclude that there are a number of states which contain from one to twenty cities, many of them at present entirely devoid of any college facilities, in which it would be possible and economical to establish successful junior colleges and that if this were done the total proportion of young people from 17 to 23 years of age who would secure the advantages of at least two years of educa- tion beyond the high school would be considerably greater than at present. Some of our friends in the field of elementary and secondary education are a bit alarmed at the establishment of junior colleges in local centers for fear that it may have an adverse effect on the amount of money available for elementary and secondary education. I presume there are possible examples of this situation. I don’t believe I have ever seen any of them. I think that I would be entirely willing to agree however that a local school system should not establish a junior college until its system of elementary and high-school education was fully standard in all respects. However, the benefits of education to the public, whether ele- mentary, secondary or higher are so patent and the success of the three so interdependent that I scarcely see how one can be restricted without affecting the others vitally. Of course we must have ele- mentary and secondary schools as the basis for all our development in Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 79 higher education but we know now better than ever before that not only are the schools dependent on the higher institutions for trained teachers and administrators but that other public and private agencies are leaning more heavily on the colleges and universities for trained men and women than in former years. All forms of education are therefore equally a wise public investment. Wherever there is, there- fore, a probable attendance of 250 or more students I believe that a community is under the same solemn obligation to offer junior college work to its young people as it is to offer them the earlier years of their education. Therefore, my system of junior-college education would be estab- lished in the closest possible correlation with the local high schools of every community in which the demand justified this work. The administration, teaching personnel and physical facilities of the two would be knit together in a close correlation which would do away with the duplication of subject matter and the consequent misunder- standing now existing between the high schools and the colleges. If the local public school system was a county unit it would obviously be all the better. I would not, of course, abate one whit from the high standard of freshmen and sophomore work which the present four- year colleges assert, not always convincingly, that they perform. What about the standards for these junior colleges? Our large cities are now generally in advance of the minimum standards of the state relative to the secondary schools. So too they would be with respect to most junior colleges. On the other hand, the state depart- ment of education would of course be under the same solemn obliga- tion to require a standard grade of work in the junior colleges as in the high schools. Indeed, this would be one of the main aspects of an acceptable state system of junior colleges. Our friends in Cali- fornia are perhaps more active through their state department of education than is true of any other state in the union. The state universities also exert a powerful influence in the same direction. Finally, the regional accrediting agencies are very helpful in raising the standards of junior college performance. How shall this system of public junior colleges be supported? After all is not the cost of a junior college which does work com- parable with that of the present good four-year colleges prohibitive ? There can be no question but that the community should bear the 80 Department of Secondary-School Principals entire expense of buildings and other capital expenditures. The prop- erty must belong to the educational unit with which the junior college is identified. Nothing else in my opinion is feasible. To what extent the local school unit should also be responsible for current expenses is another question. So long as the state as such accepts the responsibility for the expense of junior college education in its own state institutions, so long can a very good case be made out for an equal measure of state support in the local public junior colleges. What should junior college education cost per student? Professor Reeves thinks that “a thoroughly effective junior college of 250 or more students should expect to have a cost per student of approxi- mately $340 per year.” Mr. H. F. Clark found in 1927 that the median cost per student of 38 junior colleges was $208. Professor Proctor states that the per capita costs in the California junior colleges range from $200 to $450. Professor Koos recently found that among the 30 junior colleges in California the median teaching cost, which was about 2% of the total cost, was approximately $200 per capita. From these illustrations it seems clear that a junior college of 200 or more students should not expect to conduct itself on less than $300 per capita. Where will this money be secured from? I have already stated my conviction that the state should subsidize the local junior colleges. California is now of course the outstanding example of such state subsidies. There are several plans in vogue there which vary accord- ing to the type of junior college. Nevertheless, in that state subsidies not to exceed $100 per student in addition to an initial allowance of $2,000 per junior college are made to districts which conduct junior colleges. In 1927-28 the total amount of state funds allotted to junior colleges in California was $308,800. The junior colleges of Michigan and Minnesota share in state funds which are distributed for sec- ondary education. Bills providing state subsidies of $100 per student for local junior colleges have failed in recent years in Kansas and Colorado. This statement is, however, no measure of the support of the several states for other forms of higher education carried on by municipal authorities. For example, the three municipal teacher train- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 81 ing institutions located in St. Louis, Kansas City, and St. Joseph received from the state of Missouri $405,000 for the last biennium. The city teacher training institutions in New York, Rochester and Syracuse receive $317,000 for the current year from the state of New York. Similar bills have been introduced into the Ohio legisla- ture providing state subsidies to the three municipal universities of Akron, Toledo, and Cincinnati in support of their teacher training work. There is, therefore, the strongest argument both from logic and precedent for state subsidies to local junior colleges. At the time I carried on the survey of higher education in Massachusetts it seemed to me that it ought not to be less than 90% of the current cost. Cer- tainly it should be as much as one-half the current cost or not less than $150 per student. There is another source of revenue which public junior colleges have almost overlooked, namely student fees. The fees charged by local junior colleges in almost all instances are so low as to be neg- ligible. With this practice I do not altogether agree. State universities and colleges now quite generally charge student fees varying in amount from $50 to $100 per student, sometimes higher. It has already been said that students who live at home while attending college can do so for at least $200 less than those who go away from home not including the differences in the fees payable at a state university as against a local junior college. The total difference in cost will therefore easily amount to $300 per year. A student attending a local junior college can therefore pay a substantial sum toward the cost of his education at a local junior college and yet secure his education at a considerable reduction in cost over those who go away from home to college. It should be remembered too that the junior college student has arrived at an age when during the summer and at odd hours in the afternoon or evening he can easily earn all or substantially all of his expenses while attending a local junior college. If in these expenses there is included a substantial amount for fees, he may appreciate more fully the value of an education. Finally, it may be pointed out that the municipal universities in most cases have long ago followed the example of the state institution 82 Department of Secondary-School Principals in charging substantial fees. The University of Cincinnati charges both residents and non-residents of the city a substantial tuition fee for engineering and commerce. The City College of Detroit and the Universities of Wichita, Louisville, Akron and Cincinnati impose fees ranging from $60 to $75 on all students enrolled in Liberal Arts. At the University of Toledo the maintenance fee is still low. Only at the City Colleges of New York City is there practically no cost to the student. I see no reason, therefore, why the local junior colleges should not levy a substantial fee on all students enrolled in the institution. $50 per annum would certainly not be too much. It goes without saying, I take it, that in addition to the regular maintenance fee students living outside the junior college district should pay tuition. This tuition less the per capita state subsidy should ultimately fall on the school district from which the student comes. Inasmuch as non-residents may easily comprise from 15 to 40 per cent of the total enrollment the tuition of this group may easily become an important item in the budget. In 1927-28 Professor Whitney found that in 47 public junior colleges located in seven states the average per cent of students living outside the junior college dis- trict was approximately 24%. Professor Holy at about the same time found in 40 public junior colleges that the average per cent of students non-resident in the junior college district was slightly over 30%. There is also no reason why the local junior college may not be the recipient of such splendid gifts as recently came to the junior college at Little Rock, Arkansas. Finally, there is the community itself from which junior colleges have so far received the most of their support. On account of the advantages of a local institution the community may well in addition to the capital outlay bear a portion of the current expense. In a junior college having a per capita cost of $300 I have suggested a state subsidy of $150 with $50 per capita from the student himself. This leaves $100 per capita for the community to bear except in the case of non-residents paying tuition. Such a division of expense would seem to have advantages for all parties concerned. The state would be paying only about one-third or one-fourth of what it would cost to have the student attend a state institution. The student is at far less Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 83 expense than if he went away from home to college. The family has the satisfaction of close contact with the student during two critical and impressionable years of his life. The community has a local insti- tution in which it may take pride and in which it may expect its citizens to secure general and technical training for the development of local industry and civic life. May I conclude then by saying that a state system of junior col- leges will make junior-college education, the same as elementary and secondary education, accessible to as large a proportion of the popula- tion as can be done economically. It is essential that these junior colleges should become an integral part of a local secondary school system. Hence all capital outlay should be made by the local public schools. Current expenses should be met through local taxation, student fees, anda state subsidy which should be not less than 50% of the total expense. There should be a central state agency, perhaps the state department of education, with both the authority and the disposition to require proper standards of performance. If this is a true analysis of the situation, it is evident that much remains to be done in almost every state in the union, even those which have established junior colleges, before we shall secure the results we hope for. Only California seems to be near the proper solution. Let those, therefore, who are interested in the fortunes of this new unit in education which seems to promise so much do what they can to secure the establishment of state systems of junior colleges on bases that are both economical and pedagogically sound. Dean Henry W. Holmes, School of Education, Harvard Univer- sity read his paper, Standards and Freedom in the Schools. STANDARDS AND FREEDOM IN THE SCHOOLS An Issue in the Definition of Democracy in Education Henry W. Hotes, DEAN, GRADUATE SCHOOL OF EpuCATION, HARVARD UNIVERSITY A conflict has arisen in our high schools that is momentous for the welfare of the nation. The issue is simple but fundamental. It is likely to divide not only school men but the public, for it involves 84 Department of Secondary-School Principals taxation, economy in public expenditure, and a definition of the duty of the state in education. In its furthest reaches the battle will be waged not only in the councils of the teachers but in the assemblies of the people and their representatives; yet at the heart of it the fight concerns a question that is obviously technical—to wit: What stand- ards shall our high schools set and hold, even to the ultimate exclusion of those who cannot or who will not meet them? Those who think of education first of all as a service to the indi- vidual, who want the school to fit the child not only in the elementary grades, when children are unfolding and developing, but all along the line, who would make of the high school mainly a gateway of oppor- tunity for the betterment of social and vocational status in the indi- vidual case—all these will answer that standards have no final place in education anyway, that none should ever be excluded, that our democratic faith demands the free public education of every child and youth as long as he will stay in school. The emphasis, of course, will vary, and distinctions will be drawn; but there is a party in this cause which leans toward freedom and the open door, toward flexi- bility in school programs to the utmost possible extent, toward con- demnation of all means or instruments or requirements that keep some boys and girls in school and turn the others out. This party will favor extension of compulsory schooling. It will look suspiciously upon direct trade-training as tending toward un-American class distinctions. It will favor free election of studies in the high school and oppose the definition of curricula on any scheme that will attach to certain groups the slightest suspicion of a stigma of social inferiority. Standards, from this point of view, are not important. The party of the other part will make the most of standards. It may admit that educational opportunity should be various and rich, that many roads should be open to the student in the secondary school and in the college, and that no clear case of grit and power should go unrewarded by some form of scholastic approval. But it will argue for curricula that are definite, consistent, and directed toward clear and valuable objectives, from which unquestioned standards may be drawn. It will be concerned to guarantee accomplishment. Merely to retain a child in school is not, to those of this persuasion, an important matter; for it may mean waste of public money, waste of the child’s time, and the fostering of low ideals and wrong habits of work. For Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 85 the sake of standards this party would accept the loss entailed in forcing out of school or out of one curriculum into another. Its less reactionary members would insist, of course, that losses should be minimized by guidance; but to all who stand on this side of the issue our danger lies in flattening out our programs for the sake of letting pupils through. The schools, this group insists, are a selective agency; they fail in their mission unless they redistribute human talent, not only on the basis of interest and ambition, but also on the basis of achievement. The issue may be stated fairly in these terms, and undoubtedly it is upon us. How to meet it is a much less simple matter. Public opinion tends in part toward freedom—there is loud objection if the schools insist on standards to the alleged detriment of individuals— and yet the public grumbles at the cost of education and accepts, in the abstract, the plea for standards. Professional opinion is divided ; practice varies, seeks a compromise, and offers no assured examples either way. The ultimate solution cannot be a compromise, but some- how it must save the best in both positions and that means patient labor in the making of curricula, the use of tests, the development of guidance, and the education of public opinion. I am urging in this article a halt in the present trend toward freedom. Our practice, I believe, has run beyond our power to serve the individual without the sacrifice of public interest. It is time to insist upon the importance of standards and to see clearly the harm that we are doing and the greater harm we yet may do, if we ignore this aspect of our problem. Our present standards are unquestionably low. I need not respect the indictment nor bring in a bill of particulars; nor is it necessary at this point to search for reasons. What comes of all our teaching of Latin? Certainly very little Latinity, a negligible increase of literary skill or critical discrimination, and hardly any insight into Roman life. If these are the results, is it likely that the little Latin learned will affect favorably the pupil’s command of English or “discipline” his mind? Latin is a heavily protected subject among those required for admission to certain colleges and has had every possible advantage of tradition and the development of teaching methods, texts, and aids. If, therefore, for whatever reasons, Latin is, for thousands, in the main a waste of time, it may stand out as an example. In varying measure the same thing may be said of other subjects in the traditional 86 Department of Secondary-School Principals curriculum of the high school—of history, science, mathematics, mod- ern languages, and English; and nothing much more satisfactory can be said about results in most of our vocational curricula. Because standards have been lowered or obscured, or because they have never been established and effectively required, our high-school teaching accomplishes all too little at great cost. I am not here concerned to ask what should be done to change the situation. Perhaps our programs should be greatly simplified, our curricula defined with greater exactness and begun at an earlier time, our guidance in the choice of courses based on accurate knowledge of the pupil’s powers, our teachers better prepared for their work. It seems to me that we must first make sure in our own minds that standards matter more than all the partial goods that may accrue from crowded schools, smatterings of this subject and of that, extra- curricular activities, and complicated educational machinery. “When the half-gods go, the gods arrive.”’ Certain consequences of lack of standards are fairly clear. In the first place, our abler pupils are lost in the crowd, unchallenged, some- times actually thwarted. For them, and for the average and less able pupils also, tragedy is laid up in college and in later life because they have found it all too easy to “get by.” Vocational maladjustment is another outcome, because pupils who ought to have been shifted early into vocational curricula or actual employment have been dragged along, without specific purposes or clear recognition of the facts, until the time for self-respecting choice has passed. How much our lack of standards in the schools may be responsible for lack of stand- ards in our civic and our social life can only be surmised. If democ- racy in America becomes in truth the “cult of incompetence,” the schools must surely meet their share of blame for that result. So long as children stay in school they meet no standards that can be so accurately stated and so firmly held as those the school may set. If schools are so uniform in their curricula that large numbers of pupils are out of place within their walls, no possible machinery of credits, guidance, or activities will make up for the moral damage of lowering standards just to keep the pupils in attendance. I submit, therefore, that the need of higher standards is a matter of primary importance. If education is to serve the individual (leaving the state, for the moment, out of the account) there is no virtue in low stand- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 87 ards as a means of doing it. Vary curricula, but make them mean something ; adjust requirements to interests and abilities, but let no one suppose that slip-shod, ineffective work is what the school expects or will approve ; praise effort, but give no false impression of accom- plishment. Is this undemocratic doctrine? .As much has been said before by persons I should call reactionaries in education, but by such persons always in defense of fixed curricula and the values of particular sub- jects and procedures. But the maintenance of standards has nothing to do with the prescription of subjects, and it is the major task of educational engineering to devise curricula that shall educate boys and girls, under standards appropriate to their powers, in very various ways, all useful to the state. I believe in standards, but not in a fixed curriculum. Home economics may be easier than Latin, but that is no reason for making every girl take Latin. It is not a question of hard or easy, anyway—except perhaps remotely ; the idea that educa- tion must be hard harks back to “mental discipline,” a doctrine that has bedeviled teaching for three hundred years and more. Education ought at least to educate, and making a curriculum of subjects that are merely “hard” may have the opposite effect. Standards are not moral abstractions but concrete goals, to be approved in the last analysis from the standpoint of some use in living and some increase in power to serve. Nor are the standards under which the schools may forward the good life such final, simple things as educational conservatives would have us think. Honesty in our work involves, indeed, a general moral question, but if we meet it squarely we shall find, I think, that we are not on that account committed to reactionary views. We may believe in standards and insist on them and yet work steadily toward greater variety of educational opportunity. It is a false view of standards that would define them in terms of a fixed curriculum, just as it is a false view of democracy that would call for lowering of standards. A false view of democracy is now at work, it seems to me, through- out our schools. It calls upon us to accept three postulates, closely related to each other and all inimical to standards. The first is that the individual has a right to education as long as he is willing to remain in school, quite irrespective of his own accomplishment. The second is that schools may be rated as to their success in proportion to the 88 Department of Secondary-School Principals number of pupils they retain upon their rolls. The third is that we should equalize opportunity in education by letting any pupil under- take the study of any subject, giving him credit toward graduation if he does a little in some part of it and making it easy in general for pupils to match together small units of credit for a required numerical total. The first of these postulates has intimate relation to the doctrine of the natural rights of man. If I were to attempt in such an article as this to trace the connection between the ideas that moved the founders of our government and the modern notion of a pupil's right to schooling, I should exhaust the reader’s patience and my own powers. There is a background of philosophy and history to be developed here ; and I can do no more than acknowledge this fact and recognize the superficial practicality of my present approach to the problem. But I believe it is not far from the truth to say that no one has a right to education that is not strictly correlative to his duty to meet standards which make his education worth while to the public that pays for it. Education at public expense is education for the public good. Within the limits of compulsory schooling the main motive of the state is to provide defense against the evils of illiteracy, ignorance, and anti-social attitudes. No papal encyclical is likely to convince Americans that any institution other than the state is suffi- ciently permanent, stable, and universal to be invested with the primary authority and power for this task. But just because it is in the main defensive in its motive, compulsory schooling should not go beyond the necessities of the case. As life becomes complex we shall need more thorough schooling for the entire youthful population, and perhaps extended periods of schooling. But here we must face prob- lems of natural capacity and of economic resources; eugenics comes in, and the social theory of public finance. On general grounds we shall do well, I think, to hesitate before we extend the age limits for compulsory education. When we force children to go to school we force ourselves to give them something worth going to school for. As long as we are meeting only common needs, the problem is diffi- cult but manageable. Extension of compulsory schooling carries us beyond basic necessities into a new region. In secondary schools, generally speaking, the public interest lies in the release of individual powers for the common good. Educatiorr ‘ew _— ts mee 6 6OCG Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 89 is concerned throughout with growth, and even in the elementary schools there must be individual provision for differences in individual abilities and interests ; yet on the whole the elementary school is most concerned with objects that are general, common, and implied in public need. Secondary education looks toward leadership, vocational differentiation, the enrichment of the pupil’s understanding of life, and the development of his power to participate effectively in the constructive work of the community. These, too, are public objects ; they have, at any rate, no reference to social status in the snobbish sense and commit the school to no attempt to keep the pupil in attendance for his own particular advantage. It is good public policy to offer extended education at the public cost; but has any pupil the right to go on in school unless he is doing well enough to assure the public that the cost is justified? Lowering standards to let the least competent get by is not the way to justify increases in the public funds available for schooling. The thing to do first is to decide on objects, aims, and ends, and then define the means by which they may be attained and the standards that witness their attainment. The objects may be cultural, vocational, or civic; standards may vary; and educa- tional materials may be infinitely different. But the whole thing ought not to slump down into an admission that there is nothing to be done in school except to let a pupil stay by right, no matter what he is accomplishing. The second postulate might properly be called the doctrine of suc- cess by quantity. It implies the theory of mass production. The more children the better, and education means keeping them in school. It is true that if we seek to measure the success of a school system we must ask how many pupils it retains; but that in itself is only a fact in the premises, not a measure of the success of the system. It is conceivable that a system of schools might be held to fail of full success for the very reason that it had not eliminated a larger number of pupils. We should have to know, of course, what became of the failures ; we might recommend additions to the opportunities afforded by the system. The question of success in education brings us face to face, however, with the need for standards, and if we have none that are clear and unassailable, we are not thereby excused from giving up the hunt for them. Merely to say we keep the pupils with us is no answer. Because we keep so many we may be doing less than we could for all of them, especially the capable. Ability-grouping is not an 90 Department of Secondary-School Principals answer, either, if it keeps the less able at tasks from which they get but little benefit or none. We may be proud to keep children eagerly and profitably at work in school beyond the period of compulsion ; but can we say that even a majority within the secondary schools are working, as thing stand, with eagerness and profit? I think we have yielded to a snobbishness that runs deep in American life and have refused to set up vocational curricula because we have confused equality of opportunity with the idea that everybody should be “as good” as everybody else and therefore entitled to study the same subjects. Vocational curricula are not absent from our schools, to be sure; but are they solid enough, direct enough in their reference to vocational efficiency, broad enough in their basis and background, and generally so dignified and well regarded, that we may be sure that pupils may rightly be urged or even compelled to choose them when they are not doing well in academic courses or when they are obviously better fitted for work of a vocational intent? If we want to use reten- tion in school as a measure of school success we must see to it that retention means retention with resulting profit. The third postulate is the doctrine of flexibility based on the demand for equality of opportunity. It is hard to deal with the idea of equality of opportunity in any serious fashion without incurring the charge that one is undemocratic or un-American; but I will try to forestall attack by asserting at the outset a great and permanent desire to open educational avenues to talent and to industry without respect to economic means. The accidents of economic standing should not determine the extent and character of schooling for any boy or girl. They do determine it, I know; but in so far do we fall short of educational democracy. When a rich boy is lifted into college by tutors and kept there by his own athletic prowess and another’s brains, the process is thoroughly undemocratic, obviously anything but educational, and from any point of view a thing to be ashamed of. sut so long as what the rich can do by means of their riches is only a form of beating the game—so long as educational authorities do not connive at it—so long as educational organization is not affected by it, we may look on this side of the shield with patience and a tolerant but scornful amusement. It is the other side—the lack of opportunity that should concern us. due to poverty In a competitive economic system—that is, in a democratic eco- nomic system, as contrasted with a socialistic system—we must reckon -. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 91 with differences in wealth as a permanent feature of the social situa- tion, and free public education beyond the compulsory limit is one means of minimizing inequalities of fortune and opening careers to talent. We will not let the poor boy suffer total loss of opportunity, because we have no faith in the fairness with which our wealth is spread among us: we refuse to credit the notion that weaith means merit, or ability, or social purpose, and that those who have it not should not be educated. We also refuse, of course, to interfere with the private possession of property or to make any drastic attempt to equalize incomes. A socialistic order has few advocates among us. We request the implication that wealth shall be distributed without reference to individual initiative, ability, and industry. We are also suspicious of any extension of the powers of government officials or other “superior” persons to enter more intimately into our affairs and try to equalize our powers by controlling our immediate environ- ment. Charity we tend to think of as relief and would not have it go too far toward becoming a species of social control. We cling to individualism and the robust doctrine of a fair field and no favors. Sut the schools we view as an arrangement for achieving a kind of rough justice, an equity that is not otherwise guaranteed by our social arrangements and our economic system. If wealth does not flow toward merit, education shall at least give merit its due chance. It must be obvious that such a view of things involves the clearest recognition of differences in power and achievement. Democracy refuses to accept the task of making everybody equal. It is only socialism that would make our incomes equal—if it could. It is only science and the great humanity that lies behind it that would try to make us equal—or more nearly equal—in our native powers. Those who want the school to achieve equality of opportunity by ignoring differences, letting everybody have the name of being as capable as anybody else, lowering standards to let the least able graduate from the most “acceptable” curriculum, maintaining flexibility at the ex- pense of continuity and well-defined achievement—these are not democrats in education, but either socialists or sentimentalists. There may be many views as to the part which education has to play in the business of general social up-grading. Its part may prove to be a major part, or we may find that in the end it is subordinate in this respect to efforts in eugenics, scientific charity, social legisla- tion, and enlightened political administration. Whatever its part in 92 Department of Secondary-School Principals race improvement, education gains nothing by ignoring the facts of present difference among individuals as they stand. Defects that are curable should be cured, but until they are cured they must be ac- cepted. Regular schooling should involve standards, consistent cur- ricula, tests of achievement and of promise, and a guidance that is as much concerned with public need as it is with individual fortunes. The development of “opportunity schools,” continuation schools, night schools, classes for adults, and every means that can be rightly used to let the individual make up for losses due to the chances of birth and the injustices of our present social system, should of course go on apace. But if the principle of these attempts invades the general scheme of education to obscure the meaning of what we are doing in the ordinary schools, shall we accomplish anything of value for democracy? We shall only be throwing out the baby with the bath. THE OUTLOOK FOR SECONDARY EDUCATION IN AMERICA Wm. JoHN Cooper, Unitrep STATES COMMISSIONER OF EDUCATION Our notions of time lead us to think of a past, a present, and a future. Although the topic assigned to me for discussion appears to concern the future, it views the future from the watchtower of the present. Prophecy is always dangerous for its techniques are un- known, but certainly no prediction could claim any validity were it not to consider present conditions in retrospect. In a group of trained educators it is useless to enumerate the stages in the development of an American secondary school. You are familiar with those early stages when the Latin-Grammar school discharged its full responsibility by preparing for college a small and highly selected group of pupils. And, in spite of the fact that no history of the American Academy has been written, you have a gen- eral impression of its function as an early “peoples’ college.” Many here, like myself, graduated from public high schools in the days of their wild-fire spread in response to evident social needs. But most significant of all for us who administer schools which enroll ado- lescents are the results of social forces most clearly manifested only during these first three decades of the century. To some of these I direct your attention. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 93 Figures of enrollment indicate that just 40 years ago only 3.83 percentage of the boys and girls aged 14, 15, 16, and 17 years were in high school. By the opening of the century this percentage had risen from 3.83 to 8.43 and it has gone steadily upward by decades ever since. In 1928 we find that in the nation at large over 50 per cent of the eligible age group are actually enrolled in school, and that in one of the States this percentage has risen to almost 75. It was about 1906 (or only a quarter of a century ago), however, that the per- centage of those in secondary school passed 10. Now 10 per cent is a magic number in secondary education, since historically considered such schools have been preparatory to college education and to en- trance into the leadership occupations. All predictions about the secondary school of the future must pro- ceed from considerations of this phenomenal growth in enrollment. Some of the implications involved were recognized quite promptly by thinkers in education. To three of these propositions I now invite your particular attention and I state them in the words of those who detected them early. I select men who worked in far separated sec- tions of our country, all of whom are now deceased. I do this with full recognition of the fact that educational leaders are stimulated by one another, often repeating in different terms the same thought, and that others may have uttered similar sentiments even earlier. The first proposition is this: Our conception of the function of the secondary school is undergoing radical change. Alexis F. Lange described the conception of the California high schools in the year 1950 as follows: “The secondary school is no longer conceived of as being identical with the high school of other days. * * * Any school that ministers to lads and lasses and covers a portion or the whole of early, middle, and late adolescence, the period of human rebirth, belongs to the secondary system. Throughout the state the organization and ad- ministration of the seventh and eighth grades, however various in form, have been brought into harmony with this conception and are linked to what precedes and what follows in accordance with the facts of continuous development on the part of pupils. * * kK xX “And on the lips of the average citizen the term common or public school has ceased to mean merely the elementary or grammar school. In using it he may not include the state university, but the fourteen 94 Department of Secondary-School Principals grades preceding have pretty well coalesced in one inclusive notion, and such adjectives as elementary, intermediate, high, collegiate, merely denote the parts of an organic whole.’” Fourteen years have passed since the late dean of the University of California’s School of Education made that prophecy. Twenty years remain in which it may be fulfilled. I wish that the kindly old dean could see the figures for 1928 which marked the end of one- third of the period of his forward look. These figures indicate that nearly one-fourth of the eighteen thousand high schools in the United States, enrolling nearly half of the four and a quarter million pupils, were of the reorganized type taking cognizance of the seventh and eighth grades as a legitimate field for secondary school work. In his own State the figures are even higher. There over one-third of the schools enrolling more than half of the students are already reorgan- ized. When Lange spoke approximately 363,000 students were en- rolled in all our four-year colleges and universities inclusive of graduate students. In spite of tremendous growth of these institu- tions junior colleges, practically nonexistent in 1916, have come and to-day some 400 of them enroll approximately 40,000 students. Thus his prediction of a 14-grade common school begins to appear less visionary. Nor would the present attitude of the laymen be disappointing to him. Lay opinion which is likely to be biased in favor of children, may be represented by the work of the National Child Labor Com- mittee. In celebrating its silver anniversary this committee reported : “Today every state has some kind of a 14-year age limit for enter- ing industry, valid at least during school hours; a few go up to 15 or 16 years. All states regulate hours of work. The large majority have an 8-hour day for children under 16, with a few states above and a few below this standard.” * * * * “Thirty-one states now require the completion of at least the sixth grade before a child of 14 can leave school for work. In twenty-seven states the requirement is that of the elementary course of the public schools, though with exemptions in several states.”’? And by way of a forward look the president of the committee, Dr. Samuel McCune Lindsay, said : “The basic principle underlying our fundamental task is, I take it, equality of opportunity and security or assurance of freedom from | Lange, Alexis F, The Lange Book, Trade Publishing Co., San Francisco, Calif. Pp. 218-219. ? National Child Labor Committee, Twenty-fifth Anniversary, 1929. New * York, N. Y. Pp. 20-21. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 95 exploitation on the part of every American child in its preparation 9] for and entry into economic activities and industrial life. On the other hand the National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., might be expected to represent a lay viewpoint less influenced by purely philanthropic motives. From a recent concise publication of this Board entitled “Public Education as Affecting the Adjustment of Youth to Life,” I take a statement which appears apropos of the National Education Association’s program to keep all pupils in school up to the age of 16 or 18 years. “The public,” says this Board, ‘“‘seems to be strongly in favor of keeping young people in public schools just as long as possible and of encouraging them to continue through the secondary school system and even through college.”? With two-thirds of the period left, Lange’s prophecy for California’s schools can be made a reality for the schools of the nation at large by 1950. Its realization depends primarily upon us who must have, as our first interest, the welfare of youth. To the winds with our doubts! Let us go forward militantly in such a cause! Second, the next generation must solve many of the problems involved in finding suitable materials and worthy activities for the all around development of types of children never before enrolled in schools for adolescents. Many of you doubtless recall that shortly before his tragic death Professor Charles Hughes Johnston, of the University of Illinois, said: “We believe that the American high school as a nonselective democratic institution cannot operate exclusively on a scholastic basis for entrance nor for progressive achievement of its heterogeneous groups of pupils; but that differing standards for both entrance and tor persistence in school must be worked out in such a way that no pupil sufficiently mature will have to be virtually forced out because of the lack of suitable educational opportunity being provided him.’” More than a decade has passed since that statement was made and we see indications that it too may be realized—perhaps by 1950 also. To the older courses preparatory to the liberal arts colleges and to vocational courses designed to prepare persons for agriculture, clerical positions, and the skilled trades, there have been added a few new subjects, such as sociology, economics, and problems of democ- racy. Moreover, according to figures reported to the Commissioner of Education, there is increased pupil attendance also on such courses ! Tbid., P. 23. 2 National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., New York, 1929. Public Education as Affecting the Adjustment of Youth to Life. Pp. 7-8. 3 Johnston, Charles Hughes and others. Junior-Senior High School Admin- istration. Chas. Scribner’s Sons, New York, N. Y. P. 46. 96 Department of Secondary-School Principals as biology, hygiene and sanitation, home economics, mechanical draw- ing, and commercial geography and law. Nevertheless, there are tens of thousands of students in our secondary schools to-day for whom none of the curricula are well adapted. We are unable to hold them in school against temptations from outside. We look forward to a coéperation of research scholars and suc- cessful school administrators in developing new materials of instruc- tion which will assist young people of all types of ability to adjust themselves better to the natural and social environments in which they must live. This will doubtless mean the introduction of much new material from such natural sciences as physics, astronomy, and biology, and from the various social sciences. Objectives will probably be couched in terms of health, worthwhile leisure time pursuit, high grade citizenship, intelligent adjustment to understandable universe, and finer facts in art, literature, music, yea, even in sumptuary habits. Such terms, however, will not be left as ideals to be talked about but will be translated by educational statesmen into actual, realizable programs of school procedure. In fact, I perceive the dawn of such a day in a recent meeting of representatives of nine large city school systems brought together by the American Council on Education in response to a challenge of Doctor Judd at the 1929 meeting. These schools are ready to experiment with new materials in social science. Perhaps materials of help to them will come from the deliberations of the Commission appointed by the American Historical Association and others interested in related fields. The Carnegie Institution of Washington also stands ready to assist through its School Science News Service. Third, along with new types of human beings and new social needs to be met, must come new types of teaching. Prof. Alexander Inglis of Harvard, not long before his untimely death, foresaw this need which he said had “barely manifested itself and as yet is scarcely recognized either by laymen or by educators.” He defined it as a “change from a type of instruction (subject-matter and method) geared up to require a relatively high level of intelligence to instruc- tion adapted to varying capacities.” To-day there are high schools with pupils grouped according to mental abilities in so far as these can be ascertained. In a given course different reactions are expected of high grade mentalities than of : ‘Inglis, Alexander. Chapter X, “Secondary Education,” in “Twenty-five MS Se aes Education,” by I. L. Kandel. The Macmillan Co. New - ork, : Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 97 others. So educators are becoming aware of the situation. But more significant to me is an attitude of laymen expressed in the monograph of the National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., already mentioned. Listed among “Vital questions,” which are demanding solution, I find two which I pass on to you verbatum: “Whether age and normal or average good behavior entitle any pupil to some form of training at public expense irrespective of ability developed, or whether there should be some very definite measures of achievement which would entitle a pupil to continue in school after sixteen years of age; and whether there should be higher schools of secondary education for morons and defectives, at least up to eighteen years of age.” Fourth, the secondary school of to-morrow will care for all the children of all the people through the entire periods of early and middle adolescence. Once the secondary school ceases to be a pre- paratory school for the ten per cent who constitute the leadership group, there is no place where the excluding line can be drawn until all have been brought within the reach of that social institution which to-day we call the high school. I would not be understood as implying that all these lads and lasses will sit in classrooms, occupy valuable space in laboratories or shops, or wear the school colors on the athletic field. Most high schools now enroll far more pupils than can be placed in the professions, the skilled trades and the higher ranks of commerce and industry combined. But I can see no valid reason why all human beings are not equally entitled to opportunities to acquire health knowledge and habits through our school clinics and recrea- tional facilities. Nor do I think it harmful to society for individual self-consciousness and selfishness to be ground away in the social program of the modern high school. I can see much social gain in carrying forward such a program as has been instituted in a suburban district of Utah and described in the February issue of the Journal of the National Education Association. “Granite school district,” writes Superintendent Kirkham, “aims to account for every child from six to eighteen years of age and to hold someone responsible for his guidance and placement in activities that make for citizenship. If the child does not fit into the regular school program he is directed from one work-school-and-leisure-time situation to another as circumstances require. x ok ok “The placement program provides that pupils may be transferred from one class to another, excused from some classes to enter others, 1 National Industrial Conference Board, Inc., New York, 1929. Public Education as Affecting the Adjustment of Youth to Life. P. 26. 98 Department of Secondary-School Principals removed from the regular school and placed in work situations, or taken from work and returned to school. In codperation with the juvenile court some boys and girls are placed in correctional institu- tions but all are accounted for and placed somewhere. “This program necessitates the employment of work-and-school coordinators who coéperate with the parents, the employers, the asso- ciates, and others interested in the pupil. By this cooperation and a constant followup, the abilities, inclinations, and habits of these young people are ascertained. Tendencies toward juvenile delinquency are discovered and are thwarted by providing boys and girls with opportunities for economic independence.” * * * * “Each child is accounted for all the time. He is in school or at work. Someone knows where he is and is concerned with his voca- tional, intellectual, and moral welfare until he is eighteen years of age.” The American secondary school of 1950 will be all that is now implied by the term school and much more. It will be organized society’s chief institution for serving adolescent youth. Therefore, it must have on its rolls, not a selected ten per cent, or even a majority, but not one less than 100 per cent of all persons under 18 or perhaps 21 years of age. The interests of such an institution will be as broad and as varied as human life itself. Its staff will contain many besides teachers in the older sense since in addition to the multitude of non- teaching services rendered, this institution will codrdinate the efforts of all other social agencies which work for the welfare of youth with a view to developing within the limits set by heredity the finest possible type of citizen. 1 The Journal of the National Education Association, February, 1930, Vol. 19, No. 2. Washington, D. C. P. 48. JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL SECTION First SESSION The first session of the junior high-school division of the con- vention was called to order by Arthur M. Seybold, Principal Jefferson Junior High School, Cleveland, Ohio, at 9:50 a. m., Tuesday, Febru- ary 25, Auditorium of Senior High School, Atlantic City. Mr. Edward Rynearson, President of the National Honor Society of Secondary Schools, presented the plan of the National Junior Honor Society. William L. Connor, Chief, Bureau of Research, Cleveland, Ohio, presented his paper without manuscript, The Cry, More Education for Less Money,—One Answer, The Cleveland Curriculum. THE CRY, MORE EDUCATION FOR LESS MONEY: ONE ANSWER, THE CLEVELAND CURRICULUM Wm. L. Connor, CHIEF, BUREAU OF EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH, CLEVELAND, OHIO Introductory Statement The junior high school movement in Cleveland dates from the Cleveland Foundation Survey of Public Education fifteen years ago. A little more than six years ago the Superintendent of Schools began to emphasize, in his conferences with the Chief of the Bureau of Educational Research, the need for a reorganization of the curriculum of the junior high school in the interest of economy—economy of the pupil’s time and effort, and economy in tax spending. During the year which ensued, at the request of the Superintendent and _ his assistants, a rather careful analysis was made of current expenditures in junior high school by subjects taught and activities sponsored,' and a beginning was made at choosing a few simple objectives for junior high school education and some methods of making them effective in curriculum construction. 1Cost of Teaching Junior and Senior High School Subjects, 1922-23, Bul. No. 66, Bureau of Educational Research, March, 1924. 99 te 100 Department of Secondary-School Principals The objectives are best summed up as follows :' 1. To have pupils do better the worth-while things they are going to do anyway. 2. To reveal to pupils some higher activities and make them desir- able and to an extent possible. The methods may be stated briefly as follows: 1. To analyze what society needs in its citizens. 2. To analyze what boys and girls are interested in. 3. To analyze what boys and girls of different ages, or grades, and levels of ability are able to do. 4. To synthesize these findings into teaching units organized under a few easily understood curriculum headings such as English, Social Studies, Science, Mathematics, etc. 5. To provide tests of achievement adequate to discover the extent to which objectives are being realized, and can be or should be realized. Since this statement was prepared, the Superintendent has, in one of his annual addresses to principals and the headquarters staff made what seems to be a more succinct one. It follows: “The study of the curriculum is being rather carefully based upon community needs, mental fitness, inclination of pupils, and philosophy of education.”” It is much beyond the limits of this paper to recite in detail how the objectives have since been divided and subdivided until they point to specific bits of subject-matter to be learned or habits and attitudes to be acquired. Only a detailed consideration of many courses of study and the research studies upon which they have been based would reveal how these apparently simple objectives and methods have been put to work in curriculum and course of study construction.’ When the junior high school movement first got under way in Cleveland, as elsewhere, it amounted to only a little more than a reorganization, as a separate administrative unit, of the seventh and eighth grades of the old elementary school together with the ninth 1 Adapted from Dr. T. H. Briggs, Teachers College, Columbia University. 2 Superintendent R. G. Jones, A Forecast for the Year, Address before Principals’ Meeting, September 13, 1929. 3A complete list of recently constructed courses of study for Cleveland junior high schools may be had from the Bureau of Educational Research. # + : Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 101 grade of the senior high school. Changes in the curriculum were few. In fact, the so-called common branches of the old elementary school were quite generally carried over into the junior high school in highly departmentalized form. Of course, the proponents of the new school had a philosophy and a hope. They said that it would relieve the child from reviewing the old common branches and give him fresh material and a new outlook, that it would enable the school to provide educational and vocational guidance and a variety of courses ade- quately adjusted to individual differences in ability and interests, and that it would, in other ways, accommodate itself to the task of bring- ing orderly achievement, accompanied by happiness, out of the vagaries of the early adolescent period. Early attempts at reorganiza- tion of materials with these objectives in mind were made in the field of mathematics and science. Among the larger cities, Rochester and Cleveland probably led in this work. Later attempts at reorganization had to do with the social studies and English. SOME OF THE STUDIES OF ACHIEVEMENT Let us pay attention for a few moments to the various subjects reorganized. Mathematics was the first. A committee of principals and teachers spent two and a half years in mathematics. The result on paper was a new course of study arranged for X, Y, and Z groups. MATHEMATICS! The outstanding facts concerning the achievement of pupils are as follows: 1. In the fall of 1925 school authorities and teachers of mathe- matics in Cleveland junior high schools aimed at superior achieve- ment in every phase of mathematics which is taught in these grades and is possible of measurement by means of standard tests. Within a year and a half, the aim was accomplished for every ability measured except problem solving, or reasoning in arithmetic. In spite of hard work, practically no progress was made in improving ability at problem solving in the first eighteen months.’ 1References to bulletins by number and date with source unmentioned are always to publications of the Bureau of Educational Research, Cleveland. 2Woody-McCall Mixed Fundamentals, Buls. No. 58, 1925-26; No. 79, 1926-27. Compass Diagnostic, Bul. No. 1, 1927-28. Stone Reasoning, Buls. No. 36, 1925-26; No. 12, 1926-27. 102 Department of Secondary-School Principals 2. The goal set up for ability in problem solving was standard achievement, or better, on the old Stone Reasoning Tests, the norms for which were determined fourteen or fifteen years ago.' 3. Fourteen or fifteen years ago the combined enrollment of the seventh and eighth grades in Cleveland, and quite generally the country over, was less than half the enrollment of the first and second grades. This was due to non-promotions as a result of high standards and frequent failure of pupils in reading and arithmetic. In other words, about half of the pupils—and these were, in the main, the abler half from the standpoint of success in arithmetic—were selected for further instruction in the seventh and eighth grades. It was with pupils selected in this manner that the standards on the old Stone Reasoning Test were established.’ 4. Teachers and principals have occasionally questioned the stand- ard aimed at in reasoning because of this change in the ability and training of the pupils enrolled in grades seven and eight. Within the last year inquiries made among research men in three of the ten largest cities in the United States indicate that they, too, have found the ability and training of their pupils in present-day seventh and eighth grades inadequate to the difficulties of the old Stone Reasoning Test, and encountered great difficulty in finding means of improving the situation.’ 5. Early in the fall of 1927, following a second failure on the part of Cleveland pupils during the past year to reach or even approach the Stone standards, an attempt was made to enlist the assistance of teachers and pupils in collecting from their own experience the prob- lems which they needed to solve or had observed their elders solving. Thousands of such problems, illustrative of most of the mathematical processes, social situations, and difficulties these pupils were expected to learn to meet successfully, were actually collected and sent to the bureau of research.‘ From this material standard tests were con- structed. A number of schools participated in the work of standardiza- 1Buls. No. 36, 1925-26; No. 12, 1926-27. See also Reasoning Tests, Stone, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1916; or Standardized Reasoning Tests in Arithmetic and How to Utilize Them, Stone, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1921. 2 Cleveland Foundation Survey: Ayers, Child Accounting, p. 30-31; Judd, Measuring the Work of the Public Schools, p. 19-29. 3 Personal interviews. 4 Bul. No. 29, 1927-28. | Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 103 tion. In May, 1928, both the Cleveland and the Stone Reasoning Tests were given. Improvement over the last attempt at the Stone test was about twenty-five per cent.’ Equivalent scores on the two tests were determined, and a year later, when another form of the Cleveland test of equal difficulty was given, sufficient improvement was shown that the equivalent Stone scores were practically the same as the Stone standards at which the schools had aimed nearly four years earlier.’ CHART I Per Cent of Failures in Each Grade for the Years 1913, 1914, and 1915,—and 1929 Per Cent . 20 7 ed ~-= Pas . \ f yy Ts ° LY ‘ whe is NA ae 7 ») v phy: ‘4 ‘ Pe a 174 1914 10 \ r¥1915 491913 Pe 123s 4 § 6 7 8 Grades CHANGES IN THE CHARACTER OF THE SCHOOL POPULATION IN GRADES SEVEN AND Er1Gurt, 1914-15 to 1928-29 The type of pupils enrolled in grades seven and eight has changed a great deal in the past fifteen years. The character of the change 1 Bul. No. 46, 1928-29. 2 This report, p. 30-33. +oAiier- | ~ 104 Department of Secondary-School Principals will be made clear by examining the following charts taken, in part, from “The Education Survey” of 1914-15.' Chart I* shows that, in 1913-14-15, on the average, about fifteen per cent of the pupils failed of promotion each June. If the per cent of non-promotions for June, 1929, be added to this chart, it is seen at a glance that failure of promotion has decreased by nearly seventy per cent. The effect of this change on the number of pupils enrolled in each grade at each end of the fourteen-year interval chosen is made clear by Table I and Chart II.* TABLE I Pupils Enrolled in the Different Grades of the Public Day Schools* Grade June, 1915 June, 1929 1 13,108 13,298 2 10,858 12,414 3 10,562 11,358 4 9,323 10,366 5 8,902 11,010 6 7,259 10,882 7 6,429 11,985 8 4,903 11,146 If inquiry be made into the cause of non-promotion fifteen years ago and now, Judd’s diagrams and tables (Charts III and IV and Table IL) brought up to date continue to be useful.’ Failures in read- ing have decreased in every grade in the fifteen years, but only slightly (Chart III1). On the other hand, the decrease in failures in arithmetic (Chart IV), while variable, is about seventy per cent in the middle grades. Fifteen years ago the relatively large enrollment in the lower grades seems to have been due to failures in reading and arithmetic and resultant non-promotions. ! Cleveland Foundation Survey—Education: Ayers, L. P., Child Accounting and the Public Schools; Judd, C. H., Measuring the Work of the Public Schools. Russell Sage Foundations, 1915-16. Data for 1929 added by L. C. Bain, Chief, Sureau of Child Accounting, Cleveland. 2 Judd, op. cit., p. 20. 3 Ayers, op. cit., p. 31. 4 Data from Ayers, op. cit., p. 31, brought up to date by Bain. ® Judd, op. cit., p. 25, 27, and 29. Added data by Bain. Enrollment ? 13,000 CHART II “At Date” Enrollment by Grades, June, 1915 and June, 1929, Cleveland Public Day Schools Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting \N 12,000 11,000 10,000 ~~ \ June, 1929 9,000 8,000 7,000 6,000 5,000 4,,000 3,000 -June, 1915 2,000 ta tr ©, 1915 fom Table |_Data for June, 1929 91 by Lice 1,000 Bain, Chief, Bufeau of Child Accojnting, Cleveland This means that pupils in the seventh and eighth grades were selected largely for the abilities most prominent in problem solving, 106 Department of Secondary-School Principals namely, ability to read understandingly, in general, and ability in mathematics, in particular. Today pupils flow through the grades into the junior high school in a steady stream relatively unimpeded by non-promotions ; and what non-promotions occur, are no more due to failure in arithmetic than to failure in other subjects (Table IT). Standards of achievement in arithmetic fifteen years ago were based upon the achievement of a relatively few pupils selected largely for their ability to succeed in arithmetic. Today a large proportion of all pupils of appropriate age are enrolled in grades seven and eight. To have this unselected group reach the standards of fifteen years ago in problem solving, or reasoning in arithmetic. is an achievement of which the mathematics teachers of today may well be proud. Accord- ing to the results of tests given in May, 1929, this seems to be what has happened. CHART III Per Cent of Failures in Reading in Each Grade for the Years 1913 and 1914,—and 1929 (Data for 1929 includes Grades 1 to 6 Only. Failures in English in Junior High School not Comparable to Failures in Reading in Seventh and Eighth Grades.) Per Cent2 ~S IIs J1914 1913 Grades Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting n ) CHART IV oO y Per Cent of Failures in Arithmetic in Each Grade for the Years 1913 and 1914,—and 1929 . Per 20 i Cent J re 4 l ‘ { / » ‘\. Le oo” } O 15 Ps / a \ n an \ ' U “| f i? Ps. ‘ . F t } 10 1914 1929 1913 — =P. a a - ot 4 i Fd Se ¢€& &e8 @ ? 4 Grades TABLE II DISTRIBUTION OF SUBJECT FAILURES Per Cent oF TOTAL FOR GRADE IN EACH SuBJECT June, 1914 and June, 1929! Grade I Grade II Grade IIIT Grade IV Grade V Grade VI or. or 7 oO, or oOo oO % % % % /0 70 % % 70 70 /0 40 Subject 1914 1929 1914 1929 1914 1929 1914 1929 1914 1929 1914 1929 Reading 92 97 64 55 27 28 16 14 8 14 § Arithmetic 1 aes @& s&s |= @ B22 &# 2 Spelling 1 15 7 19 Il tii 7 7 5 8 Language 1 5 6 13 21 13 20 14 14~=« 16 Geography 6 4 23 18 27 19 21 History 4 18 11 19 20 1Taken from Judd, Measuring the Work of the Public Schools, Cleveland Foundation Survey—Education, p. 29. Russell Sage Foundation, 1916. Brought up to date by L. C. Bain, Chief, Bureau of Child Accounting, September 11, 1929. 108 Department of Secondary-School Principals RESULTS OF THE May, 1929, Test In TERMS OF EQUIVALENT SCORES oN OLp STONE REASONING TEST The Cleveland Arithmetic Test—Problems, Test D-E, Form 2, and the old Stone Reasoning Test, Form 2, were given on the same date in May, 1928, and equivalent scores determined.' The Stone test was not repeated when Form 3 of the Cleveland test was given in May, 1929. However, the scores on the Cleveland test have been turned into equivalent scores on the Stone test and the results graphed on Chart V following. The absolute achievement is practically identical with the norm of the old Stone test of fifteen years ago. It is this achievement, in the light of the difficulties presented by a changing population, upon which Cleveland principals and teachers are being congratulated. And it is the achievement, which in the light of all the findings of this report, they are expected in the next year to surpass. 1A straight line of best fit was determined statistically for each set of medians so that equivalent scores might be read from one line to the other. See Burgess, Trend of School Costs, p. 136, Russell Sage Foundation, 1920, for method. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 5 CHART V CoMPARISON OF STONE REASONING TEsT 2 Given December, 1926 and May, 1928 and Equivalent Score May, 1929 , For All 7B, 7A, 8B, and SA Classes in Regular Junior High School ‘ Buildings Score 12 ll 10 \\ \' \ \ —-———-—-December, 1926 > - May, 1928 + May Equivalent, 1929 Author's Norm 110 Department of Secondary-School Principals SociaL STUDIES The junior high schools inherited the complicated elementary school curriculum for grades seven and eight and the senior high school curriculum for grade nine. In the past six years many of the traditional courses have been broken up into their constituent parts, and, with much obsolete material omitted and some new and useful material added, reorganized into new wholes. This material now appears under the four heads of English, Mathematics, Social Studies, and Science. The most extensive reorganization has taken place in the field of the Social Studies. The readjustment required to meet the changes complicates, tem- porarily, the junior high school program; but on the whole, the reorganization brings about a simplification of both administrative and teaching problems. It has already resulted in a reduction of time spent in class by pupils and corresponding reduction in the number of teachers required. In the face of an increase in enrollment amounting to nearly fifty per cent, the total expenditures for teaching the social studies de- creased about $10,000 in 1928-29 as compared with 1922-23. If the 1922-23 program had been continued through 1928-29 it would have called for expenditures of approximately $175,000 more than was actually expended. Place geography tests given during the first semester after the social studies program was completed and placed in operation showed an increase of approximately fifty per cent in knowledge of the loca- tion of important places in both the United States and the World at large when compared with the results from the same test given a year earlier. It is not possible to make such a direct comparison between achievements in other phases of the social studies before and after the introduction of the new program. However, other social studies tests have been given, and a useful analysis of the results attempted. Social studies tests given over approximately half of the units in the new course revealed that most units tested were being taught, on the average, about as well as could be expected. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 111 The median achievement for the city on a number of the units tested was surprisingly high. Investigation revealed the fact that, in the main, the materials of these units had proved to be unusually dynamic for underprivileged children in socially backward districts. This brought about very high achievement for them and lifted the city medians as a result. The median achievement of four other units was very low. In- vestigation revealed the fact that, on the whole, these units had proved to be dead material for most of the children in the groups just mentioned. This brought about very low achievement in these groups, and depressed the city medians as a result. According to late developments in psychology, learning is a by- product of organization and can occur in no other way. Dynamic events (fights, races or other struggles which are seen, or otherwise experienced) are organized automatically, but that other material must be organized by the learner, as the result of a disposition to organize, before learning can take place. The course includes four means of organizing the data of each unit. It is probable that, aside from the learning which was the result of automatic organization of dynamic material, all the rest of the learning revealed by the tests was a by-product of intentional organ- ization. These four devices for organization are as follows: (1) Topical outlines. (2) Outline maps. (3) Date lines. (4) Graphs. The use of these devices and of tests of achievement are certainly important factors in learning. The unevenness of results by units and schools probably indicates uneven time allotments, uneven teaching, uneven supplies of reference material, or uneven management of reference material. It may even indicate an uneven enthusiasm for the new material on the part of supervisory officers in the schools themselves. In the course of the study note is made of the fact that, in Cleve- land and quite generally in the United States, new courses of study are neglected by teachers unless their use is checked up by tests. The amount of testing accompanying the introduction of this course was probably excessive. For that reason, no testing was set up for the first semester of the new year. However, all the tests given in the social studies program are bound in this bulletin and may be copied by schools or individual teachers for use in their classes. i 112 Department of Secondary-School Principals DIFFICULTIES IN THE Way oF INTRODUCING THE NEW SOCIAL Strupres CoursE oF STUDY It is undoubtedly true that the new social studies course of study makes a much greater demand upon the knowledge, skill, and social good will of the teacher than did the older textbook courses in geog- raphy, history, and civics. It also makes much greater demands upon libraries and librarians. Techniques have to be evolved for circulating the necessary reading material, and teachers and librarians must cooperate to a high degree. Then, too, faults in the course itself present difficulties. Whenever an attempt is made to call together such a wide variety of materials as are brought together in the new social studies course and to adapt them to the ability of teachers and pupils, mistakes in the selection of material, and in grade and ability group placements of it are inevitable, and may take years to identify and eliminate. Nothing but a radical improvement in results or a substantial saving in money could justify the labor involved. As a matter of fact, it seems that the financial saving already effected and the improvement in results, which can already be observed as a result of the change from the complicated program of the old curriculum— geography, history, civics, occupational information, current events and student activities—to the simpler arrangement of the new social studies are probably great enough to encourage those responsible for the program to carry it on to its logical conclusion. On the other hand, if the burden of readjustment which inevitably falls upon teachers, librarians, and other school officers becomes too heavy, the new plan itself, in spite of its advantages, may have to be greatly modified. XVI. DetaILep ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS OF THE SocraL StupiEs TEST Twenty-one tests covering twenty-two units of the new social studies were given to seventh, eighth, and ninth grade pupils in both elementary and regular junior high school buildings in the period between March 12 and June 4, 1929. These tests were given primarily to encourage the universal use of the course of study just published, and to check on the efficiency of the units in operation with a view to collecting data upon which changes in the course itself, and in the quality, amount, and distribution of supplementary material might bé Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 113 based. The tests were not given for the purpose of comparing teachers or schools, or passing judgment upon their work. However, the sur- prisingly wide range of achievement among schools, which seems to be fairly independent of the conditions which were expected to en- courage such differences, makes it worth while analyzing some of them. The work of individual teachers will not be compared. It will be remembered that the organization of the social studies in their present form is new, and that the tests reported here represent the first attempt at checking up work in this field. Standards are, in consequence, rather hazy. The bureau of research, in setting up these tests had a notion that the achievement registered should fall between 60 per cent and 80 per cent. According to Chart XI, about two-thirds of the tests turned out, in general, about as expected. Pupils succeeded best on the following tests: 8-B-8 Race Toleration 8-A-7 Our Place among the Nations 9-B-7 The Struggle between Town and Country 9-A-5 The Use of Leisure Time An examination of raw data reveals a possible reason for this result. The schools of lowest mental ability located in the poorest industrial districts did about as well—sometimes better—on these units as did the schools of much higher ability in more favored dis- tricts. Apparently, the underprivileged children of recent emigrants from Europe and the Old South, mixed indiscriminately as to race and national origin, are eager to learn to live together in harmony, to understand the advantages to the humble citizen of the present position of the United States among the nations of the world, the ‘age-old economic and political struggle between town and country, and the facilities of a great city, such as Cleveland, for a fine use of leisure. It was not unexpected that the children to whose lot the rough work of the world falls oftenest should show the greatest interest in social problems and quite satisfactory achievement; but that they should, in fairly large numbers, excel in achievement the more intelligent and socially favored groups on a considerable pro- portion of these tests was a distinct surprise. — te i ES eae 114 Department of Secondary-School Principals As a whole, the classes tested do only a little less well on another group of tests covering equally significant problems. These tests are listed below: 7-B-8 Puritan and Cavalier, in Ohio and the Nation—A study of sectionalism from colonial times to the present. 