Principals Not Mere Clerks. Every superintendent of schools recog. nizes that one of the most fundamentally important problems in public education is to improve the quality of teaching, according to Superintendent E. C. Hart well of the Buffalo city schools. Indeed, he declares that the teacher is the centre of gravity in our educational system. Acting upon this theory, Superintendent Hartwell recently organized a campaign to improve the quality of teaching. He outlined the methods that are used in the Buffalo schools somewhat as follows: 1. By improving the quality of supervision. The whole purpose of supervision as employed in the Buffalo schools may be covered in one sentence. This purpose is intelligently to commend that which is good in the teacher's work and sympathetically and constructively to criticize that which is weak. The elementary school principals understand that they are receiving their salaries not for making out reports and distribution of mucilage but for educational leadership. We expect principals to visit classes, to commend, criticize, and to follow up the suggestions of supervisors from the general office. 2. We have employed nine teachers taken directly from the classroom, women of tact, sympathy, personality, and capability to give model lessons in the various schools. These demonstrators, as we call them, have encountered none of the antagonism sometimes directed against supervisors, because it is not their business to supervise the teacher. It is their function to go into a teacher's room and before the teacher's class demonstrate a method, develop a process, and show the regular classroom teacher what somebody else can do with her pupils. 3. Through an institute fund and in co-operation with the state normal school, located in Buffalo, and with the University of Buffalo, and Canisius College, we have provided unusual opportunities for the teachers who wish to take extension work. We have not obliged our teachers to take advantage of these opportunities, nor have we made salary increases dependent upon this suggested professional work. Superintendent Hartwell points out that during the past four years teachers have actually completed for credit 24,000 university semester hours of work. During that time, 130 Buffalo teachers have secured college degrees. The foregoing figures do not include, he says, 8580 semester hours of extension work for which no college credit has been given. It is impossible to estimate, he Every newly appointed grade teacher It is a matter of great pride in the educational circles of Buffalo, according to Superintendent Hartwell, that the successful instruction of boys and girls is now regarded as possessing sufficient cultural and social value that the colleges, to a limited extent, will recognize it for credit toward a degree. The administration of the Buffalo school has acted upon the theory that responsibility rests upon it to provide the kind of opportunities, enviroment, and supervision necessary to stimulate and satisfy a teacher's professional ambitions. Religion and Health. It is proposed by the department of applied edu cation of the Minnesota Federation of Women's Clubs to work toward the fol- Establishing a kindergarten in every Getting a nine months school year for rural schools. Taking the office of county superintendent out of politics and basing it on merit and training. Placing teachers in rural schools who have had two years of normal school training or its equivalent. Installing a graded course of nature Organizing more consolidated schools. Taxing the county as a unit for its Moreover, the department is intent upon creating public sentiment on the subject of teaching religion and health in all public schools of the state. The foregoing proposed objectives seem to be of secondary importance as compared with the teaching of religion and health. Creed for Teaching History Facts. The chairmen of high school history departments, New York City schools, after heated discussion, recently adopted a creed for teaching history facts in which the general aims relating to politics, civic duty, character formation, and devotion to American institutions were incorporated. The proposed creed, which was approved by the conference, contains the following points: 1. To educate pupils to a broad understanding of conditions, institutions, and problems of the present through a study of their beginnings and development in the past. 2. To train pupils in the power of thorough analysis of data, of reaching well founded conclusions and of viewing in the light of reason and experience novel or alien political theories and programs. 3. To develop in pupils a spirit of open-mindedness, and a capacity to grasp without bias the attitude of others. 4. To train in active, constructive, intelligent patriotism. 5. To contribute constructively toward character formation through a study of worthy examples. 6. To foster the spirit of international good will, reasonableness and cooperation through seeing events fairly world progress. in their relation to world history and duty and to develop the willingness and 7. To inspire a high ideal of civic the capacity to fill a wholesome, active part in civic endeavors. 