BULLETIN OF THE 


DEPARTMENT OF 
SECONDARY-SCHOOL 
PRINCIPALS 


OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 


Issued Five Times a Year 
January, March, April, May, and December 


MARCH, 1933 


Entered as second-class matter, December 29, 1925, at the postoffice 
at Berwyn, Illinois, under the Act of August 24, 1912. Acceptance 
for mailing at special rate of postage, provided for in Section 412, 


Act of February 28, 1925, authorized March 30, 1927. 


BULLETIN NUMBER 45 


Proceedings of the 
Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the 


Department of 


Secondary-School Principals 
of the National Education Association 


MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 
February 27, 28, and March 1, 1933 








Published by 
THE DEPARTMENT OF 


SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
. OF THE NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 


H. V. CHURCH, Executive Secretary 
8129 Wenonah Avenue, BERWYN, ILLINOIS 
































Proceedings of the 


Seventeenth Annual Meeting of the 
Department of 
Secondary-School Principals 
of the 

National Education) Association ot ¢ 


riy 
at © 


MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. 


on 


February 27, 28, and March 1, 1933 


Edited by 
H. V. CHURCH 


Secretary of the Association 


(Published by the Department, 1935 





GIFT 


ASSOCIATION 
DEC 12 1933 











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a 
3 
4 


CONTENTS 


Officers of the Department...............2-0.....2- sete eee eee tees 


Proceedings of the Seventeen Annual Meeting.................. 


GENERAL SESSION 


“In Defense of American Secondary-Schools,” Charles 
H. Judd, University of Chicago... 2.22... 


“The State and Its High-Schools,” E. W. Butterfield, Com- 
missioner of Education, Connecticut | ................ wes 


“The Curriculum of the High-School,” Wm. John Cooper, 
U. S. Commissioner of Education..................22222....... ; 


DISCUSSION GROUPS 
“Improvement and Economy in Secondary-School Admin- 
istration,” Wm. C. Reavis, Professor of Education, 
University of Chicago............ eres opliibiaaciieiie deat cath 
“Improvement and Economy in Instruction,” R. R. Cook, 
Principal of Theodore Roosevelt High-School, Des 
I iii avceiciittichnianilaniitiamiadapeacingsiitiel 
“Directed Learning and the Unit Assignment,” Roy O. 
Billett, Illinois State Normal University, Normal, 
| EEE SEL ELS ET OP Le See re ee ee 
“High-School Library Standards,” C. C. Certain, Detroit, 
I, Sth cccttncibhectl. daiieniniabdndedlilptiieedgieiea ee 


“New Standards for New Schools,” William C. Bagley, 
Columbia University, New York City........000000000.0....... 


“The Relationship of Regional Accrediting Agencies to 
Secondary Education During this Crisis,” J. B. Ed- 
monson, Dean, School of Education, University of 
SD... rida nc ee Beaten 

“The Relationship of State Departments of Education to 
Secondary Education During this Crisis,” William 


III. 


eM) 
wt 


4 


or 
wore 


86 


96 














IV. 


PAGE 


H. Bristow, Deputy Superintendent, State Depart- 
ment of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pennsyl- 


WA: . cccssecndcedae. 
“Improvement and Economy in the High-School Curric- 
ulum,” Jesse H. Newlon, Director, Lincoln School 
Teachers College, Columbia University........................ 


“Economy and Improvement of Extra Curriculum Activ- 
ities in Secondary-Schools,” Elbert K. Fretwell, 
Teachers College, Columbia University........................ 


“Adapting the Curriculum of the Junior High-School to 
the Needs of the Pupils,” Harl R. Douglas, Profes- 
sor of Secondary Education, University of Minne- 


sota 
“The Teaching and Learning Situation in Junior High- 
School Classrooms,” H. H. Ryan, Principal, Wiscon- 
sin High-School, Madison, Wisconsin.......................... 


“The Tax-Supported Junior College During the Next Dec- 
ade,” Walter Crosby Eells, Professor of Education, 


Stanford University, Editor, The Junior College 
I csacentitcusiniunishdietnciiitntalaeadaindins ts celaieadh aceasta oa! 


“Public Relations of the Junior College,” G. C. Vande Bo- 
gart, President, Northern Montana College, Havre, 


aa PN ae Sts AMBER eN Tol RU ay Oe 
Junior High-School Principals’ Luncheon Session............ 


“The North Carolina Program of State Support as Af- 
fecting High-Schools,” E. H. Garinger, Principal 
Central High-School, Charlotte, North Carolina........ 


“The New York Program of State Support of Education 
as Affecting High-Schools,” Alfred D. Simpson, As- 
sistant Commissioner of Education for Finance, New 


York State Education Department.....................0...... , 


“Analyzing Objectives in Music Education,” Russell V. 
Morgan, Director of Music, Cleveland Public Schools 


104 


139 


147 


177 


192 

















V. 
PAGE 

and Associate Professor of Music, School of Educa- 

tion, Western Reserve University...........................----- 205 


“Analyzing Art Objectives in the High-School,” Jndian- 
ola Willeutts, Supervisor of Art Education, Public 
Schools, Duluth, Minnesota......................000000022..-22eeee--- 213 


“Industrial Arts Objectives and Their Attainment,” 
Homen J. Smith, Professor of Industrial Education, 
University of Minnesota.................2....0.2220002220c220--eeeeeee 223 


“Recent Developments in Junior College Administration,” 
W. W. Carpenter, Professor of Education, University 
Oars d hse heheh ihedesonth ibeatelsiDapsinbbiedeabhatiaiiicla 233 


“Recent Developments in Instruction at the Junior Col- 
lege Level,” Doak S. Campbell, George Peabody Col- 
lege, Nashville, Tennessee.................-2...20--.00020-22-2222----- 245 


“How the Six-Four-Four Plan Is Working in Three Cali- 
fornia Communities,” William Martin Proctor, Stan- 


Ce i ictisicsviciitn cise seleseiihlaieeitne ep cteieiniecnnees 247 
ee 


“A Social Situation Judgments Test—Form 1 (Experi- 
mental) ,” A. A. Reed, Director of the Extension Di- 
vision, and C. C. Weidemann, Teachers College, Uni- 
versity of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska...................... 262 


“The Status and Functions of the High-School Library,” 
Galen Jones, Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 
Fes i saiecncstscectitencdnnhiiniastieebaceatiarcalitaiaiitiidaninn 276 


“An Appraisal of Programs of Guidance in Secondary- 
Schools,” Grayson N. Kefauver, Acting Professor of 
Education, Stanford University..........................-.......-- 283 


“A Study of High-School Pupil Population in Aid of the 
Revision of the Curriculum,” L. W. Smith, Superin- 
tendent of Schools, Berkeley, California...................... 292 


“Cooperative Studies in Secondary Education in New 
York State,” Dr. Geo. M. Wiley, Assistant Commis- 











VI. 


PAGE 
sioner of Education, State Education Department, 
I, iss weisccisccninctiiatn itech nowceahaeanennennnet 312 

LUNCHEON SESSION 
321 


DUNC PON TANI a cscs cvecennoscnsecaceavtacesusscusvwscsbcecdasauasoncies 


“First Report of the Carnegie Commission,” Preliminary 
Statement by Chairman, Thomas H. Briggs, Teachers 


College, Columbia University...........0..00.0..... cecisikunabidbetelia 322 
Report of the Finance Committee.......... nA Pia NEA A 327 
Report of the Treasurer, January 1, 1932 to December 
ITE ITI xs0ssscansasniteistecnnnecqnnimsishlaliliadchnssiisidelieasaeatilen ell man 329 
' National Council Meeting of The National Honor So- 
I secisinisssinentinsinniasaleitiasnstiestecniieiasimeiaa ease scahciidaiialieel 135 


Constitution of the Department of Secondary-School Prin- 
SUID. saixiccecsiscisnniseiatiplaciaa ita alae asians aaa tate 


APPENDIX 


“Pioneers, O Pioneers,” Thomas H. Briggs, Teachers 
College, Columbia University......0.00000000000000000000eeeceeee ee 339 











THE OFFICERS OF THE DEPARTMENT 


President: Robert C. Clem 
Principal Shawnee High-School 
Louisville, Kentucky. 


First Vice-President: Charles F. Allen 
Supervisor of Secondary Education of Little Rock, Arkansas. 


Second Vice-President: Harrison C. Lyseth 
State Supervisor of Secondary Education 
Augusta, Maine. 


Secretary-Treasurer: H. V. Chureh 
Berwyn, IIl. 


EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE 
William E. Burkhard 


Principal of Tilden Junior High-School 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 


D. A. Morgan 
Principal of Shawnee Mission Rural High-School 
Merriam, Kansas. 


W. W. Haggard 
Superintendent Township High School and Junior College 
Joliet, Illinois 























SEVENTEENTH ANNUAL CONVENTION 
of the 


Department of Secondary-School 
Principals 


of the 


‘ NATIONAL EDUCATION 
ASSOCIATION 


The seventeenth annual meeting of the Department of 
Secondary-School Principals met in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, February 27, 28, and 
March 1, 1933. 


THE GENERAL SESSION 


The first session of the seventeenth annual meeting of the 
Department of Secondary-School Principals was called to 
order by President W. W. Haggard, Superintendent of Joliet 
Township High-School and Junior College of Joliet, Illinois, at 
1:50 P. M. in the Ball Room of Leamington Hotel, Minneapo- 
lis, Minnesota. 


The President at once introduced Charles H. Judd, Dean 


of School of Education, University of Chicago, who read his 
paper, In Defense of American Secondary-Schools. 


IN DEFENSE OF AMERICAN SECONDARY- 
SCHOOLS 


CHARLES H. JUDD, 
University of Chicago. 


Some months ago I went into a third grade and found the 
teacher and pupils engaged in a drama which was staged for 
the purpose of teaching children how to cross a street. In my 








2 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


boyhood, crossing a street was not an adventure. I can imag- 
ine the unbridled mirth which would have been released in 
1880 if someone had suggested in a meeting of a citizens’ com- 
mittee on taxation that pupils in a third grade, or any other 
grade, be taught in school how to cross a street. It is true that 
the casualty insurance companies of this country, controlled 
and directed by hard-headed leaders of the modern industrial 
system, are willing to spend a very respectable sum of money 
each year to carry on a vigorous propaganda for the introduc- 
tion of safety education into schools. These leaders when they 
are thinking about humanity—and the profits which come to 
casualty insurance companies as a result of the lengthening of 
human life—are filled with pride at the statistics which show 
the decline in accidents in those cities where safety education 
has flourished. Of course, when these same leaders sit on cit- 
izens’ committees on taxation, they abhor all “fads and frills” 
and, forgetting for the moment that it was they themselves 
who pushed safety education into the curriculum, join in an 
angry chorus of protests against the teaching of anything ex- 


cept the three R’s which they solemnly declare to be the only 
really legitimate contents of instruction in the good old Amer- 


ican citizenship school. 


I am not here to advocate either the introduction of safety 
education into the curriculum or its withdrawal from the 
schools. I am merely trying to find words of one syllable 
which may possibly appeal to the hysterical bankers and busi- 
ness men who are engaged in these troubled times in closing 
up the schools while they do something which they call saving 
the credit of cities, and states, and the nation. The schools did 
not breed the children nor did they make the streets of our 
cities unsafe for pedestrians. 


As a student of psychology, I am interested in arriving at 
a formulation of the facts about crossing the street which can 
be employed as a generalization applicable to all education. 
In earlier times, crossing a street was comparatively safe for 
a normal individual because all of the factors were fully rec- 
ognized and clearly understood without any training except 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 3 


that which came from ordinary experience. A child can see 
a horse approaching and can readily understand the rate of 
movement at which the horse is coming, because a horse is in 
the same general class with respect to speed as human beings 
themselves. Not only so, but the approach of horses coming 
from two different directions makes no over-exacting demands 
on a child’s attention, because the whole panorama unfolds at 
an easily perceived rate. The modern mechanical age has ban- 
ished horses. It almost seems at times as though it were in 
process of banishing human beings. Powerful mechanical 
contrivances come careering down the street at a rate which 
is incomparably more swift than the movements of any human 
being. The commonplace perception of earlier years must be 
elaborated into a more highly organized kind of knowledge. 
Ordinary experience will no longer suffice. Children must be 
explicitly taught. 


Let us think of some other examples which will equally 
well fit our generalization. When the American army engin- 
eers arrived in Havana during the Spanish-American War, 
they found the sanitary conditions primitive and inviting of all 
kinds of contagion. The city was hardly more advanced than 
a rural settlement. The explanation of the situation was to be 
found in the familiar fact that human beings tend to follow 
habitual modes of behavior and practices of life long after the 
conditions have changed under which the habits were formed. 
Urban life with its congestion produces wholly artificial con- 
ditions of human existence. Though the change from rural to 
urban life is very radical, it may be entirely overlooked by in- 
dividual citizens who are busy with their own petty affairs. 
Such was the case in Havana. The city needed to be cleaned 
up. The lives of its people were endangered by neglect. What 
did the American army engineers contribute to the situation? 
The answer is that they brought to Havana modern science. 
In so doing, they not only changed the physical conditions; 
they changed the mental attitudes of human beings. Sanita- 
tion is both a mode of life and a mode of thought and volition. 








4 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Another example of our generalization is to be seen in the 
difficulty which American society faces in revising govern- 
mental organizations. The year 1933 sees American commu- 
nities governed by constitutions and laws which belong to an 
agrarian period which was long ago superseded by modern in- 
dustrialism. The number of separate taxing and expending 
jurisdictions which infest the land can be understood only by 
going back in one’s thinking to the era when people lived in 
small communities, when all the leading citizens were person- 
ally acquainted with one another and with the various degrees 
of one another’s integrity or otherwise. Government in those 
days was not in business. Indeed, government was of minor 
importance. To-day all is different. The economic relations 
of men to one another are so intricate and so much in need of 
regulation that vast governmental services have been organ- 
ized which our forefathers never knew or imagined to be pos- 
sible. 

The president of the Department of Secondary-School 
Principals suggested that I speak in defense of the high- 
schools. As I set myself to the task of preparing for this oc- 
casion, I came to the conclusion that it was more in keeping 
with the demands of the times that I prepare a defense of mod- 
ern society. The ultimate safety of the social order depends 
on the training of citizens to a level where they will be able to 
cope with the complex problems of a highly elaborated civili- 
zation. Common sense is a very good basis for successful life, 
but it is primitive as contrasted with trained intelligence. If 
the time ever comes when society closes up its higher schools, 
the demands on intelligence will have, also, to be reduced. 


Anyone who reviews the history of civilization notes that 
there was a time when there were no schools. That was in the 
day when man lived very near to nature; when he gathered 
his food with his own hands; when he found shelter in the nat- 
ural protections of rocks and woods; when he depended on 
favorable climatic conditions to make possible his compara- 


tively helpless existence. 





- Sen eaarirue se 





epee 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 5 


When natural living gave way to early industrial organi- 
zation, even though that organization was of a simple type, the 
need for instruction in the arts began to be _recognized. 
Schools became a part of society’s machinery of self-preserva- 
tion. 


It is interesting in contemplating the facts with regard 
to the earliest schools of Europe to observe that those schools 
were of the higher type. Universities antedated the secon- 
dary-schools, and secondary-schools antedated schools for the 
common people. The interpretation of this priority of higher 
and secondary education is that society found it at once ex- 
tremely desirable and very difficult to pass on its highest 
forms of knowledge. A school is a social agency for the trans- 
mission of the intellectual inheritance of the race. 


The common school was not thought to be necessary in 
the days of the medieval university and of the early secondary- 
schools because the humbler members of society were sur- 
rounded by very simple conditions of life. They were serfs. 
They never moved away from the narrow confines in which 
they were born and brought up. They were told what to be- 
lieve about their souls, about their rulers, and about their fu- 
ture lives. They were encouraged to do as little thinking for 
themselves as possible. 


Education in the medieval world was the privilege of the 
few. Only the few were allowed to come in contact with the 
experiences that transcended the humdrum of common life. 


Civilization moved on, and it became evident that the 
common people must be admitted into some of the broader 
spheres of experience. The common school came into being, 
but at first this common school was hemmed in by restrictions 
dictated by an hereditary aristocracy. The common school 
taught reading and numbers, because the conditions of life had 
grown complicated to the point where reading and number 
were indispensable to community existence. 


Somewhat later the common people were allowed to study 
geography and history. Geography and history are danger- 





6 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ous subjects when opened to the common people. The insights 
gained by the study of these subjects are likely to change com- 
placent serfs into enthusiasts for democracy. 


Finally, when society took the next step and created 
a civilization in which everyone has a right to share in the 
secrets of science, there was no turning back. Can anyone 
doubt that present-day civilization has become so complex 
that some knowledge above the mere rudiments is the right 
of every individual? 

In 1930, I made a study of what industry itself requires 
of those who apply for the privilege of employment. I took ac- 
count of the demand made by fifty-one large industries on 
applicants for admission to positions in these industries. These 
fifty-one industries employed people in 190 different kinds of 
positions, ranging from positions filled by experts, such as en- 
gineers, to lowly positions, such as those of messengers. For 
admission to sixty-five of the 190 types of positions, industry 
demanded graduation from high school or, in some cases, even 


more—graduation from college or professional school. Thirty- 
four more of the 190 kinds of positions required a minimum 
of two years of high-school education. In other words, approx- 
imately one-half of the types of positions called for educa- 
tion beyond the elementary grades. 


I have not spoken, up to this point, of any of the personal 
ambitions which drive men and women to desire insight into 
the facts revealed by science and the ideas recorded in liter- 
ature. I have not spoken of the hopes which parents entertain 
that they may be able to provide for their children experiences 
broader than those which surrounded their own early lives. 
I have held to strictly objective facts. I have said of education 
that it grows in scope with the growth of industry and with 
the increasing complexity of life. 


It would be an interesting calculation to try to make a 
strictly mathematical estimate of the amount of education 
needed to equip one for life in a given era. Think, if you will, 
of life in the time of Martin Luther. Remember that he and 
his associates plead with the burgomasters of German towns 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 7 
to open schools for the common people. He had translated 
the Bible into the vernacular and was the leader in the move- 
ment to liberate the religious thought of the people by train- 
ing them to read. All this happened more than 300 years be- 
fore there was any thought of those devices of communica- 
tion which have brought all parts of the world into telegra- 
phic communication with one another and made it possible for 
the common man to know as soon as they happen the doings 
of remote nations. If mere learning’ to read can be thought of 
as requiring, say, three years of schooling, is it not evident 
that the complexities of modern life create a demand for four 
times as much schooling as was thought necessary at the 
time of the Reformation, 400 years ago? 


There is one characteristic of modern American society 
which makes the cultivation of higher forms of intelligence 
absolutely essential to individual success and to the continu- 
ation of the social system. That characteristic is to be seen 
in the rapid pace at which changes take place in industrial 
processes. For long generations the methods of production 
in agriculture and manufacturing were fairly stable. In the 
older civilizations, sons followed in the callings of their fathers 
and employed the methods which had long been known to the 
older generations. With an acceleration which baffles the imag- 
ination, new materials have come into use in industry and new 
processes of dealing with these materials have been invented. 
It is utterly futile to attempt to anticipate to-day the forms 
of behavior which will be essential to personal success in the 
years of the future. Modern education must cultivate adapt- 
ability. What is taught must be in a form which suggests in- 
telligent readjustment. 

Psychology has made it clear that habitual repetition of an 
act demands very little use of the mind. Even acts of skill 
may become so fixed by mere repetition that they do not call 
for the supervision of consciousness. The moment a habit has 
to be readjusted in order to fit behavior to a new situation, 
intelligence comes into play. 

The implications for education of the principle of psy- 
chology which was stated in the last paragraph are so ap- 





oe 


jaca. Oa 


8 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


parent that no extended discussion of them is necessary. The 
minds of pupils must be exposed to a sufficient range of ex- 
periences to insure the cultivation of mental agility and adapt- 
ability. I have no doubt that proper organization of education, 
even in the lower grades, can contribute much to the develop- 
ment of a type of intelligence which will avoid the limitations 
that come from mere routine drill, but it seems clear in the 
light of long experience with pupils that the range of intellect- 
ual contacts which is essential to the production of adapt- 
ability of a high type can be provided only through education 
of secondary grade. 


Now and again one hears the question seriously raised 
whether society can support free secondary education. I find 
the answer to this question in such considerations as I have 
attempted to present. Little children have to learn to read and 
write; they have to find out something about the world in 
which they live through the study of geography and history 
and literature before they can begin to acquire ideas regard- 
ing public sanitation and proper organization of government. 
It takes long years to develop those mature attitudes toward 
the world which will prepare one to reajust successfully one’s 
ways of life to the demands of a complex and changing social 
order. I firmly believe that general secondary education is a 
necessary corollary to the development of a progressing civili- 
zation. 


I have made no effort up to this point to meet the ob- 
jections which are sometimes voiced against the particular 
forms of secondary education exhibited in American school 
systems. I certainly shall spend no time in attempting to 
answer the charge that our secondary schools are to be cen- 
sured because they are not like the secondary schools of the 
old world. I have listened with you to the unfavorable com- 
ments of recent writers and speakers who have been harsh 
in their judgments about high schools. I sometimes wish it 
were not beneath the dignity of such an occasion as this to 
express in appropriate profanity my contempt for anyone who, 
seeking a little cheap notoriety, indulges in billingsgate about 
American secondary schools. It is just because civilization 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 9 


has never before reached the level of requiring a general sec- 
ondary education that there are no precedents for our schools 
to follow. It is just because civilization is itself a vast ex- 
perimental undertaking that its progress is beset in schools, 
as in all other phases of life, by hazards. It is not a confes- 
sion of criminal neglect frankly to admit that American sec- 
ondary schools have made some mistakes. In the haste to 
meet new demands, in the striving to keep pace with the 
progress of modern times, the schools of this country have 
been obliged again and again to try devices which require 
time for their refinement. We adopted many years ago a plan 
of unitary school organization. We fitted our secondary 
schools to our elementary schools and made a system in which 
continuous progress was made possible. Europe is to-day ex- 
perimenting with a unit school organization. The democratic 
tendencies which have taken possession of even the oldest 
civilization are driving many nations to imitate the model 
which we have in some measure perfected. If our unit sys- 
tem had imperfections and has to-day imperfections which 
we are trying to correct by organizing our junior high schools 
and our junior colleges, why should anyone say of us that we 
have grossly failed? 

We have enlarged and extended our curriculum. We have 
tried the experiment in some school systems of putting an 
elaborate secondary-school program under a single roof in 
comprehensive or cosmopolitan schools. We have tried in 
other school systems the experiment of building separate 
technical high schools, commercial high schools, and academic 
high schools. We have conducted school surveys and spoken 
frankly of the defects and virtues of our various forms of 
organization. We now note with interest and some satisfaction 
that in England and Germany school authorities are struggling 
with exactly the problems which we have tried to solve by 
offering differentiated programs of instruction for pupils of 
different abilities and different outlooks. Is it a crime to have 
-experimented with commercial courses and technical courses 
and reorganized general courses? Is the balance of successes 
so small in the estimation of our critics that they have no 
pride in our pioneer achievements? 











10 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


I could go on asking questions such as the foregoing, 
which I do not think our critics have even thought of intelli- 
gently, but I must leave them to their folly. I have one more 
enemy which I wish to attack in defense of American sec- 
ondary education with all the strength that I can command. 


There are in the United States public officials who pros- 
titute the schools for personal gain. We have all of us wit- 
nessed from time to time the ugly spectacle of a board such as 
that of the J. Sterling Morton High School of Cicero, Illinois, 
which works its evil will on an institution that has been meet- 
ing the demands of civilization steadily, energetically, and 
faithfully for many years. Our political system is such that 
there seems to be no remedy for misuse of public office such 
as that exhibited in such cases. In this particular instance, 
the State Department of Public Instruction of Illinois has 
stood supinely by and allowed the program of maladministra- 
tion to go on its way. It even officially recognized the school. 
I am far less concerned about the mistakes which have been 
made in our construction of the secondary-school curriculum, 
about our blunders in organization, about our shortcomings 
in teaching than I am about a social system which is impotent 
in the face of direct affront to American civilization. If our 
profession cannot find some way to eliminate political corrup- 
tion from the management of secondary-schools, then are we, 
indeed, guilty of criminal inefficiency? 


The defense of American secondary-schools will in the 
long term of years be supplied by American civilization itself. 
There is no possibility of a social order such as that in which 
we live without general popular education of an advanced type. 
The only reason why it is urgent that this defense be under- 
taken now is that generations of young people pass with the 
passing years. Each delay in the evolution of our secondary- 
schools entails a loss which cannot be repaired. Ultimate suc- 
cess of American secondary education is as sure as the contin- 
uance of our national life. Immediate defense of the secon- 
dary-schools of the United States against serious retardation 
of their development depends on the efforts of all of us to im- 
































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 11 


prove the schools in their internal operations and to make clear 
to the people of this country the relation of secondary-schools 
to modern civilized life. 


State Commissioner of Education, E. W. Butterfield of 
Hartford, Connecticut, followed with his paper on The State 
and Its High-Schools. 


THE STATE AND ITS HIGH SCHOOLS 


E. W. BUTTERFIELD, 
Commissioner of Education, Connecticut 


Years ago I attended my first high school graduation and 
T was tremendously impressed with the dignity and meaning of 
this scholastic spectacle; so impressed that after all of these 
vears I can to-day recall the name of each member of that 
ciass. However, this is not a boast of an unusual power of 
memory. There were but four members of that class. Thirty- 
five years later I was called back to this same school to give 
the address at commencement. The town had about doubled in 
size and this would foretell a class of eight. No, not so many, 
for the doubling had come from the incursion of mid-Euro- 
peans, who in the nineties sent no children to the high school. 
So a class of six might have been expected. Actually, there 
were seventy-four. My niece was one of them, the handsomest 
girl in the class, but not the valedictorian. His name was not 
colonial, but ended in “ski.” I found that industrial village 
immensely proud. It was an educational center. It had dou- 
bled and redoubled its high school enrollment. It led in edu- 
cation. 


Since then I have been in the high school in San Diego, a 
young university, and the people of that city are confident 
that nowhere else in America has such educational progress 
been made. I have been in the Coolidge High School in Rapid 
City, South Dakota, and found the city justly proud of its high 
school and certain that through its growth the state of sun- 
shine will continue to lead the nation. I have been also in the 
high school in Macon, Georgia, and Macon as it views its 











12 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


groups of clear-eyed, active high school pupils believes itself 
destined to be the Athens of the South. Each of these cities 
and a thousand more has the impression that it has outstripped 
the country and that its high school accomplishment is a 


unique one. 

This is not the case. The movement is not a local one. It 
stretches from Gulf to the Great Lakes and impinges upon the 
two oceans. Four million young people are now in our high 
schools. 


This Second Educational Period.—This educational move- 
ment is very similar to the educational revival, with which the 
names of Mann and Barnard are indissolubly related and which 
was at its height a century ago. That revival came through 
the common acceptance of the belief that all knowledge of 
practical and civic use must be made available. To-day the 
same principle is accepted, but much more knowledge is avail- 
able than in 1833 and much more is needed. In 1833 to read, 
to write, to understand the capital laws, to keep accounts and 
to localize an isolated geography and a detached history was all 
that was commonly available, and eight school years were suffi- 
cient. In 1893 to these foundations must be added the con- 
ventions whether in science, health, history, or communal life 
that join together a complex society; more knowledge availa- 
ble than in 1833, more of it daily needed, and twelve years not 
too much for its acquisition. Wells has pointed out the race 
which civilization runs with catastrophe and many have feared 
that of late catastrophe has been gaining. If it has been gain- 
ing, it is because knowledge has gone faster than understand- 
ing and science faster than common acceptance. 


Three Questions Answered.—Three stages have marked 
the development of our high schools and three questions in suc- 
cession have been answered. Shall high school education be 
free, was the first. And by 1860 the answer was clearly in the 
affirmative, for in many cities and in some states legal enact- 
ments made possible the establishment of high schools as open 
to the residents as were the elementary schools. Shall high 
schools be free, had been answered. 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 13 


Shall high schools be public, was next asked, and by 1890 
again there was agreement. The contest between high schools 
and academies had been won by the former. All towns must 
offer high-school opportunities or must pay for them else- 
where. High-school education had become a privilege which 
might be claimed by all children. 


The final question has been, shall high schools be common 
schools? That is, schools for educating all children fourteen to 
eighteen years of age, or schools only for college preparation 
and for training for certain occupations. Since 1920 the high- 
school has become in effect a common school—and no title is 
more honorable—for all young Americans. 


Can We Afford The High School.—After every great 
movement, financial or otherwise, as it came after the educa- 
tional revival of 1833, there comes a period of attack, retrench- 
ment and readjustment. We are at this point now. 


In January of this year there assembled in Washington a 
committee of leading industrialists who at the call of the pres- 
ident were to consider this main question, “Can we afford to 
give opportunities of secondary education to all children?” 


It is highly desirable that committees should think clearly, 
even when they are summoned to Washington to do it. But 
neither the call for this meeting nor the enthusiasm of the 
leading industrialists who attended gave any indication that 
those concerned found any fallacy in the words or in the sum- 
mons “Can we afford to give opportunities of secondary educa- 
tion to all children?” 


In a republic, public education is not a gift, not charity, 
not a contribution to the needs of poor and unfortunate par- 
ents. Its purpose is to adjust growing citizens to a growing 
world. We educate not to relieve parents but to protect and 
perpetuate our investment in culture and civilization. Yet this 
committee considered, can we, that is the rich, the intellectual, 
the cultured, the old families, afford to give. That is, can we 
tax ourselves and also tax the poor, the mediocre-minded, the 
uncouth and those of foreign birth, so that we can make a pres- 




































~ 





















DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





14 


ent of secondary education to those not of our own personal 
status. 


The committee also considered as follows: 
“Is the American ideal of a secondary education for 
every child too high? In Europe, they plan a secondary 
education for only ten per cent of all children. Here we 
seek such an education for all children. Is this program 
too costly for American property to endure?” 

“In times of distress will the tax return from Ameri- 
can property and taxpayers be too small to supply the 
needs of a program aiming at a secondary education for 
every child? Shall we have to revise this plan to more 
closely approach the European standard? Is this one par- 
tial solution to the current problem of shrinking school in- 
come ?” 

Throughout these two paragraphs runs the same idea. 
Education is a donation like poor relief and Christmas charity. 
The question that faces us is not what we can give to the 
child, but what can we, to our own advantage do with the child 
until he reaches the age of competence and employment. Four 
out of five college professors and college graduates will nod 
with approval to a plan which would restrict high-school edu- 
cation to ten per cent of all children provided that their chil- 
dren and those of their neighbors be in the ten per cent. 


Very bluntly, parents and the state must do something 
with children until they are old enough to go to work. Fifty 
years ago this meant until they were fourteen. Now it means 
until they are eighteen. Children reach the secondary-school 
door at fourteen. If only ten per cent are allowed to enter, 
some employment must be found for the ninety per cent. 

To condemn to idleness some millions of our 14-18 year old 
youth is too hazardus to contemplate and our primary question, 
Shall we restrict secondary education to a selected 10 per cent ? 
becomes in effect. Shall we restrict life to a chosen ten per 
cent ? 
What Work for the 90%.—Let us begin with the girls. 
Every main avenue for employment at fourteen has now been 













IPO g~ 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 15 
closed. The factories are closed. Even in the cotton mills 
larger and more complicated machinery has forever put an end 
to child labor at the loom. The department stores no longer 
want these children. These stores are run by men and women 
and except for the Christmas rush the stores want young’ peo- 
ple, but no children. House work has been closed to them, too. 
This was very common in 1900 but to-day houses have elec- 
trical and other appliances and the kitchen girl is not em- 
ployed. 


Furthermore, marriage is closed to them. 


For boys the story is no different. The care of horses, the 
milking of cows, special farm activities, gave employment to 
thousands of farm boys in 1890 and continues to do this in 
European countries. In great measure this work with us is 
now gone. H.C. Morrison has recently declared as follows: 
“The presence of minors in industry, up to the age of 18 by our 
certain knowledge, and probably up to the time of majority at 
21, is an economic disadvantage in principle.” 


There is, then, but one answer. If we adopt the European 
status of ten per cent of fourteen to eighteen year old children 
in school, we must accept the standard of living that produces 
employment for ninety per cent of these children. 


This means a reduction to a status of peasantry on the 
farms and of child labor in the cities. We have outgrown this 
and none of the leading industrialists assembled at Washing- 
ton proposed to open his own factory or his own mercantile es- 
tablishment to furnish employment for children. 


Why Did Not Catastrophe Win?—America has been none 
too happy in the last three years, but there has been sporadic 
rising of the disheartened only. To this comparative quiet, our 
schools have made the greatest contribution. In our homes 
there has been worry and want. The older sister and the fa- 
ther have been but part-time employed, but the boys and girls 
fourteen to eighteen have been busy in their schools and they 
and their families have been buoyed up with the knowledge 
that investments in skills and in knowledge are being added to 
the family store. 











16 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


I wish to be specific. I have two sons. Both were edu- 
cated at a famed academic college. The older graduated in 
1930 and at once found employment. In January, 1932, his 
company went flat and he was out of a job. The younger grad- 
uated in June, 1932, and he could find no work. Both at once 
entered vocational schools for further preparations for their 
professions. Fortunately, I am able to give these sons this 
training, but the point is that they, I, my home, all are far hap- 
pier than would be possible if two unemployed young men were 
waiting idly for better times. The maid who comes day hy day 
to clean my house has six children. The father and oldest sis- 
ter, who left school at fourteen, have part time employment. 
Three children are in the elementary schools. Three are in 
the high school. The two boys came back to this schoo! when 
they lost their jobs. The girl did not leave school for work as 
her brothers had done. The father is in night schoo! pursuing 
mechanical drawing. This family could not afford private edu- 
cation high or low, but this home, like mine, in this hard year 
has no idle unemployed hanging around and it waits in pa- 
tience. 

If to our great mass of unemployment there had heen 
added the discontent of countless homes where in idleness and 
distrust these children waited without task or assignment, it 
is very possible that our national stability itself might have 
been endangered. 

The secondary-school has aided America greatly to keep 
its balance and serenity in these post-war years. 


State Support for High Schools.—The acceptance of the 
secondary program as common school education raises in every 
state one vital administrative problem. It is that of support. 
In 1833 it was believed that every school unit, whether town, 
district, or county, was large enough to fill, administer and sup- 
port its local one to eight grade schools. It is certain in 1933 
that only cities and populous counties have wealth, population 
and leadership sufficient to maintain at high efficiency its own 
complete secondary-school. 

When selected pupils only went to high school they could 
be selected to fit a single, narrow curriculum, and if the teacher 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 17 


was good a good school resulted, but a common high school 
with pupils of differing needs and aptitudes must have a much 
broader program, and with a high school of fewer than three 
hundred enrollment this aim can hardly be reached with effi- 
ciency and economy. 


Let us consider now the breakdown of the geographical 
unit of control which our fathers adopted. 


In most of our states, the last century has seen a complete 
social, economic and industrial revolution. In 1833 the coun- 
try was predominantly agricultural. It was divided into many 
semi-independent counties or townships and these with few ex- 
ceptions were approximately equal in population, in children 
to be educated, in taxable wealth and in dominant men. Nearly 
all citizens were farmers or those who rendered comfort and 
assistance to farmers, as cobblers, ministers, and storekeepers. 
Neither wealth nor town leadership was mobile. 


Civilization in 1833 was in most respects medieval. Trans- 
portation and industry of all kinds were little different from 
that which prevailed in the days of John, the landless king. 
In particular, all farm work was done by hand or by imple- 
ments not materially changed from those of the Middle Ages 
and, moreover, production was for use and not for exchange. 


Then came as a spring efflorescence farm machinery of all 
kinds, factories, railroads and an enlarged vision which made 
those years a true renaissance. We call this the period of in- 
dustrial revolution. It resulted in states richer and more pop- 
ulous than ever before, states no longer agricultural but pre- 
dominantly industrial; states of cities and manufacturing vil- 
lages and also of great open spaces; states which have gath- 
ered pioneers and outcasts from all the ends of the earth: 
states so foreign that strange names and alien cultures are 
everywhere seen; and yet states so American that they hind a.1 
together in ceaseless industry in patriotism and in the support 
of education as an essential in a republic. 


In this period of transition two points have been clearly 


seen. The children whether in rich or poor communities are 
equaliy the wards of the state and in their welfare the state is 














Fa OSS 
oe ee 


Sets 





18 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


equally concerned. The serf is no longer bound to the soil. 
He moves readily from his ancestral acres and transportation 
has become so easy and migration so common that ignorance 
can no longer be localized. No city can insure its future, if it 
educates its children alone, for no Chinese Wall can shut out 
those reared in ignorance in impoverished nearby towns. 


Neither can taxable property be localized as formerly. In 
1833 a rich farming town might have four stores and a dozen 
artisans with their mills and small shops. These served the 
town and with their equipment and stock in trade were taxed 
for the schools of the community. In 1933 this town has as 
many farms and nearly as great a population as a century be- 
fore but not within its borders a mill, a store or an artisan’s 
shop. These all have moved into nearby or more remote villages 
or cities. Improved roads, mail order catalogues, and the com- 
mon use of the telephone, and the automobile have made possi- 
sible a distant service when formerly service must be secured 
near at hand. From the industrial towns and cities at least a 
score of artisans and merchants continue to serve this agri- 
cultural town. In labor they belong to the town but they re- 
side elsewhere and are taxed for the benefit of the already well- 
to-do city. 








Again in 1833 men of means lived permanently on their 
farm homes and surplus wealth was localized and used for town 
development. Accordingly, it was taxed for the local schools. 
In 1933 as fast as men acquire rural property they seek urban 
homes and all surplus wealth, taken from the rural areas, is in 
city banks or city securities and is used to develop these in- 
dustrial centers. It is town money but it is taxed for the bene- 
fit of city schools. Since these two factors are clearly seen we 
can accept this principle. The child is the ward of the state 
and we shall tax the state dollar wherever it is for the welfare 
of the state child wherever he may reside. 


In every state it has been made apparent that wealth is 
mobile and children are relatively stable, and it is equally ap- 
parent that our early geographical units often do not fit social 
needs, are too inelastic and very frequently too small for the 
development of specialized education. 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 19 


A school map of any state will show cities, large towns, 
and compact counties with high-school opportunities adequate 
and available for all children. It will show also untouched 
frontiers or in our more densely populated states extensive in- 
terspaces. Neither the frontier counties nor the small depop- 
ulated rural inter-towns have children or wealth for high- 
school support and maintenance. 


Most states have recognized the situation and by equaliza- 
tion laws, by transportation and tuition reimbursements and 
by direct aid have given assistance. 


There are signs in many places that states will do well to 
go further. Education in all states has been held to be a state 
rather than a local function, and the high-school field is one in 
which the state as a whole has particular interest. The diffi- 
culty may be met not by granting more and more aid to weak 
public schools and to struggling private schools which aim or 
claim to render public high-school service, but by establishing 
throughout the state regional high-schools entirely under state 
control and maintenance. This would leave every fiscal unit 
large enough to maintain its own secondary-school with entire 
freedom to do so, while it would permit on the frontiers and 
in the interspaces the schools needed for equalized secondary- 
school opportunity. 


Why State High Schools.—As state high schools develop 
two very real advantages will appear. These schools will be 
free from college control of subject matter and technique of 
instruction. They can develop the civic curricula needed for 
pupils who are not preparing to live but are actually living 
while they are preparing. These new curricula will replace the 
emphasis on the ideals of a bygone age of the skills, aptitudes, 
and interests of our common American life. The state is well 
able to develop schools which will actually be not for a chosen 
ten per cent but for the ninety per cent as well. 


The second advantage is a corollary. For these schools 
the state must train in its own institutions the needed teach- 
ers. This is a task that cannot be sublet, and which cannot be 
given to another. Every state has in a generation recreated 














20 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


its elementary schools since it has trained its own teachers for 
this task. Similarly it may recreate its secondary-schools 
when it trains its own teachers to teach subject matter second, 
and children first. This is an unprecedented opportunity. 


The dean of us all, that Nestor among educators, Doctor 
Albert E. Winship, said recently as he looked back over a long 
and fruitful life, “If I could choose my decade for educational 
work it would be the one which is now begun.” He meant that 
to every generation in our educational dynasty comes one op- 
portunity for a great adventure. We have that opportunity. 


The greatest migration in history is not across the chan- 
nel or the Atlantic. It is not the winning of an island or of a 
continent. It is the moving forward in thirty years of 4,000,- 
000 young people four years further in education than their 


parents went. 


Who Creates Public Schools?—In a republic, public schools 
invariably follow a public demand and are created in response 
to that demand. This was true of the Pilgrim and Puritan 
schools. The president of Harvard College, the governor of 
the commonwealth, the financial and cultured heads of the 
Massachusetts colonies, did not in their wisdom design the pri- 
mary school, endow it and give it to the people. Nothing hap- 
pened until in General Court the Cooks and Hodges and Fish- 
ers said, “The Carvers and Brewsters can employ tutors or 
teach their own children. We can do neither but our children 
are as good as theirs,” and they, the common men of the legis- 
lature, established the people’s schools. 


Similarly, Horace Mann had no difficulty in convincing the 
proletariat that its children were worthy of eight grades. His 
troubles were with the learned schoolmasters. When the peo- 
ple demanded grammar schools, they got them. 


Why have we high schools? Is it that in 1900 at some na- 
tional meeting of college presidents a committee was named to 
design tax-supported schools that would carry academic know]l- 
edge to the children of the farms and the tenements? Was it 
because leaders of thought, the press, and the clergy had a vi- 
sion of the future and cleared the way? Was it because men 





























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 21 


of wealth were filled with philanthropic zeal? No. The col- 
leges opposed or dourly shook their heads. The clergy and 
press were apprehensive that too many would be educated, but 
the people by popular vote in hundreds of towns established 
high schools. 


So now the development of public post-secondary-schools, 
state universities, junior colleges, professional colleges for 
teachers, vocational schools for artisans and skilled workers, 
municipal colleges, are opposed not by men and women of busi- 
ness affairs, not by skilled workers, but by those who would re- 
strict higher education to the elect. So, too, our high schools 
are questioned by those who would deny education to all but 
his 10 per cent. 


Learned boards and great foundations may issue warn- 
ings. College presidents may withhold approval. Congress 
and forty-eight legislatures may enact laws and still the move- 
ment will continue. IN A REPUBLIC, PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN- 
VARIABLY FOLLOW A PUBLIC DEMAND AND ARE CRE- 
ATED IN RESPONSE TO THAT DEMAND, AND THE 
AMERICAN PEOPLE BELIEVE IN THE HIGH-SCHOOL. 


United States Commissioner of Education, Wm. John 
Cooper, read his paper entitled The National Survey of Secon- 
dary Education. ° 


THE CURRICULUM OF THE HIGH-SCHOOL 


WM. JOHN COOPER, 
U. S. Commissioner of Education. 


The curriculum of the secondary-school was one of the 
major subjects of the survey. This topic was assigned to Mr. 
Arthur K. Loomis, then of the Denver Schools, for a general 
overview. He studied the subjects in the curriculum and in- 
vestigated the percentage of these subjects which pupils en- 
rolled in the high-schools took in 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920, and 
1930. It is interesting to note that he discovered that in a pe- 
riod of twenty years the number of courses increased from 52 











22 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


to 306 in the same group of schools. The dominant shifts in 
subjects required of all pupils have been away from foreign 
language and mathematics during the last forty years toward 
social sciences and physical education. For example, in a 
classical high-school in an Eastern city the work in foreign 
language and mathematics declined from 95.6 per cent of all 
the work taken in 1890 to 58.68 per cent in 1930. For a school 
in the Rocky Mountain Region the decline during the same 
time was from 5414 per cent on foreign language and mathe- 
matics to only 32.7 per cent. While these changes were going 
on new subjects, namely, the non-academic subjects, were 
coming’ into the high-school curricula. These subjects are the 
natural sciences and social sciences among those generally ac- 
cepted for college entrance and the fine arts, practical arts, and 
physical education among those less generally accepted. With 
this brief statement on the general trend in the curriculum we 
shall pass to some of the more important subjects of the cur- 


riculum itself. 


The investigation of the subject of English was assigned 
to Miss Dora V. Smith of the University of Minnesota. She 
was able to find 156 courses of study which had appeared since 
1925. They represented 127 cities in 33 states. Three of them 
were published by the state depariment of education. Of 
these 156, 62 were for junior high-schools only, 23 were for 
strictly senior high-schools, and 47 were intended to be used 
in four-year high-schools. In addition to making a careful an- 
alysis of these courses of study, Miss Smith made a further 
check by visiting classes. She was able to get into thirty cities 
in fifteen states. Therefore her conclusions are probably rep- 


resentative. 


First of all, she investigated methods used in the building 
of courses of study. (She found a great variety of them). 
Usually these courses were constructed by committees of 
teachers sometimes working under the departments of re- 
search, sometimes under an assistant superintendent, and 
quite generally under a senior high-school English teacher as 
chairman. In some cases the teachers received university 
credit. In other cases those who worked on the courses of 























23 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


study most intensively and especially those who were entrusted 
with writing it up were freed from other assignments during 


that time. 


There appears to be no general procedure accepted by 
everyone. Evaluation of the work done on the courses of study 
is almost non-existent. There is apparently no effort so far to 
study the methods used. Fourteen of the 156 courses of study 
contain references to the general objectives of secondary edu- 
cation. Many of the courses are so organized as to contribute 
in one way or another to the general purposes of secondary ed- 
ucation. Courses in free reading and courses in creative writ- 
ing are frequently found, especially in the West. These courses 
contribute mainly to the recreational and leisure time objec- 
tives of secondary education and are taken most frequently 
and enjoyed most by the gifted pupils. 


In more than 85 per cent of the courses the time allotment 
is given as five periods a week. It is slightly lower in the sen- 
ior high-school. The length of the period is not mentioned fre- 
quently enough to make it worth tabulating. In general, this 
time is less than the time which was given in 1915-1920, when 
a fairly typical survey showed that 7.4 periods were used in 
the seventh grade, 7.5 in the eighth grade, and 5.2 in the ninth 
grade. In this survey a study of sixty junior high-schools re- 
veals 6.4 periods used in the seventh grade, 6.1 periods in the 
eighth grade, and 5 periods in the ninth. The separate courses 
in penmanship, grammar, spelling, reading, etc., common in 
1915, seem to have disappeared almost entirely in favor of the 
unified course in English. Reference is still made to a division 
of time between composition and literature and this division is 
shown in some of the courses. Both composition and litera- 
ture, however, appear to be taught in the same term and some- 
times are assigned definite days in the week. Letter writing, 
which undoubtedly constitutes the major use of composition, 
does not appear to be mentioned often as one of the objectives 
but it is found usually in the course of study themselves. 

“Obviously,” says Miss Smith, “the relative proportion of 


space devoted to a topic in the course of study may be a very 
poor indication of its relative emphasis in teaching. The evi- 











ORS 


oy 


eee Bae es ae 


24 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


dence presented in this section merely corroborates the impres- 
sion gained from classroom visitation and from the compilation 
of aims, that the form of expression, whether oral or written, 
receives notably more emphasis in secondary-schools to-day 
than does the desirability of having ideas to express.” 


On the teaching of grammar there is a desire to have 
“that amount of grammar which is functional” in speech and 
in writing. An analysis of the grammar content in 22 junior 
high and 22 senior high-school courses shows that this amount 
varies from 45 topics to 149 topics. Obviously nobody knows 
how many topics are functional. Diagraming, for instance, is 
recommended in nine of the 22 courses. 


There are many suggestions for determining the fre- 
quency of error in English and of methods for removing these. 
Facts such as these indicate the effort that curriculum makers 
are putting forth to eliminate the non-essentials in grammar 
and to secure a thorough study of the things which will bring 
accuracy in speech and in writing. Conferences held by Miss 
Smith with the curriculum makers and the courses of study 
themselves indicate that the program of minimum essentials 
in English is now in a very chaotic condition. In general, the 
trend is away from a common minimum required of everybody. 
Individual variations are at present the vogue. Some systems 
have definitely abandoned the effort to bring everybody up to a 
common level of performance. Others have retained minimum 
but have reduced the proportion of mastery to be expected of 
abilities at different levels. Where requirements are found 
they usually include oral composition and written composition. 
Usually they are stated in such terms as length of time in min- 
utes. All these rules are, of course, very subjective. Before 
such progress can be expected in the field of minimum require- 
ments, more definite agreement must be had on the meaning of 
the term “Specific definition of outcomes to be expected’’. 


In the course in literature no emphasis on specific courses 
was found. Certain type predominate in certain grades. For 
instance, the essay form leads in grade 11. The novel is upper- 
most in grades 9 and 10. Drama leads in grades 11 and 12 




















25 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


and biography seems to be the leading subject in grade 9. But 
no other type of literature is especially prominent in any year. 
There is great difference in practice in schools in the classics 
used. Of thirty classics found in most frequent use in the Eng- 
lish courses, grades 7-12 inclusive, Silas Marner ranks first, 
being given in 57 schools out of a total of 156; Julius Caesar 
is second with 52 schools; Idylls of the King is third with 45 
schools; Ivanhoe is fourth with 44 schools; and Tale of Two 
Cities fifth with 43 schools. No other classic is used in as 
many as 40 schools. This merely indicates that the type of lit- 
erature given in school in 1890, when its main function was 
preparation for college, is no longer satisfactory. Further- 
more, abundant additional materials, awakening interests and 
stimulating sympathies into a twentieth century world, are 
making their appearance. “Biography,” says the author, “pio- 
neering adventure, and miscellaneous prose from every field of 
modern thought and endeavor demand rightful place beside ten 
long narrative poems in the reading program of adolescent 
youth.” 

There also seems to be coming into the schools more at- 
tention to individual reading. Group courses are now common. 
In both Denver and Seattle it is customary in a class of forty 
pupils to furnish ten each of a kind. This encourages free 
reading. There is a tendency also to establish a classroom li- 
brary, getting the books from either the school library or the 
public library. There is also a tendency to connect the English 
with the other subjects in the curriculum. In the city of 
Cleveland a group of seniors under the leadership of one of 
their own number discussed treasures in the art museums of 
their own city which would call forth such reactions as are 
called forth by Keat’s Ode to the Grecian Urn. In Rochester a 
class of juniors, becoming skeptical regarding Emerson’s ad- 
vice regarding self-reliance, were discussing the possible effects 
upon themselves and society if these findings were carried to 
their logical conclusions. A ninth grade group in Cicero were 
discussing the results of regarding Lindbergh as the subject 
of a modern Odyssey. And still another group in Cranston, R. 
I., were comparing methods by which one could become ac- 
quainted with people in fiction and in life. 








26 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Through the English laboratory visual aids, story telling, 
the Little Theatre, and other devices, English is becoming cor- 
related with the other subjects in the school. “On the whole,” 
we are told, “helps for the development of content reading are 
practical and in accord with current theories of the teaching of 
the subject.” In some schools, however, the literature is still 
along classical lines. Here, it is found that teachers offer as an 
excuse that they are following college entrance requirements. 
Yet in the college entrance field little evidence is found of any 
required classics, either in the requirements for individual col- 
leges or in the college entrance board examinations. 


But in the work of correlating English with other sub- 
jects, satisfactory progress is being made. In the Lincoln and 
Horace Mann schools at Teachers College, experiments are un- 
der way at the present time. In the Horace Mann school the 
teachers of English and social studies call from the depart- 
ments of science, art, music, mathematics, and languages the 
teachers as the development of one of their units requires. The 
teachers of social studies and art are present throughout the 


course. 


Provisions for individual differences are made in many 
courses. These vary from the so-called three track program 
which is exemplified by the course at Sacramento through the 
fixed minimum for all pupils with electives. These character- 
ize the courses in many cities. In the Sacramento course the 
distinction between the X course and the Y course is a differ- 
ence in the degree of attainment. The X students who are in 
the Y course do the work of the Y course but are expected to do 
it in a notably better way. The Z course, however, represents 
a differentiation in type. These pupils do none of the work of 
the Y course itself. In the fixed minimum course the minima 
are required of the duller pupils only. The next group of pupils 
are expected to do this work and in addition other work, while 
the X pupils do the maximum amount. 


As a result of her study of English in the schools Miss 
Smith finally raises some nine problems and suggests that they 
be left to the National Council of Teachers of English. These 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 27 
people are alert and are now making studies in the direction of 
finding the answers to these problems. 

The study in foreign language was written by Helen M. 
Eddy of the University of Iowa. There are three general chap- 
ters entitled “Modern Foreign Languages”, “Latin”, and “For- 
eign Language in the Junior High-School.” Miss Eddy reports 
that she examined 207 courses of study in foreign languages 
from all sections of the country and from all types of schools 
and that she visited 263 classes. Of these 82 were Latin classes 
or general language classes in the junior high-school, 181 were 
in modern foreign languages. She found the classes in modern 
foreign languages in a transitional condition, due, she feels 
certain, to the fact that most of them were trying to bring — 
their courses of study into line with the modern foreign lan- 
guage study, a survey which occurred under the leadership of 
Dr. Fife of Columbia University. She finds that in general 
there is an agreement in the profession upon the cultural ob- 
jectives of modern language. These are, first, to secure a 
knowledge of the foreign country and its peoples; and sec- 
ond, to secure an increased knowledge of English words, Eng- 
lish grammar, and the relationship between the foreign lan- 
guage and English. There is also a majority of courses which 
agree upon the four-fold aim of modern language: (1) that the 
purpose of the study of any language is that one may read it. 
But there is little agreement as to when one should attack the 
next two objectives, which are, (2) writing the language, and 
(3) speaking it. Through these subjects one is supposed to 
achieve the fourth objective which is to understand the lan- 
guage. But there is a swing toward a type of course recom- 
mended by the modern foreign language study which stresses 
reading and understanding the language. “The study of the 
teaching of modern foreign languages in the secondary- 
schools,” says Miss Eddy, “shows an abounding interest in the 
organization of the course, the enrichment of the content, in 
preparation of teaching materials and testing instruments 
and in the modification of teaching activity in varied kinds 
without and within the classroom.” She finds, however, 
a corresponding tendency to load pupils even though they 
be immature and inferior in ability. Although the profes- 




















28 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


sion generally has accepted reading as the primary aim, there 
is a difference in opinion as to the best method to secure read- 
ing ability. Reading and understanding of the spoken lan- 
guage are in general the aims of the first two years. Emphasis 
upon speaking and writing as ends in themselves may be post- 
poned to the third and fourth years. Usually reading is taught 
by reading, not by means of oral and written reproductive ex- 
ercises. Miss Eddy looks for the report of the Modern Lan- 
guage Association to open the way for the introduction of much 
scientifically tested material leading to the improvement of for- 


eign language teaching. 


In the classes in Latin which she visited, she found them 
attempting to bring their course into keeping with the classical 
investigation of 1924. This means that a much more gradual 
introduction is made to Latin, no classical writer being studied 
before the fourth semester. It is reported that only five per 
cent of the pupils who begin the study of Latin in the school 
continue it in college. Consequently the work given each year 
should be organized to be worth while in itself. The chief field 
of the traditional course was the emphasis upon grammar in 
the first year and upon the reading of thé classical writers in 
the later years of the course. 


In practice the chief recommendation of the report as to 
content is adhered to. The amount of grammar has been re- 
duced in the first year. But the suggestion with regard to 
reading and understanding of Latin are not followed to any ap- 
preciable extent. Efforts of one teacher to make Latin live are 
commended. This method involves a classroom fixed up in 
keeping with the subject, decorated with Caproni casts, numer- 
ous original maps dating back to 1600, small oils and water col- 
ors from Naples and Rome giving unusual views of locations 
which pertain to the classes, small vases of Pompeiian red set 
on black and white brackets, and containing green ivy vines, 
and the bulletin board with clippings which pertain to class 
events and are frequently changed. 


Foreign language in the junior high-school is still in a 
chaotic state. Latin leads the other languages in the seventh 
year, but in the eighth it is surpassed by both Spanish and 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 29 


French. It resumes its lead again in the ninth grade but after 
that is a second to French, German, and Spanish. In general, 
one and one-half years of junior high-school languages count as 
one year in the senior high-school. General language is taught 
in one or more schools in sixteen states. No such course is of- 
fered in twenty-three states and ten states did not reply. This 
course has been defined by Miss Wehr of Indiana State College 
in this way, “General language is a course placed in the junior 
high-school covering a semester’s (or a year’s) work, offering 
instruction in the history of the development and evolution of 
language, especially the development of the English language, 
an introduction to the results of comparative philology and ex- 
ploratory lessons in several different foreign languages.” Its 
aims are said to be, first, guidance, to develop a language sense 
and to give sufficient experience to know what language to 
study or to avoid. Second, academic, to give a knowledge of 
the evolution and development of language and especially Eng- 
lish, to provide an understanding of certain organizing princi- 
ples common to all languages. Third, to develop an interest in 
and appreciation of the English language, a feeling of sympa- 
thy for foreign peoples and an interest in the study of their 
language. A typical course shows the historical place of Eng- 
lish, and the history of entomology of certain English words 
followed by ten lessons in Latin, French, Spanish, and German. 
This course is varied by other authors depending upon the lan- 
guages offered in the school. There have not been any satis- 
factory attempts to measure its effectiveness. In one school 
system in California, out of nine teachers in five schools, seven 
thought the course worth while and two considered it a waste 
of time. In a class visited in the city of Detroit composed of 
pupils below average in intelligence, they were found to be an- 
swering the teacher’s questions in a perfunctory way until the 
foreign language situation itself was reached. Then they 
changed their attitude and became rather anxious and eager to 
respond. In general, the aims and values of this course need to 
be more sharply defined on the basis of experimentation. On 
the whole, foreign languages in the junior high-school have 
been quite successful. 














30 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Of the other academic subjects, mathematics, the social 
sciences, and the natural sciences, I shall discuss the mono- 
graph on the natural sciences, by Dr. Wilbur L. Beauchamp of 
the University of Chicago. In it are discussed such topics as 
the educational objectives listed in the course of study, the or- 
ganization of courses of study, the selection of subject matter, 
suggestions on instructional technique, types of classroom 
teaching, etc. It shows rather conclusively that whereas some 
thirty years ago there were numerous short courses, at the 
present time they are year courses primarily in the field. Gen- 
eral science and biology are new courses which have come in 
during the past 25 or 30 years. Chemistry has been lengthened 
and its contents brought more nearly in keeping with modern 
scientific theories. The course in physics is now a year course. 
It puts more emphasis upon electricity in accordance with mod- 
ern practice in life. In some cases it develops its teachings 
around practical everyday machines such as an automobile. In 
completing the monograph on this subject, the author says: 


First, that “the courses of study are not based upon an 
adequate and clear-cut theory of education”, and 


Second, “the data available from scientific studies at the 
present time are directed solely upon the content of the 
courses. Little if any experimentation has been carried on to 
indicate grade placement of these materials and no investiga- 
tions have been made to discover the steps in the acquisition 
of methods of thinking employed by the scientist.” 


Time does not permit further attention to the academic 
subjects. There have come into the program, however, since 
1890 many subjects in the practical and fine arts, homemaking 
and physical education. To these I must give some attention. 
One of the monographs of the series is devoted to two general 
subjects usually known as the fine arts. These are the subject 
of music, which has been studied by Miss Anne E. Pierce of the 
University of Iowa, and graphic arts, which has been studied 
by Robert S. Hilbert of the University of Minnesota. 


What is the condition of music at present in our secon- 
dary-schools? In following the survey report we find that mu- 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 31 


sic has developed within the past three decades. “Prior to 
1900,” writes Miss Pierce, “music was included among school 
studies by the educator primarily for its disciplinary value 
against the opposition of the laymen who considered it a ‘fad’ 
undeserving of an expenditure of time and of the taxpayers’ 
money”. At the present time, only 30 years later, she finds 
many cities which have a large financial investment in pianos, 
orchestral and band instruments, music libraries, phonographs 
and phonograph records. More than 35,000 orchestras are re- 
ported in the public schools, some of them of a quality to ren- 
der the symphonies well. There is a national high-school or- 
chestra of nearly 400 players chosen through competition from 
all the states of the Union, and a national high-school chorus 
numbering 452 students; there are the National Music Camp 
at Interlochen, Michigan, and the Eastern Music Camp at Oak- 
land, Maine. All of these have grown up within the last decade 
or so. 


The courses of study in music are not numerous. For ex- 
ample, in the Bureau of Curriculum Research of Teachers Col- 
lege, Columbia University, thirty thousand odd courses of 
study representing all fields were reported in August, 1931, 
but a search of this vast amount of material revealed only 96 
courses in music. Of this number 12 were state courses writ- 
ten since 1924. The remainder were drawn up for city systems 
and were written within the fifteen-year period. These 96 
courses furnish the basis for getting a general bird’s-eye view 
of music in the school. The general objectives most often sub- 
scribed to in these courses have been classified under these 
heads: Aesthetic, creative, disciplinary, emotional and ethical, 
leisure time, physical, socia!, and vocational. 


Although all of these objectives may be legitimate, we 
wish to stress the place of music in the spending of one’s lei- 
sure time. In Long Beach, Calif., this aim is prominent. ‘“Mu- 
sic,” it is said, “provides a safe emotional outlet for leisure time 
through establishing high standards in tastes and habits in 
music.” The social aim of course is prominent in most of the 
courses of study, especially where orchestras and choruses are 
involved. Nearly all courses have a certain amount of voca- 











32 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


tional purpose. They are all endeavoring to discover the abil- 
ities in music which will lead to music as a career for even a 
few children. “For example,” Miss Pierce found, “of 293 mem- 
bers of the national high-school orchestra in 1930 only 38 per 
cent stated that they expected to become professional perform- 
ers, while 10 per cent indicated that they planned to earn their 
livelihood as music teachers.” The main purpose then of music 
for the majority of these best pupils in the high-schools was 
purely avocational. This is indeed a good sign. 


In the courses of study Miss Pierce found no clear-cut rec- 
ognition of differences between the course in the junior high- 
school and the course in the senior high-school except that in 
general the latter course was more advanced. There are some 
courses, such as the history of music and music theory, which 
are offered only as elective courses in the senior high-school. 
Choruses and glee clubs are common in both junior and senior 
schools and a capella choirs are found in some of the larger 
schools. It may be assumed that nearly all the members of 
these organizations are studying music with a view to the bet- 
ter spending of leisure time. 


Probably the greatest difficulty lies in the new institu- 
tions which we call junior nigh-school. At this time the voices 
of most of the boys are “breaking”. Consequently we usualiy 
feel justified in excusing these boys from all music work of a 
vocal character. Unless one has sufficient talent and interest 
to play an instrument he is excused from music entirely dur- 
ing this period. 

In investigating the work in art, Mr. Hilbert also started 
with courses of study. In response to a request from the Na- 
tional Survey, 56 courses were received. They varied from a 
single typed page to a bound volume. These courses came from 
42 cities in 22 states and may be regarded as typical of the 
country. In addition to studying these courses of study visits 
were made to 35 schools in 13 cities located in 7 different states. 
It was found that about 25 years ago the art courses took a de- 
cided swing toward industrial art. At the present time there 
appears to be another swing toward art appreciation. This 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 83 
Ii 

was shown in 58 per cent of the courses of study examined. 
Among new objectives were the “development of creative abil- 
ity” found in 22 per cent of the courses and “self-expression” 
found in 29 per cent of them. 


From the course of study in art issued by the New York 
City Board of Education in 1930, we learn “The purpose of the 
art appreciation course is to reveal to the pupil the beauty of 
nature and of the arts so that he may recognize and enjoy the 
world of beautiful things about him and gain an appreciation 
of the finest, which will reflect beauty in his life and in his liv- 
ing. It aims to engender love of beauty * * *to develop good 
taste * * * to enrich life and train for leisure * * * to gratify 
the desire to create * * * and to encourage talent. 


The selection of subject matter in the courses of study 
does not show a close correlation with the objectives expressed, 
but visits to classes show that usually the teachers were adapt- 
ing the course to the needs and the interests of the pupils. In 
general, the subject matter of the courses themselves was or- 
ganized in a logical form but teachers adjusted it to the needs 
and interests of children. There seems to be no careful grad- 
ing of subject matter. Usually the work in art appreciation, 
design, and drawing are organized as separate courses and 
taught in grades 7 and 8 as required work, or they are given in 
grades 9 and 10 sometimes as required but more often as elec- 
tive courses. When they are given in grades 11 and 12 they 
are nearly always elective. 


But almost the identical subject matter could be found in 
the junior high-school or in the senior high-school. With the 
exception of stage design, clay modeling and metal work, all 
the topics can be found as low as grade 7 and as high as grade 
12. Metalcraft usually is found in grades 10 to 12 although it 
is offered in but few schools, and costume design, interior dec- 
oration, figure drawing, and fabric design are more frequently 
taught in grades 10 and 11 than in the lower grades. It is evi- 
dent from these courses and from the visits made to classes 
that research in this field is badly needed. Some progress 
could be made probably if teachers are encouraged to try inno- 
vations both in subject matter and in methods of teaching, but 








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34 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


this should be done either by well trained teachers or only un- 
der their careful supervision. 


Studies were also made in the extracurriculum field. Of 
these, I shall mention briefly only one, and that is a study 
made on libraries by B. Lamar Johnson. These libraries ex- 
isted, according to their sponsors, to secure better performance 
in the regular courses of study and for recreational reading. 
The questions which arose had to do with visual instruction, 
library work rooms, classrooms for teaching library practice, 
conference rooms and the tike; also who staffed these rooms. 
Were they librarians or teachers or a combination of the two? 
A special investigation of libraries had to do with their loca- 


tion, whether they were adjoining study rooms or entirely sep- © 


arate from these rooms was one of the controversial issues 
raised. While librarians in general favored the separation, it 
was found that 17,000 students by a vote of over two to one fa- 
vored having them together and where this was the case used 
them extensively. 


These fragments of studies on the curriculum and the ex- 
tra-curriculum must be taken as representative of them all. 
Time forbids a more extensive treatment. Some manuscripts 
are now published and others will soon be published at which 
time any one can read the subjects in which he is particularly 
interested. 


The following nominating committee was named, with O. 
S. Lakes, J. B. Holloway, W. L. Uhl, G. N. Kefanore, and L. P. 
Farris being chosen from the floor. The other members were: 
Walter B. Spencer, P. H. Powers, C. F. Allen, Wm. Wetzel, W. 
E. Wing, Ross Young, James Roe, Carl Burris, R. S. Butter- 
field, Mark Godman, M. H. Stuart, D. W. McCoy, B. J. Rivett, 
and Parke Schock. 


The session was then adjourned. 











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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


DISCUSSION GROUPS 


On Tuesday morning the convention was divided into dis- 
cussion groups. 


GROUP NO. 1 


The group that met in the Ball Room of the Leamington 
Hotel was presided over by R. B. Clem, Principal, Shawnee 
High-School, Louisville, Kentucky. 


The Improvement and Economy in Administration was 
presented by Professor W. C. Reavis of the University of Chi- 
cago. 


IMPROVEMENT AND ECONOMY IN SECON- 
DARY-SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION 
WILLIAM C. REAVIS, 


Professor of Education, 
University of Chicago 


Principals of secondary-schools throughout the United 
States have had smaller budgets for administration this year 


‘ than in any year since the depression began. Present pros- 


pects indicate that still further reductions must be made in 
the school budget for 1933-34. An anomolous situation has 
thus been created in secondary-school administration, namely, 
an abnormal increase in the demand for secondary education 
and an alarming decrease in school funds. The increase in 
school enrolment has been accentuated (1) by the gain in hold- 
ing power due to the suppression of opportunities for the em- 
ployment of young people in business and industry, and (2) by 
the return of graduates and individuals who had formerly 
withdrawn and who now because of enforced idleness prefer to 
re-enter the secondary-school for whatever offerings are avail- 
able rather than loaf. 


The problems created by either phase of the situation 
operating singly present many difficulties in administration ; 














36 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


but when the phases operate concurrently administrative de- 
mands are made which require a type of skill not previously 
called for in secondary-school administration. As a result the 
methods employed in the solution of the problem may or may 
not meet with the success desired. 


Some principals, acting under orders of boards of educa- 
tion, have applied a method in solving the problems widely ad- 
vocated by “self-styled” leaders in budget reform who would 
treat the school budget ruthlessly with the “pruning knife” as 
is the custom in business and industry when earnings decline. 
Teaching positions have been eliminated, cutting adrift pro- 
fessional workers of ability and merit; services have been cur- 
tailed or suppressed; course offerings have been reduced; pen- 
ny-wise economies have been imposed; and parsimonious poli- 
cies have been resorted to. This method is especially hazard- 
ous in educational administration, especially so when the de- 
mands for service are on the increase. If radical reductions in 
budget items likely to be attended with serious consequences 
appear to be required the effects should be carefully calcu- 
lated, and the supporting public duly informed of the curtail- 
ment proposed in relation to the results anticipated before the 
reductions are actually made. 


Other principals have viewed the problem of necessary 
economies in the light of a challenge, have analyzed their 
budgets in relation to the services provided, and have meas- 
ured each possible economy with tested principles before put- 
ting the economy into effect. In brief, the problem in economy 
is solved through administrative efficiency. In such instances 
improvements in administration may have actually resulted 
through the practice of the economy required. 


The thesis of this discussion involves the present necessity 
for budget economy as a challenge to administrative improve- 
ment. Stated in the form of a question, “Is it possible to im- 
prove administration in the secondary-school while effecting 
necessary economies?” The evidence on which the possibility 
of economy is based is largely quantitative, while that in sup- 
port of increased efficiency is chiefly qualitative. For exam- 
ple, it can be shown by objective data that important econo- 

















4 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 37 


mies in secondary-school administration have already been ef- 
fected in many schools, ranging from very small to very large 
percentages of budget items. The effect of the economies, 
however, must be appraised subjectively, and on such evidence 
must rest the claims for increased efficiency in administration. 


