Remove Remediable Defects Before Sending Children to School

Campaign Conducted by Bureau of Education and National Congress of Parents and Teachers. Prizes Offered to Associations which Report Best Methods and Attain Best Results. Campaign Will Continue in 1926

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By ELLEN C. LOMBARD

Junior Specialist in Home Education, Bureau of Education HE PROBLEM of the entrance of children 100 per cent perfect in health into school at the beginning of the school year has engaged the attention of parents in many States and has resulted in the correction of defects with which the children might have been handicapped in their school work.

This is due to the short summer campaign or summer round-up of children which the Bureau of Education and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers have carried on as a part of their "two years' program to encourage the home to assume its responsibilities to send children to school who are ready to be taught, instead of bundles of parental mistakes to be corrected."

Included in this campaign is the competition of parent-teacher associations conducted by the National Congress of Parents and Teachers to develop the best method and obtain the best results in securing the entrance into the first grade of school a class of children 100 per cent perfect in health in September, 1925.

Three prizes were offered as an incentive to organizations to enter the contest. Three judges of the competition, Dr. John J. Tigert, United States Commissioner of Education, Mary E. Murphy, National Chairman of Child Hygiene, National Congress of Parents and Teachers, and Mrs. William Brown Meloney, editor of the Delineator, will examine the articles describing the methods in carrying on the campaign, the community cooperation secured, and the results obtained.

Any parent-teacher association participating in the campaign in any way,

although it may not compete for a prize, may receive a certificate signed by the United States Commissioner of Education and the president of the National Congress of Parents and Teachers, and any organization securing the entrance in the first grade of a class 100 per cent free from remediable defects will receive another type of certificate also signed by the three judges.

To Record Physical Condition of Children Score cards indicating physical fitness of children entering first grade and containing form for physical examination and weight-age-height tables, approved by leading health specialists, have been distrib

uted by the National Congress of Parents

and Teachers.

Several State departments of education have taken active part in this campaign. The Utah State superintendent circularized the presidents of parent-teacher associations and the public school superintendents of the State and urged them to do all in their power to forward the campaign. In other States the health departments have given valuable cooperation.

The campaign will continue through the summer of 1926, and it is the aim to

Well Developed Vocational Guidance in Wilkinsburg

Vocational guidance and a real try out in the calling or profession chosen before progressing too far in their studies is given to students in the Wilkinsburg (Pa.) junior high school. The method is described by Principal E. E. Hicks in the Pennsylvania School Journal.

guidance teacher discusses the advanOnce a week in the seventh grade the

tages and disadvantages of the different kinds of work in which people engage, the standards for judging the desirability of occupations, and the education required for each. Adaptation of studies is made in the eighth grade. All students of that grade are required to take English, history and civics, and mathematics, the fourth subject depending upon the field chosen, and the study is made sufficiently difficult to give the student an honest view of what will be required of him in real life. Sudents electing a professional career with a college course take Latin and French; if commercial,

junior business practice with a view of business organization and a try out in shorthand and typewriting are given; if industrial, shop work with the auto and its electrical equipment form the basis of study.

A pupil who desires for a legitimate reason to change his course may do so at the end of 8B. This plan enables a student to make an intelligent choice of his course in the ninth grade. Very little shifting occurs after ninth-grade election.

their children at the school door free from remediable defects which if neglected will result in absence from school and inability to do the required work. If this campaign is taken seriously by parents, it will result also in relieving the school of some of its health work and save time for the already overcrowded curriculum.

To Induce Students to Forget the room, libraries, restaurants, and

Latin Quarter

Commodious residences for students of the University of Paris have been opened recently, the first section of a "university city." This is the beginning of a larger scheme to give both French and foreign undergraduate students the advantages of corporate life and the opportunity to work in a collegiate atmosphere. It is made possible by a donation of 10,000,000 franes. The buildings interspersed with grass plots suggest English suburban villas, and in addition to residence quarters for 375 students provide an assembly

athletic field.

an

of Child Life

An investigation to determine the best home economics curriculum for senior and junior public-high schools has been completed in Denver, Colo., and the findings were published. A home-economics curriculum for girls, the study concludes, should be based upon the activities and needs of child, not adult, life. A study with the same object in view has been made by the Interior Department, Bureau of Education, in two junior high schools of the District of Columbia.

Virgin Islands are practically free from adult illiteracy, according to a recent letter from the director of education of

had maintained excellent schools for many years before the islands came into the possession of the United States.