8. To develop an intelligent and hearty devotion to all that is best in American institutions and traditions and the spirit of self-sacrifice in their maintenance and defense. Advantage and Purpose of Military Training. Chancellor Samuel Avery, University of Nebraska, points out the advantage and purposes of military training, in the University, in a special annual edition of the University Journal. The Chancellor is chairman of the committee on military affairs, which is maintained by the association of land grant colleges. In the course of his statement, Chancellor Avery says: The work carried on under the present law makes military training given, especially in the senior division, educational. Further, the measure is admirably adapted to give a type of training that will tend to preserve the peace of the country. The presence of a large To Help in Studies. The School Parent, published by the United Parents Association, New York City, sets forth, in an appeal to parents to protect their boys and girls from needless interruption while they are studying at home, that parents do not have to know the new methods to provide opportunity for quiet, regular study. The writer declares that half of the failures in the schools could be prevented if fathers and mothers would see that children studied their home work. This is especially true when application is made to the work necessary to be done in the last month of school. In many ways, it is pointed out, this is most important, because children who are behind are given a final chance for promotion. Examinations give the pupils a chance to look back over the work as a whole and see what has been accomplished. Continuing, the writer says: Daily lessons are parceled out piecemeal, and few pupils see that they are all part of a well planned whole. But the review gives the larger picture if it is done uninterruptedly so as to create the sense of unfolding. It is not easy to escape the distractions of this bustling city, but it can be done. One girl used to seek the roof of her apartment home at reviewing time, and in a shady corner under the peaceful clouds, she would spread out her work before her. Then any isolated facts like pieces in the old jig-saw puzzles were fitted neatly into the general scheme, and even vague ideas took shape. At such times, she got a real grasp on the term's work which stood her in good stead on examination day. The Vaccination Issue. The issue of whether parents who have complied with the state vaccination law, to the extent of submitting regularly drawn exemption certificates from physicians, shall be refused public educational facilities for their children and at the same time held liable to prosecution under the school attendance law has attracted widespread attention especially in Connecticut. A serious aspect of the controversy is the time the school children affected have lost and will continue to lose until the cases are settled. In Hartford, for instance, three children were out of school three months and will not be re-enrolled in the public schools until the appeal taken by their parents to the superior court from a conviction and fine imposed for failure to have the children vaccinated is decided. Practically the same situation, it is reported, exists in other cities in Connecticut. In one city, nearly a hundred children were barred from school for non-vaccination. Here, school officials are awaiting the outcome of the case in court before proceeding with their plan to prosecute the parents of the absent children under the school attendance law. An effort was of made in the city of New Britain to arrange for special teaching accommodations for the children at the expense the town and the state. As a test case, one of the parents informed the chairman of the board that "until the school board sees fit to provide for the proper education of my child, I will be obliged to hire a teacher or teachers at the expense of the city and the state." Corporation counsel informed the board that the parent could not force school authorities to pay for special teachers. Because of the far-reaching effect which the decision to be rendered in the appeal case is expected to have in the state, the case has aroused unusual interest. 3. Revolutionists, communists and extreme pacifists are a menace to these guaranties. 4. One Constitution, one Union, one flag, one history. SLOGANS: Ballots not bullets. Master the English language. Visit the schools to-day. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 18. The United States flag is the living sym- 1. The red flag means death, destruction, poverty, starvation, disease, anarchy and dictatorship. 2. Help the immigrants and aliens to become American citizens. 3. Take an active interest in governmental affairs. 4. Stamp out revolutionary radicalism. 5. To vote is the primary duty of the patriot. National School Week. The American Legion, Federal Bureau of Education, and the National Education Association unite in formulation of plans The for the observance of American Educa tion Week which will open on Monday, November 17. Every community is urged to evaluate its educational resources and needs during that week. The National Education Association urges attenion to the following important activities during the week: 1. Let every community evaluate its educational resources and needs. 2. Let parents visit teachers and teachers visit parents in effort to solve common problems of childhood. 3. Let activities be organized to create new understanding and new vision regarding the part that education has played, is playing, and must play in the life of the nation. 4. The schools have remarkable opportunity to teach children significance of responsibility to help maintain an ed ucational system. Program for the Week The Constitution is the bulwark of de- 1. Life, liberty, justice, security and opportunity. 2. How our Constitution guarantees these rights. 