Quantitative data regarding the costs of secondary-school 
administration prior to the depression tend to indicate that ad- 
ministrative results were in some instances secured at exces- 
sive costs, thereby giving support to the hypothesis that in 
such instances administration has been wasteful, and that the 
necessity for economy merely affords a timely occasion for 
needed improvements in administration. As support for this 
contention data can be cited showing the wide range in the 
total cost of administration in comparable secondary-schools 
prior to the depression; or the cost of specific items of admin- 
istration, such as clerical assistance, telephone service, and 
graduation exercises. 


Three examples will be given to show that the variation 
in the cost of administration in comparable schools prior to the 
depression affords a basis for the foregoing hypothesis. 1. 
The cost of administration in School A, which enrolled 912 
pupils, was $27,350 in 1929, or a per-pupil cost of $30. The 
cost in School B the same year, which enrolled 957 pupils, was 
$11,973, or $12.51 per pupil. Since these schools are similar 
in organization and comparable in standing, the difference in 
the per-pupil cost of administration of $17.50 may lead one 
to question the relation of cost to efficiency in administration 
in the two schools. 2. Schools C and D each enrolled 1,060 
pupils and appeared to be administered satisfactorily, yet the 
cost of administration was approximately $7,000 greater in 
School C than in School D, a difference in per-pupil cost of 
$6.68, or an increase of 47 per cent. 3. Schools E and F en- 
rolled 2,100 and 1,980 pupils, respectively. The cost of ad- 
ministration in School E was $67,368, or $32.08 per pupil, 
while in School F the cost was $42,390, or $21.40 per pupil. 
Administration in School E therefore cost its supporting com- 
munity $10.68, or 50 per cent more per pupil than in School F. 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The data on the cost of administration in the six schools, 
all of which enjoyed equal standing in the same accrediting 
association and appeared to be administered equally success- 
fully, reveal variations sufficiently great to warrant the most 
careful analysis of expenditures and evaluation of results. 
The challenge of economy and improvement would seem to ap- 
ply to at least four of the six schools. 


If the cost of the particular items of administration men- 
tioned is compared further support for the hypothesis is se- 
cured. The cost of clerical service in the six schools under con- 
sideration ranged from $9.63 per pupil to $1.31, telephone serv- 
ice from 20¢ per pupil to $1.67, and graduation exercises 2c per 
pupil to $1.00. Claims might be made, of course, that the serv- 
ices secured through the greater expenditures were desirable 
and therefore justifiable; yet the claims might stand without 
support if measured by the criteria of necessity and efficiency. 


Marked variations in administrative costs, such as those 
cited, warrant the apprehension that officers of administration 
in secondary-schools have not exercised equal regard for eco- 
nomical management. It is even possible that some admin- 
istrative officers may have resorted to extravagance as a screen 
for inefficiency. The evidence seems to indicate that the ne- 
cessity for economy produced by the depression affords the im- 
mediate motivation for a thoroughgoing evaluation of practices 
in administration. 


Additional quantitative data could be produced to show 
that many administrative practices of secondary-school princi- 
pals were not considered satisfactory several years ago and 
that great need for improvement existed. It can searcely be 
assumed that all the improvement desired has taken place singe 
that time. Only the most powerful incentives operating gen- 
erally in secondary-schools could bring about promptly the im- 
provements in administrative efficiency which the facts re- 
ferred to appeared to warrant. In the absence of evidence to 
indicate the operation of such incentives, it is safe to assume 
that administrative practices have not been greatly modified 
and that the need for improvement still exists. Hence it is en- 





























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 39 


tirely possible that the necessity of economy might become the 
powerful challenge needed to produce administrative im- 
provement and that the two needs, economy and increused ef- 
ficiency, might operate concurrently with positive effect. 


That such a desirable outcome as economy and administra- 
tive improvement is possible cannot be doubted, if the qualita- 
tive judgment of a group of 17 secondary-school principals af- 
fords a valid basis for a conclusion. These principals were 
asked to list the economies in administration effected in their 
schools during the current year and to specify (1) those econ- 
omies that had been attended with an increase rather than a 
decrease in administrative efficiency, (2) those that-had not 
perceptibly affected the character of administration in the 
school, (3) those that had caused inconvenience and had tended 
to lower efficiency, and (4) those that had clearly resulted in 
the lowering of administrative efficiency. From these sources 
197 specific administrative economies were secured with the 
amount of each economy indicated. The data thus obtained 
furnish the basis for the evaluation of the assumption implied 
in the subject assigned for discussion. 


Only 9 of the 17 principals reported economies which had 
resulted in increased rather than decreased school efficiency. 
These officers listed 23 savings aggregating approximat+¢iy 
$58,000, or an average of $8,300 to the school. The largest sin- 
gle item in the list consisted in salaries paid to teachers and 
administrative officers. Analysis of the savings indicates that 
the economy was effected not by cutting salaries, but chiefly 
through the reorganization of the staff. Duties of assistants, 
such as the assistant principal and dean of girls were merged, 
thus providing for additional teaching service without increas- 
ing instructional costs. Heads of departments, formerly re- 
leased from teaching duties, were assigned to classes and cler- 
ical assistance provided which enabled these officials to carry 
on departmental services not previously given. Class size was 
increased in virtually all of the schools, thereby increasing’ the 
number of pupils to the teacher, and thus reducing the per pu- 
pil cost of instruction. 

















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40 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


If instructional efficiency were actually increased, as 
clainied by the administrative measures reported, it resulted 
evidently from the reorganizations effected because of the 
economies, rather than from the economies directly. The need 
for economy, therefore, appears to have served as an imme- 
diate motive for administrative reorganization, which in turn 
operated as a stimulus to instructional improvement. It is 
probably fair to assume that without the operation of the mo- 
tive nothing would have happened to stimulate the admin- 
istrators to make the improvements indicated and that any 
gain in instructional efficiency in the schools in question would 
have been the result of chance. 


Approximately half of the savings effected were the direct 
result of improved management brought about by the need for 
economy. The janitorial service in some of the schools was re- 
organized by the principal, with the result that important sav- 
ings were effected in regular cleaning and vacation repairs. A 
saving on repairs alone in one school aggregated $4,000. The 
installation of stokers in another school netted a saving on fuel 
for the year of $1,000. These savings, although small in 
amount, represent a substantial portion of the total economies 
effected. A factor of equal, if not greater importance, is the 
belief of the administrative officers that the changes which re- 
sulted in the economies were attended with increased efficiency 
to the school. 


Administrative savings were also effected in the tele- 
phone service, in postage, in office supplies, and in assembly 
programs. While these savings were not large (total for three 
schools $2,860), nevertheless they contributed to the size of 
the percentage of the budget saved. In addition they invited 
administrative change, which, according to the judgment of 
the principals concerned, resulted in increased efficiency. 


Each of the 17 principals reported in List II important 
economies effected through administration, which, in so far as 
they could tell, had not resulted in lowering the efficiency of 
the schools. These economies were extensive in scope, includ- 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 41 
ing 79 different items and aggregating over a quarter-million 
dollars ($287,511). 


The largest single saving was in the salaries of teachers 
and administrative officers. Analysis of the data reveals a 
very different kind of saving than was found in List I. The 
saving in List II was effected by reduction in salaries, by the 
elimination of teachers, by the omission of bonuses for profes- 
sional improvement, by the curtailment of educational supplies, 
by the reduction in the annual appropriation for the school li- 
brary, and by increasing both the size of classes and the num- 
ber of class periods taught by the teachers. 


The principals believe that the teachers, pupils, and par- 
ents have accepted all of the economy measures indicated as 
necessary and have not allowed the inconveniences entailed to 
interfere with the quality of the instructional work of the 
school. Unfavorable results have apparently been averted 
through full cooperation on the part of all concerned. 

Economies in the operation and maintenance of plants, sav- 
ings in insurance, the elimination of expense accounts for at- 
tendance at professional meetings, and the curtailment of of- 
fice costs have enabled the administrative officers to make re- 
ductions in budget items which amount to percentages of con- 
siderable proportions. The evidence secured indicates that 
these administrative economies have not as yet resulted in the 
lowering of the efficiency of the schools. 

Many petty economies were also included in List II, such 
as saving’s on express charges, legal services, telephone costs, 
fuel, water, and light, graduation exercises, medical examina- 
tions, and the like. Some if the savings were as low as $25 
per school while others were as high as $400. Although these 
savings constitute only a small percentage of the total school 
budget, yet they are considered important in that they repre- 
sent a thrifty type of administration which seeks to avoid ex- 
travagance and waste. The claim of the principals who have 
made such savings is that school efficiency has not been low- 
“ered as a result. 

Savings aggregating approximately $200,000 for the 17 
schools were reported in List IIT as causing inconvenience to 








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42 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


principal, teachers, and pupils and tending to lower the effi- 
ciency of the school. Some of the principals placed in this list 
salary reductions and saving's resulting from curtailments in 
repairs, equipment, and supplies. The chief effect of such sav- 
ings in the judgment of the principals is the personal incon- 
venience which tends to be reflected in the character and qual- 
ity of school work. 


It is difficult to see how a claim for increased efficiency 
could be supported in connection with some of the administra- 
tive economies specified in List III. Adjustments are evi- 
dently required which interfere with established school pro- 
cedures. As a result the tendency is toward lower efficiency. 
However, it is possible that good administration may over- 
come the retrograde tendency and by encouraging cooperative 
planning and creative endeavor on the part of all concerned, 
bring about adjustments to the changed conditions which may 
ultimately result in school improvement and increased effi- 


ciency. 

Nine principals specified economies in List IV which had 
clearly resulted in the lowering of school efficiency. These 
economies amounted to approximately $40,000, and consisted 
chiefly of departmental supplies, mimeograph service, health 
service, and salaries. 


In the case of salaries, reductions had been made to a point 
which indicated little recognition or appreciation on the part 
of the Board of Education of trained professional service, 
thereby causing unrest and low morale among the teachers and 
encouragement to leave the system. Economies with such at- 
tending effects could scarcely establish any claim to increased 
efficiency. They should be characterized as parsimonious and 
“nenny-wise” savings without justification. 


The other types of savings clearly resulted in the waste 
of teacher time, in great inconvenience to both teachers and 
pupils, in impairment of the cardinal objectives of secondary 
education, and in personal hardships to pupils, teachers, and 
administrative officers. Granting co-operation on the part of 


all concerned under the conditions, the adjustments required 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 43 


by the economies imposed without doubt made for lower effi- 
ciency and tended to defeat the purposes of the secondary- 


school. 


Some administrators may not be willing’ to accept the 
qualitative judgment of fellow administrators to the effect that 
administrative economies, such as those reported in List I, 
were actually attended with increased school efficiency. They 
may claim that the criteria for evaluating the economies were 
not adequate and what appeared to be increased efficency was 
only another way of getting things done and that in reality 
the results were no better than before, if as goad. 


Similarly, they may claim that the economies specified in 
Lists II, III], and IV were merely enforced retrenchments, 
which are entitled to be classified as present savings but not as 
ultimate economies. They may consider that the effect of such 
savings cannot be evaluated at present and that they will re- 
sult eventually in impaired efficiency and be regarded as false 
economies. 


Whatever the validity of the claims just stated, the warn- 
ing implied is significant. Hasty qualitative judgments re- 
garding the relation of economies and improvements are haz- 
ardous. It does not follow that because a saving is not at- 
tended by some noticeable impairment of efficiency the saving 
is a bona fide economy and will result in improvement. Nei- 
ther is it necessarily true that an economy which causes a tem- 
porary maladjustment will result in the lowering of efficiency. 
On the contrary, it may be argued that some economies of 
questionable current merit might result in administrative 
changes which would tend to offset and even compensate the 
unfavorable present effects of the economies in question. As 
a matter of fact, the total effect, when evaluated fully, might 
indicate an ultimate improvement of the school. 


The data considered show that economies have been ef- 
fected and must continue to be made in the cost of seconaary 
education, at least for the next school year. The question of 
importance in this discussion is the attitude of the principal 
toward the situation which obtains. If economies are regarded 





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44 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


in the light of administrative retrenchments to be executed 
without due regard for attending results, the schools are al- 
most certain to suffer losses in efficiency ; but if economies are 
considered as necessary savings to be effected through skillful 
administrative planning and reorganization the adjustments 
involved may be utilized as incentives to improvement on the 
part of those concerned. Thus it is possible that budget sav- 
ings and administrative improvements may be realized con- 
comitantly. The serious consequences of retrenchments may, 
therefore, be partly averted, if not fully counterbalanced, 
through the acceptance by principals of the challenge of im- 
provement and economy in secondary-school administration. 


Mr. R. R. Cook, Principal of Roosevelt High-School, Des 
Moines, Iowa, then read his paper, Improvement and Econ- 
omy in Instruction. 


IMPROVEMENT AND ECONOMY IN 
INSTRUCTION 


R. R. Cook, 
Principal of Theodore Roosevelt High School, 
Des Moines, Iowa 


The public is demanding to-day that we train more chil- 
dren, that we do it better and that we do it cheaper. 


When tax payers’ organizations and legislatures insist on 
cuts of twenty, thirty, or forty per cent in taxes, after our local 
school administrations have already practiced every conceiv- 
able economy in other ways, there is only one place for such 
cuts to fall, and that is on the instructional salary budget. As 
I see it, there are only three possible ways appreciably to re- 
duce instructional costs in the secondary-schools: 


1. We may reduce educational offerings to such an ex- 
tent that we eliminate many children who can not find 
courses suited to their needs. 


2. We may increase the number of pupils per teacher. 
We may reduce teachers’ salaries. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 45 


The average taxpayer will insist that his children not sufier by 
reason of economy measures. Therefore if we are not to make 
radical cuts in teachers’ salaries we must find ways to increase 
their efficiency so that they can teach much larger numbers of 
pupils with results at least as satisfactory as they have been. 


A year ago, when I asked the members of each department 
of my faculty to suggest ways in which I could help them to 
improve their teaching and at the same time relieve the strain 
of increased class sizes, the three suggestions most frequently 
offered were: 


1. “Give us more teaching aids in the form of mimeo- 
graphed outlines, tests, and other instructional ma- 
terial.” 


2. “Help us to reduce the drudgery of the checking of 
papers and notebooks and the clerical work involved 
in keeping records and making reports, by furnishing 
some clerical help.” 


3. “Relieve us of our worst problem pupils.” 


“If you can do these things,” they said, “we can easily 
handle more pupils.” 


Educational literature, during the past few years, has con- 
tained many articles dealing with the subject of class size. In- 
vestigations, and experiments have been carried on, with more 
or less scientific measurement, for the purpose of determining 
whether or not an increase in the size of high-school classes 
affects the efficiency of instruction. Arguments have appeared 
both for and against such increases. There has been much 
evidence that seems to prove that class size does not correlate 
closely with pupil achievement. But there must be some limit 
beyond which an increase in class size will decrease the effect- 
iveness of teaching. Just where this limit should be and how 
many different limits there should be are problems that will 
require time and money for scientific experiments, just as time 
and money have been expended for the solution of similar prob- 
lems in business and industry. We need to have efficiency ex- 
perts tell us how to handle more pupils per teacher and how to 











46 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


do it better. After reading much of the literature on the sub- 
ject, I do not know what the size of classes should be. Per- 
haps they should be double the present size in some cases, 
creble in others, fifty per cent greater in others, perhaps less 
than at present in a few. I believe that it will depend on: (1) 
the nature of the subject, (2) the method of presentation, (3) 
the capacity of the teacher. The limit should be as large as 
possible and still enable the teacher to secure satisfactory re- 
sults. I believe that the investigations should not be limited 
to the mere increasing of class size and measuring’ the results 
but should be carried on along the line of the selection or de- 
velopment of master teachers, who lave the capacity to handle 
larger classes, give them sufficient clerical and teaching assist- 
ance and help them to carry on real experimentation in teach- 
ing methods. Are there not some teachers in your school un- 
der whose instruction you would far rather place your child 
than under others? We need to make more extensive use of 
the abilities of our strong teachers, bringing many more pupils 
under the influence of their personalities and the stimulus of 
their teaching. What if you could retain only the better half 
of your faculty and have all pupils under their direction? 
Would you not greatly improve the average quality of instruc- 
tion? We need to do everything within our power to retain 
salary schedules that will keep in the teaching profession those 
men and women who, because of native endowment and ac- 
quired character and ability can stimulate that active pupil re- 
sponse that educates. If by more efficient classroom methods 
we can enable such teachers to teach larger numbers of pupils 
we can afford to pay them salaries that will keep them and that 
will attract others of their kind. 


In two of the Des Moines high-schools, we are carrying on 
at the present time, in the English and social science depart- 
ments, experimental units with double size teaching loads, han- 
dled by exceptional experienced teachers, each assisted by a 
lower salaried, well-trained but inexperienced apprentice 
teacher. Each of these units is furnished a budget for steno- 
graphic help and materials. The average pupil-teacher ratio in 
the Des Moines high-schools is thirty-three. Each of these 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 47 


master teachers is expected to carry a teaching load of five 
classes per day, each class having an enrollment of sixty to sev- 
enty. The class periods are sixty-five minutes in length in one 
school, sixty minutes in the other. In the experimental unit 
at North High-School the master teacher and her assistant are 
teaching five classes of eleventh grade English. At Roosevelt 
High-School the unit consists of three classes of twelfth grade 
civics and two classes of twelfth grade economics. 


In each of the experimental units the teachers are assigned 
to a suite of two classrooms, one of which isJarge enough com- 
fortably to accommodate seventy people. A smaller adjoining 
classrom is equipped with tables and tablet arm chairs to be 
used during the class period each day: (1) by pupils who are 
doing extra work with their own or school reference equip- 
ment, (2) by other pupils who are having difficulty with the 
assignment and need assistance from the apprentice teacher, 
and (3) by students making up work which they have missed 
by reason of absence. Students who have been absent or who 
are needing more assistance than can be furnished during the 
class period may secure permission to go to this room from the 
general study hall at any of their vacant periods. 


The large class routine in the social studies, includes the 
making of outlines for students to follow in the preparation of 
class assignments. An outline covering each unit of work is 
mimeographed and placed in the pupils’ hands to be closely fol- 
lowed during study periods. A few notes are made during 
class time, on the topics covered in these assignments. A 
teacher gives short classroom lectures from time to time de- 
scribing each new unit of work and bringing to the attention 
of the class material which is not included in the textbook. 
General class recitations on textbook material are cut to a min- 
imum. Instead, a short test is given each week, covering the 
assignment for the week, and at the close of each unit a longer 
one hour examination is given to test the understanding of the 
complete unit of work. Class discussions are held for thirty 
minutes, two or three days each week. They are concerned 
principally with topics of current interest which are suggested 
by the textbook assignments. Students are urged to make a 











48 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


special effort to take part in these discussions, since in the 
larger size classes the teacher is not able to call upon individual 
pupils as often as formerly for recitation purposes. 


The assistant instructor is used to grade papers, prepare 
outlines, and test material, gather and tabulate reference read- 
ings, check on make-up work of absentees, aid slow pupils in- 
dividually or in small groups or supervise class study while the 
master teacher works with small groups that are having diffi- 
culty. In order to correlate his work with that of the master 
teacher, the assistant must study class assignments, consult 
daily with the master teacher, and be present when lectures or 
instructions are given to the class as a whole. 


At the beginning of the semester each pupil was given a 
mimeographed statement, outlining the general facts pertain- 
ing to the large class experiment and challenging his coopera- 
tion in adjusting himself to the large class conditions, suggest- 
ing certain study methods and indicating the routine to be fol- 
lowed in the use of classroom library and the keeping of note- 
books and outlines. This preliminary bulletin included a birds- 
eye outline of the semester’s work, to be followed later, from 
time to time, by more detailed outlines of each unit of work. 


Summarizing briefly, the following points in the manage- 
ment of the large classes are to be especially noted: 


1. The classroom becomes a work-shop. It is equipped 

with an adequate reference library and filing space for 
illustrative material, outlines, etc. The assistant acts 
as filing clerk. 
Stenographic assistance and materials for the prepa- 
ration of instructions, unit outlines and tests is essen- 
tial. The outlines are working’ guides to the use of 
texts and reference material and contain suggestions 
regarding the things to be done and how to do them. 


Lectures are kept to a minimum. High-school pupils 
have not been adequately trained to take notes on lec- 
tures. They are confined to instructions on what to 
do and to the clearing up of difficulties that have been 
encountered by a considerable number of pupils. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 49 
Added instruction is furnished in small groups to 
those who are too slow to absorb instruction from out- 
lines and lectures. Sometimes these small groups are 
handled by the assistant instructor, sometimes by the 
master teacher while the assistant supervises the large 
classroom during work periods. 


The better students are expected to do considerable 
supplementary reading in books and magazines. 


Short ten minute tests are given every few days and 
major tests are given at the end of each unit of work 
to check the accumulation and organization of infor- 
mational knowledge. 


Several times during’ the work on a unit, the entire 
class is broken up into small groups of six to ten pu- 
pils, for the discussion of current materials and their 
correlation with textbook material. Outlines for the 
discussions are placed, in advance, in the hands of stu- 
dent discussion leaders and while the discussion is go- 
ing on the instructors pass from group to group, not- 
ing the progress, offering suggestions and clearing up 
problems. 


Pupils may come from the general study hall to the 
workroom during vacant periods to read or to make 
up lessons which they have missed. In doing so, they 
follow the work outline and secure help from the 
teacher in charge of the room if needed. 


It is still too early in the year to draw final conclusions as 
to the values and defects of the plan but the following observa- 
tions have been noted: 


Advantages— 


1. 


Pupils of ability are benefiting from the challenge of 
the large class and the greater independence and in- 
itiative expected of them. They are being thrown 
more on their own resources and have more time and 


opportunity to work. 





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DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The weak pupils are receiving more individual help 
and guidance than before. We usually receive criti- 
cisms from the parents of pupils who are not succeed- 
ing. I have yet to hear the first complaint from the 
parents of our pupils. 


The distribution of marks in all five of the social 
science classes, at the close of the first semester, 
showed as satisfactory an average as is usually se- 
cured in these subjects in smaller classes. The mas- 
ter teacher has adhered to the same standards of 
marking that he has used heretofore. The classes 
contain a normal distribution of abilities, as these sub- 
jects are required of all pupils for graduation. The 
total distribution of 318 marks at the close of the fall 
semester, on a five point marking system, was: 
8%—l’s; 23% —2’s; 36% —3’s; 28%—4’s; 5%—fail- 
ures. 


It has not been necessary to call a supply teacher. 
When one of the two teachers had to be absent, the 
other directed the work of the classes alone. It will 
never be necessary to call a supply teacher for these 
classes unless both instructors find it necessary to be 
absent at the same time. 


The plan will result in a financial saving to the school 
district. The average salary of teachers in the Des 
Moines High-Schools is two thousand dollars a year. 
The master teacher in charge of these classes will re- 
ceive $2,247 this year. The assistant, a young man 
just out of college, with special training for social 
science teaching but with no experience, is being paid 
twelve hundred dollars per year. Stenographic labor 
and materials for the year will cost not more than one 
hundred dollars. This will make a total cost of $3547, 
a net saving of $453 under the average salary of two 
experienced teachers or a net saving of $947 under the 
salary of two teachers each receiving the salary of 
the master teacher in charge of these classes. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 51 
The master teacher is relieved of much of the drudg- 
ery of paper grading and other clerical work and de- 
votes his energies to the important task of teaching 
and inspiring pupils. Furthermore, the assistant in- 
structor is able to mark test papers during school 
hours, usually as soon as the test is completed. Most 
teachers are compelled to grade papers at night, after 
a hard day’s teaching, when they are brain-weary and 
unable to give them fair and intelligent consideration. 
The two-teacher plan also makes it possible for the 
assistant to sit in the room and grade oral recitations 
while the master teacher devotes his entire thought to 
the discussion which he is leading. This results in a 
more accurate record of the quality of the pupil re- 
sponse. 


Difficulties— 


1. 


The larger classes result in a smaller number of sec- 
tions of each of these subjects, thereby increasing the 
number of conflicts in the making of pupil programs. 
The smaller the school, the more impractical would 
this plan become. 


There is less opportunity for participation in class dis- 
cussions by individual pupils. This is compensated to 
some extent by dividing the class into small discussion 
groups at times. 


The economy of the two-teacher, double size class plan 
if expanded will depend, to some extent, on the ex- 
pense that may be necessary for the reconstruction of 
classroms. In the newer school buildings the parti- 
tions between classrooms in the same wing or unit are 
usually made of gypsum blocks and can be torn out 
and rebuilt without much expense. Classrooms that 
are separated by supporting walls cannot be so easily 
enlarged. 


It is my belief that further experimentation will show that 


in some departments it will be found possible further to reduce 
the cost of instruction by assigning one assistant instructor to 











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52 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


two master teachers. In such cases the classroom arrange- 
ment should, if possible, conform to the plan suggested by 
Bagby and Smithey of Roanoke, Virginia, in an article, entitled, 
“A New Type Classroom for Junior and Senior High-Schools” 
in the October 1932 issue of the American School Board Jour- 
nal. They propose a unit group of three rooms, consisting of 
two large classrooms with a smaller conference room or work- 
room between them. In the conference room are a supply closet 
and filing cabinet for teaching materials. In such a unit two 
master teachers could work at the same time in the large class- 
rooms, sharing the services of the assistant teacher according 
to a pre-arranged schedule. The conference room should be 
large enough to accommodate groups of fifteen to twenty for 


special work. 


I have no doubt but that the school buildings of the future 
will contain rooms of several sizes, some of them units such as 
I have described. Such a modern building is being constructed 
as an exhibit school on the World’s Fair grounds in Chicago. 
It was planned by Thomas J. Higgins, assistant drector of the 
Bureau of Research and Building Survey of the Chicago 
schools. Those of you who are interested may find a descrip- 
tion of this building in the June 1932 issue of the N. E. A. 


Journal, 


In these days of reduced budgets and ever increasing en- 
rollments some of us have been faced with the necessity for 
increasing the total capacity of our school buildings without 
enlarging them and have done so by increasing the number of 
class periods in the school day. Teachers who have been com- 
pelled to meet their classes in several different classrooms dur- 
ing the day, making it necessary for them to transport records 
and teaching materials from room to room, have felt that their 
teaching efficiency has been considerably impaired thereby. 
Some of you may be interested in the device which we devel- 
oped for meeting this problem without sacrificing our long 
class periods for supervised study. 


The standard program in the senior high-schools of Des 
Moines calls for a five period day, each period sixty-five min- 
utes in length, with each teacher teaching five classes per day. 

















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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 53 


When the enrollment of Roosevelt High-School outgrew the ca- 
pacity of the building on this program we lengthened the 
school day to six periods, and reduced the length of the periods 
to sixty minutes. Under the former schedule each teacher had 
his own classroom throughout the day. Under the new sched- 
ule if each of the original teachers had been allowed to remain 
in one room for all five of his classes, the additional teachers 
would have been compelled to meet their classes in five differ- 
ent classrooms. The plan which we finally developed, as illus- 
trated in Figure 1, assigns six teachers to five classrooms. In 
this figure the verticle columns represent class period ; the hori- 
zontal rows give the schedules for each of the classrooms; the 
letters represent the names of the six teachers assigned to the 
five rooms. The assignment of teachers to rooms is made in 
such a way that teachers A and F each have all of their classes 
in one room. The others each have their classes in only two 
rooms. No teacher is required to change rooms more than 
once during the day and that change occurs at his vacant pe- 
riod, giving him plenty of time to make the transfer. 











Room 1 2 3 4 5 6 
101 A A A A A B 
102 B B B B C C 
103 C C C D D D 
104 D D E E E E 
105 E F F F F F 

Figure 1 


Plan for Assignment of Six Teachers 
to Five Class-rooms. 


When the school outgrows the capacity of the building 
again, it will be possible to assign seven teachers to five class- 
rooms in the same manner by adding one more period to the 
day, as shown in Figure 2. 





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54 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 











Room 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 
101 A A A A A B B 
102 B B B C C C C 
103 C D D D D D E 
104 E E E E F F F 
105 F F G G G G G 

Figure 2 


Plan for Assignment of Seven 
Teachers to Five Class-rooms. 


We find it possible to economize in the purchase of refer- 
ence books and other classroom material by scheduling in the 
same rcom as many classes as possible of the same grade of 
work, both teachers assigned to that room using the same 
materials. 


The efforts which have been made thus far, to find ways 
to save money, by improving instructional technique and the 
efficiency of class organization, are, I believe, only a beginning. 

“Necessity is the mother of invention.” I fully believe 
that the present financial crisis wiil bring changes, as the re- 


sult of continued experimentation, that will permanently af- 
fect the teaching methods and classroom management of the 


future. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 55 


GROUP NO. 2 


In the East Room Principal Alden John Burton, Princi- 
pal of East High-School of Des Moines, Iowa, presided. R. O. 
Billett, Professor of Education of Illinois State Normal Uni- 
versity, presented a paper on Directed Learning and the Unit 


Assignment, 


DIRECTED LEARNING AND THE UNIT ASSIGN- 
MENT 


Roy O. BILLETT, 
Illinois State Normal University, 
Normal, Illinois 


1. Guided and Unguided Experience 


Education in school and out.—All learning originates in 
the interaction of the individual with his environment, that 
is, in experience. Learning is “directed” if the indivdual’s ex- 
perience is intelligently guided. It is undirected if the indi- 
vidual’s experience is unguided. Unguided experience plans 
nothing, deals in dreary and profitless repetitions, uses 
methods which are wasteful of human resources, presents 
many lessons years before the individual can profit by them, 
and offers still other lessons decades too late. From unguided 
experience the individual receives no guarantee of his own 
growth, success, and happiness, and society obtains no promise 
of continuous improvement. Hence, in terms of the functions 
of the school, education must be the result of “guided ex- 
perience” and synonymous with “directed learning.” To this 
end the curriculum should be intelligently planned. The pupil’s 
activities should proceed in an environment scientifically cre- 
ated and artistically controlled. Learning-products should not 
be matters of chance. Even in the case of projects, of elec- 
tives, of extra-curriculum activities, or of creative activities, 
the learning-products though incidental, by no means should 
be accidental. Moreover, the results of the educative process 
should be studied carefully, intensively, and continuously, and 





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56 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


measured if possible in terms of pupil growth. The modern 
educator recognizes that in the degree to which these condi- 
tions do not obtain, the school tends to render a service hardly 
more significant than that of keeping children a scheduled 
number of hours per day for the convenience of parents. 


The difficulties of directing learning.—But the educator 
of an earlier day was not much concerned with the foregoing 
considerations. He went serenely on his way with a pleasing 
consciousness of success. So far as he could see, the job of di- 
recting learning in the secondary school needed little further 
thought or analysis. Pupils were expected to master an estab- 
lished and time-honored curriculum. Educational procedure 
needed to be influenced in no way by differences in the pu- 
pils’ abilities, interests, needs, aims, or educational background. 
As an evidence that “standards” were being held high, only 
a trifling percentage of the population of secondary-school 
age ever completed the work of the secondary school. In gen- 
eral the pupils recognized the immediate aim of secondary- 
school education to be preparation for higher institutions of 
learning and the ultimate aim to be escape from having to 
work “as hard as one’s parents had worked.” The idea that 
education should prepare the individual for intelligent parti- 
cipation in a changing social order had not been conceived, 


much less analyzed. 


The modern educator knows more than his predecessor 
and therefore is not so sure of himself. He has caught a vision 
of unrealized possibilities inherent in directed learning both 
for the individual and for society. Moreover, his strenuous 
efforts to realize these potential values in actual practice have 
resulted in enough disappointment and failure to lead him to 
suspect that stupendous labors must be accomplished before 
the vision can become a satisfying reality. He perceives that 
most of the tasks to be performed in their very magnitude 
mock the puny efforts of individual educators or school sys- 
tems. He is coming more and more to recognize that signifi- 
cant progress can be made only through collective action. His 
judgment is amply supported by a mere enumeration of five 
phases of the work to be done. First, valid objectives toward 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 57 


which pupils should work must be established. These objec- 
tives should range in a harmonious series from the most gen- 
eral and ultimate to the most specific and immediate. In the 
formulation of these objectives due consideration must be 
given to the pupil’s hereditary make-up, to his normal pro- 
cesses of growth, and to the nature of the social order in 
which he will participate. Second, a controlled environment 
must be created wherein the pupil, by means of planned activi- 
ties and experiences, may attain the various objectives in op- 
timum sequence. Third, the pupil’s activities and experiences 
must be intelligently supervised and directed. Fourth, valid 
and reliable methods must be employed to determine when 
each objective has been attained. Fifth, each objective must 
be so attained that the pupil is challenged to move toward new 
objectives which have appeared, by no means accidentally, be- 
yond the new horizon. 


Direction of learning becoming less a matter of opinion 
and guess-work.—In classroom practice the possibilities of di- 
rected learning are merely in the initial stages of realization. 
Yet important advances in education in the past quarter of a 
century have tended to replace opinion and guesswork with 
verified facts concerning many aspects of the problem. Dur- 
ing this time, on the basis of considerable experimental evi- 
dence, educational thinkers have formulated the general and 
specific objectives of education around which tentative edu- 
cational programs may be organized. Studies in educational 
psychology have made it possible to describe the nature of 
the child and his normal processes of growth in more reliable 
terms than ever before. Principles of education and specific 
methods of teaching in which the profession may have reas- 
onable confidence have been developed and tested. The rela- 
tive values of various types of subject-matter have undergone 
a vast amount of empirical inquiry and some scientific study. 
Beginnings have been made in the measurement of pupil 
growth. Therefore, to-day the qualified teacher may under- 
take the difficult task of intelligently directing the learning 
of pupils with more assurance, than was ever before justifiable, 
that the results will harmonize with valid objectives of educa- 

















58 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


tion, and that the methods employed will conflict very little if 
at all with the pupil’s inherent nature or his normal pro- 


cesses of growh. 


Fundamental changes in classroom practice.—As a part 
of a general movement toward the more efficient and valid 
direction of learning, the fundamental changes which have 
occurred in the philosophy, the psychology, and the principles 
of education have been followed or paralleled by radical 
changes in classroom procedure. In the secondary school the 
most thorough-going of these changes in classroom procedure 
has been introduced under the name of one or another of ten 
plans, methods, or techniques which in the aggregate may be 
designated as “plans characterized by the unit assignment.” 
These plans are known in educational literature as (1) the 
project method, (2) the problem method, (3) differentiated 
assignments, (4) long-unit assignments, (5) the contract plan, 
(6) the laboratory plan, (7) individualized instruction, (8) the 
Morrison plan or some modification, (9) the Winnetka tech- 


nique or some modification, and (10) the Dalton plan or some 
modification. A central feature of each of these ten plans is 
the direction of learning by means of some form of the unit 
assignment with resultant modification of classroom proce- 


dure. 


Some findings of the National Survey.—In connection with 
the National Survey of Secondary Education these plans char- 
acterized by the unit assignment have been studied intensive- 
ly and comparatively as provisions for individual differences. 
Without further comment here, the significant statement is 
submitted that in the actual practice of outstanding secondary 
schools these procedures have been found to differ in name 
only. In arriving at this conclusion the practices of 459 care- 
fully selected schools representative of all sections of the Unit- 
ed States were studied in minute detail. A complete statement 
of the findings have been reported in Part II of a monograph 
entitled “Provisions for Individual Differences, Marking and 
Promotion” soon to be published by the United States Office of 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 59 
Education.! Leaving to another time and place the discussion 
of the completely chaotic terminology which prevails in the 
schools studied, an effort will be made in this report to answer 
in some detail the following questions: In terms of the prac- 
tices of these selected schools, (1) What is a “unit” and a 
“unit assignment”? (2) How are units and unit assignments 
planned, revised, and correlated? (3) What type of teaching 
and learning situations are adapted to the use of the unit as- 
signment? (4) What kind of classroom procedure accompanies 
the use of the unit assignment? 


Even brief answers to these questions will disclose that 
the various plans characterized by the unit assignment col- 
lectively constitute the most extensive and systematic effort 
so far made to secure more efficient and valid direction of 
learning in the secondary school. 





2. Building, Correlating, and Revising Unit Assignments. 


The unit defined in terms of practice—In terms of typi- 
cal practices in the schools studied the unit is one of the co- 
ordinate, major sub-divisions of a course. However, diligent 
search has revealed a few instances in which the units of a 
course are stated as concepts, attitudes, appreciations, knowl- 
edges, or skills to be acquired by the pupil. Although such 
instances are decidedly rare, they suggest that the unit should 
be defined as a concept, attitude, appreciation, knowledge, or 
skill to be acquired by the pupil, which if acquired will pre- 
sumably modify his thinking or his other behavior in a de- 
sirable way. Thus defined the units of a course are the objec- 
tives of the course. At present the units of any given course in 
the schools studied are derived empirically and are highly 
variable from one school to another. 


The unit assignment in terms of practice.—In the prac- 


tices of the schools studied the unit assignment consists of 
the suggested or required activities and experiences planned 








1Compare also Billett, Roy O. “High-School Pupils’ Opinions of 
the Unit Plan” School Review (January, 1932) Vol. XXXIX, pp. 17-32 
and Billett, Roy O. “Plans Characterized by the Unit Assignment”, 
School Review (November, 1932) Vol. XI, pp. 653-668. 

















ee aS 








pa WL 
xh 5 


EO MS Sate ee 











60 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


by the teacher to enable the pupil to master the unit, that is 
to enable him to acquire the desired concept, attiude, ap- 
preciation, knowledge, or skill. The unit assignment may be 
described more specifically in terms of its contents as em- 
ployed in the schools investigated. In these schools the unit 
assignment usually consists of: (1) directions for study, (2) 
references for reading, (3) a list of supplementary projects, 
(4) an outline of minimum essentials, and (5) a tentative time 
allotment. The assignment also may possess one or more of 
the following characteristics: (1) an “approach paragraph” 
to stimulate the pupil’s curiosity and interest; (2) an intro- 
ductory statement of the objectives of the unit; (3) a short 
list of basic questions; (4) necessary explanations; (5) a 
word-study list or a vocabulary of difficult words; (6) experi- 
ments to be performed; (7) topics for discussion, dramatiza- 
tion, or demonstration; (8) notice of special difficulties to be 
encountered; (9) samples of how to do the work required; 
(10) lists of materials and apparatus needed; (11) assign- 
ments of individual reports to be made in class; (12) addi- 
tional elective work; (13) references to correlation with other 
subjects; and (14) a test on the assignment. 


Although the schools studied were selected as the most 
outstanding in the nation in the use of the unit assignment, it 
was unusual to find anything resembling such a clear dis- 
tinction as has been made above between the unit and the 
unit assignment. In rare instances, the plan of the unit was 
clearly recognized as the teacher’s plan from the teacher’s 
point of view. In these cases the plan of the unit was re- 
tained for the teachers use and was not illogically woven into 
the materials which properly constitute the unit assignment. 


Abbreviations of the unit assignment.—It is easy to get 
the impression from the foregoing enumeration of the items 
which compose the hundreds of assignments analyzed, that 
unit assignments as presented to the pupils are long and com- 
plex. In many cases they are unnecessarily so. Certain ten- 
dencies should be noted toward brevity and simplicity of the 
materials placed in the hands of the pupils at any one time. 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 61 

In the unit assignments submitted for analysis a distinct 
tendency was evident for assignments in subjects like typwrit- 
ing, shorthand, foreign language, and mathematics to be much 
briefer than assignments in subjects such as English, social 
studies, and science. The explanation seems to be that in sub- 
jects such as those composing the former group the teacher 
tends to rely on a single textbook. The accepted units and their 
sequence are rather rigidly determined for the teacher. More- 
over, the textbooks to a large extent, are themselves guide 
sheets suggesting the activities and experiences by means 
of which the units may be mastered. Hence, in these subjects 
the unit assignment prepared by the teacher is supplementary 
to the unit assignment already contained in the textbook and 
tends to be brief. To make it long is merely to duplicate text- 
ual material. On the other hand, in subjects such as those 
composing the latter group the teacher seems to rely less on 
a single textbook, probably because no one textbook contains 
all the desired units in the preferred sequence or because the 
teacher wishes to recognize several alternative procedures by 
means of which the unit may be mastered. 


Even in subjects such as English, social studies and sci- 
ence, the unit assignment is being abbreviated in a desirable 
way. Each item of the supplementary and elective materials, 
so commonly reproduced on the mimeographed assignment or 
guide sheet, is removed from the guide sheet and placed on 
a card three inches by five inches or four inches by six inches 
in size. These cards are filed and used by pupils as catalogue 
cards are filed and used in a library. The guide sheet, carry- 
ing only the fundamental assignment, thus appears much less 
formidable and confusing to the pupil. Moreover, the costs of 
clerical help, stencils, and other supplies are reduced, and new 
electives and supplementary problems or projects may be add- 
ed at any time to the card index without altering the stencil 
for the basic assignment. 


A further description of actual practices in outstanding 
secondary schools in connection with other aspects of build- 
ing, correlating, and revising unit assignments will be given 
in the ensuing paragraphs. Some of the difficulties confront- 





























62 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ing educators who are seeking more efficient and valid di- 
rection of learning, through the use of the unit assignment, 
will be revealed; and the reader will be given some basis for 
judging the adequacy of the methods employed in meeting 
these difficulties. 


Time allotted to units and sub-divisions of the unit.— 
In the allotment of time to units and sub-divisions of units no 
hard and fast rules are followed. Generally a tentative time 
limit is set for each unit. The actual time spent on the unit 
varies with the nature and the amount of supplementary ma- 
terial involved, and with the abilities of the pupils. The amount 
of time given to a unit ranges from one week to an entire se- 
mester. Analogous observations hold for the sub-divisions of 


the unit. 


Separate assignments for each ability level.—Sixty-two 
per cent of the schools provide differentiated assignments for 
each ability level. Typically three levels are provided for, 
though the range is from two to five. 


Usually a certain minimum amount of work is prescribed 
for all pupils. Work beyond this minimum’ is supplementary 
in nature and is based upon the individual pupils’ special in- 
terests and capacities. Bright pupils do more creative work 
than other pupils, read more, and more frequently make spe- 
cial reports for the benefit of the rest of the group. Since 
slow pupils frequently need special remedial or coaching help 
in order to succeed with the work of the first level, there ap- 
pears to be a tendency to include too much material or too 
difficult material in the assignment for the lowest level. The 
arrangement of the materials of the assignment in such a way 
that pupils advance from tasks which are fundamental and 
simple to tasks which are more complex and difficult seems to 
be desirable wherever practicable. 


Choice of topics, references, and problems within the as- 
signment for a given level.—More than half the schools re- 
port that pupils are allowed considerable choice of topics, refer- 
ences, and problems even within the assignment for a given 
level. Apparently the privilege of choosing is restricted too 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 63 


often to pupils of the upper levels. For instance, in some 
schools differentiation of assignments is secured through a 
list of optional projects. Each pupil masters the minimum as- 
signment. Optional projects are then taken up in accordance 
with the interests and capacities of the individual pupil. But 
the slow pupil rarely gets past the minimum requirements. In 
other schools the assignment is divided into a number of levels, 
usually three. Each pupil masters the elements of the assign- 
ment for the lowest level and then advances as far as he can 
through the assignments for the upper levels. Again the slow 
pupil is held to a series of required tasks unbroken by op- 
tional work since elective projects appear only in the upper 
levels, and he rarely gets beyond the assignments for the first 
level. In only a few schools are pupils working on the lowest 
level permitted to exercise a considerable degree of choice 
in the tasks to be performed, but the evidence from these 
schools highly favors the practice. 


Occasionally unit assignments are constructed in three 
separate and independent forms, one for each of three ability 
levels. The pupil’s previous work in the subject, plus the re- 
sults of mental tests, aid the teacher in deciding which form 
each individual pupil shall attempt to master. Such differen- 
tiation was found only in schools practicing homogeneous 


grouping. 


Planning and revising units and unit assignments.—As a 
rule the teacher plans the units and unit assignments for her 
own classes. The completed unit and unit assignment are fre- 
quently submitted to the department head, supervisor, or prin- 
cipal for approval. However, in many schools not even this 
approval is required. In many instances the teacher adapts 
or modifies units and unit assignments prepared by other 
agencies such as State departments of education, committees 
of local teachers of the city or county guided by local su- 
pervisors, or authors of published texts. About 8 per cent of 
the schools report that a special committee of teachers of a 
given subject plans the units and unit assignments for the 
teachers of the entire city or county. Occasionally the teacher 
works out units and unit assignments which are later sub- 














64 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


mitted to a committee of teachers in the same subject and 
grade for suggestions or modification. In rare cases the teacher 
builds the unit and unit assignment cooperatively with the 
pupils. In such cases, although the pupils in the main are 
guided toward the acceptance of a unit and a corresponding 
unit assignment which the teacher has in mind, no one can 
gainsay that a certain phychological advantage is realized 
through pupil participation. Moreover, the original vnit and 
unit assignment are often modified by the pupils .1 worth 
while ways. 


In less than a fifth of the schools the initial planning 
of the unit and of the unit assignment is followed by con- 
ferences of teachers having the same pupils in their classes, 
with a view to securing correlation. 


Nine-tenths of the respondents say that units and unit 
assignments are revised continuously. In the remaining schools 
the units and the corresponding unit assignments are revised 
regularly at the end of each semester or year. Of outstanding 
importance in the business of revising and improving unit 
assignments is the teacher’s log’ kept of the teacher’s and 
pupils’ experiences with the unit. Such a record offers sug- 
gestions to those revising the unit, which would be lost if 
not systematically recorded. Marked improvement in the 
units, their sequence, and in the corresponding unit assign- 
ment, results when such logs are kept and interpreted under 
skilled and intelligent direction. 


The correlation of unit assignments.—In more than three- 
fifths of the schools studied intensively no systematic effort 
is made to secure correlation of the assignments in all sub- 
jects which a pupil may be carrying at a given time. Such 
correlation and integration is of great importance in the mat- 
ter of economy of time of both pupils and teachers, and is not 
likely to occur as the resuit of chance. The chief means em- 
ployed in the schools studied, to secure correlation and inte- 
gration is the joint meeting or conference which may include: 
(1) individual teachers from different departments, (2) com- 
mittees of teachers from different departments, or (3) de- 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 65 


partment heads. As an interesting supplement to, and prepa- 
ration for, these conferences each teacher may read critically 
and systematically her pupil’s guide-sheets in all subjects. 
By this means she discovers many points where correlation 
of other subje¢ts with her own subject is possible. 


Specific instances of correlation as actually practiced in 
these schools may be cited as follows: (1) assignments in the 
several subject-matter fields are studied by committees of 
teachers to eliminate unnecessary revetitions, (2) units are 
planned to touch more than one subject and credit is allowed 
in each subject, (3) pupils in vocational agriculture are given 
farm problems in mathematics, chemistry, and general science, 
(4) the pupil may choose subjects for English composition 
dealing with his work in other subjects, (5) themes written 
in history are checked by English teachers and allowed credit 
in the English department, and (6) the pupil’s required read- 
ings in the several courses are carefully checked with a view 
to securing an optimum number of identical references. 


In general the respondents are dissatisfied with their ef- 
forts at correlation and iniegration and frankly report that 
they are not attempting enough along this line. 


Difficulties encountered in planning, revising, and cor- 
relating unit assignments.—Many respondents emphasize that 
the work of correlating assignments in the several subject- 
matter fields can prosper only when a cooperative spirit ex- 
ists among teachers, department heads, supervisors, and prin- 
cipal. Departmental jealousies, antagonism between super- 
visors, and a lack of that interest in cther subjects and sub- 
ject-matter fields, which all teachers, department heads, and 
supervisors should feel, are barriers to improved correlation 
and integration. However, the chief hindrance to correlation 
as well as to planning and revising units and unit assignments 
is lack of time due to heavy teaching, administrative, or ex- 
tra-curriculum duties. Planning, revising, and correlating unit 
assignments are regarded entirely too generally as spare-time 
activities for teachers on a full-time teaching’ schedule. Most 
desirable results are not likely to be obtained until teachers 

















ea eat AE Pants ee 








66 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


cooperating in this work are allowed a reasonable margin of 
time in which to do it effectively. 


Other difficulties which make uphill work of the planning, 
revision, and correlation of assignments, in the frequency with 
which they are mentioned by the respondents are: (1) the 
teacher’s lack of training for, and experience in the work, 
(2) the impedimenta of rigidly prescribed courses of study. 
of state or local syllabi, and of state examination requirements, 
(3) the fact that any given class may contain pupils of all 
abilities, interests, and aims (as for example, college-prepara- 
tory, commercial, and industrial-arts pupils) ; and (4) the ne- 
cessity of keeping each class abreast at all times in the cor- 
relation of assignments of four or more subjects. None of 
these are inseparable under existing school organization. For 
example, the last-mentioned may be overcome by the applica- 
tion of a device employed by Miss Parkhurst in the Children’s 
University School in New York whereby no pupil may advance 
in any subject beyond a certain pre-established point until 
he has brought all his other subjects up to given points. 


3. Classroom Procedure and the Unit Assignment. 


Types of teaching or learning situations recognized.— 
The use of the unit assignment is accompanied by noteworthy 
changes in classroom procedure. Most respondents cooperating 
in this study believe that, as a matter of convenience, three 
types of teaching or learning situations may be recognized 
namely, (1) the problem-solving or science type, (2) the ap- 
preciation type, and (3) the drill type. These are not regarded 
as types in the sense that one may be completely isolated 
from the other, but rather in the sense that in any given class 
period one type may dominate the teaching and learning situ- 
ation sufficiently to make it fairly accurate to say that the 
work is of a particular type, either problem-solving, apprecia- 


tion or drill. 


Recognized phases of the teaching and learning cycle.— 
In these schools, the teaching and learning cycle is typically 
divided into four phases: (1) the introduction, (2) the indi- 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 67 
vidual-work (or laboratory) period, (3) the period of class 
discussion, and (4) the testing period. No formal boundaries 
are indicated which separate one phase from the other. It 
should be noted. that not all respondents are satisfied with 
the terms used above to designate the major phases of the 
learning cycle adapted to the use of the unit assignment. For 
example, in some schools a fifth and at times a sixth phase, 
namely, (5) re-teaching and (6) re-testing are added. In most 
schools studied, however, re-teaching and re-testing proceed 
continuously throughout the individual-work (or laboratory) 
period and the period of class discussion. Another term oc- 
casionally preferred for the “introduction” is the “planning 
period.””’ Some respondents divide the introduction into two 
phases, the “pre-test” or “pre-view,” and the “presentation” 
or “assignment.” The second step is at times called a period of 
“directed work,” a period of “supervised study” or a “labor- 
atory period.” The last-mentioned term in many respects seems 
more indicative of the pupil-and teacher-activities during the 
period than the term “individual-work period.” 


Purpose of, methods employed in, and time allotments 
for each phase.—In the paragraphs which follow, the nature 
of the classroom procedure found adaptable to the use of the 
unit assignment in the schools studied will be summarized. 
The purpose of each phase of the teaching’ and learning cycle, 
the methods employed in each phase, and the proportionate 
amount of time allotted to each phase, will be given. 


The introductory phase.—The primary purpose of the in- 
troduction is to give the pupil an overview of the unit and to 
arouse his interest. The period also serves to diagnose pupils’ 
needs, to locate pupils needing special help, and to determine 
the pupil’s preparation for study of the new unit. About a 
fourth of the schools report the use of initial tests during the 
introductory period. Scores made on this test are compared 
later with scores made on a final mastery test and the de- 
gree of progress made by each pupil is thus known. 


Methods used during the introductory step.—During the 
introductory period the teacher usually explains the purpose 








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68 


DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


and general content of the new unit, questions the pupils or- 
ally, and stimulates class discussion. In the order of frequency 
of mention, the methods employed during the introductory pe- 
riod are as follows: 


1. 


9 


ae 


or 


10. 


11. 


12. 


13. 


14. 


15. 


Obviously these methods (or teacher- and pupil-activi- 
ties) are by no means mutually exclusive. 


Class discussion. 

Purpose and general content of new unit are made 
clear by the teacher. 

Oral questioning. 

Methods by which pupil is to study the unit are out- 
lined. 

Class meets and works as one group. 

Relation of new unit to previously mastered ideas 


or facts is developed through questions, suggestions, 
or explanations by the teacher. 


Unit is told to the class by the teacher as a story, or 
sketched by the teacher in a talk or lecture. 

A written, objective pre-test is given. 
Assignments, units, and problems are furnished pu- 
pil in multigraphed, mimeographed, or printed form. 
Assignments, units, and problems are written on the 
blackboard to be copied by the pupil. 

Assignments, units, and problems are given orally 
by the teacher and copied by the pupil. 

Hypotheses are advanced for the solution of prob- 
lems involved. 

Pupils are given a written test to determine the ex- 
tent to which they have secured an accurate over- 
view. 

Introductory step is repeated for those who do not 
pass the test satisfactorily. 


A written pre-test, essay type, is given. 








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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 69 
The least frequently employed procedure is the written 
pre-test of the essay type although the written objective pre- 
test is employed more or less frequently in 61 per cent of the 
schools studied. In less than one-half of the schools a written 
test is given to determine whether the pupil has secured an 
accurate overview of the unit. Most of these repeat the in- 
troductory step for pupils who do not perform satisfactorily 
on the test. Perhaps all too often time is wasted because the 
unit assignment is not presented in typed or printed form. 


Time required for the introductory step.—Three-fourths 
of the schools report that no approximately uniform propor- 
tion of the total time given to the unit, is allotted to the intro- 
ductory step, even for the units of a given subject. The median 
estimate of the remaining respondents is that 10 per cent of 
the total time given to a unit is allotted to the introductory 
step. 


The individual-work (or laboratory) period.—All schools 
report that the chief purpose of the individual-work (or lab- 
oratory) period is the mastery of the unit by the individual 
pupil. To a fourth of the respondents mastery implies that 
certain adaptations in the pupil will result from his work with 
the materials of the unit assignment. Other purposes occa- 
sionally mentioned are: (1) the development of initiative and 
self-direction, and (2) the providing of opportunities for self- 
expression and creative achievement. 


Methods used during the individual-work (or laboratory) 
period.—The individual-work (or laboratory) period is em- 
phatically a time of directed study. During this period the 
classroom is made a study room or laboratory wherein the 
pupils read references and collect data bearing upon the mas- 
tery of the unit; during this time the teacher observes the 
pupil’s work, points out errors, suggests better study meth- 
ods, and answers questions raised by individual pupils. Sev- 
eral respondents take pains to emphasize that the teacher does 
not answer questions until the pupil’s own resources of time 
and ability have been exhausted. Other methods employed 








| 




















70 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


during the individual-work (or laboratory) period in the or- 
der of frequency of mention are: 
1. Teacher directs informal discussions of common diffi- 
culties. 
2. Pupil works on supplementary topic of his own choos- 
ing, with approval of teacher. 
3. Pupils work part of the time individually and part 
of the time in small groups. 
4. Teacher gives objective tests to discover pupil prog- 
ress. 
5. Teacher calls for brief reports from individual pupils 
on common difficulties. 
Capable pupils at times instruct other pupils. 
Pupil formulates or organizes his solution of (or 
work done on) the problem, unit or assignment. 
8. Teacher gives subjective or essay-type tests to dis- 
cover pupil progress. 


The activities of the teacher and of the pupils during this pe- 
riod suggest the inapplicability of the name individual-work 
period. The term “laboratory period” may be preferable 
since the pupils’ activities are by no means exclusively indi- 
vidual and the work of this period is decidedly analogous to 
the work for a long time common to laboratory periods in 
science and industrial arts. During this period discussions 
are frequently held on common difficulties. Such discussions 
usually involve only small groups of pupils to whom the diffi- 
culty is immediate and real. The period is often one of mu- 
tual aid wherein the more successful pupils contribute to the 
instruction of the less successful. The period is not only a 
time of collecting data but also a time for organizing and in- 
terpreting data. Finally the period is a time of occasional 


testing usually by means of objective tests, sometimes by 
means of essay tests. The results of these tests are important 
helps to the teacher in judging the progress of individual pu- 
pils and in planning remedial teaching. The point is often 





Fae po a ee 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 71 


stressed that pupils do not work on elective supplementary 
topics until the minimum requirements have been met. Only 
the more capable pupils ever get beyond the rigid require- 
ments of the first level. The question has already been raised 
whether a certain degree of option concerning work to be done 
might not be as wholesome for slow pupils as for their more 
capable fellows. 

In some schools the preceding methods are supplemented 
as follows: Conferences and excursions are scheduled occa- 
sionally during the individual-work (or laboratory) period. 
Additional teacher activities include the raising of questions, 
marking finished work, conferring with small groups, arrang- 
ing for supplementary reports, and keeping quiet, each as the 
occasion seems to demand. Time is frequently given for dem- 
onstrations by individual pupils, of interesting results ob- 


tained. 

The proportion of time given to any of the various meth- 
ods employed during the individual-work (or laboratory) pe- 
riod differs with the subject-matter. For example, the read- 
ing of references and the collection of data occupy a much 
greater percentage of this period in social studies than in 
mathematics; although probably the contribution which math- 
ematics has made to modern civilization would be more ap- 
parent to pupils if more than the usual amount of time were 
given to the reading of well-selected references. 


Time required for individual-work (or laboratory) period. 
—More than half the schools report that no approximately 
uniform proportion of the total time taken by a unit is allot- 
ted to the individual-work (or laboratory) period, even among 
the units of a given subject. The median estimate of the re- 
maining respondents is that 54 per cent of the total time 
given to a unit is allotted to the individual-work (or labora- 
ory) period. However, for pupils composing “honors” or 
“self-reliant” groups this proportion is often increased to as 
” much as 90 per cent. 

The period of class discussion.—Four-fifths of the respond- 
ents report two purposes for the period of class discussion: 








72 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


first, to give pupils a chance to interchange ideas and infor- 
mation gathered primarily during the individual-work (or lab- 
oratory) period; and second, to give pupils an opportunity to 
correct wrong notions which they may have acquired. To 
three-fifths of the respondents an additional purpose of the 
period of class discussion is to test the pupil’s ability to pre- 
sent previously collected and organized facts and principles in 
such a way as to arouse a desirable emotional attitude in his 
audience or to convince its intelligence of the soundness of a 
position taken. Other purposes occasionally reported are: (1) 
to furnish an opportunity for summarization, (2) to give 
practice in oral discussion, (3) to give practice in speaking 
before an audience, (4) to socialize experience, (5) to stim- 
ulate thinking, (6) to secure additional association through 
audition, (7) to fix impressions through expression (8) to 
show how applications of the unit may be made, (9) to de- 
velop the main concepts of the unit through the pooling of in- 
formation and experiences, and (10) to bring out additional 
problems and thus lead up to the study of the next unit. 


Methods used in period of class discussion.—Classroom 
procedure during the period of class discussion centers around 
floor talks and oral or written reports given by the pupils on 
some phase of the unit or some related supplementary topic. 
These talks and reports are interspersed with debates or gen- 
eral discussions. The teacher presents additional material of 
interest not thought of or discovered by the class. Pupils mak- 
ing the best floor talks or reports are rewarded in some schools 
by having their talks or reports recorded on disk records to 
be reproduced in other class sections or at community gath- 
erings. Sometimes their work is “broadcasted” to other 
classes through a system of loud speakers. The pupils are not 
required to defend their solutions of the problems involved in 
the unit, or to present organization outlines or briefs of the 
unit for criticism as often as one might expect. A few teach- 
ers report that they complete this phase of the work on the 
unit during the individual-work (or laboratory) period. Dur- 
ing the period of class discussion the teacher may summarize 
the work of the class, but often this summarization is a coop- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 73 


erative function of both teachers and pupils, or of a committee 
of capable pupils. 


Other methods frequently reported are: (1) pupils give 
demonstrations or present displays of work done in connec- 
tion with the unit, (2) small groups or committees offer their 
interpretation of the unit, (3) lectures are given by outside 
speakers, (4) motion pictures or stereopticon slides related to 
the unit are shown and (5) excursions may be taken to ac- 
quire necessary or desirable information bearing upon the 


unit. 


Time required.—More than half the respondents state 
that, of the total time allotted to the unit no approximately 
uniform proportion is devoted to the period of class discussion 
even in the units of a given subject. The median estimate for 
the remaining schools is that 31 per cent of the total time al- 
lotted to the unit is given to the period of class discussion. 


Tests and the testing period.—Only two per cent of the 
respondents state that tests serve solely as bases for the 
awarding of marks. Eighty per cent say that tests are used 
only as a means of discovering whether pupils have mastered 
the unit assignment or its component parts. Additional pur- 
poses occasionally mentioned are: (1) to furnish a basis for 
re-teaching, or to determine where to concentrate review, (2) 
to motivate pupils, to stimulate them to organize their work, 
and to induce them to review, and (3) to enable the teacher 
to evaluate the success of her methods. 


When tests are given.—The brief testing period which fol- 
lows the period of class discussion is devoted exclusively to 
final testing for mastery. It by no means constitutes the en- 
tire testing program as this report so far has shown. Before 
pupils begin work on a unit, pre-tests are always given in four 
per cent of the schools; are generally given in seventeen per 

-cent; and are occasionally given in forty per cent. That is, 
with varying frequencies, pre-tests are given in sixty-one per 
cent of all schools reporting. In general, the data indicate 
that pupils rarely show on the pre-test a degree of mastery 














74 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


which justifies excusing them from any considerable portion 
of the unit. However, pupils who are excused from work on 
all or on part of the unit usually work on elective supple- 
mentary projects. Sometimes they assist with the instruction 
of other pupils, do free reading, or work on other subjects 
which require their time. In most schools a series of tests 
are given throughout the individual-work (or laboratory) pe- 
riod and the period of class discussion covering the several 
sub-divisions or component parts of the unit; and comprehen- 
sive final examinations often covering several units for the 
purposes of review, are given at the end of the semester. 


By whom tests are prepared.—In ninety per cent of the 
schools the teacher prepares all tests and examinations for his 
or her classes, usually subject to the approval of the depart- 
ment head, the principal, or the supervisor. Several teachers 
doing work in the same subjects and grades may cooperate in 
the preparation of tests. In a few schools the tests are cen- 
trally prepared by the department head, the supervisor, or 
members of the department of measurement or research. 


Form in which tests are given.—Standardized tests are 
seldom used to measure progress or mastery. Most schools 
make judicious use of subjective or essay-type tests and of 
oral tests. Objective tests are often used in printed or mim- 
eographed form. 


What the tests measure.—Practically all respondents be- 
lieve their objective tests to measure only information and 
factual materials, or skills. Most teachers are relying on sup- 
plementary techniques to enable them to judge the extent to 
which concepts, attitudes or appreciations are being acquired. 
Among these supplementary methods may be mentioned the 
following: (1) close observation of pupil’s conduct and re- 
actions, (2) oral examinations, and (3) problems presented 
to the pupil requiring a statement of what should be done un- 
der a specific set of conditions. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


4. Conclusion 


Potentialities of the unit assignment and present practice. 
—In concluding this report the opinion is ventured that the 
possibilities of successful direction of learning by means of 
the unit assignment and accompanying changes in classroom 
procedure, far transcend anything so far accomplished. The 
“unit” sets up a definite and relatively immediate objective 
toward which the pupil may work. The “unit assignment” 
suggests the activities and experiences by means of which the 
pupil may attain his objective. The classroom procedure em- 
ployed provides for intelligent guidance of the pupil’s activi- 
ties and experiences. The validity of any objective and of the 
suggested activities and experiences is not necessarily a mat- 
ter of guesswork, but may be established to the satisfaction of 
the most exacting if the price is paid in terms of human in- 
telligence, time, and effort. Units or unit assignments, or 
both, may be dfferentiated with comparative ease to provide 
for the different interests, aims, needs, or abilities of the pu- 
pils. The teaching and learning cycle which accompanies the 
use of the unit assignment in outstanding schools is highly 
flexible and adaptable, favoring the development of that men- 
tal attitude on the part of the pupil which is the essense of 
freedom in classroom work,' offering reasonable opportunities 
for original and creative work without encouraging situations 
wherein the pupils’ energies are dissipated from day to day by 
the pursuit of transient and unrelated objectives. 


A continuous research program needed.—However, it 
should be a matter of concern that the units and unit assign- 
ments now in use in the best secondary-schools are purely the 
results of empirical and often hasty analyses of existing sub- 
ject matter. Only rarely do the units in use rest on even 
meager research into pupils’ normal activities, psychological 
stages of growth, present needs, immediate interests, or prob- 
able adult needs. Such strikingly important matters as the 
determination of the optimum sequence of units, the corre- 


1See Dewey, John. Democracy and Education, The MacMillan Com- 
pany, New York, 1916, p. 357. 


























76 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


lation of assignments, the differentiation of units and assign- 
ments for pupils of different interests, abilities, needs, and 
aims, for the most part are arrived at unsystematically by 
workers laboring under the pressure of teaching and admin- 
istrative burdens which preclude the use of the methods of 
scientific research even if the workers were trained in the use 
of such procedures. 

The improvement of practice could be immediately accel- 
erated if in conjunction with this wide-spread empirical at- 
tack on the problem of directed learning a constant research 
program were kept continuously under way directed by the 
ablest research workers available. Much of the research work 
would produce materials of nation-wide usefulness, certainly 
needing only minor modifications for local situations. Class- 
room teachers and supervisors would be constantly supplied 
with the products of research and would give such materials 
the acid test of classroom use. The research program would 
be constantly oriented by criticisms emanating directly from 
the classroom. In the writer’s opinion, the problem of corre- 
lating an extensive research program with the present wide- 
spread empirical attempts to improve units and unit assign- 
ments now in use, is one which should receive the attention of 
state and national organizations interested in secondary edu- 
cation. The vast amount of effort now being expended to im- 
prove the direction of learning should be coordinated and a 
greater certainty of continuous improvement should be as- 


sured. 


Mr. C. C. Certain, Chairman of the Committee on Library 
Standards, Detroit, Michigan, read his paper, High-School 
Library Standards. 


HIGH-SCHOOL LIBRARY STANDARDS 
C. C. CERTAIN, 
Detroit, Michigan. 


It was fifteen years ago, in 1918, that I presented to this 
Department, the Report on Standard Library Organization 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 77 


and Equipment for Secondary-Schools, which the Department 
adopted and which was adopted also by the North Central As- 
sociation of Colleges and Secondary-Schools, the American Li- 
brary Association, and various state and city boards of edu- 
cation. 


The Old Standards.—These fifteen years have seen the 
standards realized, in some cases. Miss Mary E. Hall, librarian 
of the Girls Central High School, Brooklyn, N. Y., an inde- 
fatigable worker and leader in the movement for better school 
libraries, in a letter to me last January commening upon the 
ideals set by these standards said, “I did not think I should 
ever see New York City actually having such high-school 
libraries, but the Theodore Roosevelt and the new DeWitt 
Clinton High School do actually embody all of your recom- 
mendations, I think, and most of the new high-schools now 
will be built to meet ‘The Certain Standards.’ It took from 
1916, when the Department of Secondary-School Principals, 
the Department of Superintendence, and the American Library 
Association adopted them, to 1929 for New York to put them 
into effect fully in some of its best high schools.” 


In many more instances, however, the standards of 1918 
have not yet been attained. There is, moreover, an almost uni- 
versal danger of retrogression at this particular time. 


It is most important that the work started by this De- 
partment more than fifteen years ago, which has proved to be 
so constructive a thing, resulting as it has in the establish- 
ment and growth of libraries admirable in every detail, must 
not be lost now. The object, then, should be to maintain these 
libraries in the high schools, which in these times can be done 
only if every one of you, realizing the irreparable losses which 
must result if determined effort is not put forth, works to 
make the libraries secure. 


Administration Creed.—It is the part of the high-school 
principal to lay hold of this idea, putting it along with the 
other indispensables that make up his administrative creed 
in these days of emergency. He needs to say to himself and 











78 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


to others, repeatedly, writes one member of your Committee 
on Standards, that 
(1) The library is a necessity in the high-school ; 


(2) That economies in education cannot be made at the 
expense of essential library service; 


(3) That below a certain standard the library cannot 
function; it must not become crippled and ineffec- 


tive; 
The library book collection is valuable; it must not 
be divided and lost; 


The library has ever been an economical and effi- 
cient unit in the high school; it must be utilized 
now, as never before, to tlie ends of economy and 
efficiency ; 

Only the library to-day can give the buoyancy of 
spirit and the relief of intellectual interest necessary 
to carry the high school over the shoals of the de- 


pression. 


The Importance of Discussion.—There needs to be much 
open discussion of secondary-school libraries. In one sense, we 
may point back to a definite date, when standard Library 
Organization and Equipment for Secondary Schools was 
adopted and widely published, but we must not be unmindful 
of the fact that the standards as adopted then were the out- 
growth of much study and ccnsideration, and of much intelli- 
gent discussion throughout the membership of this Depart- 
ment. It is true, therefore, that while the Standards were be- 
ing drawn up in the form of a committee report, the library 
concept was becoming more and more clearly defined in the 
minds of secondary-school principals in every section of the 
United States. The standards therefore represented actually 
a concensus of what in the minds of high-school principals 
the library should mean to the school, and what status it 
should have with reference to working staff, book collection, 
housing, equipment and reguiarly budgeted financial support. 






























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 79 


Any plans, it seems to me, considered now for the devel- 
opment of new library standards should recognize the fact 
that these standards must he a development resulting from 
group thinking by the Department of Secondary-School Prin- 
cipals over a period of time—say, two or three years. We need, 
therefore, to think of the development of these standards as 
something that will rise out of the present distressing condi- 
tions incident to the depression. 

It is peculiarly the duty of this organization, which spon- 
sored the original Standards, to undertake to set up new stand- 
ards now. You, who know so well the necessary services the 
libraries perform in your own high schools, are the ideal group 
to formulate and maintain successful standards. 


Other groups have tried, but with results that are some- 
what disappointing. 

The high-school principal who has seen the benefits to pu- 
pils and teachers alike of efficient library service is the pre- 
ferred person to study the problem of library standards. He 
knows the value of the librarian, capable and generous in her 
work, who may contribute more to the success of the school 
than any other one person serving there. 


The Work of a Good Librarian.—Here are the actual du- 
ties of one such librarian, and there are many, many more 


like her: 
1. Compile book ord2s from requests and suggestions 
of the faculty and from careful study of reviews, 
bibliographies, and the like. 
2. Check the new books when they arrive, stamp them 
with the school stamp. 
3. Classify them, label them, and make shelf-list cards. 
4. Catalog them, making author, title, subject, and 
analytic cards. 
5. Circulate these books to the students and faculty. 
6. Assemble collections, at teachers’ requests, and send 
them to classrooms. 


























