schools are built by local communities, and they are built in largest numbers and involve largest expenditures of money in those counties and communities which have largest community pride, greatest taxed willingness, and most constructive local leadership.

Sabbatical It appears, from a report

which was made to Superin

Leave a Success tendent William L. Ettinger, City Schools, New York, by Joseph T. Griffin, one of the principals in the New York City system of schools, that the grades in the Boston schools are organized on the six and six plan. Some of the schools have the seventh, eighth, and ninth years similar to the junior high school as it is worked out in many of the systems throughout the country. The curriculum in the Boston schools, according to Mr. Griffin's report on his visit to them, places unusual emphasis upon the work in modern languages. He says it is worthy of particular note that the graduates of the pre-vocation classes are not required to reach the academic standards set up for graduation in the case of other pupils, but they are given a diploma of a different grade. An outstanding feature of the Boston system is the complete independence of the board of education, or school committee, and the separation of the administrative from the professional phases of school management. Principal Griffin who visited the Boston school on sabbatical leave, among other things, says:

The Boston schools have for some years back been granting a sabbatical year. Superintendent Burke is quite enthusiastic about it. He says there is no overwhelming demand on the part of teachers to take advantage of the opportunity, because of the financial loss involved, but enough teachers avail themselves of the opportunity to justifiy the existence of the plan.

Teachers may obtain leave of absence for purposes of travel and study, he says, and those who have been in the service twenty years are permitted two years' leave of absence at half pay without restrictions of kind. The superany intendent of the Boston schools declares

that in every case the supervisors have noticed a marked improvement in the work of those teachers, when they return to duty, because there is a new angle, a new point of view, and the added stimulus to the work. It is like an infusion of new blood, he says, into the school

system. Teachers who take pedagogy at Boston College, Harvard, or other institutions, are exempt from pedagogical examination if evidence of satisfactory courses is filed. There are several cultural tests, however, and after teachers have received their certificates they are rated in regard to present classroom efficiency, personality, and executive ability. A noon period of an hour and a half, extending the school period to 3:30 in the afternoon, is another feature which the report considers worthy of note. The fatigue of the afternoon session is eliminated or greatly reduced by this comfortable period for luncheon. Referring to tests, the report points out:

Intelligence tests have made their expected dent in school procedure, but they are handled gingerly if not skeptically. Principals and teachers look upon this as a passing fad and as possessing little in the classification of the children, beyond that possessed by the usual scholarship tests. The Dalton Plan has a few followers in the Boston schools, but it is realized that it is the teacher who must stand behind this innovation, and the success of the scheme is measured entirely by the skillfulness of the individual teacher. But the project method and the Dalton Plan are considered merely as devices to stimulate the activity of the children and give expression to the teacher's own latent powers.

In a recent address, ProIt is Up to fessor R. L. Lyman, Chi

the Parents

by Professor Lyman was in reply, in part, to a question that was raised as to why not take the enriched curriculum and program of the junior high and incorporate it into the elementary school instead of confining it to the seventh and eighth grades and leave these grades in the elementary school.

A peculiar situation has Supts and arisen in Minnesota with reContracts gard to contract relations

between the board of education and superintendent of schools in an inde pendent district. Boards of education for many years have entered into contracts with superintendents for a fixed term of years. Now the supreme court holds that the language of the statute relating to a superintendent's tenure is that "he may hold office during the pleasure of the board." The court says that “during the pleasure of the board" is susceptible of but one meaning, and that is that the board may discharge a superintendent whenever, in its discretion, it wishes to do so." The opinion further holds that while the statute authorizes a contract with a teacher the superintendent is not a teacher within the meaning of the term as used in the statute. The law regulating the employment and discharge of the one does not relate to the other. The court also construes the language of the statute which makes the superintendent an exofficio member of the board without a vote by saying "he is such a member for

with the affairs of the district. He is to be such an ex-officio member during the pleasure of the board." It has been generally thought that a contract between a board of education and the superintendent of schools in an independent district was legal and valid. Attempts have been made, at times, to secure a law fixing a maximum period for which superintendents can contract. It is clear, now, that only through such a statute can a superintendent's contract be made legal.