7-A-5 Religious Toleration. 5 a -6 The United States Becomes a World Power. 8-A-5 Two Giant Forces, Capital and Labor. )-B-3 and 4 State and National Government. ary 1 Conserving Our National Resources. -A-3 Society's Burdens: the Poor, Physically Ill, Unfortunate, Insane, and Criminal. The results on four other tests are so distinctly poor that, in all probability, the outlines in the courses of study and the teaching materials provided should be examined carefully to determine, if possible, the reason. The units upon which these tests are based are as follows: 7-B-3 Cleveland, Crossroads of Trade. 7-A-6 Government by the People. 9-B-2 Government of Cleveland. 9-A-7 Preparing for Peace: Problems of Nationalism and Inter- nationalism, War and Peace. Some other guesses as to the reasons for poor outcomes on these units are, first, that the detail, especially in 7-B-3, is so great that no adequate selection for definite learning was made by either teachers or pupils; second, that some of the principles involved in this and the other units listed here are too abstract, or are presented in too formal a manner ; and, third, that the tests may, unwittingly, have been made much harder for these units than they were for the others. It also happens that most of the units upon which pupils succeed best have ‘ been taught experimentally for a long enough time that they have been reduced to manageable size, while those on which the pupils do not succeed so well have been left very full or reduced somewhat hastily on the basis of opinion rather than experiment. In general, however, it is rather tempting to believe, from the evidence available, that certain units are, by the nature of things, very much more inter- esting, and more concretely presented, while others are the reverse - le san) an = «2 ar nm Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 115 of these things, and that test results correspond in some measure to these factors. Charts VI to X, inclusive, reveal the outcome of these tests by grades and units, together with the outcome of the Superintendent’s Geography Test which was given toward the end of the semester. In these charts, inclusive median raw scores have been turned into per cents by dividing such scores by the highest possible or perfect score. In the case of the Superintendent’s Geography Test the raw scores are reported. The gain on the geography test over the results of the year before is, as noted before, nearly 50 per cent. No one believes that this gain is due entirely to the new course of study. However, the new course does contain features, which, if carried out as intended, would be likely to produce such a result. For example, it contains, early in grade 7-B, a technical unit on the use of outline maps for recording social data. It also contains a list of minimum essentials in place geography and definite instructions on how to master the location of these places through the use, for review, of the outline maps prepared during the study of each unit. The course of study does not encourage teachers to believe that the mention of places in discussion, or the location of them on maps will result in memorization. What it does do is to emphasize the idea that the project, or inductive approach provides meaningful data which should be learned, and a motive for learning them. What probably happened to bring about the improvement in knowledge of place geography recorded here is that, under the stimulus of a test given the year before and another in prospect, a great many teachers used all the devices set down in the course of study for the mastery of the facts of place geography, and perhaps invented a few devices of their own. Cer- tainly an improvement in the number of facts learned accompanied work of a kind which is generally recognized as better adapted than any other to develop social understanding. The two methods are probably not mutually exclusive, then, as many persons suppose. They seem, in fact, to support each other. Understanding and appre- ciation seem to motivate definite learning, and definite learning, in turn, seems to give increased power to understand and appreciate. At least, such was the philosophy of learning upon which the new course was built; and none of the outcomes presented here seem to be contrary to it. i ce ie teeter aaa eT 116 Department of Secondary-School Principals On Chart XII is presented a summary of the results of the Super- intendent’s Geography Test. It is clear from the data presented on this chart that there is still the widest variation, from school to school, in knowledge of place geography, and that the variation is much wider among the junior high school classes in elementary buildings than it is among regular junior high school classes. On the other hand, the regular junior high school classes do not achieve quite as much, on the average, as do the classes in elementary buildings. Certainly every class in the seventh and eighth grades in Cleveland could be brought to the present average for such classes in elementary buildings without the use of drill other than that motivated by the desire to know thoroughly the place facts embodied in the social studies units. The astonishing variations, from school to school, in the outcomes of the social studies tests as revealed by the raw data might be dis- cussed in much the same way as the variations appearing in the results of the geography test. On the other hand, schools varied widely in the amount of teaching materials available and in the experience of the teachers with the type of units presented in the new course of study. Besides, no one know how much drill should follow discussion in order to fix basic information. Perhaps no one knows now. How- ever, schools making low scores in these tests know that the amount of drill on the maps, date lines, and graphs, which should accompany every unit and be used in the end for review, was insufficient for the realization of all the purposes of the course. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting CHART VI SocraL Stupies Tests, GRADE 7-B SEcoND SEMESTER 1928-29 : Unit No. 3. No. of Pupile Tested 4641 Cleveland, Crossroads of Trade The Social Studies lonite No. 4-5-6. No. of Pupils Tested 4652 Displaying Social Data on Maps, Date Lines and Graphs MA Unit Mo. 8. Mo. of Pupils Tested 456s Puritan and Cavalier in Ohio and the Nation | | | | | | l Per Cent0 10 2 30 W 50 60 70 80 The $t's et 5 Mo. of Pupils ested 4967 | 4 Place = a Geography Bo. of Pupils Tested 4773 E 7-B 1929 | bat at et ed eh — 118 Department of Secondary-School Principals CHART VII SocraL Stupies Tests, GRADE 7-A SECOND SEMESTER 1928-29 Unit No. 2. Mo. of Pupils Tested 6821 Our Country's Growth Due to Position, The Climate, and Natural Resources Social Studies Unit No. 5. Mo. of Pupils Tested 5634 Religious Toleration Unit Wo. 6. Wo. of Pupils Tested 6061 Government by the People | | | a | { | per dent ® 10 20 30 4 50 60 70 60 The 't's Geo es ¢ No. of Pupils Tested 6742 T-h 8619288 Place Geography Ho. of Pupils Tested 6086 T-A = 1929 Gein Points | | | ee Tae | | onTestO 20 4O 60 80 100 120 1% 160 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting CHART VIII SocriaL StuptiEs Tests, GRADE 8-B SECOND SEMESTER 1928-29 Unit Mo. 6. Mo. of Pupils Tested 4370 United States Becomes a World Power The Social Studies Unit No. 8. Wo. of Pupils Tested 4034 Race Toleration Pe: Saree ae sO tian aie =n ee ee Oe Se! A Bae SF OE Per Cent O 10 20 30 WwW 5656 60 ##70 #80 The (tte t Wo. of Pupile Tested 4967 7 861928 Place Geogra' ¥ No. of Pupile Tested 4580 eB 1929 | gata S TS es Points | | ay ieee ee = on fest 0 20 4 60 80 100 120 140 160 120 Department of Secondary-School Principals CHART IX SocraL Stupies Tests, GRADE 8-A SECOND SEMESTER 1928-29 Unit No. 1. Wo. of Pupils Tested 5913 A look into the Future The Social Studies Unit No. 2. No. of Pupils Tested 5654 Clothing Industry in Cleveland Unit No. 5, Part I. Wo. of Pupils Tested 5002 Two Giant Forces, Cavital and Labor Unit No. 5, Part 1%. Mo. of Pupils Tested 5002 Two Giant Forces, Capital and Labor Unit No. 7. No. of Pupils Tested 5605 Our Place among the Nations | { L ill ia ae Per CenotO 10 20 7% WwW 5 60 70 80 The Sup't's Geogravhy Test Bo. of Pupils Tested 6742 TA 1928 Place Geography) Wo. of Pupils Tested 5699 1929 | Gata a 8a Points . l | | L { 40 60 80 100 120 140 160 | on Test 0 20 9-3 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting CHART X SocraL Stupies Tests, NINTH GRADE SECOND SEMESTER 1928-29 Unit No. 2. Wo. of Pupile Tested 555 Government of Cleveland Unit No. 3. No. of Pupils Tested 572 Our State Government Unit No. 4. Mo. of Pupils Tested 614 The Netion's Government Unit No. 7. Mo. of Pupils Tested 644 Town and Country | | L | | L 121 I 90 Seem Per Cent 10 20 30 4% SS 60 Unit No. 1. No. of Pupils Tested 775 Conserving our BMatural Resources Unit Wo. 3. Wo. of is Society's Burdens Unit Wo. 5. No. of Pupils Tested §2} S- The Use of Leisure Time Unit No. Te No. of Pupils Tested § Preparing for Peace it | L J | ! Per Cent 10 20 30 4% 50 60 70 gL ne se LS Se =. 122 Department of Secondary-School Principals CHART XI SocraL Stupies Tests Resutts 1n ELEMENTARY AND Juntor HiGH-ScHooLs Marcu 121TH To June 41H, 1929 Unit Grade Wo. 10 4o reo vie F§ onnw in oo 8A 4 Pert &. 2 3B 4 ‘ 4 \ 7 Key ( 1 FO----- Elementary Bldgs. 3 Junior High Bldgs. 3a 5 Flementary Bldgs. 7 Junior High Bldgs. \ 5 6a — Part II © 10 20 % 50 70 6 9 Medians in Terms of Per Cent Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting CHART XII SUPERINTENDENT'S GEOGRAPHY Tests ResuLtT IN JUNIOR HIGH CLassEs IN ELEMENTARY AND JUNIOR H1GH-Scuoots, 1928 ann 1929 Points 320 300 260 260 240 220 200 180 160 140 120 100 o-°? —Junior High 1929 —-Blementary 1929 +—Highest Junior High 1929 lowest Junior High 1929 —+-Highest Elementary 1929 lowest Elementary 1929 e eeeJunior and Elementary 1 6B 6A 13 TA 8B Department of Secondary-School Principals OTHER SUBJECTS The periods devoted to English were also reduced. Tests given during the first semester 1929-30 indicate that achievements in Eng- lish Composition are quite up to the standards of the country at large. Science has been introduced as a constant throughout the course. No tests have been made as yet. Errect oF CURRICULUM REORGANIZATION ON EXPENDITURES FOR TEACHING TitLes AND TIME ALLOTMENTS IN THE OLD SOCIAL Stupies CURRICULUM The curriculum of the new junior high school in Cleveland carried over geography, history, and civics from the old course of study of the elementary school, and added vocational guidance or occupational information. In the sequential table and time allotment for Cleveland junior high schools, officially in operation to the end of the school year, 1928-29, but actually being superseded during the second semes- ter, geography (political, economic, and physical) was scheduled to be taught five periods a week throughout the seventh year; history, five periods a week during the last half of the seventh year, and four periods a week during the eighth year; occupational information one period a week throughout the eighth year; and social and economic problems, in lieu of civics, five periods throughout the ninth year. The study of current events was commonly included in one or another of these courses throughout the three years, and the extra-curricular activities of the school were presumably organized to train the child for citizenship. This made a total of 35 semester periods of work in social studies, 25 of which were required. EFFECT OF THE NEw SocraAL STuDIES COURSE ON CuRRENT EXPENDITURES In the fall of 1924 a beginning was made at reorganizing all of the material of the subjects which could be properly classified as the social studies into one subject taught continuously for five periods a week from the opening of the seventh grade to the end of the ninth.. This course of study was published in parts, the last part being com- pleted during the first semester of 1928-29. Under the new plan 20 semester periods of social studies were required and 10 elective. This Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 125 course, if operated effectively, would make a reduction in the weight of the curriculum devoted to the social studies of from fifteen to twenty per cent, and might, through permitting of more economical organization, make an even greater saving in the time of pupils and the cost of teaching. Under the old plan, certain other irregularities in the set-up of social studies classes, such as the use of double periods or the addition of a period here and there, in order to cover the ground indicated in the prescribed outline or textbook, added to the expense of teaching. The simplicity of the new plan, because of the ease of administering it, actually has encouraged a somewhat larger saving than that indicated by the change, on paper, in the number of recitation periods devoted to the subject. As a matter of fact, the actual expenditures for the salaries of teachers engaged in teaching the social studies decreased from $247,- 000 in 1922-23 to $237,000 in 1928-29! in the face of an increase in enrollment in the junior high schools of 44 per cent and an increase of 9 per cent in the unit cost of teaching. This represents an actual decrease of $10,000 a year in the face of a large increase in enrollment and a general tendency to increase costs as shown in the cost per pupil period. Under the circumstances, a little speculation as to probable expen- ditures, had not this new plan for the social studies been evolved, is not out of order. Had the plan in use in 1922-23 continued in force and had principals continued to administer it as they did at that time, it would have cost approximately $388,000 to operate in 1928-29 or $151,000 more than the actual expenditure. This was in the junior high schools alone. The seventh and eighth grades in elementary schools would account for additional savings of $25,000. A tabular summary of these statements follows: ' Cost of Teaching Junior High School Subjects, 1928-29, L. C. Bain, Chief, Bureau of Child Accounting, Cleveland. a 126 Department of Secondary-School Principals TotaL EXPENDITURES FOR TEACHERS’ SALARIES— SociaAL STUDIES Junior High Schools TABLE III At Date Enrollment, Junior High Schools, March 23, 1923 . .19,975 At Date Enrollment, Junior High Schools, March 22, 1929.. - 28,785 Increase 8,810 or 44% Expenditure for single pupil period, 1922-23............... $ .054 Expenditure for single pupil period, 1928-29............... .059 Increase .004 or 9% Probable Expenditures 1928-29, on Actual Actual Basis of 1922-23 Probabl Expenditures Expenditures Curriculum, and Sev — 1922-23 1928-29 * Increase in aving Enrollment and Cost per pupil Period $247,000 $237,000 $388,000 $151,000 Decrease $10,000 ————— Estimated saving in seventh and eighth grades, Elementary Schools (4,200 pupils) $ 25,000 Total $176,000 Another financial question is still to be answered. Has the saving effected, on paper, in the field of the social studies been saved, in fact, or have funds no longer needed there been spent elsewhere? The story is not yet available in all its details. Some of the savings have unmistakably been spent for an increase in instruction in science, and probably should have been so spent. On the other hand, the social studies program went fully into operation for the first time during the second semester of 1928-29. Mr. Bain, Chief, Bureau of Child Accounting, Cleveland, has made the following analysis of teaching costs for the year 1928-29: Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 127 The junior high per pupil expenditures for teachers’ salaries for the two semesters of the school year 1928-29 were as follows: he First Semester $42.22 3 Second Semester $41.32 4 The expenditures for substitute service were much greater the second semester than the first semester. The average number of pupils per teacher in junior high schools was 28 for the first semester and 28.5 for the second semester. There may be other variables such as slight changes in teaching personnel which operate to make a difference in the per pupil expendi- tures for the two semesters.”! if This saving amounts to 90¢ per pupil for the semester, and is i at the rate of $1.80 a year. On the basis of 32,000 pupils, the approxi- mate enrollment at the end of the second semester, 1928-29, this would amount to $58,000 a year. GENERAL CURRICULUM REVISION Further steps have been taken in the direction of more economical operation of the junior high schools. The General Curriculum Com- mittee? of junior high school principals has recommended and Assis- ; tant Superintendent A. C. Eldredge has accepted a generally revised i time schedule which will, when fully operative, clip approximately ; four periods of class work a week from the program of three-fourths of the pupils enrolled in the junior high school grades. An examina- tion of the per pupil period expense for teachers’ salaries worked out by subjects makes it apparent that an estimate of 5% cents ($.055) for all subjects is rather low.’ Using this estimate and the present enrollment of approximately 32,000, the lighter curriculum just de- scribed should, as it goes into effect, bring about an annual saving of approximately $200,000 with the present enrollment. This saving Ml will amount to even more on the increased enrollment of a few years 1 Quoted from letter of September 6, 1929, Bain to Connor. 2 The General Curriculum Committee of the junior high schools was com- a posed of the following principals : i B. W. Taylor, Chairman, A. T. Carr, B. R. Eggeman, A. M. Seybold, J. B. Smiley, F. P. Whitney, E. C. Wixom, E. T. Cockrell, E. A. Miller, and the chief of the bureau of research. 3 Cost of Teaching Junior High School Subjects, 1928-29, L. C. Bain, Chief, Bureau of Child Accounting, Cleveland. NR 128 Department of Secondary-School Principals hence. While much of this saving is made possible by the unification and simplification of the social studies program, some of it comes from other sources and a little of it must await the provision of study halls adequate to care for the pupils released from class recitations. Of course, $200,000 cannot be cut from the total of the junior high school budget. Enrollment is increasing and new schools are being opened annually. What should happen is that the total expense will fail to keep pace with enrollment and the saving will appear in a reduced per pupil expenditure. This reduction should amount, in the next year or two, to about $6.00, $1.80 of which is already in the bag.' If we may judge from what has already taken place, careful administration will undoubtedly save the rest. On the other hand, junior high school buildings have been over- crowded and are still overcrowded. This condition is being remedied as time goes on. To provide new facilities for 3,000 pupils in a year when the increase is only 500 means a reduction in crowded condi- tions but an increase in per pupil expenditure for things other than teaching. It is possible that the reduction in teaching costs now taking place and in prospect will be offset by a legitimate and proper increase in expenses for housing and the care and upkeep of such facilities. SUMMARY To summarize: When the first junior high schools were formed in Cleveland, pupils from grades seven and eight in the elementary schools and grade nine in the senior high schools were collected to- gether in one building or department of a building. The curricula and the teachers of the older schools were brought along with the pupils. Teaching, however, was departmentalized. Also, curriculum changes began to be made at once. At first these changes were limited to the addition of new subjects and new elements to old subjects, or the pushing of old subjects into grades where they were new. Foreign languages, social problems, general science, manual art, mechanical drawing, home economics, printing, commercial work, and vocational information came “‘in’”’ or “down.” Music, art, physical education, hygiene, and even mathematics, were given a new turn. 1 Pupils per teacher increased from 28.0 to 28.5 at mid-year. The tendency has continued for in September, 1929, pupils per teacher increased to 28.9; and in February, 1930 to 29.4. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 129 The average junior high school pupil came to recite 31 periods a week, and many recited 40 periods. During the fifteen years since the junior high schools of Cleveland first got under way, the needs of children, the needs of the entire city, and the possibilities of supplying these needs through old subjects or new, or new combinations of subjects, were studied along with the intelligence and achievement of pupils. These studies eventuated in the spring of 1929 in a new curriculum which subtracts many titles and one-, and two-period-a-week-courses from the curriculum. It also subtracts, on the average, 3 recitation periods a week from each pupil’s program. One example of the process of collecting scattered courses under one head is the new social studies course in which history, geography, civics, occupational information, and current events are reorganized as one unified course taught to all pupils one period every day or five times a week. Tests and measurements reveal the fact that achievements are higher ; and financial accounting, that expenditures for teaching are lower. The full effect of the improvements in instruction and savings may not be felt for some years to come. However, results to date are encouraging, and administrative persistence is bringing the reward: a little more education for a little less money. Following Mr. Connor’s paper, Mr. Edward Rynearson, reported the election of the nominating committee. Clarence Stratton, Director of English, Public Schools, Cleveland, Ohio, read his paper, Some Aspects of Vitalized Reading for Junior High Schools. SOME ASPECTS OF VITALIZED READING FOR JUNIOR HIGH SCHOOLS (Abridgement ) CLARENCE STRATTON, DrrEcTOoR OF ENGLISH IN HiGH SCHOOLS, CLEVELAND, OHIO A friend of mine, whose daughter, nine years old, is now reading the Pickwick Papers because she has seen her father enjoying the volume and found it lying in a comfortable chair, assures me that New . oes Sa Sn gee Sie LE ees ie yas Ota es Steet: 130 Department of Secondary-School Principals many habits of good reading are the result—like love and marriage— of propinquity. This indicates the first aspect of vitalized reading in junior high schools. This element of propinquity should be introduced for the pupils. Books should be made easily available so that every pupil will virtually burst forth as did this one in a 7-B class. “T want to tell you how happy we were a few weeks ago to see books, books, and still more books being brought into our room. Even before our teacher told us we knew that they were supplementary readers and we are anticipating great pleasure in reading and discuss- ing them.” The first endeavor should be to induce among pupils that kind of familiarity with books which produces content—not contempt. When pupils may stretch out and easily touch, handle, and use books, they will be matters of so much delight and information to them that it should be easy to obtain from them the same kind of discriminating response that we expect from adults. Balloting on everything is, of course, the great American pastime. Schools reflect this practice or can be made to reflect it very easily. Answering questionnaires and casting ballots will help to vitalize the reading of the most usual kind. These are the choices in one large cos- mopolitan city’s high school of pupils in the 9-B section—mainly boys. “The 9-B’s voted on the four books they were assigned for outside reading this last term. Out of the votes cast, Treasure Island came first, having 84 votes. Captains Courageous came next with 83. Kid- napped was third with 36 votes. Typee came in last with 9 votes. “For second choice Treasure Island led again, having 73 votes, Kidnapped, second with 51 votes, Captains Courageous, third .with 34 votes, Typee again was last, having 13 votes. “Fourth choice is altogether different. 7Typee with 23 votes led. Kidnapped came in second with 13 votes; Treasure Island, third with 7 votes, and Captains Courageous was last with one. “Captains Courageous and Typee were not read by all the classes, so that probably accounts for a lower number of votes on these books.” Notice the choices; stories of active adventure, lives of suspense, producing bated breath by making everything come out right for the heroes in the last chapters. Or look at the choices in another school, quite different from the one just cited. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 131 “Out of three books read in all 9-B English classes, 234 pupils chose Lady of the Lake as first choice and Midsummer Night's Dream and The Boyhood of a Naturalist nip and tuck with 54 and 53 respectively.” Notice here that even after having been taught The Lady of the Lake, these pupils gave it first choice! Of course, it is hardly neces- sary to recall to this audience that The Lady of the Lake is not taught now as it was in our school days. You and I very likely had to parse something in nearly every line. Teachers know better than to mangle a stirring story in that manner now. Yet even with all this sophistica- tion and rapidity of modern youths teachers must at times move slowly in order to know that pupils understand what they are reading. I am tempted at this point to recall to you the definition given by a boy, who at the first line of The Lady of the Lake was asked by the teacher if he knew what a “stag” is. “Surely,” the boy replied, “a stag is a fellow who goes to a dance without a skirt.” With propinquity introduced and familiarity developed, pupils begin to do clever stunts with their reading matter. The 9-A boy who wrote the following paragraphs knew a great deal about not only the titles of these books, but the contents as well. He made only two slips. It would be an interesting thing for pupils and teachers to try to find the two titles that are used not quite correctly. This will mean a great deal of knowledge on the part of the teachers. Tue 9-A Book List 1n Story Adventures of Ulysses in the Promised Land made Princess Aline a Deerslayer in her Travels in Alaska. Upon sighting the Little Shep- herd of Kingdom Come she said You Are the Hope of the World. Therefore, with your Black Arrow take the Life of Robert Lee, place him Down in the Eagle’s Nest which is the First One Hundred Thou- sand of the Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and let Oliver Twist him. This incident made Tom Brown’s School Days a Russian Comedy of Errors. The Every-Day Adventures of Tom led him to the Trail of the Sand Hill Stag. It was then that the Lure of Labrador Wild led him to Gold. Here he saw Foch the Man ride in Uncle Joe’s Lin- coln on the Blased Trail. Again Tom was Alone in the Caribbean with Barbara Frietsche and Monsieur Beaucaire. 132 Department of Secondary-School Principals This was all originally taken from the Story of My Boyhood and Youth. Let us turn aside from the schoolroom for a minute to contemplate the adult reading habits of the American people. May I, with all courtesy say that one of the things that disturbs me most is to hear a middle-aged or elderly person complain that no longer do Americans read as persons did when he was young. Such a person will lament that no longer do people revel in Charles Dickens. This person is merely neglecting or blinding himself to the actual facts. To settle the Dickens matter once and for all, may I say that there are from 180,000 to 200,000 novels by Dickens sold every year. Remember too, that this sale has been going on for some three-quarters of a century. Or if you feel that the weight of classic choice is behind the story by Dickens, let me cite another title. I do not know the latest figures, but some time ago the publishers informed me that more than 600,000 copies of Main Street had been sold. That sale means more than $1,000,000 worth of business in that single title alone. Perhaps a dozen books sell from 100,000 to 200,000 copies every year. You must not think that only works of fiction sell in such great numbers. Americans have spent more than $20,000,000 for sets of the Five Foot Book Shelf. They may not have read more than two or three volumes of the set, but whatever they read in that collection was of extremely high quality. You are all aware of the amazing vogue for biogtaphy during the last several years. In 1928 more biographies were published in the United States than books of any other kind. True, in 1929, the pendulum swung back and fiction led, but biog- raphy and another class of informative material, popular science, were not very far below. Librarians’ figures will support our belief in the reading habits of the general public. One librarian reported that he had to buy 49 copies of The Outline of History by Wells; 41 copies of Arrowsmith by Lewis; but he had to buy at the same time 90 copies of Poems by Tennyson. Of course, too, we know of the recent marvel of book selling with the enormous success of Mr. William Durant’s Story of Philosophy. A few months after it had appeared, I sat in the office of the two young publishers who told me they were almost holding their breath; Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 133 —they could not believe it was true. This same firm has had almost as phenomenal a sale with The Art of Thinking by the Abbé Dimnet, charmingly written, suave as the man himself, but for some it was marred because in some places the delightful writer does not exercise the art of which he writes so engagingly. Let me make this definite. In the middle of one of the pages you will find this statement : “The American schools are mostly in the country, because primi- tive American life was a country life.” The explanation of this is perfectly simple. I wish Monsieur Dimnet had eradicated the impression made in his mind by such schools as St. Marks and recalled some of the schools in New York City where seven thousand pupils are gathered in one building. To illustrate further the enormous amount of reading material purchased by the American public, I might cite the circulation figures of the magazines. One instance will suffice. Just a few days ago in the editorial offices of the Literary Digest I was informed that each weekly run will be at least 1,600,000 copies. Think what that means in a month! It is no unusual thing for an American book firm to put into circulation more than three-quarters of a million volumes in a year. I sometimes tell pupils in the high schools that there are only about twelve thousand different books published in the United States in a year, so all they have to do in order to keep up is to read a thousand books a month. If adult reading is so alert, so active, so continuous, is it reflected in the schools of the country? Every fact indicates that it is. Pupil choices are not very far removed from the choices of adults. One questionnaire answered by hundreds of pupils showed that 226 would choose first mystery and detective stories; only 124 school and college stories; but, here is an amazing fact—a fact that now, well known to publishers, is occasioning a great deal of concern to their juvenile departments—only 102 preferred books designed deliberately for boys and girls. Publishers tell me that they will devote in their juvenile departments most of their attention to the books for the younger children, feeling that school influence is leading pupils in their teens to stretch upwards towards books designed primarily for adults. Isn't this an encouraging sign if the boy of fourteen wants to read, is able to read, is led to read the books designed for the person of 3 i megaman: en SSA mee: ~ - sae es 28 134 Department of Secondary-School Principals twenty? In schools of my own jurisdiction there are pupils who insist on reading the stronger plays of Mr. Eugene O'Neill and even the intricate novels of Marcel Proust. To return to the questionnaire, the most encouraging thing about it was that a grand total of 346 boys and girls chose first history, biography, poetry, and travel. Teachers are bombarded with questions about books. One super- intendent wrote to me, “What is your opinion of Dreiser’s An Ameri- can Tragedy as supplementary reading in the twelfth year of high school? Your reply will be kept confidential.” You see, he wanted my opinion, but he was extremely solicitous of my reputation. What should a teacher tell a boy in the junior high school who recognizes an illustration used by a visitor as an incident in that same American Tragedy? What should be told the little girl who had just reported on DeMaupassant’s A Piece of String? She explained that her older sister had a complete volume of stories by him but would not let her read them. It appears to me that all the varied activity of reading in the junior high schools falls naturally into three main classifications: First, that kind of reading for gathering the author’s full thought. This is some- times called intensive reading. There are some great books worthy of being studied, worth being known, packed with information, full of emotional experiences. These justify the time and attention put upon them. Of course, the trouble is that the old-fashioned teacher may worry them as a dog worries a bone. They can serve, however, to increase the reach of pupils, to extend their horizons, to widen their interests, to deepen their emotions, to develop their lives. The second kind of reading I like to call research reading. It is a difficult kind for the young pupil to exercise, but it is extremely val- uable, not only in English but in other subjects as well. It is pecu- liarly valuable in later life. It means reading by topics, by sections, by selections ; it means developing the ability to get to the heart of the ar- ticle; it means being able to recognize what is of value, what not; it means reading and comparing ; it is the kind of reading we ask now in junior high schools for reports, for investigations, for committees. The third kind of reading is rapid reading. It serves all the pur- poses of work and leisure. It begins in school, it continues in school, it continues through all life. I like to group all kinds of reading in Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 135 two other ways. The first is the learning how to read; a slow and difficult process. The second is exercise in the practice of reading, and once the art has been acquired for any level of the pupil’s, of the adult's development. Schools should provide both kinds of reading. The Place of the Junior High School in Our Changing Secondary Schools, was presented by Philip W. L. Cox, Professor of Education, New York City University, who did adhere closely to the text of his manuscript. THE JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL AND THE SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULUM Puiuip W. L. Cox, ScHooL oF EpucatTion, New York UNIVERSITY The junior high school expresses a changing conception of educa- tion. This new type of school is characterized by tolerant, friendly, and spontaneous relationships among pupils and teachers and parents and other members of the school communities. It offers opportunities and encouragement to the creative aspirations of all the adventurous spirits of the school community. It exemplifies those aspects of democracy and Americanism which promise most for the present and for the future. It is an adventure in common purposes and in their fulfillment through individual endeavor. Naturally, not all junior high schools are successful in taking advantage of the opportunities which their newness offers. Before they can modify their philosophy of education and develop behavior- patterns adequate for this new American institution, teachers and administrators find themselves faced with practical problems of organ- ization and instruction. To meet these immediate needs, curriculum practices are often borrowed from the conventional elementary and high schools with which teachers and parents are familiar and feel secure. As a result, there is a danger that traditional practices may become intrenched in the curriculum. In this case, old wine is being poured into new bottles. Too frequently there is thus lost much of the psychological advan- tage which might accrue from the newness and experimental nature of the junior high school. If, however, pioneering principals and faculties are resourceful, they will find that the internal organization 136 Department of Secondary-School Principals of the new institution offers a favorable situation for seriously con- ceived plans closely related to a clear educational philosophy of ad- ministration. Here we can “shunt our educational machinery during this particular three year period into the field of diagnosing and consciously exercising . . . the individualities of pupils.” The impulse and desire of children at the dawn of adolescence to live their own lives, to be themselves, to be emancipated from mother- ing and meticulous instruction, will, if thwarted by .rigid curriculum practices, result in distorted personalities and unfortunate behavior difficulties. The successful curriculum will provide opportunities for each pupil to have a share in selecting his own work, to follow and develop his worthy individualistic, avocational interests, and to com- plete these self-accepted tasks for the sense of mastery, the joy of accomplishment, and the approval of his fellows. Intrenched Academic Interests Obstruct High-School Progress. Senior high-school educational practices are themselves changing rapidly. New subjects and curricula are introduced. Student activities and advisory relationships are developed. Great care is given to the health of pupils. Beautiful buildings with elaborate auditoriums, spacious grounds, generous gymnasiums and swimming pools, attrac- tive libraries, and adequate cafeterias are found in high schools the country over. Office records are improved. Community codperations are fostered. The great majority of high schools continue, to be sure, to pre- scribe English and history for all pupils; they emphasize, and, for many pupils, they require mathematics and foreign languages; such schools grant diplomas for the completion of fifteen units or thirty “points” of high school work—largely academic in character. Thus, in spite of emerging senior high-school tolerances and edu- cational practices, the academic traditions are intrenched in adminis- trative mechanisms. For the permanency and resistance of inert vested interests are difficult to overcome. “Nothing of human origin” says President Arthur E. Morgan of Antioch, “endures so long as the habits and outlooks of men. . . . An impression written on the mind of man is more enduring than stone.” 