14. 


15. 
16. 
17. 


18. 


19. 


DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Care for and circulate maps throughout the building, 
as required. 

Care for and circulate other visual materials—slides, 
pictures, and the like. 

Order, check, distribute, renew, re-check pictures 
from Children’s Museum. 

(27 exhibits of 8 or 10 pictures each last month, a low 
average for this work is 8 hrs. a month). 


Open, check, and strip magazines for the racks. 


Prepare bulletins :nd special exhibits either to cele- 
brate holidays or to correlate with school work. 


3e on the lookout for supplementary material for all 
school subjects, mount pictures, collect clippings and 
the like. 

Prepare request references for teachers. Teachers 
send to the library for a picture of a certain object, 
for references on some topic which children will come 
to the library to work on. 

Give regular instruction in the use of books and li- 
braries. 


Send monthly report to the board of education office. 
Attend monthly department meeting. 


Keen detailed records of students sent by individual 
teachers, and departments for study and reference. 


Hold meetings of library staff (the student helpers) 
on alternate weeks. 


Attend faculty meetings on alternate weeks. 


A consideration of this list of duties performed by the 
school librarian leads us to recognize that in striving to main- 
tain the standards established at so much effort, and in con- 
sidering a desirable content of new standards, one phase of 
the work may claim our immediate attention. It concerns the 
status of the librarian and of the library in the school. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 81 


The need of teacher cooperation.—We will agree, I believe, 
that the librarian’s first duty is to enable pupils and teachers 
to get the information in books. I have enumerated typical 
duties incident to accomplishing this. The librarian’s work is 
occasionally hampered, however, by lack of understanding of 
her peculiar problems on the party of other faculty members. 


Take an example: The gong rings. Books are snapped 
shut and more or less noisily replaced on the shelves, chairs 
are pushed back and one group departs. Almost immediately, 
another group enters—perhaps 80 children. From 25 to 40 


surround the librarian. 

“What did the Greeks make their swords out of?” asks 
one boy. 

“You might look on the 938 shelf,” replies the librarian. 
“It is labelled ‘Greece’.” 


Two dozen are clamoring. Each has a separate topic to 
look up during this period, and each wants—and needs—per- 
sonal he!p from the librarian. One youngster has to report, 
next hour, on the topic, “Does a dog have a language.” An- 
other must know, right away, “What is a crustacean?” A 
third wants “a book called ‘The Flying Dutchman’.” It is 
more than likely that, with the best will in the world to co- 
operate, the teachers have none the less neglected to advise the 
librarian in advance of the nature of these assignments, to en- 


able her to have the material ready. 


The problem of classroom book sets.—I would like to bring 
to your attention briefly another aspect of the status of the 
library in the school. This concerns classroom book collec- 
tions. Two important principles, if well understood, will aid 
in the solution of the classroom library problem. The first is 
that for the maximum effect in teaching wth the use of books, 
books must be readily at hand in the classrooms where the 
teacher and the children are at work. A second is that to se- 
cure the maximum effect in the utilization of the high-school’s 
book resources in operating these localized classroom book 
sets or collections, the library must be employed as a central- 














82 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ized distributing agency. The libraran must be made to see 
that loans from the library fall into two classes: loans to in- 
dividual readers and loans to classroom groups. The rules 
that apply to either one cannot and must not be made to apply 
to the other. The work that your committee has so far ac- 
complished in the development of new high-school library 
standards includes a more elastic loan system than has been 
known in the past—a system that will make the classroom 
library a series of mobile units of books, continuously going 
out to classrooms on demand, where needed, and continuously 
returning to the library to prevent idleness of the books. The 
very core of the idea is that there are no idle books, either on 
the shelves of the library or on the desks or in the closets of 
the classrooms. 


Now this is a very different matter from the tons of books 
that go into classroom libraries to gather dust and to languish 
idly week after week when the class no longer needs the vol- 
umes put there for a certain phase of the course. The enor- 


mous waste in this kind of thing is at once apparent in the 
large high school. Take a single instance, say Englsh II, of 
which there may be fifteen sections or classes. During the 
time for the study of Homer’s Odyssey, there will be fifteen 
classroom collections rich with volumes on Greek life, geogra- 
phy, history, legends, stories, myths, art, and every book is 
paying for its keep there many times over by the constant 
reference made to it, and by the strengthened interest with 
which the pupils carry forward their reading of the Odyssey. 
But at the most, this period of active use will not extend be- 
yond four weeks or so, for next on the program will be Robert 
Louis Stevenson’s Kidnapped with a set-up of supplementary 
reading in English and Scottish history, with related stories 
and tales. This will be followed by another literary study, 
and another, in each case with no return, in the classroom, to 
the books on Ancient Greece, or to the books on Scottish his- 


tory. 


But in the meantime, what has been happening across the 
corridor where the class on world history is meeting? Here, 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 83 


there has been a dearth of books on ancient history for the 
school’s complete resources in this subject have been tied up 
in fifteen English classrooms where they have been in actual 
use less than one-fifth of the time. 


These two matters, that of cooperation and coordination 
of the teaching faculty and the library, and the question of 
classroom libraries, need immediate attention, in order that 
they may be satisfactorily adjusted in the new standards. 


Library Instruction—A third matter concerns the in- 
struction given children in the use of books and libraries. A 
number of ways have been suggested to accomplish this. 


One is to use slides in connection with a talk by the li- 
brarian. The slides show catalog cards, books on the shelves, 
children using the catalog, and the like. In this way, many 
children may be instructed at a time. The drawback is that, 
with no activities involved, the pupils do not remember well. 


Another method is for the librarian to meet small groups, 
and talk to them, assigning some small activities. The pupils 
remember the instruction a little better, but it puts a tremen- 
dous extra burden on the librarian. 


A third course is for the librarian to prepare lessons to 
be given by classroom teachers. She also sends illustrative 
books to the classroom, together with the lesson. 


A fourth method, which has proved economical and suc- 
cessful, is to have the librarian prepare three series of mimeo- 
graphed lesson sheets. The first series consists of instructions 
in library use. These are given the pupils for study. When 
a pupil feels he has mastered its contents, he returns the set 
and receives another activities sheet. Here, he is directed to 
find information, or to answer questions which illustrate the 
facts given in Series I. The third series is an answer-key to 
Series II. If the questions on Series II are designed to be an- 
swered simply, in a word or two, a student can check and 


score the papers. 
Many phases of library use can be taught in this manner. 
The use of the dictionary, the encyclopedia, the Reader’s 








etn, 


! 
| 


84 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Guide, Grainger’s index of Poetry, The World Almanac, Who’s 
Who, the use of the index and table of contents of books may 
all be treated in this way. 


Although the standards set forth, fifteen years ago, in 
“Standard Library Organization and Equipment for Secon- 
dary-Schools” have been realized in some instances, many li- 
braries still fall short. There is, moreover, grave danger of 
retrogression at the present time. It is the part of high- 
school principals to maintain these libraries, established at so 
much effort, because school libraries are essential to educa- 
tional efficiency, economy and well being. 


What’s to be done about New Standards.—The old stand- 
ards were the outgrowth of much discussion and group think- 
ing. New standards should develop similarly. The Depart- 
ment of Secondary-School Principals is peculiarly suited to 
develop new standards, since they, more than any other group, 
understand the position of the library in relation to the school. 
Non-educational groups have attempted to set standards for 
school libraries with disappointing results. Knowing little of 
school conditions, their concept of the work of the school libra- 
rian bears little resemblance to conditions as they actually ex- 
ist. 

Three aspects of the library’s status in the school should 
have immediate consideration. The first concerns a closer co- 
operation of the librarian and the faculty. The second is the 
problem of the classroom library; and the third, is the prob- 
lem of library instruction. 


In December, 1931, I contributed an article to the Junior- 
Senior High-School Clearing House, entitled “An Empirical 
Basis for Scientific Standards in School Libraries.” In this 
article, I formulated, from data in my possession, an outline 
for the organization of new library standards. This outline is 
characterized by definiteness and should constitute the basis 
for scientific standards. 

The outline emphasizes organization and administration, 
on the one hand, and library service and use, on the other. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 85 


Under Organization and Administration, the subdivisions 
are: (1) Appropriations, (2) Housing, (3) Equipment, (4) 
Staff Organization and Administration, and (5) Definite Li- 
brary Policy in High-School Administration. 


Under Library Service and Use the subdivisions are: 
(1) Professional Care of the Library, (2) Service to Readers 
by the Librarian, (3) Instruction of Pupils by the Librarian, 
(4) Use of Library by Pupils, and (5) Use of the Library by 
Teachers. 


With these points before you, I wish now to move: 


(1) That your committee on High-School Library Stand- 
ards be continued, with a slightly enlarged personnel, to be 
chosen by the President of your Department in cooperation 
with the chairman of the committee; 

(2) That this enlarged committee, during the next year, 
prepare for you standards developed around the ten points 
that I have enumerated above; 

(3) That the standards developed shall include two 
phases, recognizing the need for both quantitive and quali- 
tative desiderata in high-school library evaluation and ap- 
praisal. 


GROUP NO. 3 


This group joined with a section of the National High- 
School Inspectors. Milo H. Stuart, Assistant Superintendent 
of Schools, in charge of Secondary Education, of Indianapolis, 
Indiana, presided. 


Dr. Wm. C. Bagley, Columbia University, read a paper 
entitled, New Standards for New Schools. 





bal 





a Ee 


— 
Seto: 








86 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


NEW STANDARDS FOR NEW SCHOOLS 


WILLIAM C. BAGLEY, 
Columbia University, 
New York City. 


When I was asked to discuss with you the topic, “New 
Standards for New Schools,” I accepted without fully realiz- 
ing the difficulties that my engagement involved. The diffi- 
culties were quite apparent when I began to attack the prob- 
lem, and they centered about the term, “new schools.” What 
new schools are implied? Do we mean the so-called activity 
schools, or the schools that follow the Dalton Plan, or the 
schools that are taught according to Morrison’s Mastery For- 
mula? Or do we mean the schools that will be developed to 
meet the needs of society when the dreams of the technocrats 
come true and every family can live on the basis of twenty 
thousand dollars a year with a minimum of work and a maxi- 
mum of leisure? Or do we mean the schools that we shall 
have if our national development takes the reverse course and, 
after scrapping most of our machinery, we return to a sim- 
pler type of civilization represented to-day by those groups of 
the industrially unemployed who have gone back to handicraft 
production and the barter system? 


Quite unable to settle on any one of these alternatives 
there remained nothing else for me to do but to make my own 
interpretation of the topic even if it does some violence to the 
orginal wording. What I should like to discuss with you is 
this question: Can American education, in view of the course 
that it has taken and is taking, reflect certain standards and 
ideals that appear, on the surface at least, to be rather sig- 
nificant to our national life? 


The unique feature of American education is its non-se- 
lective character on the upper levels. Every civilized country 
has made elementary education universal; in our country the 
movement has been steadily toward universal secondary edu- 
cation, and there are indications that another generation will 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 87 
see something that will be closely akin to universal higher ed- 
ucation. 


This upward expansion of mass-education can be clearly 
traced in the steadily increasing growths of the high-school 
enrollment since 1890 and the corresponding increase in the 
college enrollment since 1910. In a more fundamental way, it 
can be traced in the gradual modification of educational poli- 
cies and practices. Free, tax-supported secondary education 
inevitably meant that all the children of all the people should 
have access to the high-schools. When, in 1872, Judge Cooley 
of the Michigan Supreme Court handed down the decision 
which permitted the people of Kalamazoo to tax themselves 
for the support of a high-school, universal secondary educa- 
tion was written in the stars. It did not come at once, of 
course; but from 1890 on there was an increasing relaxation 
of standards which meant in the end that every child above 
the level of feeble-mindedness who entered the first grade 
should have a chance to graduate from high-school. 


I have on other occasions referred to the avidity with 
which our profession sezied upon the results of the so-called 
transfer experiments in order to discredit the doctrine of 
mental discipline—for nothing stood so stubbornly in the way 
of upward expansion of mass-education as did the exacting 
character of the secondary curriculum, the best justification of 
which was its alleged disciplinary value. The evidence from 
the experiments, while discrediting a naive conception of 
mental discipline, was not only far from sufficient to annihi- 
late the doctrine in toto; it could be much more justly used to 
support an intelligent interpretation of the doctrine. But 
American education at the time wished above everything else 
to knock the doctrine of formal discipline into the limbo of 
outmoded theories—and it succeeded. 


Another interesting and significant movement began 
about 1908 with the publication of Leonard Ayres’s mono- 
graph, “Laggards in Our Schools.” Retardation and elimina- 
tion were assailed on every hand as evils that must be eradi- 
cated. School systems began to vie with one another in the 











88 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


reduction in the number of average pupils in the lower grades 
and in sending pupils through school on schedule. To-day in 
many school systems it is tacitly understood that no one shall 
fail of promotion. 

One of my students, in studying the New York State Re- 
gents’ examinations over a period of forty years, found that 
questions which once appeared in the ninth-grade papers were 
transferred a few years later to the tenth-grade papers, and 
still later to the eleventh-grade papers. 


Still another symptom of the deep, underlying forces that 
were transforming American education has been the increas- 
ing popularity of the doctrine of interest and the total rejec- 
tion of the doctrine of effort. This change of front began in 
the last decade of the 19th century and has progressed ever 
since with increasing momentum. 

All of these changes and many others were usually urged 
on the basis of humane considerations, and, speaking by and 
large, they were put into effect because of this appeal. The 
increasing wealth and prosperity of the country helped not a 
little, for an easing of requirements and a relaxation of stand- 
ards are more readily acceptable in flush times than they are 
when the conditions of life are sterner and more exacting. 


The results of the upward expansion of mass-education 
brought about by the policy of relaxing standards and easing 
requirements are in some respects gratifying and in other re- 
spects disappointing. There can be little doubt that our in- 
vestment in physical education and health education has given 
us a generation of young men and young women who are 
healthier and more vigorous than were their fathers and moth- 
ers at their age. We do not have quantitative evidence to dis- 
prove Mr. Mencken’s charge that our vast educational expan- 
sion has not caused any improvement in the electorate, but it 
is my own judgment in reviewing the fourteen presidential- 
election campaigns that I can personally remember that the 
appeals to prejudice have decreased, that there is less billings- 
gate, less indulgence in personal abuse, and on the whole an 
appeal on a higher plane of reason and informed intelligence. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 89 


This might be indisputably established if someone had the pa- 
tience to make a careful study of the campaign literature from 
1880 to 1932. 

On the other hand, there is evidence that our schools do 
not do for our masses what the schools of some other countries 
do for their masses. I am speaking now not of the secondary- 
schools, for ours are essentially non-selective and are not to 
be compared with the highly selective secondary-schools of 
other countries; I am speaking of the mass schools of other 
countries in comparison with our mass schools. 


One of the most efficient school systems in the world is 
that of France—efficient, I think, not only by French stand- 
ards but by any standard that could be reasonably applied. 
Yet the French schools are about as far from what our Amer- 
ican ideal pictures good schools to be as the two poles. The 
secondary-schools are deliberately planned to produce an in- 
tellectual elite—a relatively small group of men and women 
from whom the leadership of the nation will be recruited. 
Notwithstanding this fact, however, the instruction in the ele- 
mentary school is of a high order, and from a large proportion 
of the pupils, standards of performance are exacted that would 
make the results obtained in our best elementary schools look 
superficial and mediocre. In the elementary school as in the 
secondary-school, the ideals and standards are intellectual in 
type, and somehow or other the great majority of the children 
constituting in the elementary school a quite unselected group 
are stimulated by these standards. 


And with what results? Well, for one thing the French 
masses read books. In every village there is a bookshop and 
it is well patronized. Our per capita production of books 
other than fiction increased very markedly during the decade 
ending in 1929—but even then we were far behind the per 
capita production of non-fiction books in France. 


The schools also are remarkably successful in teaching 
the mother-tongue so that the children—again the children of 
the masses—not only use the language effectively but actually 
Here the achievements seem to be far beyond those 


love it. 

















90 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


of other countries. An English journalist familiar with 
French education has made the following statement: 


“No Englishman could have visited the French front dur- 
ing the war without being struck by the lucidity and skill with 
which anyone in command of anything, from the most illus- 
trious general to the sergeant in the trench, could expound his 
job or enlarge on the strategical position to the stranger... 
In a country where children are educated to regard accom- 
plished talk as part of the equipment of life, audiences are 
not tolerant of the blundering and floundering which are re- 
garded as venial in men of weight in this country (England).” 
(J. A. Spender in his Public Life.) 


American educators regard French education as ultra- 
formal, static, and unprogressive. The only answer is that, 
beyond peradventure of a doubt, it gets in an admirable degree 
the results that it seeks, not only on the intellectual side but 
also on the side of character building. Here again, American 
educators would condemn the system, for the French schools 
actually teach morals directly and systematically. And they 
have had to “make good,” for beginning in 1882 a series of 
legal enactments removed the educational system entirely from 
the influence of the church. This policy could not have been 
continued had there been increases in crime and immorality. 
The French government took no chances. Religious training 
was replaced by an elaborate system of secular moral instruc- 
tion—a system which American educators would have believed 
admirably well adapted to defeat its very purpose. But it did 
not and, so far as I know there is no country in which the ex- 
pansion of mass-education has been so clearly followed by de- 
creasing curves of crime, decreasing drunkenness, decreasing 
death-rates from diseases traceable to alcohol, decreasing rates 
of illegitimate births, decreasing rates of venereal infection 
among the conscripts, and other kinds of moral progress that 
can be measured by social statistics instead of being merely 
claimed without evidence by emotional doctrinaires. 


French education is almost everything that American ed- 
ucational theory condemns out of hand. It is formal, sys- 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 91 





tematic, intellectual, uniform, centralized. Its structure im- 
plies a firm faith in the possibility of mental discipline. It is 
so rigorous on the secondary level that only a small number of 
those who enter the lycée or the collége qualify for the bacca- 
laureat. From the standpoint of American theory, it would 
seem to be the last educational system in the world to produce 
creative talent; yet I know of no modern nation that sur- 
passes France in painting, sculpture, and belles lettres, and in 
the field of creative science her record since the death of Pas- 
teur is one that certainly would not make that great master 
ashamed of his fellow-countrymen. 


There is another ideal that is reflected very strongly in 
French educational practice. I refer to the ideal of fine work- 
manship,—the ideal of doing one’s work in the very best way 
that one can do it without reference to any extrinsic reward 
that it may bring. In many ways, American educational the- 
ory encourages scamped work—the “get by” attitude as Mor- 
rison calls it. The use of achievement tests, unless carefully 
safeguarded, may easily compound this evil. Standards that are 
based on norms or averages are more than likely to tempt both 
pupils and teachers to rest content with mediocrity rather than 
to encourage everyone to do his or her best. Standards based 
upon ideals are far more likely to have the latter effect. 


It is for this reason, I think, that the other English-speak- 
ing countries in which our American achievement tests have 
been given show, in every case that has come to my attention, 
median scores that far surpass our norms. In one such case, a 
population of 5000 eleven-year-old children were given a bat- 
tery of American achievement tests; this population included 
every eleven-year-old child in a certain county, including men- 
tal defectives. The median educational age of this group was a 
full year in advance of the American norm, while the median 
score of the retarded children practically met our standard. 


I asked at the outset whether American education, in view 
of its commitment to the ideal of universal secondary educa- 
tion, could still reflect certain standards which would seem on 
first glance to be important in the life of the nation but which 








92 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


have been rejected in education because they have seemed to 
stand in the way of this upward expansion of mass-education. 
I am not myself convinced that this rejection in toto has been 
justified even by the recognized worthiness of our ideal. 


I suggested at the outset that the character and needs of 
our schools in the near future might possibly be determined by 
the conditions that will prevail when the country emerges from 
this slough of despond. I referred in passing to two possibili- 
ties. I should like to speak of these again and then of a third 
possibility. 

In the first place, as I suggested, we may go back to a 
simpler social and economic order, following on a nation-wide 
scale the pattern that has been set by numerous communities 
of industrially unemployed persons who have gone back to 
handicraft production and are supporting themselves on a bar- 
ter system of exchange. In effect these groups have deserted 
the machines and are readjusting themselves to a pre-machine- 
age system. Quite obviously if the population as a whole re- 
turns to this simpler form of social life, education will undergo 
some very marked changes. Fewer children will go to high 
school and college because their labor will be needed to con- 
tribute to the support of the family much earlier than has been 
the case in the past thirty of forty years. The work of the 
earlier school years will have to be intensified. The high schools 
will again become selective institutions attended only by those 
who can meet the exacting standards. 


A second possibility is quite the opposite. The machine, in- 
stead of being abandoned, may take over an even larger pro- 
portion of the routine or repetitive work needed to support 
society. The hours of human labor will be reduced to the point 
where everyone will be able to find employment, and the ma- 
chine, working under a planned economy, will produce food 
and other commodities in sufficient amount to enable everyone 
to live in comfort. This is essentially a machine-slave civiliza- 
tion, and seems to be entirely feasible except for the small mat- 
ter of arranging a few troublesome details. Assuming such a 
social and economic order to be in the offing, it is clear that the 
educational problem that it would involve would be far more 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 93 


serious and complicated than those that would confront us in 
the event that we moved back to a simpler economic order. The 
problem of preparing for leisure would assume huge propor- 
tions, for relative abundance coupled with an abundance of leis- 
ure would mean a moral hazard of unprecedented dimensions. 
It is not easy to draw valid generalizations from history, but 
if there is one generalization that seems entirely trustworthy 
it is that civilizations based upon slavery have within them 
the seeds of their own degeneration, and there is no generaliza- 
tion more strongly supported by both history and biology than 
that struggle and effort and some measure of competition are 
essential to progress. The ideal of personal economic responsi- 
bility has been a very powerful force in the development of so- 
ciety, and an economic order in which the force of this ideal 
will inevitably be greatly reduced will involve an educational 
problem far more difficult to solve, I think, than anything that 
has confronted us in the past. It is in effect providing a substi- 
tute for a force that seems hitherto to have been indispensable 
to human progress. 

A third possibility seems rather more likely to eventuate 
than either of the other two. This is an adjustment that will 
have some of the features of the second in that machine-pro- 
duction will be extended and will relieve mankind of still more - 
of the heavy work and the routine work. Basic industries will 
be subjected to some sort of planned control, and the hours of 
routine labor will be somewhat reduced. The major feature of 
this economic order, however, will be continuance of a move- 
ment that was developing a good bit of momentum between 
1920 and 1930, but which has now been interrupted tempo- 
rarily. I refer to the increase in opportunities to earn a living 
on what may be called the “stepped-up” levels of human effort 
which paralleled the decreased opportunities to earn a living on 
the routine levels. Thus the professional and semi-professional 
callings were increased in number during the decade and the 
proportion of the population engaged in work that cannot be 
done by the machine increased very markedly. Once the pres- 
ent industrial tetanus is broken, there can be little doubt that 
this movement will be resumed,—that is, opportunities for 
gainful employment will increase on the stepped-up levels in a 














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94 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


proportion which, accompanied by reasonable reductions in 
the hours of routine labor, will solve the problem of unemploy- 
ment and at the same time provide an opportunity for the op- 
eration, in some measure at ieast, of those forces and factors 
that have heretofore made progress possible, for while this ad- 
justment would doubtless involve a modification of the compe- 
titive system and especially a lessened emphasis upon mate- 
rial profits, it would still offer a stimulus to increased effort 
based in part upon competition for the kinds of distinctions and 
rewards that, even in the past, have been most highly valued 
by most workers in professional callings, and here, too, the 
ideal of personal economic responsibility would also still exert 
a stabilizing influence. 


Under the conditions that would be brought about by this 
solution of the problem, an important task of education would 
be to fit as large a proportion of each generation as possible to 
do the types of work that cannot be done by the machine. This 
does not mean that all of the human types that have hitherto 
done routine work can be advanced by education to the plane 
where they can do work that requires thought and judgment; 
but a certain proportion probably can be; at any rate organized 
education would have no alternative but to make the effort. 
Under these conditions, the growth of the high schools would 
continue until the goal of universal secondary education had 
been measurably attained, but an outstanding problem would 
be to stimulate every learner to that maximum of effort which 
is within his reach, in place of our present tendency to stand- 
ardize our educational product on the basis of mediocrity. At 
any rate something of this sort must be accomplished if the 
school is to meet the needs as I have predicted them in terms 
of this third possible develooment. 


I may be prejudiced in my judgment, but I believe that 
this third development is not only the one that is most likely 
to come about but that it is also the development that will be 
most significant for human welfare and social progress. It 
seems hardly possible that our machine-slaves, which promise 
so much, will be given up. It seems clear enough that a solution 
which would merely increase leisure and provide plenty, even 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 95 


if such a solution could be brought about, would be about the 
worst thing that could happen to the human race. But if, by 
taking care of the bulk of the heavy work and the routine 
work, the machine will permit man to advance to new levels of 
effort and achievement, we can look forward to a new era that 
will really be worth living for. 


It would be most unfortunate at this time and with this 
prospect before us to take any steps that would preclude the 
free access to the high schools of boys and girls from all social 
and economic strata—for if I am right and even partly right, 
secondary education is to be in the future even more than in 
the past the door to opportunity. Nay, further than this, if the 
situation that I have described eventuates as it well may with- 
in a relatively short time to shut the doors of the high schools 
to millions of pupils, as would be the case if tuition fees were 
charged as is proposed in many places, would leave us with a 
large group of young people who could not find work on the 
routine level and who would be unqualified for the opportuni- 
ties on the stepped-up levels. But it would be most unfortunate 
if, in view of the function that the high schools must dis- 
charge, we did not take every possible step to insure upon their 
part the highest measure of efficiency. He cannot do without 
modifying fundamentally the theories that have governed the 
development of American education during the past thirty 
years. 


The Relationship of Regional Accrediting Agencies to 
Secondary Education During this Crisis was presented by J. 
B. Edmonson, Dean of the School of Education, University of 
Michigan. 











DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


THE RELATIONSHIP OF REGIONAL ACCREDIT- 
ING AGENCIES TO SECONDARY EDUCA- 
TION DURING THIS CRISIS 


J. B. EDMONSON, 
Dean School of Education, 
University of Michigan 


It is not surprising to find that the crisis in education has 
raised the question as to what contribution the regional ac- 
crediting agencies should make to the secondary-schools dur- 


ing such a period. Being a strong believer in the value of the 


work of these voluntary associations of secondary-schools and 
colleges, I am very glad to have an opportunity to comment on 
some problems they should attack as a part of their contribu- 
tion. 

May I remind you that there are five of these regional as- 
sociations. In the order of their founding they are: the New 
England Association of Colleges and Secondary-Schools, the 


Association of the Middle States and Maryland, the North Cen- 
tral Association of Colleges and Secondary-Schools, the Associ- 
ation of Colleges and Secondary-Schools of the Southern States, 
and the Northwest Association of Secondary and Higher 


Schools. 

For the past few years I have had an unusual opportunity 
to become acquainted with the work of these regional agencies, 
and I have a great deal of confidence in them. It would be im- 
possible to estimate the impetus they have given to high- 
schools. By setting up high standards for accrediting, by hold- 
ing up ideals of educational achievement to local communities, 
and by encouraging and aiding significant studies of educa- 
tional problems, these agencies have greatly improved the sec- 
ondary-schools. They have also aided in the development of 
more reasonable college entrance requirements and have ren- 
dered important service in improving educational conditions 
through standardization of procedure and through wide dis- 
semination of knowledge concerning practices in our better 


schools. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 97 


It is unnecessary to advocate before this Department oi 
Secondary-School Principals that such organizations shouid 
piay a iarge part in any consideration of American educatiou 
during the present crisis. It is obvious that they have the or- 
ganization, the personnel, the prestige, and the power to piay 
an important parc in the present period of educational reau- 
justment. ‘The question is not, Shall they take part? but, How 
shall they take part? During the present crisis I should like to 
see these regionai agencies attacking problems that are of in- 
terest to large numbers of secondary-schools. The present ev- 
dences of a hostile pubiic should be sufficientiy alarming to 
warrant the scrapping of those policies and programs that arc 
no longer of much significance, and the formulation of new pro- 
grams that wiil insure that educaional problems will be soivea 
through the cooperation of leaders in education. 


‘These are the days when everyone is concerned with pro- 
posals to restore financial and business stability. Cuncern is 
aimost as keen in proposals to prevent the economic system 
from getting out ot order in the 1uture as in proposals to cure 
the present disorder. With business appraising its past ana 
trying to read the future, it is not surprising’ that educators 
should be demanded to do likewise. It is quite certain that the 
growing need for better planning in the world of business will 
increase the demand for better planning in the field of educ:. 
tion, especially at the secondary and college levels. 


The present is an especially appropriate time for initiat- 
ing a constructive program affecting our secondary-schools. 
The great changes in life which have been brought about by 
the ups and downs in the economic world have tended to in- 
crease demands for changes in education. At the same time a 
large amount of factual information concerning our secondary- 
schools is available in the reporrts of the National Survey of 
Secondary Education, which will be published within the next 
few months. These reports should be of great help in ap- 
praising our present program and in making plans for the fu- 
ture. 


The regional associations will play an important part in 
the readjustment, but the precise nature of that part is still 

















98 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


to be determined. The rest of this paper presents a series of 
recommendations concerning problems and policies that must 
receive their attention if they are to make significant contribu- 
tions to the secondary-schools during the present crisis. 


My first recommendation is that the regional associations 
attempt to develop a better agreement as to the real philosophy 
of American secondary education and then make a determined 
effort to have this philosophy understood by teachers and lay- 
men. Unless we can reach a better agreement on the scope and 
objectives of secondary education, we shall find it extremely 
difficult to evaluate present programs and to make plans for 
the future. It is doubtless unnecessary to remind this group 
that there is plenty of evidence of marked disagreement both 
among teachers and among laymen regarding the philosophy 
that should find expression in our secondary-schools. The con- 
versations and public utterances, as well as the acts, of many 
persons show a sincere belief in the older philosophy of sec- 
ondary education. This older philosophy assumes that sec- 
ondary education is a privilege to which only those of proved 
capacity are entitled. This philosophy calls for a system of 
secondary education for the intellectually and socially elite. It 
is the older European point of view. It implies that the sec- 
ondary-school must be progressively selective by eliminating 
all students who cannot maintain a high standard of perform- 


ance. 


In contrast with this older philosophy there is the newer 
point of view that has found expression in many new activities 
and programs in our secondary-schools, some of which are re- 
sented by the advocates of the older theory. The newer philos- 
ophy demands that secondary education be open to all the chil- 
dren of adolescent age. It implies that the secondary-school 
must provide types of education as varied as may be demanded 
by the varied interests of secondary-school pupils. The older 
philosophy and the newer philosophy are incompatible. As 
long as there is such marked disagreement regarding the valid 
objectives of American secondary education, our teachers will 
find it difficult to attack problems involving the curriculum, 
instructional procedures, and related matters. It will also be 




















cece eae 


ee 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 99 


impossible to meet certain current criticisms until we have 
more substantial agreement concerning the underlying philos- 
ophy of our program of secondary-school training. It is grati- 
fying to find that the Carnegie Foundation has made a grant 
of money to the Department of Secondary-School Principals 
for an intensive study of the objectives of American secondary 
education. Such a study will be of great value as a basis for 
long time planning. In the meantime there is an immediate 
need for some authoritative pronouncements regarding the 
valid objectives of secondary-school education, and our regional 
associations should meet the demand for help and guidance. 


My second recommendation is that the regional agencies 
become more aggressive in attacking the problem of effective 
articulation between the colleges and the secondary-schools. 
Too long the secondary-schools and the colleges have been 
friendly enemies. The time has come when there are so many 
common enemies of both secondary and higher education that 
we must eliminate any unnecessary feuds within the profes- 
sion. Possibly we need to cease talking about cooperation be- 
tween colleges and secondary-schools and devote our attention 
to a discussion of a vigorous defense of education by united 
forces. Our secondary-schools cannot hold the confidence of 
the public unless more adequate provision is made for the 
training of large groups of young people who cannot with profit 
attend the higher institutions as they are now organized. Some 
provision must be made for this group. It is the belief of some 
high-school principals that the definition of entrance require- 
ments in terms of certain patterns of work constitutes a real 
obstacle to any program of reorganization of the curriculum. 
On the other hand, scores of studies indicate that the colleges 
do not need to hold to their traditional practice in the matter 
of entrance requirements in terms of certain units. There has 
been enough experimentation in this field to indicate the exist- 
ence of better procedures for the selection of students for col- 
lege. 


It is my personal opinion that under present plans of col- 
lege admission as found in the North Central territory the sec- 
ondary-schools have a very great degree of freedom to work 











SSE Re Ag 


Rise x> 


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100 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


out their own instructional provlems—greater, I sometimes 
feel, than many of the secondary-school principals desire to 
exercise. It is my candid opinion, moreover, that the colleges 
are carrying an unnecessary burden of criticism by continuing 
to use an obsolete method of selecting students for entrance. 
There is plenty of evidence to show that colleges should select 
students by other methods that are more effective than that 
of admission in terms of certain patterns of units. I refer to 
the use of general scholarship tests, measures of ability, and 
records made in high-schools in a variety of fields of work. 
The use of these results would free the colleges from many of 
the criticisms now voiced by the secondary-schools. Further- 
more, the colleges have so many problems to face, in matters 
of public relations and financial support, that they can ill afford 
to carry the charge of attempting to dominate the program of 
the secondary-schools. This charge has been overworked, but 
among the general public the colleges are not making friends 
by allowing the indictment to go unchallenged. The best in- 
terests of the secondary-schools and colleges would be served 
by the development of policies of articulation that would free 
both units from the criticisms that irritate the public and 
cause a decrease of faith in both units. The regional accredit- 
ing agencies should attack this problem without delay. 

My third recommendation to the regional agencies is that 
the problem of the curriculum of the secondary-school should 
be re-attacked in the light of the social and economic develop- 
ments of the last few years. The teaching profession has dab- 
bled in curriculum revision, but it is my guess that much of 
the instruction in many schools is comparable to that of a quar- 
ter of a century ago. In other words, the vast social and eco- 
nomic changes in American life have not brought about com- 
parable changes in our programs of instruction except in rela- 
tively few centers. In the present period of social unrest ar 
increasing number of persons have grave doubts regarding the 
value of the present curriculum of our secondary-schools. We 
have had many national committees at work on curriculum 
problems and we have had numerous reports from groups of 
experts, but it would appear that these reports have not 
greatly influenced the instructional programs of our schools. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 101 


The fact that laymen are talking so much about the fads and 
frills in our secondary-schools furnishes some evidence that we 
have not succeeded in building a well integrated program of 
instruction. There should be no fads and frills in our schools, 
and it is my judgment that much of the talk about fads and 
frills is either sheer nonsense or an expression of traditional 
prejudices. It must be granted, however, that a well inte- 
grated curriculum would not be likely to be so much misunder- 
stood by critics of our schools. It is my prediction that the next 
few years will bring rapid progress in the reconstruction of the 
curriculum. It may be that one of the good results of the 
present financial strain will be a re-evaluation of the program 
of instruction. The regional accrediting agencies should give 
immediate attention to the new curriculum problems created by 


recent trends. 


My fourth recommendation is that the regional associa- 
tions should be lenient in the application of standards for ac- 
crediting in those cases where the school authorities and the 
communities are making an honest and determined effort to 
meet the requirements. There are scores of cases where 
schools deserve a marked degree of leniency. In all probabil- 
ity there are some cases where alibis and flimsy excuses are 
offered for failure to meet reasonable requirements; even in 
periods of prosperity such evasions and excuses were offered 
by some school authorities and some communities. But the 
regional associations can render a real service by protecting 
the educational interests of pupils and demanding the real 
facts in any case where there is an appeal for lenience. This 
is the time to go behind paper reports and to treat each appli- 
cation in terms of the real facts. 


It has been proposed that the regional agencies should sus- 
pend their standards during this period. I have no sympathy 
with any such proposal unless it is agreed that the standards 
have possessed no degree of validity during the past decade. 
If the regional associations were to declare a moratorium, the 
secondary-schools in many communities would be at the merey 
of persons who have no interest in providing an adequate pro- 
gram of secondary-school instruction. In such a period as this 








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102 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the standardizing agencies can be of great help to secondary- 
schools by being lenient in deserving cases and by being severe 
in treating bogus claims. If, however, the accrediting agencies 
are to be discriminating in the matter of leniency, these agen- 
cies must have the active cooperation of secondary-school prin- 
cipals. Too few principals attend the meetings of the regional 
associations, and therefore too few principals exercise any in- 
fluence in shaping the policies and programs of the associa- 
tions. It is my opinion that for a high-school principal there is 
no more important professional meeting than the meeting of 
the regional association to which his high-school belongs. Dur- 
ing the present crisis high-school principals should take a re- 
newed interest in the work of the accrediting agencies and 
should help to develop a constructive and sympathetic attitude 
on the part of these agencies towards the problems of individ- 
ual schools. 

My fifth recommendation is that the regional associations 
should encourage a greater amount of experimentation in our 
secondary-schools. In spite of the fact that the North Central 
Association of Colleges and Secondary-Schools has in its con- 
stitution a provision whereby schools may be granted the right 
to try an educational experiment, there appears to be the feel- 
ing that all regional associations are opposed to any departure 
from well established practices. As a matter of fact our high- 
schools are going to find it difficult to make needed readjust- 
ments unless a greater amount of experimentation is carried 
on. In this period when we must practice economies, more of 
our schools should try the experiment of teaching pupils in 
large classes. We have some evidence that large classes yield 
results that are as good as those secured from small classes. 
On the other hand, the common opinion of teachers is that the 
interests of pupils are certain to be sacrificed when classes are 
increased beyond a certain point. We need more stud~ of the 
question as to the most efficient size of class as weu as the 
problem of the instructional procedures that are best adapted 
to larger classes. We also need much experimentation with 
curriculum materials, especially with materials prepared for 
pupils of relatively low ability. We need more experimentation 
with the activities program which in some schools has become 





ROTI es YS Sg igh. PE NOU AAI HE RENE RINE EATS EH INE ERIN inn se 
































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 108 

quite completely divorced from the regular instructional pro- 
gram of the schools. We also need more experimentation to 
discover the possibilities of organizing our schools in such a 
way as to avoid the numerous criticisms of formalism that 
have recently been made against the typical secondary-school. 
Numerous other problems could be mentioned that cannot be 
solved satisfactorily until more schools experiment with pos- 
sible solutions. Our regional associations need to encourage 
such experimentation, and it is my belief that they will be 
quite willing to do so wherever secondary-school principals ex- 
hibit a desire to try some practice that is a real departure from 
the traditional. 

I am convinced that we are going to improve American 
education during the next few years. We are going to do it in 
part because of the stimulation that comes from criticism and 
opposition. It is my prediction that more thought is going to 
be given to planning for American education in the next few 
years than has ever been given to any similar problem in the 
past few decades. We must be alert and ready to make such 
changes in education as a changing economic order may de- 
mand. 

In conclusion I want to emphasize the responsibility rest- 
ing upon the regional associations for developing plans to meet 
new problems that will arise in the field of secondary educa- 
tion. As I stated in an earlier paragraph, the idea of planning 
is receiving much consideration in the field of business and 
there is a growing demand that educational bodies give more 
attention to the appraisal of the past and planning’ of the fu- 
ture. Such a responsibility clearly rests on all organizations as 
well organized and as effective as these regional associations. 
If our associations are to furnish this leadership they must 
have the sympathetic and loyal support of the secondary-schooi 
principals, especially those who have faith in the possibility of 
building a greater secondary-school out of the depressing and 
threatening conditions of the present period. I hope, there- 
fore, that the coming years will find the regional associations 
even stronger than at present and far more active than they 
have been during the past decade in their role as pace-makers 
for our secondary-schools. 











DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Deputy Superintendent Wm. H. Bristow of the State De- 
partment of Public Instruction, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, 
then read his paper on The Relationship of State Departments 
of Education to Secondary Education During this Crisis. 


THE RELATIONSHIP OF STATE DEPARTMENTS 
OF EDUCATION TO SECONDARY EDU- 
CATION DURING THIS CRISIS 


WILLIAM H. BRISTOW, 
Deputy Superintendent, 
State Department of Public Instruction, 
Harrisburg, Pennsyivania. 


State departments of education are having their full share 
of the difficulties brought on by the unrest and loss of revenue 
due to the depression. In discussing the subject assigned to me 
I should like to consider three questions. These are as follows: 


I. What is the relation of education to the program of 
the state, and how far is the state obligated to sup- 
port and encourage programs of education. 


What position should the state take in connection 
with the objectives of secondary education, and the 
teaching program which is set up to meet these ob- 
jectives. 

What is the relationship of the state to the problem 
of standards, including school organization and the 
efficiency of teaching. 


I. Education has been generally accepted as a function of 
government, 


It is interesting to note that this acceptance has come not 
at the insistence of educators, but that statesmen have con- 
sidered a program of education fundamental to the mainte- 
nance of the safety of the state. In America this education has | 
come to be thought of as necessary to the maintenance of our 
democracy. Other countries have maintained educational pro- 





o 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 105 
grams with a view to perpetuating the institutions and ideals 
of these countries. On the other hand, educators have proposed 
and developed educational programs providing educational op- 
portunity for all types of citizens. The general principle behind 
these programs has been set up somewhat as follows: 


Education enables the individual to function effectively in 
the interests of individual and social well being. 


Adequate educational programs represent the most valu- 
able aspects of the social heritage so organized as to pro- 
vide the exneriences necessary for the individual’s maxi- 
mum growth. 

Every individual is entitled to educational opportunity 
commensurate with his ability and interests as long as 
the law of diminishing returns for society does not op- 


erate. 

The expenditures of public funds for education in a 
democracy is an investment in social insurance, justified 
by returns both to the state and the individual in terms 
of better citizenship and the improvement of human wel- 


fare and happiness. 


That all have not accepted these principles is shown by 
the difficulties now faced in developing state and local budgets 
for education, the action of tax payers associations, and the 
auestion raised by manv interests as to whether or not the 
state is obliged to provide education or any other type of serv- 
ice to its constituents. Various phases of the educational pro- 
gram are being attacked by different grouns throughout the 
country. In every state in the union proposals are made which 
tend to limit what is now considered to be an effective program 
of education. Education is placed in the position of competing 
with other services and the attacks made do not even consider 
the facts of the case or the problems involved. Witness the 
attacks made by Mr. Mencken and the editor of the Saturday 


Evening Post. 
In so far as the state is concerned the following implica- 
tions seem significant for secondary education: 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Because of the current economic situation and tech- 
nological developments, fewer workers are being re- 
quired in industry. 

This has resulted in throwing large number of 
young people out of employment and leaving them 
with no other worthwhile activities with which to 
occupy themselves. 


What social agency is to deal with this problem? 
Are educational opportunities to be provided for 
these boys and girls? If so, these opportunities must 
be worthwhile and interesting. 


Because of the increasing complexity of modern 
life it is necessary for the individual to see events 
in perspective and in their relationship to other 
things. 

The intensity of specialization in present day life 
and the departmentalization of knowledge have 


made this almost impossible. 

To meet this situation a reorganization of the 
school curriculum is necessary to make possible an 
integrated presentation of subject matter. 


Democratic governmental and social institutions 
have found it increasingly difficult to cope with the 
intricate problems facing our civilization. 


One of the reasons for this is that the individual 
citizen has not shown the requisite capacity for par- 
ticipation in a self-governing community. 

The school must, therefore, stress a new type of 
citizenship training, emphasizing the need for deal- 
ing with life realistically and at the same time in- 
culcating a high idealism, taking into account the 
influence which adult actions have on boys and girls 
in school, and making provision for pupil participa- 
tion in citizenship activities. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 107 


Modern civilization surrounds the individual with a 
complicated maze of interesting and often confiict- 
ing influences. 

The average person has not been prepared for life in 
this kind of a world and finds himself at the mercy 
of forces, the existence of many of which he does 
not even suspect, and is thus in tne position of a 
helpless ship on an unchartered sea, exploited by 
his environment. 

The school must prepare the individual for a ration- 
al and complete life in this kind of a world, and must 
provide for individual guidance at the secondary- 


school level. 


If it is granted that secondary education is a legitimate 
function of the state then we are confronted with the problem 
of state support. Few states in the Union have developed any- 
thing like an adequate basis of support either for elementary 
or secondary education. For the most part the elementary 
school program is supported more effectively than the second- 
ary program. If we are to have a reasunably adequate program 
of secondary education developed on an economical basis which 
will take into consideration the need of boys and girls then a 
larger unit of school administration must be adopted for most 
states. It is true that in certain metropolitan areas and in such 
states as California the larger high-school unit prevails, but 
by and large the small high school still furnishes secondary- 
school opportunities for most boys and girls. Proposals have 
already been made and accepted in a number of states for such 
a larger unit. The proposals under way in Missouri at the pres- 
ent time indicate a trend in this direction. There are two points 
involved. First, it is impossible to have an adequate secondary- 
school program unless there can be brought together a suffi- 
ciently large group to make some type of differentiation possi- 
ble; and second, in a small area except under very favorable 
circumstances it is quite out of the question to provide for the 
adequate support of a secondary-school program. This latter 
point leads us to conclude that it is only when a program of 
equalization can be applied to a relatively large area and to the 














TRS Sera = — 


RETEIS . 


.\ RAE 








108 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


state itself, that the most effective and efficient type of or- 
ganization will be made possible. 


II. The United States is one of the few countries in the world 
to-day where the educational program does not seem to be 
headed in some particular direction. 


We have adopted certain words which have been accepted 
as objectives. Citizenship, worthy home membership, and char- 
acter are types. They have unquestionably done service in help- 
ing people to think through their problems. They have not, 
however, taken firm root either in the educational program or 
in the program of society. 


There is much to be said of those responsible for the 
schools. In the schools we are given the job of attempting to 
build ideals which seem to be, and in many cases are, at vari- 
ance with the ideals of the society of which we are a part. This 
unfortunately is the condition which exists in a great many 
countries, but probably more so in the United States than else- 
where. 

We also need a re-evaluation of our objectives in terms of 
the personality traits which ought to prevail in our American 
citizen. In this we are confronted with many problems. Tra- 
dition places a heavy hand upon the school and upon the teach- 
er. As long as education consists of abstractions with reference 
to crime and vice and distrust on the part of public officials, 
it is not questioned. As soon as it refers to the crime and vice 
in the community, to graft and mis-management of public af- 
fairs, the teacher “is placed on the spot” and is advised at the 
end of the term, if not sooner, that her contract will be termi- 


nated. 

The condition, however, is not hopeless. There are many 
who realize that the safety cf democracy lies in a frank dis- 
cussion of problems for which at present there are now no 
answers. These groups realize that thinking is the most im- 
portant product of public education, and that you cannot make 
a thinking individual without giving him practice in thinking 
with materials which are of real vital interest. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 109 


Some have suggested indoctrination as the only way out, 
and that without it that our present program is doomed to fail. 
Personally, 1 am not convinced that cooperation as a means of 
arriving at the solution of social probiems is a failure. I do 
believe, however, that in the schools we must give much 
thought to the organization of education to develop cooperative 
thinking. 


As an example of one of the things which the school might 
do, we should cail attention to the tact that little effort has 
been made in the schools to build up a concept of the place of 
the school in the scheme of society or the implications involved 
in its maintenance and support. Millions of boys and girls go- 
ing through the elementary and public schools develop little or 
no appreciation of why society has scnools or what the schools 
are attempting to do. Would it not be heipful if boys and girls 
might study, certainly at the secondary-school level, the tunc- 
tions and purposes of the school. Teachers, parents and pupils 
would probably do well to study more carefully the functions 
and purposes of individual courses and curriculums in the 
school and its activities. 


European countries have made much of what has been 
called the Youth Movement. We have a youth movement in this 
country but we have not as yet recognized its importance or 
placed any confidence in it. ‘The youth movement in America 
is in the public secondary school. These boys and girls are al- 
ready mobolizing for cooperative thought and cooperative plan- 
ning. They are, however not unified, and the programs and 
policies which have been developed both within the school and 
without have tended to make for competition rather than for 
cooperation. Their only contact one with the other is frequent- 
ly at the annual football game. We might use some of the effort 
which is expended in our competitive exercises to develop co- 
operative programs. In so far as the state is concerned it seems 
to me that a perpetuation of democratic ideals involve the fol- 
lowing: 

1. The development of the organization of instructional 
program which will make for flexibility on the part of 
individuals. The rapidity of change in our society re- 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


quires that individuals be “conditioned” to expect and 
meet changes. One of the greatest difficulties in finding 
a solution to our present problems is the great amount 
of inertia which must be overcome. People do not want 
to give up old ways of doing things. 


Development of attitudes with reference to sharing and 
cooperation. If present indications mean anything there 
must come a greater amount of sharing if our social 
order is to continue to function. 


The social outlook demands that the schools devise edu- 
cational programs which will make use of the differences 
possessed by boys and girls to the end that they may use 
these differences both from the vocational standpoint 
and from the standpoint of getting on well with one an- 
other. 


III. Relation of state departments of public instruction to 
standards. 


In reviewing the question of standards there seems to be 
one clear and unmistakable point. Standards, as we have de- 
veloped them, both by state and regional associations, need 
an overhauling. Some of the criticism which has arisen due to 
the development of standards is unwarranted. Standards have 
been helpful in developing our national program of secondary 
education. There is still a place for standards, but the emphasis 
must be different from what is has been in the past. There are 
those who believe that “institutional” accreditment should be 
abandoned for “individual” accreditment. The suggestion is 
fine, but unless those who are to evaluate the records of indi- 
vidual pupils have some assurance relative to the integrity and 
worth of the educational program which has been followed by 
the pupil, no matter how pretty may be his individual record, 
it will be very difficult to make such evaluation. Under pres- 
ent conditions reasonable standards may have the following 
effect: 


1, They may prevent the entire elimination of functions. 
In many communities, because of financial difficulties, 





we SP Ne OS UN ee os 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 111 


there is a tendency to eliminate functions, rather than to 
adjust all along the line. This attack usually starts with 
phases of the program which are now considered highly 
important and desirable by those in the field of educa- 
tion, but not so by other groups. Such items are voca- 
tional education, music and art education, health and 
physical education, and such services as libraries, nurs- 
ing, counseling and supervision. There are influences to- 
day which would eliminate or minimize programs of ac- 
tivities and pupil participation in the secondary school. 
“Return to the essentials” is the cry. As a matter of fact, 
we do need to pay attention to essentials, but essen- 
tials to-day are not what they were yesterday. The de- 
partments of education should be in position to aid local 
communities in interpreting these activities in terms 
of their real contribution to education. 


The state departments of education can serve as a 
steadying influence in the reorganization of administra- 
tive policy with reference to size of class, teacher load, 
and like problems. It can also serve as a clearing house 
for studies which are being made concerning the neces- 
sity of revising our plans with reference to these points. 
The evidence which we have concerning the problem of 
size of class indicates that it is possible to carry on as 
efficient instruction with large classes as with small 
ones. These studies sometimes neglect the fact that 
the large class experiments have been carried on for 
the most part under careful supervision and there have 
been compensations for the fact that the teacher must 
handle a larger group. 


To the departments of education, local communities are 
looking for programs of constructive economy. They look to 
departments of public instruction to suggest the ways in which 
readjustments can be made with the least harm to the educa- 
tional program. In arriving at readjustments the following 
must be considered. First, we must seek to determine the di- 
rection in which education should be tending in a state so as 
to carry out a sound program of education and preserve the es- 





112 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIFALS 


sential elements. Second, care must be exercised in organizing 
schools efficiently and in developing materials of instruction 
which make it possible to realize the objectives which has been 
determined upon. Third, State departments of education must 
help to protect the interests of boys and girls through main- 
taining a stabilized and equalized program of education. 


The discussion group plan was followed in the afternoon 
session of Tuesday. Group No. 1 assembled in the Tenth 


Street lobby. 


GROUP No. 1 


State Supervisor of Secondary Education H. C. Lyseth, 
Augusta, Maine, presided. J. H. Newlon, Director of Lincoln 
School, Teachers College, Columbia University, read his 
paper, Improvement and Economy in the Curriculum. 





a 
BY 
| 
a 


IMPROVEMENT AND ECONOMY IN THE HIGH- 
SCHOOL CURRICULUM 
JESSE H. NEWLON, 
Director, Lincoln School Teachers College 
Columbia University 


wt 
I 


The subject assigned to me implies that the high-school 
curriculum needs to be improved and that we need to practice 
economy in secondary education. No thoughtful person would 
quarrel with these generalizations. On every hand we hear 
the criticism that the secondary-school curriculum is ill 
adapted to our times. All of us are for economy and against 
waste, which recalls Mr. Coolidge’s reply when Mrs. Coolidge 
asked what the preacher had said in his sermon about sin. 
“Oh, he was against it,” answered the President. So are we all 
against waste and for economy. The financial distress 
brought by the depression has raised a cry for immediate 
economy, which I shall first discuss briefly. 


Economy is to-day a magic word. Budget-making-bodies, 
from the National Government down, are falling over them- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 113 


selves to make money. By this process hundreds of thou- 
sands of workers are thrown out of employment, with con- 
sequent increased depression and suffering. The whole busi- 
ness seems crazy, and it is crazy. 

The depression and its attendant hysteria are forcing de- 
creased expenditures, but let us not deceive ourselves into 
believing that these cuts are in any justifiable sense econo- 
mies. The size of the cut depends not on a considered public 
policy affecting all schools, but upon geography and the fickle 
goddess of luck. A few school districts favored by concen- 
trated wealth have actually continued salary increases, while 
many districts have been compelled to shorten the school term 
drastically. The depression is exposing to the public gaze 
the glaring weaknesses of an antiquated method of taxation 
and school finance, and the absurdity of the continuance of 
thousands of small school districts. Our professional duty 
is plain. Our influence, powerful if we act vigorously in the 
public interest, must be exerted for immediate reform. Even 
where it is not actually a necessity, school systems are forced 
to cut budgets by the high-pressure propaganda of the well 
financed Economy League and of interests never friendly to 
the free public high-school 

There can be no wise and sound rule for doing a thing 
that shou!d not be done. School budgets were never inflated. 
Certain principles should be applied in.so far as possible. 
The educational program should be retained intact. Capital 
expenditures can be postponed; staffs can be reduced by not 
filling vacancies. Salaries should be decreased as little as 
possible. Only in.recent years have salaries been at all ade- 
quate, and it will be difficult to restore them. Teachers should 
give evidence of their willingness to share the public burdens, 
but we should also show that we have some intelligence and 
realistic appreciation of the facts of the situation. Each school 
administration must do the best it can under the circum- 
stances, warning the people that the schools are being seri- 
ously injured. 

“Economy” has long been a word to conjure with in edu- 


cation. Great committees have studied economy of time. It 








Hy - 
ee 
| 
& 
4 


114 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


is essential that the educative process should be carried on in 
the most effective manner with the least possible dawdling and 
waste. Some have contended that the period of secondary 
education should be shortened. Is such a proposal wise or 
possible? This question cannot be answered merely in terms 
of experimentation within the existing school organization, 
for that leaves out of consideration powerful social and eco- 
nomic factors. It can be answered adequately only in terms 
of national aspirations and resources. 


The growth of the American high-school is one of the 
most amazing phenomena in the whole history of education. 
In 1890 there were in round numbers 4,000 high-schools with 
an enrollment of 300,000 students and 16,000 teachers. In 
1930 there were 27,000 high-schools, almost 6,000,000 stu- 
dents and 235,000 teachers. In 1890 approximately 4.5 per 
cent of the children of secondary-school age were enrolled in 
high-schools. To-day more than half are enrolled. High- 
school enrollment has continued to grow by leaps and bounds 
during the depression, increasing by 20,000 in New York City 
in 1931-32, and by 10,000 in Chicago in the same year. In 
California alone, 25,000 students are enrolled in public junior 
colleges, not counting first and second-year students in the 
colleges and universities. Three years ago Einar Jacobsen 
found in the country as a whole 29,000 post-graduate students 
exclusive of those in junior colleges, and the number is in- 
creasing very rapidly during the depression. (To impose 
a tuition on these students, as has been proposed in some com- 
munities, is entirely out of line with our American tradition.) 
No other country in the world approaches the United States 
in the proportion of its youth attending secondary-school. 
What is the explanation of these facts and what do they 
signify? What bearing do they have upon the problems of 
economy and improvement of the curriculum? 


Two factors more than any others explain the large high- 
school enrollment in this country. First, the American peo- 
ple have had great faith in education. Our educational system 
is in large measure the product of our own experiences and 


PRR SiN Mt RETIN HR VOT FALTER RB Nae z 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 115 


political ideals. Those who first settled on our shores estab- 
lished schools. The frontier, a mighty leveler, broke the 
grip of an ancient social caste system and fostered respect 
for individual worth and the ideal of equal opportunity for 
all. The Fathers saw that education was essential to the 
national welfare. In the Jacksonian period the American 
Revolution flowered, the common man came into full political 
rights, and the foundations of our state systems of public 
education were laid. Americans believed in education, and 
regarded free schools as the best guarantee of equality of 
opportunity. They saw that a widespread diffusion of knowl- 
edge was essential to the success of the great experiment in 
democracy. This faith explains in part the American high- 
school, but only in part. 


Americans have not only believed in education, they have 
been able to afford education. We have been engaged in the 
conquest of a marvelously rich continent, in creating a vast 
industrial plant, in building large cities, in constructing rail- 
roads, highways, and telegraph systems, in exploiting mine 


and forest. An abundance of work at wages steadily increas- 
ing produced the highest standard of living ever known. The 
fact that there has always been an inequitable distribution 
of wealth does not in any way invalidate these statements. 
Comparatively speaking, the American people have occupied 
the most favorable economic position ever known to any peo- 
ple in the world. This fact explains in large measure our 
large high-school enrollment. 


All this has. been true in the past, but what of present 
and future conditions? Have we come to the end of our pros- 
perity? Must we now set up a rigid selective process and 
limit educational opportunities? If we may judge by the in- 
crease in high-school enrollment in the years of depression, 
the answer would seem to be emphatically, “NO.” But per- 
haps forces are at work that will change conditions. On every 
hand we hear the demand for the six-hour day and the five- 
day week. Americans have been accustomed to long hours 
of hard labor. What has brought forth this strange cry for 











ae a fos-ong 


socal cincan ee a Sy att Ee 





gee 





116 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the shortening of hours and the sharing of work? An amaz- 
ing technology and modern labor-saving machinery. Employ- 
ment was actually decreasing in many major industries be- 
fore the depression came. Since new industries and new 
vocations were not coming into being rapidly enough to give 
emloyment to these workers, the number of unemployed was 
gradually increasing. The term “technological unemploy- 
ment” describes a phenomenon that was one of the causes of 
the great depression. Competent students of these problems 
advise us that we cannot expect the basic industries again 
to provide employment for so large a proportion of workers 
as they once did. Just now we are in the paradoxical posi- 
tion of being poor because we can easily produce great wealth. 
Obviously the situation demands the application of intelligence. 
In any event it means that the period of youth will be length- 
ened and that universal education must be provided up to 
eighteen or twenty, or possibly twenty-two years of age, and 
that such work as youth may do will be increasingly for edu- 
cational and less for productive purposes. 


There is one angle of the problem, however, that must be 
explored further. Given our modern technology, have we still 
the natural resources requisite to such an educational pro- 
gram? No other country has such vast natural resources in 
proportion to its present and probable future population. We 
are told that the population will be stabilized at, say, a hundred 
and seventy million or less in the next fifty years. We have 
the resources to produce an abundance of goods for every 
American, and we have the technology. The census statistics 
are inexorable. In the face of facts it is futile, even absurd, 
to talk about shortening the period of education, to talk about 
putting secondary education on a tuition basis or limiting in 
any way its opportunities. Many Americans are in a blue funk 
to-day, but such an attitude is ridiculous in the face of exist- 
ing facts. So far as resources are concerned, there is no reason 
for surrendering our hope of making the American dream of 
abundance for all come true. Our resources and technology 
will not only support universal education through high school 


but will compel it. 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 117 

Where, then, is the waste in the high school? The high 
school is subjected to mucn criticism. Is the high school defi- 
cient in that it does not employ good methods of teaching? 
Is it inefficient in that the students do not learn well the sub- 
ject-matter set out to be learned? The efficiency of the learning 
of conventional subject matter has been greatly improved in 
recent years. The study of education has been largely directed 
to that end. Is the high school providing for American youth 
to-day the education that contemporary American life de- 
mands? That is a different question. The problems which 
confront the world to-day are primarily social in character. We 
are endeavoring to manage modern technology with a set of 
economic and political ideas inherited from the past, which 
obviously do not fit well into the present situation. A govern- 
ment designed for a relatively simple agrarian civilization is 
creaking under a complex urban civilization, unable to cope ef- 
fectively with crime, to support agriculture and industry effec- 
tively in the worst depression in our history. In the fifteenth 
year after the World War, Europe and America are spending 
more on armaments than in the year immediately preceding 
the war! The nationalistic spirit has never been so strong. 
We have erected tariff walls so high as almost to stop inter- 
national trade. The great demand of our time is for a social 
intelligence and leadership capable of finding solutions for 
these problems, and it is here that we find the challenge to the 
American high school. 


The high school will render its best service if it gives 
the individual an understanding of the culture in which he 
lives, of the social, economic, and political problems which 
flow from the onward rush of the industrial revolution. He 
must be equipped with the concepts necessary to understand 
this system and to consider proposals for its improvement. 
Does the high school provide such education? What is the 
relation between the subject matter of the high school curricu- 
lum and the critical problems of American life? Tens of 
thousands of farmers in this country have attended high 
schools. Have these high schools given them any under- 
standing of agricultural economics or of the position of agri- 








| 
| 


nec 





118 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


culture in our present economic and industrial system? What 
understanding have urban high-schools given students of the 
problems of the city, what understanding of our economic and 
industrial systems? It is at this point that we find the waste 
in the American high-school. 


There are those who contend that it is unwise for mem- 
bers of our own profession to criticize our schools in times 
like these. I believe it is far better that we who are engaged 
in secondary education, who see the importance of secondary 
education in American life, should point out its deficiencies 
than that this criticism should come from the outside. The 
present situation calls for nothing less than a redirection of 
our whole secondary-school curriculum. The old classical tra- 
dition still dominates more than half of the studies pursued 
by the individual student. In a majority of the thousands of 
small high-schools in villages and rural districts, the high- 
school curriculum, barring one or two vocational subjects, is 
little different from the classical offering of forty years ago. 
The smaller the high-school, the more formal and academic 
its curriculum! 


By what process shall we go about the redirection of 
American secondary education? First of all, a thorough- 
going analysis of our American culture in all its major aspects 
is required—a study of the status of aesthetics, of the family 
and other institutions, of the role of science and technology, 
of the economic and industrial system, of government, or inter- 
national relationships, social and moral problems, of education 
itself. This is a practical measure that can be undertaken by 
any high-school faculty. From my own recent experience I can 
assure you that such a study will provide a most exciting and 
profitable series of faculty meetings. From this analysis and 
appraisal of the American tradition and of contemporary 
American civilization we must formulate a program of second- 
ary education that will contribute to the realization of the 
dream of which Truslow Adams speaks so eloquently in his 
“Epic of America.” For my part, I have not lost faith that 
America can be made a lovely place for all Americans, as well 
as for the more favored few. 












PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 119 





There is no reason to suppose that America cannot support 
an adequate program of secondary education. The logic of our 
resources and technology will inevitably bring universal educa- 
tion in America to age eighteen or twenty. To utilize our re- 
sources for the benefit of all requires minds equipped with the 
social concepts and outlook of to-day and to-morrow. Second- 
ary education must be reconstructed in the light of these prin- 
ciples. 


There is just one further word I should like to add. We 
have not yet come to that Utopian state where all of our 
knowledge and resources will be utilized wisely for all the 
people. Can we in the meantime support our schools? My 
attention was directed recently to an address of Professor 
George D. Stoddard of the University of Iowa before the Asso- 
ciation for Childhood Education in May, 1931. Speaking of the 
educational situation in Iowa, Professor Stoddard said: 


“In 1930 the people of the state spent $380,000,000 on 
passenger automobiles, $140,000,000 on movies and cos- 
metics, $60,000,000 on gasoline, $50,000,000 on tobacco, 
and $50,000,000 on elementary and secondary education. 
Reduction by one-seventh of the amount spent on pleasure 
cars would have doubled the amount available for schools.” 

























These figures would not hold for to-day, but it is ridiculous to 
talk about not being able to afford education when a state like 
Iowa spends as much money on tobacco as it does on elementary 
and secondary education and almost three times as much on 
“movies” and cosmetics. The truth of the matter is that 
America is amply able to support education, even in these hard 


times. 


What I have said offers no soiution for the immediate 
problems which you face. We shall have to get out of the pres- 
ent mess as best we can, praying that the schools may be 
spared the worst. A very practical thing for us to do is to set 
about the reconstruction of the high-school in accordance with 

7 the ideas of a new civilization. It will require study. That 

we can begin here and now. If the Department of Secondary- 

School Principals will think in large terms and courageously, it 





























120 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


will exercise great influence in the period of reconstruction 
upon which we are entering. But we must go beyond the walls 
of the school to find the answers to many of our educational 


problems. 


In the absence of Professor Fretwell, Principal P. H. Pow- 
ers of East Technical High-school of Cleveland, Ohio, read the 
paper entitled Improvement and Economy in Extra-currilum 
Activities. 


ECONOMY AND IMPROVEMENT OF EXTRA- 
CURRICULUM ACTIVITIES IN SECONDARY- 
. SCHOOLS 


ELBERT K. FRETWELL 
Professor of Education, 
Teachers College, Columbia University 


Economy is not of necessity an enemy of improvement. 
So far as extra-currilum activities are concerned, there are 
some schoo!s that are still operating on a laisse-faire policy. 
If economy of time, of effort, or of money can cause these 
schools to develop a constructive policy for guiding these 
activities, necessity again may be the mother of reform. 


Many schools are demonstrating the economy of time, of 
effort, and of educational opportunity that can exist when 
the principal, teachers, and pupils coéperate in planning the 
whole life of the school, curriculum and extra-curriculum. 
There are still, however, too many schools, especially senior 
high-schools, with a go-as-you-please program that results in 
the extracurriculum activities existing in a half-hearted way 
and sprawling all over the daily and weekly program. Many 
secondary-school workers have long been pointing out ways 
whereby the school’s constructive program can provide for 
the who'e educational activity of the school as a planned struc- 
ture rather than letting it exist partly planned but mostly 


neglected. 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 121 


This constructive program, especially in the extra-cur- 
riculum field, must be developed by the school. This plan 
cannot be bodily transplanted from one school to another. The 
principal is responsible. Teachers and pupils can help 
mightily. The traditional laisse-faire policy makes for waste: 
it is utterly uneconomical; it fails to plan for improvement. 
Economy and improvement demand a planned, constructive, 
workable policy. If the principal is a leader, he ought to lead. 


Our times are vocal with arguments for a planning and 
a planned society. Many leaders in secondary education in 
spite of the fact that they do not know the ultimate ends of 
a changing civilization, have a working hypothesis which in- 
cludes the extra-curriculum phase of education. Fortunately, 
under the pressure of these critical times some of the so- 
called progressives are coming to recognize that while pupils 
have rights and privileges they also have duties and obliga- 
tions. Even the most determined individualists are insisting 
on a constructive plan of codperative effort. 


In the extra-curriculum field, however, many of those who 
have operated on a laisse-faire policy have not done so be- 
cause of any guiding philosophy. Either because of a belief 
that all learning lies in the traditional subject-matter fields 
or because they are mentally and emotionally swamped by the 
number and variety of pupil interests, they have muddled 
along enduring as best they could the confusion of unplanned 
activities. The necessity for planning for the whole school 
life of the pupil and for the life of the whole school, may jolt 
this group into thinking out what to do and how to do it. 


What the schools do now is not going to solve immediate 
national problems. These problems will be solved in some 
measure or the nation wrecked before our seventh grader is 
old enough to be president. Any specific solution of a world 
problem that is taught in school probably will be out of date 
before the pupils are old enough to put it into practice. In 
any event, if the educator does not know enough or have the 
technique to solve present problems, he will probably be rather 


























122 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


modest in asserting that he can teach his pupils that which 
he himself does not know. 


In line with or in spite of what has just been said, what 
are some of the working hypotheses on which the school can 
operate? It seems, 


that people have to learn how to live together, 


that they can learn how to contribute and to enjoy con- 
tributing. their best to the common good, 


that they can learn how to lead or to select a leader, 


that they can learn how to be intelligently obedient to 
authority 


that they can learn how to direct themselves increasingly 
intelligently either as individuals or as members of 


a group. 


If the educator starts with some such ideas as these, or 
any others, it is his business to teach them—to teach them 
not as the eternal truth but as the best we know now. The 
telling kind of teaching we have long since learned is rather 
ineffective; we need to plan the learning situation so that the 
pupil has a favorable chance to practice and to try out the 
idea he is learning in order to learn it and if possible to im- 
prove it. If we want to have a planning and a progressively 
planned society, the life of the school should furnish a labora- 
tory for the pupil’s learning. 


With such ideas as those just cited in mind, some pro- 
posals looking toward economy and improvement of the 
school’s extra-curriculum activities seem in order. None of 
these ideas, however, are new; some or all of them are in 
operation in those schools that are developing a constructive 
policy for guiding the whole program of the school’s activities. 


One—tThe guidance function of the home room can be 
stressed. Life for the pupil outside of school is becoming 
more complex and difficult. The teacher-pupil load is increas- 
ing. The home room teacher with all the aid that can be 
secured from special counselors, visiting teachers, advisers, 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 123 


and supervisory officers can aid the pupil to live intelligently 
day by day. Many teachers are meeting this need. There 
is no place for perfunctory home room time-killing. It seems 
reasonable to insist that if there are teachers who cannot or 
will not meet this demand, they should give way to teachers 
who can and will meet the need for personal pupil guidance. 