cago University, in reply advisory purposes and to keep in touch to objections of organized labor to the junior high school system, said that in case a child should elect an academic course when the school authorities feel he is best fitted for something else, it is up to the parents to say what they want their child to do. If they wish to have him concentrate in one course, he should then be given every attention in that course by the schools, regardless of what course they advise. The school should be intelligent enough to advise the parents what their children are best fitted for, but after that the parents' wishes are final. Professor Lyman made the point, too, that the junior high is a progressive movement and that the seventh, eighth, and ninth grades were selected to receive an enriched curriculum, because they are the years in a child's life when special attention should be given to the selection of most adaptable work. This declaration

WHY?

BY JAMES CLYDE BAILEY. Why is it, when I've gone to bed, And sleep is long in coming, So many themes will crowd my head, They set my brain a-humming, And if at once I do not run

And set them down on paper,

I find, that with tomorrow's sun,
Their memory's but vapor?

Parents and Teachers]

(Continued from page 23)

and teachers of the state four courses in parent-teacher work. Mrs. Arthur C. Watkins, national executive secretary; Mrs. Hale; Mrs. Crutcher; Superintendents W. E. Miller and Ralph B. Rubins; Professors B. O. Duggan, Charles F. Alden, Joseph E. Avent, University of Tennessee; and Mrs. Cora Trawick Court, assistant superintendent of the general Sunday School Board of the M. E. Church, South, were among the speakers. At East Tennessee Normal School seventy-five parents and teachers took the course, and, at the State University, there was an average attendance of 100. At the Polytechnic Institute, and at the West Tennessee Normal School the entire student body, as well as many P. T. A. workers, attended all sessions. In each city the superintendent of schools and members of the board of education were present at the conferences.

Maryland

Ten

Although the Maryland course held at the State Normal School at Towson was strictly a course for mothers, many teachers attended. About fifty mothers came daily. Some came from long distances and some brought little children with them. These children were cared for by a kindergarten and a two-room demonstration school conducted by assistant teachers and students. dollars covered the cost of this oneweek course for each person including room, board, and registration. This course was very carefully planned by Maryland's state president, Mrs. Harry Elkins Parkhurst, and her state board, assisted by faculty members of the normal school. Among the speakers were members of the faculty, city and town superintendents of schools, librarians, and parent-teacher workers.

Anita S. Dowell, of the summer staff, under the topic "Health in the Home," gave the mothers a test in practical problems consisting of diagrams showing false and true positions of the body in standing, of the feet in walking, correct and incorrect way of brushing teeth, and twenty-four statements to be rated as false or true, relating to living conditions, food, sleep, care of children, diseases, and home problems.

Intelligence tests were given by Eugene Bishop, of the staff, followed by a helpful discussion as to their use

MRS. S. M. N. MARRS President of the Texas P. T. A.

with the children and their value to the teacher and to parents.

Mary Osborne gave a story telling hour showing the value of stories in bringing mothers and children together. Each mother-student received a carefully prepared list of the books which should be in every home.

Among the national officers to appear on the program were Mrs. Eugene Crutcher, who spoke on "The Value of Record-keeping in the P. T. A. Work," and Mrs. J. B. Cleaver, National Chairman of Country Life, who spoke on "What a Rural Community can Accomplish Through Parent-Teacher Organizations." Mrs. Parkhurst and other

Maryland workers were in charge of Round Tables. tertainment was provided, making of this unique institute an intimate family conference on the biggest problem in life. The last evening an oak tree, the symbol of the P. T. A., was presented by Mrs. Parkhurst to the Normal School and was planted on the school grounds. Each member of the National Congress and the studentmothers gave some appropriate quotation as they helped with the planting.