Opportunity

Educational opportunities in Georgia are unequally distributed owing to the unequal distribution of wealth. Ten counties possess 46 per cent of the assessed value of property, while less than 1 per cent is in 10 of the poorest counties. Three-fourths of the children of the State, considering the white population only, are in counties financially unable to give them proper schooling; so that, while the compulsory school law requires six months of school, many of the counties are too poor to provide it, according to figures compiled by Ralph E. Wager of Emory University.

On a 5-mill school tax, Fulton County could spend $19.50 annually on the education of each child of school age, but Coffee County would spend only $1.96. Consequently, the State allotment of $4.60 per capita does not begin to meet the deficiency in the poorer sections. Two other facts that further embarrass the situation are that the fiscal year of the State and the school year do not coincide, and that many communities are already heavily in debt for school expenditures previously made. Both these conditions necessitate heavy interest charges.

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HE TIME has definitely come when some steps should be taken toward a comprehensive nationwide revision of the public-school curriculum. The department of superintendence of the National Education Association recognized the need during the convention in Cleveland in 1924, and at that time a resolution was unanimously adopted appointing a committee or commission to undertake the leadership in this movement.

The commission had not proceeded very far in its task before the members realized how large the demand was for action. Leaders in education throughout the country began to express their desire for help in curriculum revision. Laymen also expressed a desire to see something done. with the public-school system of the country. Although the average layman does not know what should be done, he feels that there is need of reform somewhere in the administration of the public

cepted

Ninety-nine cities in 32 States have one or more schools organized according to the work-study-play or platoon plan. Wheeling, W. Va., has nearly completed the erection of a new platoon school building and will start its first platoon school. Miss Alice Barrows, specialist in city schools of the Interior Department, Bureau of Education, recently addressed the teachers' institute of the Wheeling independent school district, and gave a brief history of the platoon plan, its development, organization, and methods. The platoon form of school organization has just been put into effect in all the grade schools of Ellwood City, Pa. Other cities expecting to organize schools

lines-first, the growing cost of education, and second, what he believes to be lack of thoroughness in the teaching of the essentials.

With the second we are not concerned, as this is a question of method, but with the first we are concerned, because what is taught in the schools determines to a very large extent what the cost of education will be.

There is another kind of economy, however, than that of financial economy, and one which should be a matter of very much greater concern than the saving of dollars, and that is the saving of human energy and time and the saving of waste which comes from misdirected educational effort on the part of the child who may be

Supervisors

forced to pursue a wrong course of study, or study the wrong things, or the right things at the wrong time.

Money cost of education is bound to rise with the cost of all other commodities which human beings must have. We are more interested, therefore, and rightly so, in the second type of economy mentioned. The layman is not alone in his doubts as to whether or not the schools are conducted economically. The educator is beginning to question his own procedure. The strategic point of attack seems to be on the curriculum. We realize, of course, that much has been done in the way of curriculum revision during recent years in different parts of the country. Much of this work has been well done, and some of it has been done scientifically and soundly. There has also been an abundance of research in the field of the curriculum.

Our commission at its first meeting made a careful survey of the field with the intention of determining what step first to take. After some discussion, it was agreed first to find out what had been done in the way of scientific research and procedure in curriculum revision and to indicate, as we have in the yearbook of the department of superintendence for 1925, the general trends in curriculum revision throughout the country. The next step seems to be to set in motion a country-wide plan of cooperation in curriculum revision, with the purpose of coordinating all worthy efforts through a central clearing house. This is the work for the ensuing year. Already about 500 school systems have entered this cooperative plan, and a number are already at work revising their curricula in a thoroughgoing and scientific way.

Nonfraternity men usually outrank fraternity men in scholastic averages at the University of Wisconsin.-University Press Bulletin.

With 35 per cent of the Nation's children in rural schools, fewer than 2 per cent of the 300,000 teachers in these schools are normal graduates. Trained supervisors are, therefore, urgently needed. The field of service of this officer, as outlined in Bulletin, No. 9, 1925, of the Interior Department, Bureau of Education, includes not only supervising the work of teachers and introducing better methods, but also pro

encouraging school boards to furnish adequate school buildings and equipment, inaugurating health programs, and athletic, musical, and educational community meets. He acts as friend and adviser of the teacher, sees that some provision is made for the proper care and education of physically handicapped children, influences boys and girls to complete the school course, and encourages bright students to high-school and college careers.