Two—tThrough a pupil-teacher council, or some such 
means, pupils can have a favorable opportunity to share in 
planning the society in which they live and in learning how 
to be intelligently obedient to the authority which they have 
helped create. Sharing in responsibility has a sobering influ- 
ence and is fundamental in the development of character. By 
such a plan the principal is relieved of no responsibility. This 
is a way he uses to help pupils learn how to live as citizens 
now. 


Three—The school can develop a point system to stimuiate, 
to guide, and if necessary to limit pupil participation in extra- 
curriculum activities. Such a system should help the pupil and 
his adviser working together to plan for him a well-balanced 
daily, weekly, and semester program. Likewise, it should 
help the eligibility committee of the pupil-teacher council in 
guiding the pupil. It may be that the pupil should pass his 
Latin, for example, to play on a school team. It is conceivable, 
also, that the reverse may be true. 


Four—The school assembly can build morale. Ordinary 
announcements are sent mimeographed to the home room. 
Scolding is out of place. This assembly can be bright, earnest, 
joyous. The finest achievements of individuals, of groups, 
and of the whole school can be known and celebrated. There 
can be stirring, beautiful music, serious and big. No de- 
pression in the assembly! 


Five—Every pupil can belong to one or more clubs. 
Through necessity or choice the pupil has some free time. In 
later years he will probably have more leisure time. The 
quality of his life will be in some measure determined by how 
intelligently he uses this leisure. Pupil clubs, especially those 

















124 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


of the hobby kind, may have a real contribution to make to 
the pupil’s present and probable future needs. 


Six, School Publications.—As the schools are more crowd- 
ed and the teacher-pupil load heavier, every means available for 
orientating the pupil should be used. The handbook can be 
used effectively and economically for administrator, teacher, 
and pupil. To integrate the school, to form intelligent public 
opinion and to build and sustain morale, the school needs a 
newspaper. Democratic government in a large school seems 
searcely possible without the basis for public opinion made 
possible by the school paper. Whether mimeographed or 
printed, it should be issued weekly and be a newspaper. The 
school should have, develop, or secure a teacher trained in 
school newspaper work and grow this publication out of an 
accredited course in newspaper writing. The school should 
either eliminate the annual or provide the time and the train- 
ing necessary for its production on an educative basis. 


Seven, Athletics—The program of health and physical edu- 
cation should be maintained. Health service is needed more 
than at anv other time in the past two decades. Expensive 
interscholastic athletics. particinated in by the few, can be 
cut. Intra-mural athletics for all punvils should be further de- 
veloned. Trained punil leaders can be used effectively here. 
In times like these physical play is a necessity not a luxury. 
There can be no economy or high morale in working with pupils 
deliberately allowed to become physically unfit. 


Eight. Commencement—The graduating exercises should 
be celebrated with distinction. The program should grow out 
of the life of the school. It should be joyous, beautiful, inspir- 
ing. and educative for those participating, for the whole school 
and for the community. Teachers and pupils should study and 
vresent the problems of the school and of its punils as citizens 
in their relation to each other and to the community. Hot 
house flowers, expensive dresses and much cab-fare are out of 
keening with the times. As the writer has said elsewhere, 
“Whatever the program, there should be an intelligent looking 
toward the future that, among other things, will prevent the 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 125 
unfavorable emotional reaction that too often takes place 
among pupils and parens after commencement day is over. To 
leap from the joyous light of generous approval into unplanned 
obscurity is a consummation devoutly to be avoided. Com- 
mencement, while capitalizing the present and past, should 
also look toward the future.”* 


Nine, The School Calendar—The school should plan its 
program of afternoon and evening events for the whole year. 
Such activities as plays, concerts, debates, class parties, and 
athletic events, should be properly spaced. Youth has less 
spending money but even greater than ordinary need for 
wholesome recreation. The expensive “extras” in decorations 
and general “trimmings” can and should be eliminated, but the 
school should plan as never before for the social activities of its 
young’ people. There should be more, instead of fewer, of these 
social activities presented by the pupils. Make these activities 
just as nearly free to the school and the public as possible. 


Ten, Contests—Some schools are “contested” almost to 
death. In some sections of the country, fostered by the state 
or by competing colleges, there are contests in everything cur- 
riculum and extra-curriculum—Latin, second year algebra, 
basketball, brass bands, canning clubs, and piccolo players. 
There is continuously the motive—go out and lick somebody. 
Frequently, the poorer the school the greater the emphasis in 
specializing on the training of a few pupils to win these con- 
tests. Somebody ought to make a real study of the influence 
of the contest on the curriculum. A desire for a reasonable 
economy and an improvement of the school as a school, not as 
a contest factory, demands that this contest idea be critically 
examined. It’s a morale “buster.” 


Eleven, Allied Agencies.—There are in many communi- 
ties such organizations working with Youth as the Junior Red 
Cross, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, Boys Clubs, 
Hi-Y’s, Girl Reserves, Y. M. C. A.’s, and so on. Economy of 
time, effort, money, and educational opportunity demands that 


*Fretwell, Elbert K.: Extra-Curricular Activities. in Secondary- 
Schools, p. 398. 











126 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the school develop a constructive policy of codperating or not 
coéperating with these agencies. The question is not how can 
this or that organization be fostered but how can the activity 
of youth be so coérdinated as to be of best service to himself 
and to the state. According to the lasse-faire policy there is 
too much waste effort and vouth suffers needlessly. 


Twelve, Finances—There are many schools that have or- 
ganized their extra-curriculum finances on a sound, construc- 
tive business basis. The pupil purse has been protected, bud- 
gets have been balanced. Through the department of busi- 
ness education the handling of extra-curriculum money has 
been the basis for educative experience. However, all the 
studies that have been made thus far show that many, in fact a 
majority, of the schools are still in the kind of finances under 
discussion on a go-as-you-please policy, or that the principal 
has been so ineffective in developing an educationally con- 
structive policy that he, or his secretary, has to handle all 
finances. It seems that many principals by a lasse-faire policy 
are educating their teachers and pupils to do the very things 
financially against which these same principals cry out if the 
very same things are done in public life. How a principal can 
demand that a community chest or a national congress budget 
system in the school’s extra-curriculum finances is beyond any 
rational comprehension. There is on this point in too many 
schools a really criminal waste of educational opportunity. 


Thirteen, Music—In a curriculum and in an extra-curricu- 
lum way music, at least on the appreciative side, is of value to 
everyone. In school, church, social life, or in any popular na- 
tional movement, if we need morale, we utilize music. We can- 
not sing away an unbalanced budget nor can we sing out of 
existance a discordant banking system. However, when we 
need that people hold steady, or unite for codperative action in 
times of emotional stress, we use music. Even aside from 
happiness or any doctrine of catharsis, it may be that music 
is worth more to the individual than all the second year alge- 
gra that has been taught or forced on girls since the beginning 


of recorded time. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 127 


Finally, if we must cut, let us cut where the operation will 
insure the health of the patient. A few minor operations have 
been indicated. Times like these demand morale. Right or 
wrong, the school’s extra-curriculum activities can be morale 
builders. Cut out of the individual pupil’s program those cur- 
riculum and extra-curriculum materials and activities that are 
dead wood to him now and to his probable future. This dead 
wood constitutes our chief fads and frills. Organize, get pupils 
and teachers intelligently busy sharing in the organization of a 
constructive policy for guiding the school including its extra- 
curriculum activities. 


Through expert guidance and through satisfying practice 
get our high-school people busy forming’ the habit of planning 
the immediate society of which they are a definite part. An 
honest depression may be good for the soul. Times like these 
are not actually to be feared. These times demand that we get 
rid of the dead hand of some outworn traditions, get rid of our 
nebulous lasse-faire policy, and that we plan constructively 
what the school should do by, with, and for its pupils and for 
the state. 


GROUP No. 2 


Principal R. B. Clem, of the Shawnee High-School, of 
Louisville, Kentucky, presided over the group which met in 
the Third Avenue lobby. Professor H. R. Douglas, of the 
School of Education of the University of Minnesota, presented 
his paper, The Junior High-School Curriculum Adapted to the 
Needs of Pupils. 


ADAPTING THE CURRICULUM OF THE JUNIOR 
HIGH-SCHOOL TO THE NEEDS OF THE PUPILS 
HARL R. DOUGLAS, 


Professor of Secondary Education, 
University of Minnesota. 


As a beginning I should like to state a few truths as a 
basis upon which I may found my discussion. These state- 














128 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ments possess no characteristic of novelty and I make them 
only to set the stage for subsequent points. 


To contribute most to the needs of junior high-school pu- 
pils, the curriculum should be such a one as will contribute 
most to the attainment of the educational objectives of that di- 
vision of the educational system. It should therefore be for- 
mulated so as to provide the most effective contribution to the 
general aims of education including secondary education, but 
also to the functions which the junior school should especially 
serve. Not only, therefore, should the curriculum be aimed 
at health, vocational effectiveness, worthy home membership, 
social, civic and moral growth, and desirable leisure tastes and 
habits but at the following peculiar functions: 


1. Safe and economical transition from elementary to 
secondary education. 


2. Exploration of and orientation of the pupil with ref- 
erence to his capacities and potential interests, the various 
fields of human endeavor including vocational occupations, 
and the various fields of knowledge and culture. 

3. Guidance of pupils in developing educational and vo- 
cational plans, desirable personality and character traits, 
health habits, social adaptability and cooperation. 

4. Economy of time—elimination of relatively ineffec- 
tive educational materials, methods, teaching personnel, and 
phases of organization. 

5. Adaptation of materials to the abilities, capacities, in- 
terests, and probable future needs of the pupils. 


With this condensed foundational introduction, I wish to 
indicate, in the few minutes allotted to me, some of the ways 
in which much progress is yet to be made, before the junior 
high-school curriculum may be said to be materially better 
adapted to the needs of the pupils than the old order it dis- 
placed. 


In the first place, permit me to remind you that in that 
period—about 1895 to 1915—when the arguments in favor of 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 129 


the reorganization of secondary education were being formu- 
lated and urged upon us, one of the principal features pro- 
posed for the new school was the earlier introduction of sec- 
ondary education. This suggestion came principally from two 
sources; college presidents who wished to have students enter 
college earlier and in larger numbers, and students of foreign 
educational systems. I regard it as fortunate that this pro- 
posal has found only a limited application in actual practice. 
The earlier introduction of foreign languages, mathematics, 
and classical and near-classical literature would have indeed 
been a step later to be undone. 


Composite, general, or unified mathematics, as originally 
planned would have provided not only for the earlier introduc- 
tion of much algebra, trigonometry, and geometry of little 
educational value to the great majority of pupils found in 
grades seven and eight but the inextricable entangling of less 
useful aspects of these subjects with the more useful arith- 
metic which ministers to the present and future needs of jun- 
ior high-school pupils. In fact, it is clear, at least to me, that, 
in the interest of the pupil as well as of mathematics as a 
school subject, from 50 to 60% of the material now taught in 
ninth grade school mathematics should not be taught in the 
junior high-school at all. 


This material, largely algebra, can be justified as being of 
more value than other subjects which might be taught instead, 
only for those pupils who will later pursue collegiate studies 
based upon mathematics. Reason would seem to indicate 
rather clearly that it be divorced from those phases of algebra 
which should be of value to all pupils and transferred to the 
senior high-school, there to be combined with other materials 
into a rigorous course in college preparatory algebra for a lim- 
ited small group. To the algebra left in the third year junior 
high-school curriculum, such as the use and evaluation of for- 
mule, the fundamentals of negative and literal numbers, 
graphical representation, and similar material of more com- 
mon application in the life of people generally should be added 
two types of materials. 











Te Sa 





“ a 








130 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


One of these includes those aspects of elementary statis- 
tical methods which will enable pupils to read intelligently the 
increasing number of articles and books on scientific, sociolog- 
ical, and economic topics which employ statistical methods of 
thinking and presentation, and which will assist them to dis- 
cover and appreciate the significance of relationships between 
any two variables. These relationships are in actual life 
rarely those represented by the algebraic equation which as- 
sumes perfect correlation, as represented by a coefficient 1.0, 
between the two variables, so that when the value of z is 
known, the value of y is determined and may be calculated 
with no error of estimate at all. The relationships that exist 
between variables in most situations in life are not so def- 
initely fixed, but are such as is represented by coefficients of 
correlation of less than 1.00. Things tend to go together; cer- 
tain effects tend to go with a certain cause or set of causes; 
rarely is the relationship exactly proportional. Much more 
useful in most walks of life than mastery of simultaneous 
equations, factoring, and special products, or the more intri- 
cate types of fundamental operations in algebra, are the con- 
concepts and the abilities to think in terms of measures of 
central tendency, variation, probable errors of estimate, prob- 
ability, and of relationship. In fact, it would seem that for 
many types of college curricula, training in the simpler phases 
of algebra and in the more useful aspects of elementary sta- 
tistical methods also constitutes a better preparation than con- 
tinued training in algebra. Furnishing as it does means of 
comprehending large groups of cases and relationships which 
otherwise would confuse the normal mind, it would seem that 
training in statistical methods offers opportunities for insur- 
ing clear thinking superior to those of geometry. 


The second type of content which should be emphasized in 
the third year of junior high-school mathematics includes 
those phases of arithmetic which are mathematically hard to 
master or which are related to civic, business, or other eco- 
nomic activities of life which can be understood but hazily by 
boys and girls of 12, 13 or 14 years of age. 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 131 


The introduction of a foreign language before the ninth 
grade can hardly be justified except in larger schools where it 
may be offered as an additional elective for bright pupils. The 
theory that because they were younger and their speech or- 
gans more plastic, pupils in seventh and eighth grades would 
make greater progress than in the ninth and tenth grades in 
mastering foreign languages has not been supported by re- 
sults obtained where it has been taught to younger pupils. 


In general, the tendency to crowd down into the junior 
high-school materials formerly taught in these fields in the 
senior high-school seems to constitute an undesirable practice 
founded on loose thinking and fallacy. Instead, what is really 
needed is a more thorough mastery of the fields already taught 
in the junior high-school. Textbooks in United States history 
are written in such style and vocabulary that for a great pro- 
portion of pupils, the material in them has little meaning other 
than the raw material for memory exercises stimulated by the 
prospects of oral recitation and written examination. The 
words are learned, the ideas seldom well understood, much less 
retained. The amount of materials included in courses in his- 
tory and social science is so great as to demand a great time 
allotment or a thoroughgoing elimination of topics of lesser 
value. The needs of junior high-school pupils demand instruc- 
tional materials in history and social studies which will re- 
veal in terms understandable by boys and girls of from 12 to 
16 years of age the character and nature of our institutions, 
the facts concerning which they strive to acquire for tem- 
porary reproduction. The ideals and attitudes upon which 
good citizenship, political, economic, community, and private 
morality must be based may not safely be slighted in our ef- 
fort to have students acquire a superficial or pseudo erudition. 

It is gradually becoming obvious that the course of study 
materials in the non-vocational subjects are pitched for the 
abler half of the pupils. Much of the instructional materials 
in literature are too advanced, and the concepts and vocabu- 
lary of the subjects too mature. High-school teachers have 
heretofore been willing apparently to accept ridiculously low 

















132 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


levels of achievement, rather than to modify the curriculum to 
fit the needs and abilities of pupils. The futility of closing 
one’s eyes to these things has become obvious to some. The 
beginnings of a revision downward in the interest of more 
thorough scholarship is under way. 


An interesting body of data revealing the inadequate 
mastery by pupils of the materials taught them has been col- 
lected by Briggs.! Pupils decipher rather than translate 
Latin and French. One-half our high-school students toward 
the end of a year in algebra are unable to find the area of the 
circle when they are given the formula and the values of “pi” 
and r. Half of our high-school students having had a year of 
American history are unable to define the Monroe Doctrine 
and an equal proportion, after completing a year of ancient 
history, are not able to tell who Solon was. Only seven out of 
ten seniors in superior high-schools rate Tennyson’s Bugle 
Song better than crude parodies based it. The large percent- 
age of errors in pupils’ compositions are known to all high- 
school teachers. It would seem obvious to everyone but school 
teachers that we are trying to do too much and too difficult 
things, and that we are failing to do the simpler and more es- 
sential things well. 


Provision for enjoyable use of leisure is not well made 
through instructional materials of the highest level class 
alone. It is not practical to assume that any great proportion 
of pupils may be educated in the junior high-school to spend 
any great proportion of the vastly increased amonut of leisure 
now available in consuming or producing the type of literary 
or artistic product which forms the greater part of the course 
of study in art, literature, and music. Indeed, until teachers 
in these fields are able to shake themselves free from stand- 
ards impractical for children, there is little hope that the in- 
structional materials which they employ will be but hurdles to 
bar the way of those who are not precocious or hypocritical 
and to crowd from the curriculum, materials which give - 





1Briggs, Thomas H. The Great Investment, Harvard University 
Press, 1930, pp. 124-8. 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 133 
greater promise in the development of good leisure habits. 
The course of study in literature, for example, must be such 
as will develop in junior high-school pupils interests and read- 
ing habits in materials, which, there is some rational basis 
for believing, will constitute the means of expenditure of 
much leisure time with satisfaction to the individual and 
profit to society. 


Some of our early attempts to adapt the curriculum to the 
vocational needs of junior high-school pupils have not proven 
wise. The attempts to introduce technical vocational educa- 
tion in printing, stenography, shop work, and other subjects, 
did not fit in with the fact that pupils dropping out of school 
before reaching the senior high-school could rarely find em- 
ployment in these fields, and the fact that satisfactory levels 
of achievement in these fields were rarely attained in the jun- 
ior high-school grades. In the light of what we now know 
about the careers of junior high-school pupils, who drop out of 
school before completing senior high-school, technical voca- 
tional education does not seem adapted to their needs. In- 
stead broad fundamental exploration and informational 
courses in business and shop activities are serviceable not only 
to those who do not go on, but to those who supplement such 
courses with specific vocational education in the senior high- 
school and college, and the same may be said of intelligent cor- 
relation of the content of so-called academic subjects with vo- 
cational applications. 


Now I wish to devote the time remaining to me, to the 
consideration of what I believe to be the most important prob- 
lem of adapting the curriculum to the needs of the individual. 
Let me begin by laying a few foundational premises. Public 
education is maintained at public expense not merely for the 
benefit of the individuals who are educated but for all indi- 
viduals. It is easily possible to demonstrate that throughout 
the period in which the battle was waged to establish a sys- 
tem of free public education at public expense, the fundamen- 
tal consideration as urged by Franklin, Washington, Jeffer- 
son, Adams, Madison, Mains, Bernard, and all great friends of 

















134 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


public education was the necessity of an enlightened citizenry 
and leadership for the welfare of all. 


We have drifted into the fallacy of discussing educa- 
tional problems and planning educational organization and 
procedures almost completely from the point of view of the 
direct profit to the individual pupil. It may be that this un- 
fortunate tendency has had a part in hastening our present 
social, spiritual and economic crisis—a period in which every 
individual seems to be sensitive only to his own immediate 
interests and in which the ideals of public welfare and of po- 
litical and economic honesty and fair play appear to have be- 
come merely formal traditions to which we pay only lip serv- 
ice. The strong tendency to plan instruction which will best 
serve the individual exclusively along lines of giving him a 
personal advantage over other individuals is indeed a short- 
sighted policy. If all individuals are equally so served, there 
is no net gain. If less than all are served, discrimination has 
been made. The schools do not exist for the purpose of en- 
abling favored individuals to exploit others. A much more 
intelligent policy of serving the individual is that which vis- 
ualizes the net gain of all individuals. 


The interests of society and those of the individual are 
known not to be opposed but instead are largely identical. That 
curriculum is best for the individual which serves society by 
promoting social intelligence, enabling the citizenry to recog- 
nize and check malignant growths in the social body—to erad- 
icate influences encouraging crime, political dishonesty, eco- 
nomic exploitation of some by others and similar social ills 
which in recent years have become so distressing. Society’s 
gain is the individual’s profit. When social ideals and prac- 
tices decline, his chances for happiness reduce proportion- 


ately. 

The success of a democracy demands more than enlight- 
ened leaders. Leaders find it difficult to serve only the in- 
terests of the entire group when opportunities present them- 
selves so frequently to exploit their positions of leadership to 
their own profit. They also find it impossible to maintain 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 135 


themselves in positions of political leadership, if they oppose 
the selfish interest of powerful intelligent minorities who per- 
ceive the issues clearly. They cannot survive politically, even 
if in their opposition they serve the interest of great majori. 
ties, unless these majorities are not only well informed but 
are difficult to confuse or divert from the real issues by cam- 
paign shibboleths or other distractions invented to obscure 
clear thinking on the part of the masses. Unless we can 
carry into practice a plan, as suggested by Plato, of placing 
over us as leaders only those who can have no selfish inter- 
ests and who serve only the good of the state, the best insur- 
ance of social justice is an enlightened, interested, and edu- 
cated citizenry. 


The greatest contribution to the accomplishment of this 
end may be made by the schools and particularly the junior 
high-school. The public press has become increasingly polit- 
ically and economically biased. Its editorial policy is no 
longer confined to its editorial pages. The church has suf- 
fered a materially lessened influence. The radio and the mo- 
tion picture with their magnificent opportunities for educa- 
tion of all, young and old, are both founded on bed-rock of 
commercialism of the lowest type and little help can be ex- 
pected from those quarters. The job must be done in the 
school. The junior high-school is the last rung in the educa- 
tional ladder reached by all the future citizenry. Less than 
30% of young America finish the senior high-school. In the 
elementary school the children are immature and the task 
there is confined largely to developing general ideals of fair 
dealing and of interest in the welfare of others—most im- 
portant and fundamental objectives but not in themselves 
enough. 


In the junior high-school classroom instruction, almost as 
much as in the senior high-school, we have as yet given little 
evidence of any vision of the possibilities or responsibilities. 
We have lost ourselves in an academic and vocational forest. 
Viewed in retrospect a hundred years hence, schoolmen of this 














136 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


day can hardly escape a severe censure of what shall surely 
seem an inexplicable stupidity or lack of vision. 


Organized crime spreads and threatens property, free- 
dom, and life. Homicide is 16 times as frequent in the United 
States as in England and Wales. Chicago had a larger an- 
nual list of intentional killings than all England, and burglary 
insurance has become 15 to 20 times as high as in England. 
Organized crime enforces piratical demands upon legitimate 
business. 

Over twelve million bread winners are unemployed or are 
unable to make a living except by going further into debt. 
Over a quarter of our population is dependent upon charity, 
private or public. A great army of youth, both boys and girls, 
estimated at more than a quarter million in number, roams 
over the land, tramps, unwilling exiles, who, expelled by 
mother nature from childhood, can find no place for them- 
selves in the adult world. 


Farmers and residents of cities are being dispossessed of 
their homes and means of livelihood in such large numbers 
that it appears that we are on the verge of a return to feudal- 
ism involving a peasant class of tenants, who like their indus- 
trial brothers will be forced to yield a disproportionate share 
of their earnings to those whose contribution has been con- 
fined to the ability to gain control of the machine and the land. 


Bungling, ignorant, and careless politicians have permit- 
ted the inequities and iniquities of the obtaining system of tax- 
ation to become so unbearable that throughout the country a 
great part of the taxes cannot be collected, and as a conse- 
quence important services supported by the tax receipts have 
been dangerously impaired. Schools have closed by the thou- 
sand. School terms have been shortened to six, five, four and 
three months. Teachers have gone without salaries. Hospitals 
have been forced to turn away charity patients. Teachers 
are in some cities feeding at their own expense thousands of 
undernourished children for whom there are no public funds 
available. Police and fire protection service has been reduced. 
Streets have been permitted to fall into bad repair. Prisons and 





ae 


ie NRG ese Ape oie 


eee PANORAMA 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 137 


jails are overflowing—unsanitary and in a constant state of 
incipient revolt. Criminals are paroled for no other reason 
than because there is no more room for them in penal institu- 
tions. Long waiting lists have accumulated at the state institu- 
tions for the feeble minded and the insane. And all this in spite 
of the fact that we enjoy to-day as much as in the period previ- 
ous to the depression a superabundance of labor, raw mate- 
rials, machines, and transportation—in other words all the 
essentials except social intelligence—to remedy all these con- 
ditions. 


Great cities, states, and even the national government 
pay enormous tribute to organized minorities who have be- 
come or have employed professional politicians, and thus ob- 
tained control of the governments while the great majority 
of citizens either have stayed at home on election days or con- 
fined their political activity to choosing between republicans 
and democrats, between the enemies and friends of King 
George of England, between beer or no beer, between King- 
fishes and more dignified demagogues, between Catholics and 
Quakers, and to voting for names and measures about which 
they know nothing. 


While these parasitic growths fasten themselves upon 
American democracy, the junior high-school cannot continue 
to withdraw into a cloistered academic neutrality contenting 
itself with attempting to stimulate pupils to a partial and 
temporary mastery of a curriculum which by its very nature 
can make no great contribution to preparing young people for 
the responsibilities of their times. Yet I am none too hope- 
ful that the schools will rise to the occasion as they should. 
Our body of teachers, as a class, start with a great handicap. 
They have always been in school and have lived largely in sn 
academic world. They have been reared in an atmosphere of 
words and textbooks. Their philosophy of education has 
grown up around artificial and superficial catch-phrases of 
decorative intellectualism and erudition. Large numbers of 
them are relatively ignorant, someone has said “moronic” 
with respect to their intelligent understanding of the prob- 














138 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


lems of their own period of civilization. Their store of knowl- 
edge and experience, other than that related to the incidents 
of their immediate environment, is confined largely to the 
formalized content of the textbooks they teach—a knowledge 
which conveniently remains relatively static, and which, once 
learned, makes little demand upon intellectual effort. 


Yet it is upon these teachers and principals the children 
in the schools must rely for guidance and for leadership in 
preparing themselves to understand, enjoy, and improve the 
world into which they have been born. They, even more than 
the parents, occupy the strategic positions of leadership. Un- 
fortunately many possess little background for such leader- 
ship but are essentially small merchants of packages of school 
facts and skills, tied up in textbooks, and preserved from con- 
tact with the trends and problems of the present day group 
life in an industrial democracy, by the cellophane wrapper of 
modern scholasticism. 


Adjustment of the curriculum to the needs of junior high- 
school pupils can be really accomplished only after those 
teachers who are still salvagable have been aroused to the 
necessity of a background which trenscends school textbooks 
and college courses, and those teachers who will not respond 
to the pullmotor are professionally laid away. In other words, 
adapting the curriculum to the needs of twentieth century 
boys and girls is as much a matter of improving the teacher 
as of improving the source of study. 


Adapting the curriculum to the needs of the individual 
means to me first of all just such an adaptation as within the 
last ten minutes I have attempted to indicate. If we as teach- 
ers and principals fail to see the needs but instead continue 
to potter along with the details of an individualistic, academic, 
and pseudo-vocational curriculum, while the continued dis- 
orientation of the American people with respect to their needs 
and problems and the disintegration of our national ideals 
render impossible the glorious project of developing in the 
United States the world’s first complete and successful de- 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 139 


mocracy, we must be a more hopeless group of Ichabod Cranes 
and school marms than we are sometimes accused of being. 


H. H. Ryan, Principal of the Wisconsin High-School of 
the University of Wisconsin, read his paper entitled The 
Teaching and Learning Situation in Junior High-School Class- 
rooms. 


THE TEACHING AND LEARNING SITUATION IN 
JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL CLASSROOMS 


H. H. RYAN, 
Principal, Wisconsin High School, 
Madison, Wisconsin 


The assignment of a topic lik2 this to a speaker, in a time 
like this and under such a convention theme as ours, carries a 
very much greater implication and a very much greater re- 
sponsibility than it would under ordinary circumstances. I 
think I see in it a very positive and urgent suggestion of care- 
ful attention to questions of economy and efficiency. The im- 
plied question is not, “What are some nice things to do in 
junior high-school classrooms?” It is rather, “In this critical 
complex of unprecedented circumstances, what are the experi- 
ences which, all things considered, will produce the optimum 
learning for junior high-school pupils?” I think you will con- 
cede that that is a real question, and a real responsibility. 


In seeking a valid criterion for the worthwhileness of what 
is done in the classroom, one is disposed to consider, for the 
moment at least, what might be termed “parental interest”, 
the unpromoted interest which the parent shows with respect 
to this or that school exercise. Who knows but that it is true 
that those of our so-called educative activities which interest 
the fathers and mothers and bring them to the school to visit, 
or prompt them to check up frequently upon the children’s 
progress, are those which will bear real fruit? 


If we may play with that idea for a moment, we shall be 
impressed with the fact that there are two periods of the 











Sa 





140 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


child’s schooling, rather widely separated in time, in which 
parental interest is high. The first is the kindergarten-pri- 
mary period, in which the pupil is exploring the field of funda- 
mental skills: reading, writing, arithmetic, getting along with 
other children, etc. The other is the period of vocational train- 
ing: commercial, legal, medical, pedagogical, or what not. Be- 
tween these two there is a long interim, during which the par- 
ent knows little and cares less about what kind of experiences 
the teacher sets before the class. So long as those experiences 
are called by standard names, such as English, algebra, and bi- 
ology, and so long as they are acceptable to the St. Peter of 
the college, father and mother treat them as casually as the 
morning paper and the evening star. So, if this parental in- 
terest is a valid criterion, the classroom work of the interme- 
diate, junior high, and senior high-schools is something te 
weep over. 

On the other hand, there is one phase of the secondary- 
school program in’which there is no lack of interest upon the 
part of the adult section of the school community, the extra- 
curriculum activities. A football game, a debate, an operetta, 
or a play, is quite certain to bring out an almost 100% attend- 
ance of the fathers and mothers of the participants. At Wis- 
consin High-School we have recently begun a series of monthly 
dramatic entertainments. On each of these evenings three one- 
act plays are given, and there is no charge for admission. As 
the time approached for the first of these, we wondered 
whether anyone would bother to come; it was a minor event of 
the schedule, and but little time had been available for train- 
ing the young actors. When the curtain arose upon the first 
play of the evening, standing’ room was at a premium. Fa- 
thers, mothers, aunts, uncles, and neighbors were there to com- 
pare the pride of the household with John Barrymore or Ann 
Harding. On a recent Sunday afternoon we held a meeting of 
the parents of the basketball players, to decide whether the 
team should take part in the district tournament in spite of 
serious financial and geographical handicaps. Only one parent 
was absent, and in that case the other parent was on hand. 
All were insistent that the boys should have the experience of 
taking part in the tournament; the group offered to make up 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 141 


any financial deficit which might accrue, and agreed to fur- 
nish automobiles for free transportation. All stated emphat- 
ically that they themselves, the parents, would be on hand for 
part of the tournament regardless of distance and business en- 
gagements. Of this group of parents the great majority are 
college graduates; all are comfortably situated as regards 
finances; all the wage earners hold responsible positions; three 
are college professors. They are not persons who would give 
themselves up to the sensations of entertainment, parental 
pride, or school spirit, to the exclusion or neglect of real edu- 
cation. I think we shall have to credit them with the convic- 
tion that such activities are productive of genuine and lasting 
growth in personality. And so far not one of them has come 
to school to sit along the sidelines with bated breath and pound- 
ing pulse while Sonny throws old Euclid for a loss. 


There is no doubt that any trained educator who has spent 
hours and hours in the study of the principles of curriculum 
building, the nature of individual differences in learning abil!- 
ity, or the potentialities of the social sciences, will experience 


a violent internal rebellion against such a phenomenon as this, 
and will wonder what the world is coming to. But we must 
face it; and, at a time like this, when big business is taking 
advantage of the financial distress of the general population to 
push over its long-continued campaign for minimum expendi- 
ture for education, and when millions of harrassed voters are 
trying to make up their minds as to what is worth paying for, 
the contrast between extra-curriculum enthusiasm and curric- 
lum apathy offers food for serious thought. 


Amid the general hue and cry over the needed reduction 
in governmental expenditures, there is a growing demand that, 
for the time being at least, the educational frills be eliminated. 
It may be that this is a reasonable demand. We educators 
cannot hope to dictate the answer to that question. Only the 
public itself, by taking stock of its resources, its ability to pay, 
can say whether it can afford all that we now offer by way of 
educational experience. If the public insists upon the elim- 
ination of frills, we shall have to obey. But it will be our busi- 
ness to say what the frills are. We shall have to set up a valid 








142 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


working definition of the term “educational frill”, and then lo- 
cate and identify and point out the frills which the now deified 


taxpayer has been supporting. 


A “frill”, as the term is generally used, is a thing which is 
ornamental rather than useful. It is a thing not essential to 
the main purpose of the article. It is added to attract the eye 
of the observer, to excite the envy of the rival, to conform to 
convention, and to saisfy the vanity of the owner. It has no 
visible influence upon the human need which the article is ir- 
tended to serve; that is, no utilitarian value. If the purpose 
of education is “the good life”, then let us inquire which con- 
forms more closely to the above definition of frill, algebra or 
speech training? Latin or home economics? Ancient history 
or music? What part of our expenditure for training in Eng- 
lish should be devoted to teaching Latin grammar with English 
word? Shall we go on teaching that the first person singular, 
present tense, of the verb sing is “I sing”? Nobody thinks 
that “I sing” is present tense in English. If one wishes to 
state that he is at the moment engaged in perpetrating vocai 
music he says “I am singing’. When he says “I sing” he 
means “I can sing’’, or “I am in the habit of singing when not 
forcibly restrained.” And yet every year millions of helpless 
children are taught that the present tense of “sing” is “I sing, 
you sing, thou singest, he, she, or it sings, we all sing!” Our 
whole system of verb inflection, as the standard grammars 
have it, was and is a wholesome imposition of something for- 
eign upon our language by persons who thought that if Eng- 
lish wasn’t like that, it should be! There are but two plausible 
explanations for our going ahead, year after year, teaching 
children these things which deliberately contradict what they 
already know from experience and observation about their 
own language. One is our deplorable pedagogical inertia; and 
the other is the desire of the Latin teachers to have a thousand 
children study Latin grammar in English in order that a hun- 
dred may have a start in the study of Latin. 


So, viewed from the angle of practical efficiency, this pari 
of our high-school English course bears the same relation tn 
secondary education that the Paris hat does to the whole cos- 




















148 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


tume; it does nothing to make the subject plain, but it does im- 
part a continental flavor. 


Mark you—it is not the educators of America who are de- 
manding the elimination of frills; but if the tax payer insists 
on paring the curriculum down to the essentials, it is the edu- 
cators who must determine what the essentials are. 


The junior high-school differs from the upper half of our 
secondary-school in that it has some liberty in the formulation 
of its own curriculum. In that liberty lies an opportunity to 
attack directly some of the nation’s pressing needs. There arc 
a few outstanding sociological facts which, if they were thorx- 
oughly taught to all junoir high-school pupils by June first of 
this year—really taught, to the point of mastery—would do 
more to bring this country to a rational solution of its major 
troubles than any influence has accomplished in the last twenty 
years. For example: 


1. The United States hold the all-time world’s record 
for robbery and murder. The most important cause of 
this condition is found in organized crime, an organization 
which functions with greater efficiency and greater single- 
ness of purpose than do the institutions of organized so- 
ciety. There you will find steadfast loyalties which equal 
or excel anything’ that law-abiding citizens show under the 
name of patriotism. It is a nation within a nation, just as 
much at war with the United States of America as any na- 
tion has ever been; and from its strategic internal location 
it lays a strangle hold on the police, the municipal govern- 
ments, and the courts. It is utterly ruthless and unscrupu- 
lous in gaining its ends; and when brought to account it is 
protected by a hundred restrictions upon prosecution, re- 
strictions that were set up centuries ago to protect the in- 
nocent but which now protect the guilty. 


2. The deplorable economic condition in which this 
country now finds itself is not to be thought of as an act 
of God. It is a miserable miscarriage of human planning. 
This nation is endowed with all the material things that are 
needed for the peace and comfort of all its people. 








ose 








144 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


3. Nothing but harm can come from feeling sorry 
for ourselves. If we make the mistake of looking upon 
ourselves as pathetic figures, rather than as the ridiculous 
spectacle that we must be in the eyes of the Supreme Be- 
ing, we shall certainly be duped into accepting the bromides 
and palliatives which are suggested for temporary relief; 
and we shall fail to press on to a genuine solution. 


4. There is no excuse whatever for poverty and suf- 
fering in America. We have on hand now enough food and 
manufactured products to make every family in the coun- 
try comfortable. We have enough raw materials and ma- 
chinery and work to do, to make every family self-sustain- 
ing. A silly paralysis has bound the hands of three groups 
of people: one group has time on its hands which it cannot 
use; another has merchandise of which it cannot dispose ; 
and another has wealth, in the form of indebtedness of 
other people, which it cannot use. We have not been intel- 
ligent enough to devise a plan for maintaining a circula- 
tion around the perimeter of that vicious triangle. 


5. There can be no genuine improvement of our con- 
dition without the introduction of a radically new economic 
principle. We are at the same point in the production of 
wealth that we had reached a hundred years ago in trans- 
portation. At that time our nation had spread out over so 
much territory that it had become unwieldly. We had got- 
ten all we could out of horseflesh, and nothing lay ahead 
in that direction. With only the old means of transporta- 
tion the nation would some day have broken up by reason 
of its very territorial massiveness. The fact that the forty- 
eight states still form one nation is due as much to the 
steam locomotive as to federal victory in the War of the 
Rebellion. To-day industry has become unmanageable 
through the unbelievable efficiency of machinery and the 
consequent overproduction of things in themselves favor- 
able to human comfort. Nothing but a new principle of 
distribution will furnish a solution. 


6. If we continue to use the machinery that we have, 
and proceed to use the machinery that will be invented, we 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


can never again keep the entire wage-earning population 
busy eight hours a day, six days a week, fifty weeks a year, 
at providing what the population can economically con- 
sume. Leisure is inevitable. Whether we continue as we 
are now going, with unemployment on the increase, or so 
rearrange our industrial and commercial life as to give each 
worker both steady employment and greater leisure, there 
will be less and less time spent in work, and there will be 
more and more time which must be occupied in other ways. 
The problem of the use of leisure time will become more se- 
rious, year by year. 


7. The history of human beings presented with lei- 
sure without preparation for leisure is universally tragic. 
In idle pursuit of happiness the tendency is to revert to the 
indulgence of primitive impulses. Some of the idle rich 
of this country exemplify this impoverished resourceful- 
ness. The spectacle of a society woman with her fourth 
husband and her fifth scandal is not uncommon. Where 
we used to say, “She moves in the best circles”, we now 
say, “She moves in the best triangles.” 


8. The attention paid by educators to the problem of 
education for leisure has always been without the consent 
of big business. In the main there have been two objec- 
tions to that program, on the part of the industrial barons. 
First, this was just another thing to raise the tax rate; and 
second, it was not intended that workers should have 
enough leisure to worry about. 


9. While we have been alive to the potential value of 
music, and art, and literature in furnishing profitable uses 
for leisure time, we have not fully appreciated the possi- 
bilities of creative arts and crafts. The time is already 
here when a woman can buy her clothing more economically 
than she can make it. But the time will never come when 
a woman will take more pleasure in the garment which she 
has bought than in one which she has made, if she is so 
trained that she can do that well. The factories turn out 
better and cheaper radio receivers than can be made by 
the would-be owner; but music from a commercial radio 


145 































4 Owe 


mgutteno msc 








146 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


will never be as sweet as that from the tangle of wires and 
tubes and transformers that is the product of your own lov- 
ing hands. The happiest depression victim I have seen is 
a friend of mine who, when unemployment descended upon 
him, took himself to the basement with his tools and a few 
boards, and began to turn out handsome articles of furni- 
ture for his own home. Nothing in his home receives more 
loving attention than those chairs and tables and racks and 
stands that he has made with his own hands. The foolish 
little gadgets which any confirmed tinkerer turns out give 
him a poignant satisfaction which is a compound of pur- 
poseful activity and the joy of achievement. The little 
child’s demand, “Look what I made!” is but a frank and 
honest expression of the kind of ecstacy which middle age 
feels but often conceals. As time goes on we shall cer- 
tainly learn to seize upon leisure as an opportunity to sup- 
plement the appointments which organized industry fur- 
nishes, with the priceless products of our own first-hand 
efforts. 


This paper has attempted to point out three facts which 
must be considered in the choice of classroom activities for the 
junior high-school. First: many thoughtful parents show an 
unmistakable interest in the type of school activity which we 
call extra-curriculum. Some of the things that parents say and 
do in this connection suggest a decidedly greater importance 
and value for these activities than for the items which «ppear 
in the program of studies. Perhaps these parental attitudes 
should be credited more than we have credited them, as cri- 
teria of the worth of various school activities. 


Second: The demand of the so-called tax payers’ alliances 
in various parts of the country that the “frills” be eliminated 
from the school program should lead parents and teachers to 
reflect that there are subjects in the secondary-school curricu- 
lum which are there because they have always been there, be- 
cause it is eminently respectable to offer them, in spite of the 
fact that only the scantiest intellectual or social profits can be 
traced to them. The actual “frills” are not at all what the 

















147 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


apostles of minimum school expenditures have in mind when 
they inveigh against “frills”. 

Third: The social problems of this country and of the 
world in general are so tremendous as to demand first place in 
the thoughts of secondary-school pupils. Critical economic and 
sociological facts must be so thoroughly taught to adolescents 
that junior high-school graduates will never be content with 
anything less than a real and constructive solution of these 
problems. Even if solutions were now ready, they could not be 
introduced into the political order without a persistent demand 
for better things, from a people united in the conviction that 
a crime-ridden society of technological paupers is utterly un- 
necessary. 


GROUP No. 3 


The Junior College Section met on Tuesday afternoon in 
the east room. J. B. Holloway, Professor of Education, Uni- 
versity of Kentucky, presided. Professor of Education W. C. 
Eels, of Stanford University, read his paper, The Tax-Sup- 
ported Junior College During the Next Decade. 


THE TAX SUPPORTED JUNIOR COLLEGE DUR- 
ING THE NEXT DECADE 


WALTER CRosBY EELLS, 
Professor of Education, Stanford University 
Editor, The Junior College Journal 


It is dangerous at any time to attempt the role of prophet; 
that danger is only accentuated in such a period as the pres- 
ent of economic, social and educational stress and strain and 
readjustment. No such role will be attempted in this paper. 
It may be possible, however, to point out certain significant 
trends, to analyze some important factors, and to express a 
few judgments as to desirable developments in the junior 
college field during the next decade. 


It is now exactly ten years since Dr. Leonard V. Koos, 
working in Minneapolis at the University of Minnesota, com- 














148 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


pleted in 1923 his epoch-making pioneer study of the status 
and prospects of the junior college movement. It seems there- 
fore a particularly appropriate time and place to consider the 
achievements of the past decade and to look forward to possi- 
ble or probable developments during the decade that is ahead 
of us. This will be done under seven headings, number of 
institutions, enrollment, size, type, curriculum, legal status, 
and support. 

First, however, it may be well to pause for a moment 
to summarize in two or three sentences the growth during the 
past decade and the present status of this highly significant 
segment of American education. Koos reported seventy pub- 
lic junior colleges with an enrollment of 8,000 students. Seven- 
teen of these were normal schools, however, which are not 
now included in the list of junior colleges. If these are 
omitted his figures would give 51 institutions with an enroll- 
ment of something over 5,000. To-day, on the other hand, 
in thirty-one states, there are reported 189 public junior col- 
leges, almost four times as many with an enrollment of 68,- 
000, or twleve times as many as in 1923. To-day there are 
more students enrolled in the public junior colleges of the 
one state of Illinois (the state in which the first public junior 
college still existing is found—Joliet, under the direction of 
the President of this Department, Mr. Haggard) than there 
were in the entire country ten years ago. Such a growth is 
truly phenomenal. These figures take no account of the even 
larger number of private junior colleges, swelling the total 
enrollment to over 100,000 for the first time last year, and 
leaving only two states, the smallest in the Union—not in 
area but in population—Wyoming and Nevada—without some 
type of junior college within their borders. The junior college 
movement has shown a growth in three decades, most of it 
in the last decade, which compares favorably in many respects 
with three centuries of development in the senior college and 
university world. 


Number of Institutions. 


Is the rapid increase in the number of public junior 
colleges—an average of twelve or fourteen a year (depending 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 149 


upon whether the nineteen normal schools of Koos’ investiga- 
tion are included)—likely to continue? Probably not. Yet 
it shows no signs of cessation even under depression condi- 
tions. It is still full of vigor and vitality. This year’s Junior 
College Directory shows the names of ten new public junior 
colleges in seven different states. If the rate of increase 
should continue at ten or eleven a year, the country would 
have close to three hundred such public institutions by 1943. 
I am rather inclined to doubt whether this will take place, 
although it is not unreasonable when we consider the remark- 
able development of the past decade and the increasing accept- 
ance of the fundamental philosophy that is characteristic of 
the junior-college movement at its best. The justification of 
the junior college is in its larger educational opportunity to 
a greater number of students, in its possibility for better 
instructional methods, and in its wider adaptation to local 
community needs. With the spread of this underlying con- 
ception of usefulness to society, there is sure to be a further 
increase especially in sections of the country where it is not 
as yet fully understood and appreciated. 


Consider for a moment the six states having the largest 
number of public junior colleges to-day. I do not claim, of 
course, that all of the existing institutions are justified. Some 
junior colleges have been organized with more enthusiasm than 
educational judgment. Some four-year colleges now existing 
are not entirely free from the same fault. Following are the 
number of public junior colleges in each of these six states 
and the average population, in round numbers, for each such 


institution in the state: 
Number of Average Pop- 


STATE— Public Junior ulation Per 
Colleges Junior College 


RE coe CN aS one NT ACB 1 20 292,000 
Mississippi 201,000 
188,000 

171,000 

163,000 

92,000 


173,000 





Esto 


aren 











150 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Probably few who are well acquainted with the con- 
ditions in each of these states would claim that it has too 
many junior colleges, unless it be in the case of Iowa. Cer- 
tainly we have plenty of evidence in California that there are 
not too many to satisfy the educational needs of our state. 
Yet the average population per junior college in California 
differs only slightly from the average for the six states. 
These states have a total population which is one-sixth of that 
of the entire country. If the rest of the country were as well 
supplied with such institutions there would be something 
over 700. I feel quite confident that this number will not be 
reached in the next decade, if ever. Population is not the only 
determining factor. Yet it is reasonable to expect that we 
may have a much larger number of public junior colleges in 
the country in 1943 than in 1933. Some of the reasons for 
this expectation will be given in the discussion of the next 


topic. 


Enrollment. 


Much more important than number of junior colleges is 
number of junior college students. It is students, not insti- 
tutions, which are the real reason for the junior college move- 
ment. I have already mentioned that in the last decade 
enrollment in public junior colleges increased twelve-fold 
while the number of such institutions increased four-fold. 
Thus they have been growing much more rapidly in size than 
in number—a healthy sign. There are many indications that 
enrollment will make even greater strides during the next 
decade. What are a few of these indications? 


(1) As this new type of collegiate institution estab- 
lishes itself in public knowledge and confidence, as the high- 
school graduates learn of the varied types of curricula that 
the larger progressive institutions can offer, the enrollment 
is sure to be influenced markedly. The mere extension of 
knowledge concerning junior-college education and its poten- 
tialities, then, is the first factor that I would mention. 


(2) The tremendous increase in popularity of the 
American high-school, unprecedented throughout the world, is 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 151 


the second factor. We are told, for example, that there are 
more students enrolled in the secondary-schools of Los Ange- 
les than in all of Austria; that there are more high-school 
students in Detroit, a city of one million, than in London, 
a city of seven million; that there are more high-school boys 
and girls in New York City than in all the secondary-schools 
of France. All of the young people graduating from these 
high-schools are not going to be content to stop their educa- 
tion at that point. In fact, if our conception of the junior 
college as the completion of secondary or general education 
is a correct one, they ought not to stop there, but to go on 
for at least two years more. 


There are over four million high-school students in 
America to-day, and this is only half the number of high- 
school age. All are possible junior-college material. If all 
went to junior college the attendance at any one time would 
be upward of two million. Of course not all will go, soon or 
ever, either to junior colleges or to senior colleges and univer- 
sities, but may we not expect many more to do so as the junior 
college movement spreads and gains age and prestige? In 
California there are in round numbers 200,000 regular high- 
school students and 20,000 regular junior-college students. 
If the same proportion should hold throughout the country 
in the next decade there would be four or five hundred thou- 
sand students in public junior colleges instead of almost 
seventy thousand as at the present time. When the increase 
in a single decade has been from eight thousand to seventy 
thousand, one hesitates to set limits to the possible enroll- 
ment at the close of another decade. 


(3) The present unemployment situation is sure to affect 
markedly the enrollment in public junior colleges, in fact it has 
already done so. Formerly it was comparatively easy for the 
high-school graduate to stop school and secure a job. Now 
with no jobs in sight, thousands are returning to the high- 
schools, instead, for postgraduate work of various types. The 
United States office of Education reported recently as a result 
of an extensive investigation that in many cities three or four 
























152 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





times as many post-graduates were enrolled in high-schools 
this year as were enrolled a few years ago. The city in which 
we are holding this meeting, Minneapolis, reported 505 such 
graduate students in the high schools. 


A report this month from San Francisco, with no junior 
college, shows 3,400 graduate high-school students. High- 
school registration of former students has increased 800 per 
cent throughout the United States in the last ten years. Such 
a situation is an educational anomaly. The high-schools are 
not organized for post-graduate work. A study of the early 
history of many public junior colleges, for example in Chicago, 
Detroit, Kansas City and Los Angeles, shows that they were 
in large part outgrowths of just such demands for post-gradu- 
ate courses on the part of returning high-school graduates who 
had no place else to go. The present economic conditions are 
accentuating that demand exceedingly, and should stimulate 
the formation of new public junior colleges as well as increase 
attendance in those now existing. 


At New Britain, Connecticut, the Board of Education 
was told recently in a petition signed by 118 high-school 
students that many seniors, due to graduate this month, were 
deliberately flunking their courses to circumvent an order of 
the board banning graduate courses. The order was issued 
as a so-called “economy measure.” The petition said that 
many members of the February graduating class will be 
unable to attend college, and that they should be permitted to 
take a post-graduate course rather than remain idle. 


The Office of Education reports that junior-college enroll- 
ments have increased greatly and that cities in which public 
junior colleges are located have few post-graduates attend- 
ing high-school classes, while cities not provided with junior 
colleges have overflow enrollments of post-graduate high- 
school students attending both day and night classes. 


(4) A fourth factor is economy. The economy to the 
individual student and to his parents of securing two years 
of college education at home instead of at some university 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 153 


at a considerable distance from his home is obvious and needs 
no argument. In the present era of sharply reduced incomes, 
thousands of parents still ambitious for the benefits of college 
education for their sons and daughters are finding that it is 
not a question of choice between a university and a junior 
college, but that economic necessity compels a choice between 
junior college and no college at all. Striking examples of this 
may be found in the personal experiences of a large number 
of students at Crane Junior College, Chicago, which are 
reported in the current issue (March, 1933) of the Junior 


College Journal. 


(5) Ifthe curriculum is properly broadened and adapted 
to a variety of needs of a variety of students, as suggested in 
a later section, it will serve still further to increase the enroll- 
ments on the part of thousands of young men and young 
women who, due to no fault of their own but due to changed 
and changing economic conditions, are sure not to secure 
remunerative employment at the close of high-school as easily 
as before, if at all. 


Many aspects of the present economic situation, we trust, 
are but temporary. Whether or not, however, we agree with 
all that our technocratic experts are telling us, there seems 
little doubt that with increasing complexity of modern social 
and industrial life, the average age for entering employment 
is likely to be considerably higher than formerly. Young 
men and young women are not going to remain at home in 
contented but dangerous idleness. Either we must provide 
additional education for them as they remain at home, not 
only to keep them busy but also better to fit them for their 
places in our increasingly complex social and economic life, or 
else we face the unpleasant alternative of having them, with 
the restlessness of unemployed youth, join the already far too 
extensive number of young men and unfortunately young 
women—no, of mere boys and girls still in their teens—who 
are wandering over the country, stealing rides in box cars or 
hitch hiking aimlessly from one city to the next. At first, 
perhaps, they are honestly seeking work, but after repeated 











154 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


failure to find it, what more natural than that this ragged, 
hungry army of youth should lapse into a vagrant class, chum 
with degenerate associates, prey upon society, and become 
potential criminals? 


Various estimates have been made of the number of boys 
and girls of high-school age and a little older who are thus 
roaming over the country. They range in number from 
200,000 to 1,000,000 or larger. Between September 1, 1931, 
and April 30, 1932, the Southern Pacific Railroad alone ejected 
no less than 416,915 trespassers, many of them under twenty- 
one years of age. Thousands of others were allowed to ride 
unmolested. The conditions are worse now. The chief of the 
division of mental hygiene of the California State Department 
of Education stated only ten days ago that there were in Cali- 
fornia alone 200,000 or more “wandering boys” under eighteen 
years of age. Over eleven thousand came into California dur- 
ing the month of January alone on Southern Pacific trains. 
Surely this nomad army of wandering youth, half starved, 
often ill, rapidly acquiring distorted outlooks on life as they 
are passed on from one city to another until in California at 
least they can go no farther West, presents one of the most 
tragically shocking and distressing problems of the whole de- 
pression. To my way of thinking the public junior college, 
widely diffused and fully adapted to a variety of needs and 
abilities, encouraging young people to stay at home instead 
of taking to the road and the hobo jungle, offers one very 
powerful and hopeful remedy for this unhealthy condition 
which is threatening so seriously the social, economic and 
political health and welfare of the nation. 


What has been the actual effect of these five factors which 
I have thus outlined? President Raymond Walters’ careful 
analyses of enrollments in American colleges and universities, 
published annually in School and Society, show that the rapid 
increases so characteristic a few years ago has virtually 
ceased during the past two or three years. In fact, this year 
he reports a loss of 414 per cent. On the other hand, we find 
little slowing up in the rate of increase in public junior col- 





- 2 Oe Osan ook Sel LA 

















155 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


leges. In the 164 public junior colleges for which data were 
available for both 1930-31 and 1931-32 the enrollment in- 
creased 12 per cent. The greatest gains were registered in 
California, Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota and Okla- 
homa. Unfortunately comparable data are not available on a 
national basis for the current year as compared with 1931-32. 
In California, however such data have been furnished by the 
State Department of Education. In our state the total enroll- 
ment in all public junior colleges last October showed an in- 
crease of 16 per cent over that of the previous October. The 
more significant fact, the number of regular students—full- 
time freshmen and sophomores—showed an increase of 4,500, 
or 24 per cent. In Los Angeles in February of this year, 1,800 
new students entered the local junior college. Reports recently 
collected by Dr. D. S. Campbell, secretary of the American 
Association of Junior Colleges, from 130 public junior col- 
leges show an average increase in enrollment this year of 26 
per cent in three-quarters of these institutions, the others 
showing a decrease of only 11 per cent. There is yet no 
depression or stagnation in enrollment in public junior col- 
leges. When we consider the varying forces that have caused 
and are continuing to cause this growth, there is little reason 
to anticipate any marked slowing down in the next few 


years. 


Size. 


Size of institution, of course, is a corollary of the number 
of junior colleges and the enrollment in them—the two factors 
which have just been discussed. It may therefore be con- 
sidered very briefly. The junior college in the past and far 
too often in the present has been and is a small institution— 
much too small for efficiency. Koos found but a single one 
(if normal schools be omitted) with an enrollment in excess 
of 1,000, and only two more that had over 300 students. The 
average enrollment was 143, the median only 60. To-day 
the situation is strikingly different. There are thirteen which 
report enrollments in excess of 1,000 and forty-three others 








TR A 


Ce eed 





156 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


with more than 300 students each. Last year the average 
enrollment in all public junior colleges was 360. 


There are still many institutions that are distinctly too 
small for efficiency although perhaps filling an important if 
narrow field, but the improvement in a single decade has been 
very marked indeed. I do not profess to know how many 
students are required to make an efficient college, and I am 
not sure that it can be stated numerically independent of 
other factors, but I am coming in my own thinking to feel 
that a minimum enrollment of close to 300 students is probably 
needed. If a large proportion of the junior colleges which are 
now below that suggested figure can reach it during the next 
decade, a great advance in educational efficiency is sure to 
follow. There is a greater need for better junior colleges 
than for more junior colleges. There is certainly every indi- 
cation that enrollment is going to continue to increase more 
rapidly than number of institutions and that the size of the 
existing junior colleges will increase correspondingly. 


Type. 


The question of type of junior college organization has 
been widely discussed in educational literature, especially the 
desirability of the four-year type of institution which would 
combine the last two years of the high school with the first 
two years of the traditional college course. The relative merits 
of the six-four-four plan and of the six-three-three-two plan 
were discussed quite fully by President George F. Zook and 
the speaker before this same department at its Washington 
meeting last year, and there is no need to go into the matter 
exensively at the present time.* 


It may be interesting, however, to summarize the actual 
form of organization of the 183 public junior colleges which 
reported on this matter last November. At that time 164 
institutions reported that they were organized on the two- 
year basis, eight on the four-year basis, eight on the six- 


*Bulletin of the Department of Secondavy-School Principals, March, 
1932. No. 40, pp. 231-258. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 157 


year basis, while one was experimenting with a three-year 
arrangement, and two were one-year institutions only. Of 
the eight experimenting with the four-year type of organiza- 
tion, three were in California, two in Mississippi, two in Texas 
and one in Missouri. 


It is too early to evaluate some of these very interesting 
experiments which have been in progress a relatively short 
time. Some have been abandoned already, others have been 
modified markedly since their inception. The two-year junior 
college, as a transitional type of institution, somewhat higher 
than the necessary restrictions of the high school, distinctly 
lower than the scholarly specialization and greater independ- 
ence of the university, will undoubtedly, it seems to me, be 
the prevailing type of junior college during the next decade. 
I see no reason to modify the statement regarding this matter 
which I made three years ago:* 


“There is room for a variety of types of public institu- 
tions. There should be freedom to experiment with two-, 
three- or four-year junior colleges, under a variety of cir- 
cumstances and conditions. Junior colleges should not 
all be poured into the same mould. It would be un- 
fortunate now, if ever, to restrict them too rigidly by 
legislation. It is desirable, however, that legislation 
should be so framed as to prevent the organization of too 
many weak, struggling, inefficient units, with insuf- 
ficient attendance and inadequate support.” 


There is a considerable feeling in some quarters that the 
entire period of general education prior to university speciali- 
zation should be shortened by two years and some experi- 
ments, of which that at Kansas City is best known, are being 
carried on in this direction. On the other hand there is an 
equally strong or stronger feeling on the part of others that 
the increasing complexity of modern civilization, the changing 
economic conditions, and the scarcity of remunerative em- 
ployment justify a longer period of formal education. In my 





*Walter C. Eells, The Junior College, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 
1931. P. 796. 































men ~ gaging ng 















DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





158 


judgment the latter is much more likely to be the develop- 
ment of the next decade than the former. 


The Curriculum. 


Very significant changes may and should occur in the 
curriculum of the public junior college in the next decade. 
The curriculum of the junior college in the past has been 
narrow and restricted—far too much so—due to the newness 
of the institution, the small size of the student body, and the 
dominance of the state university. In many institutions only 
a university preparatory curriculum has been offered. With 
increased attendance, permanence and independence this is 
already being remedied in many colleges and is destined to be 
in many others. 


Secretary Ray Lyman Wilbur says: 

“T am satisfied that the junior college is a large part of 
the answer to the question as to what shall be done with 
our youth as we feel the need for more understanding 
and more training for a necessarily more complicated 
life.” 


A more complicated life requires a more complicated 
curriculum. With the popularization of the idea that the 
junior college is the completion unit of general education prior 
to university specialization, and that it is the college for all 
the people instead of for those only with university aspira- 
tions, is coming a corresponding broadening of the curriculum 
to include a wide variety of terminal courses of various types, 
some semi-professional in nature, some more purely cultural 
and civic. 


The Carnegie Foundation Commission, in its recent re- 
port on the Higher Educational System of California, recom- 
mends a “Curriculum for Social Intelligence” which is “de- 
vised to give the student about to complete his general educa- 
tion a unitary conception of our developing civilization. It 
should be the most important curriculum, inasmuch as it aims 
to train for social citizenship in American civilizaton.” The 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 159 


Commission feels that this type of curriculum should appeal 
to 85 per cent of the student body. 


The interesting experiment inaugurated on the campus of 
the University of Minnesota this year in their new junior 
college with a general curriculum which cuts across many of 
the traditional departmental boundaries is in my judgment an 
effort to achieve very much the same thing that the Carnegie 
Report has so happily christened “social intelligence.” The 
very significant but sometimes misunderstood work being 
done in semi-professional courses at Los Angeles Junior Col- 
lege also deserves special mention. These are not, as some- 
times supposed, courses training for a specific job, but are 
units in a unique experiment which Dr. Snyder at that insti- 
tution is trying to work out of developing simultaneously 
what he designates as “vision” and “skill”—another phrasing 
of the same underlying idea of social intelligence. 


With the increased attendance at junior colleges on the 
part of a wide variety of students, many of whom should 


doubtless never look forward to upper division university spe- 
cialization and professional work, it seems to me that we are 
likely to have very significant diversification and adaptation 
of the curriculum during the next decade. I€ is likely to 
become, in truth, the people’s college with all that is implied 
in the best sense of that sometimes misunderstood and misused 


phrase. 


The junior college of the future will also most certainly 
place greater emphasis upon adult education, both cultural 
and technical in nature. In many cases the adult educational 
needs of a community can be met much better by a local junior 
college faculty and equipment than when it is forced to de- 
pend upon absentee, long-distance, university-extension serv- 
ice. From ten to fifty local cultural centers in a state are far 
better than a single centralized one. The decentralization 
and diffusion of cultural education through a widely diversi- 
fied curriculum is likely to be one of the outstanding develop- 
ments in the junior college field in the next decade. 














DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Legal Status. 


A decade ago legislation authorizing junior colleges was 
found in only ten states. To-day in at least twenty-two states 
they have been recognized by law. In fourteen of these such 
legislation may be classified as general, in the sense that it 
defines conditions under which junior colleges may be organ- 
ized in the form of enabli: 7 laws. In the others it has been 
limited to specific bills establishing particular junior colleges, 
usually of the state type. What may we expect of the future? 
Economic conditions may cause a temporary lull in new legis- 
lation, yet at the same time as already shown these very same 
economic conditions are powerful factors making for the fur- 
ther development of the junior college movement. There are 
eight or ten more states in which there is no junior college 
legislation as yet, but in which it has been introduced quite 
recently. It seems that there is little or no doubt that similar 
legislation will be introduced again and that it is only a ques- 
tion of a few years, perhaps within the decade, when legisla- 
tion specifically legalizing junior colleges will be found in all 
of the thirty-one states in which they are now found, and 
that such authorization will extend to other states as well. 
These laws will probably be more definite and specific than 
many of those now found. In many states the existing laws, 
often vague and unsatisfactory, will doubtless be modified to 
define more specifically the conditions under which junior col- 
leges may be organized and the methods by which they may 
be financed and administered. 


Support. 


I have left for final consideration what seems to me the 
most important development that is desirable in the public 
junior college field during the next decade. I refer to the mat- 
ter of finance. The subject of my paper, as suggested to me 
by Mr. Haggard, was “The Tax-Supported Junior College Dur- 
ing the Next Decade.” So far, I have tacitly assumed that 
tax-supported was synonomous with public, and have been 
discussing the public junior college, regardless of method of 


support. 









PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 161 


As a matter of fact, however, these two words unfor- 
tunately are far from synonomous in many cases. Many so- 
called public junior colleges charge tuition to the students who 
attend them—in some cases quite a substantial amount. This 
is quite inconsistent with the theory of free public educa- 
tion through the secondary or general period prior to speciali- 
zation. In Texas it has been shown that 77 per cent of the 
costs of operation of all the municipal junior colleges in the 
State is met by student tuition. In several states all of the 
instructional costs are covered by student tuition. In 226 pub- 
lic universities and colleges in the United States, however, the 
students pay in tuition and fees only 15 per cent of the total 
cost of their education. In the 850 private colleges and uni- 
versities of the country the students pay 48 per cent of the 
cost—less than half. In many of the so-called public junior 
colleges, on the other hand, to cite Washington and Iowa as 
examples as well as Texas and others that might be named, 
the students are paying from sixty to eighty per cent of the 
total cost of their education—more than even in the private 
colleges and universities of the country. Have we any real 
right to speak of these as tax-supported junior colleges? That 
the junior college has grown at all in these states, in spite of 
such handicaps, is most striking testimony to the essential 
virility and soundness of the junior-college principle. 


What is the actual situation to-day? Of the six states 
already mentioned as having shown the greatest growth dur- 
ing the past year, Minnesota is the only one in which substan- 
tial tuition was charged to a majority of the students. If we 
take the group of seven states (Arizona, California, Idaho, 
Illinois, Kansas, Mississippi and North Carolina) in which 
all or a majority of the junior-college students are attending 
tuition-free institutions, we find that they include almost two- 
thirds (64%) of the junior-college enrollment of the country. 
In these seven states the increase of students last year 
amounted to almost six thousand. In the other twenty-two 
where public institutions exist but largely on a tuition basis, 
it was only two thousand. In five of these states there was 


a loss. 














DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The contrast is well illustrated in the case of the two 
states with the largest junior-college enrollments—Texas and 
California. Last year the thirty-five public junior colleges in 
California, charging no tuition, showed a gain of 3,341 stu- 
dents, or 12 per cent. The twenty in Texas, however, where 
over three-quarters of the support comes directly from stu- 
dent tuition, not only showed no gain but an actual loss of 
one per cent. As already mentioned the increase in regular 
students in California this present year has been much greater 


—724 per cent. 


Or consider the neighboring states of Kansas and Iowa. 
In Iowa, where the typical charge for tuition is about $100 per 
student, the twenty-seven public institutions have an average 
enrollment of only 71 students and increased all over the state 
only 134 or 7 per cent last year; in Kansas, with a smaller 
total population, where no tuition is charged, the average size 
of the institution is over four times as great as in Iowa (321) 
and there was an increase in enrollment last year of 1,128 
students, or 54 per cent. 


In a study which I made three years ago, I found that the 
enroliment in the colleges which charged tuition, over half of 
the entire group, was slightly over one-quarter of the total 
enrollment. The average enrollment in the tuition-charging 
colleges was 122; in those not charging tuition it was 358, 


almost three times as great. 


Can society afford junior colleges? Are they not among 
the fads and frills which the present depression will force out 
of the picture? Or are they an integral and essential part 
of the educational system and destined to endure? We are 
being told by some educational leaders that we cannot afford 
to give free public education beyond the high-school—some 
say beyond the tenth grade. It is difficult to accept such 
judgments when we realize that our whole extensive system 
of public education, from the kindergarten through to junior 
college and the university is costing an average of only ten 
cents per day for each person of voting age in the United 
States. Even if there were little or no educational value to 













PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 163 


the junior college, society could well afford to pay for all 
they cost under present conditions merely as custodial institu- 
tions to help in keeping young people from hitch hiking over 
the country. Junior colleges are cheaper than reform schools 
and penitentiaries. 


The tax burden is undoubtedly too heavy on certain forms 
of wealth. The farmer and home owner are paying too large 
a share of the taxes. In California approximately 28 per 
cent of the wealth of the state has been furnishing over 84 
per cent of the revenue for the public school stystem of the 
state. Tax adjustment is a crying need. The answer to such 
a gospel of educational degeneracy as is implied in stopping 
free public education at the junior high-school level was best 
given last November by the people of Kansas, an essentially 
agricultural state, where the public junior colleges are all 
true tax-supported institutions and no tuition is charged. 
The Tax Limitation Amendment to the Constitution which was 
up for consideration was decisively defeated. This amend- 
ment, fostered by politicians who sought to curtail school 
support, would have limited taxes to such an extent that scores 
of high-schools and elementary schools would have suffered 
and the public junior colleges would probably all have been 
obliged to discontinue. 

In terms of finance, then, we need a readjustment of 
the tax burden, we need removal of all tuition charges, we 
need recognition that the state as a whole as well as the local 
community must share in the support of public junior colleges 
which are of benefit to the entire state as well as to the local 
community. Lack of time forbids me to go more fully into 
this matter, nor is it necessary, for two years ago before this 
same Department in its meeting at Detroit I presented a 
paper, “The Public Junior College as an Agency of Democ- 
racy—the Financial Aspect.” I have seen no reason to change 
my convictions or modify the arguments which I made at that 
time. I shall here only repeat the three concluding sentences 


from that paper :* 


*Bulletin of the Depurtment of Secondary-School Principals, March, 
1931, No. 35. Pp. 134-150. 








164 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


“Little, if any, tuition should be charged in public junior 
colleges; certainly not any greater in amount than that 
charged to freshmen and sophomores in state colleges 
and universities. The state, from state funds, should 
provide at least fifty per cent of the total costs of junior 
college education. When these two principles have been 
accepted in fact as well as in theory we shall have gone 
far toward making the junior college not only educa- 
tionally and socially democratic, but financially demo- 


cratic as well.” 


I am not optimistic enough to believe that these financial 
adjustments are likely to be made in all our states during the 
next decade, but the chances are good that they may be made 
in some of them. The courageous action of the tax-distressed 
Kansas farmers in refusing to abolish their truly tax-sup- 
ported junior colleges is significant. I want to express here 
not a prophecy but a conviction that in this direction lies the 
greatest need for junior-college advance in the next decade. 
Given true tax-supported institutions, with the state con- 
tributing its share, desirable developments in number, in 
size, in enrollment, and in curriculum will follow inevitably. 


Conclusion. 


The junior college of the next decade must be a bigger 
institution than the junior college of the present, but it must 
not be too big. On the other hand, it can and must be a 
truly great institution in the true sense of the word. It will 
be truly great, great in its unique educational contribution, 
if it recognizes fully the limitations and boundaries of its own 
fields, deliberately delimits its functions, and represses any 
ambitious university aspirations; if it finds supreme satisfac- 
tion and contentment in doing thoroughly the work of the 
freshman and sophomore years better than they have ever 
been done before; if it places prime emphasis upon superior 
instruction at the college level: if it has the courage to ex- 
periment with the expansion of the lower division years lat- 
erally to include new fields and unexplored opportunties at 





Nidtocceyaeceapeeae 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 165 


the same level, but does no try to usurp the field of the uni- 
versity above or of the high-school below. Herein lies the 
opportunity of the junior college in the next decade to be 
a really great institution, regardless of enrollment, and to 
make a really distinctive contribution to the democratization 
of collegiate education in America. 