Each evening some en

Summer P. T. A. Activities Summer courses have been given in the following states: Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vir

ginia, and Wisconsin. Many associations throughout the country have kept busy through the vacation months. Summer work-play schools, supervised playgrounds, wholesome activities for the children through the hot summer weeks, have been on the programs of hundreds of associations.

Texas

Texas is one of the leading states to make summer time worth while for parent-teacher workers. The state P. T. A. Bulletin is issued through July and August and throughout the state the P. T. A. workers realize that the parent's job has no vacation privileges. Parent training courses have been given in seven teachers colleges.

In Canyon the course was given by the state president, Mrs. S. M. N. Marrs, and there was registration of 165. Mrs. Marrs also gave the lectures at the P. T. A. encampment at San Marcos.

Mrs. B. F. Morris, state chairman of home economics, gave her services free to groups of mothers throughout the state showing them the best way of canning and preserving vegetables and

fruit.

The Fairview P. T. A. of Sherman and the association of Crosbyton held "porch P. T. A. meetings" taking up the study of racial health and planning work for the coming year.

The Tyler School P. T. A. of Belton provided for picnics for mothers and children.

The Bentley association at Temple supervised summer play at the school grounds.

The associations of the Sam Houston School at Dallas, and the Fredericks

burg Auxiliary kept summer libraries

of the districts. in the school buildings for the children

The Haskell P. T. A. worked all summer for the money to pay for walks to be built around their school grounds. A well equipped playground with a caretaker was opened daily by the Beacon Hill School Association.

Stamford P. T. A. reports better attendance at the summer meetings than at the meetings held during the school year. This club is working for better transportation in the fall.

The Center Association has been working to install courses in home economics in the high school and to do this they have conducted an active "mile-of-pennies" campaign, each club member getting as many "feet of pen

"In accordance with his wishes he was buried in the little family vault in the hillside at Mount Vernon, overlooking the Potomac River. When the news of his death reached Europe, the mourning was almost as widespread as it had been in the United States, for he was regarded abroad as a statesman of worldwide influence. John Marshal, later chief justice, in moving the resolution of national grief in Congress, quoted words which truly sum up Washington's position in American history: 'First in war, first in peace, first in the hearts of his countrymen.' The final word as to Washington was perhaps said by John

58 E. Washington St.

Richard Green, the Historian of the English people, when he characterized Washington as 'the noblest figure that ever stood in the forefront of a nation's life.' Tennyson's eulogy of Wellington applies even better to Washington: 'Whatever records leap to light, he never shall be shamed'."

In it's quotation from source material this paragraph is typical of the whole biography of George Washington in Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, from which it is taken. It is just a paragraph-yet it gives you an idea of how Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia is ready to enter and enrich a school subject.

Its fresh and vivid treatment is what makes biography in Compton's so interesting to children; so helpful to teachers; and so valuable in supplementing the history lesson.

Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia is equally valuable in supplementing subjects in Science and Nature Study; Geography and Industrial Geography, etc. You will find its material charged with Motivation, with Interest, and with Visual Education.

We will gladly send prices and sample pages to teachers or school men who contemplate purchasing Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia or recommending it for purchase.

Chicago

nies" as possible. It is estimated that a little more than a mile of pennies will give the required sum.

A well known educator recently said of the western people of the United States: "When they plan for education they think in generations and they build their school buildings accordingly." St. Louis County is proving this to be true, for, in that county, many of the children in four of the districts lived at such distances from the school building that their attendance was very irregular.

interest in the work especially since the change of name which seems to have taken from the "Congress of Mothers" some of the weight of responsibility and placed it squarely and evenly on the "Parents and Teachers." At Gravel Bank, Ohio, the school principal, Mr. H. E. Mann, recently organized an association. All the officers are men and the president, C. E. Smith, is a middleaged bachelor. This association has held meetings during the entire summer.

Macon, Georgia, News (Better Educational Facilities Needful). Short school terms and poor attendance waste the farmers' money, reduces the state earning capacity of children and permit coming citizens to be handicapped by illiter

acy.