1 Johnston, C. H., Newlon, J., and Pickell, F. G.: “Junior-Senior High School Administration.” Scribner’s Sons, 1922. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 137 It becomes increasingly clear, however, that the conventional high school subjects are not successful in challenging many capable ado- lescents. These youths either can not or will not master the knowl- edges and skills nor will they even complete the assigned lesson preparations. For the academic high-school teacher the times are sadly out of joint. In the Class of 1902, Ernst Glaeser tells of a German Classical Academy to which he was transferred as a lad of fifteen in 1917: “The war did not affect the school at all. It was regarded as a chapter of history not yet finished and therefore not suitable for the cur- riculum. Although it was a frequent occurrence for one of the boys’ fathers to be killed, and an increasing number of the boys sat there with bands of crape round their arms, no reference was ever made to that by the teachers. They loomed over us like the towers of an officially regulated ideal of culture and allotted us marks in Greek and Latin while we were starving of hunger and stealing each other’s bread between classes. And while outside in the square fronting the academy a convalescent company of soldiers from a Landsturm bat- talion were going through their field-drill, and the sharp commands of the officers came cutting through the air and the windows trembled | at the insolent volleys of blank cartridges, we sat in the close atmos- phere of the classrooms discussing the weapons of Trojan heroes or of Caesar’s cavalry. “There were teachers who knew less than nothing about Verdun and its victims, but who were acquainted down to the last detail with the equipment of Achilles’s Myrmidons. If they were ever compelled to mention the war they made it sound like a translation from Homer. Only heroes came within their purview, all the rest were ‘foot-soldiers’ whose duty it was ‘to dye the fallow fields with blood.’ ” Both we secondary-school teachers and the adolescents who are entrusted to us for some 800 hours a year are living in a most intensive and confusing age. The econdmic-industrial civilization of which we are a part has many aspects which seem never to keep the same rela- tionships to one another for cwo days in succession. The demands on the time and attention of the adolescent are kaleidoscopic. Patterns there are, but they are complex and ever changing. To dance, to know the current magazines and books and plays, to help mother with the housekeeping, to select and alter clothes, to take Se Pe ee i PR EF ag, wn Ee & : aa" za oe ee nse sare 138 Department of Secondary-School Principals one’s share in church or Sunday-School activities, to be a good Scout or a member of the Girls’ Reserve, to keep up one’s music lessons and practice, to study geometry, to share one’s father’s interests, to earn and save money toward the expenses of a college education, to give reasonable attention to one’s friends of both sexes, to take one’s part in the school’s dramatic and social and political life, to participate in athletics, to conserve one’s health, to keep up one’s correspondence, to play a respectable game of bridge—such a list could be continued almost endlessly. To us schoolmasters these activities may not all seem of equal importance ; some of them we may depreciate entirely. But to some social groups and individuals whose judgments the adolescent respects, every one of these adjustments seems to be of outstanding importance. If the typical adolescent should do all of the things he is expected by teachers, parents, friends, and social organi- zations to do each day, he would be in a padded cell inside of a week. In our academic senior high schools some of us expect the youth to subordinate all else to such hocus pocus as algebraic factoring, Latin grammar, and historical dates. Indeed, many of us teachers act as though we had no knowledge of the great rich world in which he and his parents and his friends and his neighbors live. Our academic curriculum is as absurd in its artificiality and intensity as was that of the classical academy of which Glaeser has told us. A changing civilization makes impossible the maintenance of an unchanging curriculum, unchanging morals, and unchanging attitudes. However sternly we may endeavor to hold on to standardized prac- tices—units, prescriptions, diplomas, college entrance certificates—our efforts are mechanical and lifeless. They are out of touch with the vigorous spontaneous enthusiasms which thrill mankind. “The moving finger writes, and having writ Moves on: nor all your Piety nor Wit Shall lure it back to cancel half a line Nor all your Tears wash out a Word of it.” Omar Khayyam, The Rubaiyat. In our own changing civilization all of this disjunction is im- mensely complicated. New culture-groups have introduced them- selves into our high-school student bodies during the last two decades. Many of these adolescents have little social experience or innate aptitude of the types which make academic school work satisfying. For any one of these pupils, the old standards are entirely unfitted. a A ee ee Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 139 Such a youth has perhaps, never met an adult who speaks or reads or writes an ancient or modern language—except immigrants for whom he may have little respect. Of adults whom he knows per- sonally, few discuss historical causes and effects, scientific procedures, mathematical manipulations, or English classics. It is surprising that the academic high-school world seems to him strange and remote and artificial and meaningless? Is it reasonable to assume that he will sacrifice parties, shows, dresses, gossip, magazines, athletics, and the rest of the alluring activities which seem so important to his mothers and sisters and neighbors. These are the life! So say “his sisters and his cousins whom he reckons up by dozens. And his sisters and his cousins and his aunts.” In the senior high school we are, to be sure, keenly and irritatingly alive to the changing character of our secondary-school pupils. We want our old high school back again. We sometimes assert that a half or a third of the pupils who come into our high schools have no busi- ness there, or that they are incapable of doing “high-school work.” We forget when we make such statements that if they did not attend high school many of us teachers would not be there either. The Junior High School Is a Convenient Scapegoat for the Aca- demic High School’s Failure. We feel thwarted and helpless and out-of-sorts. Community leaders and college presidents and writers of foundation reports and magazine articles seem to demand what it is impossible for us to produce. They seem to expect us in the 800 hours of schooling each year to create native abilities, to counteract 4,750 hours each year of vigorous adaptations to community mores. We cannot accomplish the impossible. Instinctively we seek a scapegoat. And the junior high school just meets our requirements ! The junior high school did not exist in the golden age when all high-school pupils did just what they ought to do. Indeed, its intro- duction into most school systems was contemporary with the coming of the avalanche of pupils which has threatened to overwhelm the senior high-school traditions and standards. Post hoc, ergo propter hoc. The junior high school has been established ; thirty-five per cent of the tenth grade pupils are failing geometry ; the junior high school is, therefore, the cause of their lack of ability and interest and their evasion of home study. 140 Department of Secondary-School Principals Such recrimination is as absurd as it is disruptive. The junior high school is an attempt to deal with the very social and economic condi- tions which make the senior high school’s problems so complex and acute. It may not always act wisely. But it generally is honestly conceived. And it has the potentialities of a new institution. Hence, it needs the encouragement and sympathetic help of all who are inter- ested in education as a social instrument. In the Emancipated Junior High School Lies: the Senior High School's Chief Hope for Freedom from Enthralling Traditions. If secondary education is to do better in the future than it has in the past, there must be freedom to experiment. Forward-looking senior high-school people desire such freedom; they must have it. But such opportunity is not to be gained by denying equal or even greater opportunities to the junior high school. Quite the opposite. Every high-school principal and teacher with intelligence and vision enough to grasp the immensity of the educational problem should give earnest support to all honest adventures in the readjustment of schools. His own opportunities depend on a new spirit which must pervade education from kindergarten to university—manifestations of which are, fortunately, in evidence at all levels. For all who believe in schools, “an intelligently militant attitude is a necessity” says Runnels.' He continues: “Every spark of freedom, every evidence of a will to serve children rather than institutions must be encouraged, for freedom is contagious. High spots in real educational achievements are not confined to any one educational unit; they are found in the junior high school, the senior high school, and in colleges and uni- versities. Wherever they are found they should be fostered and supported by all educators. The junior high school is, because of its youth and strategic position, more free to solve the educational prob- lems which confront it than are the older and more traditional insti- tutions. Since the senior high school feels most keenly the cramp of enforced articulation, it should be especially zealous in guarding the freedom found in the junior high school. It is only the short-sighted senior-high-school principal who attempts to solve his problems by shoving as much as possible of the college entrance preparation into 1 Runnels, Ross O.: “What Price Articulation?” Junior-Senior High School Clearing House, Vol. IV. No. 1. September, 1929. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 141 the junior high school. Free junior high schools are the best guarantee that senior high schools will in time become free.” New Times Bring New Problems, and Require New Social Instruments. In a world of ever accelerating change, defenders of things as they have been are unhappy. But no less miserable are those who long for a happy day when problems will be no more. Not by desire or argument or precept or jeremiad can the world be made to our liking. Rather is there needed a resolute sustained effort to under- stand the interplay of institutions and social forces. In the light of such a sympathetic appreciation of the difficulties that ,beset schools of every grade—and many collateral institutions as well—we shall be loath to assess blame on any one of them. We shall find that many of the same problems face schools of all levels, as well as the church, Scouts, playground commissions, settlements, and parents. We shall discover that earnest and resourceful leaders in all social institutions are urging and actually making similar adjustments. Disappointment at the results attained by high schools and of political government and of the church is wide-spread. Skepticism, even cynicism, is rampant. Public confidence is weakening. The maintenance of the generous appropriations for secondary education and for all other governmental instruments of social welfare is increasingly difficult. Nevertheless, education is “the only survivor of the whole chest of hopes man used to have, religious and political.” .“It belongs,” continues William Bolitho, “to us more distinctively even than to the Renaissance or the Greeks.” Continued support for secondary education will be forthcoming, if we do not disgust the public with out internal bickering. This is no time for divided camps. Success can come only through earnest codperation. Let us, then seek positive articulation, correlation, and reénforce- ment with the positive programs of each of these institutions. Only so can our work possibly be done—even at best and with the heartiest and most intelligent codperation, failure is not improbable. 142 Department of Secondary-School Principals Twelve major opportunities for such positive coéperative effort among educational institutions may be stated : (1) The attention of schoolmen at every level and in every type of institution should be directed to the similarities of their problems and their attempted solutions of these problems. Thus, progressive colleges, senior high schools, junior high schools, vocational, continua- tion, and evening schools, and private secondary schools are all striv- ing earnestly to build up student morale and student participation in the approved social activities of the institutions. Articulations on this plane should be easy to make. Too often, nevertheless, little knowl- edge or sympathetic interest is shown by the faculties of one institu- tion in the social programs of the others. (2) Each of the institutions named above has already established or is now establishing, a system of advisement and guidance. Unfor- tunately, however, the counselling procedures and results of one institution are seldom exploited by others. Pupils who have selected art or music or commercial subjects as a result of careful guidance in the junior high school are encouraged to change their elections when they enter senior high school “because they will need Latin to get to college.” Such advice is both false and disruptive. (3) The flexibility and enrichment of the curricula of each unit have increased amazingly. The recognition of individual needs, indi- vidual enthusiasms, and individual capacities has in every case led to such reforms. With depressing regularity many teachers at each level vociferously disapprove of the tendencies in the lower levels, and many teachers of the lower levels are seemingly unaware of the new liberality of the higher institutions. (4) Many high-school principals and prominent college graduates seldom think of education in any broad sense of the term. College entrance certificates and examinations in academic subjects, inter- collegiate and interscholastic athletics, and “social behaviors” of boys and girls seem to absorb all of their capacity to think educationally. (5) Honors, other than the conventional and extrinsic ones— marks, promotions, graduations and certificates—are being bestowed by schools and colleges. School insignia, character ratings, health certificates, and honor society memberships gained by pupils in the Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 143 lower school should be formally recognized by colleges and senior high schools. (6) Outside the school and college, life goes on apace—modifying, for good or for ill, the attitudes, aspirations, and conduct of youths and adults. Seldom has the junior or senior high school more than a selective or corrective effect on the social behaviors of pupils. A positive, constructive program must reénforce, guide, and direct the activities of children in their out-of-school lives as well as their scholastic behaviors. (7) Specific mal-articulations occur between junior and senior high schools frequently in three subjects: Latin, mathematics, and English grammar. Frank discussions by representatives of junior- high and senior-high-school teachers of each subject together with the superintendent of schools and the principals of the schools con- cerned, might quickly decrease the misunderstandings and conflicts. (8) Adequate cumulative record should be universal and should be understood and used by the officers of senior high schools and colleges. Such records should show, in addition to scholarship marks : (a) Pupils’ abilities and needs and their improvements. (b) Participation in clubs, student government, service squads, home room organization, athletic teams, musical organizations, journalistic enterprises, and other student activities sponsored by the school. (c) Active participation and leadership in extra-school or- ganizations—Scouts, musical, and dramatic organiza- tions. (d) Part-time jobs, including home occupations. (e) Vacations and other leisure time interest and occupation. (f) Emotional characteristics. (9) Wide and insistent publicity is needed regarding actual college entrance requirements. Much, perhaps most, of the so-called diffi- culties involved in college admissions exist only in the minds of over- cautious, ignorant, or inert high-school principals and advisers. = ees. 144 Department of Secondary-School Principals Professional, parental, and college alumni protests should be focused on three evils which undoubtedly do exist : (a) Some colleges refuse to recognize bona fide subjects, such as general science, community civics, and general language. (b) Colleges base their selection on such abstract subjects as mathematics, foreign languages, and English grammar which many capable adolescents are unwilling to exert themselves to master. (c) Some colleges will not grant advanced credit for subjects carried beyond the elementary stages in secondary schools. (10) Unsympathetic teachers are too often assigned to the classes which students enter from the lower institutions; viz., freshman classes in college, tenth-grade classes in senior high schools. Such placement of teachers is viciously stupid. Senior high-school principals and college administrators should be warned of the inevitable dishar- monies and injustices which follow this practice. (11) “Dull” pupils who have succeeded in junior high schools be- cause of homogeneous grouping are often unsuccessful in hetero- geneous classes in senior high school. Publicity and propaganda should be promoted for the rights of the so-called dull pupil (dull only, perhaps, in the sense that he has little abstract verbalistic intelligence). (12) Superintendents and boards of education which haye ap- proved the establishment of junior high schools and special type schools must be encouraged to define clearly their functions. Mis- understandings frequently arise because such a definition is lacking or is not known to the faculties and administrators of the schools concerned. In Conclusion. Let us frankly face the bitter truth. No school at any time has ever taught the majority of its pupils the scholastic skills and infor- mations of which our academicians boast. A few youths who were peculiarly fitted by original nature, by interests, or by social pressures have learned these things. The rest bluffed their way through, Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 145 crammed up and passed examinations, or dropped the subjects. Con- nor and Ashbaugh have shown this to be true for written English, Brown for Latin, Funk for social science. Almost regardless of time spent in study, years of instruction, special methods, quality of teach- ing, some youths know and do what their subjects are set up to teach— and some do not. To depend on the assumed inherent values of academic subjects for the education of children is to lean on a broken reed. Most pupils never attain a mastery of an academic subject, and nearly all soon lose such degree of-mastery as they may have attained. To them, subject mastery belongs to the artificial category of “things which belong to Caesar"’—a tax to be paid to gain the right to remain in school. Only as the curriculum, at the levels both of junior and of senior high schools, consists of meaningful activities through which facts, habits, and attitudes may develop is there much hope of permanency of learning. Slowly, but inevitably, there is emerging from our experiences with youths and with life, from our truly scientific researchers, from our pioneering experimental schools, and from our unshackled phi- losophy of education, a glorious new conception and evaluation of the functions and products of the school. We are coming to realize that attitudes and desires of children are of much more significance than are present knowledges and skills. The sponsors of this emerging curriculum would teach some subjects ; they would be guided by social analyses ; and they would decidedly depend on purposeful activities. With Emerson, however, they would recognize that: “Books are good only so far as a boy is ready for them. . . . Archery, cricket, gun and fishing-rod, horse and boat, are all educators, literalizers ; and so are dancing, dress, and the street talk.”". . . In the curriculum-emergent there is little fear that children will not learn enough. Its practices are based on the assumptions that if they are enlivened first, if they enjoy learning, if the adventure of discovery has an appeal, then will they spend their lives learning and investigating and reflecting and experimenting. In a word, the cur- riculum-emergent, at all school levels, involves present satisfying prac- 1Emerson’s Works, III. 92, 93. National Library Edition. po eee a 146 Department of Secondary-School Principals tices of the social objectives themselves—home-membership, citizen- ship, leisure-time activities, health practices, and, in a somewhat less conscious way, the attributes underlying vocational success and ethical character. Because the pupils are thus enthusiastically and successfully en- gaging in the dynamic experiences of community life, they themselves develop emerging personalities. By the practice of active adaptations in a life that is diverse and constantly changing, they develop the abil- ities and readinesses necessary for a lifelong voyage of discovery, exploration, and positive adjustment. To the degree that the junior high school can so convincingly transfigure the school processes that abundant living and integrated personality through some form of creative expression may be under- stood and appreciated by senior high-school teachers and by com- munity leaders, it will make its positive contribution to our changing secondary schools. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting SECOND SESSION The second session of the junior high-school section was presided over by Arthur M. Seybold, Principal of Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, Cleveland. The meeting was held in the auditorium of the Senior High School, Atlantic City, Wednesday, February 26. Barnett W. Taylor, Principal of Patrick Henry Junior High a School, Cleveland, Ohio, presented his paper, entitled, Articulation Between the Grades and the Junior High School. ARTICULATION BETWEEN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL AND THE JUNIOR-HIGH SCHOOL so po SS ae ac PC Sean See BarNETT W. TAYLor, Principat, Patrick Henry JuNIoR HiGH-ScHOOL, ‘3 CLEVELAND, OHIO Bie Will Durant says that “Education is the technique of transmitting as completely as possible to as many as possible the intellectual, moral and artistic heritage of mankind.” As stated in the Seventh Yearbook of the Department of Superintendence, “Articulation is that adequate relation of part to part which makes for continuous forward move- ment. In terms of education, it implies such adjustments and rela- tionships between and within school units as permit every pupil to make maximum progress at all points in his school life.” We know that the grades in the elementary school are not com- pletely articulated. What one teacher accomplishes in a given grade Py is not fully know by the teacher in the grade above. The upper grade ie teacher unnecessarily repeats much that was done in the grade below. if What happens between grades in a given school building, is multi- Hf plied when the pupil passes from the elementary to the junior high school. It has been said in favor of the six-six plan of organization that the articulation problem is eliminated between grades nine and ten, and so it does seem; and yet statistics indicate that in certain schools more attendance problems arise in the tenth grade of the six year high school than in the tenth grade of the three year high school. This may indicate that an articulation problem does exist in the six year secondary school. The articulation problems that arise at the transition from the elementary to the junior high school are more sat- - 148 Department of Secondary-School Principals isfactorily solved, I believe, than they are at any other point in a child’s educational career. This may be true for the following reasons : 1. The junior high school is the youngest of the educational in- stitutions and is in a more or less experimental stage, and it knows that if it is unsuccessful in solving this problem, one of the funda- mental reasons for its existence, it will be eliminated from the educa- tional program. 2. I believe every boy and girl who has an I.'Q. of seventy or above should complete the three years of the junior high school. The curriculum should be so diversified that any industrious pupil may pass. Through educational and vocational guidance, pupils in the lower range of intelligence should be guided into a trade school or into work not requiring special training. Because of this belief, we put forth great effort to make the step from the elementary to the junior high school as natural and pleasant as possible. 3. The high school may feel that all pupils who enter her doors should not remain to graduate. In the hope that she may discourage the unfit from continuing, the way is made rough and unpleasant from the beginning. Years ago, when I was a teacher in a city high school, the principal of that school prided himself on his ability to frighten pupils away from his school by means of a lecture he delivered at an assembly on the difficulties to be met in his high school. He thought he was eliminating the poorly prepared and the men- tally weak. In fact, he was frightening away the timid, conscientious, capable boys and girls. I will grant that many pupils who enter high school should not remain. However, it requires expert individual guidance to persuade pupils that they are better fitted to follow the routine of the office, store, or factory than they are to complete a high-school course. Instead of presenting a theoretical discussion of the subject assigned, I propose to tell you what we are doing in Cleveland to solve the articulation problems that arise at the transition from the elementary to the junior high school. An attempt has been made to familiarize sixth grade pupils with the junior high school while they are still in the elementary school as follows: Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting : 149 1. Parents’ organizations of the elementary schools make use of our auditorium when they give a program for parents. This provides the parents, as well as the prospective pupils, an opportunity to become acquainted with the new building. 2. The seven B’s prepare a program to which all six A pupils in the district are invited. This program benefits the seven B’s as much as it does the six A pupils. 3. Asa part of the English assignment the pupils in this group derive considerable pleasure from writing personal letters to friends who are in the sixth grade. 4. Two years ago four junior high schools pooled their interests and prepared sixteen hundred feet of film which portrayed the many activities in these schools, including all subjects from mathematics to eurythmetic dancing. This picture is shown as part of a program for the six A’s. 5. The band and orchestra give concerts in the elementary schools which serve both as entertainment and as a guidance factor. There is a continuity of direction and supervision of the boys and girls from the time they enter our school until they leave. These pupils are under the immediate direction of a home room teacher who teaches the group in her special subject and who progresses with her pupils from seven B through nine A. She is responsible for : . Making class schedules . Keeping a record with regard to attendance and punctuality . Educational guidance . Providing vocational information . Health guidance . Making home visits . Keeping the parents informed as to the progress of the child. NDS wm & W DR = The clerical responsibilities are the least important aspects of the home room teacher’s work. It is her duty as counselor to bring her group to an harmonious understanding of the ideals of the school. The ideal home room teacher is one to whom the pupil naturally resorts when in trouble. She becomes particularly aware of the prob- lems of the individual child and does for the pupil much of what the a aaa ees 150 Department of Secondary-School Principals grade teacher did in the elementary school, and who assumes, in addi- tion, the peculiar function of counselor, friend and final arbiter. A teacher is assigned to each grade as adviser. It is her duty to interview pupils and class teachers, to discover the cause of failure, to encourage the weak, and to inspire all to greater diligence. Articulation is aided when 1. The sixth grade teachers come to the junior high school to meet with the seventh grade teachers where questions bearing upon articulation are freely discussed. The friendships developed at these meetings are well worth while as an agency for articulation. Fre- quently the assistant superintendent in charge of junior high schools acts as chairman. 2. Each junior high-school principal holds a conference with the elementary principals in his district at various times during the school year. These meetings are regarded as positive and effective forces in securing articulation. It has been planned in our district to hold one meeting each semester, the program to be given with the codperation of all principals concerned, with specific assignments to individual members. The courses of study in the elementary and junior high school are articulated in an especially fine way; there is no break as the junior high courses were built upon the elementary foundation. The com- mittees who constructed these courses made an analysis of the lower courses before proceeding with the higher. Overlapping or unneces- sary duplication of work that has been done in the sixth grade is avoided, as every teacher and department head may know what has gone before and what is to follow. The way is paved for the direct transfer from the lower to the higher school by the counselor who makes occasional visits to the elementary schools where she talks to the pupils about the activities and ideals of the junior high school. At the same time she secures information concerning individual boys and girls. A short time before the end of the semester a final visit is made at which time she holds conferences with the boys and girls con- cerning the transfer to the new school and gives information as to: 1. Home room assignment 2. Procedure to be followed the first day in the new school 3. Location of bookstores, books to be purchased, ete. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 151 The counselor takes records of achievement back to the elemen- tary school from which the pupils came, to be analyzed by teachers and principal. It does not follow that all responsibility for accom- plishment or lack of accomplishment belongs to the elementary school. Too many times the higher school tries to accept all credit for the success of her pupils while at the same time she attributes the lack of success to poor preparation. With home room teachers, grade advisers, and the school counselor advising and directing the pupils, I think you will agree that pupils in Cleveland junior high schools are not thrown entirely on their own responsibility. We accept the teachings of the new psychology and recognize that children differ greatly in ability and that they should be placed in groups that have similar tastes and abilities. Homogeneous grouping insures each type of pupil a more congenial atmosphere in which to work, thus insuring better work and happier pupils. The slow pupil placed out of his group is overwhelmed by his own lack of success. This grouping avoids embarrassments due to nature’s handicap of slow mental reactions, as well as providing an evenness of progress which makes retardation less likely. The basis for homogeneous grouping in our school is the P. L. R. which is obtained by giving group mental tests to the pupils while they are still in the elementary schools. This method of classifying pupils is doubtless more scientific than the use of teachers’ ratings. It is the policy of our school to continue ability grouping started in the elementary school. The groups are not kept intact because of the relatively small number of pupils received from each of the seven contributing schools. It is possible with a larger number to make the groups more nearly homogeneous. This semester a seven B group of H. I. Q. pupils that had been together for three years was per- mitted to continue as an individual group more as an experiment than for any other reason. The elementary school aids in placing pupils in proper groups on entering the junior high school, by transmitting records to the junior high school which contain : 1. Probable learning rate 2. Scholastic accomplishment oe OO bee ee See ee ee es RUST ee Se ee pote snpacmanS 9 Pe REM a Ome EEE Sahh eer apen ane ae gree Sy na 23 4 * a 152 Department of Secondary-School Principals . Teachers’ estimate of ability Information concerning health Notations of special interest and special abilities . Description of character traits . Facts concerning home conditions NQOus w This information aids the teacher in becoming better acquainted with her pupils, thus making possible early individual adjustments and the best possible individual development of her pupils. The home room teacher and the grade adviser make use of this record in dealing with individual cases, in arranging schedules to care for the particular needs of the pupil due to health, special interest, or special abilities. Now that the pupils have been placed in the new school, we pro- ceed with a time schedule that is nearly the same as that followed in the elementary school. This is made possible by starting the schedule at 8:45 a.m. with a double period for lunch, so that it is possible for these boys and girls to go home for lunch, thus eliminating an adjust- ment in the home. By the time these pupils have been in the junior high school a semester, they have become adjusted to other changed conditions so they are now ready to follow the longer schedule of the older pupils. An illustrated course of study booklet, which contains cuts showing the various curriculum and extra-curriculum activities of the school with a description of each is used as a basis for class discussion in the seven B social studies course. Pupils who enter our junior high school have a required program of studies during the first semester included in which is a course in general language for x and y pupils. As seven A’s, these pupils choose a language with more intelligence and understanding than pupils who did not have this opportunity. It has aided many pupils in omitting a foreign language from their program, thus, many times, saving time and discouragement, while on the other hand a higher percentage of pupils who chose French, Latin, Spanish or German completed the two and one half year’s work. An even distribution of assigned home- work in the seven A is obtained by following a schedule whereby a class teacher may assign work one evening each week. These pupils were not required to do school work at home as seven B’s. The assignment is increased gradually to the ninth grade where two hours are required to complete it. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 153 A coaching organization is maintained to help slow pupils and absentees make up work which they have missed. These pupils are assigned to the coaching class three to five extra periods per week. The class teacher must make a written request to the head of the department, in which is stated the definite work that should be covered in the coaching class. The pupil may be excused from this class when he has passed a satisfactory test on the assigned work. A year ago, the teachers of the incoming seven B pupils decided at a conference that it would be an interesting experience to visit the homes of the pupils in their home rooms. Calls were made at all homes of this group within a short time after this conference. It was amazing to note the change in attitude of these teachers to their pupils. The teachers had greater personal interest in the success or lack of success of their boys and girls. The parents felt that the school was really interested in the boy and girl outside of the school building. This experience was sufficiently satisfactory to cause us to adopt home visiting as a required part of the duties of the seven B home room teachers. You may be interested to know what a home room teacher has to say concerning his experience in visiting homes. “If sympathy, kindness, and understanding have a definite place in the educational system of to-day, I know of no better means of acquiring these traits than by getting an intimate view of the homes of those children under our care. Having visited thirty-five homes, met thirty- five mothers and perhaps twenty fathers, I believe that I have a better knowledge of what present day education means to the parents as well as to the children. In no case have I been met at the door by an irate parent. My welcome has been genuine and sincere, even to the extent of having tea prepared for my comfort. A teacher on the front porch is no longer looked upon as a policeman, but rather as an individual interested in making the school serve its purpose to that home. Parents have urged me to make a second visit, have been grate- ful for my interest in the child, and have stated that such criticism as the school may give will be highly regarded. For me, if not for the parents or the children, my visits have been most successful.” After all, the importance of the teacher as a factor in articulation must not be overlooked. It would seem that when the conferences of teachers and principals, the home room teachers, the grade advisers, and the school counselor function as they should, the problem of “Articulation Between the Elementary and the Junior High School” will be solved. SES Sg ek eee ac pemretmt ee ee Tr 4 pee cy = 33 ata oe 154 Department of Secondary-School Principals Articulation Between Junior High School and Senior High School was a paper presented by A. J. Burton, Principal of East High School, Des Moines, Iowa. ARTICULATION BETWEEN JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL AND SENIOR HIGH-SCHOOL A. J. Burton, Principat, East Higu-Scuoot, Des Moines, Iowa The articulation problem is one of the most complex problems in the general field of education. It cannot be localized and a simple remedy applied. It is to a large extent a curriculum problem but it also has a prominent place in both methods and administration. In attacking this problem in any field the needs of the individual child must receive first consideration and oniy such moves made that will make the child’s development continuous and as full as possible con- sidering its native ability. A broadening and enrichment of the curriculum to the extent that individual needs can be met through the school life of the child is one step, in solving this complex problem. The use of the “broad method” of teaching which more adequately meets the daily changing conditions which every human being must meet is a most important factor in the solution of the problem. Another very important phase is found in ad- ministration and supervision. As this is the point where we as a group of principals are able to make a definite worth while contribution I will give most of my time to the administrative side of the question. In the progress through the schools inarticulation is most notice- able at the points where there is a physical change such as passing from the elementary school to the junior high school and passing from the junior high school to the senior high school. During the three years pupils are in the junior high school they naturally look forward to their last year in the school as a time when something is to be completed which usually means a rest period or at least a reduc- tion in the amount of energy used. With proper guidance many will extend their view beyond the junior high school and picture them- selves as students in a senior high school, working in order to prepare better for their after school life but others will not see the necessity of further preparation and will look forward to the close of their Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 155 junior high school days as a time when they will be free to do as they please. To bridge this gap is one of our definite problems which we have constantly before us. The six year high school, with all pupils of these grades housed in one building might at first thought seem to be the solution but when this plan is tried other difficulties arise which leave the problem un- solved. The inferiority complex which was so noticeable in the fresh- man class of the four year high school is now more pronounced and this mental gap is more difficult to close than a physical gap of a few city blocks which would exist between the junior high school and the senior high school when they are housed in separate buildings. Educa- tion at the different levels cannot be made uniform in its aims and organization. The needs of pupils undergo progressive changes as they pass from one stage to another in the process of personal develop- ment and if these changes are not properly made administratively in- articulation will be the cause of difficulties. Education is spoken of as a continuous process but different achievements mark the various stages in the process. A proper understanding of the function of each institution in our educational system will aid in the articulation of the units. An inclusive guidance program in the junior high school is the most valuable help in bridging the gap between the two schools. The home room teacher has an excellent opportunity to assist in the guid- ance work but a required course in’ vocations in the ninth grade is most important. Here the pupils make a study of vocations and then each one decides upon the career which seems most valuable to him after considering his ability to meet its requirements and the returns which are to be expected. After intensive study in this course the pupil is better prepared to select further school activities which will prepare him for his chosen life work. When the child’s body comes to the senior high school the problem may not be solved for all time. It may recur unless the life in the senior high school is such that it moves in harmony with the expecta- tions of the student. Here the home room teacher has a task which is very important. If the home room teacher does not do a good piece of work in adjusting the child to its new environment he may soon get disgusted and leave school on a search for a more pleasant life. The classroom teacher can also make a very worthy contribution along the oe > a ay er = nae = ae ee ef 156 Department of Secondary-School Principals line of adjustment by placing the child first and the subject matter second. At this point I wish to present some specific plans for bridging the gap between junior and senior high schools and also call attention to some facts which make good plans difficult to put into operation. When a pupil moves from one building to another certain records and information concerning the pupil must necessarily be moved along with the pupil. (The sample forms used for this information are shown at the close of this discussion.) To meet this need the follow- ing records should be transferred from the junior to the senior high school: (1) A personal record card which gives the senior high school teachers useful information concerning the pupil such as, address, special talents, special characteristics and personality, furnished by the junior high school home room teachers, boys’ adviser or girls’ ad- viser ; (If any problem tendencies have been shown, they should also be recorded.) (2) A health card, giving general facts concerning the health of the pupil and his physical education classification; (3) An educational guidance record which shows the choice of subjects se- lected for at least the first semester in the senior high school and in many cases for the full time in the senior high school ; (4) A transcript of the junior high school record which shows all subjects studied in the junior high school with the teachers’ estimates of the achievement ; (5) An assignment card, which gives the choice of subjects for the first semester and is used as a time saving device in program making. A guidance program is necessary throughout the junior high school and is just as important in the senior high school. The essen- tial factors of a guidance program are: I. A required course in vocations in the last semester in junior high school. This course can best be taught by the girls’ ad- viser and boys’ adviser. Here each student makes a career book. This book is filled with all the information that the student can get concerning the vocation of his choice. These books furnish the basis for class discussion and are open for inspection by other students who might become interested in some other vocation than the one on which they have pre- pared their booklets. The preparation of this book calls the students’ attention to the necessity of a choice for some voca- tion and for further education as a preparation for the voca- Py Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 157 tion. In these classes the high-school program should be planned. The following things should be taken into consider- ation in the planning of the programs: A. The ability of the pupil as shown by the teachers’ marks during the past year or two in the junior high school B. Aptitudes and interests of pupils as indicated by their junior high school curriculum and extra-curriculum work C. The life work chosen by the pupil and the possibility of the pupil attending college or some professional school after completing his senior high-school work II. The teacher of vocations should have an individual confer- ence with each student to help him select the work he should take in the senior high school and he should be encouraged to discuss his problems with his parents who should finally approve his choice of subjects before the record is sent on to the senior high school. III. A few weeks before the close of the semester the boys’ ad- viser and girls’ adviser from the senior high school should go to the contributing junior high schools for a general con- ference with the 9A students and their junior high-school advisers and while there they should meet each individual student to check his proposed program of work and answer questions concerning the senior high school. This visit will serve two main purposes : (1) The pupil feels better acquainted with a member of the senior high-school staff; and (2) The program of studies selected is discussed with a senior teacher which avoids any mistakes which might arise due to a lack of familiarity with the senior high-school program on the part of the junior high-school staff. This plan will prevent many program changes after the pupil has reached the senior high school. Changes made at the beginning in a new school are likely to cause the student to be discouraged. IV. Sometime before the close of each semester all 9A students should meet in the senior high school to which they will go on completion of their ninth grade work. At the meeting the administrative staff of the senior high school should be intro- duced, the president of the Student Council should welcome Seine ne ng S = RE a a oe a Pl ee ae he }, SST a ash ah Department of Secondary-School Principals the students, and they should be taken on a trip through the building in small groups with senior students acting as guides. At the close of this trip a party given by the Student Council is a help in making the students feel that they are really a part of the senior high school and will be missed if they do not come. . The exchange of talent, such as musicians, orators, debaters, etc., between the junior and senior high school is a very valuable articulation factor. Both groups are benefited and feel more closely connected. . A personal data card, prepared by the advisers and teachers of the junior high school, and sent to the senior high school advisers is a very important means to help adjust students in their new work. . The junior and senior high-school principals should meet regularly as often as twice each month. In addition there should be other meetings including girls’ advisers, boys’ ad- visers, and teachers of both schools where problems of the field of secondary education are discussed. Articulation prob- lems will find a prominent place in such meetings. The better the members of these groups know each other and their in- terpretation of educational problems the more easily can students be moved from one school to another without stumbling over administrative technicalities. Some of the difficulties and encouragements in handling articula- tion are as follows: One of the chief difficulties is a lack of coéperation and sympa- thetic attitude on the part of senior high-school teachers toward the subjects begun in the junior high school. Many times the senior high- school teachers do not understand the purpose of the junior high school and are not in sympathy with its methods, aims, and activities. They seem to expect complete mastery of subject matter by all pupils. They contend that pupils are not prepared to continue subjects in the senior high school which have been started in the junior high school. Senior high-school teachers often give this as a reason for the failure of so many pupils in the first year. As a solution for this difficulty I suggest subject supervision covering the elementary, junior, and senior high schools. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 159 There are some problems which grow out of methods of teaching in the senior high school which are different from those to which the pupil has been accustomed in the junior high school. To illustrate : the so-called homogeneous grouping of students in the junior high school makes a new problem in the senior high school where practically all subjects are elective and there are not enough in the classes to di- vide them into sections according to ability. In such cases both teacher and student find difficulty in adjusting themselves to the situation. The long period, in which the study can be supervised, giving each pupil the type of supervision needed will help materially in adjusting this difficulty. The experiences the pupil has had in the junior high school on the whole make it much easier for him to adjust himself to the general methods and life of the senior high school as compared to the con- ditions under the old eight-four system. There is much more initiative, leadership, and interest in activities and a desire for participation in activities as a result of junior high-school work. Junior high-school teachers as a whole seem to grasp better the idea that pupils are being educated to live with each other happily and well. Too many senior high-school teachers, especially the older ones, think in terms of college preparation. There is a lack on the part of both groups of an understanding of the aims, methods, and materials employed by the other group. Often senior high-school teachers assume an attitude of superiority toward the teachers of junior high school. These difficulties can be met in part by more up-to-date train- ing of teachers in the colleges and normal schools and by giving the teachers experience in both junior and senior high school. An equal salary schedule will reduce the feeling of being demoted if a teacher must be transferred from a senior to a junior high school. The chief difficulties experienced in the senior high school are due to the fact that it is very difficult for public institutions to change rapidly enough to meet the changing conditions of the times. The traditional curriculum does not offer enough opportunity to select sub- jects according to aptitudes, interests, and needs. New subjects must be added to meet the demand. This semester in Des Moines we are adding a course in home landscaping which is being taught by a local architect and we are also trying a course in civics in which the group meets daily in a reading room where the best daily, weekly, and 160 Department of Secondary-School Principals monthly magazines are accessible and form the basis for daily discus- sion. This is being done to overcome the difficulty that textbooks are better fitted to the traditional curriculum than the newer conception of what should take place in the classroom. Another difficulty is that students are forced to take certain sub- jects demanded by colleges. As most students look forward to at- tendance at college sometime this has a great influence on their pro- gram of studies. This preparation for college does not always leave the student prepared for life. The colleges must change their demands and center them on the boy or girl rather than the subject matter. A supervised study period of 65 or 70 minutes is a very important factor in handling individual differences. The classroom teacher is here given an opportunity to instruct and supervise individuals even though her class may be very large. As a group we should center our attention on the pupils and attempt to meet administratively and in every other way the difficulties which hinder their progress. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting Pupil’s Junior-Senior High School Course of Study Name of Pupil Expects to graduat 19 Will attend college ?.................-.. Name of college selected or several from which choice is probable Probable college course. Entrance requirements of college selected: Eng............. Math............. Lang............. Hist Science Optional............ Total.............. hah, Vocation pupil expects to enter or several from which choice is p Senior high school major groups: English, two units (required), Social Science, two units (required), SEs two units. Science 3.” Language A 5. Science Commercial ; Commercial “S. Home I expect to follow the course outlined above unless changed later after consultation with my parents and my home room teacher. AER. Seas nove Pupil’s Signature Approved ..........2.cccecsccseesvesesseesssssenee seneeneeseeseesneseeses sooeeeee LOMO Room Teacher Approved ..........esccccecceseesesee sseenesseesuaneeseeneeeseeee ceesescesennee Wic@-principal Approved by parent... .... ........ 19 Revised at parents’ request as follows: ..............10....- “(This plan sheet is to be kept on file by the Home Room Teacher.) Form No. 425 2M 628 East High Prese DES MOINES PUBLIC SCHOOLS = Te a a — 162 Department of Secondary-School Principals Pupil’s Junior-Senior High School Program Name of pupil Expects to graduat wai Will attend college ?...............0...--.. Name of college selected or several from which choice is probable Entrance requirements of college Probable college: ; selected: Eng............. piesa rueveeee Hist............. Science. Vocation pupil expects to enter or several from which choice is p Senior high school major groups: English, two units (required), Social Science, two units (required) Ce two units. To the Parents: After consultation with the pupil named above, as to his future plans, and a consideration of his abilities and aptitudes as shown in his previous school record, the above course of study has been se- lected. If this selection meets your approval, kindly return the sheet with your signatures. If you desire a change in this program, we shall be glad to interview you or you may indicate the change desired with your reasons, in the space provided below. We shall welcome any information regarding the pupil or your plans for him, which will enable us to advise him more wisely. Date Home Room Teacher. We approve the above course. This approval is given with the understanding that aenae may be made Jater, subject to the curriculum requirements of the school, upon our written reques Parent Parent DES MOINES PUBLIC SCHOOLS Form No. 427 6M~4-29 East High Press Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting ea: F—Entered “ae AM AM au [r A.M. re - After Dr. plece dey ; T Ti Holiday SYMBOLS: - _.snuterred number of couse Aboot, ('] rent ow. P.M. f T\w\T M\T Date Semester Fora 8A 5M-3-29 East High Prose Department of Secondary-School Principals 164 WIAD pus Arowiyy seams pay tk a a depeuas eg ~ pops dIHSaVIOHOS Read 7 Sopesteeg | P yostp o9eq as EA sav a! aay sieas pus Ais suiee “Ais doqious wicaj sousaus jf | | ats omg &: Sogods quiteg 4 | iiaey Woddes aqneg og | — iain EE OR PRE yh ate BS ee ers MUTI seeks cAlen cnt oe inet Se i! Milo ms 4 MI ce Kee Sapry om Sarpy ed om aad es 4 k a = a) pare[dw@os fOoHrs —— 0 OD ciliates ss LEST ee) Ca re a i ___ Aavimomerg yo omey Pek eae —s SP Po ° -- caummeanamaaaes —— soyroK —— ee (| =: 7 ‘om eus' = - 14 moss hie | | pane PSY Fey pirqo req) ‘Aue j1 ‘oweusES sayAD ap sowie ao 2h ae 2h of ~ fs 45 — =~ Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 231 During this period the influence of the State University continued to be effective in giving direction and stability to the development of these new institutions. The acceptance by the University of the work completed in these post-graduate courses (commonly referred to as junior colleges), and the publication by the University of a bulletin entitled “The Junior College in California” (1915) suggesting stand- ards relative to faculty, equipment and curriculum, lent momentum to the movement. Inadequate provision for finance, however led to the enactment of a new law in 1917, providing state and county aid and definitely referring to the new courses as junior college courses. Vocational and Civic Preparation. The new law also reflected a new local demand for training of an applied vocational type, and for extended civic education of a general character, distinct from the university-preparatory curriculum, and authorized the establishment of such “courses of training in the mechanical and industrial arts, household economy, agriculture, civic education, and commerce” as were deemed advisable. The effect of the new law and of the financial aid provided, is seen in the imme- diate growth which ensued. In 1917 there were 16 post-graduate high-school courses being maintained. All of these continued under the new act and 5 new junior college courses were added. The World War temporarily impeded the development of the junior colleges by eliminating many of the students, either temporarily or permanently, but the losses due to the war had been nearly all recovered by 1921. During this year a new law was enacted providing for the creation of a new quasi-municipal corporation, the junior college district, for the sole function of maintaining one or more junior colleges. More liberal financial assistance was provided by the state for this new type of junior college, and definite recognition was given to what has since been called the “terminal function” of the junior college, and to the civic and liberal educational objective of the junior college. Summary. The purposes of the junior college in California, as expressed by those who were most influential in its development, and as stated by legislation, are set forth, in the order both of chronological sequence and of relative stress in actual development, in the junior college district law: “Junior colleges may provide courses of instruction designed to prepare for higher institutions of learning; courses of at ~~ Sorepne tea vie res ae , neal 232 Department of Secondary-School Principals instruction designed to prepare persons for agricultural, industrial, commercial, home-making, and other vocations; and such courses of instruction as may be deemed necessary to provide for the civic and liberal education of the citizens of the community.” The principal objective of the junior college in California continues to be prepara- tion for the professional or advanced liberal arts curricula of the universities. The truth of this statement is borne out by the fact that 35% of the total enrollment in junior colleges in California dur- ing the current year are enrolled in the so-called “certificate” course, which enrolls only students who have completed the requirements for admission to the lower division of the University of California, while approximately 40% are students who failed to complete in high school the requirements for university admission and are enrolled in the “diploma” courses of junior colleges, in the hope of working off their high-school deficiencies. The extent to which these deficiencies are overcome is indicated by the fact that nearly 52% of the “diploma” course graduates entered higher institutions in 1928, as compared with 76% from the “certificate” course. Approximately 19% of the junior college graduates graduated from the so-called “diploma” course, while of the junior college graduates entering higher institu- tions in 1928, 13% were graduates of the “diploma” course. The increasing importance of the immediate vocational, or vocational “terminal” objective of the junior college, is indicated by the fact that of the current enrollment 16% are enrolled either in short unit vocational courses or in two-year vocational curricula, largely the latter. Nine per cent of the current junior college enrollment is in short unit courses of the “civic and liberal education’’ type. 2. THe PLACE oF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE IN AN ORGANIZED STATE SYSTEM OF PuBLIC SCHOOLS The scope and the character of any public school system in theory evolves from an accepted philosophy of education predicated upon social needs. The formulation of educational philosophy in actual practice, more often is the result rather than the cause of develop- ments in a school system. Modifications of educational practices and institutions are frequently based upon expediencies and immediate demands, and our educational philosophy is modified only as we can analyse and integrate the changes in practice which have been affected. Thus the scope and character of a system of education is > = -— ran ~, mn gma TF os A. A. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 233 much more amenable to influence by local needs and desires than by the demands of a formulated philosophy of education. The Junior College Is a Secondary School. In California evidences of these facts are plentiful. The junior college, as a part of a system of public education based upon the commonly accepted statements of educational theory, is the upper unit or period of secondary education. In actual fact, however, it is quite generally viewed in California, both by the lay citizen and by the school man, as being of collegiate grade. This conception is due no doubt to the primacy of the university-preparatory function, and at least in part to the chamber of commerce boosting spirit which insists upon local four-year colleges. The slowness with which the objectives of secondary education are completely accepted by the junior colleges in California is no doubt largely caused by this asso- ciation of the junior college with the university in the minds of laymen and educators. The term “junior college” is conducive to a retention of this stress on the collegiate as contrasted with the secondary char- acter of the junior college. Should Be Available to All. A sound philosophy of secondary education would require that junior college education as the final phase of secondary education, should be made available to all who want and are able to secure it. Such a philosophy would also direct that the junior college should make its adequate contribution to the development of all the objec- tives of secondary education, insofar as those objectives are applicable to this institution, and that it should give stress to those objectives in proportion to their importance as objectives of secondary education. Junior College Embraces Lower Division. The acceptance of these: principles would in no way preclude a definition of the junior college which would recognize the lower division of the universities, four-year colleges and teachers’ colleges as specialized types of junior colleges, offering curricula closely inte- grated with the specialized professional curricula of the upper and graduate divisions. It would, however, require considerably more attention to the immediate objectives of the majority of our high scheol graduates. Ru, ‘te gh Bn os thr Dit POD ee he Re a: 234 Department of Secondary-School Principals Enrollment in Junior Colleges. At the present time there are enrolled in the lower division of the three major universities of California some 10,500 students; in the lower division of the seven state teachers’ colleges approximately 4,500 and in the 34 junior colleges nearly 15,000 students. These 30,000 students represent approximately 14% of the total enrollment in grades 9-12 inclusive. If all of the students who are entitled to a junior-college education were enrolled in junior colleges, the junior college enrollment would approximate 50% of the enrollment in grades 9 to 12, or nearly 105,000. To be sure, large enrollments are no final criterion of the educational adequacy of a school system; yet certainly small enrollments are definitely a deleterious commentary on the efficiency of the schools. Increase in Attendance. That progress is being made in the adaptation of the junior college to secondary-school objectives is evidenced by the recent growth of the junior colleges in California. The average annual rate of increase in the average daily attendance in the district junior colleges during the past seven years has been 40 per cent. During the past two years the increase was 52% and 64%. Similar increases are expected during the next few years. A continuance of the present policy of junior college expansion and of stressing the secondary-school character of the junior college may possibly result, for a time at least, in an accelerated rate of increase in these institutions. The growth of the local high school and district types of junior colleges has been largely a result of an expansion in the size of the region served locally. In many of the district junior colleges, for instance, from 50 to 65 per cent of the students reside outside of the junior college district. In many instances students come hundreds of miles to attend the junior college, attracted by the possibility of removing scholastic deficiencies which prevent admission to a uni- versity, or by some localized function or activity such as an agricul- tural curriculum or a well-developed program of inter-scholastic athletics. Effect on Higher Institutions. The specialized junior colleges represented by the lower divisions of the universities and teachers’ colleges have not reflected the growth of the district junior colleges. In fact, the enrollments in these insti- mm Oo ela i i ee Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 235 tutions have decreased during the past year or two, and probably will continue to decrease for several years to come as the local junior colleges expand. The upper division of these higher institutions, however, are increasing in enrollment, partially at least as a result of the educational stimulus of the local junior colleges. Summary. In summary, it may be said that in California, a philosophy of education which is being reformulated and which is coming rapidly to be accepted by the lay citizen as well as by the educator, defines the junior college as the final period or phase of secondary education and requires that, as such, it be made available to all of the youth of secondary school age. This fact is attested by the tremendous popu- larity of this comparatively new institution which has had a rate of growth unparalleled in the history of public schools in California. 3. THE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE Method of Establishment. Under the law of 1907, any high-school district in California could establish “post-graduate” courses. The 1917 law repealed the 1907 statute and permitted only those high-school districts to establish junior college courses, which had an assessed valuation of $3,000,000 or more. In both of these cases, establishment of the junior college required only a resolution of the governing board of the high school district. The 1921 law authorized the organization of junior college districts, by majority vote of the electors of the proposed district, following approval by the high-school boards and the state board of education of a petition signed by 500 electors of the proposed district. The original enactment required that the junior college district have an assessed valuation of at least $10,000,000 and an average daily attendance in high schools of at least 400. In 1929 these requirements were raised to require an assessed valuation of at least $25,000,000 and an average daily attendance in high school of at least 1,000 pupils. The only exception to these requirements was made to pro- vide that a county district might be formed if there were an average daily attendance of at least 500 in the high schools of the district. No exception is made from the assessed valuation requirement. The 1929 law also provides that any junior-college district organized there- Eh Satan ar « ’ —renengs teen ee ee Se ee - pee < Te Sa + come ee ae 236 Depariment of Secondary-School Principals after shall be lapsed if its average daily attendance falls to 200 or less for any school year; and that any junior-college district organized prior to 1929 shall be lapsed if its A. D. A. falls to 75 or less. Weakness of the Laws. That the requirements for the formation of junior-college districts in California are entirely arbitrary and not based upon the educational functions to be served, is apparent without necessity for careful analysis. It is equally apparent that the methods provided for the formation of the junior-college district and for the establishment of the junior-college course by a high school board are quite inadequate. Perpetuates Small Junior Colleges. That the law of 1917 served a meritorious purpose is not to be denied. Nevertheless, its continuance operates to perpetuate a number of ineffective, small junior colleges whose only reason for continued existence is the provincial attitude which desires to utilize the schools to the advantage of the community though to the detriment of the boys and girls. This law should be repealed or so amended as to require the consolidation of such of the small junior colleges as could feasibly be consolidated. District Requirements Unsound, The requirements of the junior college district law of 1921, as subsequently amended, go to the opposite extreme, preventing the establishment of district junior colleges in many areas because of the arbitrarily fixed average daily attendance and assessed valuation figures. Had these requirements been made retroactive, seven of the sixteen existing districts would have been precluded from formation. The junior-college enrollment in these seven districts ranges from 109 to 1,676, with an average enrollment in the seven districts of 652 students. Thus, these junior colleges represent just about the average of the existing sixteen districts. Moreover, the requirement of 1,000 in average daily attendance in the high schools of the district is also arbitrary. This number is not necessarily too large: in fact it may be too small. But, in any case, the requirement is wrong, since there is not necessarily any relationship between the number of stu- dents attending high schools and the number attending junior college, since such large percentage of the junior-college students reside entirely outside of the junior-college district. § Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 237 Recommendation Made. Representatives of district junior colleges meeting in conferences called by state director of education Vierling Kersey, recognized the inadequacy of these laws and recommended that they be modified to provide for the formation of junior-college districts by majority vote of the electors, following approval of a petition by the state board of education, such approval to be based upon the recommendation of the state department of education after a survey of the proposed area of the junior-college district. This procedure would eliminate the present legal inadequacies and restrictions, and would involve the establishment by the state department of definite standards relative to curricula, equipment, buildings, transportation, dormitory facilities and the like. Such a procedure would do much to stabilize the junior- college development and to prevent mistakes in establishing junior colleges. Units of Organization and Administration. California has some 3,200 elementary-school districts, 291 high- school districts, and 16 junior-college districts. Of the 291 high-school districts, 18 maintain junior-college courses. Of the 34 junior-college districts now maintained, 31 are so situated as to be coterminous with the local high-school district. In three cases the junior-college district embraces two or more high-school districts or (in one case) an entire county. In thirteen cases, the junior college is administered by the superintendent of schools of the local high-school and elementary- school district. The junior-college courses maintained by high schools for the most part enroll only resident students. There are exceptions to this, as in the case of Los Angeles, but the exceptions are few. In the case of the district junior colleges, however, the area served by the junior college is usually considerably larger than the district itself, embracing in some cases an entire county or even parts of several counties. As stated before, the percentage of non-resident students is considerably over 50% in some of the districts. In one district students are enrolled from thirty different counties, while the average number of counties from which non-resident students are received is eighteen. The average percentage of non-resident students in the district junior col- leges is approximately 45, 26% of all students coming from other counties than that in which the junior college is located. 