G. H. Vande Bogart, President of Northern Montana 
School at Havre, Montana, read his paper, Public Relations 
of the Junior College. 


PUBLIC RELATIONS OF THE JUNIOR COLLEGE 


G. C. VANDE BOGART, 
President, Northern Montana College, 
Havre, Montana. 


Conditions prevalent in America at the present time pro- 
vide a challenging situation for the entire educational sys- 
tem. Any institution for public service, whether maintained 
by private benefaction or by revenues from taxation, must 
justify as never before the extent and quality of its service. 
Never in public institutions of any kind has there been so 
great a need of discriminating economies administered under 
expert technical direction rather than forced upon us by pub- 
lic hysteria or political expediency. The inability to protect 
our schools and colleges from unwise economy and excessive 
curtailment is due, in a majority of instances, to our own 
failure to inform the public clearly and honestly of the 
achievements, the purposes, and the basic, imperative needs of 
our institutions. At a time when public and private educational 
institutions are more than usually dependent upon public un- 
derstanding, it is no small part of the administrator’s re- 
sponsibility to place his institution effectively and favorably 
before his community. Adverse criticism of education is almost 
invariably the result of insufficient information. 


In the field of public school administration, which is of 
interest to a large number in this audience, a study is in 

















166 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


progress to determine the principal criticism or points of at- 
tack at the present time. Suggestions are also being compiled 
to show how these criticisms may best be answered. Although 
only partial returns are available, certain noteworthy facts 
appear in this study. Criticisms of the public schools show 
a considerable range but center chiefly about costs, particu- 
larly increases in costs, the content of the courses of study 
with the constantly recurring expression “fads and frills,” 
lack of sound business management, inefficient teaching, and 
failure of the schools to prepare the student for practical 
occupations. These are the major criticisms. The survey, 
reporting the collective thinking of a number of able school 
administrators, presents many effective and logical answers 
to each of these points. A complete report of this study will be 
available at a later time. 

The fact that criticism centers so definitely around cer- 
tain points of school procedure, indicates an unusual oppor- 
tunity for effective public relations work and it shows clearly 
the urgent need for greater attention to this phase of school 
administration. The superintendent of one of our larger city 
systems states the situation clearly: “The chief difficulty in 
the whole matter is that the people generally are either un- 
informed or misinformed in school matters.” Another super- 
intendent reports to his community through a “Personal Col- 
umn” once each week those matters which he regards as in- 
teresting and valuable to the public. He treats one topic at 
each time and endeavors to make his presentation complete, 
frank, and so prepared that it will be interesting to the reader. 
Another superintendent in one of our large cities states that 
in his community two public meetings are held each week at 
which school patrons meet to discuss legislation for the wel- 
fare of the schools. Their state legislature in session at the 
present time is considering economy measures of various kinds. 
In other cities the cooperation of the press has been enlisted 
effectively, special reports and bulletins have been issued, 
and addresses have been made before community organizations 
in order that the facts may be made known to the pubiic, fully 
and frankly. The systematic analysis of local criticisms indi- 
cated by many of the superintendents who have cooperated 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 167 


in this study, and their carefully planned informational serv- 
ice to the public, are hopeful signs looking toward the future 
welfare of the schools. Many of the junior colleges represented 
here to-day are sharing in this phase of the public relations 
problem because of their relationship to their local city schools. 


The junior college, new as it is, has proved during the past 
three decades of its existence the fact that it is doing, and is 
prepared to do with still greater effectiveness, a most essen- 
tial work in American education. Vitally important as is the 
junior college, it is most essential that the public know of its 
distinctive place in education, of the service that it is giving, 
and that it bids fair to extend in greater measure as it as- 
sumes a larger range of functions and as its potentialities be- 
come realizations. It is obvious that no institution may prog- 
ress far beyond the understanding of the community which it 
serves. It is equally obvious that the able and far-sighted ad- 
ministrator will recognize the problem of public relations as 
one of the major divisions of his work. 


The subject of public relations of the junior college will 
be presented by ‘considering three practical questions, each of 
which occurs to us immediately when we consider this phase 
of administrative responsibilities. These questions may be 
stated as follows: 


1. What materials are to be supplied in the field of 
educational information? 
Through what media may the various organiza- 
tions, groups, and individuals of the community 
be reached? 
What further developments may be effectively at- 
tained in the public relations of our junior col- 
leges? 


Much research of value has been completed in the field of 
public school publicity. Attention has been given for many 
years, also, to the scientific study of public relations of higher 
institutions. In the case of the junior college, much of our 
earlier study of publicity must be re-evaluated in terms of ad- 








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168 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


justment of these important institutions to the economic con- 
ditions of the present day as they are reflected in our schools. 
The very newness of the junior college has given it flexibility 
of program and of policies, and has made it especially alert to 
opportunities for service to its community and for adjustment 
and reorganization as these have become necessary at the 
present time. A new fund of information must be collected, 
organized, and placed consistently, continuously, and complete- 
ly, before the public. It is to this end that we are devoting 
our discussion at the present time. 


The Materials of Public Reiations—The materials 
of public relations will vary widely with the specific type 
of institution and with the community which it is to serve. 
There are, however, certain fundamental principles applicable 
to all junior colleges, and to a large measure effective in our 
high schools, to which we shall limit this phase of our discus- 
sion. The first essentials of publicity materials are accuracy, 
honesty, and completeness. These will build and retain public 
confidence. Educational information must have, of course, an 
appeal for the group and for the individual—that quality 
designated by our friends of the press as “reader interest.” 

The adaptation of publicity materials to the individual 
or group constitutes one of the best tests of effectiveness in 
the publicity program. Obviously the service clubs will be 
interested in an interpretation of the local junior college that 
indicates to them what the institution is doing for the com- 
munity in terms of human values, the improvement of local 
education, the possibilities of service through the various 
facilities available not only for the students but possibly, to 
some extent, for adult education. The Woman’s Club would 
like to hear of the opportunities for individual students and 
the significance of the junior college to the culture of the 
community. The Chamber of Commerce may, among other 
things, wish to hear of the financial saving to local citizens 
and of the income to the community, its growth, and of the 
efficiency of its organization. The Parent-Teachers’ Associa- 
tion will be glad to know more of the opportunities that await 
the high-school student when he is prepared for college, as 










































ERE a 95 EE SE NET A) «oo ON aRRERGS 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 169 


well as of the benefits to the local public schools due to the 
coéperation of the junior college. These types of publicity 
are pointed out as representative and not as all-inclusive or 
mutually exclusive for the respective groups. 


In selecting materials for the public relations program, 
a preliminary survey of publicity values may be effectively 
employed. Permit me to illustrate. In Northern Montana 
College a survey was made in 1929, and again in 1932, of the 
entire freshman class to determine what factors were of 
greatest importance in bringing them to the institution. The 
principal results ascertained were as follows: 


In 1929 the following percentages of freshmen stressed 
those indicated below as the principal reasons (of a sug- 
gested list of ten) which influenced their choice of a college: 


84% Nearer Home 

76% Better opportunity for individual instruction 
68% Lower cost 

42% Preference of parents 

31% Advice of friends 


A similar survey in 1932 showed the following results: 
93% Lower cost 

56% Better opportunity for individual instruction 
43% Nearer home 

38% Preference of parents 

25% Advice of friends. 


Evidently these factors were most important in building 
a desirable quantity and quality of enrollment. Accordingly, 
the later publicity material was developed largely around these 
points. In order to ascertain the reactions of business and 
professional men, an open forum was arranged by a service 
club in which discussion was directed to the favorable presen- 
tation of the college to parents and public. An all-college con- 
vocation, under the direction of the student cabinet, provided 
a discussion in which students pointed out advantages from 
their own point of view with valuable suggestions for present- 
ing these facts to parents, high-school graduates, and the gen- 











170 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


eral public. They were, in order of their importance, as fol- 
lows: Individual conferences with instructors in all subjects, 
convenience to their homes, low costs, full accrediting of all 
departments, equipment in laboratories, and library. 


Discussions with parents and high-school principals in 
many parts of the large territory served by the college brought 
to light the fact that parents inquired chiefly about: Curric- 
ula offered, costs, living arrangements. They were interested, 
too, in achievements of certain members of the faculty, and 
in the recent growth of the institution. High-school admin- 
istrators were particularly interested in the generalized cur- 
riculum, faculty qualifications, and teaching procedures, and 
in the progress of students from their own nearby high- 
schools. A survey of alumni and former students would doubt- 
less be valuable in this connection. A clipping file maintained 
by the college library reflected the interests of the various 
communities in the territory and included also publicity is- 
sued to the press by various other colleges. 


These are representative procedures that may be em- 
ployed in any junior college which is interested in increasing 
the effectiveness of its public relations program. For your 
convenience I have included in the display available at this 
time, a number of representative types of publicity materials. 


Effective public relations planning demands that the or- 
ganization be continuous and that it be carefully planned in 
advance with reference to certain objectives. The reasons for 
continuous publicity are too apparent to require discussion. 
Suffice it to say that the public is always interested in educa- 
tion news that carries an appeal, that strikes a note of com- 
mon interest, and that is information rather than propaganda. 
Any institution which is so frequently under public observa- 
tion will build about itself a community opinion, favorable or 
otherwise, determined by the information upon which that 
opinion is based. Factual material presented in advance will 
prevent many an unpleasant situation for the school admin- 
istrator. Furthermore, if the administrator can predict pos- 
sible points of criticism and release carefully planned infor- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 171 


mation in advance, he will have the advantage of giving out 
this information as a service to the public rather than as a 
defensive measure after the attack has been made. The con- 
trast between these situations requires no comment. Into the 
program of publicity will be woven timely information 
through the various media, which will be discussed presently, 
and it will, of course, be adapted to the type of presentation 
used. 


Media of Public Relations.—Closely related to the wise 
selection of material is the equally important problem of the 
channels through which educational information is to be made 
available for the public. While these vary greatly in different 
communities the brief list which follows will cover the ma- 
jority of possibilities: News stories in the daily or weekly 
press, student publications, alumni publications, catalogs, ad- 
ministrative or departmental reports, bulletins issued regu- 
larly or upon special occasions, field representatives, public 
addresses, radio programs, pamphlets, form letters, etc., for 
mailing. 

Here again we must emphasize the adapting of materials 
to these media, not only with reference to timeliness, but with 
reference to the needs and purposes of the individual junior 
college. By way of illustration, we may cite the news story as 
typical. Many a publicity director has mistakenly boasted of 
the column inches of news that he has had printed. This is no 
guarantee of effectiveness. Many a long suffering editor 
woud have preferred that this information be condensed into 
items of sixty to one hundred words, which is a desirable 
amount for general press releases, or that items be furnished 
with greater selective attention to timeliness and reader inter- 
est. Many a radio dial has been turned to cut off the speaker 
who permits himself to become wearisome from excessive de- 
tail or because of too fervent pleas for support of his institu- 
tion. The same radio audience would gladly tune in for ma- 
terial furnished by the college that is informative, of prac- 
tical interest, and is cleverly and clearly presented. A public 
address specifically planned for a certain audience and perhaps 
supplemented by material that may be placed in the hands of 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


172 
the individuals for their reminder or for further information 
will cause them to look forward to hearing the speaker again. 
In every one of these cases the junior college will gain not only 
by the picture of the institution as presented, but in that all- 


important factor of good will. 


Organization.—For the junior college which is about to 
develop an integrated plan for public relations, five types of 
organization are available. First, all publicity material may 
be prepared and released under the direction of the admin- 
istrative offices. Second, a member of the faculty, possibly 
with a title such as “director of public relations”, may take 
charge of this work. Third, a faculty committee, or a de- 
partmental staff may take charge of this program. Fourth, a 
committee composed jointly of faculty and students may func- 
tion effectively. Fifth, the public information program may 
be executed wholly or in part by other agencies not included 
in the above. In any event, it is necessary that a long period 
plan, flexible enough to be adjusted to unexpected situations, 
be formulated. The fundamental purposes should be kept con- 
stantly in mind, and the plan organized in terms of specific 
interests in the institution and about definite objectives, 
whether these be increased facilities in buildings, equipment, 
or staff, maintaining of the established program, protecting 
the salary schedule, or improving the enrollment in standards 
of quality or in numbers. The general publicity program must 
be directed sharply and definitely along the lines of the recog- 


nized needs of the institution. 

It is obvious that the individual or individuals to whom 
the responsibility of the public relations program may be dele- 
gated must be in the full confidence of the administrative of- 
fice, and must be fully informed concerning the plans and pro- 
posed policies in order that the content and the organization 
of the publicity material may be effective. No phase of public 
education is so fraught with possibilities for benefit or for 
injury as is the relationship of the institution to the public. 


Possibilities of Public Relations.—This final section of the 
discussion may be best presented in terms of correcting cer- 






































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 173 


tain practices and of developing certain new resources. Too 
frequently publicity material is haphazard and is prepared 
without reference to preceding materials or without considera- 
tion of possible future developments. Occasionally the insti- 
tution contradicts previous news releases because of the lack 
of an organized program. It must be remembered that many 
individuals and organizations in the community are not con- 
versant with junior college matters until their interest is 
stimulated through carefully prepared information or until 
a situation arises which brings the institution to their atten- 
tion. 

If the general public misunderstands the purposes and 
program of the junior college we must assume most of the re- 
sponsibility. We have detoured their interest from the broad 
highway of academe achievement and preparation for life’s 
activities into the byways of college life incidentals. When 
we realize that the public is as interested in students as in sta- 
diums, when we publish pictures of interested, busy people at 
work in the library or the laboratories, according them at 
least as much news emphasis as is given to the photograph of 
the winner in a beauty contest, or when stunt publicity is re- 
placed by accounts of outstanding professional contributions 
of the faculty or superior student achievements, then may we 
expect to find more willing support and more sympathetic co- 
operation on the part of the public. Fortunately for us, the 
public desires more of the type of information which our best 
interests would direct us to furnish. Steward’ has empha- 
sized the necessity for more adequate educational informa- 
tion. “The general public actually gets little information on 
educational subjects, I mean on the true inwardness of edu- 
cation, its purposes, what it is all about, what is being done 
about it all, and why and by whom,—and I wish to go on rec- 
ord as saying that it is only by treating seriously some of the 
important things in higher education that we are ever going 
to convince a large public of its merit.” 

Our junior colleges have told the public rather completely 
of their extra-curriculum activities. These are essential to a 





1Steward, T. E., “A Glance at Direct Publicity,” Proc. Amer. Ass’n 
of College News Bureaus, June 1927, p. 10. 











174 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


well-balanced institutional program and they make news. The 
junior colleges will benefit tremendously, however, by increas- 
ing the emphasis upon the true value of education. The pub- 
lic desires more of this type of information. A survey of pub- 
lic school publicity by Farley? indicates that patrons of the 
schools are interested, first of all, in such items as student 
progress and achievement, methods of instruction, courses of 
study, and value of education, and that of the entire thirteen 
items listed, extra-curriculum activities rank thirteenth. I 
trust that we may not interpret this to mean a lessening of our 
publicity upon these excellent activities, but rather a very 
substantial increase in such items as those indicated. 


Among the effective public information agencies should 
be mentioned news stories that are prepared in cooperation 
with the press. A catalog* that is definiite and honest in its 
statements, attractively printed, and without that excessive 
embellishment which sometimes marks the mediocre institu- 
tion, could well be used more extensively as public relations 
material. The catalog may be supplemented by separate 
illustrated booklets with descriptive materials that give an 
interesting and truthful picture of the junior college. 


Faculty members available for service as speakers, stu- 
dent groups representing such organizatons as the glee club, 
orchestra, dramatic club, and others, will contribute to com- 
munity service and to better appreciation of the local junior 
college. These are some of the immediate possibilities. They 
offer opportunity in every locality for important educational 
information, in many cases so complete and valuable as to 
form a phase of adult education. They will tell the public 
more thoroughly than could be done in any other way that the 
local junior college is efficient and economical, is honest in 
its accounting to those who maintain it, and is directed and 
administered by a highly professional group possessing the 
technical skill requisite for the service which the public has 





2Farley, B. M., “What to Tell the People About Their Schools,” p. 38. 

3See Eells, W. C., “The Junior College”, pp. 584-595, discussion of 
characteristics of a good catalog, also a score card for junior college 
catalogs. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 175 


a right to expect. Well prepared publicity is an asset not only 
to the local institution but to the junior college movement as 
a whole. 


JUNIOR HIGH-SCHOOL PRINCIPAL’S 
LUNCHEON SESSION 


Tuesday, February 28. 


At 12:30 P. M. 248 were present at the Junior High- 
School Principals’ luncheon in the Main Dining Room of the 
Leamington Hotel. 


Dr. Edwin C. Broome, Superintendent of Schools of Phila- 
delphia was the guest speaker. 


Summary of an address before the Junior High-School 
Luncheon group, Tuesday, February 28. by Supt. E. C. Broome 
of the Philadelphia Public Schools. Topic: “Is the Junior High 
School Making Good ?’’. 


Superintendent Broome treated his subject under three 
sub-topics: 


1. What is a Junior High School? 
2. Where are Junior High Schools? 
3. What do you mean by making good? 


He defined the Junior High School as an organization of 
pre-adolescent boys and girls, between the ages of 12 and 15, 
gathered together for educational purposes. There are so many 
different combinations of grades in different places that it is 
impossible to state that the Junior High School includes cer- 
tain grades or years, but regardless of the grades included and 
regardless of whether it is housed in a separate building’ or 
not, it can be called a junior high school if it has done certain 
things calculated to better adapt educational material and 
methods to that group of children. 


The most common type of junior high school organization 
now includes grades 7, 8 and 9. If the enrollment is large 








iH) 








176 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


enough, it should be housed under a separate roof. If it has 
only four or five hundred and there is a senior high school 
no larger, economy would demand that they be housed under 
the same roof if possible. There are many advantages, however, 
in separate buildings for junior and senior schools. 


In making guod, the junior high schools of Philadelphia 
have accomplisned the following things: 


1. 


They have succeeded in developing a schoo! person- 
ality and school loyalty without taking on the trap- 
pings of the senior high-schools, such as varsity 
teams, societies, slavery to marking systems and col- 
lege entrance requirements. 


They have adapted their programs to the impression- 
able, pre-adolescent age. 

They have greatly decreased the educational mor- 
tality in Philadelphia. 

They have enriched and increased the capacity of the 
children for social adaptation by developing initiative 
through the working out of clubs end other student 
activities. 

They have brought about a wiser selection of subjects 
in the senior high schools. 


They have brought the senior high schools back into 
the school system by bridging the gap that formerly 
existed between the high schools and the elementary 
schools. Curriculum committees, consisting of teach- 
ers from the elementary junior and senior high 
schools, frequently have junior high schools teachers 
as chairmen. 


The total resu!t is a feeling’ of unity throughout the 
school system. Furthermore the comnivnity is sold on it. 


The group arrangement of the program was in vogue on 
Wednesday morning. 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


GROUP NO. I. 


In the Ballroom of Leamington Hotel at 9 A. M. on 
Wednesday, Milo H. Stuart, Assistant Superintendent of 
Schools, in charge of Secondary Education, of Indianapolis, 


Indiana presided. 


E. H. Garinger, Principal of Central High-School, Char- 
fotte, North Carolina, read his paper, The North Carolina 
Program of the State Support of Education as Affecting High- 


Schools. 


THE NORTH CAROLINA PROGRAM OF STATE 
SUPPORT AS AFFECTING HIGH SCHOOLS 
E. H. GARINGER, 


Principal Central High-School, 
Charlotte, North Carolina. 


Background of the Movement for State Support.—The 
constitution of the state of North Carolina provides that every 
child shall have as a minimum a six months’ school term. Even 
in a period of rapidly rising prices some communities found 


the burden of supporting such a term almost unbearable. To 
equalize in a measure this burden the general assembly had 
from one biennium to another set up an ever increasing equal- 
izing’ fund to aid the poor counties in providing themselves 
with schools comparable to those found in the more fortunate 
districts. From a fund of one hundred thousand dollars which 
was appropriated on a per capita basis by the legislature in 
1899 the sum had grown to six and a half millions in 1929. In 
spite of such support from the state many counties found 
themselves unable to continue the six months’ term. No one 
could describe the situation better than the state superintend- 
ent himself, who explains the reason for the innovation of 1931 


as follows. 


The General Assembly of 1931 faced a... . diffi- 
cult situation. The rising cost of education, coupled 











DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


with the inability of many counties to collect 'eca! 
taxes to meet their obligations, had placed some of 
the counties on the script basis. Many teachers had 
not been paid in full for their services in the previous 
year. Land taxes were too high. It was necessary 
for the General Assembly, under the conditions exist- 
ing in 1931, to take such action as might be necessary 
to reduce, by an appreciable amount, the taxes levied 
on land and other property. In spite of a twenty-four 
year effort to equalize the county tax rates for the 
support of the six months’ school term by means of 
an equalization fund, there was still a wide range of 
tax rates among the several counties due to shifting 
values and fluctuating school costs. 


In the face of these difficulties, it became obvi- 
ously necessary for the General Assembly to take vig- 
orous action in order merely to keep the schools open. 
Out of this condition was born the principle of com- 
plete state support. The General Assembly was un- 
willing longer to leave the fate of the schools to the 
different localities of the state which varied so much 
in financial strength. The state as a whole, therefore, 
underwrote, on the basis of state standards of cost, 
the operation of the constitutional term in every dis- 
trict of the state... Of course, these measures were 
primarily for the relief of land taxes, but the General 
assembly was not unmindful of the needs of the 
schools.’ 


The present system of state support would seem to be 
an inevitable step in the development of a rapidly growing 
school system the population of which is dominantly rural but 
the wealth of which is urban. The number of children, too, in 
proportion to adults is unusually large. For example, 1.5 
adults have the responsibility of providing one child of school 
age with educational opportunities, whereas the average num- 
ber of adults per child of school age for the nation is 2.31. Fur- 


; 1Biennial Report, Superintendent of Public Instruction, 1930-1932, 
Par. I, p. 6. 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 179 


thermore, it is pointed out that the average per capita wealth 
in North Carolina is $1737, whereas for the United States as 
a whole it is $2977. The mounting costs of elementary and 
secondary education and the unequal spread of financial sup- 
port made state action imperative. For instance, in 1907 
which marks the beginning of the public high-school in North 
Carolina there were only 7,144 high-school students enrolled 
but in 1931 when the principle of state support was adopted 
there were 109,504 or an increase of more than 1400% al- 
though the population had increased only 50% for the same 
period. The general property tax was in the main the source 
of support for the greatly expanding school system. The state 
had gone far toward consolidation, carrying children by bus 
over more miles to school than any other state. Financial aid 
had been given by the state or else inequality of opportunity 
would have been more pronounced. Even so, the official pub- 
lication of the state department of education, Public School 
Facts for May 1925, pointed out that the current expense per 
capita for the rural child was only 49% of that of the city child 
of the twenty-four largest cities. The same publication re- 


ported in June 1926 that the percentage spent on the rural 
child was 46% of that spent on the average child of the eight 
largest cities. 


The State Educational Commission in a thorough and ex- 
haustive report in 1927 indicated the inequality in the provi- 
sion of educational opportunity and the inadequacy of the tax 
plan for its support. The fact was brought out that six times 
as much effort was required to furnish a given educational pro- 
gram in Wilkes County as in Forsyth. This commission pointed 
to the increase in taxes levied for schools and other purposes. 
This significant quotation from the report is appropriate: 


If an examination is made of when the particular 
increases have incurred, it will be found that all gov- 
ernmental functions and services have made greatly 
increased demands for revenue. Taxes for schools 
have increased rapidly; taxes levied for purposes 
other than schools have increased even more rapidly. 
The biggest increase has naturally come in the reve- 








180 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


nue requirements for State Highways. The magnifi- 
cent network of highways linking up the county seats 
and principal towns in North Carolina, costing over 
$100,000,000 requires, of course, a greatly increased 
revenue for its support. During the period 1920-1926 
the total direct levy for schools increased 91.6 per 
cent; the total levies of subdivisions of the State for 
other purposes increased 115.7 per cent; total levies 
for purposes other than schools, both state and local, 
increased 198 per cent.’ 


Although the Educational Survey Commission showed 
that the huge indebtedness of the state was not due to schools 
which accounted for only 14% of the total, it was time to call 
a halt. The report of the Tax Commission for 1932 indicates 
the wisdom of such advice. Forty-eight per cent of the eighty- 
nine million dollar tax bill of 1931-32 was for debt services 
alone. Thirty-nine counties in the state had officially de- 
faulted in the payment of principle or interest, or both. The 
number of cities in default is probably twice as large. Since 
the schools took thirty-eight per cent of the property tax doi- 
lar, they were expected to take a large share in the general pol- 
icy of retrenchment. 


"The need for adjustment in spending is shown by many 
facts. For example, the average tax load per capita of total 
population amounted to $12.87 in 1920. By 1929 it had risen 
to the peak of $32.16. State and local taxes took on the aver- 
age of 4.7% of the estimated income of the people of the state 
in 1920, but they absorbed 9.83% of such total income in 1930 
as compared with a general average of 8.72% for the nation. 
For the past ten years the people in this state have been issu- 
ing bonds for permanent improvements in great amounts. ‘The 
local debt is more than double that of the state debt. This sit- 
uation would not be so unfavorable were it not for the fact that 
local debt is very unevenly distributed among’ the counties. The 
percentage of indebtedness to assessed valuation in the coun- 
ties varies from 2.4% in one county to 43.3% in another. 
These figures are the more significant when we realize that the 


2State Educational Commission, North Carolina, 1927. P. 286. 
























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 181 
general property tax in 1930 still accounted for 63.1% of the 
tax burden and the gasoline and automobile license tax pro- 


vided another 20.4%. 


The New School Law.—Wien the General Assembly met 
in 1931 it was unavoidable that some recognition of the dis- 
tressing situation should be made. Changes both in the total 
tax burden and in the manner of its distribution were immi- 
nent. North Carolina was a stronghold for local autonomy. 
The school system had developed as a patchwork of varying 
local initiative. More than a hundred cities had their own 
charters each providing for the type of school which that com- 
munity wanted. Some cities had twelve grades, others eleven; 
a few had six months term, most others eight, or nine. The 
economy of centralization and uniformity has not been realized 
as yet. Local self government is a tradition in North Carolina 
older than the state itself. The governor does not have the 
veto power and until 1931 government was decentralized. The 
General Assembly of 1931 was determined to lift some of the 
tax burden from the people. Radical changes were made in 
the financing and administration of roads and schools. The 
school law embodied the principle of complete state support of 
the constitutional six months’ term. In undertaking to pay 
the whole cost of the six months’ term the state reserved the 
right to fix and maintain its own standards of cost. Funds 
might have been distributed on a per capita basis or a prop- 
erty valuation basis as had been the case with the equalizing 
fund, but previous experience had proved such a scheme un- 
satisfactory. 

There had been since 1927 a State Board of Equalization 
set up for the purpose of distributing the equalizing fund. The 
personnel included the state superintendent of schools, a rep- 
resentative of the governor who is director of the budget bu- 
reau, the lieutenant governor, a secretary, and one member 
from each congressional district appointed by the governor. 
This organization was given greatly enlarged powers. Really 
it became the State Board of Education. The duties of this or- 
ganization now became two-fold. First, there was the task of 
setting up the state minimum program for six months with 














182 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the funds allowed. Secondly, the responsibility of approving 
all supplementary expenditures for school operating costs 
was delegated to this body. Related questions incident to the 
solution of the first of these problems were to be solved by this 
Board. In passing it might be well to point out that in con- 
formity to history the legislature did not pass general legisla- 
tion giving broad general powers to the State Board of Equali- 
zation. The whole matter of salary schedule, of increments for 
experience and further training, and of teaching load was dealt 
with by special enactments. However, considerable progress 
was made for the State Board of Equalization was given au- 
thority to consolidate districts and to transfer teachers and 
students in the interest of economy and efficiency. A mandate 
to carefully scrutinize all items of expense insured uniformity 
and responsibility in financial accounting. 


The North Carolina school law does provide some measure 
of local autonomy. The counties, with the approval of the 
board of commissioners and of the State Board of Equaliza- 
tion, may supplement each object and item of expenditure to 
bring the schools of the county up to county standards. It is 
in the administration of this provision that there has been 
most dissatisfaction. The counties and the charter districts 
during the first year of operation found their supplemental pro- 
gram somewhat restricted because of a percentage limitation 
placed upon their budgets by the State Board of Equalization. 
These counties and charter districts in the second year of op- 
eration met with an even greater limitation. In view of the 
fact that the purpose of the measure was tax reduction in the 
main it is not difficult to understand that such a board would 


take this attitude. 


Effects of State Support.—What has been the effect of 
this program of state support? Dr. A. T. Allen, State Super- 
intendent of Schools, in his biennial report to the legislature 
January 1933 surveys the situation thus: 


It no longer matters whether a child lives on a 
sand dune or on top of a gold mine so far as his educa- 
tional opportunities are concerned. His rights are the 
same in every case. Eventually he must have the 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


same opportunity at the hands of the State. The ac- 
cident of residence or birth no longer affects him. A 
district line cannot exclude him. He can no longer be 
confronted with a tuition bill, and restricted in his 
educational opportunity because his neighbors are un- 
progressive. 

The bills arising against the operation of the six 
months’ term have been liquidated promptly and the 
teachers were paid on time. 

The law has made possible the effectuation of 
many economies which could not have been accom- 
plished under the old scheme of dual support without 
inflicting great hardship in many places. It goes a 
long way toward uniformity, and the weak places in 
the system found themselves in stronger position 
than they had ever been. This was not done at the 
sacrifice of efficiency on the part of the stronger coun- 
ties. It has been a process of leveling up from the 
bottom. 


- Reduction in Property Taxes.—The effects of the enact- 
ment of the principle of state support is reflected in the saving 
to the property owners in the payment of their taxes on prop- 
erty. The reduction in the propery tax for schools for 1931 
over 1930 was 36%.3 County wide levies for schools were re- 
duced by 48% ; local district levies by 15%; special charter dis- 
trict levies by 11%. The assumption of state responsibility for 
the current support of the six months school term affected 
only county school levies for current expense. These levies 
were reduced by more than eight million dollars or 61%. The 
next greatest reduction in property tax levies was for roads— 
a total of 21%. These reductions become highly significant in 
view of the fact that real estate comprised 74% of the total 
assessed value of all taxable property in the state in 1931 and 
bore 63% of the total burden of taxation. 


Reductions have been made in three ways. Salaries of all 
state employees have been cut by 10% or more if not protected 


» Report of the Tax Commission of N. C., 1932, p. 39, Table VII. 

















184 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


by the constitution or by statute. Reorganization of functions 
provide for a greater centralization of administration and ef- 
fect many economies. In the third place a marked change in 
the distribution of the tax burden as to type of tax has taken 
place. Special taxes on corporations show an increase in yield 
of 33 per cent, business and occupational license taxes 39 per 
cent and the individual income tax 55 per cent. Approximate- 
ly one-half the total cost of government for 1931-1932 was 
borne by property, one-fourth by automobile taxes, one-sev- 
enth by corporation taxes and the remaining approximately 
one-ninth by business license taxes, personal income tax, poll 
taxes, inheritance taxes and other miscellaneous taxes. It is 
obvious that property is gradually shifting much of its burden 
to other forms of wealth. At present there are no more than 
one or two states in the country in which property has a 
smaller percentage of the total tax burden than is the case in 
North Carolina. Thus the principle of state support has 
achieved in no small degree the objective the General Assem- 
bly had in view in its adoption. 


Opinions of School Officials as to Effects of State Support. 
—North Carolina has had almost two years of experience with 
her system of state support and control for the six months’ 
school term. What attitude do the school officials themselves 
assume toward this innovation that is so contrary to the notion 
of local autonomy? The writer attempted to learn the judg- 
ment of representative principals and superintendents in both 
rural and urban districts on this question. They were re- 
quested to give their opinions as to the advantages and disad- 
vantages of the plan. The replies have been generous and 
frank. In them one may find a fair estimate of the operation 
of the plan in this state. Excerpts from letters of men who 
serve in rural districts will be given first. One superintendent 
writes as follows: 


The principle of state support for public schools 
is fundamentally sound. Since the interests of the 
state demand a minimum offering it is the duty of the 
state to provide that the burden of supplying the 
minimum be equalized. 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 185 


A second county school superintendent divests himself 
thus: 


Because of the tax reduction provision of the 
present law, it has been possible to operate all the 
rural high-schools in my county eight months. With- 
out this aid at least three-fourths of our rural high- 
schools would not have been able to run but six 
months; it has been a life-saver to the rural high- 
schools. 


Teachers have been paid in full for their work. 
This one thing has done much to help maintain the 
efficiency not only of the high-school but of the whole 
system. 


Another great service the present law has ren- 
dered to high-schools has been the consolidation of 
small schools which should not have existed. This 
has worked both for efficiency and economy. By al- 
lowing students in non-local tax districts to attend 
schools in local tax districts without tuition, secon- 
dary education has been made available to many who 
would not have had such advantages. 


This superintendent also stresses the fact that the state 
law has raised the level of business efficiency in school admin- 
istration. He believes that the state deparment of Purchases 
and Contracts has affected some economies in buying. 


A third superintendent who knows what it means to econ- 
omize in the administration of his schools reports in this vein: 


The policy of state support of schools has been 
the means of bringing about the mujor portion of the 
tax reduction to our property owners. 


If we had not had state support many of our 
schools would not have been able to operate even for 
the six months term to say nothing of the extended 
term and yet our condition is better than the average 
in eastern North Carolina. 











186 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


A few schools have voted on extended term tax 
and now are having an eight months term for less 
than they formerly paid for the six months. 


Through state control we have learned to oper- 
ate our plants more efficiently. We have been taught 
that fuel and other supplies can be made to go much 
farther than we once thought. The efficiency of jani- 
torial service has been improved quite a bit. 


A fourth county superintendent sees another advantage 
in the plan of state support. He thinks that the scholarship 
and training of teachers will be improved inasmuch as the state 
pays the bill. Like the others quoted he explains that many of 
the schools in his county were enabled to run for a longer term 
and with less tax burden on property owners. Mention is made 
of the further impetus given to consolidation through the plan 
of state support. 

The unanimous opinion of the men entrusted with the ad- 
ministration of the rural schools seems to be that the princi- 
ple of state support has been a boon to their schools. With- 
out it many of them would not have been able to remain open. 


One might infer that protection of the rural school has 
been obtained by taking funds from the urban districts. The 
replies from the city superintendents and principals may be 
more of an index of social attitudes and state consciousness 
than of the cost to the system they serve. At any rate, the 
replies indicate that the city superintendents and principals 
are pleased that all boys and girls may have an opportunity 
for an education. Among the replies are such statements as 
these: 


I think our state system of schools has been the 
salvation of a large majority of the high-schools in 
this state. 


I believe that the principle of state support for 
a minimum school term is fundamentally sound. It 
equalizes educational opportunity for a minimum 
school term, and it also provides opportunity for the 
local district to supplement the minimum term. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


It truly distributes the school support more 
equally and will tend to lengthen the school term and 
generally increase the efficiency of the schools. 


Assumption of support by the state and the state 
aid given for the extended term has maintained in 
every district in the state the constitutional six 
months term and has aided the maintenance of terms 
in the districts after the expiration of the six months. 


The effect has been beneficial in that it has 
brought about consolidation of many rural high- 
schools into larger and more effective units. 


I think our program of state support of public 
high-schools is very good as far as it goes. As state 
aid it is substantial but as state support it is inade- 
quate. 

I think under present conditions state support 


has meant more certain support as far as it went. I 
know that in many of our city high-schools as well as 


our rural schools we probably could not have main- 
tained our term. 


My belief is that state support has been more or 
less a Godsend during the past year. We have never 
been late for a single day in being able to pay our 
state salaries. 


Most of the objections to the program of state support are 
not inherent in the principle itself. Perhaps they are largely 
due to the distressing economic situation. Superintendents 
and principals who have become accustomed to the idea of the 
state rewarding for effort are particularly alarmed because of 
the administrative policy of the State Board of Equalization to 
limit supplements. The following comments are indicative of 
the feeling aroused: 


The percentage limitations mean that we are go- 
ing to lose the strongest teachers in the high-schools. 


The bill which sent this principle into operation 
has placed unlimited authority in the hands of a 





at ee ee 





188 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Board composed of men none too sympathetic with 
education. This same Board of Equalization has ex- 
ercised inexcusable tyranny over the school system. 
They have arbitrarily limited local supplements to the 
budgets to an unreasonable degree. The operation of 
the schools under this Board has tended to eliminate 
art, music, physical education, and industria! arts 
from the schools. Although the problem of teaching 
load is a professional one that has so far baffled the 
most outstanding experts in secondary education, yet 
the State Board of Equalization tells us very non- 
chalantly just what it ougnt to be. 


The most damaging effect of our new program of 
state support is the power granted the State Board 
of Equalization to limit the amount of local tax funds 
which local districts may spend to advance standards 
above the state standards of cost. This practice should 
certainly not become a part of the permanent policy 
of state administration. 

Another superintendent, a bit more optimistic, writes: 


Lack of funds is the chief cause of the various 
annoying limitations which have been placed by the 
state upon the operation of the schools. I believe that 
with the return of prosperity we shall work out an ex- 
cellent system of schools. Our present state support 
is a sort of skeleton support. We need more in the 
way of flesh and blood. 


Uniform Course of Study.—One dissenter from the point 
of view of the state superintendent states that his experience 
with the plan so far is that it “levels down”. He is firm in his 
conviction that the policy of denying local school authorities 
the right to spend such money as their communities can and 
want to spend on their high-schools is wrong. This superin- 
tendent fears that state support will probably mean a circum- 
scribed course of study. Other executives share this same 
misgiving. The teaching load required by the State Board of 
Equalization is such that the instructional staff has had to be 
decreased in most instances. Such reduction was made by 








eke dn salah a a 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 189 
eliminating all teachers considered as “extra” such as music, 
home economics, art, industrial arts, and physical education 
teachers. Although the State Board of Equalization does not 
discriminate against such teachers and although a different or- 
ganization than that found in most schools could still retain 
them under the state plan, the fact is that many schools have 
decreased very greatly the number of such teachers. 


Restriction of Local Initiative—The answer: to this prob- 
lem of more adequate support is not entirely one of inability 
to support a better program. Many cities and counties have 
been refused the right to levy upon themselves a tax to pro- 
vide the supplementary program they desire and are willing 
and able to pay for. The philosophy of the Board of Equaiiza- 
tion seems very nearly to be complete uniformity. Effort rather 
than being rewarded is restricted. This is a new principle in 
educational administration. Is it the sign of conquest of a 
“new frontier’”—the supplanting of all local autonomy by state 
bureaucracy? It assumes that a local community does not 
know what the needs and resources of that community are as 
the members of a State Board of Equalization know them. The 
same sort of philosophy would seem ridiculous if applied gen- 
erally. A parallel illustration would be to allow no good roads 
built yntil the whole state could have them, no airways pro- 
vided until every city could be supplied, no part of a city fur- 
nished with modern school buildings until the whole city could 
have similar buildings. Progress under this plan would be 
stifling to initiative and leadership. It is contrary to such ex- 
pressions as the following taken from Chapman and Counts, 
Principles of Education. 


Much freedom should also be allowed the local 
authorities, the cities, the counties, the towns, and 
the villages, in the control of education. At certain 
points, where the essence of the educative process is 
not at stake, standardization is desirable, but that bu- 
reaucracy which is the curse of many governments 
must be rigorously avoided. 


Dr. Cubberley seems to share the same opinion, for he 
states in his Public School Administration that: 











190 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The common tendency toward an unnecessary 
state uniformity, which too often follows any cen- 
tralization of authority and which is so stifling to 
community activity, should be carefully avoided by 
the State. To free the larger and more progressive 
communities from a uniformity perhaps necessary 

. for small and more backward communities, ought to 
be an essential feature in a wise state educational pol- 


icy. 


The State Educational Commission in 1927 was of the 
same frame of mind as the following quotation reveals: 


To say the least, compiete state support of the 
public school system would not tend to stimulate in- 
itiative and local enthusiasm among the counties and 
districts for improving their own local systems and 
would discourage economical local administration. 


Schools in Politics —School men very generally have 
raised the question of whether or not a state system of sup- 
port and control has not involved the schools in politics to an 
unwholesome degree. One principal surmises that, 


In competition with other state agencies I seri- 
ously doubt if the schools will ever be able to receive 
their just dues; because, when all is said and done, the 
teachers and school administrators in this state are 
not a political power. Sheriffs and other county, city, 
and state officials control votes. At present I don’t 
think the politicians care a great deal about what we 
think. 


Dread for the future is expressed by many when they con- 
sider the fact that control is so far removed from the actual 
workings and processes of the thing. Example is given in the 
case of the federal government where waste and inefficiency 
are proverbial. A city school superintendent expresses his 
main objection to the present state program because of the 
very great danger of its developing into another political ma- 
chine manipulated for the protection of certain cliques of state 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 191 
officers. One may well wonder whether taking the schools out 
of hands of men trained for the work and placing them in the 
hands of politicians or their agents will be the best for the boys 
and girls. If the responsibility for the operation of the schools 
is removed from those who should be vitally concerned inter- 
est may be expected to wane. A rural school superintendent 
believes that when the “consuming fires of this financial crisis 
have subsided that the people in local communities will not be 
satisfied with state control of schools.” 


What of the Future?—From these critical reactions of 
school executives who have had first hand experience with the 
operation of the North Carolina school law one may obtain a 
fair estimate of its effects. Every school official agrees with 
the principle of state support of a minimum term. The philos- 
ophy of placing all of the resources of the state behind the job 
of educating all the children of the state is not challenged. A 
gradually increasing equalizing fund over the last thirty years 
is proof of a social point of view. On the other hand, the prin- 
ciple of state control is still an experiment. The exigencies of 
the hour have demanded curtailment of expenditures. The an- 
swer of the governor and the legislature has been state sup- 
port and state control. As already indicated, when the con- 
suming fires of this financial crisis have subsided we may have 
a return to local autonomy; or possibly the evolution will be in 
the direction of a reorganized State Board of Education made 
up of men especially interested in schools and with a phiioso- 
phy of education that stimulates local initiative and effort. 
Directed by such leadership the result would be very different. 
Such encouragement would do much to overcome the feeling of 
urban school men that “there is a decided attempt to level 
down the wealthier communities in order to build up the poorer 


ones.” 


George M. Wiley, Assistant Commissioner, in charge of 
Secondary Education, State Education Department, Albany, 
New York, read Deputy Superintendent A. D. Simpson’s paper 
entitled, The New York Program of State Support of Educa- 


tion as Affecting High-Schools. 








192 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


THE NEW YORK PROGRAM OF STATE SUPPORT 
OF EDUCATION AS AFFECTING HIGH-SCHOOLS 


ALFRED D. SIMPSON, 
Assistant Commissioner of Education for Finance 
New York State Education Department. 


The constitution of the State of New York requires that 
“the legislature shall provide for the maintenance and support 
of a system of free common schools, wherein all the children 
of this state may be educated.” The provisions enacted pur- 
suant to this constitutional mandate are many and varied. 
While it is not important to review them here, it will serve 
our purpose to outline briefly the high-schoel situation wnien 
has developed from the law through the force of state leader- 
ship and local initiative. 

While the state is responsible for the maintenance and 
support of schools the execution of this responsibility is a part- 
nership affair. One of the members of the firm is the state it- 
self, the other is the local school district which may assume any 
of several forms. While the state is the controlling partner it 
exercises this control with discretion, largely through gen- 
eral law and regulations. The local district is the operazing 
partner in whom is vested a very large degree of initiative. 
Without allowing the thought to divert us from the subject 
at hand we may pause to remark that this partenrship idea 
which has found common acceptance countrywide may be re- 
sponsible for much of the strength as well as much of the 
weakness in our present-day educational organization. It may 
be added further that out of the partnership pattern grows 
a series of vexing problems relating to administrative units 
in education, problems common to all states and of paramount 
importance particularly for the secondary education of this 


era. 


Of some 9,108 local school districts in New York in 1931, 
high schools were maintained in 790. With the exception of 
the central high-school district organized exclusively for high- 
school purposes and of which there are but four in the state, 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 193 


each of these 790 districts maintains both elementary and 
high schools. Among these are 59 city school districts, 90 vil- 
lages under superintendents, most of the 138 central rural 
school districts and the remainder union free school districts 
maintaining “academic” or high-school departments. 


In 1931 there were 962 public high schools of which 254 
were either junior high schools or schools of less than the 
standard grade, leavng 708 of the regular four year or senior 
high schools. 


New York high schools vary greatly in size from very 
small schools to those of exceedingly large enrolments. In 
approximately one-half of the high schools the enrolment is 
less than 100 pupils. Nevertheless the number of very small 
high schools is steadily decreasing, a process which should 
continue with the development of the central rural school dis- 
trict. Enrolments in public day high schools amounted to 
472,000 in 1931 and represented an increase of 160% since 
1920. Approximately 1-10 of the high school youth in the 
United States are now enrolled in New York institutions of 


secondary education. 


With this somewhat sketchy picture of the New York 
high-school situation before us we may now proceed to a 
consideration of the program adopted for its support. While 
the previously mentioned partnership idea as applied to the 
support of schools dates back into the early days of New York 
public education it was as late as 1920 that the state itself 
came to contribute extensively to the support of schools. The 
year 1925, however, probably marks the most significant de- 
velopment in the state’s support of schools—significant be- 
cause of a principle adopted. Many forces converged at that 
time to bring about a new day in the state support of educa- 
tion. The story of the play of forces in the 1920 decade is im- 
mensely intriguing and the temptation to such a narrative is 
resisted only because of the limitation of time. 


The principle governing the state’s support of education 
as embodied in the Cole-Rice act of 1925 and in subsequent 
legislation finds expression in the term “Equalization of Edu- 





Me DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 

shy) *, 

cational Opportunity.” This principal, practically interpreted, 
has governed recent legislation in New York to the extent 
that it may now be said that our state support laws have 
four fundamental intentions: (1) to guarantee to all children 
a high degree of equality of educational opportunity, (2) to 
promote the equalization of the tax burden in the support of 
schools, (3) to make possible the maintenance of a reason- 
ably high level of educational offering without an inordinate 
burden on real estate, the source of most local tax revenue 
and (4) to accomplish the first three purposes without upset- 
ting the “partnership” idea as between state and local units, 
or in other words, while at the same time maintaining the 
traditional balance between state and local administrative 
jurisdiction. 


To promote all of these intentions effectively through the 
mechanics of a plan for the apportionment of state school 
support has not been a simple matter. How effectively our me- 
chanical system supports the principles just indicated will be 
judged by you as I proceed to outline the major provisions of 
the New York apportionment law. 


While I shall restrict myself to the provisions for sec- 
ondary education as far as possible it must be remembered 
that the law purposes to provide a reasonably well integrated 
support of education and that therefore it is impossible to 
consider the support of high schools entirely apart from the 
support of elementary schools. 


At the outset it must be noted that in its reorganization 
of state support New York approached the problem neither 
from the standpoint of secondary nor elementary education. 
What was sought was a plan of support which considered 
the whole realm of public education as measured by the most 
general practices of the school districts. The state is inter- 
ested in the support of both elementary and secondary educa- 
tion. No attack on the state aid problem should be exclusively 
centered either upon the one or the other. True adequate 
weightings should be given to the cost of education on both 
levels, but the final program should be one of proper equation 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 195 
and integration. This is accomplished in New York by giving 
to high schools a weighting of 1.56 over elementary schools 
while at the same time embracing both high and elementary 
schools within a single comprehensive equalization program.! 


With this consideration as a background it is important 
now to describe briefly first the equalization plan and there- 
after the several auxiliary forms of support in operation in 
New York. 


Among the several types of state aid provided in the law 
the following relate to secondary-school support: (1) the 
equalization quota (2) the non-resident tuition quota (3) the 
transportation quota and (4) the building quota. The first or 
equalization quota is the largest and most important, amount- 
ing to over 92%, of all state support. 


Equalization.—The following provisions of the law relate 
to this phase of state high-school support. (1) The sum of 
$1900 is allowed for each high and part-time or continuation 
school teacher, as defined below—(2) The number of such 
teachers for the purposes of apportionment only are deter- 
mined according to the following formula which is expressed 
in the law: 


(a) Ina district having a high school average daily at- 
tendance of 35 or more pupils three teachers are counted for 
the first 35 such pupils and one teacher for each additional 
22 pupils. If the high school average daily attendance is less 
than 35 pupils, two teachers are counted for the first 20 pu- 
pils and one teacher for each additional 15 pupils. If the aver- 
age daily attendance is less than 20 pupils the Commissioner 
of Education may use the actual number of high school teach- 
ers employed not to exceed two. (3) After determining the 
amount allowed by the previous provisions, namely by multi- 
plying $1900 by the computed number of high school teacher 
units, and adding thereto an amount determined by a simi- 
lar process for elementary schools, there is deducted from 





1Ratio of elementary to high-school classroom units equals 27-22, 
or 1.23. Ratio of teacher unit allowance in high to that in elementary 
schools equals 1900-1500, or 1.27. 











196 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the sum so obtained an amount equivalent to sixty cents on 
each $1000 of actual valuation of taxable property witnin the 
given district. The purpose of deducting this 6-10 mills is to 
provide for an equalized local contribution. The balance re- 
maining after such deduction is paid to the given school dis- 
trict as a state contribution to the support of schools. The 
amount so apportioned to each distrct, however, cannot ex- 
ceed the difference between the total expenditure for school 
purposes therein and the amount of a five mill tax on the 
actual value of taxable property in such district. It is pro- 
vided nevertheless, that no district shall receive less than 
$425 for each qualified teacher employed. 


In substance, therefore, and free of minor provisions and 
limitations, it will be seen that this phase of state support as- 
sures any district maintaining an approved high school an 
amount equal to $1900 multiplied by approximately each 22 
pupils in average daily attendance less a computed local con- 
tribution of 6-10 of a mill on the actual or equalized valuation 


of taxable property. 


Non-Resident Tuition—In addition to the abeve pro- 
visions the New York State support plan includes a grant of 
$50 per year for each non-resident high school pupil from dis- 
tricts not maintaining high schools. This grant is paid to the 
district receiving the pupil and such a district is prohibited 
from making a charge for non-resident tuition unless such a 
charge be considered justifiable by the Commissioner of Edu- 
cation under conditions set forth in law. In this connection 
it should be noted also that to districts receiving non-resi- 
dents also accrues the state aid under the equalization quota 
due to the average attendance of such non-residents, making 
a total grant of about $136 for each non-resident pupil. 


Transportation.—A further type of state support for sec- 
ondary education in New York is found in the provision for 
the transportation of pupils. Each district which dces not 
maintain a high school is, in the language of the law, re- 
quired to “provide transportation when necessary for its pu- 
pils who have completed the work of the eighth grade and 


Game tte teh wt a 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 197 


are receiving—instruction in another district.” The amount 
of this quota is %, of the sum paid for transportation, sub- 
ject to the approval of the Commissioner of Education. This 
type of transportation is referred to in common parlance as 
“academic” or “outside” transportation. The cost to the state 
therefor in 1932-33 was approximately $500,000. 


In addition to this quota the law makes provision for a 
similar grant on account of the cost of transportating pupils 
to schools within consolidated, central rural and union free 
school districts. This transportation aid, however, is not ex- 
clusively related to high-school facilities. The cost of this form 
of aid for 1932-33 was approximately $800,000. 


It will thus be seen that the program of state support 
includes a very definite provision for the transportation fac- 
tor. The total cost to the state is now over $1,300,000, an ex- 
pense wholly justified outside the present equalization quota. 
In this connection it should be stated that there is no scien- 
tific virtue in a grant of 1/, the cost of transportation. In fact 


in any program of state ‘aid which deals equitably with the 
rural school problem it seems defensible that the support of 
the entire justifiable cost of transportation be equalized 
through the state support system. The partial reimbursement 
factor in the program of transportation aid, as found in sev- 
eral states, has a virtue as a weapon with which to regulate 
the total cost of the service. 


Buildings——Another form of state support which has 
proven of great importance in New York for both secondary 
and elementary education is the so-called building quota. This 
quota is payable only to central rural school districts refer- 
ence to which will be made later. This form of aid amounts 
to 14 of the sum actually expended for the erection, enlarge- 
ment or remodeling of a school building in a central district. 
It is paid only in case the Commissioner of Education ap- 
proves the particular building project and the plans and speci- 
fications therfor in advance of local expenditure. If the build- 
ing project be financed through the sale of bonds or other 
certificates of indebtedness the quota of state aid for any 











DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


given year is based upon the principal and interest payments 
by the district for such year. This form of state support, like 
transportation, is supplemental to equalization and of vast 
significance for both secondary and elementary education in 
the rural field. In effect, it recognizes not only the inevitable 
plant requirements in the reorganization of rural education to 
meet modern conditions but aiso the responsibility of the 
state as a whole in helping to finance such requirements which 
were necessitated by the operation of social and economic fac- 
tors over which the local district had little, if any, control. 


As already indicated the New York system of state sup- 
port, as particularly affecting high schools, includes equaliza- 
tion, non-resident tuition, transportation and building appor- 
tionments. The major portion of state support (92%) is dis- 
tributed under the equalization formula. Equalization applies 
alike to all districts. The other forms of high school aid apply 
particularly to the support of rural educational opportunity. 


Conditions and Miscellaneous Provisions.—Before pro- 
ceeding to other aspects of state high school support several 
significant points should be briefly mentioned. Among these 
are the methods of certification and payment. State support is 
given in the nature of a reimbursement. All apportionments 
are computed on the basis of certified reports and claims made 
to the state education department. Reports for a given school 
year are received on or after July first. With the exception of 
non-resident tuition which is paid in the autumn, one-half of 
the moneys apportioned are payable on or before January 
15 and one-half on or before March 15. The state has not 
chosen to earmark its general support for particular expendi- 
ture purposes other than to specify that it shall be applied 
to the payment of teachers salaries and the cost of school 
maintenance. None of the state apportionments thus far takes 
cognizance of the junior high school. In local school systems 
where the junior high school exists 2 pupil in the grades 7 or 
8 is counted as an elementary pupil and one in grade 9 as a 
high school pupil. In determining the actual valuation of tax- 
able property for purposes of apportionment, previously re- 
ferred to, assessed to full value ratios are employed as fur- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 199 


nished by the state department of taxation and finance. In de- 
termining the number of teachers for apportionment purposes 
the Commissioner of Education may in his discretion use the 
actual number of teachers employed if this number is less than 
that determined by computation through formula application. 
Conditions under which districts are entitled to apportion- 
ments require the observance of the laws governing teachers 
salaries, including salary schedules and minimum salary pro- 
visions, the certification of teachers, and the legally estab- 
lished school term. Apportionments on account of high schools 
are made only to those schools approved by the state educa- 


tion department. 


Central Rural School Districts.—Reference has already 
been made to the central rural school district. Since the cen- 
tral district movement is so closely related to the problem of 
providing high-school education in the rural areas certain 
phases of the state support program for these units will bear 
amplification. The central district law passed in 1914 proved 
ineffective in bringing about centralization until after 1925 
when it was amended to provide for a more liberal state sup- 
port. In 1926 there were six central districts, while to-day 
there are nearly one hundred forty. In this growth a more 
liberal state aid exclusive of that granted has undoubtedly 
played a large part. Without involving this discussion with 
a description of the somewhat intricate phases of the state 
support law for central districts, it will suffice to say that the 
aid to central districts is much more liberal than that granted 
to other districts under equalization. A recent. study of state 
support in central districts made by the Finance Division of 
the State Education Department indicates that on the average 
the computed amount allowed per teacher unit in central dis- 
tricts is about $1000 greater per teacher unit than the sim- 
ilar eqalization law element which applies in all other dis- 
tricts. In effect, therefore, the state is in part subsidizing the 
development of the type of local unit for which at present it 
chooses to make provision as a desirable substitute for a form 
of rural district organization not suited to present conditions. 








200 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Financing of State Support.—At this point it will be of 
interest to consider the method of financing the state support 
program. In order to conserve time I shall indicate with brief 
explanations the important steps in the process. 


It has been shown that the laws of the state specify the 
several forms of state support to which local districts are en- 
titled and indicate how these apportionments shall be com- 
puted. In one sense these laws represent the state’s commit- 
ments to the school districts. The sum total of computations 
of the apportionments under the law represent the amount of 


money involved. 


The apportionment law in New York, however, does not 
set up a state support fund in terms of dollars as in many 
states. In other words we start with laws providing specific 
methods for determining the amount of state support due 
school districts and not with the establishment of a fixed total 
fund to be distributed. In New York the total amount neces- 
sary is normally flexible and determined by apportionment 
computations which in turn depend upon school district report 
data, such as average daily attendance, assessed valuations 
and the like. Accordingly it becomes necessary for the Edu- 
cation Department annually to estimate the amount of money 
required for state support under the law and include the same 
in the departmental budget request placed before the Gov- 
ernor. The end result of this procedure is an annual appro- 
priation made by the legislature to meet the requirements of 
state school support. No payments may be made from the 
state treasurer in excess of appropriations. 

The money to meet the appropriations for the state sup- 
port of schools accrues to the state treasury in the same gen- 
eral manner as does the money for meeting any other state 
governmental obligation. The chief source of state revenue, 
of course is taxation. 

In this connection it will be of interest to note the prin- 
cipal sources of state tax revenue. 

The following summary of revenue receipts from various 
sources and in the proportion that each source bears to the 




































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 201 


total for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1931, has been taken 
from the Annual Report of the State Comptroller, Part I, 
page XII: 
Per Cent 





Sources of Revenue Amount 


of total 
Corporation tax .......222.0.....:0:220000------ $ 70,437,601.13 26.54 
Transfer (Inheritance) tax .............. 52,587,631.94 19.81 
Motor Vehicle tax ............00..2220....2...- 31,207,394.37 11.76 
Refunds and reimbursements ............ *27,728,155.94 10.44 
Motor fuel tax ...............................-.0. 22,864,060.00 8.61 
Stock transfer tax 0.000000... 20,698,207.35 7.80 
Personal income tax ...................------- 19,747,427.13 7.44 
Revenue of general departments ...... 6,968,839.93 2.63 
Sundry general revenues ..................-- 3,102,762.30 1.17 
pane Tee 3,054,587.15 1.15 
General property tax —............---.......- 2,699,434.83 1.02 
Insurance premium tax .................--... 2,209,391.98 83 
Organization of corporations ............ 1,685,129.19 .63 
Sundry special taxes ................220.0..... 459,153.05 17 











$265,449,776.29 100.00 


In considering these revenue sources two points are sig- 
nificant. In the first place it is to be noted that New York 
does not commonly “earmark” state taxes for particular pur- 
poses. There is no state tax in any way specially designated 
for school support. It would be impossible to point out a 
purely state school tax. Secondly, it is important to note that 
the state levies no state general propery tax for state govern- 
mental purposes. While the above table shows a very small 
proportion of revenue derived from the general property tax 
the proceeds thereof go to the support of armories and court 
stenographic services. In no sense is the state support of 
schools dependent upon a state general property tax. 

The method of financing state support, considered along 


with the method of distribution or apportionment, is clearly 
seen to be derived from a fundamental and increasingly rec- 





*This amount is exceptional and indicates $24,367,477.96 refund from the 
Port of New York Authority. 


















202 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ognized theory which in turn emanates from the state’s posi- 
tion of ultimate responsibility for educaton. The resources of 
the state, as a whole are drawn upon wherever they may exist 
and distributed throughout the state to meet an educational 
need wherever and in whatever proportion such need exists. 
Since the general property tax is the chief local source of 
school support, it is of further significance to the principal of 
equalization that the state derives the funds for its own sup- 
port from indirect sources or those other than general prop- 
erty. 


The Amount of State Support.—The extensiveness of the 
financial program of the state for the support of schools may 
be shown in several ways. The total amount distributed by 
the state for the support of schools in 1931-382 was approxi- 
mately 104 million dollars. The total amount available 
through appropriations for the current year is approximately 
the same, although in this connection it should be stated that 
the amount available for 1932-33 is approximately 5 million 
less than the amount called for under the section of the law 
relating to state support. This amount represents, first, a 
deficiency of appropriations in relation to the requirements of 
the statute, due to retrenchment pressure, and second, the 
year’s increase in the amount called for under the law,—an 
increase brought about largely by the growth in school attend- 
ance and the decrease in local property valuations. 


Another measure of the extensiveness of state support 
may be found in its relation to the total cost of schools. For 
the year ending June 30, 1931, the total cost of public schouls, 
including current expenses, debt service and that part of cap- 
ital outlay currently financed, was about 31814 million dollars. 
For the same year state aid receipts by local school districts 
amounted to about 9814 millions or 31%. On the average, 
therefore, the state support met approximately 31% of the 
total cost of public schools. In this connection it should be 
noted, however, that due to the principle of equalization 
this percentage would vary greatly among districts. The per- 
centage of state contributions would naturally tend to be 
higher in poor districts and lower in wealthy districts. 








Soo DEN RAB ss oe TT” . 





ARVN SC TDR BP 





tis Sane on BEE 












PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 203 

The average percentage in cities was 27.8%, in villages 
over 4500, 29% and in all other districts excluding cities and 
villages, that is, the rural districts generally speaking, 46%. 


Still another measure of the extensiveness of state sup- 
port is to be found in its relation to total state governmental 
expenditures. Of a total of 305 million dollars representing 
the general fund expenditure of the state government for 
1930-31 approximately 36% was for all state educational pur- 
poses and approximately 32% for the item of state support of 
local schools. 


Conclusion.—The purpose of this paper was to describe 
the New York program of state support of education as af- 
fecting high-schoo!s. In the course of my treatment of the 
subject I have considered something of: (1) the fundamental 
position of the state, (2) the nature of the relationship be- 
tween state and local units, (3) the scope and magnitude of 
the high-school phase of the state school system, (4) the basic 
principle governing and four purposes or intentions which 
seem to have influenced the development of the present pro- 
gram, (5) the four most important forms of state support af- 
fecting high-schools, namely, equalization, non-resident tui- 
tion, transportation and building quotas, (6) important con- 
ditions and other provisions relating to apportionment of state 
support, (7) the special significance of the support to central 
rural school districts, (8) the method by which the state 
finances its support program including the tax system and, 
finally, (9) measures of the extensiveness of state support. 


It may be apparent to you that except for my description 
of the forms of support or the kinds of state aid including the 
description of the method of apportionment I have made no 
particular reference to the state support system “as affecting 
high-schools”. This is true and due to the very nature of the 
program. There is nothing in particular to descripe as af- 
fecting high-schools beyond the provisions already noted for 
the adequate weighting of the high-school in the teacher unit 
formula and in the sze of the minimum program and beyond 
the provisions described for the few special quotas. One of 








204 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the important features of the system has already been stated 
as its integrating effect upon the whole school system. With 
few exceptions special features and elements of the school 
program are neither influenced nor subsidized. And yet it 
will be admitted that a minimum program of $1900 per high- 
school unit (approximately 22 pupils) constitutes a relatively 
satisfactory program of state particpation in secondary-school 
support. 


The consideration of advance problems in state support 
is not within the province of this paper. For those who may 
be interested in a treatment of this phase of the subject as 
well as the partial evaluation of the present program of state 
support in New York I would refer you to a publication en- 
titled “State Support for Public Schools in New York as Re- 
lated to Tax Support and Educational Expansion’, by Mort, 
Simpson, Lawler and Essex, published in 1931 or Memoran- 
dum No. 2 of the Report of the New York State Commission 
for the Revision of the Tax Laws. 


In closing I wish to stress one point: important as sound 
state support may be in any period for the financing of an ade- 
quate school program and for the equalization of educational 
opportunity, it is an absolute essential in an era of economic 
distress such as the present. The normal inequities to chil- 
dren caused by major dependence upon local financing are 
magnified many fold in the present period. The disastrous 
breakdown of the general property tax is becoming increas- 
ingly apparent and its only available relief is in greater reli- 
ance upon statewide tax resources thru equitable and scien- 
tific distributions. The state with its broader potential tax 
base is none too large a unit for bearing the brunt of school 
support. It is the only way open at present to assure equity 
to children and equity to tax payers. Why let tradition and 
inertia stagnate the institution of childhood? Why toy with 
the situation when the education of America’s boys and girls 
is at stake? 








Ce 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


GROUP NO. 2 


H. C. Lyseth, State Supervisor of Secondary Education 
of Augusta, Maine, presided in the Tenth Street Lobby. 


R. V. Morgan, Director of Music of the Public Schools of 


Cleveland, Ohio, read his paper, Analyzing Objectives in Music 
Education. 


ANALYZING OBJECTIVES IN MUSIC EDUCA- 
TION 


RUSSELL V. MORGAN, 
Director of Music, Cleveland Public Schools 
and Associate Professor of Music, School of Education, 
Western Reserve University. 


Until recently small provision was made for training pu- 
pils of artistic inclination. The community sensed its respon- 
sibility in the fields of literary and scientific educaton, but 


seemed indifferent to the development of students with artistic 
bent. “The sciences give us utility but the arts give us beauty” 
(Croce-Aesthetic). And now attention is beginning to focus 
upon all branches of the fine arts as offering as rich and varied 
values as the two other fields, for we cannot but agree with 
Dewey that “education must be re-conceived, not as merely a 
preparation for maturity * * * * but as a continuous growth of 
the mind and a continuous illumination of life. In a sense, the 
schools can give us only the instrumentalities of mental 
growth; the rest depends upon our absorption and interpreta- 
tion of experience”’. 


Our present day music program is directed toward an en- 
richment of experience that will develop the power to create 
beautiful imagery with necessary but secondary training in 
means of expressing this imagery. 


In the early years of the American Republic, the singing 
school was an important activity in adult community life. The 
name was derived from the fact that, in addition to choral 
- singing, there was a definite plan for the teaching of sight 





206 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


reading or “singing by note”. The first music teacher to be 
appointed in the public schools was Dr. Lowell Mason, who be- 
gan his work in the common schools of Boston one hundred 
years ago. Some years later, Julius Eichberg was appointed 
by the school committee of the same city with the assignment 
of chorus music in the high-schools. The chief precedent in 
music education being the singing school, the high-schools 
based their courses on that type of instruction. The technical 
training in note reading was stressed increasingly for the pur- 
pose of justifying music as a study involving mental training. 
This resuited in a type of choral training devoted to dry tech- 
nical drill supplemented by mechanical and uninteresting sing- 
ing. Music rightly taught does contribute to intellectual 
growth though its chief value in the educational program is 
not here but in its power to develop and satisfy emotional and 
aesthetic needs. 


Toward the close of the past century an increasing num- 
ber of teachers became conscious of the weakness inherent in 
the commonly accepted objectives in the study of music and 
through teaching and writing became a strong influence for 
improvement. In general, however, high-school music was 
concerned very little with the release of highly dynamic ar- 
tistic feeling. 


A generation ago a new idea in musical instruction swept 
the country. It was called music “appreciation” and was 
widely hailed as the solution of the problem of teaching music 
to the great majority of children. Evidently many people did 
not see the humor of a situation in which the usual method of 
teaching a great art was to be parallelled by an attempt to cre- 
ate enjoyment of that art. High-school students had appar- 
ently been in contact with a subject which they neither under- 
stood nor enjoyed. The reception of this new plan proved that 
school administrators were dissatisfied with previous results 
and expected to attain more desirable outcomes through the 
new way of studying music. This new instruction emphasized 
reaction to musical beauty and originally had for its aim maxi- 
mum enjoyment of music. However, music appreciation did 
not succeed in providing a complete program of music for high- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 207 


school students. It emphasized knowledge about music and 
not music itself. The simple contact with beauty in music was 
obscured by discussion of only extrinsic worth. 


And yet here occurred the first important change in the 
philosophy of music education, the elevation of musical beauty 
as the objective of prime importance. 


Until the opening of the twentieth century vocal music was 
the only important high-school music activity, although many 
schools possessed small instrumental ensembles that were 
largely extra-curriculum and of slight musical value. At this 
time a few high-schools developed large symphonic orchestras 
and pointed the way to a program of instrumental instruction 
that has had tremendous growth in the past few years. Of 
even more importance than the growth of instrumental music 
was the recognition of the necessity to provide opportunity for 
the differentiation of musical talent. The musical ability of an 
individual is rarely equal in both vocal and instrumental fields. 
A highly superior instrumental talent may be decidedly unsuc- 
cessful in vocal expression. 


With these two important changes in the philosphy of 
music education, the aim toward musical beauty and provision 
for differentiation in musical talent, the development of our 
present music curriculum was rapid. The purpose of this dis- 
cussion is to study the present day objectives of school music. 


In the last few years music has attained a place in the edu- 
cational scheme because it contributes heavily to the develop- 
ment of emotional, aesthetic, and social objectives. The 
schools have provided for the literary and scientific talents and 
now feel impelled to offer opportunity for those primarily en- 
dowed with artistic talent. 

Music contributes to the general objectives of education; 
to health, to vocational training but more especially to social 
relationships and proper use of leisure time. But this discus- 
sion is concerned with the objectives in the study of music it- 
self. 


The objective usually stated in courses of study is this: 
“To create a love for good music”. This is a true statement but 





——_—-~ 


208 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


so general as to be almost useless in planning procedures and 
courses of study. There are specific objectives that can be 
clearly stated and whose attainment will resuit in the accom- 
plishment of the one first stated. 


These specific objectives may be listed as follows: 


1. Emotional expression. 

2. Satisfaction in skills. 

3. Development of musical intelligence. 

1. Creative power. 

5. A background of musical history and vocal and instru- 
mental literature. 

6. Aesthetic appreciation. 

7. Social relationships. 


The first five of these are quite definitely a part of class- 
room learning and shall be discussed from that angle. The 
last two will be taken up later. 