The whole nation was made ashamed by the high percentage of illiteracy revealed by the examination of recruits for our army in the World War. So long as we permit short school terms and irregular school attendance in the rural districts, just so long will we continue to produce thousands of men and women unfit to perform their duties as citizens. The Duty to the Schools. The schools are in large measure the foundation of moral, social, and material progress. The schools are, next to the public health, the most important public community asset. Education and health are so closely associated and so inter-dependent and supplementary in their influence and productiveness that it is hard to separate them as agencies in fostering the public welfare. -Age-Herald.

The Trade School. One of the greatest difficulties today by the employer is to secure men who know their trades. There are many young men who have a smattering of information regarding some line of work and still are not practical workmen in any line. These men, in making application for work will state that they can do "anything." "When closely questioned they usually have to admit that there is nothing that they can do really well. This is due wholly to the fact that they have left school and taken up the first job which offered itself without any view to preparation or fitness. -Poughkeepsie, New York, Star.

Why I Am Opposed to the Platoon Plan in Elementary Schools (Frederick G. Bonser). The platoon plan of elementary school organization seems to me to be opposed to the application of the best we know of some of the more basic principles of education, psychology, and teaching. Further more, almost every virtue claimed for the platoon plan, aside from that of economy in cost, may be realized by schools not using this plan. Library work, practical arts, music, play ground and gymnasium activities, and numerous uses of auditoriums are all found in many schools not having the platoon plan. In these schools not having the platoon form of organization the work may be so developed as to utilize the application of those basic principles violated by the usual platoon plan. Briefly, the points open to the most serious question, as I see the situation, are these: (1) The separation of the tool subjects from the subjects in which the tools are used by placing them respectively under separate teachers, makes the unity of experience within the schools for which we have been pleading for a quarter of a century almost impossible of realization in any way that is adequate or natural.

(2) The departmentalization and the need to make prompt shifting of classes, required by the machine-like exactness of the program intervals, subordinate the needs of the children and teachers to the administration of the scheme. (3) By the plan of departmentalization, teachers of subjects other than the tool subjects are often required to meet from six hundred to a thousand children each week. This violates every modern conception of the personal relationships which we believe should exist between teachers and pupils, and tends to reduce the work to the most mechanical routine. (4) The plan almost forces a curriculum organized on a subject basis, thought is for a curriculum on a conduct or activity basis. whereas, the whole tendency of progressive educational (5) The so-called "fifty-fifty" division of time between the tool subjects and the "activities" is artificial and quite without consideration of relative values. Factory methods cannot be applied very far with human beings without serious losses. (6) With a number of different teachers all making demands upon children too young to appreciate relative values, there is a real danger of the exploitation of pupils. The best efforts of teachers to coordinate the assignments from day to day cannot fully eliminate this difficulty.-Chicago Schools Journal.

Latin Coming to its Own (E. E. Cates). Analysis. generalization and rational thinking are developed and trained above all things else by the study of Latin and Greek. If we love knowledge for its own sake, if we would have scholarship and cultivation and refined learning among us to give a savor and a perfume to life, we can hardly omit the classics from the curriculum of our schools. After all it was the return to the civilization and literature of Greece and of Rome which opened to us the treasure house of modern knowledge. and it is well to be grateful if nothing more. There is something here which should cause us ever to maintain the classics when we think of what they are and what they have done for us of the modern dispensation. Some one has well said that it is not a contest of strength that faces the world, but of morals; and what our youth need is not so much the lessons to be learned from an investigation of birds, flowers, and rocks, as the lessons to be learned from reading and studying good books. And not the least of these are Cicero, Virgil, and Horace who for 2000 years have nurtured the mind and spirit of man, and who speak to us of the dignity of toil, of the value of vicissitude for the upbuilding of character, of the responsibility of the individual, of the necessity of an ideal if we are to gain a broader view of Heaven's purposes and earth's needs-such an ideal as that of Rome in her greatness, the crowning of peace and law.-Education.