1. The necessity of schools. 2. The teacher as a nation builder. 3. The school influence on the coming generation. 4. The school as a productive institution. 5. School needs in the community. 6. Music influence upon the nation. SLOGANS: Better trained and better paid teachers, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20. Illiteracy Day. Informed intelligence is the foundation. of representative government. 1. Illiteracy is a menace to our nation. 2. An American's duty toward the uneducated. 3. Provide school opportunity for every illiterate. 4. Illiteracy creates misunderstanding. 5. An illiterate who obtains only seccond hand information is a tool of the radical. SLOGANS: No illiteracy by 1930. Education is a godly nation's greatest need Service to community, State and nation is the duty of every citizen. 1. Equality of opportunity in education for every American boy and girl. 2. Better rural schools. 3. Adequate public library service for every community. 4. A community's concern for education measures its interest in its own future. 5. Good roads build a community. A godly nation cannot fail. Cut Out Swimming Pools. The school board of Minneapolis has decided that swimming pools, while desirable, are not worth what they cost the taxpayer. By eliminating the pool in one junior high school a saving of $56, 000 was affected. A delegation of citi zens entered protest against the elimina. tion of the swimming pool in school buildings declaring that "the people are willing to dig into their own pockets to maintain it." Do Not Spoil the Child. One of the most accomplished kindergarteners in this country is Patty S. Hill, Teach ers College, Columbia University. In a recent discussion on "What Grown People Can Learn From Little Children," Professor Hill pointed out the position of the family in educative life and the development of the child. With charming directness, she declared that the child is not here to be spoiled or as a toy to be exploited commercially, or to be kept down because he can be kept down, nor to dominate his equals or elders. Her assertion puts the child thus in three levels in experience, and she continued: He is there as a creature of untold promise for the future as a possibility for greater heights than those we worship may have attained. In the child, we have the vision of the hope of realizing all we would have been-might have been. While any life weaker than our own may stimulate nurture, care, and protection, childhood is the most natural stimulus to these. Something of this is he compensating beauty which comes to us in its most wholesome and natural form, not a vision. Not only does the parent make the child, but childhood creates parenthood. If all the children could be wiped off the face of the globe tonight, with no possibility of a renewed race, what would life be like what would the world lose? Professor Hill declared, further, that if the sense of power creeps in, if love of ownership, authority, of dependence on us, of obedience for his own sake take the place of joy in domination, then the relation which should enrich the protector and protected is twice cursed, bringing love of dominance and authority to the one and fear, deception, and servility to the other. She declared that to govern the child by real superiority rather than by authority is the task of democracy as an enrichment to all lives privileged to participation in the progress. Conflict on Religious Teaching. The state laws and the state constitution of Utah forbid the use of schoolhouses for religious instruction according to an opinion recently rendered by the attorney general of the state. The state superintendent of public instruction, Dr. C. N. Jensen, not long ago, advised a school board that such use of schoolhouses is permissible under the law. The situation thus developed is somewhat peculiar, because the state superintendent of public schools in Utah is legal advisor to school boards. It is said that the advice of this official will govern the action of boards of education unless prevented by judicial procedure. New York City School System to be Surveyed. The board of education of the city of New York has employed the following persons to make a survey of certain aspects of the New York City system of schools: Dr. William H. Allen, director of the Institute of Public Service, New York City; Superintendent E. C. Hartwell, Buffalo; Superintendent W. H. Holmes, Mount Vernon, New York; Dean John W. Withers, College of Education, New York University; Dean R. H. Jordan, College of Education, Cornell University. The president of the board of education, George J. Ryan, and Superintendent William J. O'Shea constitute a special committee to direct the survey. The following branches of service in the system are announced to receive especial consideration: Character, cost and use of new buildings, business procedure, teacher recruiting and teacher training, course of study, revision of and textbook selection, and pre-vocational co-operative vocational, and continuation schooling. President Ryan reported to the board of education that the constructive survey would cover, among other points, those involved in the following twenty questions: 1. What are the chief high spots or excellencies in the present program of instruction and the present method of conducting the school system? 2. What, if any, businesslike steps. are we failing to take to hasten the construction of new buildings? 3. Is there any way to secure more efficient buildings for the same money or equally efficient buildings for less money? 