Emotion is the power plant of music and must be present 
in performance or the performer and listener alike will be left 
cold and unresponsive. Emotion is a strong factor for good or 
evil in the life of each individual and music provides both a 
safe and satisfying avenue for such expression. 


After leaving childhood, it seems difficult to give free ex- 
pression to feeling and yet the power of music can never be felt 
otherwise. This power of deep feeling is present more or less 
in everyone but is frequently repressed to the point of frus- 
tration so far as expression is concerned. 


Schopenhauer writes, “Art alleviates the ills of life by 
showing us the eternal and universal behind the transitory and 
the individual. This power of the arts to elevate us above the 
strife of wills is possessed above all by music. It differs too 
from the other arts because it affects our feelings directly and 
not through the medium of ideas; it speaks to something 


subtler than the intellect.” 


Skills are essential as a means of expressing emotion. 
Ability to present clearly the message of music naturally 





tL as AE ema 












PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 209 


brings satisfaction but while skills contribute to appreciation 
through increasing ability to discriminate they must primarily 
remain a means to a desired end rather than as ends in them- 
selves. 


Keen mental reaction to structural factors in music is 
termed musical intelligence. Some individuals quickly grasp 
and use tone relationships, rhythmic patterns, harmonic struc- 
ture and form while others find difficulty in comprehending 
these factors. It is necessary to point out the difference be- 
tween general intelligence which concerns knowledge about the 
intellectual or structural elements of music and musical intel- 
ligence which constitutes the power to recognize and use these 
elements. In any case training will improve whatever natural 
capacity is present. 

Creative power is used in two senses: first, creation of a 
living musical expression from a cold and mechanical transcrip- 
tion of a composer’s inspiration, and second, the creation of a 
work of beauty for the first time. This creative power is much 
more widespread than is usually believed and education can 
take pride in being responsible for any part it may have in its 
development. Bertrand Russell has stated that “it is quite con- 
ceivable, for example, that education could mould opinion to 
admire art more than weaith, as in the days of the Renais- 
sance, and could guide itself by the resolution to promote all 
that is creative, and so to diminish the impulses and desires 
that center around possession”. Musical notation is similar to 
shorthand notes and it becomes the privilege of the performer 
to breathe life and beauty into the composition subject only to 
two limitations: first, that of the composer’s genius, and, sec- 
ond, that of the performer’s musical power. 


The fifth point in our list of objectives is decidedly weak 
in school music. There is little understanding of the real val- 
ues in musical history and a decided distortion in acquaintance 
with musical literature. What was the purpose of composers 
of classical period? Surely something entirely different from 
that of the musicians of the romantic period. The composer 
of the classical period was concerned with an expression of 
pure beauty of tone and balance of form. Clean and crystal 









































210 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


clear performance with dynamics used for contrast of light and 
shade in a purely impersonal expression of graceful beauty. 
On the other hand, music of the romantic period is expressing 
as strongly as possible the whole range of human emotion and 
is decidedly an outpouring of the personal feelings of the hu- 
man soul. Dynamics heighten the strength of feeling. Per- 
formance of works from these two schools must form a decided 


contrast. 


History interprets the reason for this contrast. The 
classic period came at the time of the royal courts with all the 
polish and formal artificiality incident to them. The causes of 
the French and American revolutions are tied up in the devel- 
opment of music of the romantic period. 


It seems logical to insist that pupils come into contact 
with representative musical literature of all periods and be led 
to sense the characteristics expressed by each. This term mu- 
sical literature refers to music itself and not to books and arti- 
cles about the art. Unless careful thought is given to organiza- 
tion of the musical content of our courses of study, students 
will pass through our classes with distorted and incomplete 
contacts with the great music of the world. Schools must be 
expected to provide a musical legacy that contains a few great 
art works from each period of creative effort. More than that, 
every effort must be made to cause the musical beauty of the 
compositions to grow into the very soul of the student to the 
extent that these masterpieces of music become a part of his 
being. 

Quite definite procedures are available for accomplishment 
of the five specific objectives just discussed. But now comes 
the difficult problem of securing growth in aesthetic apprecia- 
tion. “The essence of aesthetic activity,” states Croce, 
“* * * lies in a form of intuition that involves no mystic in- 
sight, but perfect sight, complete perception, and adequate 
imagination. The miracle of art lies not in externalization but 
in the conception of the idea, externalization is a matter of 
mechanical technique and manual skill”. He further states: 
“When we have vividly and clearly conceived a musical theme, 
expression is born and is complete, nothing more is needed. 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 211 


If, then, we open our mouth and sing * * * what we do is to 
sing aloud what we have already sung within. If our hands 
strike the keyboard of the pianoforte, such actions are willed 
and what we are then doing is executing in great movements 
what we have already executed briefly and rapidly within”’. 


From this, it is evident that aesthetic appreciation cannot 
be taught by direct approach but will result in proportion to 
the capacity of the individual to react to the stimulation of 
musical beauty provided of course that the musical instruction 
has been well done. 


Various social relationships will result from a program of 
musical instruction rightly taught. The members of a mu- 
sical organization quickly sense the fact that each must con- 
tribute his share to gain an effective result. They learn how 
to work together for the common good. Strong friendships 
arise from common interests. Their music is a powerful agent 
in unifying the spirit of the school. They attract the attention 
and interest of the community (true even of a large city where 
the school is center of a sub-community). Small groups form 
for the purpose of singing and playing in the homes of the va- 
rious numbers. Above all, there is carried away a compre- 
hension and love of good music that makes them members of 
an ever increasing group united in their enjoyment of the 
beauty now open to them in one of the fine arts. 


It will be well to keep in mind the various pathways 
through which we react to music. They number four and all 
serve in gaining a complete experience with this art. The 
most elemental is the physical response to the rhythm of 
music. Though it is the first reaction noted it continues to hold 
a highly important place in all musical experience. Almost 
anyone will react muscularly to the playing of a military band 
and yet it is this same reaction that in a thoroughly trained 
condition is essential in following the complex rhythmical pat- 
terns of asymphony. The action of the muscles is basic in the 
full realization of rhythm. 

The sensuous enjoyment of music plays its part. A beau- 
tiful tone will please and it is through this sense that tone 
quality and tonal coloring become important. 





212 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The construction of music becomes comprehensible as the 
intellectual power of retaining perception of form in musical 
structure grows. The form of music in which is expressed the 
factors of unity and contrast presents a peculiar problem to 
the listener for it is as though present in a dark room with a 
pinpoint of light tracing the outline of a picture with the ne- 
cessity of retaining in the memory tie path followed by this 
point of light if the complete picture is to be realized. In ad- 
dition, the intellectual approach calls for mastery of notation 
and all the varied elements termed music theory. 


Emotion or feeling reaction has been discussed but again 
it is valuable to point out the fact that here centers the 
warmth and life of the art. 


The balance of activity of these four factors varies in in- 
dividuals. To one, emotion is the only source of enjoyment, to 
another, physical reaction to rhythm. It is obvious that the 
highest form of musical pleasure comes from the combination 
of all four of these sources of musical stimulation. 


A few words about three essentials in properly expressing 
a musical composition. First, skill in that the presentation be 
clearly and adequately given. Development of skill is neces- 
sary in our study of music, not for the sake of technic but in 
order that the picture be clear and true. Second, a grasp of all 
the intellectual factors in that there be proper control and in- 
telligent presentation of form, balance, et cetera; and third, 
the presence of power to both feel and express emotion in a 
musical manner. 


The chief purpose, then, in music education will be the de- 
velopment of a strong and vital emotional power expressed 
through adequate skill and controlled by musical intelligence, 
this to be used in creating a living presence of the music of 
the masters of all ages and in understanding the part it plays 
in the history of man. 


In presenting her material, Miss Indianola Willcutts, Su- 
pervisor of Art of Duluth, Minnesota, used the lantern and a 
wealth of illustrative material which the title of her paper, 








Meas te 


Longo 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 213 


Analyzing Art Objectives in the High-School, giyes no ade- 
quate notion. 


ANALYZING ART OBJECTIVES IN THE HIGH 
SCHOOL 


INDIANOLA WILLCUTS, 
Supervisor of Art Education, 
Public Schools, Duluth, Minnesota 


About three years ago the following helpful clipping ap- 
peared in Everyday Art, ‘The large centers of population tend 
to influence, if, indeed, they do not dominate what is done in 
art education in the smaller places roundabout. Likewise, 
what is being done in this subject in the most populous city of 
the nation tends to determine the trend of art education 
throughout the country. For this reason, the new approach 
to art education adopted by the Board of Education of the city 
of New York on the recommendation of the art department 
there, is of much interest. We are told that instead of the old 
method of attempting to teach untalented pupils to draw, the 
new compulsory two-year course will strive to inculcate good 
taste and the rudiments of art appreciation. The children are 
to study art appreciation in the community, the home, the of- 
fice, the theater, in dress, architecture, painting, and sculpture. 
The pupils will be taught with the view to developing their 
powers of discrimination and establishing familiarity with the 
finest in artistic expression.” 


Forrest Grant, Director of Art in the New York City sec- 
ondary-schools, says: “The change is one of approach. No 
public school system has ever attempted to make artists out of 
all of its students, but, as far as I know, all systems have fol- 
lowed the ‘art school method’ of attempting to bring children to 
art appreciation by first teaching them to draw. 


“This method is an indirect one, and in the case of untal- 
ented children is slow and frequently will not work at all. 


“We have a world full of artists but a relatively small de- 
mand for their work because so few have been trained to ap- 
preciate it. Every one is born with an ability to appreciate 








214 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


art, but creative artists starve in garrets because this ability 
has been allowed to lie dormant and undeveloped in the great 
mass of the people. 


“Our new course is designed to create an instant emo- 
tional reaction to art qualities in all students, the talented and 
the untalented. We can create a demand for more and finer 
art by thousands of people and thus provide the consumers of 
art itself, as well as the creators of art objects. 


“We are going to teach our young people how to live as 
distinguished from how to make a living. We think we can en- 
gender a love for beauty, develop good taste and train for lei- 
sure. We can do these things in addition to encouraging talent 
and gratifying the desire to create.” 


This clipping made us fel then that some one had pub- 
lished an art course such as we had longed for. A review of 
the course set our minds at rest and we went about our art 
work with renewed energy and joy, for the aims set forth by 
Forrest Grant were the very aims for which we stood. And 
for lack of ability to express in the helpful manner in which 
Mr. Grant has expressed them we have copied them word for 
word and used them. Our problems, of necessity, differ from 
those of New York City but our aims remain the same. And 
because these aims exactly express what we have in our small 
way been doing and are trying to do, I shall use them in ana- 
lyzing art objectives in the high-school. When these aims have 
been reviewed, a hasty explanation of the exhibit, maybe, will 
help to show you what results may be expected in a system 
where these aims have been the foundation for the art work. 


Art Appreciation—An art course for the secondary- 
schools of New York City by Forrest Grant, Director of Art, 
has on the title page this quotation from C. Hanford Hender- 
son, “True art is the overflow of a radiant spirit, and the 
growth of art in any community depends not only on the num- 
ber of workers, but also on the number of appreciative on-look- 
ers, creators of an atmosphere favorable to the art spirit.” 


Here we have so well expressed just what we are trying 
to do in our art classes from kindergarten to senior high- 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 215 
school, to try to search out the number of workers, but also 
trying to help our children to become appreciative on-lookers. 
And I do believe we are, in a way, succeeding. 


Art, then, in our public schools best resolves itself into art 
appreciation. For the best expression of the aims of such a 
course let us consider that of New York City. 


In the Introduction to the Art Appreciation Courses of 
the New York City Secondary-Schools, by Harold G. Campbell, 
Associate Superintendent, we find the following: “It is un- 
questionably true that art has played a vital part in the life of 
mankind throughout the ages. As the truth of this statement 
is realized, it is apparent that American educators, owing to 
their greater interest and intensive training in the classics, the 
sciences, or in technical studies, have been unusually slow in 
giving any consideration to art as one of the most important 
fundamental branches of educational work. They have, it is 
true, taken for granted that there are to be found in each com- 
munity some favored boys and gir!s who desire to study draw- 
ing and designing either as a delightful diversion or with the 
idea of making art a life work. In providing, for these tal- 
ented few, various forms of technical art study as an elective 
part of the high-school curriculum, the aesthetic needs of the 
masses have been entirely overlooked. We are aware, how- 
ever, that there has been developing an art for all idea in the 
trend of modern educational thought that promises to have a 
powerful and enduring influence on the education of the youth 
of this country. 


“Experiments during the last five years in several of the 
New York City high-schools have shown conclusively that a 
course in art appreciation in which ‘the center of interest 
moves from the intimate to the remote, from the personal to 
the impersonal, from the student himself to the world about 
him’, is awakening a broader undertsanding of the meaning of 
art to the individual, to the home, to the community, and to the 
industrial world. This course, designed to give to all, and espe- 
cially to those who have no marked technical ability. a chance 
to study creatively the art that is related to their immediate 
surroundings, is apparently meeting a genuine need. It is, 
















































216 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


moreover, provoking unusual interest in the development of 
art judgments on the part of the pupils and leading many to a 
deeper and more sincere study of art as it concerns their fu- 
ture vocations. 


“In adopting this course the superintendent and board of 
education are convinced that this move constitutes not only a 
new departure in secondary education, but also a most progres- 
sive step in meeting the interest of every New York boy and 
girl and in conributing to the future development of art in 


America.” 


When a school board is brought to a point of appreciation 
of a subject, expressed in Mr. Campbell’s introduction to the 
art appreciation course, that subject is pretty secure in the 
curriculum. 


Turning to page seven of the course we find more “joy”, 
if one may call the realization of a hope for a fine course in art 
in the high-school a “joy”. The heading of the page is, “Aim 
of the Course, Art Appreciation, Forrest Grant. 


“THE PURPOSE of the art appreciation course is to re- 
veal to the pupil the beauty of nature and of the arts, so that 
he may recognize and enjoy the world of beautiful things about 
him and gain an appreciation of the finest, which will reflect 
beauty in his life and in his living. 


“This being the ultimate objective, the art appreciation 
course aims: 


“First, to ENGENDER LOVE OF BEAUTY, by bringing 
the pupil into personal contact with forms showing fine ar- 
rangement of line, mass, tone, and color, a beautiful painting, 
an inspiring building, a well proportioned piece of furniture, or 
a finely decorated fabric, so that we may have an instant emo- 
tional reaction to art qualities and may be led to realize that 
color and design are influenced by materials and processes, and 
by the artist’s imagination, his genius, and his environment.” 


Concerning beauty, we are indebted to Dr. Frank Crane 
for a comment on “Things”. He says: “Most of us are sensi- 
tive to our surroundings. Beauty cheers and ugliness offends, 













































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 217 


and the love of beautiful things is entirely without regard to 
their cost. 


“We may have to be poor but none of us have to live in 
ugliness. 


“Don’t tell me you can’t help it and you can’t afford it and 
all that. Whoever loves beauty acquires the beautiful. 


“My bookcase, my pen, my rugs, and my lamp talk to me 
every day and I want them to say something worth while.” 


We have found that “Things” well lettered, make helpful 
attractive headings for our art room bulletin boards. Again 
this first aim “To Engender Love of Beauty” has been so im- 
pressed upon my mind by Helen Keller’s words taken from 
“Three Days to See” that I am giving them to you and wishing 
that every art class might have a copy of them placed in a con- 
spicuous place on its bulletin board. 


“The next day,” says Miss Keller, “the second day of 
sight, I should arise with the dawn and see the thrilling miracle 
by which night is transformed into day. I should behold with 
awe the magnificent panorama of light with which the sun 
awakens the sleeping earth. On this second day of sight, I 
should try to probe into the soul of man through his art. The 
things I knew through touch I should now see. More splendid 
still the whole magnificent world of painting would be opened 
to me, from the Italian Primitives, with their serene religious 
devotion, to the Moderns, with their feverish visions. I should 
look deep into the canvases of Raphael, Leonardo da Vinci, 
Titian, Rembrandt. I should want to feast my eyes upon the 
warm colors of Veronese, study the mysteries of El Greco, 
catch a new vision of Nature from Corot. Oh, there is so much 
rich meaning and beauty in the art of the ages, for you who 
have eyes to see! 


“Upon my short visit to this temple of art, the Metropoli- 
tan Museum, I should not be able to review a fraction of that 
great world of art, which is open to you. I should be able to 
get only a superficial impression. Artists tell me that for a 
deep and true appreciation of art one must educate the eye. 


a 








218 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


One must learn through experience to weigh the merits of line 
of composition, of form, and color. If I had eyes, how happily 
would I embark upon so fascinating a study! Yet I am told 
that to many who have eyes to see, tne world of art is a dark 
night, unexplored and unilluminated. 

“It would be with extreme reluctance that I should leave 
the Metropolitan Museum which contains the key to beauty, a 
beauty so neglected. Seeing persons do not need a Metropoli- 
tan to find this key to beauty. The same key lies waiting in 
smaller museums and in books on the shelves of even small li- 
braries. But naturally, in my limited time of imaginary sight, 
I should choose the place where the key unlocks the greatest 
treasures in the shortest time.” 


Exhibit (1) 

Beautiful textiles, Italy, America. 

A modern painting, Dewey Albinson. 

Some etchings, J. Chatwood Burton. 

A beautiful book, The Goldsmith of Florence. 
Nalique glass. 

A Mexican blown glass bottle with lovely rose, for line. 
A bulletin board on “Beauty,” Helen Keller’s “second 
day,” the theme. 


Second—“To DEVELOP GOOD TASTE, by helping the 
pupil to cultivate the habit of thoughtful consideration before 
making decisions which involve judgment and choice in the se- 
lection and arrangement of things intimately connected with 
his daily life. Art consciousness thus becomes a permanent, 
vital factor in his practical life, establishing standards of good 
taste and discrimination which will tend to make him a dy- 
namic force for good in his own community.” 


Concerning good taste, Joseph Wilseltier, State Supervisor 
of Art Education in Connecticut, writes, “It is difficult to 
change the tastes and habits of a people already grown up but 
it is relatively easy to inculcate desirable traits in the boys and 
girls who are to become the discriminating art consumers of 
the future. And it is necessary that this country have many 


oe 


IS ow gw 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 219 


high-grade consumers. Our prosperity depends in a measure 
upon our ability to develop a public taste that will demand the 


best that it can afford.” 
Exhibit (2)—Good and bad examples of each: 


Lamp shade. 
Bowl, plate and mug for children. 


Colored prints. 
Cheap glass. 
Flower containers. 


Third.—“‘To ENRICH LIFE AND TRAIN FOR LEISURE, 
by acquainting the pupil with the finest expressions of the 
past, so that his interest in the art and life of all countries and 
of all periods may be stimulated. This will contribute toward 
the development of a cultural background for the mass of pu- 
pils who in the future will become homemakers and buyers of 
art products, and will aid them to understand and to appreciate 
more fully the art of the present day, with its changes in fash- 


ion, decoration, and industry.” 


Quoting Mr. Wiseltier again, “To-day we have a situation 
which separates into a distinct class a small body of artists and 
designers from a large body of utilizers or consumers. Some 
who sense the importance of art and try to understand, look at 
fine buildings, sculpture, and paintings without knowing how 
to appreciate them. Without the fundamentals necessary for 
enjoyment and appreciation they get little or no esthetic and 
emotional reaction. They do not get pleasure from what they 
see, because they cannot appreciate a work of art in the man- 
ner that one enjoys the smell of flowers or the taste of food. 
The one kind of enjoyment is intellectual and esthetic; the 
other, physical and sensual. Yet art does not appeal to the 
The mind must be prepared beforehand, for it is 


a Sh = 


eye alone. 


the eye and mind working together that makes esthetic en- 
joyment possible. 

“Let us put it this way, we live in two worlds at the same 
time: a physical, material world in which we eat, sleep, work, 
dodge traffic, and make merry; and a spiritual world, created 











220 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


by men and women of imagination, poets, writers, musicians, 
and artists, which we enter only when we have the key to un- 
lock its doors. We must be able to tune in on this wonderland 
or the voices of the air reach us not. It is in this spiritual 
realm that we spend most of our leisure hours. Here we see 
the skies of this wondrous world through Turner, Vermeer, 
and Renoir; the shady nooks and little pools through Inness 
and Corot; its rivers and streams through Vincent, Homer, and 
Metcalf; and its immortal emperors and kings through Van 
Dyck, Holbein, and Velasquez. We can see its people live again 
in eternal youth in the paintings of Raphael and Reynolds; we 
catch a glimpse of peasant life through the genius of Mauve, 
Breton, and Millet. Here, then, is training for worthy use of 
leisure time. With the modern world clamoring for a six-hour 
day and a five-day week, it becomes increasingly necessary for 
boys and girls, the men and women of to-morrow, to learn how 
to use wisely and worthily this ever-increasing measure of lei- 
sure time.” 


Exhibit (3): 

Spencer stereopticon. 

Slides on sculpture, architecture, painting. 

Hand made slides. 

Color prints. 

Soap and wood carving and pictures of snow modeling 

by students. 

6. Weaving, block-printing, lamp shades, textiles, etc., by 
students. 

7. Charts and bulletin board on Mr. Wiseltier’s quotation. 


of. ON 


Fourth—“To GRATIFY THE DESIRE TO CREATE, by 
affording the pupil an opportunity to exercise his imagination 
through creative design, keeping alive his individuality and 
personality. The solving of these creative problems will lead 
to a recognition of the fundamentals of art structure and will 
quicken the pupil to the necessity of finding orderly, harmoni- 
ous, and useful expression for his thoughts and experiences. 
His effort to create beauty will strengthen his sensitiveness to 











a Se 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 221 


the appeal of the beautiful and bring him to the realization 
that good art, good character, and good citizenship are all gov- 
erned by the same guiding principles of organized beauty.” 


Here let us note that Mr. Grant does not refer to creative 
problems, back of which there are no art principles. 


At present there are systems in the U. S. where much em- 
phasis is being placed on creative art, creative art without a 
technique. 


An exhibition of such work is the most discouraging thing 
which those, vitally interested in teaching appreciation of the 
finer things of the past and present, can imagine. Not even 
neatness, the first principle of art, has been taught to these 
children. 


But, turning from such an exhibition, one does get com- 
fort from the following paragraphs by William H. Kilpatrick, 
Professor of Education, Teachers’ College, before the Eastern 
Arts Association, “As I look at you and ask what you conceive 
your tasks to be I wonder if it could be put under these heads: 


“First of all, to develop or aid or build or encourage (what- 
ever word is best to be used) the power and disposition to 
create. 


“Second, to teach an appropriate technique. 


“Third, to build or develop (again using the appropriate 
word) good taste in art, appreciation of art. 


“Let us think next of technique. This is a kind of revo- 
lutionary thing that I am saying, at least revolutionary in my 
circle of thinking. I am not so sure about yours. First of all, 
technique is a learning. You have to learn technique. We all 
agree to that. Then if I am right in what I have just said, 
technique is a creation, and then the boundary line between 
creation as ordinarily understood and technique has passed 
away, so that though you speak of creation and technique as if 
they were opposed to each other, they are not. They stand, 
perhaps, at different places on the scale, but they are both in- 
stances of creation and you don’t have much trouble in finding 











222 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


some children who cannot create, or who apparently cannot 
create enough to learn the technique. Others get it easily.” 


Exhibit (4): 

Work done by high-school students—portfolios, textiles, 
jewelry, pottery, block printing, contour drawing, 
water colors, etc. 


Fifth—“To ENCOURAGE TALENT, by discovering the 
gifted pupil and making sure that he receives real objective 
training under the stimulating guidance of sympathetic trained 
leadership; and by familiarizing him with what creative genius 
has done before him, so that he may be inspired to make the 
most of his natural ability, for the common good and for his 
own personal happiness.” 


Exhibit (5): 


Work of talented pupil, Florence Gray, a Denfeld high- 
school graduate and pupil of Lorado Taft. 


Finally, “Let us agree,” says Mr. Wiseltier, “that it is not 
our main purpose to produce artists, important as that may be. 
We are not teaching art for the sake of the few but for the 
benefit of the many. We are not teaching freehand drawing as 
such, so let us not call it that, but we are teaching art, art ex- 
pression, and art appreciation that will develop an art con- 
sciousness in the community, that will develop a sympatlietic 
understanding of creative effort, that will function in everyday 
living. Then will art cease to serve as a mere background to 
life, and be acknowledged as a necessary integral part of edu- 
cation, worthy of a prominent place in the curriculum of every 
school, college, and university.” 


Professor H. J. Smith of the School of Education of the 
University of Minnesota, read /ndustrial Art Objectives and 
Their Attainment. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


INDUSTRIAL ARTS OBJECTIVES AND THEIR 
ATTAINMENT 


HOMER J. SMITH, 
Professor of Industrial Education, 
University of Minnesota 


In the best single book that I have read in the past two 
years—The Epic of America, by James Truslow Adams, I 
marked the following statement: “To clear the muddle in 
which our education is at present, we shall obviously have to 
define our values. Unless we can agree on what the values of 
life are, we clearly can have no goal in education, and if we 
have no goal, the discussion of methods is merely futile.” It 
must be said with all good will that we in education are less in 
a muddle about our values and methods than are those who 
view us from afar. Yet it makes a fitting introduction to agree 
with Mr. Adams that unity of thought concerning aims is de- 
sirable in any movement. Rather universal acceptance of 
clearly defined goals in education as a whole or in any of its di- 
visions will condition the direction and extent of our progress. 
That you have invited representatives of three major special- 
ties to address you to-day and that the word objectives occurs 
in every title are pleasing evidences of your desires. We three 
are happy to comply with your request because such opportu- 
nities are rare and I am certain that you will not resent our 
common feeling that the need is greater than the call. 


From the beginning of the industrial arts movement aims 
have been stated in great number and in broad variety. The 
distinct purposes advanced through the years are more than 
one hundred and the resultant confusion has been augmented 
by the fact that these have commonly lain buried in discus- 
sions of equipment, management, and method. There were 
decades when you administrators were generous and patient, 
hopeful in a hazy sort of way that we were attempting some- 





Note: Mimeographed materials, in further explanation of certain parts 
of the paper, were distributed at the meeting. Professor Smith 
will mail these to others upon request. 



































224 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


thing worthy and that some day we might be able to point out 
clearly the meaning of it all. We used to go to some length in 
explaining what our courses had done. We made “claims” 
after the fact when you would have preferred aims prior to our 
action. To-day we preface our courses and even the teaching 
units within them with definite statements of purpose. We 
publish brief sets of objectives for subject field and for entire 
departments. We think this brevity and directness of state- 
ment accounts in large measure for the increasing acceptance 
of industrial arts as a part of the public program and for the 
mounting respect accorded our teachers and supervisors. We 
are eager that you should understand our professional whys 
and hows, anticipating your help in their attainment. 


I desire now to read Six Proposed Objectives, a set which 
has had currency in this state for almost ten years and which 
has done much to foster cooperation among all persons con- 
cerned. Each of the six statements is purposely brief and is 
followed by an explanation of slightly greater length. 


SIX PROPOSED OBJECTIVES 


(General Industrial Training, Industrial Arts, Manual 
Arts, etc.) 


1. TO DEVELOP SKILL IN THE USE OF COMMON TOOLS 


For more worthy home membership, avocational pur- 
poses, and general preliminary training. 


2. TO AFFORD INDUSTRIAL INFORMATION AND SO- 
CIAL INTELLIGENCE 
For a better understanding of the materials and proc- 
esses of manufacture, the economic necessity and social 
usefulness of skillful labor, and the conditions and prob- 
lems of industrial employment. 


3. TO FOSTER APPRECIATION OF GOOD MATERIALS 
AND WORKMANSHIP 

For intelligent and discriminating selection of manu- 

factured products for home and business consumptior 














Hebe ste 


et sleet 


aces aio 





eeuts 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 225 


and the proper valuation of substantial and beautiful 
constructions in the environment. 


4. TO FURTHER INTELLIGENT CHOICES OF LIFE OC-. 
CUPATIONS 
For wider knowledge of the requirements of industrial 
jobs and positions, for better understanding of individ- 
ual abilities and capacities, and for consciousness of the 
desirability of these two success factors being consid- 
ered together. 


5. TO INCULCATE WORTHY PERSONAL TRAITS ANI 
ATTITUDES 
For the building of habits of industry, initiative, re- 
sourcefulness, independence, exactness, economy, and 
cooperativeness. 


6. TO PROVIDE A MEASURE OF SPECIFIC OCCUPA- 
TIONAL TRAINING 
For advantageous entrance upon and progress in suita- 
ble lines of work, when conditions point to early assump- 
tion of the responsibilities of earning a living. 


(Let us read again merely the brief, first statements) 


(Let us next repeat the six introductory phrases—to de- 
velop—to afford—to foster—to further—to inculcate—to pro- 
vide. You will note the absence of expressions such as to do, 
to construct, to repair, to assemble, and the like.) 


Whatever the items in our standard lists of aims, there is 
one general concept which needs continual stress; namely, that 
industrial arts is a part of general education. The industrial 
arts group is not necessarily a selected one. In the most pro- 
gressive school systems it comprises all boys of certain grades 
and slopes off by election after the compulsory span. In cther 
systems, under free choice or curriculum advice, there is a ten- 
dency for the group reporting for these courses to be inferior 
in general intelligence to those who avoid the department. We 
must work toward the defeat of any degree of selection. We 
must strive for a thorough cross-section if not for one hundred 











226 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


per cent enrolment, each boy for at least a brief contact. We 
must stress our courses as worthy parts of the fundamental 
training of all boys. We must show that our subjects and 
methods make a contribution that is unique and that should be 
denied to none. And this privilege should be extended to the 
boys in private and parochial schools. If indutsrial arts is 
really a function of full development, we stand rebuked until 
every American boy has these advantages regardless of his 
school connections. Our slogan may well be: “Industrial arts 
for every American boy and trade or technical training for 
carefully selected boys in the numbers that can be placed.” 


Everyone should have some knowledge of the processes, 
the working conditions, and the employment possibilities of our 
industrial society. One’s education is not complete in these 
days without some understanding of the history and trends of 
manufacture and exchange. So many people are either di- 
rectly concerned or so clearly affected that industrial informa- 
tion and insights have become a necessity. 


No one will dispute the statement that industrial subjects 
have an extensive and interesting content. The course mate- 
rials in these fields are as definitely located and almost as well 
organized as are the materials of English, science, mathemat- 
ics, geography, and history. We often make the mistake of 
being content to keep boys busy in the shops making things 
and fixing things. We have permitted boys to assume that the 
work is done chiefly for the completion of the jobs and for the 
personal possession of the project. We have looked too stead- 
ily toward the annual exhibit which occasion is an institution of 
harm rather than of help to our cause. 


Our job as industrial arts teachers is largely an informa- 
tional one. We are not obligated to duplicate the processes of 
factories and other work places, but merely to sample them and 
to explain them. We are not attempting to produce craftsmen. 
We are hoping, rather, to give boys those experiences and those 
informations that are useful in average living and in any 
calling. We offer instruction to boys who will become lawyers, 
farmers, dentists, and store-keepers, as well as industrial work- 


men. 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 227 


In industrial arts work we are chiefly concerned with de- 
ferred values. We seek to interest, to inform, to inspire, and 
to guide. We bring still other subjects into the school life of 
the boy to play their parts in his development. We assume 
that the experiences of this special department will do for him 
or to him, as he grows, something different from and in addi- 
tion to what the formal or academic subjects can do. 


I feel certain that we are spending an undue portion of 
class time in manipulation and that, in such informational work 
as we attempt, we stress facts to the exclusion of enduring prin- 
ciples. Likewise, we are prone to neglect the histories of oc- 
cupations, the qualifications of workers, and the practical con- 
ditions of employment. We are failing to realize full explor- 
atory values because we omit or slight the knowledge elements 
for the sake of getting things done. We should encourage in- 
dustrial scholarship by teaching more during the period and by 
exacting more of the study time. We need to look upon our, 
courses as pseudo sciences with our shops and drafting rooms 
as laboratories. 


There is no law or rule to the effect that boys should enter 
a shop and go immediately to work. There ought to be a rule 
that they invariably seat themselves before the instructor to 
find what he may have planned in new and different procedure. 
Boys should not approach a class period with the feeling that 
the time is theirs for the advancement of their projects and 
jobs. Rather than to look askance at the instructor when he 
claims a portion of the hour, they should meet with under- 
standing that skills and product are incidental and that the pri- 
mary elements of the course will call more for brain than for 
brawn. You say they are there to work? Some of us deny it. 
We say they are there to learn and that manipulation alone 
will not insure a proper return on the space, time, and money 
allotted. A part of each week or even of each class hour should 
be given to group work of really informative kind. There 
should be textbooks, recitations, assigned readings, home work, 
notebooks, examinations, and failures in these subjects as in 
all others. There should be field trips, on schedule, to manu- 
facturing plants, stores, buildings in construction, road-making 











228 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


sites, and wherever else people may be seen at work and where 
better notions can be had of the skill and ingenuity of man. 

A considerable amount of information must be imparted 
about basic raw materials, their places of origin, their natural 
states, their working properties, and their finished uses. By 
this means boys become beiter acquainted with the environ- 
ment and have a better sense of what men do. They draw a lit- 
tle closer to appropriate occupational selection because they 
discover whether they have abilities and interests in the me- 
chanical and technical fields. Young, active boys want to make 
things and fix things, of course, but they are much more in- 
terested in learning. They like that industrial teacher best 
who broadens them most. They will drop their tools to toy 
with a new idea. Any industrial teacher who assumes that 
boys can learn about industry through hand and machine work 
alone does not have full vision of his task. Hf, in addition, he 
assumes that there is nothing’ to be learned except in his pres- 
“ence or from his own meagre experience, we may say that he 
has never learned to teach. 


In the six-grade elementary school there is no need of spe- 
cially trained industrial teachers nor of special shops with tools 
and materials. The regular classrom teachers, in connection 
with the standard subjects, the activities room and the like 
can give us our beginning. ‘They can encourage self-expression 
of manual type. They can insure acquaintance with the rudi- 
ments of work life and work relationships. They can see that 
children gain notions of service and sense the interdependence 
of men and of employments. It will suffice if elementary- 
school pupils learn that industry is important, that it is greatly 
diversified, that men work so that they and others may live, 
that sooner or later each child of to-day must play his part in 
the labor that is life. 


The industrial work of the junior high-school is best con- 
ceived as informational and exploratory. Here we begin the 
formal teaching of industrial processes and plans. Special 
teachers are engaged and equipments provided representative 
of such common fields as woodwork, drawing, metal work, 
printing, electricity, and auto mechanics. There is no inten- 





























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 229 


tion of producing craftsmen and little importance attaches to 
the projects and jobs done by boys. These pieces of work are 
carefully selected by instructors who have been trained in an- 
alysis and course organization. Good teachers assure them- 
selves that all appropriate doing and knowing units are in- 
cluded in each course and that they are given progressive ar- 
rangement. (See report of the American Vocational Associa- 
tion Committee on Standards in Industrial Arts. Send fifteen 
cents in stamps to Mr. C. M. Miller, State Director of Voca- 
tional Education, Topeka, Kansas.) 


We need to draw a little closer together on the question of 
what courses should be offered in schools of differing size, in 
communities of varying type, and at the several levels within 
a school system. For the upper grades and junior high-school 
I see no reason why we should not all employ the same few sub- 
jects. We would seem to have need in these beginning years 
for identically named courses, perhaps six of them, each a se- 
mester in length. They would need to be well chosen to pre- 
sent the geography, the transportation, the manufacture, and 
the ultimate uses of certain raw materials. They would need 
to be the best few subjects with which to picture broad classes 
of industrial occupations and the highly variable conditions 
under which industrial work is done. The chief aims at this 
level are physical coordination, industrial intelligence, and a 
start in the direction of occupational choice. To attempt to 
match the community type and need at this level is to deny the 
major purpose of the junior high-school. 


Beyond this junior period, I should desire that the depart- 
ment offer an even larger and broader set of courses than is 
now common. At this higher or high-school level there should 
be more diversity of offering, more latitude of choice, and more 
intensity of treatment. We look upon the senior school as a 
preparatory institution. Some students are prepared for col- 
leges and universities but a much greater number are presum- 
ably made ready for immediate entrance to a working world. 
Both of these groups have equal rights to the courses which 
will best fit them for the experiences and the demands in view. 
Industrial courses should be compulsory for all boys in the jun- 





230 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ior school but thoroughly elective in the senior unit. Students, 
under counsel, should elect whether they will take any, which 
ones, when, whether in scatter or concentration,—all, of 
course, in recognition of any clear prerequisites which may 
have been defined. 


Some of these courses should afford specific preparation 
for engineering or for industrial teaching. Other courses 
should be based upon the local industries, should be truly vo- 
cational in character, and should lead to placement within the 
community. There must be increased provision for vocational 
education, broadly interpreted, in the offering of the secon- 
dary-school. No agency other than the school may be sup- 
posed to meet full requirements in this respect for the individ- 
ual and for society. No institutional type other than the high- 
school can be sufficiently cosmopolitan and universal to aitain 
the measure of such training that will be demanded. Voca- 
tional education to be adequate, must be wide-spread, varied, 
and democratic. The industrial arts work of the high-school 
should tend to the highly practical. One of our chief needs 
just now is to make the high-schools so democratic and so at- 
tractive that young people will be kept longer out of competi- 
tion with their elders. 


In the upper grades and junior period we may employ 
rather standard operations, exercises, projects, jobs, and prob- 
lems. There are certain fundamental skills, informations, ap- 
preciations, and attitudes which we want all boys to acquire 
and which can be embodied in and built around some few se- 
lected assignments. There must be, cf course, some matching 
of individual, seasonal, and immediate interests, but on the 
whole the instruction may well go forward along the same lines 
for all. But for the older boys, with these elementary things 
attained, we must turn to other motives and use other means. 
The work must be planned to teach cooperative effort, the use 
of jigs and the duplication of parts, the routing of work in 
process, the likelihood of accident, the monotony of specializa- 
tion, the economy of materials, and the value of time. These 
are aims which must be realized if education means developing 
and if industrial subjects are to make a distinct contribution. 































































221 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


These are things that can be taught in the school shops with 
more clarity and more certainty than anywhere else in the 
system. 


We admit that there must continue to be much individual 
work upon simple, single projects but we insist that there must 
also be combination projects, semi-production jobs, and coop- 
erative assignments. There must be opportunity for student 
formanship and other devices for the building of responsibility. 
There must be some plan for acquainting boys with how to 
get along with those both above and beneath in the line organ- 
ization of the work-world. There must be coordination among 
the industrial subjects, correlation with the clearly academic 
branches, assistance in the extra-curricula load of the school, 
and a fine functional relation with the department of art. 


The present emphasis upon personal instruction and the 
use of written directive materials has greatly strengthened our 
content. We are improving our courses but, at the same time, 
experiencing a slump in method. Students are sensitive to good 
methods. Good method is even more important than good con- 
tent, and variety in class conduct is the essence of good 
method. The whole-hearted acceptance of the fact of individ- 
ual differences does not force a teacher to a method or a plan 
wholly or strongly individual. Indeed, detailed study of stu- 
dents and of groups calls for the greatest possible variety in 
method, lest the learning ways of some be left unmatched in 
the process of teaching. The belief that students differ is not 
logically followed by the decision to instruct them all alike, 
even through a method individual in kind. 


The first-class industrial arts teacher is one who is com- 
mitted to and trained for group presentation and who knows 
enough about the individual method to supplement his group 
attempts. He knows how to make use of the textvook plan, 
how to lecture, and how to demonstrate. The old fashioned 
question-and-answer recitation is not entirely outside his abili- 
ties. He knows how to deal with a whole class, or a part of it, 
or one lone member of it and all to good effect. He knows how 
to assign library and home work, not omitting their comple- 








232 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ment of suggestions on how to proceed to study. In short, he 
is skillful in several types of presentation. He knows how to 
get and to control the student activity necessary for learning 
and retention. He possesses abilities in the field of discipline, 
departmental management, and general whole-school helpful- 
ness. These abilities and viewpoints cannot be acquired quick- 
ly. They are best gained through long-continued residence in 
institutions where teachers are prepared, not in trade work 
where product and dividends are paramount. We need some 
practical experience in the background of some of our teachers 
but the major call is for training more in keeping with the 
avowed purposes of industrial arts instruction. 


In conclusion let me reaffirm that these courses should be 
a constant for all boys in some amount, that the emphasis 
should be upon the informational and social aspects of the 
work rather than upon the economic, and that a teacher of fine 
preparation is much to be preferred to a thorough, trade-like 
equipment. We are responsible for imparting skills, informa- 
tions, appreciations, and attitudes. Industrial credit in a boy’s 
record have come to mean that he knows something which 
other boys have missed and that this something is important 
in a practical world of increasing difficulty. Many junior and 
senior high-school subjects now required or strongly encour- 
aged are of comparatively little importance. They cannot so 
clearly argue competence in the fulfillment of secondary pur- 
poses. In the early stages let us stress acquaintance and self- 
expression; a little later, the elementary processes and condi- 
tions of numerous employment fields; and later still, a deeper 
delving’ of a technical sort in the realm of a reasonable choice. 
And let us think of it all as a part, a most necessary part, of 
the general education of our youth. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


GROUP NO. 3 


The Junior-College Section met in the East Room with 
Alden John Burton, Principal of West High-School, of Des 
Moines, in the chair. 


Professor W. W. Carpenter of the University of Missouri, 
presented his paper, Recent Developments in Junior-College 
Administration. 


RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN JUNIOR COLLEGE 
| ADMINISTRATION 


W. W. CARPENTER, 
Professor of Education, 
University of Missouri. 


Junior Colleges come and go but the total number and the 
total enrollment are rapidly increasing. The net increase in 
the number of names appearing in the 1932 junior college di- 
rectory was 33. In 1933 the junior college directory showed a 
net increase of 24 names. While these figures do indicate sub- 
stantial gains during this period of depression, yet they do not 
tell the whole story. 


The 1932 junior college directory included the names of 
55 junior colleges which did not appear in the 1931 directory. 
Of this number, 10 were public colleges and 45 were private 
colleges. On the other hand, however, there were 22 colleges 
listed in 1931 which did not appear in 1932; four of these col- 
leges were public and 18 were private. The net increase in the 
number of junior colleges appearing in 1932 was therefore 33.1 


Although the 1933 directory showed a total of 24 more 
junior colleges than the 1932 directory, the names of 21 junior 
colleges that appeared in 1932 did not appear in 1933 and 45 
names in the 1933 directory did not appear in the 1932 direc- 
tory. Of the 21 names which appeared in 1932, but did not 





1W. C. Eells, “Junior College Growth,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Feb. 
1932), Vol. II, p. 291. ; 

































234 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


appear in 1933, four were public and 17 were private. Of the 
45 names appearing in 1933 which did not appear in 1932, 10 
were public and 35 were private.” 


Such a vast array of changes surely deserves some ex- 
planation. New names may appear in the directory because of 
a change in the organization of the college which is often ac- 
companied by a change in name. Colleges that have been in 
existence for some time may have reported to the secretary 
for the first time. Four year colleges may have been reduced 
to junior colleges. New colleges may have been formed which 
report promptly to the secretary. It does seem quite signifi- 
cant that for the two year period the number of new names ap- 
pearing should total 100. 

Names that have once appeared may fail to appear again 
when the college closes as an educational institution or when 
a college department of a secondary-school system is elimin- 
ated. Some names no longer appear because of the addition of 
senior college work. During this same two-year period a total 
of 43 names of colleges were withdrawn from the directories. 


Changes in Administrative Head.—A comparison of the 
1931 and 1932 directories indicated a change in the administra- 
tive head of 15 per cent of the colleges. For the public college 
this totaled 23 per cent and for the private college 10 per cent. 
A comparison of the names of administrators of junior colleges 
in the 1932 and 1933 directories show a change in only 12 per 
cent of the colleges. This figure is the same for public junior 
colleges and private junior colleges. 

The fact that the percentage of change in the admin- 
istrative head lowered from 15 per cent in 1932 to 12 per cent 
in 1933 seems quite significant. It would indicate growing sta- 
bility in the face of the depression. The marked drop in the 
per cent of change in the administrative heads of public junior 
colleges is quite noticeable. 





2W. C. Eells, “Junior College Growth,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Feb. 


1933), Vol. III, p. 279. 
3W. C. Eells, “Junior College Growth,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Feb. 


1932), Vol. IT, pp. 291-292. 
4W. C. Eells, “Junior College Growth,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Feb. 


1933), Vol, III, p. 280. 
































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 235 


Changes in Junior College Organization—A comparisoii 
of the directories of 1932 and 1933 also indicated that the two 
year organization is growing in popularity, the number of jun- 
ior colleges organized on a two year basis in 1932 was 192 while 
in 1933 the number had increased to 219. The increase in the 
two year college is quite noticeable for the private college, ris- 
ing from 71 in 1932 to 97 in 1933. The 4-2 organization seems 
to have lost some ground since there were 147 in 1932 and 142 
in 1933. The six year organization increased from 29 to 33, 
the four year organization decreased from 29 to 28 and the 2-2 
organization increased from 21 to 23. Changes in other types 
of organization were not large as shown by table I. 


Table I. 


CHANGES IN JUNIOR COLLEGE ORGANIZATION 
(Number of Junior Colleges of Different Types of Organiza- 









































tion) 5 
comes 1982 1933 

Public _—_—~Private Total Public Private -—-Total 

1 3 1 4 2 1 3 

2 121 71 192 122 97 219 

3 1 1 

4 9 20 29 8 20 28 

5 2 2 

6 3 26 29 8 25 33 
2-2 5 16 21 8 15 23 
4-2 30 117 147 32 110 142 
3-3 1 1 1 1 
3-2 5 2 7 4 6 10 
1-2 1 1 1 1 
4-1 1 1 























5Only those colleges listed which indicated an organization. Adapted 
from Doak S. Campbell, Directory of the Junior College, 1932,” The Jr. 
Col. Journa! (Jan. 1932), Vol. II, pp. 235-248 and Doak S. Campbell, 
“Directory of the Junior College, 1933,” The J. Col. Journal (Jan. 1933), 
Vol. III, pp. 217-230. 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


236 
The changes in organization actually occurring are prob- 
ably greater than the above statements would indicate. The 
information in table I includes all junior colleges which indi- 
cated an organization for the year in question, but when it is 
recalled that 21 names appeared in 1932 that did not appear in 
1933 and that 45 names appeared in 1933 that did not appear 
in 1932 it is realized that the total gross number of changes 
made may have been great. A study of colleges which fur- 
nished information for both vears showed that 22 colleges that 
indicated a 4-2 organization in 1932 indicated a two year organ- 
ization in 1933 and 11 colleges that indicated a two year or- 
ganization in 1932 indicated a 4-2 organization in 1933. 


Universities Recognize a Difference in the Work of the 
Lower Two Years and the Upper Two Years.—Several of our 
universities recognize the difference in the work of their two 
lower years and that of the upper two years of their four year 
courses by using the terms lower division and upper division. 
A recent report from the University of Utah indicates that, 

“Beginning with the autumn quarter, 1932, all 
freshmen enrolling in the University of Utah, except 
those entering the School of Mines and Engineering, 

will register in a new administrative unit to be known 

as the lower division of the university. It is contem- 

plated that in 1933, or later, the lower division will 

be extended to include the sophomores as well as the 

freshmen. This reorganization comes as the result of 

much discussion and deliberation by the faculty and 

by the board of regents. Upon the satisfactory com- 

pietion of two years of approved work the student will 

be awarded a certificate of graduation from the lower 

division. This certificate may or may not admit the 

holder to the upper-division schools, depending upon 

the degree of excellence of his work and the courses 

which he has pursued.’ 


This statement gives the impression that the University 
of Utah not only recognizes that there is a difference between 





6“Utah Lower Division,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. 
III, p. 102. 




















ne 





































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 237 


the upper and lower divisions but also that the lower division 
of a university may have a function in addition to preparing 
students for the upper two years. 

The new junior college of the University of Minnesota, 
which opened this year with several hundred students of all 
grades of ability from high to low also indicates that univer- 
sities can become interested in the students who are not pre- 
paring to go on as is indicated by the quotation which follows: 


“The plan of the Junior College calls for a two- 
year rounded education for that half of the Univer- 
sity of Minnesota students who do not at present 
graduate from a four-year or longer course of study.’”” 


The Teachers College and the Junior College— 

“And now it appears that the teachers colleges 
have found a use for this popular expression, ‘junior 
college’.... 


“Within the last two decades the expression jun- 
ior college has been adopted by many of the regular 
four-year teachers colleges .... 


“By 1930 a total of thirteen institutions, or ap- 
proximately 20 per cent of those included in the 
study, had given the name junior college to the work 
of the first two years.... 


“This study reveals the fact that there is a grow- 
ing tendency on the part of state teachers colleges, 
either consciously or otherwise, to become aware of 
the existence of the junior college and accept it in 
name, if not as an institution with separate and dis- 
tinct functions.’’® 


There seems to be a rather unusual movement, probably 
as a result of the depression, to advocate reducing teachers col- 
leges to junior colleges. The staff appointed to survey the 
higher-education program of the state of North Carolina rec- 





7University of Minnesota,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. 


III, p. 104. 
80. G. Jamison, “Developing Junior College Consciouness,” The 


Jr. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. III, pp. 81-83. 











238 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ommended that two teacher training institutions be reduced 
to junior colleges.? The staff appointed to make a study of the 
government of the state of Texas recommended that four 
teachers colleges be made junior colleges and to become 
branches of the University of Texas. An alternate plan offered 
was for the state to abandon the institutions and to consider 
the possibility of creating around eacn a junior college district 
of considerable territory.'° A large number of the people of 
Oregon seem dissatisfied with the reorganization of their in- 
stitutions of higher education. Among the plans that have 
been suggested for consideration is the abandonment of one 
normal school and converting’ the others into junior colleges." 
The survey of higher education in Oregon recommended that 
junior college work be offered in two of the normal schools.!2 


Millsaps Adds Another College to Its System.—There are 
in operation both public and private branch junior colleges. 
The “Millsaps-Whitworth Collegiate System’, made up of two 
Methodist colleges in Mississippi, has added another branch to 
its sytsem, as the following indicates: 

“Grenada College, Grenada, Mississippi, which 

has been a four-year college for women since the mid- 

dle of the last century, has abandoned its upper two 

years of work and joined with Whitworth and Mill- 

saps colleges in Mississippi in what will be known as 

the Millsaps System of Colleges. Grenada now joins 

with Whitworth in doing junior college work exclu- 

sively, students who desire to go farther then trans- 
ferring to Millsaps.” 


Suggested Changes in California.—The report of the sur- 
vey of higher education in California sponsored by the Carne- 





“The Reporter,” The Journal of Higher Education (Jan. 1933), 


Vol. IV, p. 37. 5 
10“Kducation, Teachers Colleges,” Part X of The Government of 


the State of Texas (Dec. 15, 1932), pp. 1-2. 
11“The Reporter,” The Journal of Higher Education (Jan. 1933), 


Vol. IV, p. 39. 
12“Oregon Development,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Dec. 1932), Vol. 


III, p. 165. 
13Joins Millsaps System,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. 


III, p. 102. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 239 


gie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching makes very 
significant recommendations concerning the junior college. 
The report will not be discussed in detail but the following rec- 
ommendations will be given: 


“.... that the junior college should be recognized 
as the completion unit of free, tax-supported, public 
education; that graduation from it should be marked 
by the title of ‘Associate in Arts’; that the curriculum 
should be broadened especially along the lines of ‘so- 
cial intelligence’ and adult education; that increased 
emphasis should be placed upon better counseling and 
guidance; that education of freshman and sophomore 
grades, whether given in junior colleges, in teachers’ 
colleges, or in the university, should be upon the same 
basis, as far as possible, especially as regards prep- 
aration of instructors and financial support; and that 
under present conditions the development of four- 
year, independent, regional colleges from junior col- 
leges should not be permitted.’’4 


The above report has created a great deal of discussion 
both favorable and unfavorable in California and throughout 
the United States, as indicated by the recent literature. Those 
interested in the development of the junior college idea will 
await with a great deal of interest the changes in the organi- 
zation and administration of the junior colleges of California 
and the extent to which they comply with the recommenda- 
tions of the survey staff. 


The Staff of the United States Survey of Secondary Edu- 
cation carried on the following project in California: 


“Seven counties in California were studied with 
a view to discovering the relations between present 
Union High-School District organization and the 
progress of educational reorganization, as it relates to 


14W. C. Eells, “State Higher Education in California,” The Jr. Col. 
Journal (Oct. 1932), Vol. III, p. 31. 








240 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


vertical articulation of the units of the school sys- 
tem,’’15 


The counties were tentatively divided into “superintend- 
ency areas”, which would give increased opportunities for at 
least 85% of the children and would allow reorganization on 
the 6-3-3-2, 6-6-2, or 6-4-4 plan; there would be unified as 
against dual control, and equalization of burden. The commis- 
sion suggested that regional junior colleges with larger areas 
of administration be considered. 

Another study of the junior college situation in California 
by Walter would care for “97% of the high-school population” 
and would have available in the districts “97% of the assessed 
valuation of the state” without increasing the number of jun- 
ior colleges.'6 Walter’s report was submitted to the Carnegie 


Commission. 


The Present Organization in Oklahoma Is Questioned.—A 
report of a survey of one of the state supported junior colleges 
of Oklahoma has the following to say: 

“... that state-supported junior colleges can 
never function successfully as four- or six-year insti- 
tutions, and that vocational schools tend to up-grade 
toward professional levels, vocational courses losing 
caste and atrophying before the superior prestige of 
academic subjects; for in Oklahoma these institutions 
tend toward two years of traditional college work, 
while serving a few over-age students and a diminish- 
ing number of students from communities offering 
little high-school education.”!7 


That there is some dissatisfaction in Oklahoma is also re- 
vealed by the following abstract of a letter from the State Su- 
perintendent of Schools of Oklahoma: 





15W. M. Proctor, “The Relation of Larger Administrative Units to 
Tax Burdens and Educational Ffficienev.” Cal. Quarterly of Secondary 


Education (June, 1932), Vol. VII, pp. 379-383. 
164, Walter. “A Proposed Svstem of Junior Colleges for the State 


of California.” Cal. Quarterly of Secondary Education (Oct. 1932), Vol. 


VIII, ov. 68-77. 
17H. G. Bennett and S. Scroggs. “The Junior College Idea in Okla- 


homa,” The J“. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. III, p. 77. 
































nse 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


“There has been some agitation for the estab- 
lishment of junior college districts which would make 
the present state junior college iocal institutions in- 
stead of state supported. Some such law may be pro- 
posed at the forthcoming’ session of the legislature. 


“There is also considerable agitation for the abol- 
ishment of the present state junior colleges.’’!’ 


A Plan Suggested for New Jersey.—“Recommendations to 
the New Jersey State Legislature have been submitted by the 
Board of Regents of Rutgers University that a State Univer- 
sity be established to embrace all public education. The pro- 
posed university will consist of junior colleges, college of lib- 
eral arts, technical schools, professional schools, and at some 
future time normal schools and teachers’ colleges.”’! 


Prospect Not Bright in New York.—“About ten of our 
private secondary-schools would like to establish junior col- 
lege departments, but our rules and regulations state that ‘a 
junior college must have a minimum endowment of at least 
$250,000’ and the Education Law states that ‘no individual, as- 
sociation or institution may use the term “college” until writ- 
ten permission to do so has been granted by the Board of Re- 
gents.’ ... . Under the circumstances, the present picture in 
this state is not bright for the establishment of either pub- 
lic or private junior college within the next five-year period.”?° 


Kansas City, Joliet, Tulsa and Stephens.—A mong the very 
interesting and valuable experiments being conducted by the 
junior colleges are those at Kansas City, Missouri; Joliet, Illi- 
nois; Tulsa, Oklahonia; and Stephens College, Columbia, Mis- 
souri. 

“The (Kansas City) experiment seeks to shorten 

the period usually devoted to the work of the high- 

school and the junior college by one year. The plan 





18P-rsonal letter from the State Suverintendent of Public Instruc- 
tion, Oklahoma, under date of December 15, 1932. 

19%“New Jersey Plans,” The Jr. Col. Journal (Nov. 1932), Vol. III, 
p. 102. 

20Personal letter from The State Education Department of The 
University of the State of New York, under date of January 3, 1933. 











242 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


involves the elimination of duplications, the omission 
of materials that seem irrelevant, and the improving 
of techniques both in teaching and in study.’’?! 


The first class under the new plan will graduate in 1933. 
The Universities of Missouri and Kansas have agreed to co- 
operate with the experiment by admitting the graduates of the 
new plan with junior standing.22 


The North Central Association Committee appointed to 
inspect the Joliet Junior College Experiment recommended 
that the experiment be continued and extended to other sub- 
ject fields than chemistry and history.23 The committee ap- 
pointed to inspect the Tulsa experiment recommended that the 
experiment be continued. The Tulsa experiment is attempting 
to do 14 years’ work in 12. These two experiments promise to 
be of far-reaching importance from the standpoint of school 
administration. 


The Stephens College report is as follows: 


“As a result of five years’ experimentation at 
Stephens College, we are quite certain that with the 
students who are enrolled with us and under the con- 
ditions and limitations which we studied the problem 
there is no justification for the arbitrary line of de- 
marcation between senior high-school and junior col- 
lege.’’24 


As a result of this experiment the University of Chicago, 
the University of Minnesota, the Greeley Teachers College, and 
probably other universities and colleges have agreed to admit 
for a period of five years the graduates of Stephens to junior 
standing upon the recommendations of the Stephens College 
faculty, waiving normal entrance and freshman and sophomore 
requirements. Dr. Wood says of the plan: 





21“Report on Institutional Experiments,” North Central Assoc. 
Quarterly (Sept. 1932), Vol. VII, pp. 172-184. 

22Personal letters from Office of the Registrar of University of 
Kansas and from the Registrar of the University of Missouri. 

23“Report on Institutional Experiments,” North Central Assoc. 
Quarterly (Sept. 1932), Vol. VII, pp. 172-184. 

24Loc. cit. 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


“It will enable us to continue into the upper divi- 
sion courses our experiment of admitting students 
into college courses directly from sophomore and jun- 
ior high-school classes.”’25 


The High-School Postgraduate Problem.—The problems of 
the high-school postgraduate are closely related to the prob- 
lems of the junior college. In many instances the high-school 
postgraduate group has formed the nucleus for a new junior 
college. The number of postgraduates in our high-schools has 
been increasing over a series of years. The importance of the 
problem is indicated by the fact that one student used for the 
title of his doctorial dissertation, Educational Opportunities 
Provided for Postgraduate Students in Public High-Schools.?6 


The growth of postgraduate enrollment in the high-school 
is indicated by the following table.27 


Growth of Postgraduate Enrollment in Public High-Schools 








YEAR Postgraduate Enrollment 
ec iconinten odie hinabieicenncsiiaumavaaialia 7,986* 
SD i ciccctccalsistdliniabs ' en .. 9,101* 
I wisecnicnisivcsictsknisissassssintesnihaniininicstadtiaaiaiihaigaaanaa 8,492* 
IIE iiinccovisncinsitesasicscenichetibiciniessiiieenioaiemnatiiatebaaaiaaal 17,319* 
IID ivtans<oisnin-anitussecbnadesncinniadatiinjelniidaiinensvnesitaiimmti 18,783* 
TEED iccisrissnincattiahcomecnaiiaiictantimaimanienminiiiiaiaas 29,2257 





October 1932—“The number of postgraduates in high-school 
has increased 800 per cent in the last 10 years.”8 


The situation is clearly described in the following quota- 
tion: 


“Without jobs and without money, thousands of 
high-school graduates have returned to school. The 





25Letter from President James M. Wood, President Stephens Col- 
lege, Columbia, Missouri. 

26E. W. Jacobsen, “Educational Opportunities Provided for Post- 
graduate Students in Public High-Schools,” Contributions to Education, 
No. 528, Teachers College, Columbia University, 1932. 
27Adapted from Jacobsen, p. 5. 
*U. S. Office of Education Bulletins. 
+Based on Jacobsen. 























a 








244 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


army of unemployed graduates knocking at the high- 
school door numbers, it is estimated, 100,000.”2° 


Jacobsen suggests three ways of handling the postgradu- 
ate problem. His third suggestion follows: 


“The third and most satisfactory solution to this 
problem, from the point of view of the postgraduate 
student, would be for one high-school in a given area 
to assume the responsibility for giving an appropriate 
program for the postgraduate students of all the 
high-schools in this area... . 


“The school selected to perform this function 
would give academic subjects on a level which would 
be recognized and for which credit would be given by 
colleges and universities as is now the situation with 
the better junior colleges. It would provide opportu- 
nities for exploration in professional and semi-pro- 
fessional fields.”*° 


The administrator of the school established according to 
the above quotation will be writing to our secretary before the 
end of a year requesting that his school be included in the next 
junior college directory. 


Is this situation only temporary or may we expect it to 
continue for some time or even indefinitely? In the first place, 
no one knows how long the depression will last. Next, when 
conditions do improve can all unemployed be absorbed into in- 
dustry? Some writers indicate that because of the develop- 
ment of machinery that there would now be room for only 50 
per cent of the unemployed if our factories were to reopen at 
the 1929 peak production.*! At any rate, it seems safe to say 
that the number of high-school postgraduates will not appre- 
ciably decrease in the next few years. The presence of large 
numbers of such students offers a real challenge to our school 





28Rain Checks on Diplomas,” School Life (Oct. 1932), Vol. XVIII, 
p. 29. 

29Loc. cit. 

30Jacobsen, p. 72. 

31W. W. Parrish, “Technocracy’s Question,” The New Outlook (Dec. 
1932), Vol. 161, pp. 13-17. 














(nea 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 245 


systems. Can work be organized for them that will not only 
keep them off the streets and employed but also that will bet- 
ter equip them for service? The problems confronting those 
dealing with the high-school postgraduate are largely those 
being successfully handled by our junior colleges. The junior 
college may be called upon to make many an investigation and 
many a contribution to school reorganization and adjustment 
during the period of this crisis. 


Professor D. S. Campbell of George Peabody College for 
Teachers, Nashville, Tennessee, presented his material, an ab- 
stract of which is below: 


RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN INSTRUCTION AT 
THE JUNIOR COLLEGE LEVEL 


By DOAK S. CAMPBELL, 
George Peabody College, 
Nashville, Tennessee. 


One of the earliest claims made for the junior college, and 
one that has persisted throughout its history is that it pro- 
vides superior instruction for students of junior college rank. 
Until comparatively recent times, however, the literature re- 
lating to the junior college has taken little account of instruc- 
tion. Through the greater part of its history the junior col- 
lege has had to concern itself primarily with finding its place 
in the administrative scheme and establishing its claim to re- 
spectability by meeting the standards of various accrediting 
agencies. The early literature is filled with discussions of ad- 
ministrative relationships, most of which relate to standards 
for accreditation. 


More recently, however, since the junior college has come 
to be accepted as a definite unit in our educational system, at- 
tention is being focused upon the educational program, both 
from the standpoint of the materials included in the courses 
of study and the quality of teaching. 


Efforts to improve instruction at the junior college level 
are being prosecuted as vigorously in four-year colleges and 








246 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


universities as in separate junior colleges. In fact, a few of 
our large universities have definitely assumed the lead in this 
improvement. Special mention should be made of the work 
that is being done in the University of Minnesota, University 
of Wisconsin and University of Chicago. Much has been writ- 
ten about the work in these institutions, and reports of prog- 
ress are promised as further developments occur. Hence no 
specific references are included in this report. 


The literature of the junior college discloses that the fol- 
lowing means are being employed in efforts to improve instruc- 
tion at the junior college level. These are not mutually ex- 
clusive, and some of them are capable of considerable expan- 


sion and subdivision. 


1. Supervision —This is usually under the direction of 
a dean or director of instruction and includes a visitation of 
classes, conferences with instructors or groups of instructors, 
and suggestions for improvement. In many cases the super- 
visors make suggestions only when requested by teachers to 


do so. 


2. Personal Organization and Guidance.—This includes 
a wide variety of practices which endeavor to improve in- 
struction by adjusting the student to tasks for which he is 
properly suited. This practice has been widely extended dur- 
ing the past three or four years. 


3. Professional Study Groups Among Faculty Members. 
—This includes a number of activities related to in-service 
training of junior college teachers. Study groups cover a 
wide variety of subjects, not necessarily related directly to 
teaching. There are evidences that the professional growth 
thus accomplished has resulted in improved instruction. In 
several junior colleges these study groups have supplanted the 
traditional faculty meetings. 


4. Interclass Visitation. This is frequently practiced in 
institutions whose faculties are large enough to have a num- 
ber of teachers teaching the same subject. Such visitation is 
usually stimulated by the dean or director of instruction. 





Keoki a 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 247 

5. Interschool Visitation —This is rarely practiced, due 
to the heavy expense involved. There are instances in which 
institutions located near each other find this relationship very 
stimulating. 

6. Study and Revision of Curriculum.—This takes a 
number of forms and involves a large variety of activities. 
Most frequently the study of aims of education at the junior 
college level appears to react immediately upon the improve- 
ment of instruction. 


7. Testing and Examination Program.—This involves 
numerous types of activities, including comprehensive exam- 
ination by visiting professors and cooperative testing services. 


8. Administrative Organization—lIn a few instances the 
peculiar type of administrative organization appears to con- 
tribute directly to the improvement of instruction. For ex- 
ample, some junior colleges tend to relieve the dean of ad- 
ministrative details and permit him to devote his entire time 
to the instructional program. A few schools have added an 
official known as director of instruction or dean of instruc- 
tion. Also such organization as the 6-4-4 plan, which tends to 
produce a unified program through four years, appears to 
show improvement in instruction. 

9. Experimentation, both with respect to methods of 
teaching and also the materials of instruction, grade place- 
ment, and time allotments. 


Professor William Martin Proctor of Stanford Univer- 
sity read his paper entitled How the Six-four-four Plan Is 
Working in Three California Communities. 


HOW THE SIX-FOUR-FOUR PLAN IS WORKING 
IN THREE CALIFORNIA COMMUNITIES 
WILLIAM MARTIN PROCTOR, 

Stanford University. 


The 6-4-4 type of organization is well enough understood 
by the members of this association not to need preliminary 








248 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


discussion as to theory I shall therefore proceed at once to 
describe the practical applications of the plan in three Cali- 
fornia communities: Pasadena, a residential city of 80,000 peo- 
ple, where the plan is in its fifth year of complete operation; 
Ventura, a city of 15,000 plus eight or nine rural elementary 
districts, where it is now in its third year of operation; and 
Compton, a surburban area between Los Angeles ard Long 
Beach of about 50,000 population, where it is in its first year 
of operation. These three centers afford an excellent oppor- 
tunity to study the 6-4-4 type of administrative organization 
under differing financial, social, and educational backgrounds 
and to discover whether the plan has elements of strength 
that should recommend it to other communities or whether 
it is just another educational pipe-dream. 


During the academic year 1931-1932 the writer was on 
leave from Stanford University and was employed by the 
Board of Education of Pasadena to conduct a series of re- 
search studies into the working of the Pasadena project after 
four years of operation. He was also retained as consultant 
by Ventura in matters of curriculum reorganization, and spent 
one day each month for ten months working with the public 
school teachers and administrators of that city. He was like- 
wise in a position to make a study of the Compton situation 
where they were in process of making the transfer to the 
6-4-4 basis of operation which became an accomplished fact 
in September 1932. 


In such a brief presentation it is difficult to know on 
which features of the various projects to report. Perhaps it 
will be best to discuss each unit separately, taking up the 
operation first of the four year junior high-school and sec- 
ond the operation of the four year. 


The researches in Pasadena, which were conducted by 
twenty committees, brought out a number of ways in which 
the four year junior high-schools are affording a richer edu- 
cational opportunity than was afforded by the three year type 
which preceded it. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 249 


It was brought out, for example, that a great variety of 
additions to equipment in books, laboratory apparatus, indus- 
trial arts shop equipment, and physical education supplies are 
brought to the junior high-schools by the addition of the 10th 
grade. Not all of this equipment benefits the students in the 
7th, 8th, and 9th grades, but a substantial portion of it does. 
This is particularly true in the case of science, art, industrial 
arts, and home economics classes. There was evidence aiso that 
the general level of teacher qualifications had been raised. 
An unusually high percentage of the teachers had full sec- 
ondary credentials, i. e. the equivalent of five years of prepa- 
ration beyond high school. In Pasadena the verdict of the 
teachers was almost unanimous that they preferred tea teach 
in the four-year type of junior high-school rather than the 
three year type. All but the new recruits had had experience 
in both types of junior high-school. 


The exploratory work of the four-year junior high-schools 
was also investigated. It was found that the better equipment 
of the shops and the fact that industrial arts could be stressed 


and specific vocational training allocated entirely to the four- 
year junior college, or the four-year technical high-school, 
made it possible to put all the emphasis upon the exploratory 
function of the junior high-school courses. The further fact 
that there is a four year continuity of guidance by trained 
counselors in addition to teacher contact and acquaintance 
enhances the child’s opportunity to discover his special inter- 
est and abilities in the classroom work and the social activi- 
ties which the students manage theniselves. 


In Pasadena it was found that the gap between the 9th 
and 10th grades, which existed under the 6-3-3-2 organiza- 
tion, was almost entirely wiped out under the new arrange- 
ment. Transfers for all purposes only amounted to 15 per cent 
of the total enrollment over a four-year period. However, all 
but a very few of these transfers went to other junior high- 
schools in Pasadena or elsewhere in order to continue full 
time attendance. Drop-outs to go to work, therefore, only 
amounted to 2.2 per cent of the total junior high-school en- 
rollment. 








250 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Nearly one half of these “to-go-to-work” dropouts were 
later enrolled in the continuation school. Pasadena carried, 
therefore, over 95 per cent of its school population to or 
through the tenth grades of its four year junior high-schools, 
or in its technical and continuation schools. 