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DUCATION in Holland has for a long time been intimately connected with politics. In the past the State paid only for nonsectarian public education, which had as a matter of course a "neutral" character. Those who desired teaching according to their religious views had to pay for their schools out of their own pockets. These nonpublic, sectarian schools were sometimes called "free," which indicated that they were free of any Government grant. They were for the greater part founded and supported with much sacrifice by strict Catholics and orthodox Calvinists.

In the course of time, during the latter half of the nineteenth century, the Calvinists and Roman Catholics organized into political parties whose battle cry was: "Equal right for the sectarian and the public schools!" Owing to the energetic propaganda of brilliant men, among whom the late Dr. Abraham Kuyper was foremost, the opinion won ground that it was an injustice that people who seriously objected to the teaching of the "neutral State public schools" had to pay taxes for them, while their own schools struggled for life.

Elections Determined Educational Reorganization

A fight of long standing ensued between the liberals and the religious political parties. The elections of 1918 were in favor of the "Right" parties (the Calvinists and the Catholics), and the result was the new education act of 1920, the work of our first minister of education, Dr. J. Th. de Visser. He held his office for seven years; after the recent elections, in July, the ministry of which he was a member resigned. His work has been severely criticized by his adversaries, and indeed it showed some serious defects; nevertheless the Dutch nation is grateful for the excellent services which he rendered to his country. His successor, Doctor Rutgers, the whip of the Calvinist party will find many difficult and urgent problems awaiting him.

In the years immediately following the great war the Dutch people enjoyed unprecedented prosperity. Money was plentiful. Although economists tried to warn them, people thought that the happy

times of abundance would never end. This spirit pervaded every class of our society; Parliament voted laws which cost millions and millions. Some of this expensive legislation was an outcome of the democratic currents which flooded Europe after the war; Holland was the only country in Europe which introduced the 8-hour working day (45 hours of work per week). The new education act of Minister de Visser was one of these very expensive laws. Its principal defect is the lack of organization. Any group of parents of children, ranging from 40 in the small villages to 100 in the big towns, received the right to found and to conduct a school according to their own principles, all the expenses being paid by the State. The training of teachers and their salaries were improved, the number of pupils per teacher was lowered, the idea of the unity school (eenheidsschool) was introduced, foreign languages (mostly French) disappeared from the curriculum of the elementary schools, the position of the class teacher was raised, etc.

Retrenchment Inevitably Follows Inflation

After a short time of prosperity money began to grow scarce; our commerce, industry, and agriculture suffered from the depression of the world, and the cry for economy was raised, and education was among the first to be cut. One by one Minister de Visser had to retract parts of the law which were too expensive for our national budget. He did so "with a bleeding heart," as we Dutch say, and he preferred to resign when the impossibility of the working of the law became clear; only his high sense of duty to his country made him stay.

The chief factors in the terrible increase of the education budget were to be found in the increase of the number of schools and in the modest raising of the teachers' salaries. To begin with the last named: The salaries of married teachers in the big towns was, according to the scale of 1920 about £300. There was, and still is, an endless variety of kinds of salaries-according to years of service, married or not, special qualifications, bigness of the town, etc. All these salaries have been cut by percentages ranging from 10 to 20 per cent and more. It is not to be denied

that this action from the side of the Government had an unfavorable influence on the mentality of the teachers. Those in authority should remember the old maxim, "A discontented teacher is a danger to the State." One of the first problems which face our new minister is

the revision of the teachers' salaries on a just and adequate scale. We follow in Holland the discussion and settlement of the English teachers' salaries with much interest. I think that most of us would be glad to receive a kind of Dutch Burnham award.

Too Many Schools for Good Organization

The other factor named, the increase of schools out of proportion to the number of pupils, is more difficult for our new minister to deal with, because, as I indicated in the beginning of this article, here lies des Pudels Kern. This problem is of a political kind, and it is very improbable that much can be done in the present circumstances. Yet some measure or other is necessary. It is ridiculous that in a town like Amsterdam the parents of 100 children can demand the establishment of a school according to their principles, all the expenses being paid for by the State. In some villages, where formerly two well-organized schools were found, we may at this present moment count five. This splitting up of schools is the antithesis of good organization.

Apart from these problems important for the finance of the country we find in the present Dutch educational situation some semipolitical, semipedagogical questions. The most important of these are the unity school and the teaching of French. The unity-school idea is a very difficult one, especially in a country like Holland, full of old traditions and class distinctions. The fundamental principle among all educators must be common good "The right of every child to teaching according to its wants." The practical application of this sound rule is, however, far from easy. Some enthusiasts derive from it the necessity of one school for all children; no water-tight compartments; all must learn at the same school, rich and poor, the child of a millionaire beside that of an artisan"the school for John and for Mary."