4. Are we making the best educational use of our new school buildings and the old buildings? 5. What, if any, changes are needed in the method of administering repair funds? 6. What headway have we already made and insured to eliminate part time? 7. What are we doing or leaving undone to make sure that efficiency of instruction shall keep pace with rapidly increasing annual allowances for instructional salaries and with modern best practices? 8. Where, if at all, might the supervision of instruction be changed in organization or procedure for the benefit of teaching? 9. What possibilities are there of material improvement in the method of recruiting, selecting, training and promoting teachers and supervisors? 10. Where, if at all, in the 6-3-3 course is there opportunity to save one year or more for a large percentage of children while still maintaining or increasing the effectiveness of their school work? 11. What, if any, economics are possible, while maintaining efficiency, in the handling of supplies? 12. What, if any, changes are needed in the method of choosing textbooks and in the use of visual aids to instruction? 13. What next steps are desirable in the aim, content and wording of our courses of study? 14. Where, if at all, is it desirable to extend the co-operative school method of learning while earning in de partment stores, business offices and manufacturing plants and in co-operation of schools with museums and libraries? 15. What, if any, work is the system now doing that might be dropped without serious injury to educational results? 16. What, if any, needed work is the system failing to do, or failing to expand rapidly enough? 17. Where is the overhead large enough, too small, or too large for administration and supervision? WASHINGTON Elementary School, San Diego, California, Pete W. Ross, Principal. Attention is called to the windows which open from top to bottom and which can be pushed to one side to get a complete opening. FIRST FLOOR contains: Gymnasium 82' x 55', Kindergarten Room, Domestic Science Room, Sewing Room, Manual Training Shop, Sub-station Public Library, Bicycle Room, Boys' Shower and Lockers, Girls' Locker, Furnace and Fan Rooms, Boys' Toilets, Girls' Toilets, 5 Janitors' Closets. SECOND FLOOR contains: Auditorium with Balcony 80' x 44', 8 Class Rooms 32' x 24', Cloak Rooms, Principal's Office, Teachers' Rest Room, 4 Janitors' Stock Closets, Boys' Toilets, Girls' Toilets, 15 ft. Corridor, Foyer from front entrance. THIRD FLOOR Contains: 9 Classrooms, Vice-Principal's Ungraded Room, Boys' Toilets, Girls' Toilets, 4 Janitors' Closets, 15 ft. Corridor. The building is supplied with an electric clock, building telephones, 6A Powers Movie Machine purchased by P. T. A., Cafeteria is conducted by P. T. A., Supply of milk is furnished by P. T. A., much of which is free. students; 158 second year students and 111 are third year students or higher. New Type of School. The public school building program of Chicago was recently put under way. The board of education approved plans, upon recommendation of Supt. Wm. McAndrew, for a typical elementary school building which will consist of a main building with provisions for adding wings from time to time. The plans contemplate the use of the school for community service as well as for educational purposes. The auditorium, gymnasiums, libraries, art rooms will be on the ground floor and easily accessible from the street as well as the building; such features of the building can be easily shut off from the rest of the school when pressed into community service, and the heating arrangement is such that these features can be used by the public without waste. The initial unit will include the special features named and 30 class rooms. This unit will accommodate 1440 pupils. additional wing will increase seating capacity to 2016, while a third addition would increase the seating capacity to 2688. An Important Aspects (Continued from page 5) this involves the following problems: (a) Securing better teachers. (b) More regular school attendance. (c) Economy. (d) Determining the degree of intelligence possessed by the pupils. (e) Elimination of lost motion in the use of subject matter in the relation of student needs and ability. (f) Economy in the purchasing department. (g) Use of equipment. (h) Teacher load. The school relates itself to social and economic conditions and to the setting WE hear from all sides about the youthfulness of many of the present the amount of our national budget for Another outstanding problem, it seems Supt. W. E. Miller, INANCING public Schools. Taxes FINA of all kinds are numerous and high. There is no denying this fact. School costs are steadily mounting. Therefore: Public school officials must strive more than ever to get the masses of taxpayers to look upon school taxes as real investments, which will return many-fold more than their initial outlay. We must sell the schools to the people. Securing teachers with proper personalities and with proper training. In the mechanical arts skilled workmen are a condition precedent to highly finished products. The number of trained teachers in the schools is increasing but very, very slowly. Our standards are far too low. One peculiarity of this problem is that the mass of teachers already in the profession, if we may call it so, are passive or hostile to the imposition of higher standards of preparation. Making the school more nearly to fit the capacities, environments, and needs of the pupils. The biggest question for the masses is how to acquire greater ability to |