In the matter of social or student activities it was found 
that the presence of the tenth grades in the junior high- 
schools brings in a quality of student leadership which makes 
it possible to turn over to the students the direction of and 
responsibility for these activities. Teacher direction and stimu- 
lation, while still necessary and desirable, can be much more 
easily relegated to the background leaving more of the lead- 
ership in the hands of the students than is usually possible 
in the three year type of junior high-school. The percentage 
of students holding merit-earning offices increased steadity 
from the 7th grade through the 10th grade with an average 
of 70 per cent of the officers or leaders in student activities 
chosen from among the 9th and 10th grade students. This 
provides excellent civic-leadership training and stimulates a 
high type of student morale. 


A follow-up study of those who transferred to the four- 
year junior college over a five semester period, was made. 
This study revealed that in every one of fifteen school sub- 
jects those who had been trained in Pasadena four year junior 
high-schools made a higher average grade point ratio than 
those who came from outside schools to the junior college 
or to the technical high-school. This at least indicates that 
the quality of instruction has not suffered on account of the 
administrative change. It allows a very strong presumption 
that the quality of instruction has actually improved since 
the grade point ratios of the four year junior high-school 
students improved semester by semester up through the fifth 
consecutive semester, while those of the outside students 
fluctuated around a rather low average. The intelligence quo- 
tient averages of the two groups were almost equal with only 
a slight advantage in favor of the Pasadena four year junior 
high-school students. 




















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 251 


Special features of the junior high-school situation are 
of interest. In Compton Union Secondary-Schools district 
there are five elementary districts unionized for secondary- 
school purposes only. Each of these districts has a four-year 
junior high-school. A large saving is thus affected in trans- 
portation because more than fifty per cent of the old union 
high-school population was in the 9th and 10th grades. Now 
all of these 9th and 10 graders are near enough to their four- 
year junior high-schools to walk. Only the upper four-year 
students need to be transported under the new arrangement. 


Also in Compton all foreign language study except two 
years of Latin has been eliminated so far as the junior high- 
schools are concerned. Modern foreign languages are all be- 
gun in the 11th grade or freshman year of the four year jun- 
ior college. This policy resulted in a large saving, and places 
the foreign language study nearer to the point where it will 
function either in college preparation or cultural mastery as a 
leisure time pursuit. The shops in the Compton Junior High- 
Schools are all “general shops,” doing industrial arts or ex- 
ploratory work only. All Smith-Hughes and other vocational 
work is relegated to the four year junior college. The same 
is true for the commercial curriculum as well. Typewriting and 
junior business training are given in the junior high-schools 
but all specifically vocational commercial work is done in the 
junior college. In Compton there is no football or baseball in 
the junior high schools. Their physical education program is 
strictly intra-mural and intra-local system. The junior high- 
school athletic teams compete only within the Compton Dis- 
trict. In Pasadena the competition is within the district but 
the junior high-schools have football and basketball teams 
which are now beginning to send up to the four year junior 
college some excellent material. This is rapidly solving one of 
the major student morale problems for the junior college. 
During the first four years of the 6-4-4 plan it was difficult for 
the 11th and 12th years to put out teams capable of compet- 
ing with larger neighboring four year high-schools. During 
the fifth year, however, lower division teams have more than 
held their own. 








252 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


In Ventura there is just one junior high-school to which 
all the 7th, 8th, 9th, and 10th grade students from several 
elementary districts outside of the city as well as those within 
the city are transported. This one junior high-school has over 
1000 students and is able to carry out a complete program of 
activities and support a rich and varied program of study. 
As in the Compton situation all industrial arts exploratory 
work is done in the junior high-school and all specialized vo- 
cational work is taken care of in the junior college. 


There is no question at all regarding the success of the 
four year junior high-schools in all three communities. They 
are going educational concerns and appear to be carrying out 
in a most satisafctory and efficient way the functions of the 
junior high-school is outlined by Koos, Briggs, Davis, Touton, 
and other educational specialists in that field. 


The writer visited the junior high-schools in Pasadena 
and Ventura frequently and made personal contacts with stu- 
dents with a view to discovering their reactions to the situ- 
ations existing in their respective schools. He found an un- 
usually satisfactory student morale and marked evidence of 
satisfaction in their school work. There did not appear to be 
any serious problem of homegeneity arising out of the presence 
in the same school building of 7th and 10th grade students. 
The testimony of counselors and teachers both was to the ef- 
fect that the three lower classes were stimulated to greater 
effort by the seriousness of purpose and the superior achieve- 
ment of the older students. 


The writer is satisfied that the four year junior high- 
school as illustrated by its tryout both at Pasadena and Ven- 
tura, as well as for the first semester’s trial at Compton, 
is an educational success. In practice it has more than meas- 
ured up to the claims made for it when the school boards of 
these three communities were persuaded to adopt the new 
type of administrative organization. 


The upper four year units, or junior colleges, have cer- 
tain features in common and differ also in minor details. In 
Compton and Ventura, for example, all of the specific voca- 









































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 253 


tional courses in business, industrial, and semi-professional 
lines of all kinds are carried on in the junior college division. 
There is no vocational work as such in the junior high-schools. 
In Pasadena, however, there is a four year vocational school 
known as the Technical High-School, covering grades 9, 10, 
11, and 12, which handles all vocational courses below the 
semi-professional or technical level. All Smith-Hughes work, 
and certain types of commercial work are provided for in this 
institution. While such a school cuts across the theoretical 
6-4-4 plan, nevertheless it meets a distinct educational need 
in a city of the size of Pasadena. In small communities, such 
as Compton and Ventura, there would be no justification for 
such a school. Even in Pasadena, if the junior college popula- 
tion continues to increase at the same rate for the next four 
years as for the past four, the Muir Technical High-School 
may evolve into a specialized type of four-year junior college. 


Recent tendencies in the economic world seem to indicate 
that the time for entering upon vocations is being postponed 
to later and later age levels. In 1917 when the Smith-Hughes 
bill was passed age 14 was assumed to be the ideal time to 
begin specialized training for an industrial vocation. The fix- 
ing of this age had in mind completion of the 8th grade. Prac- 
tically all of the larger cities have, however, set the comple- 
tion of the three year junior high-school, or grade 9 as the 
time to begin specialized vocational training. Now, in two 
of the three 6-4-4 cities of California completion of the 10th 
grade is made the condition for entering upon specialized vo- 
cational training. In California there is justification for such 
a policy on two grounds. First the state is predominantly a 
commercial and agricultural, rather than an industrial state. 
Second, the legal school leaving age, for those who have not 
already graduated from high-school, is sixteen and eighteen 
for those who have not graduated from high-school. The av- 
erage age of low-tenth grade students in Pasadena and Ven- 
tura is fifteen years and eight months and of high-tenth grade 
students is sixteen years and three months. More than one 
half therefore of those who finish the 10th grade in these 
two cities are over sixteen years of age. If vocational oppor- 





254 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIFALS 


tunities are open they can get a job and attend the continua- 
tion school four hours a week up to age eighteen. If no vo- 
cational opportunities are available they can attend the junior 
college and take specialized vocational or semi-professional 
courses along the line of their interests and abilities. This 
arrangement allocates definitely to the four year junior high- 
school the general education function and the exploration 
function and to the junior college a continuation of the gen- 
eral or cultural education function and the specialized voca- 
tional function on the semi-professional and technical level, 
and also the pre-professional training function for those who 
will continue their education in the upper divisions of colleges 
and universities. 


For the balance of the time at my disposal, I shall call 
your attention to some of the results of an intensive study 
of the situation in the Pasadena junior college in an effort 
to answer the question how does the four year junior college 
accomplish the functions usually expected of an institution of 
junior college rank. Or to put the question in a different way, 
does the addition of the 11th and 12th years to the 13th and 
14th years make it easier or more difficult for the junior col- 
lege to perform its regular functions? Also, is it more or less 
expensive in its operation than under a two year type of in- 
stitution ? 


The Pasadena Junior College district was organized by 
vote of the people in 1924. Whether it should be on the 6-3-3-2 
or the 6-4-4 basis was one of the issues in the election. The 
6-4-4 type won a sound majority of the votes cast at this 
special election. It took four years to make the transition 
involving the building of some new junior high-schcols de- 
signed to accommodate the 10th grade, and to alter the exist- 
ing ones for the same purpose. In the autumn of the aca- 
demic year 1928-1929 the complete shift had been made with 
all 10th grade students housed in the four junior high-schools. 
One new four-year junior high-school has been addcd since 
that time, making five in all. 


The Pasadena junior college disrict has an area of 127 
square miles, and an assessed valuation in 1931-32 of $157,- 











Prac eeantre 

















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING | 255 


000,000. The administrative organization is a principal and 
four deans, —i. e. of men, of women, of records, and of guid- 
ance. There are twelve chairmen of departments, who, with 
the four deans make up the principal’s council. This is the 
policy-forming body which helps to formulate and carry out 
the major matters of internal organization and control, sub- 
ject in certain instances to final approval by the superintendent 
and board of education. 


The junior college plant occupies a site of forty acres in a 
central location. There are seventeen buildings, which with 
equipment have a conservative valuation of $2,000,000. Just 
recently a new group of technological laboratories have been 
added. These are splendidly equipped and give the junior col- 
lege the best set-up in this line possessed by any junior col- 
lege on the Pacific Coast. 


Growth has been rapid. From an enrollment of 2664 in 
1928-29, the first year as a four year institution, to 1931-32, 
the fourth year, it had grown to an enrollment of 4185 or an 
increase in enrollment of 57.0 per cent. The teaching staff in- 
creased from 133 in the first year mentioned to 165 in the 
fourth year, or 24.0 per cent. The growth in enrollment has 
been more rapid than the growth in teaching staff. In 1928- 
29 there was one teacher to each 20 students and in 1931-32 
the ratio was one to 25. 


Curriculum organization in the junior college is in the 
hand of a curriculum council which investigates the needs for 
new courses or for the revision of old courses. When new 
construction or revision is decided upon, committees are or- 
ganized which work under the direction of the assistant su- 
perintendent of schools and the consultant supervision of 
Dr. L. T. Hopkins of Teachers College, Columbia University. 
Curricula are of three types: First, certificate or academic 
and pre-professional, to meet the needs of those students who 
expect to transfer to the upper divisions of the standard col- 
leges and universities. Second, semi-professional and techno- 
logical, or teriminal, for those who expect to complete their 
training with the four year junior college course and desire to 
make at least preliminary training for some vocation above the 





256 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


level of industrial trades and the beginning group of business 
and clerical vocations. Third. There are also a considerable 
number of non-vocational courses which for want of a bet- 
ter designation may be called terminal cultural courses, in 
music, art, literature, science, and social science. They do not 
meet the lower division requirements of the universities. They 
are not vocational in character, but they do continue the cul- 
tural and integrating training for social efficiency and the 
wholesome use of leisure time for those whose forma! educa- 
tion ends with the fourteenth year. That these terminal cul- 
tural courses meet a real need is shown by the student en- 
rollment in them, i. e. 36.3 per cent. In semi-professional 
technical and other terminal courses are found 16.0 per cent 
of the student enrollments and in certificate and pre-profes- 
sional courses 48.7 per cent. This should be a sufficient answer 
to those junior college administrators who say that semi- 
professional, technical, and terminal cultural courses will not 
be elected by junior college students even if they are made 
available. It is the attitude of the administrators, faculty 
members and counselors which has everything to do with the 
success or failure of such courses. 

In view of what has just been said it will be appropriate 
to discuss first the way in which the Pasadena Junior College 
performs its vocational training function. The city of Pasadena 
is predominantly a commercial and residential city. An accu- 
pational survey shows that the occupations employing the 
greatest number of workers are: business and clerical, do- 
mestic and personal service, manufacturing, building and me- 
chanical industries, professional service, and agriculture 
(mostly market and landscape gardening). A study of the 
vocational interests of the students brought out the fact that 
77.0 per cent of them had decided upon a life-work and that 
there was a steady increase in the percentage having definite 
vocational plans from the 11-1 classes to the 14-2 classes, 
nearly 90%, of the latter having reached a decision in regard 
to vocational plans. An interesting sidelight on these ambi- 
tions, which is distinctively American, is the fact that only 
ten per cent of the junior college students plan to enter the 
same vocations with their fathers. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 257 


An analysis of the semi-professional technical, business 
and secretarial courses offered shows that reasonably complete 
preparation can be made in the Pasadena Junior College for 
fifty-one vocations, and partial preparation for twenty addi- 
tional vocations. Comparing the occupational opportunities 
in the Los Angeles metropolitan area with the types of prep- 
aration available it is found that in normal times of employ- 
ment, if such should eventually return, the junior college of- 
ferings are fairly well adjusted to the conditions as they were 
before the present economic disaster knocked all vocational 
planning into a “cocked-hat.” Adjustments will have to be 
made to new conditions as they arise but the Pasadena Junior 
College has both the staff and the equipment to meet these 


changes. 


The advantage of the four year organization in relation 
to the performing of the vocational training function of the 
junior college is that the various curricula have at least a 
three year span for specific training with the 11th grade or- 
ganized as a finding and adjustment year. This means that 
students have a much better chance of knowing what vocation 
they want or should prepare for and a longer period of train- 
ing under the guidance of the counselors and major depart- 
ment heads than could be possible in a two year institution 
where a part of one of the two years available would have to 
be devoted to adjustment. The four year junior college allows 
a whole year for adjustment and three years for specific train- 
ing in the field finally chosen. 


Another function which a junior college is supposed to 
perform is what is known as the social civic and community 
service function. In reference to its own students the social 
civic function is performed through the general cultural and 
terminal cultural courses offered and through the student ac- 
tivities which the students manage either entirely on their 
own initiative or under faculty sponsorship. What at first 
seemed to be a different problem, i. e. the amalgamation into 
a unified student body of upper division high-school students 
and lower division college students has been achieved to the 
point where there is a splendid morale and real unity of in- 








258 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


terest and purpose. Student government is really functioning 
and regulations enacted by the students themselves are en- 
forced by their officers, which if passed and imposed by the 
faculty would arouse fierce opposition. The most difficult sit- 
uation arose in connection with the necessity of organizing 
lower and upper division teams to meet competition with four 
year high-schools and two year junior colleges. This situation 
is now being met because the four year junior high-schools are 
sending up such promising material that the lower division 
teams can compete on even terms with the large four year 
high-schools of Los Angeles and vicinity and the upper divi- 
sion can hold its own with the large two year junior colleges. 
The entire student body backs all teams loyally in their com- 
petition. Again it is the four year span which makes for con- 
tinuity in student activity and enables the student with quali- 
ties of leadership to first discover himself and then to find 
opportunities for the exercise of his talents. Wise and sym- 
pathetic leadership by the Deans of men, women, and guidance 
is a material factor in the success achieved along social-civic 
lines. 

The community service phase of the four year junior col- 
lege is shown by the fact that a very high percentage of fac- 
ulty members render service in social clubs, churches, service 
clubs, and all manner of civil welfare enterprises. Many lec- 
tures and entertainments are open to the public without 
charge. Many facilities in the way of meeting rooms, audi- 
toria, and physical education grounds and equipment are used 
by civic organizations. A splendid adult education program 
in which a majority of those who attend classes have the 
equivalent of high-school education, is being generously pat- 
ronized by Pasadena citizens. There is no disposition to 
claim that similar services are not being rendered to their re- 
spective communities by the two year junior colleges. These 
facts are simply presented to show that the Pasadena Junior 
College is closely identified with its community life and is ac- 
corded a place in its community higher than that which it 
would occupy if it were merely a “glorified high-school” as 
some claimed to believe a four year junior college would be- 


come. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 259 

The isthmian or preparatory function in preparation 
for continued work in higher institutions is also being well 
performed. Studies conducted by Dr. Merton E. Hill, Di- 
rector of Admissions of the University of California, show 
that of 556 graduates of the Pasadena Junior College who 
have attended the seven institutions having Phi Beta Kappa 
chapters, only 2.2 per cent have earned marks of “E” or “F” 
and only 8.4 per cent have earned marks of “D”, the lowest 
passing mark in these institutions. Another study which 
compared the marks earned in particular subjects when sub- 
jects in the same field were taken in the upper divisions of 
colleges showed: In eleven such subject fields out of sixteen 
the preparation was found to be good, in three just fair, and 
in only two subjects was it found to be below par. Compared 
with students who had taken all of their work in the two di- 
visions of the state university the Pasadena Junior College 
transfers made scholarship ratios of 1.25 as against 1.30 for 
the “native sons”. Considering the element of adjustment 
when transferring to another institution, this is an excellent 
showing. The isthmian or preparatory function is likewise 
being well taken care of. If it is a glorified high-school its 
graduates are conferring upon it still more glory. 

Another recogfiized function of the junior college is the 
guidance function. This service was rendered in 1931-1932 by 
a Dean of Guidance and seven full-time counselors, under the 
general direction of a supervisor of guidance from the super- 
intendent’s office. Due to the excellent guidance set-up, Pasa- 
dent was selected by Dr. Grayson N. Kefauver as one of the 
five cities in the United States to be studied under a subven- 
tion from the Carnegie Foundation, in relation to the out- 
comes of guidance. The results of that study are not yet 
availab!e but a group of outside guidance experts were asked 
to score. the Pasadena situation on a score-card devised by 
the writer which had been used in a number of other cities. 
These judges gave Pasadena’s guidance service a score of 758 
out of a possible 1000, which is the highest score yet given on 
that particular measuring device for cities the size of Pasa- 
dena. It was found that the counselors gave 73 per cent of 
their time to student interviews, 2 per cent to group guidance, 











260 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


13 per cent to office adminstrative duties, and 12 per cent to 
committee, faculty and other types of meetings. In the fall 
of 1931 the counseling group asked to have forty students who 
had been dropped at the end of the previous semester, rein- 
stated as an experiment in the effects of counseling on student 
achievement. Thirty-two of the forty accepted the opportu- 
nity offered. At the end of the first semester twenty of the 
thirty-two had been fully reinstated and seven conditionally 
reinstated. Only five had failed to make good. If this is a 
fair sample of the quality of guidance service it is safe to say 
that the guidance function is being scientifically performed. 
It is sometimes claimed that the four year unit brings 
together non-homogeneous groups of students because the 
span is too long. A study of this problem was made by Dr. 
Herbert Popenoe of the Menlo School and Junior College, 
which is operating an eight year secondary-school on a four- 
four basis. The height, weight, and chronological age rec- 
ords of 14,000 children, grades 5 to 14 in Riverside, which is 
on the 6-3-3-2 basis, and Pasadena and Ventura both on 6-4-4 
basis, were studied to get at physiological maturity. Dr. Pop- 
enoe, who worked out statistically an index of homogeneity, 
found that in physical maturity there is a distinct break be- 
tween the 6th and 7th grades; that between the 7th and 14th 
grades there are several small breaks which might be made 
the basis for separating the eight years into either two or 
three units. One of these smaller breaks is between the 9th 
and 10th and the other between the 10th and 11th. Between 
the 12th and 13th grades, however, where the traditional 
break occurs between the four year high school and the college 
comes, he found no break at all. Between the 12th and 13th 
grades there is the greatest degree of homogeneity to be found 
all the way from the 5th through the 14th. In putting these 
two grades with the 11th and 14th to make a four year insti- 
tution, there is no more violation of the principle of homo- 
geneity than in grouping grades 9 to 12, or 13 to 16, inclusive 
in the traditional four year high-school or the four year stand- 
ard college. In other words, the actual educational and social 
advantages found in the two four-year units of the Pasadena 
system, in addition to the findings of the homogeneity study, 

















261 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


seem to outweigh the supposed theoretical disadvantages of 
lack of homogeneity. 


A final consideration has to do with the costs. The cost 
per unit of A.D.A. in 1928-29 was $271.00. The cost per sim- 
ilar unit in 1931-32 was $180.00, a reduction of 33.5 per cent 
in four years. The depression has stimulated sharp reduc- 
tions in all junior college costs, but the point is that Pasadena 
has been able to make its reductions up to the present with 
very slight cutting down in services rendered to students. 
Overlapping courses between the 11th and 12th years and the 
13th and 14th have been almost entirely eliminated and as soon 
as the universities remove some ancient restrictions, still oth- 
ers can be removed. The unified departmental organization 
makes it easier to maintain classes of more nearly uniform 
size and to avoid expensive duplications. Likewise, the coun- 
seling staff which utilizes grade 11 as an adjustment year 
tends to reduce failures and forestall wasteful shifts and 
changes in student programs. 


In what has been said thus far there has been no effort 
to set forth the four year junior college as the only type of 
junior college worthy of consideration. On the contrary the 
writer is personally familiar with a number of situations 
where the 6-3-3-2 organization is for those districts the supe- 
rior type of organization. In another district, i. e. Salinas, an 
8-3-3 plan is being operated with excellent results. 


What it has been our purpose in this paper to show is that 
for Pasadena, Ventura, and Compton where the 6-4-4 has been 
in operation, for five, three, and one years respectively, it has 
been a marked success. No student has suffered the loss of an 
educational advantage which would have been his under an 
8-4-2 or a 6-3-3-2 plan. The elementary grades have not been 
robbed for the sake of the secondary program, and in every 
case economies have been effected which made possible mate- 
rial reductions in cost. The conclusion seems reasonable that 
in these three communities of which the writer has intimate 
personal knowledge and in two of which he has made careful 
studies of the outcomes, the 6-4-4 organization is no longer an 











262 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


experiment but a going educational concern. These systems 
are not trying to make converts to their way of doing things 
but they are convinced that for their particular circumstances 
they have found the most satisfactory administrative and edu- 
cational solution of an important problem. 


RESEARCH SECTION 


The Research Section met under the chairmanship of 
Charles H. Judd, Dean of the School of Education of the Uni- 
versity of Chicago, Wednesday, March 1, 2:00 P. M., Leam- 
ington Hotel Ballroom. 


C. C. Weidemann, Director of Bureau of Educational Ref- 
erence and Research, Teachers College, University of Ne- 
braska, read his paper. 


A SOCIAL SITUATION JUDGMENTS TEST— 
FORM 1 (Experimental) 


A. A. REED 
Director of the Extension Division, and 


C. C. WEIDEMANN, 
Teachers College, University of Nebraska, 
Lincoln, Nebraska. 


I. Introduction. 


This test purports to measure information acquired, con- 
cerning what should be the behavior for the individual con- 
fronted with a social situation principle or a principle applied 
to a social situation demanding judgment, decision, or action 
or combinations of these upon the part of that individual. In 
this field only a few tests at the high-school and lower years of 
college level have been constructed. The first such test noted 
was published by Hill! and Wilson'. From their suggestions 
and prime materials collected by the authors, a Social Situation 





1Hill, Howard C., and Wilson, Howard E., A Test in Civic Action. 
Bloomington, Illinois, Public Schoo] Publishing Company. 














263 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 





Judgments test—Form 1 (experimental) consisting of 70 items 
was prepared and published in 1929. Experiences with this 
form to date are reported in this paper. In the near future the 
authors will publish a second and more extensive form consist- 
ing of similar materials. 





Three selected examples of test items contained in the test 
follow. 


1. The importance of a mother’s instruction to-day is 
greater in case of a girl than that of either father or 
mother in the case of a boy. 

2. Suitor: “What is your fortune, my pretty maid?” 
Maid: “My face is my fortune, sir”. 


What is my attitude toward her reply? 

3. John and two friends were studying in the living 
room. John’s mother came in. The three boys arose. 
John said, “Fellows, this is my mother”. John’s 
friends said, “I am pleased to meet you”. 

a. John was entirely courteous to his mother. 
b. The two friends were entirely courteous to John’s 
mother. 





II. Statement and Directions Preceding the Test. 
The test is preceded by the following statements and direc- 
tions: 





You are to understand that your answers to the following 
situations and statements are to represent your personal atti- 
tudes and judgments independent of what you may think the 
attitudes and judgments of either your friends or acquaint- 
ances might be. 


Directions: In the space to the left, mark the statement 
with a 


1 if you believe the statement is entirely Right. 
2 if you believe the statement is quite probably Right. 


3 if you believe the statement is doubtful as to whether 
Right or Wrong. 











264 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


4 if you believe the statement is quite probably Wrong. 
5 if you believe the statement is entirely Wrong. 


That the preceding statements and directions apparently 
were clear is evidenced by the consistency of the distribution 
of students’ responses to each test item, presented below (See 


Tables 1 and 2). 


III. Illustrations of Distributions of Student Responses to 
Selected Test Items. 


Table 1 presents certain test items and the per cent of stu- 
dent responses within each of the five divisions of the decision 
scale from entirely right to entirely wrong. 


The many interpretations possible to these few items indi- 
cate the opportunities for fruitful discussions during class pe- 
riods on these items and the remaining content of the test. 
Such indeterminate? material is useful for classroom use in 
connection with civic, citizenship, moral, and character educa- 


tion study. 


Space does not permit the inclusion of the interesting dis- 
tributions of student responses to the other test items. 


IV. Consistency’ of the Distribution of Student Responses 
with Teachers College Freshmen, November, 1930. 


The 261 cases were divided into Group A of 122 cases and 
Group B of 139 cases. The distribution of responses on the 
5-point decision scale was computed for each of the 70 items 
for each of the two groups. For example, in test item num- 


ber 35— 
TABLE 1 


Per Cent Responses of Each of Two Student Groups to Selected 
Social Situation Judgments Test Items. 


2Weidemann, C. C. “The Relative Classroom Discussion Value of 
the Determinate and the Indeterminate Statement,” Journal of Educa- 
tional Method, March, 1932. 

3“Consistency” is a term more descriptive than the term “reliabil- 


ity 














vere 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 





265 





Per cent of Student Responses on the 
Decision Scale for each Test Item 


Number of Teachers En- 


TEST ITEM 


1930 


College Students 
Answering as of 
November a January sp Right 


1933 


tire- 


1 


Wrong 


3 


Doubtful as 
to whether Pro 
Right or 


En- 


ably _tirely 


Wrong Wrong 


5 


A 





14. If telling the truth 
hurts another per- 
son’s feelings, tell 
a lie. 


259 


191 


2 
37 


22 
13 


18 
6 


46 


4 





17. Mutual trust is a 
sound basis on 
which to build our 
social structure. 


258 


187 


27 
23 


44 
47 


20 
21 





32. “Putting yourself 
in the other fellow’s 
place” is an aid to 
many a_ successful 
deal with the other 
fellow. 


261 


192 


17 
29 





25. A broad-minded in- 
dividual is usually 
quicker to act than 
one who is narrow- 
minded. 


261 


192 


14 


16 
24 


17 
12 


19 
28 


22 





62. Clyde likes to drink 
whiskey. On acer- 
tain evening he 
went to a party 
with a mixed group 
of boys and girls. 
George offered 
Clyde a drink from 
a hip-pocket flask 
containing whiskey, 
in the presence of 
the other members 
of the group. The 
other members of 
the group were also 
asked to take a 
drink and all ac- 
cepted the invita- 
tion. Under the 
foregoing circum- 
stances, Clyde was 
justified in taking 2 
drink of whiskey. 


260 


191 


10 


16 


12 


15 


65 





aUniversity of Nebraska—Test materials administered by Dr. 


H. Thompson in Education 30, Sections I to VI inclusive. 
bUniversity of Nebraska—Test materials administered by Dr. S. M. 
Corey to Education 30, Sections I to VI inclusive. 


W. 











266 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


“Everybody is doing it”, is a phrase which tends to in- 
crease the amount of uncritical acceptance of an idea—the dis- 


tribution of responses were for 
DECISION SCALE 


GROUP 1 2 3 4 5 
A* 62 30 14 10 3 
B 80 39 10 8 2 


Then the Pearson-r correlation efficients between groups 
A and B, with the number of test items equal to 70 were com- 
puted for each of the 5 points of the decision scale. The results 
are included in Table 2. 

The consistency is generally high. In the region of 
doubtful as to whether right or wrong, the consistency is low- 
est and increases outward toward the extremes of either en- 
tirely right or entirely wrong. 

The consistency coefficients of the November, 1930, Teach- 
ers College Freshmen were checked by the January, 1933, 
Teachers College Freshmen students. (See Table 2). The 
values of the coefficients are practically the same for the lat- 
ter group. It should be noted that consistency of response 
within either group does not include the consistency of re- 
sponse between the 1930 and 1933 groups of students. For 
example, Table 1, test item 14 shows almost complete reversal 
of the viewpoint between the two groups, yet the consistency 
of response between the sub-groups A and B, respectively 
within either the 1930 or 1933 groups of students was high. 
The consistency coefficients of response between the 1930 and 
1933 groups of students for each of the 5 points on the decision 
scale are also given in Table 2. These values are not so high as 
the preceding yet reveal the same tendency to show high con- 
sistency at the extremes of the decision scale and lower con- 
sistency at the mid-region of the scale. 


V. Development of a Scoring Key for the Social-Situation 
Judgments Test. 


A key for such a test is constructed on a social group re- 
sponse basis. It is proper to say that the scoring key for the 





*3 cases omitted the item. 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


TABLE 2 


The Consistency Coefficients between Group A and B for 
Each of the 5 Points of the Decision Scale with the 70 items 
of the Test for Both Groups of Teachers College Fresh- 
men; also the November, 1930, Freshmen ccmpared to the 
January, 1933, Freshmen. 





The «onsistency coefficient for each division 
of the Decision Scale based on the 70 items 
of the test from 


1 2 3 4 5 





STUDENT GROUPS 





Entirely Probably Doubtful as to 5 neniy Entirely 


Right Right een, =~ Wrong Wrong 





Teachers College 
Freshman, November 0.98 0.87 0.85 0.93 0.97 
1930 





Teachers College 
Freshmen, January 0.96 0.86 0.84 0.94 0.97 
1933 


Teachers College 

Freshmen, November, 

1930, correlated 0.91 0.83 0.87 0.93 0.95 
with those of 

January, 1933 








1930 Teachers College student group would probably differ 
from the key for the 1933 Teachers College group. Further- 
more, a scoring key for use in Nebraska might vary widely 
from a key usable in New York State, Texas, California, or 
Canada. It must be recognized that such factors as time, place, 
customs, educational indoctrination, etc., necessarily change 
the distribution of responses to any or all test items within 
such a test. The magnitudes of such possible variations are as 
yet only little known to the authors (See Table 2, row 3). 


The essential steps in building such a key follow. 


1. Reduce the per cent of distribution of response to each 
test item to either a 10 or 5 point scoring basis. 








268 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Example: 
Per cent distribution at each of the di- 
visions of the decision scale. 


1 2 3 4 5 
Test Item 1—(Snobbish- 
ness is vulgar) ........... 36 30 12 7 12 
Reduced to a 10-point 
scoring basis.................. 4 3 1 1 1 


5-point scoring basis.... 2 2 1 0 0 


2. Determine the total per cent of the distribution of re- 
sponses included when the 5-point basis of scoring is 
used. 


Example: For Item 1, the total per cent is 78. 


3. Asan arbitrary criterion, try to include in the 5-point 
basis of scoring a total per cent of responses never 
less than 75. 


4. Occasionally the per cent distribution of responses 
will be about uniform for each of the 5 divisions of the 
decision scale. Do not discard the item. Such an item 
usually is very controversial and valuable for the pur- 
pose of class discussion. Since any response to the 
item scores one point on each and every one of the 5 
divisions of the decision scale, differentiation in score 
between individual students on such an item does not 
result. This fact is an essential difference between 
the key derived on a social basis, and the key con- 
structed on an individual or teacher basis. It should 
be observed that the very controversial item is re- 
tained, although it may not have power to differen- 
tiate between pupils. In addition to the educational 
value of the item, a second reason for retaining such 
an item is the fact that a very large group of distrib- 
uted responses might ultimately reveal some tenden- 
cy of the item to carry a heavier scoring value at 
some point rather than at some other point on the 
decision scale, 


























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


Example: 

a. See Table 1, item 25. 

b. Item 67—A hostess to a group of twenty young men 
and women provided a smoking room in which had been placed 
many kinds of cigarettes. Only one boy and two girls of the 
entire group did not avail themselves of the courtesy offered. 
The hostess should not have provided the opportunity to smoke 
as a feature of her social program of the evening. 





Decision Scale 
1 2 3 4 5 


Teachers Distribution of percent 18 15 17 21 29 

— of responses to item 67: 

November 10-point scoring basis 2 2 2 2. 3* 
1930 5-point scoring basis 1 1 1 1 gee 

Teachers Distribution of percent 12 20 16 26 26 

College of responses to item 67: 








F 3 : ‘ 
— 10-point scoring basis 1 2 &$ & & 
1933 5-point scoring basis 0 1 1 2 2e¢ 





In this example the scoring key for the 1930 group is al- 
most the same throughout the decision scale. For the 1933 
group the scoring key for the same item is slightly on the 
side of wrong of the decision scale. It seems that even though 
the scoring key were equally weighted throughout the decision 
scale, the item 67 should be retained in the test. 

VI. The Distribution of Per Cent Response Included in the 


Scoring Key for Each of the 70 Items of the Test. 


Table 3 presents the per cent distribution of the responses 
of the November, 1930, group of 261 students, included for 
each of the 70 items of the test. Then mean per cent is 88. The 
standard deviation is 5.2 per cent. The range of per cents is 
from 76 to 98 and includes never less than 75 per cent of the 
group of 261 students. Almost nine-tenths of the group of stu- 
dents on the average were used as a social basis to construct 
the scoring key. 





*In each case the points total 11 when carried to the nearest whole 
number. 
**In each case the points total 6 instead of 5. 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


TABLE 3 
Distribution in Per cent of the Responses of 261 Teachers 
College Freshmen, November, 1930, Included as a Basis to 
Establish the Scoring Key for Each of the 70 items of the 
test. 





Class Intervals of Per Cent—Frequency of Items—-Computed Values* 








so 09 . Mean—88.2 per cent. 


35 89 = — Deviation—5.2 per 


ae . Range—76 to 98 per cent 


Total Items 70 








VII. Consistency of the Test 


The consistency coefficient of the test was determined 
with four different groups of students. Table 4 indicates the 
median coefficient to be 0.81. The range is from 0.74 to 0.83. 


Considering the fact that the test is only 70 items in 
length, the consistency is good. If the test were 140 items 
long, the consistency would be around 0.90. The validity of 
the test 70 items in length may be as high as .90. The actual 
validity is not known. 


VIII. Correlation of the Social Situation Judgments Test 
with Intelligence. 


The correlation of the social situation judgments test 
with 
1. Ohio Intelligence—Form 17‘, 260 cases was 0.16 + 0.04. 


2. Otis Self-Administering Tests of Mental Ability. High- 
er Examination—Form C*, 90 cases was 0.17+ 0.07. 


*These values were computed with the ungrouped data. 

4The basic data were collected in November, 1930, Teachers College, Uni- 
versity of Nebraska, Education 30, Sections I-VI, instructor, Dr. 
W. H. Thompson. 

5The basic data were collected in May, 1930, by Prof. Charles Fordyce 
and Prof. A. A. Reed from selected high school seniors in Nebraska. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 271 


These results would indicate that the social situation judg- 
ments test measures mental functions not measured by tie in- 
telligence tests (See Section X). 


IX. Correlation of the Social Situation Judgments® Test with 
the English Classification Examination’. 


The correlation of the social situation judgments test with 
the English classification Examination, Form 18 was 0.30 + 
0.04; n being 260. This result indicates that the social situation 
judgments test measures mental functions not measured by 
the English classification Examination (See Section XI). 


—~ meats data were collected by Dr. W. H. Thompson; see Section 

ITI. 

7The basic data were collected by Dr. R. D. Scott and the authors from 
high school graduates who entered as freshmen in the Teachers Col- 
lege, University of Nebraska, September, 1930. 

8Scott, R. D., Reed, A. A. and Weidemann, C. C. “English Classification 
Examination,” Form 1, published by Extension Division, University 
of Nebraska, 1928. 





272 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


TABLE 4 


Consistency of the Social Situation Judgments Test. 





Type of Number Consistency 
Student of ss 
Coefficient 
Group Cases 








High School 92 0.88 
Seniors ‘ 





Sampled 
Group 
of 
Teachers a08 ae 
College 
Freshmen 





Teachers 
College 
Freshmen, 261 0.74 
November, 
1930 





Teachers 
College 
Freshmen, 192 0.82 
January, 
1933 





X. Community of Function of the Social Situation Judg- 
ments Test With Intelligence. 


The phrase, community of function, defined by Kelley, 
describes (1) the degree to which two different tests measure 
the same mental functions; and (2) the degree to which each 
of the two different tests measure mental functions not meas- 
ured by the other test. 





9Kelley, Truman Lee. “Interpretation of Educational Measurements,” 
World Book Company, Yonkers-on-Hudson, 1927. pp. 21, 193-6, 202-9. 





i 


PASS amgenscsamanmnenmeers 

















BST I nm praesent enn a Or 








2 









PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 273 


The following data were used as a basis to determine the 
community of function per cent value: 


consistency coefficient of the Social Situation Judgments 
test: 0.81. 


consistency coefficient of the Ohio Intelligence test—Form 
171°: 0.94. 


consistency coefficient of the Otis intelligence test—Form 
Cl: .86. 


The correlations of the judgments test with intelligence 
is given in Section VIII. 


The community of function, therefore, of the Social Sit- 
uation Judgments test with 


(1) Ohio Intelligence, Form 17 is approximately 19 per 
cent. 


and (2) Otis Intelligence, Form C!? is approximately 21 per 
cent. 


On the average, 20 per cent of the mental functions meas- 
ured by the intelligence tests are also measured by the Social 
Situation Judgments test. About 80 per cent of the mental 
functions measured by the Social Situation Judgments test are 
not measured by the intelligence tests. About 80 per cent of 
the mental functions measured by the intelligence tests are not 
measured by the Social Situation Judgments test. 


In a general battery of tests, it is good to recommend that 
a Social Situation Judgments test be used in addition to an in- 
telligence test. 


10Toops, H. A., reports by correspondence, the reliability of Form 17 
to be 0.94— letter dated, February 13, 1933. 

110tis, Arthur, reports by correspondence the reliability of Forms A 
and B to be 0.921. Since Form C is similar he believes the same value 
may be safely used—letter dated February 14, 1931. 

12]f the reliability coefficient (0.921) suggested by Otis is used instead of 

0.86, the community of function per cent value becomes 20 instead of 

21. ; 





274 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


XI. Community of Function of the Social Situation Judgments 
Test with the English Classification Examination. 


The following data were used as a basis to determine the 
community of function per cent value: 


consistency coefficient of the English Classification Exam- 
ination, Form 1: 0.92. ; 


consistency coefficient of the Social Situation Judgments 
test: 0.81. 


The correlation of the Social Situation Judgments test 
with the English classification Examination is 0.30 + 0.04; n be- 


ing 260. 


The community of function, therefore, between the judg- 
ments and English tests is approximately 35 per cent. 


About 35 per cent of the mental functions measured by the 
English Classification Examination are also measured by the 
Social Situation Judgments test. About 65 per cent of mental 
functions measured by the Social Situation Judgments test are 
not measured by the English test. About 65 per cent of the 
mental functions measured by the English test are not meas- 
ured by the Social Situation Judgments test. 


In a general battery of tests, it is good to recommend that 
a Social Situation Judgments test be used in addition to the 
English Classification Examination. 


XII. Community of Function of the English Classification Ex- 
amination, Form I, and Ohio Intelligence Test, Form 17. 


Since the data are available the community of function be- 
tween the English test and the Ohio Intelligence was computed 
and found to be approximately 50 per cent. The correlation be- 
tween the two tests was 0.46 + 0.04. 


XIII. Conclusions. 


1. The content of the test is useful for the purpose of class- 
room discussion. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 275 


The consistency of judgment responses for both the 1930 
and 1933 groups of Teachers College freshmen is high for 


the test as a unit. 

The development of a scoring key for the test utilized a 
social basis of not less than 75% of a given group for any 
one test item. 

On the basis of the scoring key used the median consist- 
ency coefficient of the test is .81. 

Although the validity may be as high as .90, its actual 
value is not known. 

Correlation of the Social Situation Judgments test with 
intelligence is very low, with a value of .16. 

Correlation of the Social Situation Judgments test with 
the English Classification Examination is also relatively 
low with a value of .30. 

Approximately 209, of the mental functions measured 
by the intelligence tests is also measured by the Social 
Situation Judgments test. 

Approximately 80% of the mental functions measured by 
the intelligence tests is not measured by the Social Situ- 
ation Judgments test. 

Approximately 80% of the mental functions measured by 
the Social Situation Judgments test is not measured by 
the intelligence test. 

Approximately 36% of the mental functions measured by 
the English Classification Examination is also measured 
by the Social Situation Judgments test. 

Approximately 65% of the mental functions measured by 
the English Classification Examination is not measured 
by the Social Situation Judgments test. 

Approximately 65% of the mental functions measured by 


the Social Situation Judgments test is not measured by 
the English Classification Examination. 








276 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


14. In a general battery of tests, aim to measure as wide a 
range of abilities as possible. It is recommended that a 
social situation judgments test be included in addition to 
an intelligence test and an English composition test. 


Galen Jones, Assistant Superintendent in charge of Sec- 
ondary-Schools of Tulsa, Oklahoma, read the following paper: 


THE STATUS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE HIGH- 
SCHOOL LIBRARY 


GALEN JONES, 
Assistant Superintendent of Schools, 
Tulsa, Oklahoma 


Chairman, Committee on Investigations, 
Department of Secondary-School Principals 
of the Oklahoma Education Assocation 


Previous to December 2, 1931, the secondary-school prin- 
cipals of Oklahoma were organized only as a section of the 
Oklahoma Education Association. The president for that 
year was Mr. Charlie E. Forbes of Thomas, Oklahoma. He 
had the vision of the secondary-school principals’ section be- 
coming the Department of Secondary-School Principals of the 
Oklahoma Education Assocation and definitely affiliated with 
the Department of Secondary-School Principals of the Na- 
tional Education Association. He organized the necessary 
committees and did the promotion work which resulted in the 
organization of the new department. 


The fact that the principals were stimulated to a recon- 
sideration of their professional opportunities and responsibili- 
ties because of this reorganization, made it possible for a gen- 
uine consideration of a program of professional study. It was 
agreed that the new department should not be content to de- 
vote its conferences only to talks and discussions, but that the 
department should initiate professional studies and carry 
them through to definite conclusions. In order to bring this 
decision forward, the president was authorized to appoint a 




















$B ah NR a at 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 277 


committee on investigations. This committee was charged 
with the responsibility of outlining an investigation for con- 
sideration and approval at the state meeting on February 2, 
1932. It chanced that the chairman of the Committee on In- 
vestigaions had received the suggestions for studies submitted 
by the Committee on Investigations of the Department of Sec- 
ondary-School Principals of the National Education Associa- 
tion. He had received twelve mimeographed outlines of sug- 
gested studies, each of which was considered by our state 
committee. Among the suggestions was one of Professor 
Douglas Waples of the University of Chicago which raised 
some fifteen questions concerning the high-school library. 
The committee chose to pursue the library problem. The com- 
mittee on investigations as set up for this study was com- 
posed of four high-school principals, the chief high-school in- 
spector, the secretary of the Oklahoma Library Commission 
and an assistant superintendent in charge of secondary- 
schools. At the first meeting of the committee, the fifteen 
questions raised by Professor Waples were assigned three 
each to five people. These five members of the Committee on 
Investigations became in turn chairmen of sub-committees. 
The personnel of the sub-committees was selected and ap- 
pointed by the committee as a whole. Two steps were taken 
at this time to facilitate the work of she sub-committees: 
First, the committees secured the cooperation of some forty 
people in formulating the purposes of the high-school library. 
They agreed on five general purposes and seven specific pur- 
poses as follows: 


General— 

1. To acquire and organize library material for school 
service. (i. e. Books accessioned, classified, cata- 
loged, with good charging system.) 


2. To provide reference and enrichment material for 
each subject in the curriculum. (i. e. Dictionaries, 
encyclopedias, atlas, Readers’ Guide, Who’s Who, 
World Almanac, Vertical file, Clipping file, Picture 
file, etc.) 








278 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


To select and provide reading collateral to school 
course in addition to material designated by course of 
study. (i. e. At least ten volumes per pupil, maga- 
zines, government bulletins, periodicals.) 


To provide material for all extra-curriculum activi- 
ties. (i. e. Athletics, social, musical, dramatic, esthetic, 
and vocational.) 


To provide training in the use of reference books for 
independent research, thus opening hidden resources 
of public, school, and college libraries. (i. e. in- 
struction of pupils in the accepted methods of classi- 
fying and organizing reference material.) 


Specific— 


1. 


ou 


To inspire a love for books and reading through 
pleasant contact. (i. e. Room well equipped for pur- 
pose—not a study hall. Orderly arrangement of clean 
well-kept books.) 

To serve as a center for literary and cultural activi- 
ties of the student body through personal guidance of 
the librarian. (i. e. Library clubs, reading courses, 
literary appreciation hours, and browsing rooms.) 
To provide access to books, not found in the average 
home or elsewhere within the reach of the student. 
(i. e. Travel, exploraton, biography, social, and po- 
litical economy, poetry.) 

To furnish guidance for cultural growth and mental 
recreation for leisure hours of students. (i. e. Mas- 
terpieces in all fields of pure literature, books of voca- 
cational and technical literature; books on hobbies, 
various kinds of collections, etc.) 

To develop vocational tendencies and aptitudes 
through books (i. e. Mechanical, scientific, useful 
arts, fine arts, and trade literature.) 

To foster and develop intellectual interests roused by 
classroom activities. (i. e. History, social and political 
science, natural history, etc.) 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 279 


7. To stimulate professional and cultural reading on the 
part of the teacher. (i. e. Book reviews, educational 
journals, Reading with a purpose courses, avocations 
and recreational materials.) 


They further agreed on definitions of library science 
terminology. Finally they determined the nature of the in- 
quiry form which was to be made up in four parts: a. a sec- 
tion which would survey present practices; b. a survey of our 
present philosophy pertaining to the function and use of the 
library; c. the listing of obstacles which are met in bringing 
practices up to the philosophy; and d. the recording of ways 
in which obstacles may be overcome. 


Samples of the form in which the inquiry book should 
finally appear were sent to each member of the committee and 
sub-committees. Section six of the final survey book is here- 
with submitted to indicate the type of instructions which were 
sent to the sub-committee. 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


PRACTICE PHILOSOPHY 


VI. DISTRIBUTION OF LIBRARY FUNDS 
AMONG DEPARTMENTS 


Indispensable 
Very Desirable 
Satisfactory 
Undesirable 
Detrimental 


. Are funds distributed to departments on a 
percentage basis? 


. What factors determine amounts as- 
signed to departments: 
a. Enrollments? 
b. Demands made by subject require- 
ments ? 
c. Stimulus given to recreational reading ? 


. By whom is the assignment of percent- 
ages made: 
a. Superintendent? 
b. Principal? 
ce. Librarian? 
d. Department heads? 
e. Committee? 


. Give total amount spent for library 
(books, periodicals, equipment, supplies, 
binding, repair, etc.) during the school 
years: 

1928-29 $ 1929-30 $ 
1931-32 $ 


. What was the amount spent per pupil 
enrolled during the school years: 
1929-30 $ 
1931-32 $ 


. Approximately what percentage of the 
demand on your library is met by present 


expenditures ?_________-_% 


Answered by 
(Title) 


OBSTACLES: 
REMEDIES: 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 281 


The sub-committees submitted detailed items which they 
felt should be surveyed in connection with the various phases 
of the problem of the high-school library. Eventually after 
six all day meetings of the committee on investigations a ten- 
tative form of the questionnaire was mimeographed early in 
June, 1932. This consisted of ten sections as follows: 


I. Purposes of the high-school library 
II. Personnel 
III. Location, size, and equipment of library 
IV. Source of book supply. 
V. Distribution of library funds among departments 


VI. Holdings—How nearly adequate is present col- 
lection? 


Criteria and method of book selection 
Efforts to stimulate voluntary reading 
IX. Co-operation between teachers and librarian 


X. Pupil participation in library management. 


The criticisms of this tentative draft were secured from 
at least six institutions of higher learning including compe- 
tent critics at the University of Minnesota, Ohio State Uni- 
versity, and Peabody College for Teachers. Early in Septem- 
ber, 1932, the Committee on Investigations met for two days 
to consider the suggestions which had been accumulated over 
the summer, and to draft the final form which was to be used 
in making the survey. The final form included the following 
sections: 


I. The status and purposes of the high-school library 
II. Personnel 


III. Location, size, and equipment of library 


IV. Organization of supervised routine work 


V. Source of book supply 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Distribution of library funds among departments 
Criteria and method of book selection 
Efforts to stimulate voluntary reading 


IX. Cooperation between teachers and librarians. 


The published questionnaire required sixteen pages plus 
the five page introduction. This was printed at a cost of one 
hundred twenty dollars for twelve hundred copies. The print- 
ing was completed early in November. 


At a meeting early in October, 1932, the Committee on 
Investigations agreed upon a plan of securing the codperation 
of high-school principals. A letter describing the study was 
sent to principals of all high-schools on the approved list of 
the State Department of Public Instruction of the North Cen- 
tral Association of Colleges and Secondary-Schools. This let- 
ter included a return card on which the principal indicated 
his willingness or unwillingness to participate in the study. 
Favorable responses were returned from two hundred sixty 
of the four hundred fifty high-schools. The printed form 
went forward to these schools early in November. The com- 
pleted questionnaires were to be returned by December 23, 
1932. 

Originally, it was planned to have the data from various 
sections of the study distributed to four or five graduate stu- 
dents of library science for interpretation as a part of their 
work in connection with the securing of an advanced degree. 
However, when the returns began to come in it became ap- 
parent that such procedure would cause considerable delay in 
making the findings available to those concerned. The Com- 
mittee on Investigations appealed to the officers of the Depart- 
ment of Secondary-School Principals for some means of 
financing a more direct treatment of the data. It was esti- 
mated that it would require approximately five hundred dol- 
lars to complete the study in a satisfactory way. This amount 
has now been raised. Two hundred dollars has come as a 
subsidy from some dozen publishing companies who are inter- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 283 


ested in the study and the balance is being raised as donations 
from about fifty of the high-schools of the state. 

The follow-up work in seeing that the inquiry pamphlets 
are returned has just been completed and satisfactory returns 
are available from one hundred fifty schools. The question- 
naire pamphlets are being checked by a specialist in library 
science for accuracy and coded for transfer of the data to the 
Hollerith cards. This will require the punching of twelve 
hundred cards and approximately thirty-six runs through the 
Hollerith Tabulating Machines. The clerical service for 
punching the cards and the machine runs will cost one hundred 
sixty dollars. The rest of the cost will go to pay for the serv- 
ices of the substitute for the individual who does the inter- 
preting and writing up of the findings of the printing. We 
hope to have the report ready for publication before the end of 
this school year. 


In the absence of G. N. Kefauver, Mr. H. C. Hand read 


their paper, entitled An Appraisal of Prognams of Guidance 
in Secondary-Schools. 


AN APPRAISAL OF PROGRAMS OF GUIDANCE 
IN SECONDARY-SCHOOLS 


GRAYSON N. KEFAUVER 
Acting Professor of Education 
Stanford University 


and 


HAROLD C. HAND 
Instructor in Secondary Education 
Teachers’ College, Columbia University 


Guidance Programs Introduced to Serve Definite Needs. 


Guidance programs have been introduced in secondary- 
schools because of clear indications that the existing program 
of education did not provide adequately for certain problems 
met by students. Traditionally, the secondary-school has been 








284 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


concerned almost exclusively with the teaching function. It 
became obvious, however, that much instruction was of little 
benefit either to the individual or to society because many 
students were receiving instruction in fields little related to 
their capacities, interests, and probable future activities and 
that many students were unable to make the most use of their 
training and were unhappy because of personal and social mal- 
adjustments. Also, the chance distributions of workers 
brought about an over-supply in some fields of work and an 
inadequate supply in others. The program of guidance has 
been concerned with the elimination or the reduction in the 
maldistribution and maladjustment of students while they are 
in school and after they leave school. 


Further analysis of the problems associated with the dis- 
tribution and adjustment of students will help to make clear 
what is supposed to result from a well-balanced program of 
guidance. Many students have inaccurate conceptions of 
their abilities ; some think themselves to be brighter than they 
are while others rate themselves too low. Many of them have 
formulated educational plans not in harmony with their actual 
abilities. Some individuals do not plan as extended a pro- 
gram of education as their respective capacities would war- 
rant. Some students choose subjects and curriculums in which 
they are practically certain to meet with failure. Many have 
not made plans concerning the activities they will carry on 
after leaving school and many have not even given serious 
thought concerning them. Many of those with such plans 
have not selected for themselves activities in harmony with 
their respective abilities. Since students have not accurately 
conceived their capacities, many of them have plans and are 
engaged in activities which draw on abilities which they do 
not possess in largest measure, leaving unused or only par- 
tially used abilities in which they could excel most. 


Many of the plans concerning future educational and 
future vocational activities are not based on a thorough under- 
standing of the requirements and conditions of work. Rather, 
the socially preferred occupations and the upper levels of 
education are often chosen for the social recognition asso- 








' 
' 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 285 


ciated with them. In the vocational field, this tendency re- 
sults in an improper distribution of workers and in people 
applying themselves at occupations for which they are not 
fitted. In the social-civic and recreational fields, the oppor- 
tunities for participation are not limited so that interests and 
capacities become the determining factors. In these fields, 
many students are without plans and interests, while others 
have plans that cannot be satisfied because of lack of capacity. 


Students are inadequately informed about the opportu- 
nities from which choices might be made. They are inade- 
quate'y informed about occupations except for the occupa- 
tions they have chanced to know at first hand. They are likely 
to generalize too much from the few contacts they have had. 
They are inadequately informed about the factors that should 
be considered in the choice of an occupation, and they fre- 
quently attach excessive significance to certain of the factors 
and ignore others. 

Students are inadequately informed about the subjects 
and curriculums in the secondary-school. They frequently 
choose subjects with little conception of what they are taking 
and see little relationship between the subjects and the things 
to which they attach value. Consequently, many students are 
indifferent to the assignments given to them. They are likely 
to choose subjects for superficial reasons and fail to secure 
a well-balanced program with appropriate emphasis on the 
preparation for the social-civic, recreational, health, and 
vocational activities. Many of them choose learning activi- 
ties beyond their respective capacities and avoid subjects that 
would be of value to them because of the social recognition 
associated with enrollment in certain fields. 


Many of the students in the secondary-school are not 
attaining an optimum adjustment. These individuals are not 
working up to capacity, frequently have feelings of inferiority, 
and sometimes suffer with fears and periods of depression. 
Many of these maladjusted individuals later develop into 
more serious cases. It is believed that identification and 
treatment when the first evidences of maladjustment appear 
may prevent more serious later disturbances. 








286 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Objective Measures of Effects of Guidance Service Needed 


Guidance procedures have been developed and used in 
secondary-schools to take care of the problems referred to 
above. The programs vary from city to city and from school 
to school. Two questions may well be raised by one who 
canvasses programs of guidance now in operation. First, are 
certain programs more effective than others in achieving the 
objectives of guidance? Every person who adopts or recom- 
mends some program is forced to make a choice. If one type 
of program is better than another, objective evidence of that 
superiority would furnish a better basis for choice and lead 
to more universal adoption of the program with demonstrated 
superiority. Second, are any of the existing programs of 
guidance adequate to bring about proper distribution and 
adjustment of students? Or, if all maldistribution and mal- 
adjustment are not corrected, to what extent have they been 
removed? All existing programs may be inadequate. The 
problems comprehended by guidance are too important both 
for the individual and for society to continue a program of 
service unchecked. 


One occasionally meets the challenge, even from spe- 
cialists in guidance, that it is not possible to measure the 
outcomes of programs of guidance. That all of the outcomes 
can be measured with complete accuracy, no one will contend. 
However, it is possible to secure many data that indicate 
whether unsatisfactory conditions have been remedied. Ref- 
erence has already been made to the general acceptance of 
the need for guidance, recognizing the existence of problems 
that are supposed to be handled by the guidance service. Do 
these same problems exist in schools that have a well- 
developed guidance service? If they do exist, do they exist 
in the same degree as in schools without guidance? Why do 
we need vocational guidance? We need it because students 
do not know about occupations, because they have vocational 
plans not in harmony with the needs of society and with their 
own capacities and inter2sts, because they do not know about 
the program preparatory for their vocations, because they 
have incorrect conceptions of their abilities, etc. If we can 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 287 


determine that these needs exist before guidance service is 
provided, we can also determine, and with the same degree 
of accuracy, whether the needs still exist after students have 
had the benefits of an organized guidance service. Guidance 
aims to help students plan an educational program. By what 
criteria shall a student evaluate his present thinking concern- 
ing a future program of study? To the extent that the guid- 
ance service can furnish students with criteria for deciding 
on an occupation or a plan of education, it is possible to de- 
termine whether the plans of students recognize the criteria 
that are available for their use. 


Two-Year Investigation Compares Characteristics of Students 
in Ten Cities. 


Two general lines of investigation might be used in 
evaluating guidance service. One would involve a follow-up 
of students who have had the advantage of guidance service 
to determine whether the desired change took place after the 
service was provided. This procedure has the weakness of 


not showing whether the problems would have cleared up 
naturally without the intervention of the guidance service. 
If the follow-up showed a continuance of the difficulty, one 
might conclude that the guidance service did not bring about 
an improvement of the condition. However, one cannot know 
whether or not the conditions would have become worse if 
the guidance service had not been provided. The most effective 
use of the following procedure would require the identification 
of problems for a large group of students, provision of guid- 
ance service for about half of them, provision of no guidance 
service for the other half, and a comparison of the two groups 
after a period of time has elapsed. The two groups, similar 
before the guidance service was made available, should be 
similar at the time of the second test if the guidance service 
is entirely ineffective. Differences between the two groups 
at the time of the second test would indicate the effect of 
the guidance service. The follow-up procedure is best adapted 
to measuring the effect of remedial treatment of maladjusted 
individuals. A positive guidance service should prevent many 





288 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


problems from developing; the follow-up procedure would not 
secure information on such outcomes. 


The second procedure involves a comparison of students 
in schools with and without systematic programs of guidance, 
or a comparison of students in schools with different patterns 
of guidance service. Do the problems attacked by the guidance 
service exist to as large an extent in schools with guidance as 
in schools without guidance? If the problems do not exist 
or exist in a lesser degree in the schools with guidance, one 
might infer that the guidance service was responsible for the 
more favorable conditions. One cannot be entirely certain, 
however, that the guidance program accounts for the differ- 
ence; other factors in the environment might be the real 
cause. If one studied a number of schools, however, and the 
same advantages were noted for the schools with guidance, 
one could be rather certain of the conclusions drawn. Also, 
some programs of guidance place greater stress on certain 
aspects of the guidance service than on others. The relative 
standing of the schools concerning the problems stressed in 
relation to the problems not stressed would be indicative of 
the effect of the guidance service. 


A combination of the follow-up and comparison methods 
might be used by following two groups of students through 
the same school. The two halves of an entering class might 
be provided with different types of guidance service. A rec- 
ord could be made of the problems that emerge at each grade 
level and comparisons could be made between the two groups. 
By securing data in subsequent grades, one could show 
whether or not, and, if so, at what point the problems have 
been eliminated. This approach produces evidence on the 
extent to which different problems emerge. It also shows 
the extent to which the problems that do develop are cared 
for. 


The followup method or a combination of the followup and 
comparison methods might be used as effectively for two suc- 
cessive grades as for two halves of the same grade. That is, 
the entering class of 1933 might be provided with a minimum 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 289 


of guidance service throughout their life in the secondary 
- school while the entering class of 1934 might be provided with 
a maximum program. A comparison of the data for the two 
grade groups for comparable grade levels would provide data 
much similar to those obtained by a comparison of the two 
halves of a grade group at some one level. A comparison of 
groups within the same schuol has distinct advantages over 
that of students in different schools since the non-guidance 
features of the program of the school and the conditions in 
the community would be similar when the comparisons are 
made within a school. 

The “comparison” procedure was used in the investigation 
of the outcomes of programs of guidance now being brought 
to completion and made on a grant by the Carnegie Corpora- 
tion through the Carnegie Foundation. Approximately five 
thousand students were measured in ten cities. Nine of the 
cities were selected because of stress on guidance over a period 
of years and because these cities represented different pat- 
terns of guidance service and communities of different sizes. 
One city was chosen because of the meagerness of the guid- 
ance service. The ten cities studied were Camden, Cincinnati, 
Indianapolis, Jamestown, New York, Joliet, Pasadena, Pitts- 
burgh, Providence, Scotia, New York, and South Orange, New 
Jersey. In cities with more than one junior and senior high- 
school, the authorities were asked to choose the school on each 
level in which they believed the most effective guidance was 
under way. A sampling was made of the students in the 
schools selected. One hundred students were selected in a ran- 
dom manner from the eighth grade, another hundred from the 
eleventh grade, a hundred from the graduates of the high- 
school in 1928 and 1929, and a hundred from the sixth grade in 
the elementary schools from which the junior-high-school 
come. (1) The sixth-grade students were included to ascertain 
whether or not differences exist—at the time students enter 
the high-school. In this way, one can tell whether or not the 
differences between the high-school groups developed during 
their stay in the high-school. Tests were constructed to meas- 


(1) Only eleventh grade students were studied in Indianapolis, Joliet, 
and South Orange. 





290 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ure the students’ knowledge about occupations, about factors 
that should be considered in the various important choices 
which students must make, about false guidance, about the 
program of the school, about college-entrance requirements, 
etc. Detailed information was secured concerning the students’ 
educational, vocational, and recreational plans and their reason 
for their plans. Published tests of adjustment and vocational 
interests were also employed. A full day of writing was re- 
quired of each student in furnishing the information being 
used. 


It is not possible to present many data at this time. Only 
a few can be discussed to illustrate certain lines of analysis. 
Those reported are for eleventh grade students in two cities. 
The program of guidance in one city is among the oldest and 
best known in the country. The other city was without a sys- 
tematic guidance program. Data also were obtained in these 
two cities for students in grade six and eight but only data 
for the eleventh-grade group will be reported here. Here- 
after, the students of the school with large stress on guidance 
will be referred to as the “guided” group and those of the 
school with little guidance will be referred to as the “un- 
guided” group. The number of students represented is 82 for 
the guided group and 130 for the unguided group. 


The percentage of students with definite vocational 
choices is practically the same for the two groups. The per- 
centage is 67.7 for the unguided group and 65.8 for the guided 
group. The standard error of the difference, 6.7 per cent, is 
much larger than the difference, so the difference is not statis- 
tically significant. There is also no significant difference be- 
tween the percentages of students in the two groups without 
choices but with stated preference for one or more vocations. 
The percentage is 17.0 for the unguided group and 18.2 for the 
guided group. The standard error of the difference is 5.4 per 
cent so, again, the small difference is without significance. A 
real difference does exist, however, between the intelligence 
quotients of students planning to enter certain groups of oc- 
cupations. One illustration will be given here. The mean in- 
telligence quotient of students planning to enter the profes- 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 291 


sions is 104.2 for the unguided group and 117.5 for the guided 
group. The standard error of the difference is only 2.0 so the 
difference is 6.6 times the standard error. Thus, there are 
relatively fewer students with lower intelligence planning to 
enter the professions in the guided group than in the un- 
guided group. 


The extensive measurement of vocational information 
failed to disclose any significant difference between the two 
groups of students. The mean score for the guided group is 
350.5 and for the unguide dgroup 343.38. The standard error 
of the difference is 5.5. The small difference in score is thus 
without significance. 


A comparison of the knowledge possessed by the stu- 
dents concerning certain types of educational information dis- 
closes significant differences. The scores of students who plan 
to enter college on a test of information concerning entrance 
requirements of the colleges chosen, show a large difference in 
favor of the guided group. The mean score is 22.5 for the un- 
guided group and 42.9 for the guided group. The standard error 
of the difference is 4.1 so the difference is five times its stand- 
ard error. Clearly, the guided students who plan to go to col- 
lege know more about the entrance requirements of the col- 
leges they plan to enter than is true for the unguided group. 


A comparison of the adjustment of the guided and un- 
guided students discloses no significant difference between the 
two groups. The mean score on the Symonds-Block Student 
Questionnaire for the unguided group is 364.0 and for the 
guided group 356.2. The standard error of the difference is 
5.2. The difference is thus a chance difference and without 
significance. It should be pointed out, however, that the un- 
guided group had as favorable a status as the unguided group 
in their adjustment as measured by this test. 


The few data that have been presented suggest that the 
guided students are in a more favorable position cn some 
points, while on other points there are no significant differ- 
ences between the two groups. Generalizations should not be 
attempted from the data presented. They cover only students 





292 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


in one grade in two cities. When the data for the different 
groups in the ten cities are reported, a more adequate Lasis for 
judgment will be available. Also, the five relationships here 
reported give only slight indication of what will be obtained in 
the approximately seventy-five relationships included in the 
total investigation. It should also be pointed out that data of 
the type presented above will have more meaning when they 
are related to the features of the program of guidance that has 
been provided for the different groups of students. It is to be 
regretted that limitations of space preclude a systematic in- 
terpretation of the data presented. They should however serve 
to illustrate the comparative approach in the appraisal of pro- 


grams of guidance. 


Superintendent L. W. Smith, of Berkeley, California, read 
his paper. 


A STUDY OF HIGH-SCHOOL PUPIL POPULA- 
TION IN AID OF THE REVISION 
OF THE CURRICULUM 


L. W. SMITH, 
Superintendent of Schools, 
Berkeley, California 


The staff of the Berkeley Public Schools, like those in 
many other cities, is in the process of continuous revision of 
its curriculum. Many problems arise in connection with such 
a project which it is difficult to follow because of the lack 
of dependable information. During the last few years it 
has been the practice to carry on researches of various kinds 
from a practical point of view to provide as much of this 
needed data as possible. It is the purpose of this paper to 
show how this was carried on in connection with one of the 
questions that has come up in connection with the revision 
of the high-school curriculum. 


Question was raised as to whether or not the Counseling 
Department could depend upon the curriculum set-up in the 







































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


lower schools to provide an adequate base for the differen- 
tiated courses in the senior high-school. In particular the 
question was raised as to whether or not all of the incoming 
students in the Low 10 grade had had a full exposure to the 
exploratory courses provided in the junior high-schools in 
the city. Also, whether or not these pupils had had the 
courses provided in the elementary schools of the city. Fur- 
ther question: If the pupils had had the exploratory courses 
in the junior high-school, had they had a full exposure—that 
is, had they had as many trial courses as they were supposed 
to have had. Furthermore, if the pupils had been subjected 
to the shop courses in the junior high-schools, did they, as a 
result, in large numbers take the shop courses in the senior 
high-school? Further question: Was there need for a gen- 
eral shop course on the senior high-school level in view of 
the fact that there were general shop courses on the junior 
high-school level? 


In this connection it should be stated that there are in 
Berkeley one senior high-school, an opportunity or continua- 
tion high-school, and four junior high-schools. These junior 
high-schools have had a long history, the first junior high- 
school in the country having been organized in Berkeley in 
about 1910 or 1911. Early in the history of these junior 
high-schools the exploratory function had been established in 
these schools. In order to determine what shop work had been 
taken in the junior high-schools in the general courses pro- 
vided there, a questionnaire was filled out by the students in 
the Low 10 class of the senior high-school in September of 
1932. The questionnaire is herewith. 











294 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 


No. of years............--------2-+- 

Please indicate, by filling’ in the blanks below, the various 
kinds of shop work you had in junior high school. In each 
grade, specify as accurately as possible the number of weeks 


taken. 


Low 7 High 7 Low 8 High 8 Low 9 High 9 

S 2 @ «4 8 22 8 tt «ol at «ok 

o 6 6 oe 6 @6 eo soe) 68 St 

Type of ézi e222 £22 £23 222 2 ft 
Shop Work ™ B @ Ss Ss w Az n Zaz n As 





Auto Mechanics 


Book Binding 








Cement work 


Electrical Work 








Forging 





Machine Shop 





Mechanical Drawing 





Plumbing 





Printing 





Sheet Metal 





Wicker and Reed Work 





Wood Work 





Please list below your present senior high-school program 
(the subjects you are now taking). 




















This questionnaire shows the kind of shop work provided 
in the junior high-schools in the city. Characteristically this 


shop work is given in five-week units during the eighth year 
work. As stated, all Low 10 boys were asked to fill out the 




















Wr 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 295 


questionnaire concerning their shop experience. The ate I 
herein reported was based on the report of 136 of these stu- 
dents whose junior high-school experience was obtained in one 
of the Berkeley junior high-schools. The total number of re- 
sponses to the questionnaire was 241. The following table is a 
classification of the replies. The information was tabuiated by 
schools as well as in the whole group. 


TABLE I 
Total number responses to questionnaire 
Number with 3 years in the same Berkeley Junior 
High-School—data complete 
Number with 3 years in the same Berkeley Junior 
High-School—data incomplete 3 
Number with 3 years in 2 or more different Berke- 
ley Junior High-Schools 
Number with 0-214 years in Berkeley Junior 
High-Schools 























Table II gives the number of terms of shop experience of 


these pupils: 
TABLE II 


Number Terms of Shop 
Experience in Junior- bs. mare me eg 
High-School ae 
| 


1 

2 1.5 
40 29.4 
17 12.5 
41 30.1 
14 10.3 
16 

2 

2 

0 

0 

1 





11. 
; 1.2 
4 1 
i 


MPODONRSTRwWNHO 


— pt 


7 





Total 136 100 


Chart No. 1 gives the number of terms of shop experience 
by the percentage of the pupils distributed as noted in the 


graph. 














CHART 1 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
NUMBER OF TERMS OF SHOP EXPERIENCE 
OF 136 L10 STUDENTS 


35 
30.1 


- 29.4 


25 


20 


PERCENT OF STUDENTS 


15 


10 


No. Terms 0 





























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 297 

When taking into account the fact that it is one of the 
principles maintained by educators that practically all of 
the pupils in the junior high-school should have shop work 
for two reasons—one, that they need to become acquainted 
with a number of shops for general educational purposes, and 
the other, that they may have an adequate base for the selec- 
tion of a shop or the rejection of shop work altogether—it 
is to be noted that a large percentage of the pupils did not 
have a sufficient experience in the junior high-school with 
shop work. As a matter of fact, over 50% of the pupils had 
less than five shop exposures of odd terms of work in shops. 