1 en ae eS ini an xed 238 Department of Secondary-School Principals While no specific requirement should be set up to be applied to all junior colleges, it might be well to require expansion of those existing junior college districts which now enroll large numbers of students from the contiguous high-school districts, so as to provide a unit of administration coterminous with the major area of residence. Educational Organization. With respect to legislative authorization, California junior colleges are of two types; those which are maintained. by and as a part of the local high school, and those maintained independently by an organized junior-college district. There are at present 18 of the former type of junior college, and 16 of the latter. In actual practice, there are three types; those maintained and administered as separate units; those maintained and administered together with a high school; and those maintained and administered with a state teachers’ college. With two exceptions all of the 18 junior-college courses maintained by high- school districts are maintained as an integral part of the local high school. One of the exceptions, Fresno, is one of two junior colleges administered in conjunction with the local state teachers’ college, the other institution of this type being that located at San Jose. The remaining high-school junior-college course is that established last year at Los Angeles, which is administered as a separate junior college housed in the old buildings of the University of California at Los Angeles. Only 6 of the 16 district junior colleges are maintained and ad- ministered as separate units, 9 being maintained and administered together with the local high school, the remaining junior college (San Jose) being, as stated, administered with the local state teachers’ college. Thus, of the 34 public junior colleges, 7 are separate units, 25 are housed and administered with high schools, and 2 are with state teachers’ colleges. Types of Unit Organization. With regard to the length of the course embraced in the several school units where junior colleges are maintained, a motley variety is found. The commonest type of unit combinatién is the 8-6, or the eight-year elementary school with a secondary-school unit embracing the four-year high school and the two-year junior-college course. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 239 There are 15 cases of this type of organization, one of the 15 (Chaffey, at Ontario) departing somewhat from the type by having both six and eight-year elementary schools, three-year junior high schools, and a six-year high school and junior college. - The 8-4-2 type of organization has eight exponents. In one of these districts three-year junior high schools are also maintained so that this district varies somewhat from type. The 6-3-3-2 type of organization is found in five places, with variations at San Jose where the junior college is administered with the four-year teachers’ college, and at Fresno, where a similar practice maintains and where the high schools are of both four-year and three-year types. The 6-3-5 type of organization is found in five other districts, while the remaining junior college at Pasadena, is part of the upper unit of a partial 6-44 type of organization. Pasadena maintains a separate four-year high school, apart from the four-year junior college. Just what type of organizational unit will be evolved in the future is uncertain. It appears, however, that present tendencies toward the enlargement of the junior-college district will result in a larger num- ber of separate two-year junior colleges. Present tendencies also indicate that the six-year junior-senior high schools, of which there are now 44 in the state, will become more numerous. Thus it seems that there will be developed a combination of the 8-4-2, the 8-6, and the 6-6-2 types of organization, with the 8-6 type in the preponder- ance for some time. 4. THE FINANCING OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE Units of Support. The 1907 law authorizing post-graduate courses was rather in- effective since it provided no state or county support, but placed the entire burden of cost upon the local high-school district. The law of 1917, relative to junior-college courses stimulated the development of this new educational function of the local district by providing state and county aid on the same basis as for other high-school attendance. This law has been unchanged in this respect. The amounts received by the high-school districts, on account of junior- college attendance, from state apportionments, has increased from $23.25 to $24.50 per unit of A. D. A. between 1923-24 and 1929-30, tke county apportionments being approximately twice the amount a SE i ne e ewe eee pete Ee om PE NRRE: + > pte ee > eee Be | eae - ae 240 Department of Secondary-School Principals provided by the state. All additional amounts required for the junior- college courses of high schools are derived from district taxation. The combined state and county aid represents less than one-third of the cost of these courses. Junior-College District Finance. The law of 1921, creating junior-college districts, also set aside for the maintenance of these junior colleges the moneys received from the federal government from the income from the federal oil lands in the state. Apportionments were provided for at the rate of $2,000 for each district junior college, plus $100 per unit of A. D. A. No county aid was provided, but a tuition tax was provided for, to be levied upon the county of residence of students attending district junior colleges but not residing in a junior-college district. The amount of this tuition originally was fixed as the average current expendi- ture, less state aid, per unit of A. D. A. in the junior college of attendance. In 1929 the legislature added to the tuition charge the flat sum of $65 per unit of A. D. A. for the use of buildings and equipment. Any additional funds required by the junior-college dis- trict must be levied by a district tax. In 1928-29, 19% of the junior- college district income was derived from the state (federal) fund; 13% from county tuition taxes; and 68% from district taxes. The original state junior college fund, derived from the United States, was more than adequate for the needs of the junior-college districts, so a provision was made requiring all balances in this fund to be transferred annually to the state elementary school fund. The recent phenomenal increase in the A. D. A. in district junior colleges, however, has completely exhausted the fund. In 1929 a law was enacted permitting a transfer of not to exceed $30 per pupil from the general fund of the state to augment the federal apportionments. During the current year approximately $1,000 will be required from this source. The federal and state policy of oil and gas conservation has re- sulted in definitely reducing the income from the United States for junior colleges. This fact together with the unprecedented growth of the junior colleges will result in a deficit of a half million dollars in the junior-college fund during 1930-31. Legislation will be intro- duced with a view to insuring the adequacy of the junior-college fund. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 241 Bases of Taxation. The three major units of support of California public schools are the state, the county, and the school district. The state derives 95% of its revenues from state corporation taxes. County and district revenues are derived from an ad valorem tax upon the assessed valu- ation of real and personal property. In 1928-29, 86% of all school revenues accruing to local districts were derived from taxes on prop- erty ; the remaining 14% coming from other sources, chiefly the state corporation tax. Of the junior-college district receipts during this year, 81% were derived from property taxes, and 19% from the state (federal) junior college fund. Inadequacies. The growing tax-consciousness of California people, due in large part to the ever-increasing burden borne by real property, together with a feeling that the public district junior colleges should be sup- ported approximately on the same basis as the specialized junior colleges of the State University and the state teachers’ colleges, is now crystallizing in a demand for more adequate state support of all junior colleges. Just what the outcome of this demand will be, it is impossible to predict. The pressure which is being brought to bear from all sides, however, may possibly result in a complete revision of our tax system, with an income tax, supplemented by a severance or a sales tax, taking the place of the obsolete property tax. California School Survey Commission. In conclusion it may be pertinent to mention the extreme interest which is being taken in the problems, educational and financial, of the junior college by the lay commission of nine members recently ap- pointed by the governor to study the educational problems of Cali- fornia. This commission is giving definite consideration to these specific problems, and no doubt will recommend modifications to our existing laws and practices. The commission has already ex- pressed itself as being dissatisfied with the present insecure basis of state aid to junior colleges. It should also be stated here that much of the recent development of the California junior colleges is due to the publicity given to the preliminary survey conducted by Dr. Koos two years ago. In his report Dr. Koos gave a very adequate statement of the problems ! tT. 2 > _— i PD ra 242 Department of Secondary-School Principals involved in our junior-college situation and our thinking toward a solution of these problems has definitely been directed by his sug- gestions. Professor L. V. Koos, University of Chicago read his paper, entitled, Curriculum Organization in Junior Colleges. CURRICULUM ORGANIZATION IN JUNIOR COLLEGES Leonarp V. Koos, ’ THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO At the risk of being charged with perpetrating a platitude, one must begin a discussion of the organization of the curriculum in any school unit with the assertion that curriculum organization must reflect the types of service that unit is expected to render. This is as true of the junior college as of any other unit in the school system. What are the types of service that should be expected of the junior college? These may be cast in terms of the chief purposes of the institution. Any one who has read at all widely in the literature of the junior college will have encountered several formulations of these purposes. There is no need of exploiting any one of these formulations here, especially as they have much in common and are, therefore, rather readily generalized. There is one purpose on which all agree, and that is affording the student the work that will be accepted as meeting the requirements for admission to the third year of standard colleges and universities. Because this work is somewhat restricted in scope in relation to the entire body of students who are likely to enter the junior college, the present writer has been disposed to designate this as the “isthmian” purpose of the junior college. Others have called it the “preparatory” function. A second purpose relates to students who, because of intellectual or economic limitations as compared with the first group of students, are not likely to continue beyond the level of the second college year. The work taken by these students will not be thought of as leading to higher levels of training and should, in part at least, be differentiated from that taken by the first group. A third purpose, guidance, is called for by the fact that the first two types of service are being ren- dered. Given these two main groups of students with differentiation of programs for them, and the need of guidance in the proper dis- oe FA ( rH CD — ee a, a Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 243 tribution of students to the work offered is apparent. Other main purposes of the junior college are encountered, but, because their connections with the problem before us is not immediate, time may be saved by omitting reference to them. Tue “CoLLece APTITUDE” OF JUNIOR-COLLEGE STUDENTS The desirability of planning an offering adapted to serve at least two main groups of students may be brought home by drawing upon certain concrete evidence from the preliminary survey of secondary education in California, as well as from other sources to which ref- erence will be made at a later point. Description of the situation in California is especially appropriate because the junior-college devel- opment there is further along than in other states and also because of practices in the matter of admission to higher institutions that have forced the issue of curriculum differentiation on the attention of those in charge of the junior colleges more than in other states having con- siderable numbers of junior colleges. In connection with the survey referred to it was possible to secure evidence concerning the per- formance on the Thorndike College Aptitude Test by Freshmen in six public junior colleges and in three other higher institutions of the state. The junior colleges are representative of the various types of public junior colleges in the state, except that no state teachers’ col- lege is included. The three other higher institutions are among the most estimable in the state, and admit only on a highly selective basis. All tests were given and scored under standard conditions. The numbers of students tested were: junior college, 1,172; other higher institutions, 1,710. These numbers are large enough, in view of the representativeness of the institutions included, to afford a basis for a reliable comparison. The University of California is not represented, because the parent-institution at Berkeley had not systematically ad- ministered such tests to its students. It may be safely assumed that the distribution of scores for freshmen at the University of Cali- fornia would not be widely at variance with that for the three other higher institutions represented, because requirements for admission there were also intentionally selective in character. Admission of high- school graduates was on the basis of principals’ recommendations. These in turn were usually made only for high-school graduates who had earned marks of “A” or “B” in fifteen units (less often twelve units) of their four years of high-school work. $3 ee ee ee coe aston a—nalamiad ns mnt ee apne Nay > + eon. Deg om” a Bed ie eee 246 Department of Secondary-School Principals pointed out that, as compared with the general populace, even these less capable junior-college freshmen represent a somewhat selected group. Moreover, we may judge from the trend of events that they will not be denied these opportunities, since, if one type of institution declines to accommodate them, another will spring up to look out for their needs. It is not for any individual institution to stem a tide which has been set up by fundamental social and economic forces. It is ap- propriate here to mention a factor influencing the growth of the junior college in California which is not often referred to, but which is one of the most potent of those that have fostered the movement in that state, namely, the demand for a place of training on the collegiate level for the scholastically less competent high-school graduates to whom the doors of most other estimable higher institutions of the state, including the state university, are closed. EFForts AT CURRICULUM ADJUSTMENT IN THE JUNIOR COLLEGES Having admitted these students with the less satisfactory high- school records, that is, the ‘“non-recommended” high-school graduates, the junior college in California is faced with the problem of providing some type of training program for them, and at the same time safe- guarding accredited relationships with the other higher institutions to which their graduates may plan to transfer. This has been accom- plished in a variety of ways, all of w.ich take some cognizance of the plan at the University of California of advancing the student to the Senior Division by means of a “Junior Certificate,” which he receives on the completion of certain required work of a stated minimum stand- ard. By this means the university continues within the institution the selective processes begun through the plan of admission already de- scribed. Certain of the plans of junior colleges in providing for the recommended or non-recommended graduates of high schools will shortly be described, but not until data have been presented to indicate the proportions of “recommended” and “non-recommended” gradu- ates, and the proportions in which these two groups of students enter the junior college. When a large group of seniors in a number of representative high schools was studied with respect to the numbers of recommended units they had to their credit at the end of the four-year high-school period, it was found that of 1,422, 442 would have qualified for recommenda- tion if the standard had been set in all cases at fifteen units of work Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 247 with marks of “A” or “B.” On the same basis, 980, or practically two-thirds of the students would have failed of recommendation. The additional statement should be made that of this larger group of 980 students, 134 earned less than five recommended units, 378 earned five or more but less than ten, and the remaining 468 earned ten or more but less than fifteen. Even if “recommendation” were set at twelve units of work of “A” or “B” grade, as is frequently the case in the junior colleges, the proportion of non-recommended high-school seniots would be very large. Another group of students considered with respect to “recom- mendation” were those entering seven representative junior colleges as first-year students. Of 936 entering students, 482, or well over half, would have been ‘“‘non-recommended” if fifteen units of “A” and “B” grade had been required. If twelve such units had been required the proportion would have been smaller, but not far from a third of all entrants. In admitting students to the junior colleges of California, it is the prevailing practice to classify them into two groups with the distinc- tion of “recommendation” or “non-recommendation.” More fre- quently than otherwise, the former are designated as “certificate” or “C” students and the latter as “diploma” or “D” students. Other designations are also used, as “Status I” and “Status II.” The term “certificate” refers to the evidence of acceptability in the Senior Divi- sion of the University of California or elsewhere. One of the most elaborate plans of curriculum organization in the junior colleges of California for the school year to which the present description applies was that in Long Beach, in a junior college which was not established until the autumn of 1927, and which was at once swamped with an unexpected number of students. According to this plan, which was first put in operation during the second semester of that year, there were three “types” of curriculums, the “certificate” curriculum, the “diploma” curriculum, and the “transfer” curriculum. It was stated that the first of these admits to junior standing in the four-year college or university. For admission to this curriculum the candidate must have been graduated from an accredited high school, must have received recommending grades in at least twelve standard unite, and must have been certified by the principal of the high school as-having reasonable prospects of success in college work. The second, nN > Secretar

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PAV] a3a][0;) ayy }¥ 9ZIg ss¥IO,, SUOsjepnyy wo peydepy :aLON AZIS SSVIO NO SNOILVOILSHANI I ATaVL 256 Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 257 ments carried on over a four year period under the supervision of a faculty committee on class size at the University of Minnesota. Among their conclusions were: 1. In 46 of the 59 experiments, or 78%, a more or less decided advantage in achievement accrued to the large classes and in only 13 experiments, or 22%, was there any advantage to the small classes. 2. The distribution of marks in the largest and smallest sections over a six year period was practically identical. 3. Both faculty and students decidedly prefer small classes because of the closer personal contacts which they feel are possible in small classes. Results, however, fail to show an advantage from such con- tacts when measured either by term marks or achievement scores. 4. When measured by term marks and achievement tests, large classes do not seem to lower the efficiency of instruction. One might summarize these four studies as follows: 1. Class size is a minor factor in determining educational achieve- ment. 2. By all the usual measures for evaluating the results of instruc- tion, students achieve quite as much in large classes as they do in small. 3. The significance of this finding lies in its meaning for the reor- ganization of college teaching. 1) Small classes are expensive ; large classes relatively cheap. 2) If students in large classes achieve results equal to the achievements of those in small units, there can be no justi- fication for the retention of the more expensive program. For the school year 1928-1929 there were listed 406 junior col- leges. Of these 131 were public junior colleges, supported by tax money as part of the public school system. Information was collected, by the speaker, from 87 of these schools relative to the present status of their teaching load. For the purpose of comparison they were, like ancient Gaul, divided into three parts. This division was done arbi- trarily into: 1. Small Junior College group: having an enrollment of less than 100 students. (31 colleges) 2. Medium Junior College group: having an enrollment between 100-250 students. (31 colleges) 3. Large Junior College group: having an enrollment of 250 or more students. 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The Table should be read as follows: 1. In the English department the average number of classes per teacher for 25 junior colleges in the large group ranges from 3 to 6 with the mode 5 reported by 14 colleges. In the medium group of 31 colleges, the range was from 3 to 6 with 5 classes reported by 17 col- leges as the mode. In the small group, also of 31 colleges, the range was from 3 to 6 while the mode was 5 classes as reported by 13 colleges. 2. The number of preparations per teacher for the large group shows a range of | to 4 with 11 colleges reporting 3 preparations as the mode. The medium group ranged from 2 to 4 while their mode was also 3 as found in 20 colleges. The small group had a wider range from 1 to 6 but with the same mode of 3 reported by 17 schools. 3. In the number of semester hours per teacher there is consider- able difference in the ranges. The large group, 12 to 20 with a mode of 15 in 14 institutions, the medium group with a range of 7 to 18 and a mode of 15 in 20 schools, while the small group with a range of 6 to 20 and a mode of 16 reported by 12 colleges shows great diver- gence in the teacher load of English departments throughout the country. 4. The junior college administrators recommend as the proper number of semester hours in English for the large group a range of 12 to 18 hours. 12 of the 25 colleges concerned suggest a 15 hour load. In the medium group the range suggested is from 12 to 20 with 25 schools listing 15 hours. In the small group the range is also 12 to 20 while 18 of the 31 colleges recommend 15 hours. 5. The administrators recommend for size of classes in English, for the large group a range*of 20 to 50 with 12 colleges stating 30 as the mode. The medium group ranges from 20 to 60 with 19 colleges listing 30. In the small group the range in class size was from 25 to 45 and again 30 is the mode being reported by 15 colleges. In a similar manner can be found the teacher load for any depart- ment. In compiling these data wherever a teacher was teaching part time in the high school and part time in the junior college, a high oo ee aes eater a A — SOP OE A em — SNR alee etl pitino 260 Department of Secondary-School Principals school 5 day per week class was called the equivalent of a 3 day per week junior college class. In gathering the information at first the ratio of science laboratory to recitation hours was omitted. A letter asking for such information was sent to 60 junior colleges selected at random. Fifty-four replied. The total number of clock hours per week ranged from 10 to 35 with 24 to 30 required in 24 schools as the mode. The ratio of laboratory hours to recitation hours ranged from 1 to 1 in 4 schools (i.e., each hour in the laboratory was called the equivalent of an hour of recitation) to 3 to 1 in 7 schools. Thirty-four colleges used 2 to 1 as their basis. It is interesting to note that many of the junior college adminis- trators in recommending number of semester hours per teacher or maximum number of pupils per class objected to the fact that some accrediting agency, such as the state university or an association, had definite regulations limiting class size or teacher load in junior colleges. SUMMARY Summarizing :—School expenditures have been increasing at a rapid rate along with other expenses. The school administrator must be in a position to justify his annual budget. As instructional costs represent the greatest item of the budget, any change in class size, or number of classes per teacher would have a very direct effect upon the financial situation. In the light of all available evidence class size is a minor factor in determining educational achievement. “Caution in accepting innova- tions is certainly commendable, but the burden of proof is rapidly being shifted from defenders of large classes to defenders of small classes. The public is faced with the problem of financing schools which must provide for an unprecedentedly large pupil population. Experiments have shown that in some small classes pupils apparently become too dependent on teacher while in large classes independence is more likely to be cultivated.”' If students in large classes achieve results equal to the achievements of those in small units, there can be no justification for the retention of the more expensive program. We see from the data reported by 87 public junior colleges that we have a median junior college offering the following : 1 School Review: Editorial Comment Vol. XXXVI, p. 734, December 1929. SPTPNYS [BIOS (‘wayd-sotIshyd) auUaIdS (TeotSojorg) eouaTIg ing gI uorjeonpy yeosAyg 8T orsnyy 81 Syy sueYyooy City Meet st SOTJBWMIIY ICY SI 0 solmoUucoy swoPY st st azensue’y] usI210J st sl - ystjsuq SI SI [eIosauUWI0S) of 8T 8I uv Ss¥].) sod sjidng sayovey sed jo Jaquiny wnuixey SINO}] Je}SeUIaG sayoray sod sayoea lL sayovay SINOP{ J9zS9WIG jad suorjeie iad sesse].) quawjiedeq jo saquinn -daig jo sequinn jo saquinn - — ~ = = i] — ~~ 7 “ S = ~ —— S 6 >) = = —_— z L 2 S S we la) ~ MOLVALSININGY Ad GAHGNAWN, OF ADATIOND AOINAL Nviaayy Ill AIaAVL eRe ae a aca a 262 Department of Secondary-School Principals CoNCLUSION In conclusion :—Pressure is always brought to bear to have small classes and a light load such as 10 or 12 hours. These data have simply told you present practice. No attempt has been made to justify the findings. We need many experimental studies similar to those of the University of Minnesota. The speaker thinks it is safe to say that it is impossible to make a perfectly balanced program. “Not all hours of teaching represent equal effort, nor do all subjects require the same amount of outside preparation. English teachers protest that they have a peculiarly heavy burden in theme reading, algebra teachers make similar claims regarding the correction of exercises, physics teachers call attention to the preparation of apparatus, botany teachers remind us of extended field trips.—( History teachers of note books )—Teachers having dif- ferent work to teach for every hour complain of heavy demands in lesson preparation, and those teaching several parallel sections of the same subject are burdened by the monotony of their work.’ So the junior-college administrator will have to remember the words of the old song: “You can’t be a friend to everybody, for you'll have lots of trouble if you try.” He will have to make out his teaching program in the light of instructional cost, plus current practice, plus local con- ditions, plus a good back bone. ! Foster, Herbert H.—‘High School Administration.” Century Co. 1928, p. 99. MEETING OF THE COMMITTEE ON ORGANIZATION OF INVESTIGATION IN SECONDARY EDUCATION The meeting was called to order by the Chairman, Charles H. Judd, at 9:15 a. m. in the Grill Room of Hotel President on Wednesday, February 26. The chairman made a preliminary statement of the history of the activities of the centers voluntarily set up in the different parts of the country. Professor L. V. Koos reported as follows: THE NATIONAL SURVEY OF SECONDARY EDUCATION LEONARD V. Koos, THE UNIVERSITY oF CHICAGO Several considerations call for at least a brief report of progress on the National Survey of Secondary Education to this Department of Secondary-School Principals. The bearing of a national survey of education on this level on the concerns of the Department is intimate and obvious. Your organization was quite properly among those urging ‘a Congressional appropriation for making such a survey. There is also the fundamentally codperative character of any really helpful survey, which makes it desirable to present some statement concerning the types of codperation that are likely to be required of members of the Department. It is this codperative character of the survey, moreover, that suggests a statement concerning it on this particular program. Tue Set-Up For THE SURVEY A word may be said in description of the set-up for making the survey. Secretary Wilbur of the Department of the Interior desig- nated Commissioner Cooper of the Office of Education as Director of the survey. He also designated nine “expert consultants” who as a group advise the director and his staff in matters relating to the scope and methods of the survey. This group has met twice in the Office of -Education, at its first meeting considering the larger fields for 263 264 Department of Secondary-School Principals investigation and at its second meeting considering a more detailed outline of the survey prepared by the associate director with the assistance of other members of the survey staff proper. There is also an “Advisory Committee” of thirty members who will meet less frequently than the group of consultants. In addition a committee of prominent laymen is being organized who will bring to the survey the benefit of intelligent non-professional judgment. The survey staff proper is now being rapidly organized. Besides the usual staff of clerks it will consist of two main types. There will be a number of recognized specialists in fields comprehended by the survey who will give only a part of their time to the survey. These specialists will direct the activities of a number of younger men recently trained in methods of educational research. These younger men will be employed continuously for the period of the survey. By following this policy it is hoped to obtain expert direction for a rela- tively moderate total outlay and by the use of the competent younger men to stretch the resources available to make a more comprehensive survey than would otherwise be possible. Tue Scope AND NATURE OF THE SURVEY The scope of the survey is suggested in the outline which is reproduced here in abbreviated form. The primary fields for investi- gation decided upon are named in the first “general consideration.” Omission of several admittedly important fields was prompted by one or another of two considerations. The training of teachers for secondary schools and problems of finance were excluded from other than incidental consideration because it is being planned to make these separate major fields of investigation under the auspices of the Office of Education in the same way that this National Survey of Secondary Education is being carried on. The explanation for omitting other main fields from inquiry is the limited financial resources at hand for the survey. The total amount available, $225,000, is not enough to warrant including all important aspects of the whole problem. The group of consultants selected those major fields, the investigation of which appeared to be most feasible, imperative, and timely in the present state of our knowledge of secondary education. Special attention should be given to the remaining “general con- siderations” preceding the abbreviated outline proper. They relate to the necessity of integrating the survey in all its aspects, the limita- iled the 2 1S less ttee vey rent efforts to improve secondary education rather than merely to a Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 265 tion of investigations largely to public secondary education, the need of special consideration of the problems of secondary education in smaller communities and rural areas, emphasis on constructive innova- tions in practice, exemplification of effective methods of inquiry applicable locally, inquiry concerning related studies carried on else- where, and the essentially codperative nature of the survey. OUTLINE OF THE NATIONAL SURVEY OF SECONDARY EDUCATION (Abbreviated Form) General Considerations of Scope and Policy 1. The primary fields for investigation, as indicated by the follow- ing outline are four: (1) The organization of schools and districts ; (2) The secondary-school population and related problems; (3) Administrative and supervisory problems (inclusive of administrative and supervisory personnel and activities) ; and (4) The curriculum and related problems (procedures in teaching and the extra-cur- riculum). Other fields may be recognized, but chiefly as incidental to investigations in the primary fields. 2. These four fields are thus named for convenience in classifica- tion only and not on any assumption that they are unrelated. Investi- gations in any one of these fields should take cognizance of related inquiries being carried on in others. In this way only may it be hoped to achieve the full significance of the specific lines of inquiry as well as to present an adequately integrated report. 3. Because of the limited resources available, the survey will be chiefly concerned with public secondary education. Inquiries con- cerning private secondary education will be of three sorts, as follows: The relative extent as compared with public secondary education (See I, A below), the extent to which schools under private auspices are serving as public high schools (I, C), and private secondary schools as places of innovation and progressive practice. 