Unfavorable Results with Unity Schools

It may be that the system works in America, perhaps because tradition is not old over there. In Germany the Grundschule in the first four years is not a complete success. In Holland, as in other countries, the problem of the unity school does not exist in the villagesevery school there is a unity school. It is in the towns that the difficulties are to be found. In some Dutch towns, including Amsterdam, den Haag, and Rotter

school organization is to be seen, and the results are not quite favorable. One hears complaints that the unity school is only prescribed for the public schools and that the results of the teaching are not so good as they used to be. On the whole the Dutch people do not like the idea, and that is one of the reasons why the sectarian schools, which are free in their organization, prosper.

Obliged to Learn Language of Neighbors

The teaching of foreign languages in elementary schools (mostly French) is in some way connected with the unityschool principle. Owing to the position of our country and the smallness of it, the Dutch have always been learners of foreign languages. Most Dutchmen know a bit of a foreign language, and a cultured man is expected to read and speak French, German, and English. This means that our children have to study four languages (to which sometimes Latin and Greek are added, making it six), a task heavy enough. For a long period French was considered to be the principal language; nowadays English is more en vogue. At all events, French is a difficult language for our Dutch youth, with its many forms and difficult syntax.

Thus the language study was mostly started by the study of French. One of the requirements for admission to secondary schools was a slight knowledge of French. Children intended for secondary schools went to preparatory schools in the curriculum of which French was included. Thus there were two kinds of elementary schools, those with French and those without. The French schools were attended by the so-called better classes, so that the teaching of French formed a distinction of class.

Movement to Restore Foreign Language

A unity-school scheme can not allow this, and thus the education act of 1920 forbids the teaching of a foreign language in the first six classes of elementary schools. This means that a Dutch child attending the public schools can not learn a foreign language before he is 12 years of age. A great many parents were not content with this state of affairs and founded and supported classes outside of school hours for the teaching of French. A strong movement for authority to reintroduce a foreign language in the elementary-school curriculum set in. A bill to that effect was proposed by Miss J. Westerman, M. P.; it passed the Second Chamber (House of Commons) but was rejected by the First Chamber. question is far from being solved, however, and some measure must be taken.

The

There was a time when Dutch education was strongly influenced by Germany; 61685°-25-2

gogues. Of late years we are looking westward more; English and American educational ideas and practices are carefully studied. One of the recent movements in Dutch education is the Dalton plan. A delegation of Dutch educators under the leadership of the Amsterdam professor, Dr. Kohnstamm, visited England in order to study the practical work of the Dalton method on the spot. On their return they published a report, which was widely read and discussed. At present Dalton is the topic of the day. Some schools have already experimented along the Dalton lines with marked success, and, though it is far from being generally accepted, interest is keen.

Comenius Institute

Comenius Institute of Pedagogy at Prague, which was recently described in SCHOOL LIFE, was closed June 30 by the Czechoslovakia Ministry of Education.

The institute was the source of considerable expense, and even more was demanded for the fulfillment of its aims. The Ministry of Education was unable to satisfy its demands and, being urged to economy by the Ministry of Finance, it became necessary to discontinue the institute.

The department of educational research of the institute was transferred to the Ministry of Education, where a similar bureau was already at work. The institute's museum was transferred to the school museum of the city of Prague. Only the library of the institute with the teacher's reading room, will survive in its present form, but its name will be changed to the Educational Library of John Amos Comenius. It contains 17,199 volumes, of which a considerable proportion are French, English, and American publications.Emanuel V. Lippert.

A

conference was called to order by John J. Tigert, United States Commissioner of Education. The American Library Association was represented by L. L. Dickerson, of Chicago, and H. H. B. Meyer, of the Library of Congress. Prof. Charles G. Maphis represented the National University Extension Association, and the National Congress of Parents and Teachers was represented by its president, Mrs. A. H. Reeve, and by Miss Sarah B. Askew, of Trenton, N. J.

It was found that there is a fertile field for cooperation by these national organizations. The National Congress of Parents and Teachers is so fully organized that it is able to form reading clubs in every part of the country. The American Library Association is cooperating by furnishing reading clubs with books and advice. The National University Extension Association is aiding, for reading clubs gradually merge into study clubs, and university credit may be given under certain conditions for work done in them.

The Bureau of Education now offers 29 reading courses, and it intends shortly to issue a large number of reading lists to meet the popular demand for systematic reading.