Another important consideration in this connection is to 
determine whether or not this shop work was of a varied 
character. If the most of it was in a single shop or in two or 
three shops, it would not supply the variety needed for ex- 
ploratory purposes. Table III gives the tabulation of the 
variety of shop experience of the Low 10 students in junior 
high-school shop work. The inquiry information shown in 
Table III is graphically shown in Chart 2. In this chart it 
is seen that the mode is three different shops and that over 
50% had less than the expected exposure of five shops. This 
same information is shown in percentages in Table IV and 
Chart 3. 








DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


TABLE III 


Number of Number 
Different All 
Shops Burbank Edison Garfield Willard Schools 


0 a das ae 1 
11 
27 
43 
13 
32 








7 Sete 
Number students 36 
Median number 

shops per 

student 
Average number 

shops per 

student 3 
Standard deviation  .64 








TABLE IV 





Number Number Per Cent of 
Different Shops Students Students 





0 1 
11 

27 

43 

13 

32 

7 

2 


136 














_ 
B 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 
CHART 2 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
VARIETY OF SHOP EXPERIENCE OF 136 L10 STUDENTS 


43 















































CHART 3 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
VARIETY OF SHOP EXPERIENCE OF 136 L10 BOYS 


a 
E 
ee) 
S) 
& 
n 
&, 
°o 
& 
= 
3) 
fd 
Ae 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 301 


The conclusion is clear that neither in length of time spent 
in shops nor in variety of shop experiences have the pupils had 
a proper exploratory course in the handicrafts on the junior 
high-school level. In other words, although theoretically the 
staff may be convinced that the curriculum is operating, and 
the underlying philosophy being held as being sound by mem- 
bers of the staff; nevertheless, a factual investigation shows 
that, in Berkeley’s case, at least, the kind of training is not be- 
ing given that is intended. 


An interesting question to raise in this connection is 
whether or not the pupils who do shop work in junior high- 
school take shop work on the high-school level. Of these 136 
pupils the distribution as regards enrollment in.shop work in 
high school is shown in Table V. The material in Table V is 
shown in Chart 4. An interesting speculation in this connec- 
tion is what induces so small a number of shop workers on the 
junior high-school level to take shop work on the senior high- 
school level. Notice that 73% of them take no kind of shop 
work at all. Twenty-one percent take shop work and 6% take 


courses allied to shop, such as mechanical or industrial draw- 
ing. 


TABLE V 
Number 
Program Students Percent 


No shop work 99 73 
Regular Shop work 29 21 
Courses allied to shop, as mechanical or indus- 

trial drawing, but no regular shop work.... 8 6 


Total 136 100 























It is to be noted that one of the junior high-schools has its 
pupils exposed to a larger number of shops than the other jun- 
ior high-schools. 

In the preparation of these data comments came from one 
of the schools to the effect that, while these courses were de- 
nominated general shop courses, they covered six six-weeks 





302 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


courses during the course of a year, and that pupils thereby 
became confused and did not list in the questionnaire their ex- 
periences in the separate shops. It should be stated in this con- 
nection that, if a student is not clear in his own mind relative 
to the differentiation of his work into varied shop experiences, 
the school is failing in one of its functions. Pupils must be 
conscious of the fact that they are having the privilege of ex- 
ploring different types of shop work before the purposes of 
exploration can be fulfilled. 





CHART 4 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHCOLS 
PRESENT PROGRAM OF 136 L10 BOYS 





Percent 





} 
} 
i 
{ 
y 
4 
t 
‘ 





























No Shop Shop Allied Courses 
Work Work ‘ Only* 


* Mechanical or industrial drawing but no regular shop. 





DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


BERKELEY PUBLIC SCHOOLS 
SCHOOL HISTORY 


Please indicate by filling in the blanks below all the 
schools you have attended grade by grade. In case you attend- 
ed a Junior High-School place the work of grades 7, 8 and 9 
under the heading Junior High-School. If your 9th grade 
work was in Junior High-School you will not repeat the infor- 
mation for the 9th grade under the heading of Senior High- 
School. : 





. Location of School Number Semesters in 
Name of School City State Each Grade 





Kindergarten 
Elementary School oo 





























Junior High-School 











Senior High-School 





10. 
11. 
12. 











The result of this study caused us to raise still further 
question. The high-school courses are based upon what are 
supposed to be the courses given in the elementary schools and 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 305 


the junior high-schools of the city. In how far is it possible to 
depend upon the principle that the foundation work is laid by 
the curriculum as taught in the Berkeley Public Schools. A 
questionnaire, as shown herewith, was, therefore, prepared 
and filled out by every pupil in the Berkeley High-School on 
October 4, 1932. There were approximately 2700 pupils in 


the senior high-school. 


One of the purposes of the questionnaire was to find out 
how many of the students now enrolled had gone through the 
Berkeley system. Another question we wished to answer was 
how many students had had an opportunity to take the ex- 
ploratory courses given in the junior high-schools. 


Summarizing the results, 34% of the students now en- 
rolled in Berkeley High-School attended Berkeley schools con- 
tinuously from first grade to date. Some students attended in 
Berkeley for a time, dropped out, and returned later. Per- 
cents attending each grade in Berkeley schools from first to 
ninth ranged from 42% attending the first grade in Berkeley 
to 80% attending the ninth. Eighty-two percent of all stu- 
dents enrolled attended a junior high school in grades 7 and 8. 
How much work of an exploratory nature was offered by those 
junior high-schools outside of Berkeley we have no means of 
knowing. Nine percent attended an eight-grade grammar 


school. 


Table VI gives the percentage of the Berkeley High-School 
enrollment in October, 1932, who attended lower grades in 
Berkeley Public Schools. As is to be expected, the lower down 
the grades you go, the smaller the percentage of high school 
students who attended Berkeley Public Schools. It is surpris- 
ing, however, that only 42% of them attended the first grade. 
That is, over half of the pupils in the Berkeley High-School did 
not attend the lower grades in Berkeley. However, more than 
three-fourths of them attended junior high-school at some 
time or other. The information is shown graphically in Chart 





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308 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Table VII shows the percent attending Berkeley Public 
Schools continuously since first grade. The information given 
in Table VII is shown graphically in Chart 6. It is interest- 
ing to note that the second semester, or the advanced semes- 
ter, in each grade has a higher percentage of Berkeley pupils 
from the eighth grade on to the present time than the lower 
semester in each high-school grade. It is interesting to specu- 
late as to the reasons for this. Perhaps it is fair to assume 
that the pupils who have spent their whole time in Berkeley 
Public Schools have been able to take advantage of all the 
opportunities for acceleration and, in particular, to take ad- 
vantage of the plan invoked in Berkeley ; that is, to have semi- 
annual promotion. Perhaps pupils coming from outside might 
take advantage of this situation in a smalier way than those 
who have lived in Berkeley all their lives. 


TABLE VII 
HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS WHO ATTENDED BERKELEY 


PUBLIC SCHOOLS CONTINUOUSLY FROM 
GRADE 1 TO PRESENT 





Number Number in Percent in 
Filling Continuous Continuous 
Questionnaire Attendance Attendance 


177 34 
165 47 
145 27 
135 35 
137 28 
122 40 


881 34 






























































GCVUS LSUId FHL FONIG ATSNONNILNOO 
STOOHOS OITENd ARTIMUAIG AAGNALLV SVH LVHL 
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DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Table VIII shows the type of school attended in the 
seventh and eighth grades by Berkeley High School students. 


TABLE VIII 


TYPE OF SCHOOL ATTENDED IN THE SEVENTH AND 
EIGHTH GRADES BY BERKELEY HIGH-SCHOOL 
STUDENTS 





Number of Students 
Grades 


L-10 H-10 L-11 H-11 L-12 H-12 10-12 





. Junior High- 
School 437 318 417 327 353 260 2,112 


. Grammar School.. 33 21 66 33 £64 ~— 23 240 


. Parochial or Pri- 
vate School uae 13 f 29 78 


4. Coaching a Bee ee 1 


. Junior High 
and Grammar 
Schools 

. Junior High and 
Parochial or 


. Grammar _ School 
and Parochial 
or Private 

. Junior High 
School and 
Coaching 

. Junior High, 
Grammar and 
Private 

. Unusable 
Questionnaires 3 7 3 


383 474 304 2,573 













Pong stichiteneiy 







any Maton 









































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 311 
Table IX shows the percentage of high-school students at- 
tending seventh and eighth grades in each type of school. It is 
noted that 82% of the students concerned attended a junior 
high-school type. A little over 9% attended a grammar school. 
Three percent plus attended a private or parochial school, and 
so on down the list. That is, about 18% did not have the typi- 

cal type of training provided by the schools of Berkeley. 

TABLE IX 
PERCENT OF BERKELEY HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS 
ATTENDING SEVENTH AND EIGHTH GRADES IN EACH 
TYPE OF SCHOOL 

Percent of Students 
Grades 
L-10 H-10 L-11 H-11 L-12 H-12 10-12 

1. Junior High 


School .......... 83.7 90.6 77.4 85.4 74.5 85.5 82.08 
2. Grammar 

School ............ 63 60 122 86 1385 76 9.33 
3. Parochial or 

Private School 5.0 24 13 61 #16 = £432.03 
4. Coaching ............ 2 .04 
5. Junior High and 

Grammar 

Schools .......... 25 20 55 21 42 36 3.46 


6. Junior High 

and Parochial 

or Private .... 1.5 1.5 8 9 
7. Grammar School 

and Parochial 

or Private ...... A 2 12 
8. Junior High 

School and 

Coaching ........ 2 .04 
9. Junior High, 

Grammar, and 

Private -......... 2 .04 
10. Unusable Ques- 
tionnaires ...... 6 1.4 4 18 6 1.0 89 
» OE 100 100 100 100 100 100 = 100 


*3 


97 





















DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


The material shown in the tables and graphs makes it 
clear that the high school courses cannot be completely set up 
on the assumption that certain types of work have been done 
in the curriculum in the lower grades and in the junior high 
school. In this connection the data herein developed indicates 
that the pupils going through the junior high schools must, as 
far as it is at all practicable, be exposed to the exploratory 
courses and these courses must be conducted in such a way as 
to establish clearly in the minds of the pupils the character and 
significance of the trial courses which they are taking. It is 
further made clear that the counselling department should see 
to it that all of the pupils shall have had at least the minimum 
number of trial courses provided for. 

Another important conclusion is that the general and trial 
courses already established in the high school must be fully 
utilized for the benefit of those pupils who for one reason or 
another did not have opportunity of taking these courses on 
the junior high school level. 


Professor V. C. Fryklund, specialist in Industrial Edu- 
cation of the Employment Stabilization Research Institute of 
the University of Minnesota, read a paper, Implications of, 
Findings in Certain Research Studies in Unemployment on 
Vocational Education in Secondary-Schools. 


G. M. Wiley, Assistant Commissioner, Secondary Edu- 
cation Division, State Education Department, Albany, New 
York, read his paper entitled, Cooperative Studies in Sec- 
ondary Education in New York State. 


COOPERATIVE STUDIES IN SECONDARY EDU- 
CATION IN NEW YORK STATE 
Dr. GEO. M. WILEY, 
Assistant Commissioner of Education, 
State Education Department, 
Albany, New York 
The major interest in progressive secondary education in 
New York State during the past four years has been centered 














PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


in the cooperative studies which have been carried on by 
groups of principals representing every section of the state and 
also every type of school. Furthermore, the significant feature 
of this activity is found in the word “cooperative.” Many prin- 
cipals were engaged in these studies and in attacking these 
problems. The large number of men and women in adminis- 
trative work in secondary education who made up the member- 
ship of these groups insured a breadti: of vision and a common 
denominator of thinking without which no progressive pro- 
gram in any level of education can be developed. 


Accepting for the moment the principle of activity as 
fundamental in education, whether the age be fourteen or for- 
ty, the importance of enlisting large groups of principals in 
the work was obvious. We trust that there has been leadership. 
This has been, however, merely a guiding and directing in- 
fluence. The large outcomes that are now being realized as a 
result of this work are due to the hundred and more high- 
school principals who have made up the membership of our 
committee and sub-commitees on secondary-school problems. 


Throughout this period the high-school principals’. as- 
sociation, the state council of school superintendents, and the 
state department of education have worked in the closest 
cooperation. The major committee had seven members, three 
high-school principals, two city school superintendents, and 
two representatives of the state department. Let it be added 
that there have been no suspicions regarding prerequisites, 
nor have there been any jealousies regarding prerogatives. 
In the time at my disposal I shall attempt to present briefly 
only three phases of these studies; (1) the first approach 
which led to a consideration of the social philosophy under- 
lying popular secondary education; (2) the second step in 
which specific problems were taken up dealing with needed 
readjustments in junior and senior high schools; and (3) final- 
ly some of the outcomes already being realized in the high 
schools of the state. 

While it was extremely difficult at the outset to formu- 
late a statement on which there might be common agreement 
relative to the aims and purposes of secondary education 


313 










Oe No 3 te MO hi it ON, rr pales 







i Se 







































314 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the committee was at least reasonably successful. This series 
of statements consisting of nine “theses” has been the sub- 
ject of three revisions. The basic thought, however, has been 
persistent and has profoundly influenced the thinking of 
teachers as well as principals throughout the state. 


As illustrative of the cooperative character of these stu- 
dies even in these early stages it may be noted that the su- 
perintendents, principals, and high-school teachers were kept 
in close touch with the work that was being carried forward. 
The first tentative draft of functions or “theses” as they were 
called, was sent out to thousands of teachers inviting their 
comment and urging a full expression of their point of view. 
These reactions from the teaching staff were analyzed and 
used in the two later revisions. 


Obviously this cooperative approach served a double 
purpose. The contribution of the secondary teachers was of 
unusual value in clearing the thinking of the central commit- 
tee. On the other hand the challenge of the statement as form- 
ulated and submitted to the teacher groups invited wide dis- 
cussion and developed a new type of creative thinking in terms 
of the increasing responsibility of the schools in meeting the 
needs of a social democracy. The fact that each teacher was 
invited to express his or her own thought in detail regarding 
these proposals had a profound influence on the thinking of 
the entire teaching staff. In other words a new philosophy 
was beginning to modify the practices in secondary educa- 
tion long before any formal report appeared. 


Another phase of the initial work was of no less signifi- 
cance, the cooperation invited from pupil groups. Reactions 
were secured from nearly 15,000 high-school pupils. It was 
believed that “pupils in high schools have valuable sugges- 
tions to make.” This opinion was abundantly confirmed. In ad- 
dition to certain more or less formal questions, each high- 
school student was asked to write a paragraph expressing 
his frank opinion regarding each of the following: (1) the 
value to the high-school boy or girl of extra curriculum activi- 
ties; (2) the most helpful teacher I have known and how he 
or she influenced me; (3) the needs of the high-schvol boy 


2 NA en IEE 




























ry) NI a a gc TTR 







ACR erm Een nt 







PSE vari. 



















PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 315 


or girl; and (4) how the high school could be made more help- 
ful to its pupils. In one of our large cosmopolitan high sckools 
these comments of pupils regarding teaching service, adoles- 
cent needs, and school readjustments were made the keynote 
of faculty discussions and conferences for several months. 
These illustrations may be sufficient to make clear that our 
approach challenged the thinking of all groups pupil, teacher, 
principal, superintendent, and state administrator regarding 
the basic principles underlying our procedures in secondary 
education. 


The second step brought us face to face with specific 
problems dealing with the readjustments needed in secondary 
schools. As an aid toward insuring reasonably adequate fact- 
ual data regarding the nature of the adolescent groups in jun- 
ior and senior high-schools several research studies were car- 
ried on by the research division of the state department in ad- 
dition to those already mentioned. One significant study may 
be used as an illustration, “Levels and Ranges of Ability in 
New York State High Schools.” This study which covered 
fifty-nine different cities or communities, and included over 
18,000 individual pupil records aroused wide interest. It pre- 
sents extensve data regarding pupils throughout the six-year 
junior senior high-school period. 


The careful analysis that was made indicating the wide 
range of both chronological and mental age levels has been 
of outstanding value to everyone who is studying these prob- 
lems constructively. It was found that while there is a range 
of approximately ten years in mental maturity in each year 
of the secondary school, the middle fifty percent gives a range 
in mental age of approximately two years. Obviously there 
arose at once questions and problems with regard to organ- 
ization group and individual adjustment, curriculum mate- 
rials and classroom technic that proved to be a challenge to 
large numbers of teachers in junior and senior high schools. 


This challenge expressed itself in a concrete effort to at- 
tack some of the problems involved. The committee and sub- 
committee groups agreed that the statistical and scientific in- 
formation which we have relative to individual differences 



















316 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


among high-school pupils has far outdistanced the progress 
that has thus far been made to adapt the school organization 
and the classroom technic to meet these conditions. 


It will be appreciated that we were immediately confronted 
with many more issues than could be given prompt coasidera- 
tion. After careful consideration the following problems were 
selected for study, each assigned to a separate sub-committee. 


1. The reorganization of the social studies to mest the 
needs of adolescents in a modern social democracy. 


This committee consisted of nine members. This phase of 
secondary school readjustment is far reaching in its relation- 
ship to the whole philosophy underlying the reorganization of 
secondary education. If there is any field of study which must 
be given a major place in the public high-school of to-morrow, 
it is the social studies. This assertion is made with the assump- 
tion that we agree on a broad interpretation of the social sub- 
jects and the part which the school must play in a social 
democracy. 


2. The function of directed study as a classroom technic 
in the redirection of secondary education. 


This committee responsible for this study consisted of 
eight members. Their work followed two major lines, one tak- 
ing up the theory and literature of the field, the other analyz- 
ing the best practices in typical schooi organizations. 


The several theses proposed by the committee in the an- 
alysis of the functions of secondary education pointed in the 
direction of such readjustments of classroom method and iech- 
nic as would serve in a much more purposeful manner the 
needs of the individual student. If our social theory of educa- 
tion is accepted we are confronted at once with the problem of 
so organizing of the school and so developing our classroom 
procedures that each pupil shall have every opportunity to do 
his best in those fields that are of special value and interest to 
him and through which he will be able to serve best his fellow- 


man. 





Firat meeaneeatanmeaeen 


2 eoowen 























aa 


Be ae 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 317 



































Directed study is a change in emphasis from teacher ac- 
tivity to pupil activity. It offers an unusual opportunity for 
individual growth as well as group instruction. Directed study 
puts a new emphasis on the learning process. 


3. The problem of constants in the curriculum. 


The committee in charge of this study consisted of thir- 
teen members. Their work was very difficult due to wide differ- 
ences of opinion. They pointed out that while these questions 
dealing with the program of studies are extremely difficult at 
the moment, they will be even more difficult in the future due 
to the increasing complexity and heterogeneity of the high- 
school population. Their thought took the definite direction 
looking toward a basic core of subjects for the junior high- 
school level with wide optional choices of subjects in the senior 
high school depending on individual interests, abilities, atti- 
tudes and aptitudes, as well as objectives and purposes toward 
one’s life work. The following statement from the tentative 
report of this committee may be of general interest at the 
moment: “There is agreement that it is not possible to set 
up a constant content for any subject of the curriculum but 
only to indicate the general fields or subject matter which it is 
believed should always be present.” In other words, a subject 
which may be regarded as a constant for all curriculuins and 
for all students, such as English, should probably vary widely 
in the character of the detailed material making up the sub- 
ject matter. The machinery of the school organization must not 
crush teaching initiative nor interfere with the growth and de- 
velopment of individual pupils. 


4. The place of guidance as an aid in the realization of 
the purposes of the secondary school. 


One of the most significant contributions of our various 
committees has been made by this group of fifteen members 
whose report will soon be issued as a separate bulletin. 

Even a casual consideration of the general statements on 
the aims and functions of secondary education referred to 
earlier, together with a recognition of the enormously increas- 








ee te en EreGeece 


<Tatitnet -obetie h Ser und 











318 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ing enrolment in secondary schools, and an appreciation uf the 
increasing complexity of the social order in which we live and 
which the secondary schools must serve, indicates something 
of the increasing responsibility of everyone working in the field 
of secondary education in assisting these young people in mak- 
ing worth while individual and life adjustments. Guidance in 
the secondary school as defined by this committee, “Consists 
of the coordination of those educational procedures which give 
the child help in evaluating himself,—his capacities, interests, 
and abilities, in the light of accessible educational and occupa- 
tional opportunities, which enable him to live efficiently in his 
ethical and social relationships, and which aid him to progress 
at his optimum capacity in the work he attempts.” 


It is obvious that guidance is a much larger function than 
we have thus far realized. It is not the function alone of the 
counsellor.or guidance teacher. It is in part the responsibility 
of every teacher in every classroom. 'The teacher’s importance 
in any adequate guidance program will be more generally rec- 
ognized and preparation made for it as the newer purposes of 
secondary education are more generally recognized. 


5. What types of secondary schools should be organized 
and what reorganization of present high schools are 
advisable to serve more adequately the adolescent pop- 
ulation ? 


This committee consisted of twenty members. While many 
of their tentative recommendations might be regarded as local 
or regional in application, much of the material in their re- 
port would be quite as applicable to one section of the country 
as to another. They recommend, for instance, that all rural 
elementary schools should be restricted to grades one to six; 
that the reorganization of secondary education continue along 
the lines of the 6-6 plan although in larger centers this may 
take the form of the 6-3-3 plan. They recommended the further 
extension and development of practical arts for both boys 
and girls in grades seven, eight and nine and suggested that 
the program for vocational education in secondary schools 
should begin with the tenth year. As a means of bringing more 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 319 


effective vocational and industrial opportunities to ~--ondary 
pupils in the rural areas, they recommend the s. z up of 
central vocational schools for both boys and girls oy.:n to those 
pupils who have completed the ninth grade or whose interests 
may be best served by this type of school. 

It is also the thought of these groups that the larger sec- 
ondary schools, central rural schools, village schools and city 
schools, which enroll pupils with widely differing intcrests 
should be of the comprehensive or cosmopolitan type and 
should combine in the general organization the best practices 
and the progressive developments of both junior and senior 
high schools in order that the needs of all pupils, whatever may 
be their later objective in lif2, be more adequately served. 

As a third and last point let us merely point out some of 
the outcomes of these cooperative studies. The results are both 
immediate and remote. 

An immediate result but of far reaching significance is the 
fact that the large majority of secondary teachers of the state 
are now thinking purposefully regarding the philosophy under- 
lying secondary education. They are endeavoring to interpret 
the vital relationship between the secondary schools and Amer- 
ican social democracy. Increasing experimentation is being car- 
ried on looking toward individual pupil adjustment and growth 
rather than memoriter mass instruction. The various subjects 
of study are being used rather as a means to an end and not 
as an end in themselves. More and more is it appreciated that 
where there arises any conflict between the mechanics of the 
school system and the needs of the individual boy or girl, the 
system must give way. Over and above those subjects with out- 
standing social values which may be said to be a denominator 
common to all, the value of subject matter depends largely on 
its use in developing individual ability and in shaping life 
purposes. 

Another immediate outcome is the coordinating effort of 
research workers, school administrators, and classroom teach- 
ers. Heretofore these groups have been so overwhelming aloof 
from each other! Classroom teachers at times took keen de- 
light in paying their respects to principals and superintendents. 
Too often research work was carried on as it were in cloistered 











320 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


cells. The real laboratory, however, for educational research 
is the classroom itself, together with the social and community 
environment surrounding the classroom, and which contributes 
those priceless human factors through which we are endeavor- 
ing to insure a better world. These studies are marked by the 
closest cooperation of teacher, principal, and research worker. 


Possibly the most immediate outcome is a changed point 
of view. The thinking of the teacher has been thoroughly 
aroused. Even some principals have been awakened to the fact 
that secondary education has deep social significance. As a re- 
sult, purposeful and constructive experimentation is being car- 
ried on in scores of schools and centers throughout the state. 


All such studies and experimentation should be continuing 
as well as cooperative. We have no thought that the five prob- 
lems which have been mentioned will be in any sense finally 
settled when the several reports appear in printed form. The 
challenge is in the problem rather than in its final solution. 
The school system which assumes that it has solved all cur- 
riculum problems is ready for burial. The constantly changing 
complexity of the social, industrial and economic order in which 
we live compels the school to use every resource at its com- 
mand in readjusting its work to meet these rapidly changing 
conditions. Only as such problems are recognized as continu- 
ing in character will reasonably satisfactory outcomes be at- 
tained. 

It has already become apparent that the results of these 
studies and the activities of professional groups working di- 
rectly or indirectly on similar problems will have an intiuence 
on the readjustment of secondary education in New York that 
will continue indefinitely. The vision is toward the future. The 
center of interest is the individual boy or girl. The needs of 
adolescents are of paramount concern. The great laboratory of 
Itfe is the richest material available for education. The school 
organization or system must not defeat the larger purposes 
of education. The school must challenge every opportunity for 
the growth, the development and the happiness of every pupil. 
Only as the secondary school renders its largest service to its 
adolescent clientele will it render its largest service to society. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


LUNCHEON 
Wednesday, March Ist, at 12:15 P. M. 
In the Main Dining Room of the Leamington Hotel 


One hundred thirty were in attendance. The flowers 
were the gift of the Minneapolis Principal’s Forum. The nut 
trays and favors were presented with the compliments of the 
high-schools of Minneapolis. Principal and Mrs. MacQuarrie 
took care of the many details that made the luncheon a suc- 
cess. The President of the Department, W. W. Haggard, 
presided. 


President L. D. Coffman, of the University of Minne- 
sota, was the guest speaker, talking on the subject, /nter- 
national Good Will and the Secondary-School. 


Assistant Superintendent Milo H. Stuart, of Indianapo- 
lis, made a brief report on the Tercentenary Celebration of 
the Founding of the American High-School. 


Galen Jones, of Tulsa, Oklahoma, presented the follow- 
ing amendment to the constitution: 
Resolved, that Section 4 of Article V be made to read, 


“The executive secretary shall by employed by the executive 
committee at an annual salary to be determined by the 


executive committee.” 


Professor Thomas H. Briggs, of Columbia University, 
and Chairman of the Carnegie Committee, read the following 


report: 








322 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


FIRST REPORT OF THE CARNEGIE 
COMMISSION 


Preliminary Statement by Chairman 


THOMAS H. BriGGs, 
Teachers College, Columbia University. 


In the fifteen years since the latest report of a national 
commission on the program of secondary education much water 
has run under the bridges. Social, economic, industrial, political, 
and religious changes of unprecedented nature have brought a 
new life, in the maelstrom of which we find ourselves bewild- 
ered and attempting to carry on with an educational machinery 
devised for changed conditions. Although with better organiza- 
tion, better buildings and equipment, more wide-spread oppor- 
tunity, better trained teachers, and an enrollment beyond the 
dreams of any other nation at any other time, secondary educa- 
tion has not yet found itself, has not yet adapted itself to the 
new frontiers of civilization. Being a lusty and expensive 
youth, it has received and is receiving more criticism than any 
other part of our educational system. But, it should be added, 
this criticism though to a large extent justified is caused not 
from an unwillingness of administrators and teachers to make 
desirable adjustments. It is caused by an ignorance, shared 
with economists, industrialists, and leaders in other fields, of 
what the new phenomena of civilization demand. 


It can not be too strongly emphasized that the problems 
of secondary education are not isolated and independent. They 
are inextricably bound up with those of elementary, voca- 
tional, and higher cultural education, and they spring from the 
problems of this new civilization, which is so complex that no 
one understands it or is therefore able to give it convincingly 
wise direction. Much of the criticism has emanated from a 
failure to understand this, from a foolish expectance that high 
schools can lead the way to reform that are not yet defined by 
societal leaders or accepted by the public. Secondary education 
can not be made adequate until the characteristics and needs 
of society are understood. But there are adjustments that can 





ataerenttamnenenee 











eee ee 7 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 323 
and should be made to conditions and demands that are ob- 
vious, and provision can be made for long-term planning as 
researches and reflection reveal the plans that are necessary 
for the whole of our civilization. 


Because of the criticisms, because of a recognition of 
changed conditions, because the abundant facts collected by the 
National Survey will soon be available, and because of a feeling 
of inadequacy on the part of every thoughtful administrator 
and teacher more or less isolated in his potentiality and bound 
by popular devotion to traditional procedures, the Department 
of Secondary-School Principals at its 1982 meeting authorized, 
on motion of Professor Jesse B. Davis, the appointment of a 
committee “to study and restate the principles and objectives 
of secondary education.” 


Subsequently President W. W. Haggard appointed a small 
committee consisting of Milo H. Stuart, of Indianapolis, Curtis 
H. Threlkeld, of South Orange, New Jersey, and Thomas H. 
Briggs, of Teachers College, Columbia University, to plan what 
could be done. This nucleus, meeting at Joliet in November 
with President Haggard and Secretary Church, agreed that it 
would be futile to expect a committee to accomplish the as- 
signed task if it had to meet hurriedly and with inevitabble in- 
terruptions at the time of national conventions. Consequently 
it was planned to seek funds that would permit the proposed 
committee to hold meetings at such times and places as it 
might select, devoting its entire attention and energies to the 
task imposed upon it. 


A request for funds to pay the expenses of the committee 
was made to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of 
Teaching in a letter of which the following is a part: 


“It proposes that the commission shall consist of mem- 
bers characterized by a thorough knowledge of conditions, 
both in secondary schools and in society at large, by inter- 
est in the philosophy of education, by independence of 
thought and judgment, and by imagination, initiative, and 
practicality ; that it be small enough to permit of free ex- 
change of opinion about a table—say ten or twelve mem- 











324 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 





bers—and that it hold annually two meetings of one week 
each until its assignment is accomplished and a practical 
program is fairily on its way. All previous committees, 
such as the Committee of Ten and the Commission on the 
Reorganization of Secondary Education, have been severe- 
ly handicapped by the necessity of holding meetings, us- 
ually at educational conventions, that were all too brief 
and interfered with by other duties. The results of such 
meetings are inevitably unsatisfactory. 


“Among the duties of the proposed commission will be 
the following: 

“First, to formulate the issues that are inherent in sec- 
ondary education at the present time and, after consider- 
ing the principles supporting each alternative and the 
facts of practice, to present the one that seems the better 
with the reasons for its approval for further discussion 
and approval by the Association. 


“Second, to define the special functions of secondary 
education in the United States, and to present these in 
turn for popular approval after modification by the De- 
partment of Secondary-School Principals. 


“Third, to consider all the facts assembled by the Na- 
tional Survey of Secondary Education, which has recently 
concluded its work, and utilize them along with the con- 
clusions from the first two items of the agenda in formu- 
lating a practical program for advancing secondary educa- 
tion. 


“Fourth, to ascertain what additional facts are neces- 
sary to be known and to stimulate their collection by 
either research or experimentation. 


“Fifth, to outline means of popularizing the proposed 
program both with the profession and with the public. 


“This is believed to be a peculiarly opportune time for 
undertaking such work as is proposed. Criticism of sec- 
ondary education from many sources, some too authorita- 
tive to be neglected, has cumulated so as to disturb the 








puking 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 325 


public and to bewilder the profession; the National Survey 
is ready to report numerous facts, which should be used; 
the depression is forcing economies, which without wise 
direction may be very harmful; lack of employment op- 
portunities is forcing even larger numbers of youth into 
public high schools; and some fifteen years have passed 
since the latest national commission made a report. 


“That an effective committee may be obtained it will be 
necessary to pay the expenses of the members for travel 
and for sustinance. It is estimated that the annual cost 
will be $5000. Toward this sum the Department will be 
asked to contribute according to its means, but it will be 
necessary for carrying out the plan to find other resources. 
Therefore the nucleus committee asks the Carnegie Cor- 
poration to grant $3000 annually for a period of three 
years for the expenses of the commission. It is believed 
by the committee that the returns from each year of 
the program will be abundantly justified so far as it goes, 
and that each year in addition will cumulate increasinglv 
large values.” 


At its meeting in January the Executive Committee of 
the Foundation, on recommendation of President Frederick P. 
Keppel and of President Henry Suzzallo, of the Carneyie Cor- 
poration, generously granted a subsidy of $9000, payabie in 
three annual instalments, for the purposes stated. 


Because the proposed committee represents this associa- 
tion, it is thought wise that the National Department of Sec- 
ondary-School Principals bear a significant part of the ex- 
penses. I, therefore, on behalf of the nucleus committee re- 
quest the appropriation annually for three years of $2000, or 
such part as may be needed, to supplement the subsidy of ihe 
Carnegie Corporation for the payment of the expenses, includ- 
ing clerical assistance, of the proposed committee. 


After taking counsel with many leaders in secondary edu- 
cation in all parts of the country, President W. W. Haggard 
has appointed the following committee, all of whom have ac- 
cepted with full realization of the importance of the challenge, 











































a St eal 


i wae nee aac Sil veer: 


» Sieh Sebeilesene. 











326 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


of the high responsibility imposed, and of the prolonged labor 
that is involved. 


Thomas H. Briggs, Chairman 
Professor of Education 
Teachers College, Columbia University 
New York, N. Y. 


B. P. Fowler 
Headmaster, Tower Hill School 
Wilmington, Delaware 


Arthur Gould 
Deputy Superintendent of Schools 
Los Angeles, California 


Sidney B. Hall 
State Superintendent of Public Instruction 
Richmond, Virginia 


Fred J. Kelly 


Chief, Division of Colleges and Professional Schools 
Office of Education 
Washington, D. C. 


Rudolph D. Lindquist 
Director of the University School 
University of Ohio 
Columbus, Ohio 


Francis T. Spaulding 
Professor of Education 
Harvard University 
Cambridge, Mass. 


Milo H. Stuart 
Assistant Superintendent of Schools 
Indianapolis, Indiana 


Curtis H. Threlkeld 
Principal of Columbia High School 
South Orange, N. J. 


The first meeting will be held in April or May. 









PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 327 





A motion was made and seconded asking that the De- 
partment appropriate $2,000 annually for three years to sup- 
plement the Carnegie grant. Unanimously carried. 





Principal R. L. Sandwick, of Dearfield-Shields Township 
High-School, Highland Park, Illinois, presented the follow- 
ing report: 


REPORT OF THE FINANCE COMMITTEE 


' Your Committee, together with the President of the 
j Association, has been at considerable pains to inquire into the 
finances of the Department of Secondary-School Principals 
of the National Education Association. We have examined 
the audit made by the firm of Mariner & Hoskins, certified 
public accountants, which audit will be printed in full in the 
proceedings of this meeting. We have also examined the 
books of accounts and have noted the careful and efficient 
way in which these are kept; we have gone to the bank in 
which the securities of this Association are held and have 
examined these securities. We have even examined the prop- 
erties on which the Association holds first mortgages, and in 
some instances have talked with the owners. 


We have submitted to the Secretary-Treasurer a list of 
questions calling for detailed information as to sales and 
f profits on services rendered to members of the Association. 
In fact, we have been painstaking to a degree in satisfying 

our curiosity as to the financial management. In all this we 
have had the codperation and assistance of your Secretary- 
Treasurer. As a result we are convinced that the finances of 
the Association have been handled in a very satisfactory 
manner. 















R. L. SANDWICK, 
O. V. WALTERS. 


(Signed) 





The 










Mr. President, I move the adoption of this report. 
motion prevailed. 
































SR na ge 










SS tC ee tte aie Or Giger 






a eat memes 


Seay 
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———s 


328 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


February 20, 1933. 
To the Finance Committee, 
Department of Secondary-School Principals, 
National Education Association. 


Gentlemen: 


We have audited the books and records of the Treasurer 
of the Department of Secondary-School Principals of the Na- 
tional Education Association for the year ended December 21, 
1932, and submit herewith our report consisting of “Exhibit 
A’”’, a statement of cash receipts and disbursements, and “Ex- 
hibit B’’, a schedule of securities held. 


Cash in bank amounting to $962.90 was verified by direct 
correspondence with the depositary. 


Securities were produced for our inspection and found to 
be in order. During the year the following bonds: 








Donald Cliff Apartment..... sh $2,000.00 
The Elston-Central Park Building................ 1,000.00 
Alamito Dairy Company.. a 500.00 
Northern Illinois Supply Company................ 500.00 

$4,000.00 


were exchanged for: 
The National High-School Orchestra Camp..$1,000.00 


Peoria Service Company...... 3,000.00 





$4,000.00 


During the year Tax Anticipation Warrants issued by the 
Cicero-Stickney Township High-School District No. 201 were 
received in payment of dues, insurance, etc., to the amount of 
$474.80. Since the transactions involved no cash they are not 
included in our report. 


In conducting our audit we examined the cash receipts 
and disbursements and made such other verifications as would 
determine the general accuracy of the books. Cash receipts 
were not verified beyond the office records. The books and 





i 























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 329 


records of the Treasurer have been properly kept and are in 
good order. Respectfully submitted, 
MARINER & HOSKINS, INC. 
By F. E. RoBERrTs, C. P. A., 
Treasurer. 


REPORT OF TREASURER 
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 
of the 
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 


January 1, 1932, to December 31, 1932. 


Receipts 
Cash in Banks January 1, 
1932, per Audit Report: 
The First National Bank 





of Chicago ......................---- $ 1,387.96 
In Treasury in Washington 178.00 
$ 1,565.96 
Annual Dues from Members..$ 4,630.51 
Sale of Bulletins...................... 774.87 
Sale of Blanks........................ 375.47 
Honor Society Receipts.......... 10,453.36 
Consumers’ Research Re- 
ceipts ...... a 1,388.58 
Interest on Bonds.................- 706.25 
Insurance Premiums ............ 5,004.52 


Checks Outstanding Decem- 
ber 31, 1931, never paid.... 107.23 
Adjust Bank Deposit Febru- 
ary, 1932, $464.60 recorded 
IED eccsnsiuslenietieiaiaansane 61.00 $23,501.79 $25,067.75 





Less Funds in Treasury in 
Washington included in 
above receipts ..............-- 178.00 


$24,889.75 























330 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Disbursements 

Secretary's Office 
AEA ELIE DEES: $ 945.30 
TERN Ser CE RC EN 595.78 
Refund of Dues to Members.. 67.00 
Clerical Services ..................... 3,530.38 
ID is tiaialaidiacaniieiinetitinls 73.36 
IIIs .sccisistnnnhismbsnnivesishnisinnnn 27.26 
Drayage ........... saci lll 1.00 
Security bond, Secretary...... 5.00 
Audit of Treasurer’s Ac- 

Re ae 25.00 
Bank Charges .. ........ ditemeent, 3.52 
Checks Returned by Bank 

Covering: 

Dues from Members ........ 71.00 

Sale of Blanks .................... 10.70 

Honor Society Receipts...... 5.75 

Consumer’s Research Re- 

CUE icthcnmitniaciiins 9.00 

Insurance Premiums ........ 29.25 
Refunded on Bulletin ............ 7.60 
Subscriptions Consumer’s 

BIEN scctsicticenidintidaainscsiinies 875.30 
IDs vcisiscsceccnsivniitsibaiesaaitalaibes 111.72 
NOT A eR Ta 22.53 
Safety Deposit Vault Rental 3.00 
Insurance on Stock .......... oe 62.00 

Honor Societies 
Engrossing Charters ............ 192.75 
Equipment and Supplies ...... 249.48 


Refunds of Charter Fees...... 15.95 


Bulletin No. 38 
ee ee 758.87 
Postage (Second Mailing) .... 7.16 


$ 6,481.45 


458.18 


766.03 





Cia id aaa ae ee 


























Bulletin No. 39 


PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


IN i:csesciniitciniantnnenabiiianditien 569.05 
Pe icisiascaniietsestninecedunmiads 39.95 


Bulletin No. 40 


BPGIOIND a. acanccs<<cccacsosesnintcssecss 


EL EAE EO 1,574.30 
ED Ssisccscucccmasecealeabineers 57.61 


Bulletin No. 41 


I isnnsisnstcntioasiectaetethaalioabioa 







1,633.91 


I otcscissckccenineiiieenmasinakaise 253.44 
IES 5 scxdcstinuinsspipaneiuaecnpatiinntes 16.51 


Bulletin No. 42 


INL suiccicniguctuiceibedommensicdess 


I oi sssceksticcarenncicehaboctienten 783.30 

I hs csiadicnsnhainniinidaauaiacasnal 36.77 820.07 
Bulletin No. 43 

TN i sescideieieeietitietitactees 31.15 
Convention in Washington, D. C. 

President’s expenses ............ $ 89.38 

Secretary’s expenses ............ 106.78 


Clerical expense 


Minneapolis Convention 
President’s expenses 


52.35 


Committee Meeting in Joliet, Til. 


pe Le ne 128.94 
Insurance 

Premiums Paid ..................--.- 4,492.21 

Premiums Refunded to Mem- 
I Jonsinisonteiansiainigdhinsecaieldlcs 97.46 4,589.67 


Bonds 


National Music Camp Deben- 


ture Bond 


$ 1,000.00 









CS 
f. Pea N58 pa AER Sarr ES ee = = 


































at 














as Se 






= 

























332 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


Austin Park First Mortgage 





CE I  vensincetictnsincttlededtatse 500.00 
United States of America 
Fourth Liberty Loan ........ 6,000.00 
Premium Paid on Fourth 
Liberty Loan ...................... 217.80 
Accrued Interest .................. 129.72 17,847.52 $23.926.85 
Cash in bank—December 31, 1932.............................- $ 962.90 


Bank Reconciliation 
Balance per Bank Certification—December 31, 1932....$977.90 


Deduct Outstanding Checks .........-.....22202...----ccc2000000-0ee= 15.00 
Cash in Bank December 31, 1932, per Books.................. $962.90 


REPORT OF TREASURER 
DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


of the 
NATIONAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION 


December 31, 1932 


Securities ieee ie 
The 934 Edgecomb Place Building No. 

211 614,%, due Aug. 1, 1935.................. $ 500.00 $ 48.75 
First Mortgage Real Estate Gold Bond 

on Land and Building located at N. E. 

corner Austin Blvd. and Park Ave., 

Cicero, Ill., 6% due Aug. 15, 1936, 

Owners—James E. Melich & Pauline 

BBE a sasiseencecmessteccickesenincintaien 500.00 30.00 

Nos. 61, 62, 63, 70 and 73...................... 5,000.00 390.00 
Leasehold Estate Gold Bond 6% due Jan. 

15, 1936, Owners—Gust Koclanes and 

Efstrateos Koclanes, Nos. 27, 31, 34, 

39, 40, 43, 44, 48, 49, 72.......2.02022... 1,000.00 30.00 

Bi Na vcsincialinctitiecilititicatastunielaiaeniabicins 1,000.00 30.00 


The National High-School Orchestra 
Camp Association Debenture Bond 7% 

















i 





as) ba 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


due Sept. 15, 1933, No. 178, 179, 201, 
i iciichtsittennitiliitenstiinaiiiectdilabaninses ite 2,000.00 
First Mortgage Gold Notes 6% due Aug. 

24, 1934, Owners—James FE. Melich 

and Pauline Melich, No. A, B, C.......... 15,000.00 900.00 
First Mortgage Gold Notes 6% due Aug. 

10, 1932, Owners—Dominick Nemunis 





and Barbara Nemunis, No. A.............. 3,000.00 180.00* 
Alamito Dairy Company 614% due May 
i; SE Bee I Giant cieeieen 500.00 32.50 





Peoria Service Company 614% First 

Mortgage Sinking Fund Gold Bond Se- 

ries A due June 1, 1939, No. M92, 

BI icxisccosschsnsineiennchecesaconatbieiiienaions 3,000.00 
Presbyterian Church of Berwyn Real Es- 

state Gold Bond 6% due Nov. 1, 1935, 

No. 22, 23, 24 ......... 3,000.00 
The United States of America Fourth 

Liberty Loan Gold Bond 414 1933-1938 

No. J00117999, B01907012, K02698590, 

K 02868360, J 02868359, H 02865468, 

E 02005275, F 02005276, G 02005277.... 9,000.00 





$43,500.00 


Less Fourth Liberty Loan purchased in 
February, 1933 .... - 3,000.00 





Securities on Hand December 31, 1932....$40,500.00 


Principal M. R. McDaniel, of Oak Park and River Forest 
Township High-School, presented the following: 


Resolved, That the Department of Secondary-School 
Principals believes that the type of maladministration which 
has been exhibited at the J. Sterling Morton High-School and 
Junior College (Cicero, Illinois) is so indefensible and harm- 
ful to the educational system of this country that it points 
out the desirability of immediate measures through state leg- 





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SSE EG GEES ON a eles 
meet Si res : 













334 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


islation or otherwise to make impossible the repetition of 
such practices as have been indulged in by the board of edu- 
tion of that school, or of any other school. 


Carried. 


Principal R. L. Butterfield, of Benjamin Franklin High- 
School, of Rochester, New York, presented the report of the 
Nominating Committee as follows: 


For President: Robert C. Clem, Principal of Shawnee High- 
School, Louisville, Kentucky. 


For First Vice President: Charles F. Allen, Supervisor of 
Secondary Education of Little Rock, Arkansas. 


For Second Vice President: MWHarrison C. Lyseth, State Su- 
pervisor of Secondary Education, Augusta, Maine. 


For Executive Committee: 
William E. Burkhead, Principal of Tilden Junior High- 


School, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. 

D. A. Morgan, Principal of Shawnee Mission Rural High- 

School, Merriam, Kansas. 

W. W. Haggard, Superintendent, Township High-School 

and Junior College, Joliet, Illinois. 

The report was unanimously adopted. 

The following members were chosen as members of the 
National Council of the National Honor Society: 


R. R. Cook, A. E. MacQuarrie and M. R. McDaniel. 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING 


MEETING OF NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE 
NATIONAL HONOR SOCIETY 


Leamington Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota 
Sunday, February 26, 1933 


The National Council met at 2:30 P. M. Present: Mem- 
bers Allen, McDaniel and Church. Absent: Members 
Baker, Brooks, Kepner, Plummer, Sieber and Wagner. 


The terms of the following members of the National 
Council expire: McDaniel and Wagner. The following were 
nominated: Mrs. Lucy L. Wilson, South Philadelphia High- 
School for Girls, Pennsylvania; R. R. Cook, Roosevelt High- 
School, Des Moines, Iowa; Fred C. Mitchell, Classical High- 
School, Lynn, Massachusetts; A. E. MacQuarrie, Washburn 
High-School, Minneapolis, Minnesota; M. R. McDaniel, High- 
School, Oak Park, Illinois; Harry L. Upperman, Baxter Semi- 
nary, Baxter, Tennessee. 


It was moved that a committee of three be appointed to 
consider the price of the National Honor emblems with the 
end of reducing the price and method of distribution. 


On motion the Council adjourned. 











336 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


CONSTITUTION OF THE DEPARTMENT OF 
SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ARTICLE I—NAME 


The name of this Department shall be the Department of 
Secondary-School Principals of the National Education Asso- 


ciation. 
ARTICLE II—AIM 


The aim of this Department is to promote the interests of 
secondary education in America by giving a special considera- 
tion to the problems that arise in connection with the admin- 
istration of secondary-schools. 


ARTICLE III—MEMBERSHIP 


SECTION 1—Membership in the Department of Secon- 
dary-School Principals shall consist of Active and Associate. 


SECTION 2—All Principals of Secondary-Schools, namely 
Junior High-Schools, Senior High-Schools, and Junior Col- 
leges, their administrative and executive assistants, Heads of 
Schools of Education in Normal Schools, Colleges, and Uni- 
versities, together with Professors teaching Secondary Educa- 
tion therein and Secondary-School Representatives of State 
Education Departments, who are also members of the N. E. 
A., shall be eligible to Active Membership 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 Secon- 
dary-School Principals shall be eligible to Associate Member- 
ship of the Department of Secondary-School Principals, as a 
group, by the payment to the Secretary of the annual fee of 


$1.00.* 





*Note: This clause shall become inoperative as soon as the respec- 
tive state organizations can work out provisions for enlisting their mem- 
bership as active members of this department. 




















Sy hg 













































PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 337 


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 Sec- 
retary, of the annual fee of $1.00. 


SECTION 5—All members both Active and Associate shall 
receive all publications of the Department. 


ARTICLE IV—OFFICERS 


SECTION 1—Officers of this Department shall be a Presi- 
dent, First Vice-President, Second Vice-President, and Execu- 
tive Secretary, who shall be the executive officer of the Execu- 
tive Committee. 


SECTION 2—The Executive Committee shall consist of 
these officers, the retiring President, and two members of the 
Department. The Executive Committee shall be representa- 
tive of Junior High-Schools, Senior High-Schools and Junior 


Colleges. 


ARTICLE V 


SECTION 1—The president shall, in advance of the annual 
meeting, ask each of the state associations of the Department 
of Secondary-School Principals to name a representative who 
shall then be appointed by the president as a member of the 
nominating committee. 


SECTION 2—The nominating committee so constituted 
shall meet at the annual meeting, elect a chairman, and pre- 
pare a list of candidates for the several offices. 


SECTION 3—Eighteen members shall constitute a quorum 
with not less than three from each of the following regional 
associations of colleges and secondary-schools: New England 
Association of Colleges and Secondary-Schools, the Associa- 
tion of Colleges and Secondary-Schools of the Middle States 
and Maryland, the Association of Colleges and Secondary- 
Schools of the Southern States, the North Central Association 
of Colleges and Secondary-Schools, the Northwest Association 








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338 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


of Secondary and Higher Schools, and the Western Associa- 
tion of Colleges and Secondary-Schools. Any lack in the rep- 
resentation herein provided shall be filled by nomination from 


the floor. 


SECTION 4—The executive secretary shall be appointed by 
the executive committee. 


SECTION 5—The president shall appoint, subject to the 
approval of the executive committee, two members who shall 
with the executive secretary constitute a board of finance who 
shall act in the capacity of trustees, have custody of the funds 
of the Department, have same properly audited, and submit 
annually a report to the Department. 


ARTICLE VI—MEETINGS 


SECTION 1—The Department of Secondary-School Princi- 
pals shall hold two meetings yearly. The regular annual meet- 
ing to be held at the time and place of the meetings of the De- 


partment of Superintendence of the National Education Asso- 
ciation, unless arranged for otherwise by the Executive Com- 
mittee of the National Education Association. 


SECTION 2—The second meeting of the Department shall 
be held at the time and place of the annual summer meeting 
of the National Education Association. 


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 Com- 
mittee before it can be printed and sent to the members of the 


Department. 








PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


APPENDIX 





PIONEERS, 0 PIONEERS 


THOMAS H. BRIGGs, 
Teachers College, Columbia University. 






Frontiers have been the wealth, the opportunity, and the 
luring hope of America. While the conservative and the fear- 
ful hugged the contented fireside and worshiped the ancient 
Lares and Penates in static safety, pioneers pushed out into 
the unexplored wilds, across the Appalachians, over the prai- 
ries, scaled the Rocky Mountains, and finally were stopped by 
the immensity of the Pacific ocean. 


“Not for delectations sweet, 


Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the stu- 
dious, 


Not the riches safe and palling, not for them the tame enjoy- 
ment, 


Pioneers, O Pioneers!’ 





Was it seeking or escape that drove these early pioneers 
away from comforts and friends and established conventions 
out into the unknown? What were they seeking? What were 
they escaping? It pleases us to stress the impelling ideals for 
religious or political or social freedom, but it is likely that 
failure, unhappiness, and restlessness were quite as much a 
cause of their pushing out from settled conditions. Many of 
the pioneers doubtless moved from the Atlantic seaboard for 
escape rather than for opportunity; but those who are most 
significant for us must have had a vision of the great dream, 
must have felt in their veins the tingling blood of democracy, 
must have chanted in their hearts, 

“We the youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend.” 


They wanted to be free, to discover new opportunities to make 
a new world—even for those who stayed behind. 

































oat. a - 
ust Raps Paar rakes Sn 


‘nage hae Ge 
; 
































340 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOIL PRINCIPALS 


These latter viewed with mixed feelings the adventurous 
pioneers. Some doubtless envied them, wishing that they too 
had the hardihood and the courage to break the accustomed 
bonds and seek a new world. But others felt pity and con- 
tempt rather than envy. “This is good enough for us,” they 
said, though unperceived changed conditions had already put 
hopelessly out of date the traditions of the old world and of 
old time. “There’s nothing there. They will come back.” 
But on the possibility that something might be there they 
grubstaked the pioneers and waited, equally ready to reproach 
the failures or to profit from their successes. Human nature 
is remarkably constant through all the ages. 


Whatever the motive that sent him forth, however diffi- 
cult the plunge into unexplored wildernesses, however exhil- 
arating the discovery of new frontiers, what the pioneer did 
when he got there is a pathetic and tragic illustration of the 
inadequacy of man unprepared for new conditions to utilize 
them for the realization of his dream. Without perceiving 
that a new world demands new conventions, the pioneer as a 
rule endeavored to make the frontier as nearly like the com- 
munity that he had left as possible. Many a top hat and frock 
coat were worn in the wilderness, worn with pride until the 
stern necessities of new conditions made them ridiculous, and 
then were carefully put away until the opportune time when 
the new world should become like the old. It was hard for 
Yancey Cravat to see that his silk “beaver” was neither appro- 
priate nor useful in either the civilization that he had left or in 
the one that he was helping to make. 


But changes in the physical were easy to perceive in com- 
parison with those in the intellectual or spiritual world. The 
coonskin cap replaced the silk hat long before the pioneer had 
any suspicion that the old forms of education were equally 
useless for the needs of his children. The Latin Grammar 
School was desired and imitated even though conditions in 
England had already made it an anachronism. The pioneer 
may have had his ideal, but usually he was inadequate to pro- 
vide the machinery to achieve it. He said that he would set up 








cacandes a ceiaieaaaleiaa 














vo tami 


hein CP cedilla 






Risen neta 

























PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 341 


schools to train religious and political leaders, but he imitated 
the institutions that could produce only theologians and gram- 
marians. The form never insures the spirit. 


And then came another tragedy. When the traditional 
form failed to achieve the ideal, faith in both the form and 
the ideal tended to weaken. There was an undiscriminating 
abandoning of both, with a resulting handicap to the prog- 
ress of the new civilization that had been the goal of all the 
danger and labor and privation and sacrifice. The ideals were 
distinctly higher than those they had replaced. There was 
good in some of the old machinery if the pioneer had only 
been discriminating enough to see it dnd strong enough to 
adapt and preserve it. Discrediting and largely abandoning 
the old machinery, the pioneer set himself to slog ahead at 
making a physical living, as if the new civilization had no de- 
mands of its own and as if the old would never catch up. It 
never did—entirely; but parts of it he retained and other 
parts were brought by the recurrent waves of less hardy fol- 
lowers. And then the children were found skeptical that any 
of the old was worth possessing or worth seeking and 
lacking in a vision of the new. Would there had been far- 
sighted and persevering leaders in those days! 


The result of all this was that the unique advantages of 
the frontier so far as they pertained to a civilization adapted 
to new conditions were largely lost. When new conditions are 
met all men are by training, by habituation to old conditions, 
more or less equal. They become unequal and some gain a 
great advantage by recognizing that the situation is different, 
by analyzing it to find the new opportunities and the chal- 
lenge, by fertility in inventing new ways of using the former 
to meet the latter, by quickly and certainly testing them and 
selecting those that give the greater satisfactions, and by 
open-minded readiness to adopt for use the best program of 
action. But all this assumes one essential, a comprehensive 
set of ideals, a vision of the world that is desired to be. 


I have dwelt so long on the pioneer of our physical Amer- 
ica not merely because he was picturesque and important in 





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342 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


the development of our country, but because his career is so 
precisely paralleled by the pioneer of every kind in every 
time. The geographical frontier has largely been gone since 
the early nineties, but we are no less to-day on a new fron- 
tier of ideas, a frontier created by social, industrial, economic, 
and political changes. This frontier can never be closed. 
Whenever and wherever there are a changing world and 
changing ideals of life there will be new frontiers. Every 
advance of whatever kind pushes out new fringes of civiliza- 
tion. It will be a sad day in our history when we catch up 
with ourselves, when in complacency we consolidate a per- 
mament life, beyond which the rest of the world will inevita- 
bly advance, leaving us a moldering relic of the past. 


The physical frontier had to be sought; the new frontier 
envelopes us regardless of volition or of action. The former 
was easier to find, however, than the latter is to perceive. The 
former was our potential wealth, our opportunity, and our 
hope; the latter is the only world in which we have to live. 
We must recognize it for what it is and devise means of mak- 
ing it what it should be—or we are undone. Again, “We the 
youthful sinewy races, all the rest on us depend.” 


It is always a tragedy that the pioneer finds it so difficult 
to recognize and to analyze the wholeness of a new situation. 
He is too close to it, too involved in it, too busy with routine 
and detailed things, too obsessed by the idea that he must iden- 
tify fragments of the new with the wholeness of the old, too 
eager to use the worn keys on the ring that he has carefully 
preserved. He seldom even perceives the necessity of under- 
standing the new complex. Instead, he seeks or demands or 
vaguely hopes for some specific that is immediate and final, as 
if that could ever exist. He will grasp for any definite device, 
however minor it may be, that promises to “work” for the in- 
stant need; but he is slow to be concerned with a program that 
is suitable for the whole complicated need, especially a pro- 
gram that involves the remote and dimly perceived. No one 
more than the pioneer needs leadership. “Nothing ever hap- 
pened in the world as prophets and leaders wished it to do,” 











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H 






RT eR U RETR = 
I ‘ nica sacauaacere 









PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 343 


sagely remarked George Simmel, “but without prophets and 
ieaders it would not have happened at all.” Never more than 
now has the pioneer needed leadership that is far-sighted, 
that, envisaging the whole, goes to the bottom of things to 
build a solid foundation for a brave new structure to house 
the new world of a new civilization. 


“Oh, how I wish that some cold wise man 
Would dig beneath the surface which is scraped, 
Deal with the depths.” 


A difficulty in our confusion is to know who the true lead- 
ers are. On every hand we hear proposed foolish specifics, 
ranging from defunct old fashions to ephemeral invention. 
But we need to listen with patience and to consider sympa- 
thetically as well as critically the proposals of everyone who 
thinks himself a seer and a leader. Any one may have seized 
upon and understood a part of the complex that we have ig- 
nored as insignificant. Each one has certainly seen a part, if 
not the whole, from a different point of view that may have re- 
vealed values hidden from others. He may have blundered, 
in that inexplicable way that human beings have the habit of 
doing, upon the beginnings of the very plan that wise men 
have fumbled for and failed to find. He may be able to give 
a clue, the mere suggestive end of a string that will lead oth- 
ers on more rationally to a comprehending plan. 


After all suggestions are sympathetically and critically 
considered, after all clues are followed by intelligent imagina- 
tive and constructive reflection, there must come a synthesis 
vasea on broad and deep understanding of the phenomena o1 
the new and still changing frontier. Such a synthesis can be 
made only by our best minds, chosen for competence and de- 
voted to the all important task. Their work must be inspired 


‘ by the constant ideals of our nation, ideals purified from the 


contaminations of selfishness and illuminated again for the 
devoted acceptance of all the people. And after the program 
that education is to follow for achieving these ideals is for- 
mulated, it will be tried in the crucible of public opinioa, which 
though uncertain and variable is an essential of democracy. Un- 







































cea a tat 











344 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


less the people are informed and approve, no program can have 
stability or promise of permanent success. 


The nature and extent of the social, political, and eco- 
nomic changes that have brought a new frontier can only be 
suggested here. They are too important and too numerous to 
be discussed or even to be listed in their entirety. We do not 
know them in their entirety yet; we do not fully understand 
those that we perceive. But we have a world vastly extended 
by the inventions of communication and of transportation; we 
have a marvelous decrease of physical isolation as cities have 
grown and as good roads facilitate travel; we have a paradoxi- 
cal weakening of social ties as men live closer together but with 
less sympathy and sense of responsibility for each other; we 
have a weakening of home influences as divorce increases, as 
both parents are increasingly away on business or pleasure, 
and as other agencies have with less success taken over respon- 
sibilities for the children; we have the tragic breakdown of the 
urban Protestant and Jewish churches; we have changed and 
changing mores that approve what was formerly condemned 
and that scorn what was once sacred; we have a new standard 
for ethical character, vague perhaps but assuredly different; 
we have politics that wander selfishly and ineffectively for the 
public good in the new clearings of the wilderness; we have 
specialization in industry that demands a revolution in train- 
ing; we have potency of production by machinery that in- 
sures not only plenty for all wants but leisure that needs di- 
rection; we have a host of means of occupying leisure time 
with a demand for minimum activity and with a paucity of 
beneficent results; and we have the vast organization of an 
unparalleled school system negligibly concerned with any of 
these important phenomena. These are but illustrations of 
the conditions which confront us on the new frontier, condi- 
tions that we can by no means escape. We must understand 
them individually and as parts of the hierarchy of modern 
civilization, understand them and adapt our education to make 
the best possible out of them. 


We have been critical of the pioneer on the geographic 
frontiers of our country. However, unless we learn from his 











PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


neglect of opportunity how wisely to act on the new frontier 
of ideas, we shall be even more severely criticized by genera- 
tions to come. We need first of all to understand the changes 
that have come, some of them gradually, a few with appalling 
suddenness, in this maelstrom of life in which we find our- 
selves. We need to understand far more than the cold figures 
of machine production or even the accumulated data of the so- 
ciologists. Their significance, their threat, and their promise 
challenge our intelligence. We must understand their sig- 
nificances and plan to change the frontier or to adapt our lives 
to them so that more happiness will come to all our people. It 
is easy to smile at the early pioneer who stodgily and stubborn- 
ly hoped to reproduce the past; it is difficult but imperative 
that we abandon his vain hope of restoring “the good old days” 
and set ourselves to finding what we can make of tine good 
new days. They are all that we shall have. 


It should be obvious to the most cursive and superficial 
thinker, however, that understanding of the social mutations 
will not be sufficient. No one can plan wisely unless he has a 
goal that he wishes to reach. “The American dream” has, un- 
fortunately and tragically, become vague and to many of those 
who boast of citizenship it has never become a permanent and 
moving vision of the goal toward the achievement of which all 
effort, all sacrifice must be directed. The dream of a people 
made free by opportunity for every one to achieve the best 
that is possible in him, but then to insure that same differen- 
tiated opportunity, whatever it may be, to all others, and co- 
operatively to live in harmony and mutual respect with varied 
developments still going on—this is the dream that we pre- 
serve from the past and that still inspires passionate devotion 
in those who have never taken their eyes from the pillar of 
cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Unless all of our 
people accept and devotedly seek this ideal of the new fron- 
tier we shall more and more bend the knee to Baal and wander 
from democracy. 

Understanding of the complex new phenomena, then, im- 


portant and difficult as it is, will be significant only if it fur- 
nishes the materials out of which we may build toward the 


345 















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346 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ideal. And that building can be done chiefly, I almost go so 
far as to say only, by the public schools. However much they 
have failed of ideal accomplishment in the past, they remain 
our only means of salvation for the future. Their failure, to 
which may be attributed most of the woes that now harass 
us, should be blamed mostly on a public that got what they 
demanded while eagerly and, in a large sense, blindly seeking 
to reproduce the details of an outmoded civilization on a new 
frontier. Education, even at its worst, has more than the 
public kept the vision of democracy. But when it attempted 
seriously to achieve it, teachers ran into somebody’s block- 
house of social traditions, somebody’s industrial stockade, or 
somebody’s political barbwire. Driven back by guns from the 
defenses of selfishness, the schools have been less and less able 
to inspire the younger generations with the vision of what 
might be, the vision of what must be for a successful democ- 
racy. 

And yet education is being blamed. Both attempting and 
accomplishing more than the general public has seriousiy want- 
ed, the schools are now the target for criticism as unfair as it 
is virulent. The rich who would lighten their burden of taxa- 
tion employ or encourage popular writers to emphasize every 
dereliction of duty, every defect of program, and every appar- 
ent extravagance. Education has no apology for towers, mar- 
ble corridors, swimming pools, and stadia, however much it 
would like to have now for more important things the money 
that they cost. They were what the people wanted. They 
came along with gold domes on court houses, limousines for 
sheriffs, monster “memorial” auditoriums, and luxury in every 
home. I suspect that they still have a reasonable defense. But 
they are not the weakest joint in our armor. Neither is that 
rare teacher who complained that she couldn’t go to Bermuda 
because her salary was cut, nor that high-school with tco many 
janitors, nor that superintendent who was convicted of crime 
—all being falsely indicated as “typical.” The point of vulner- 
ability is that education has not seriously and consistently and 
courageously and persistently sought to convince the public 
that the schools alone can keep the eyes of each oncoming gen- 
eration firmly fixed on the one great goal of democracy. 








- ere eee 


FO IER a are 





PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 





It is human nature to seek something to blame. It is the 
nature of little and of selfish men to make petty and physical 
changes without seeking and planning to eradicate the reai 
causes of trouble and without preparing a constructive pro- 
gram that will lead to great accomplishment in the future. 
History tells instance after instance of our pioneer forefathers, 
resentful of conditions that had developed because of their 
short sighted selfishness, laying about with a stick at every 
head that showed itself, even at those that had to be used for 
remedying their woes. Have we learned nothing from his- 
tory? If the schools have not been wiser than the public, if 
anticipating needs they have not gone beyond popular approv- 
al and prevented social, economic, and political ills, shall the 
public now destroy or weaken the only instrument it has for 
bringing about what it wants? Blame we are sure to have, 
mounting and unfair criticism we assuredly must be prepared 
to meet. It is only reasonable to expect all school men and 
women to codperate in all necessary economy and in remedying 
conditions that for any reason are bad. But we shall not mani- 
fest professional competence unless at the same time we keep 
before the public mind the essential fact that education is the 
one and only means for training the younger generations to ac- 
cept and effectively to live by the program that this genera- 
tion must prepare. 

And the planning of such a program we must forward both 
as educational leaders and as citizens. I am not so foolish as to 
think that any and every individual schoolmaster should 
forthwith set out in his classroom to reform society. Nor am I 
so foolish as to imagine that a society without a plan can per- 
manently succeed, to say nothing of progressing. Although the 
public has basked in that illusion, it has been battered by the 
events of the past few years into a readiness to accept leader- 
ship toward anything that promises amelioration. The indivi- 
dual schoolmaster can do something’ to induce an acceptance of 
a program of planning for achieving the dream of democracy 
on the new frontier; but he needs direction and support. And 
both can be given by our great educational organizations. If 
the National Educational Association, with its numerous and 
potent departments, and the state associations will concentrate 


347 





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348 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


their strength on this necessity of planning a program, which 
education must be used to make effective, it already has an 
enlisted army of the superior minds of the nation to popularize 
and to promote an appreciation of the need in every commun- 
ity of our country. But before education can be made effec- 
tive the people, or at least their leaders, must agree on what 
they want and thus be prepared to support the work of the 
schools on the new frontier. 


The elementary schools are already so organized that the 
introduction of a codperating plan will be relatively easy. The 
problem and the greater opportunity will lie in the secondary- 
schools, which are conceived as embracing both the junior 
high-school and the junior college. It is in this period that 
the intellect has developed so that more than average under- 
standing is possible, and it is in this period that the necessary 
emotional approval and stimulus to devoted action can be de- 
veloped. Elementary education can lay the foundation and 
furnish the simpler tools, but it is secondary education that 
must be used to make effective the great program or any ma- 
jor part of it for achieving the ideals adopted for national 
prosperity and happiness. 

The achievements of our secondary-schools are great and 
not to be deprecated. Their possibilities are far greater and 
must be seriously and strenuously sought. We in the United 
States have accepted the ideal, unique in the whole world, 
of providing a secondary education appropriate to the needs 
of every youth. This ideal is not likely to be abandoned, 
primarily because it is intertwined with the roots of democ- 
racy, but also because, as I have elsewhere pointed out, there 
is nothing else that society can do with youth but educate 
him. Already we have about half our youth in secondary- 
schools, and the fraction must inevitably increase. But the 
appropriate education, varying far beyond the accustomed 
limits, we have yet to provide for the great number who have 
neither the competence nor the need for traditional course. 
The effort to force them upon all youth results in waste not 
only of time and money but of the far more important oppor- 
tunity to make the secondary-schools contribute largely and 

















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PROCEEDINGS OF THE MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. MEETING 


vitally to the welfare of the nation and the happiness of its 
people. The new education must begin with and consistently 
continue to seek the good of the supporting society. 


Although criticism and restricted budgets are uncom- 
fortable, I am inclined to think that they are by no means 
wholly bad for secondary education at the present time. If 
we are competent professionally, they will compel a franker 
appraisal of our own work than we are accustomed to give, 
a seeking to understand the new frontier on which we are 
living, the construction of a program that will prepare every 
youth according to his aptitudes and capacities for its needs, 
and then a bold and continuous campaign to interpret this 
program to the people. Every individual schoolman and 
woman should accept this professional challenge and devote 
such intellectual powers as he has to understanding and to 
invention. Then in professional organizations they will find 
the place to evaluate contributed ideas and the strength to put 
on adopted program convincingly before the people. 


We are indeed on a new frontier. As the old has moved 
back, many of its needs have gone. As the new has moved 
up, many new needs have come. Have we the vision to see 
conditions as they are, the wisdom to interpret them for their 
true significances, the high dream to indicate the goal toward 
which they should move, the ability to plan for an educational 
program that will utilize the facts to achieve the dream, and 
the strength not only to endure criticism and privations but 
also to carry on, always on, until we have made the public see 
too and when convinced accept the codperative responsibility? 
This is the challenge that we have on the new frontier. It 
involves more than pedagogical improvements of traditional 
classics. It means creating a new civilization suited to the 
new frontier and intelligently using the schools as the most 
potent means of progress. It means that the schoolmaster 
will no longer be the petty tyrant of the ferrule or the sympa- 
thetic guide through the mazes of inherited tradition. In- 
stead, with eyes fixed on the high goal, with mind compre- 
hending and approving the comprehensive program for prog- 





349 

































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350 DEPARTMENT OF SECONDARY-SCHOOL PRINCIPALS 


ress, you will apply your strength to the making of a brave 


new world good for all who live in it. 


“Not for delectations sweet, 
Not the cushion and the slipper, not the peaceful and the 


studious, 
Not the riches safe and palling, not for you the tame 
enjoyment. 


? 


Pioneers, O Pioneers