4. In all the fields for inquiry there will be special consideration of the problems of secondary education in smaller communities and rural areas. This will not be a survey of urban secondary education only. 5. The survey will be devoted chiefly to inquiries concerning cur- 266 Department of Secondary-School Principals description of its present status. Studies of status should be made chiefly to provide the background against which innovating practices may be made to stand out. Emphasis on constructive innovations in practice will call for the utilization of all possible methods of locating them, for example, checking lists, follow-up, inquiry of State educa- tional officers and subsequent visitation. 6. As far as possible there will be exemplification of effective methods of inquiry that may, after this survey has been completed, be applied with advantage locally. 7. Before any extended investigation is instituted there will be inquiry concerning related studies. This inquiry will include published studies, unpublished but completed studies made in graduate schools and bureaus of research, and studies in progress in these schools { i and bureaus. 8. In order to enlarge the influence and usefulness of the survey both while it is in progress and after the report has been published, it will be the aim to secure coperation of State departments of educa- tion; regional standardizing agencies; those in charge of research departments in schools and school systems; administrators, super- visors, and teachers in the schools ; departments of education in higher institutions ; and the laity. Among avenues of codperaticn to be used are: (a) Requests for information required in the projects of the survey ; and (b) The preparation by the survey staff of lists of related problems the investigation of which by research departments, graduate students, and others will serve to widen the scope and significance of the survey. Outline I. The Organization of Schools and Districts. A. The status and recent growth (1890 to 1930) of secondary education. B. Prevalence and distribution of all types of public secondary schools— 1. Types described by grades included. 2. Special types of schools, as commercial, technical, voca- tional, etc. — Se ee OD C. D. . The Secondary-School Population and Related Problems. A. B. . Follow-up studies of graduates and non-graduates in these . Employments available in these areas; training and charac- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 267 3. Additional provisions for education of secondary grade, as night high schools, summer high schools, part-time coopera- tive plans, part-time continuation schools, other continuation plans, parental schools, ete. District organizations under which the different types ot secondary schools operate. Intensive studies of types of organization of schools and systems— 1. Of newer types in contrast with older types. 2. Of applicability of newer types to situations in which they are now operative. 3. Of specialized types of schools and of other provisions for education on the secondary level. Study of provisions for secondary education in smaller and rural communities— 1. Study of facilities, limitations, and noteworthy accomplish- ments. 2. Feasibility of junior high-school reorganization. F. Studies in the articulation of schools— 1. Vertical articulation of units in the school system. 2. Horizontal articulation of provisions for secondary educa- tion. General study of retention and elimination. Intensive studies of the population of secondary-school age in selected areas. areas. teristics required. Influence of compulsory attendance and child-labor laws. . Student-personnel and guidance practices in schools with well- developed guidance programs. 268 Department of Secondary-School Principals III. Administration and Supervision. A. Regulatory provisions outside the school— B. 1. . Rules and regulations of agencies established by law. Wh Laws relating to secondary education. Regulations of agencies not established by legal authority. . Application of survey findings to suggest modification of existing standards and development of new ones. Administrative and supervisory staff— 1. Organization and relationships of boards of education, ad- ministrators, and supervisors. . Principal administrative and supervisory activities per- formed. . Intensive study of staff for administration and supervision in those schools and school systems whose practices appear to be significant. Special problems of administration and supervision— Note: In the treatment of all of these problems special atten- tion and intensive study will be given to those schools which exhibit in any of these regards suggestive or note- worthy developments, significant or promising pro- cedures, or important deviations from usual practice. Selection of teachers. Provisions for individual differences. Promotion plans. . Marks and marking systems. . Records and recording systems. . Size of class. . Scheduling, registration, and time elements. . Relations of the schools to the public and community. . Textbooks and other instructional materials. 10. 11, 12. 13. Library service. Health supervision. Research initiated by the schools. Supervision of instruction, ot oe a a GE Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting IV. The Curriculum and Related Problems. A. Analysis and classification of curriculum research in the sec- ondary field. 1. Relating to the program of studies. 2. Relating to major fields of instruction. 3. Relating to needed research. . Study of plans for curriculum revision. . Description of curricula where revision has recently been made— 1. Program of studies. 2. Content and procedure in major subject-fields. 3. Appraisal of revised programs on basis of evidence avail- able. . The extra-curriculum— . Analysis and classification of researches available. . Investigation of practices in schools with noteworthy devel- opment. . Special consideration of the athletic situation and of other activities involving inter-scholastic contests. Tue Topics RECOMMENDED FOR INCLUSION BY THE COMMITTEE ON THE ORGANIZATION OF INVESTIGATIONS As will be made clear by others on this program, your Committee on the Organization of Investigations in Secondary Education in- cluded in its program a list of topics which it recommended to the Commissioner of Education as suitable for inclusion in the National Survey of Secondary Education. There were twelve of these topics or problems. The members of the Department will be interested to learn that all but two of these are recognized in the working outline. One of the two omitted called for “legitimate comparisons of out- comes of secondary education in different quarters.” Two considera- tions seem to have figured most in the decision not to include this problem, the first relating to its complexity and the second to the large financial outlay that would have been required, an outlay that would, if made, have crowded several other important problems out of the program of the survey. The other problem omitted was one 270 Department of Secondary-School Principals relating to pensions. It was felt that this is not a problem peculiar to secondary education but one which should be studied for the full range of education from the kindergarten through the higher institu- tion, or at least for all schools below the collegiate level. A CoOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE This incorporation of the recommendations of the Committee on the Organization of Investigations in Secondary Education is illus- trative of the attitude taken by all those who have had any connection with the survey, including the group of consultants, the Advisory Committee, the Commissioner of Education, and the other members of the survey staff. Mention has already been made of the essentially cooperative character of all genuinely helpful surveys, and this survey can certainly be no exception. This codperative nature of the survey will at times inevitably impose heavy burdens on those at work in the secondary schools, including both administrators and teachers. Plans and procedures will be carefully scrutinized to keep these burdens at a minimum, but no amount of scrutiny can reduce them to negligible proportions. However, experience in previous surveys and investigations gives assurance that most school workers welcome the opportunities to cooperate and that few are disposed to complain, if only the investiga- tions promise to yield something of benefit to the schools. THE PROBABLE FRUITS OF SUCH A SURVEY Much good should accrue from such a survey, both in the better understanding of what our secondary schools are and should be, and in the consequent improvement of practices in them. We have tried to make clear in the outline that it is not to be a mere study of status nor even of trends, although status and trends will doubtless be dis- closed. There will be inquiry after innovation, to be sure, but not on any assumption that all innovations are constructive. Consistent effort will be made to appraise conditions and practices found, as far as instruments of appraisal are at hand. It is worth remembering in this connection that much of appraisal can be accomplished by the study of interrelationships of the great variety of evidence assembled and analyzed in a project of this magnitude. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 271 There should be no serious disappointment that the survey does not aim at inventing a slogan or discovering a magic word by utterance of which the ideal secondary school may be made to burst suddenly into bloom. We should now be past the stage of experience in school affairs where we seek a golden concept by contemplation of which we expect to work miracles in reform. The whole educative process is too complex and the way up from mediocre schools to better schools too steep and laborious to permit one to entertain such a simple view of the methods of educational progress. None will realize this more than those in actual charge of the schools, especially if they recall the energy expended to bring the schools up from where they were to where they now are. We are warranted, on the other hand, in expect- ing from this survey, which may quite properly be regarded as a huge cooperative enterprise carried forward on a nation-wide scale by a great host of laborers in the secondary field, the light on the next steps upward in the development of the American program of sec- ondary education. William H. Bristow made the following report : COOPERATIVE RESEARCH IN SECONDARY EDUCATION By WirtiAM H. Bristow, AssIsTANT Director, SECONDARY EDUCATION DEPARTMENT OF PusBiic INSTRUCTION, HARRISBURG One who has followed the proceedings of the Department of secondary school principals over a period of years finds a general theme “Can Supervision Be Made Scientific” reoccurring, in one form or another, throughout the pages of the various reports. The general conclusion of most of the speakers is that supervision can be made scientific. There then frequently follows an apology for the present unscientific state of this important phase of school activity. This is an era of research. The bibliographies which have appeared in the past five or ten years indicate hundreds of research studies where none, or practically none, had previously been made. Perhaps the most unfortunate part of the whole matter is the fact that a great number of these studies are destined to be filed away in the libraries of our great universities, to be pored over by an occasional student, 272 Department of Secondary-School Principals but never to exert a profound influence upon educational practice. It is true that an effort is being made to secure a general dissemination of the findings of these research studies. A publication of this Depart- ment, issued last year, gave a digest of the unpublished masters’ theses from Chicago University, thus making available to the field materials which otherwise would not have been generally known. The duties and responsibilities of the high school principal have been so enlarged that he finds it very difficult to secure the time neces- sary for even a limited amount of professional reading, not to men- tion constructive research and study. A letter which came to my desk a few days ago, and accompanied by a valuable report of a co- operative study made by one of our most important county groups, made up of men of high professional standing, lamented the fact that, for the most part, it was very difficult to secure the active co- operation of the men in the field due to the fact that they felt they did not have sufficient time to carry on these studies. Asa result, most of the research which has been done in secondary education, has been done under the direct supervision of the colleges and universities, usually by staff officers or those working for a higher degree. They have done valuable work in this respect. They have pointed out the way in which research studies should be made. They have contributed much to the science of education. On the other hand, one who is in close touch with a great many secondary school principals realizes the need of a program which touches more intimately and more definitely the men in the field at the time thev are on the job. Summer school work and periodic leave of absences are important, although few men find it possible to take advantage of the latter. The outstanding contributions which have been made as a result of the cooperative effort of some of our National Committees indicate the importance and value of group activity. The Guidance Manual published by this division is an example of this type of research. The importance of this is shown by the following statement by Carl A. Jessen:’ “The situation is that, with the exception of com- paratively few systems, the public schools have been so busily engaged with the daily problems of providing for the ever-increasing numbers _ | Bulletin No. 22, 1929, Department of the Interior, Bureau of Education, Washington, D. C. red ers ion, Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 273 of a heterogeneous pupil personnel that scientific investigations look- ing toward evolution of new approaches and evaluation of old ones have been left to workers in experimental schools and in schools of education. Experimentation has thus far for the most part been con- ducted by students in educational institutions. The experiments usu- ally are of short duration, involve relatively few cases, and in their results are not comparable with other experiments carried on in the same field.” A group of secondary school principals working together on com- mon problems forms a very effective unit for study and research. I would list as the value of such studies, carried on as group activities, the following : 1. Importance of Group Activity as a Means of Professionalizing the Position of the Secondary School Principalship. Just as the doctor has found it profitable to carry on his clinic, so will secondary school principals find it profitable to work together in the solution of press- ing problems. It is important to the future of American Secondary Education that the principalship shall be held in high regard, and that those accepted as candidates for this office shall be well versed in the scientific phases of education. Codperative research provides the seminar for continued growth in service. We need in this country group consciousness with reference to the problems confronting the secondary school. Group research activities will do much to create this consciousness. 2. Importance of Group Activity as a Means of Providing Oppor- tunity for Individual Growth. Unless the principal provides some means of keeping in touch with developments in secondary education, he often becomes immersed in the routine duties of his position and loses sight of the larger aspects of the profession. Cooperative re- search provides an opportunity for individual growth, and for stim- ulation which can hardly be found in any other type of activity. Meet- ings such as these are important, inasmuch as they stimulate us and start us on lines of thought and bring us up-to-date with reference to new practices, procedures, and methods, but in the last analysis, it is upon consistent study and work that we must depend for a real solu- tion to our problems. 3. Prestige of Group Studies. Research problems which have been scientifically worked over by groups are certain to have a certain ajnount of prestige which would not be attached to individual effort. hs Ream e ests, tA ESS LRN ER Spee 274 Department of Secondary-School Principals If these groups use as their problem the checking of other research studies, they will render a much needed service in promoting scientific education. As an example of the prestige of group work I should like to point to the report of the “Committee on the Education of the Adolescent in Great Britain” which has been previously mentioned before this group. This report, having the approval of widely di- vergent groups, is certain to have a marked influence upon British Education. These are studies now under way by groups of principals, under the direction of the committee on investigations and reports, which promise significant results. Likewise studies carried on by groups in various localities, will influence the development of sec- ondary education in those localities. 4. Getting into Practice the Results of Scientific Research. Asa fourth value in group research and perhaps the most important for ihe practical school man, is the “Getting into Practice the Results of Scientific Research.” Supervision can only be made scientific when those tools and devices which have been developed by science may be utilized in a scientific way. Personnel and guidance must depend upon the development of scientific procedures, if it is to be placed on a satisfactory basis. Cooperative research provides an outstanding op- portunity for checking the results of other studies, and for the incor- poration of those results which had proved satisfactory, into the plan and procedures of the local secondary schools. While in our own State we are only beginning with reference to the program of cooperative effort, I am of the opinion that our results already indicate the possibilities of such work. One of our groups this year has taken the problem of ability grouping, and is using this prob- lem for its research problem. There is already evidence that for the participating group, the problem has been clarified and practice af- fected. Another group in Pennsylvania has been studying the problem of school failures over a period of three years. The problem has been studied with diligence and care, the failures within the county have been very much reduced, and more adequate guidance techniques have been adopted for use within the schools participating in the study. All of this means a saving to the community, and a more adequate secondary school program for the boys and girls attending these schools. In addition, it has stimulated professional growth on the part of the principals participating. Another group has elected as its prob- lem a study of guidance and is attempting to set up a program which ~- fFweonF a = Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 275 will be more scientific and more clearly defined than has previously been the case. Still another group has for its problem the evaluation, selection and organization of records and reports adapted to the vari- ous types of school systems. In this latter study there will probably be no new information added to the field, but on the other hand, a technique will be set up which will provide each of the principals in these schools with materials for the evaluation of records and reports, which are essential for the organization and administration of a school, and the development of a satisfactory personnel program. Another one of our county groups has elected to study problems of small secondary schools. Using their own schools as a laboratory, this group of principals hopes to carry out, probably over a period of years, constructive, definite, and purposeful studies which will result in the improvement of the instructional program within these schools. Other states, I am sure, probably have progressed further than we in these group endeavors. I mention these only because they illustrate what I believe is one of the most significant tendencies in professional development. Such is the enthusiasm of the groups working on these projects that we are hoping that a more definite and scientific program may be set up. Certainly the time is past when high school principals should come together primarily for a discussion of the rules and regulations to govern inter-scholastic contests, or to squabble over the eligibility of a questionable athlete. To the question “Can Supervision Be Made Scientific,” the answer is, we believe, “Yes.” One of the measures which will do much to place supervision and other phases of secondary school practice and procedure on any other than a hit and miss basis, is a cooperative study on a scientific basis, of important problems, by those responsible for the organization and administration of the secondary schools. Professor Jesse B. Davis presented the following paper : 276 Department of Secondary-School Principals COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL PRINCIPALS Jesse B. Davis, ProFEssoR OF SECONDARY EpucaTION, Boston UNIVERSITY ScHOOoL oF EpucATION Research within the field of secondary school administration has produced very little of a constructive nature. A multitude of studies have been made but most of our problems remain unsolved. The prin- cipalship lacks professional training. Most principals attack their problems in the same manner as did the men under whom they re- ceived their training as subordinates. Only here and there do we find administrators of originality and initiative who are working along experimental lines. These men are working out their own problems, each one quite certain that he has the best solution. The result of this procedure is that for each problem there appears to be several solu- tions. These may be fairly satisfactory and yet some may be based upon a right principle and others entirely upon false reasoning. The fact is that for the majority of secondary school principals the essen- tial problems of administration remain unsolved. FAILURE OF Past METHODS Many of our attempts at research in the past have been made by the very unpopular questionnaire. This method has very little to com- mend it. When we stop to consider that of the small percentage of replies obtained the majority of those answering may be working along very unscientific lines. To assume, because a large proportion of those replying to a questionnaire agree, that this trend points the direction in which others should go is perfectly absurd. We know that the great mass of principals are doing things as they are, for no par- ticular reason other than that they inherited the scheme or that they have copied the idea from someone else without ever determining the fundamental principles involved or considering a more scientific ap- proach to the solution of the problem. There may be some virtues in the questionnaire when it is properly used. It has proved of real serv- ice to me personally in helping to find who were some of the principals in the field engaged in real experimentation. Then by further cor- respondence I have secured coOperation that has proved most helpful. My first suggestion to our Committee on Research is that by some means we secure a list of our members who are engaged in experimen- Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 277 tation and in what problems they are most interested. Then, those of like interests might be organized for more scientific research. RESEARCH THROUGH EXPERIMENTATION It is with these men who are working under conditions which per- mit of experimentation that we may look for constructive results. Ex- perimental schools have their place but most of them are under private control and the conditions are so different from those to be found in the public schools that the results are often unsatisfactory or render little aid to the principal of a public school. Experimentation is needed in the public schools as we find them, large and small, in all types of communities, wealthy and poor, foreign and native, and under varying conditions. One of the aims of the Committee on Research is to encourage among secondary school principals a professional spirit and a greater interest in professional study. We still have too many who are self- satisfied and content with things as they are, as was the principal who answered, when asked what his most difficult problems were, “why, I have no problems. I have been a principal for forty years.” Progress creates problems. The principal who is alive to his responsi- bilities has a multitude of vital problems yet to be solved. This type of principal is a student of education, well versed in the newer phi- losophy of learning, and trained in methods of research. He knows his school scientifically and he is experimenting in order that he may improve the conditions which his studies have revealed. These are the men in our organization whom we must discover and organize for the purpose if we are to carry on successfully any plan of codperative research. The basis of the codperative research suggested is experimentation carried on after the determination of the fundamental principles in- volved in the problem. The first step for the group undertaking a given problem is to study it in all of its aspects in order that the under- lying principles may be determined. Upon this philosophy a series of experiments may be planned to be carried on simultaneously in several centers. These experiments must then be observed, tested, and dis- cussed by the group before definite conclusions are drawn. Then, from these experiences and discussions a constructive procedure for the solution of the problem may be found. The aim should not be to determine stereotyped methods nor to attempt a uniformity of detailed 278 Department of Secondary-School Principals procedures. On the other hand much should be left to the principal to apply the accepted fundamental principles and to adapt the recom- mended procedures to his own local situation. EssENTIAL LEADERSHIP One serious difficulty with this attempt at coOperative research is to secure competent leadership. Some one has to be found who has the essential ability, and who is sufficiently devoted to the cause to give the necessary initiative and inspiration to keep the group effectively at work. Such a leader must assume the responsibility of directing the study, of analyzing the procedures, and of guiding the activities toward a solution of the problem. It is suggested that our Committee on Research considers a plan of regional leadership in the natural divisions of the country. These leaders, knowing the men who are the outstanding workers in these districts, could be of great help in securing more satisfactory results. Through these men more effective coOperation might be obtained throughout the country and in a more systematic manner than at present. An ILLUSTRATION OF PROCEDURE The plan of one group now at work may serve to illustrate the procedures suggested. This club is made up of a group of men who have been students of research in education. They are mainly in ad- ministrative positions and are desirous of solving their own problems in a scientific manner so far as may be possible. They meet once a month as a group for reports and discussions under the direction of the committee which is planning and carrying on the particular prob- lem of study. This committee meets as often as may seem necessary. The problem which this group is now studying is “The Home Room.” At present they are trying to thrash out the underlying phi- losophy of this practice of a home room period. Then upon the agreed principles which should be applied to the problem they will undertake a number of experiments in an attempt to answer the following ques- tions : 1. What should be the length of the home-room period ? 2. How often should this period be scheduled ? Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting . Should the home-room group be selected by, a. Ability grouping ? b. Alphabetically ? c. Classes or Grades? d. Curriculum Groups? e. Boys and Girls separately ? etc. . Should the group stay with the same teacher more than one year? . Should every full-time teacher be a home-room teacher ? . How may teachers be trained for the work of the home room? . Should the home-room group be formally organized ? . What is a legitimate use of this period ? . Should the program be the same for all grades in the school ? . How can pupil activity best be secured in this program? 11. What is the relation of the home room to the other activities of the school? etc. The answers to these and other questions which will arise are to be worked out through experimentation by the members of the club under the direction of a steering committee. These experiments will be carried on simultaneously in a number of schools. Observations, studies, and reports will form the basis of the monthly discussions of the club. It will then be the responsibility of the steering committee to produce a solution to the problem which will represent the best judgment of the group in the light of their combined experimentation. SUMMARY The few suggestions which I may offer on Codperative Research among Secondary School Principals may be summed up in the fol- lowing statements : 1. That our Committee on Research secure a list of the members who are actively interested in experimentation with a statement of the problems upon which they are willing to work. . That instead of attempting to work in small scattered groups we concentrate our efforts in well organized regional groups under competent leadership. 280 Department of Secondary-School Principals 3. That problems chosen for experimentation be determined in coOperation with our Committee on Research in order that we may avoid needless duplication and wasted effort. . That so far as possible our attempts at research be by means of experimentation and with as little use of the questionnaire as is necessary. Wm. F. Ewing made a brief report on the activities of the Berke- ley, California center. Professor William Proctor made the following report. COOPERATIVE RESEARCH AMONG HIGH-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS WILLIAM MartTIN Proctor, PRoFESSOR OF EDUCATION, STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CALIFORNIA The past fifteen years have witnessed an unprecedented amount of educational research. Much of it has been undertaken by the leaders in University departments, and colleges of education. A considerable amount of it has been done by graduate students in fulfillment of advanced degree requirements. Recently city bureaus of research have been adding their quota to the sum total of research projects. A very small segment of educational research has been contributed by high- school principals on the job. This is no doubt accounted for by the burden of administrative duties imposed on all high-school principals, whether of large, medium sized, or small high schools. It may also be due to the fact that so few high-school principals, in their preparation, have had any training in research methods. Whatever the reason, it is a situation to be deplored and also to be remedied as soon as possible. Presumably it was to take a step in the direction of changing the existing situation for the better that the Committee on Research of the Department of Secondary School Principals was appointed. Since other members of the committee are making reports on research projects in their own sections of the country I shall confine myself to stating briefly some of the things that are being done in California. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 281 1. Codperative research by principals within city school systems. a. San Francisco. There is a demand for a junior college in San Francisco. Three hundred young people living in that city are attend- ing junior colleges in nearby counties, for whom San Francisco has to pay tuition under the California law. The Superintendent requested the Division of Curriculum Revision and the Bureau of Research and Service to make a study of the situation. All of the high-school princi- pals were called into conference and helped to work out the details of the survey. One rather startling fact brought out by the study was that there is no uniformity of standard for recommending graduates from San Francisco high schools to college. One school, during 1928-29 recommended 44 per cent of its graduates, while two others recommended only 8 per cent each. It was also discovered that 87 per cent of those recommended actually went to college, while only 17 per cent of the non-recommended group found their way into any higher institution. Lack of uniform procedure here appears to be operating to discriminate against a very large number of young peo- ple, who would undoubtedly be able to make good as college students, if given the opportunity. The enlarged opportunity that a junior college would afford was shown by the finding that whereas under existing conditions only about 600 of the 3000 high-school seniors expected to go to college, there were 1200 additional who said they would be able to go if a junior college were to be established. Thus through a bit of codpera- tive research the San Francisco high-school principals discovered a number of things about their own schools that they did not know be- fore, and also they learned how they could coéperate still further to bring about more uniform practice in making recommendations to college. A project carried out by the junior high-school principals of San Francisco, under the supervision of the Curriculum Division and the Bureau of Research, had to do with making a “reading survey” of all “Z” or slow groups in the junior high schools. It was found that the new courses of study adopted two years ago met the needs of middle and upper groups very well, but that the slow groups were not well served. Committees in English and Social Studies struggled with the problem and made indifferent progress, until a “reading survey” of all slow groups was carried out with the codperation of all junior high- school principals. With the data in their hands regarding “reading tetas pe i. : | 4 - 2 ts A ERMC Ts 282 Department of Secondary-School Principals ages” and “achievement ages” these committees were able to go for- ward with their work and develop courses adapted to the needs of the slow sections in the junior high schools. b. Oakland. Oakland is carrying on a bit of codperative research in the effectiveness of teaching in classes of different size. This research is being undertaken under the guidance of the Director of Research and Auxiliary Agencies. Both senior high schools and junior high schools are participating in the experiment. In order to make sure that comparable results shall be secured the Director. of Research has sent out “suggested procedures for size of class experiments,” to all the cooperating principals. Several such studies were completed during the academic year 1928-29, and reported in the California Quarterly of Secondary Education.’ Some of the conclusions reached were: 1. That with the present objectives of the Oakland Schools large classes work out better with social studies, mathematics, and English, and less well with the languages, arts, and the labora- tory techniques in science. 2. That if larger classes are to be successful, it seems that the following three conditions must be secured: a. Adequate supplies and equipment must be provided ; b. Teachers must be trained in the techniques of teaching and testing large groups ; and, . Relief from excessive clerical work involved in reports and marking papers must be given to the teacher. Several additional experiments are being carried on in the Oakland schools during 1929-30, with a more careful set-up as to definition of terms, range of intelligence, pre-testing and post-testing, mid-term quizzes, individual pupil gains, quality of teaching, etc., than was true of last year’s experiments. It is the continuity of such experiments under trained leadership that will eventually point the way to the solu- tion of some of our most difficult administrative problems. Valuable contributions may be made by graduate students, who are permitted to carry on experimental work in many of our high schools, but it is the year-in and year-out research work done on the job by the high- school administrators themselves, with the help of permanent re- search workers on their own staffs, that will yield the most satisfac- tory and lasting results. ' Ewing, W. F. and Rutledge, R. E. “Experiment in size of classes.” Cali- fornia Quarterly of Secondary Educ., Vol. V., October, 1929, pp. 17-18. Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 283 2. Research projects in individual high schools. a. Piedmont. Four years ago a research worker was added to the staff of the Piedmont, California, schools. Nothing had been done in the high school, which is a six year, junior-senior type of school, in the way of ability grouping. There was an unusual amount of failure among students, and those who were recommended to college were making a poor record, according to the University of California first semester reports. The Director of Research organized a modified ability grouping plan. There were no hard and fast X, Y, and Z groups, but each teacher was informed of the general level of ability of each of her classes, with the suggestion that there were about so many capable of doing “A” work, so many capable of doing “B” work, etc. The teacher, however, was not informed which students were the “A,” and which the “F’’ possibilities. In addition to being informed as to the general learning capacity of her various classes, she also received assistance in adapting her work to the ability levels of these classes. In four years the percentage of failures in this junior-senior high school has been reduced from an average of 17% to less than 5%; the number earning recommendations to college, among the graduates, has more than doubled, and the school has been raised on the Uni- versity of California accredited list from a doubtful class “B” rating, to a strong class “A” rating. The most significant item in the Pied- mont experiment with a modified ability grouping is that all the bene- fits of ability grouping have been secured, while its pitfalls have apparently been avoided. Teachers not knowing the I. Q.’s of their students cannot indulge in the indoor sport of giving marks according to I. Q. ratings without regard to achievement. Students do not get the “delusion of grandeur” from being assigned to “high brow” sec- tions, while “inferiority complexes” are not acquired by those put in “dumb-bell” sections, because there are no such sections. Every class has a fairly wide spread of ability, and the teacher knows the distribution of that ability, without knowing the labels for each student. This leaves her with a zest for discovery, and also gives stu- dents who may have made a poor score on a linguistically weighted intelligence test a chance to bring into action other traits of personality which may influence learning achievements. b. Sequoia Union High School, Redwood City. This high school -also has a Research Director, who is making a study of ability group- 284 Department of Secondary-School Principals ing. The E, G, and F plan is here used, but the grouping is on the basis of the New Stanford Achievement Test, given in the eighth grade, supplemented with intelligence tests in doubtful cases. “Achievement age” is the basis of classification. An acceleration of two years above the norm places a student in the “E” group, and a retardation of two years or more below the norm places a student in the “F” group. All the rest are assigned to the “G” or average group. A check-up on chronological and educational ages of the three groups shows the following: “E” group, average chronological age, 13 yrs. 8 mo.; educational age, 17 yrs. 1 mo.: “G” group, chronological age, 14 yrs. 9 mo. ; educational age, 15 yrs. 3 mo.: “F” group, chronological age, 15 yrs. 6 mo.; educational age, 13 yrs. 2 mo. (Above classifica- tion was of high-school Freshmen. ) Certain standardized tests, such as the Pressy English, the Doug- lass Algebra, and the Charters Diagnostic Language Tests, were given to all ability sections ninth grade through the twelfth grade. In some cases the “E” and “G” groups were very close together in achieve- ment, and in other cases the “G” and “F” groups wére very close, even overlapping considerably at certain levels. There was a sufficient amount of this overlapping, at any rate, to demonstrate the viciousness involved in the practice of insisting that only those in the high group shall be recommended to college, and that different values shall be assigned to marks earned by each ability section. In view of the fact that a great many high-school principals have adopted ability grouping without taking account of all the factors that should be considered in organizing the groups, and also without using common sense and judgment in the interpretation of results, it is time for stock taking in regard to this administrative device. The suggestion is here made therefore that one of the chief items to be stressed in cooperative research among high school principals for the next few years, should be ability grouping in all of its aspects. For the carrying out of such a cooperative plan of research the criteria suggested by Dr. James F. Bursch, Director of Research, Sacramento City Schools, would seem to be appropriate: 1. The selective factors entering into ability grouping should be identical in all of the participating schools,—for example it might be prescribed that the following factors, or some agreed upon combination of the same would be employed: Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 285 . General brightness ; . Present accomplishment level in subjects in which group- ing is accomplished ; . Aptitude in the field under consideration ; d. Working habits or attitudes in this field. e. Teachers’ estimates of ability, etc. 2. There should be a central codrdinating head to the research project who would need to be responsible for the following functions : a. To see that all pertinent ideas as to what should be included in the research be assembled from all those who will participate in the study and from any other available sources ; . To be responsible for organizing such collected pertinent ideas into data gathering blank forms; . To be responsible for knowing in advance of the filling out of these forms by the codperating schools that each item called for on the forms is capable of being inter- preted alike by each school, and that they are in fact so interpreted ; . To be responsible for assembling, organizing and inter- preting the data, and for returning a report of the results to the cooperating schools. Some such procedure as the above is necessary to make sure that all data gathered is comparable, and that the results are reliable and worthy of being taken into account in the formulation of curriculum and administrative policies. It might be found desirable to have regional groups of high schools organized to attack and undertake to solve certain problems, each regional group devoting its attention thus to a small list of problems, and leaving other regional groups to undertake other problems, the results of all studies to be cleared through the central committee on research of the Department of Secondary-School Principals. Permanent and satisfactory results can be achieved in this manner only, Whereas, the present hit or miss method of undertaking research produces a huge mass of undigested, and literally half-baked results. Codperative research among high- school principals is the key with which to open the door to a new era gf progress in secondary education. - 7, Bt E ia 286 Department of Secondary-School Principals Wm. H. Bristow moved that the Department continue the Com- mittee on Organization of Investigation. Carried. Wm. North moved that the Committee have another meeting. Carried. Wm. Proctor moved that the meeting be held at Chicago. Carried. The date of Saturday, May 10, was agreed upon. Meeting adjourned at 11:25. President Stuart adjourned the convention with words of grati- tude for the consideration and helpfulness of officers and members. NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETINGS AT ATLANTIC CITY, NEW JERSEY Meeting of the National Council of the National Honor Society at Marlborough-Blenheim, Atlantic City, New Jersey, Sunday, Febru- ary 23, 1930. The National Council met at 2 p.m. Present: Members Kepner, McDaniel, Rynearson, Seybold, and Church. Absent: Members Brooks, Downey, Keyes, Prunty, and Wing. The terms of following members expire: Downey, McDaniel, and Rynearson. The following were nominated: Edward Rynearson of Pittsburgh, V. K. Troula of Seattle, E. E. Morley of Cleveland Heights, M. R. McDaniel of Oak Park, R. R. Cook of Des Moines, Wm. A. Wetzel of Trenton, W. E. Howley of Rochester, G. West Hathaway of Providence, and George W. Murdock of Detroit. The chair appointed members Seybold and Murdock to choose colors for the National Junior Honor Society. Member Church moved, with a second by member Kepner, that diploma seals be prepared. Carried. The chair appointed member McDaniel as committee on diploma seals. On motion of member Kepner, second by member Seybold, the emblem design for the National Junior Honor Society was approved. Spies Brothers were named as jewelers for the National Junior Honor Society on motion of member Seybold with the second of member Kepner. On motion of member McDaniel, second by member Seybold, the charter of the National Junior Honor Society was adopted. Member Kepner moved to adjourn to meet Wednesday at 5 P.M. Meeting of Wednesday, February 26, at Marlborough-Blenheim, at Atlantic City, New Jersey. The National Council met at 5:10 p.m. Present: Members Kepner, McDaniel, Rynearson, Seybold, and Church. Absent: Members Brooks, Murdock, Keyes, Prunty, and Wing. 287 288 Department of Secondary-School Principals On motion of member Church, second by member Seybold, mem- ber Rynearson was elected President. The design for an honor society diploma seal was presented by member McDaniel, was adopted on motion of member McDaniel, with second by member Seybold. The resignation of member Prunty was accepted on motion of member Kepner and a second by member Seybold. Moved by member Seybold to adjourn. THE NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY Replies to Questionnaire, January, 1929 Epwarp RyNEARSON, PRESIDENT OF THE NATIONAL Honor SOCIETY For the benefit of those who are not familiar with the National Honor Society let me say that the National Honor Society is an organization which serves somewhat the same purpose in the second- ary school as the Phi Beta Kappa in the colleges. It grew out of the fact that all over the United States groups of secondary schools felt the necessity of recognizing and emphasizing scholarship. These groups increased in number until the need was recognized by the National Association of Secondary-School Principals in the organiza- tion of the National Honor Society at the Atlantic City meeting in February, 1921. The National Honor Society differs from Phi Beta Kappa in that it expresses the objectives of the secondary schools and thus empha- sizes not only scholarship but service, character, and leadership. While the constitution was written and adopted in 1921, the organization did almost nothing until after the Chicago meeting in 1922 when the form of charter was approved and the emblem was adopted. Since that time nine hundred and fifty chapters have been organized. These chapters are distributed from Portland, Maine, through every section of the United States, even to Honolulu and recently to the Philip- pines. Forty-eight thousand boys and girls are wearing the emblem. Does not this rapid growth show the appreciation of many of the leading secondary-school principals and teachers? That the organiza- tion was well planned is evidenced not only by this phenomenal growth but also by the fact that only these two minor changes have been made Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 289 in the constitution in the first eight years of the organization: (1) At first only pupils who stood in the highest fourth were eligible to membership,—now it is the highest third; (2) At first 5% of the 11A class might be elected only during the last month of the semester,— now they may be elected any time during the sixth semester. The Council, however, does not want the members of the Depart- ment of Secondary-School Principals to infer that the above changes were the only issues that have been raised; on the contrary, other important questions have been asked. Most of these were grouped under seven heads in a questionnaire sent out in January, 1929, to the principals of secondary schools in which were chapters of the National Honor Society. While the answers revealed a decided opinion in favor of the constitution and policy of the National Honor Society as it exists at present, the minority expressed some very perti- nent convictions that should be given serious consideration by the members of the Council and by others interested in the future of the Society. The questionnaire and the percentage of votes for each question were published in Bulletin Number 25 which contained the Proceed- ings of the Department of Secondary-School Principals at the Cleve- land meeting in February, 1929. This brief report is repeated here for the convenience of the reader. In addition to the vote on each question, some of the opinions for and against are given. In addition to the seven direct questions an opportunity, number 8, was given for the principals and those in charge of the activities of the chapter to ask questions not included in the questionnaire and to give suggestions for the betterment and expansion of the Society. 1. Do you favor admitting sophomores at the end of their fourth semester to the National Honor Society? If so, suggest conditions, scholarship requirements, percentage, etc. Yes—11% No—89% Those in favor give several reasons for admitting sophomores at the end of the fourth semester: (1) Because according to present plan the award is too far in the future; (2) Because immediate member- ship provides a greater stimulus; (3) Because membership is too brief,—as one answer puts it, the period of membership in the Honor Society at present is so brief that a “society consciousness” cannot be built up. If membership were more continuous and the group held together longer, a more effective individual organization would result. 290 Department of Secondary-School Principals Nearly all principals of small high schools favor admitting the sophomores as otherwise the chapter is too small. One writer sug- gests the following percentages: 15% of the senior class, 744% of the junior class, 5% of the sophomore class, and 214% of the freshmen. The great majority are emphatically opposed to any such change and for excellent reasons: (1) The school is not yet sufficiently acquainted with the student body to judge intelligently who are entitled to election; (2) Restricting membership to the senior year provides a goal for high-school students. If the honor is presented earlier there is the possibility of a slump on the part of the pupil; (3) The present method encourages scholarship in “earlier grades, when it is needed and gives the chance for special service during the mature senior year. It also gives the juniors the benefit of learning how the society is conducted, thus leaving a nucleus of honor mem- bers to carry over into the senior year’; (4) If elected early some pupils “feel that they have come to their goal and they slow up. As long as the election is delayed, the drive to do better and better, results.” 2. Do you favor admitting juniors at the end of their fifth semester to the National Honor Society? If so, suggest conditions, scholar- ship requirements, percentages, etc. Yes—34% No—66% The reasons assigned for favoring admitting the juniors at the end of the fifth semester are practically the same as for admitting the sophomores. One reply suggests 1% of juniors during sixth semester ; another suggests 5% during the fifth semester and 5% during the sixth. The “noes” also advance the same reasons as against the admission of sophomores. One reply states “bars should not be lowered at all; that is to admit sophomores or juniors before the 11A semester. If this requirement were changed, the respect which both students and public have for the organization would be lowered.” 3. Do you favor admitting more than 15% of the senior class to the National Honor Society including students admitted in the lower classes ? (a) If so, does the number of graduating seniors have any in- fluence on your decision ? (b) If so, indicate the conditions under which you would increase the percentage of graduating seniors to be chosen. Yes—15% No—85% Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 291 The 15% who favor are for the most part from the small high schools where the present 15% of the graduation class does not represent enough to make an effective group. One reply says, “No, for if we do, the Society will no longer be regarded as something to work toward.” A few feel that the percentage should vary with the size of the class. Here again the great majority are opposed to the change. They feel that if the membership were increased the society would not be sufficiently exclusive and therefore no longer to be regarded as some- thing to be worked toward. One reply suggests, “allow 15% or a minimum of four pupils, in case 15% of class does not equal this number. This would insure smaller schools large enough membership to maintain an organization within the school.” 4. What are your chief difficulties in selecting National Honor So- ciety members ? (a) Does your faculty or faculty committee give a numerical ranking as rank 7 for each candidate who is decidedly above the average in each of the qualities or service, character, and leadership; and rank 2 to those who are above the average ; rank 3 to those who are average ; rank 4 to those who are below the average ; rank 5 to those who are decidedly below the average? Yes—37% No—63% Do you determine the numerical ranking received by each student from each faculty member on the various qualities to ascertain the ultimate and total rank of the candidate ? Yes—51% No—49% (c) Would you favor the above ranking plan as a means of making objective the total relative rank of the various candidates to be selected? Yes—72% No—28% The greatest difficulty seems to be with us teachers. Instead of being wise, judicial, impartial, we are apparently as human as “most folks.” Witness such wails as these: (1) “The words, service, leader- ship, and character are too much matters of opinion and the different members of the faculty differ widely”; (2) “Some electioneer for a friend”; (3) The greatest difficulty is to get the faculty to take an interest ; (4) There is too much prejudice, bias, and interest on the part of the faculty; (5)Once we elected in open faculty and chaos resulted; (6) “In a few cases outside influence has been brought to bear upon the faculty council.” Even when the faculty does all that can be asked, there are diffi- culties: (1) There is trouble in “selecting a faculty committee whose Base a5 — SN A es eon "4 - nti lh ta Loma ees See. on. cesraneatnipnatiene 292 Department of Secondary-School Principals personnel is perfectly familiar with the activities of the candidates throughout their school career”; (2) In small schools few teachers remain on the staff four years or more and are consequently not in a position to judge adequately the quality of the graduating class. Then there are difficulties with the candidates themselves: (1) Often the best students feel that they do not have time to turn out for activities; (2) There is not enough weight given to scholarship,—the finest student in the class might easily be. omitted; (3) Scholarship counts too much; (4) It is difficult to find enough who have scholar- ship and are at the same time conspicuous for the other three qualities ; (5) Difficulty lies in selecting juniors who have performed any service,—most of our leaders come from the senior class; (6) The members tend to become snobs. Space forbids mentioning more of the difficulties suggested. In regard to (a), (b), and (c), let some of the replies speak for themselves: (1) “Have a scholarship committee ; ranked as to schol- arship; if there are no negative reports on character, service, and leadership, they are selected according to their ranking” ; (2) “Faculty committee ranks students only in scholarship. The other qualities are then discussed at faculty meeting—then students are voted upon” ; (3) Give all names of students in highest third of class to each member of the faculty and ask them to rate the candidates in character, leadership and service”; (4) “Faculty committee meets and discusses the qualifications of each member proposed for the vote, then the vote is taken. A member to be elected must be elected by four of the five faculty members” ; (5) The list in alphabetical order of eligible seniors is sent to the faculty with a definition of leadership, service, and character. Usually about twenty may be selected and it is customary to have each teacher submit a list of ten or twelve that she considers eligible for membership. The results of this selection are submitted to the secretary of the meeting who lists the number of votes cast for each pupil. A motion is usually made to elect all having more than a certain number of votes and then another ballot is taken on the remaining pupils. Each teacher votes on the number the faculty has decided to elect”; (6) “No student is eligible to election who has not, first of all, attained a scholarship through his entire three years of high school of 2.3 points. A is equivalent to 3 honor points; B to 2 honor points; and C to 1 honor point. At the end of our junior year, all students who have attained this scholarship are advertised in our Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 293 teachers’ bulletin to the faculty. Any faculty member who knows any reason why any of these persons should not be elected, from the standpoint of character, leadership, and service, to the school, re- ports this fact to his chairman. A meeting is then called which con- sists of a committee made up of the principal, assistant principal, and the chairmen of all the departments of the school. After hearing the reports of the various chairmen, a vote is then taken upon the candi- dates. Each candidate is voted upon separately, and a unanimous vote is required for election.” 5. Do you believe that students should be admitted to candidacy for membership who rank in the highest third in their class in scholar- ship? If not, offer suggestions as to scholarship rank. Yes—61% No—39% Yes, because some students ranking highest in the qualifications other than scholarship are below the first quarter sometimes because their participation in various activities tends toward neglect of study. The highest fourth practically excludes boys from the National Honor Society. Miss Snodgrass, principal of the High School, Rochester, Minnesota, reports that, from a questionnaire sent out by her, more than 70% of the chapters have more girls as members than boys. The minority opposed to extending the privilege of membership to the highest third feel that such a course lowers the standards and opens the society to too many, thus detracting from the honor. “Cheapening the membership in the National Honor Society will defeat the purpose in having it.” Some would prefer to raise the percentage to 15% of the class and still others would admit only students having an average of 90% or above. Two interesting replies say: (1) “We may be sure that the method of selecting members of the National Honor Society will never suit us. The method of ascertaining class rankings never suits us. High grades are easy.to get in some sections and difficult to obtain in others. With all of the faults of our grading systems, we must admit that a grade acts as a stimulus often. For the reason that we are dealing with intangible qualities we must not undertake to use any great degree of refinement in measuring. Neither must we take our findings too seriously. On the whole, I believe that there is more good than evil in carrying on the National Honor Society. If we mechanize the process of selecting members, I believe there will soon PSE STERN Pais 25 ee pcaaoe 2 ae. eee ya 7S Sh i | ie By fo + tt ne neil RO — at ee Te ee 294 Department of Secondary-School Principals be more harm than good in the whole project”; (2) “We (New York high school) are in a position rather unlike that of other states with regard to scholarship as our records are based on the results of Regents’ examinations. Our faculty are reluctant to elect those whose scholarship averages below 85 unless such students are conspicuous for character, service, and leadership to a superlative degree. We do not believe that high scholarship alone should carry election. For example, we declined to elect the full quota in the class of ’29 because some possible leaders, while they might possibly be elected, were deficient in scholarship while fairly good scholars were deficient in service and leadership.” 6. Would you favor admitting all senior students to the National Honor Society who attain a standard scholastic mark representing the upper 15% of achievement, and whose service, leadership and character have no negative reports or disapproval from faculty members? (This question presupposes establishing within each high school a scholastic standard of achievement for admitting seniors to candidacy for membership which represents at the outset the upper 15% of the class. After this scholarship standard is set, all seniors who attain the scholastic standard will be admitted to candidacy for membership and be admitted to the society if they have no negative votes from the faculty on their service, character, citizenship and leadership record.) Yes—28% No—72% While apparently there is still a substantial minority who feel that the greatest emphasis should be laid upon scholarship, by far the greater number believe that such a course would make the election negative instead of positive. Their “noes” are emphatic: (1) “We have an honor roll which takes care of such pupils”; (2) “No! Emphatically No! We feel that instead of taking in people who are ‘good’ that only those who are ‘good for something’ should be eligible. We want only real leaders” ; (3) “No! the members should have more ability than being good receiving sets”; (4) “Scholarship tends to count too much. Some of our finest boys earn a living and cannot devote all their time to study. Many honor students do nothing but study. Last year several students who did take part in extra-activities, but did so with a selfish motive, made the society. Others just as eager to be in a dramatic club had to work and did not make the society.” 7. Would you like to receive suggestions from the National Council for the operation of a Junior Honor Society for students of the 7th, 8th, and 9th grade classes in a school having the 6-3-3 plan or for the 9th and 10th grades in a school having the 8-4 plan? Yes—71% No—29% Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 295 The majority seem to be thinking seriously enough about a Junior Honor Society to desire suggestions for its operations. “The National Honor Society,” says one reply, “does not reach the pupil early enough in his school career. At end of semester freshmen could become perhaps some sort of probationary members. This would be an in- centive to keep up good work. As it is, the National Honor Society is not a very pertinent incentive to a student until his junior year and then it may be too late to do the most for him.” There is considerable dissent. “No,” says one, “it would turn their little heads.” There is the feeling that admitting the lower classes would cheapen the honor and that “some positive achievement should be made by the student in the field of service to the school before he is elected.” Otherwise it “would tend to make students sophisticated and self-satisfied before true accomplishment.” Another reply says, “No! We think something should be left to look forward to. We think that there is so much imitation of the colleges on the part of the high schools, and of the high schools on the part of the lower grades, that the thrills are gone.” 8. Please feel free to offer frank suggestions regarding any regulations which you think ought to be made by the Council for improving the administration of the National Honor Society. The majority of the chapters seem well satisfied with things as they are. There is, however, a rather widespread demand for a ritual. and also, for some sort of bulletin in which to exchange ideas. There is a feeling that a ritual for initiation, uniform throughout the United States, would tend to give more weight and dignity to the organization. One of the first questions that was asked nine years ago after the writing of the constitution was completed, was “Shall we have a uni- form, required ritual ceremony and pledge? The answer was an em- phatic “No.” Notwithstanding the decision of the committee, pratically every chapter upon receipt of its charter, wrote back about a ritual. The Council has adhered to the original decision because some high schools prefer a simple ceremony while others wish a more elaborate ; some schools cannot afford the equipment needed for the exercises while other schools have no trouble in getting scenery, costumes, and lighting effects. After the Cleveland meeting, twelve different rituals were included in Bulletin Number 27, a copy of which was sent to every member of the Department of Secondary-School Principals. Additional copies may be secured from our secretary at twenty-five 296 Department of Secondary-School Principals cents per copy. A National Honor Society publication would provide information as to the work of other chapters, give advice and inspira- tion to young chapters and serve to keep the local organizations in touch with the national organization. Any expense for such a publica- tion could be met by payment of suitable dues by each chapter into the treasury of the national organization. Other suggestions are: (1) Seal to be placed on the diplomas of graduating members; (2) Elec- tric torch for induction ceremony; (3) Selection of members in two groups instead of three; (4) Alumni officers; (5) A letter or two to each chapter during each semester. One reply says, “The present regulations and rules of the National Honor Society .are quite satisfactory. It is a step above our honor roll which naturally includes all of these others suggested as possible candidates in the questions herein presented. I sincerely hope no radical change in admission requirements will be made. The Society works very well in any school and has done a great deal towards raising scholarship as well as the other three standards among our student body. We have lived with it long enough to believe that it is, as now managed, on a going basis.” “To belong to the National Honor Society has become so much of a coveted honor in our high school that practically no semester goes by without some fond parent coming in wishing to know why his child has not been chosen. I think this is the acid test ; and if we made it all inclusive, it would become so broad that it would be very flat.” “T like it as it is. Let’s not fool with it and spoil it.” Summary and Remarks: 1. At the Cleveland meeting authority was given to the Council to organize a National Junior Honor Society. Before we left Cleve- land a constitution was written and approved. Several chapters of the National Junior Honor Society have been organized during the year. 2. The Handbook for the National Junior Honor Society has been printed. It offers many suggestions for the organization and adminis- tration of a chapter of the National Junior Honor Society. Last year the Constitution of the National Honor Society was amended so that each year there is a representative elected from the junior high school on the National Council of the National Honor Society. eS oe ee ae ae) ee oe Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting 297 3. A Handbook of the National Honor Society has been written and is in the hands of the printer which will answer many of the questions that are asked by the chapters. It will issue in April as Bulletin Number 31. 4. Twelve rituals for the initiation ceremony varying in length and simplicity were assembled in Bulletin Number 27 and sent out to the members of the Department. Those schools that claim the most for their chapters of the Honor Society, use great care in the selection of members and then make the initiation exercises the most impressive of the entire year. One high school makes its chapter the center of all of its extra-curriculum activities. One principal says that while formerly athletic honors were considered the highest, now member- ship in the National Honor Society is the highest. 5. From the replies to the questionnaire, it is apparent that no considerable number of chapters wish any change in the rules and policies of the Society. 6. The Constitution distinctly states that members must be elected by the faculty or by a committee of the faculty. Pupil members should not be present when candidates are discussed by the teachers. 7. In making up the list of eligible pupils, no distinction is made between those who took academical subjects and those who took vocational subjects. 8. In reading the replies it might be inferred that many principals have delegated the entire charge of the Honor Society to some other person or to a committee. This plan may not violate the Constitution but there is a question whether or not the administration of the Honor Society is not one of the most important duties of the principal. 9. A few have expressed the desire for seals for the diploma, certificate of membership for all, and pennants. The Council should like to know your wishes. You probably know that we have a beautiful metal plaque now on sale. 10. The Honor Society would have greater influence in the school if the members should be elected during the 11A and 12B semester as well as during the twelfth semester ; otherwise the Society is apt to become too much an alumni affair. 298 Department of Secondary-School Principals 11. We wish to repeat the invitation for questions, criticisms, and suggestions from the members of the Department. I personally read every one of the more than five hundred replies to this questionnaire and answered every question by a special letter except in a few cases where no address was given. 12. We also repeat the request for your codperation in extending the advantages of the Society among the secondary schools of your state. “To you... we throw the torch; be yours to hold it high” The balloting for members of the National Honor Society resulted in the election of the following: Edward Rynearson, M. R. McDaniel, and George W. Murdock. CONSTITUTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS ARTICLE I-—NAME The name of this Department shall be the Department of Sec- ondary-School Principals of the National Education Association. ARTICLE II—A1IM The aim of this Department is to promote the interests of sec- ondary education in America by giving a special consideration to the problems that arise in connection with the administration of secondary schools. ARTICLE I1I—MEMBERSHIP - Section 1—Membership in the Department of Secondary-School Principals shall consist of Active and Associate. Section 2—All Principals of Secondary Schools, namely Junior High Schools, Senior High Schools, and Junior Colleges, their ad- ministrative and executive assistants, Heads of Schools of Educa- tion in Normal Schools, Colleges, and Universities, together with Professors teaching Secondary Education therein and Secondary- School Representatives of State Education Departments, who are also members of the N. E. A., shall be eligible to Active Member- ship upon payment to the Secretary of the annual fee of $2.00. Active members shall have the privilege of voting. Section 3—Members of State Organizations of Secondary- School Principals shall be eligible to Associate Membership of the Department of Secondary-School Principals, as a group, by the pay- ment to the Secretary of the annual fee of $1.00. Section 4—All others engaged in Secondary Education, who are members of the National Education Association, shall be eligible to Associate Membership upon payment to the Secretary, of the annual fee of $1.00. 299 300 Department of Secondary-School Principals Section 5—All members both Active and Associate shall receive all publications of the Department. ARTICLE 1V—OFFICERS Section 1—Officers of this Department shall be a President, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, and Executive Secre- tary, who shall be the executive officer of the Executive Committee. Section 2—The Executive Committee shall consist of these off- cers, the retiring President, and two members of the Department. The -xecutive Committee shall be representative of Junior High Schools, Senior High Schools and Junior Colleges. ARTICLE V—ELECTION OF OFFICERS Section 1—At the first session of the annual mid-winter meeting a nominating committee of nine shall be elected by ballot from a list of at least eighteen members nominated from the floor. This com- mittee shall elect a Chairman, select nominees for all offices except the Executive Secretary, and report at the regular business session of the mid-winter meeting. After the report of the nominating com mittee the President of the Department shall call for other nomina- tions for the different offices and for the membership on the Executive Committee. Section 2—The Executive Secretary shall be selected by the inxecitive Committee for am indefinite period, ray LE Vi— aie. src Section 1—The Department of Secondary-School Principals shail hold two meetings yearly. The regular annual meeting to be held at the time and place of the meetings of the Department of Super intendence of the National Education Association, unless arranged or otherwise by the Executive Committee of the National Education \ssociation. Section 2—The second meeting of the Department shall be held at the time and place of the annual summer meeting of the National -ducation Association. or oe . ore @ | Wit aS Se er Proceedings of the Atlantic City Meeting ArTICLE VII—AMENDMENTS The Constitution may be amended by a majority vote of those present and voting at the annual mid-winter meeting. A proposed amendment must be submitted in writing at the preceding annual meeting, or must be submitted in printed form to all members of the Department thirty days before the annual meeting. In case the latter method is used, such amendment must receive the approval of the Executive Committee before it can be printed and sent to the members of the Department. ir ak oe a