Week

DISSEMINATE among the people accurate information in regard to the conditions and needs of the schools, enhance appreciation of the value of education, and create such interest as will result in better opportunities for education and larger appropriations for schools of all kinds and grades.-P. P. Claxton, 1920.

from the Bureau of Education to become president of the University of Akron is another proof of the efficacy of the Bureau of Education as a training school for administrators and teachers of

education. Appointees of the bureau's staff are selected with care. The standard of education and experience required of them is high.

After entrance upon duty the appointee devotes much of his time to the study of educational conditions in this country and abroad which relate to his specialty; he participates in educational surveys; he conducts conferences in behalf of the

College Work

FIFTY years ago $100,000 was enough

to endow a college capable of excellent work. In this day such a sum seems insignificant in the establishment of any educational institution. On another page of this number is a description of a high-school building in New York City that cost $3,000,000, and elsewhere is a brief reference to another in Omaha, Nebr., that cost $3,500,000. The New York school is designed for 5,000 students, and 3,000 were enrolled before it was completed; the Omaha school has 4,000 students.

These figures are not extraordinary, for in our age the economy of large units is recognized in educational affairs as well as in industrial and commercial concerns. So many city high-school buildings erected in the past six years have cost more than $1,000,000 that the mention of that sum no longer excites astonishment.

The question naturally arises, with such excellent equipment, why is the instruction limited to the high-school grade? Unquestionably facilities for college work are available in every modern high-school building, and in most of them the present teaching force is fully capable of giving two years' college instruction at least. It is logically the next step for the cities to take over the work of the junior college. Many of them have already done so. Many more will do likewise when they have caught up with the demand for high schools. The majority of cities are still struggling with that problem. When they

teachers and others whose work is allied to his; he advises those who seek his advice upon matters of theory, organization, and procedure, usually basing his suggestions upon successful experiences

Of the "graduates" of the Bureau of Education now living 3 are university presidents; 1 is dean of the college of arts and science and acting president of a university; 2 are college presidents; 11 are professors in universities, colleges, or normal schools; 1 is a city school superintendent, and another is his assistant; 1 is an officer of a State department of education; 1 is a county school superinin a great city; 4 are in positions of semitendent; 2 are directors of special branches

educational character which were reached

principally because of contacts made in

the service of the bureau. Besides these several are in places of responsibility in other branches of the Government or with private business concerns. And the "technical staff" of the bureau numbers exactly 24 persons. The Bureau of Education is a training school in fact.

Incidentally, at this very time, in addition to a specialist in higher education, the position which Doctor Zook recently vacated, the bureau is seeking through the Civil Service Commission specialists in commercial education and in kindergarten-primary education. Three opportunities for "matriculation" at the same time, and the salaries are from $3,800 to $5,200.

Common Schools Suited to Genius of American People

with which he is familiar; he travels H°

widely to investigate unusual educational enterprises; he comes in touch under favorable conditions with the leaders of the profession; the results of his studies are published under the auspices of the Government.

He thus acquires knowledge at first hand of the best practices in education and normally becomes an authority upon that branch of it to which his labors are directed. His worth to the Government in its purpose of diffusing educational information is tremendously enhanced by his studies and experiences; but his achievements are likely to be recognized by others also and in the most practical of ways he receives offers from other employers at a salary far greater than be could expect in the service of the Government.

This story has been told so often of members of the staff of the Bureau of Education that it is now accepted as the natural course of events. Many men of great value have thus left the bureau and the loss has seemed little short of tragedy. But others come into the fold in the stead of those who go, and the process of training and of broadening is repeated, and again educational institutions or school systems receive the benefit, and the cause of education in the United States is measurably advanced.

HORACE

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MANN said that "the mon school is the greatest discovery ever made by man." He might have added, "and the American people know better than any other how to appreciate it." In no other country on earth do the people so fully accept those educational principles which are a part of the being of nearly all Americans. In every discussion of educational systems of other countries serious difficulties are described which do not exist in our country to a sufficient extent to be trouble

some.

Men of wealth, high public officials, and the "intellectuals" send their children to the public schools because they know that the best instruction to be had is given there; they know that the contact of all classes is a part of American life, and they do not fear contamination from the presence of children from humble homes.

Local control of education has never been relinquished by the American people. Each community decides for itself the essentials of its own schools. Superintendents and boards of education are careful to obtain popular approval for all they undertake. They are well aware that they can not continue in office without it.

Some denominations maintain parochial schools in order that their own children