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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE: Every effort has been made to replicate this text asfaithfully as possible; please see detailed list of printing issues atthe end of the text, after the Index. 

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THE NEW EDUCATION

A REVIEW OF PROGRESSIVEEDUCATIONAL MOVEMENTSOF THE DAY

BY

SCOTT NEARING, Ph. D. 

Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania

AUTHOR OF "SOCIAL ADJUSTMENT, ""THE SUPER RACE, " "WAGES IN THE UNITED STATES, ""SOCIAL SANITY, " "REDUCING THE COST OF LIVING, " etc. 

 CHICAGO NEW YORK ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY

 Copyright, 1915 ROW, PETERSON & COMPANY

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PREFACE

During 1910, 1911, and 1912, as a part of a general plan to write a bookon education, I reread a great deal of the classical educationalliterature, and carefully perused most of the current material inmagazine and book form. An interest aroused by undergraduate andgraduate work in the department of pedagogy had been whetted by therevolutionary activity in every field of educational endeavor. The timeseemed ripe for an effective piece of constructive educational writing, yet I could not see my way clear to begin it. Glaring faults there were;remedies appeared ready at hand and easy of application; the will of anaroused public opinion alone seemed to be lacking. By what method couldthis wheel horse of reform best be harnessed to the car of educationalprogress?

I was still seeking for an answer to this riddle when the editors of"The Ladies' Home Journal" asked me to consider the preparation of aseries of articles. "We have done some sharp destructive work in ourcriticisms of the schools, " they said. "Now we are going to do someconstructive writing. We are in search of two things:--first, aconstructive article outlining in general a possible scheme forreorganizing the course of study; second, a series of articlesdescribing in a readable way the most successful public school work nowbeing done in the United States. We want you to visit the schools, studythem at first-hand, and bring back a report of the best that they haveto offer. When your investigation is completed, we shall expect you towrite the material up in such a form that each reader, after finishingan article, will exclaim, --'There is something that we must introduceinto our schools. '"

That was my opportunity. Instead of writing a book to be read by athousand persons, I could place a number of constructive articles beforetwo million readers. The invitation was a godsend. 

The articles, when completed, formed a natural sequence. First there wasthe general article (Chapter 3) suggesting the reorganization. Thenfollowed descriptions of the schools in which some such reorganizationshad been effected. Prepared with the same point of view, the articlesconstituted an acceptable series, having a general object and aconnecting idea running throughout. What more natural than to write afew words of introduction and conclusion, and put the whole in bookform? The style of the articles has been changed somewhat, andconsiderable material has been added to them; but, in the main, theystand as they were written--simple descriptions of some of the mostadvanced school work now being done in the United States. 

Looked at from any standpoint, this study is a collection of articlesrather than a book, yet there is sufficient relation between thearticles to give a measure of continuity to the thought which theyconvey. In no sense is the work pedagogical or theoretical. It is, onthe contrary, a record of the impressions made on a traveler by a numberof school systems and schools. The articles purported to cover the mostprogressive work which is being done in the most progressive schools. Although the selection of successful schools was made only after acareful canvass among the leading educators of the country, there areundoubtedly many instances, still at large, which are in every sense asworthy of commendation as any here recorded. This fact does not in anyway vitiate the purpose of the original articles, which was to set downa statement of some educational successes in such a way that the layreader, grasping the significance of these ventures, might see in themimmediate possibilities for the schools in his locality. 

Behind all of the chapters is the same idea--the idea of educatingchildren--an idea which has taken firm hold of the progressive educatorsin every section of the community. The schoolmaster is breaking awayfrom the traditions of his craft. He has laid aside the birch, the three"R's, " the categorical imperative, and a host of other instrumentsinvented by ancient pedagogical inquisitors, and with an open mind isgoing up and down the world seeking to reshape the schools in theinterests of childhood. The task is Herculean, but the enthusiasm andenergy which inspire his labors are sufficient to overcome even thoseobstacles which are apparently insurmountable. 

CONTENTS

 PAGE

INTRODUCTION. THE OLD EDUCATION 11

 I. The Critical Spirit and the Schools 11

 II. Some Harsh Words from the Inside 12

 III. A Word from Huxley and Spencer 15

 IV. Some Honest Facts 17

 V. Have We Fulfilled the Object of Education? 22

CHAPTER I. THE NEW BASIS FOR EDUCATION 24

 I. Can There Be a New Basis? 24

 II. Social Change 25

 III. Keeping Up With the Times 26

 IV. Education in the Early Home 27

 V. City Life and the New Basis for Education 28

CHAPTER II. TEACHING BOYS AND GIRLS 32

 I. The New School Machinery 32

 II. Rousseau Versus a Class of Forty 33

 III. The Fallacious "Average" 34

 IV. The Five Ages of Childhood 35

 V. Age Distribution in One Grade 36

 VI. Shall Child or Subject Matter Come First? 39

 VII. The Vicious Practices of One "Good" School 40

VIII. Boys and Girls--The One Object of Educational Activity 42

CHAPTER III. FITTING SCHOOLS TO CHILDREN 44

 I. Child Growth--A Primary Factor in Child Life 44

 II. Children Need Health First 45

 III. Play as a Means to Growth 46

 IV. Some Things Which a Child Must Learn 48

 V. What Schools Must Provide to Meet Child Needs 51

 VI. The Educational Work of the Small Town 52

 VII. The Educational Problems of an Industrial Community 55

VIII. Beginning With Child Needs 56

CHAPTER IV. PROGRESSIVE NOTES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION 58

 I. The Kindergarten 58

 II. Translating the Three R's 59

 III. Playing at Mathematics 60

 IV. A Model English Lesson 61

 V. An Original Fairy Story 65

 VI. The Crow and the Scarecrow 67

 VII. School and Home 68

VIII. Breaking New Ground 71

 IX. The School and the Community 72

 X. New Keys for Old Locks 74

 XI. School and Shop 76

 XII. Half a Chance to Study 79

XIII. Thwarting Satan in the Summer Time 80

 XIV. Sending the Whole Child to School 81

 XV. Smashing the School Machine 84

 XVI. All Hands Around for an Elementary School 86

XVII. From a Blazed Trail to a Paved Highway 90

CHAPTER V. KEEPING THE HIGH SCHOOL IN STEP WITH LIFE 92

 I. The Responsibility of the High School 92

 II. An Experiment in Futures 92

 III. The Success Habit 95

 IV. The Help-out Spirit 97

 V. Joining Hands With the Elementary Schools 98

 VI. The Abolition of "Mass Play" 101

 VII. Experimental Democracy 103

VIII. Breaching [the] Chinese Wall of High School Classicism 105

 IX. An Up-to-Date High School 107

 X. From School to Shop and Back Again 109

 XI. Fitting the High School Graduate Into Life 110

 XII. The High School as a Public Servant 114

CHAPTER VI. HIGHER EDUCATION AT LOWVILLE 116

 I. Lowville and the Neighborhood 116

 II. Lowville Academy 117

 III. The School's Opportunity 119

 IV. Field Work as Education 120

 V. Real Domestic Science 122

 VI. One Instance of Success 123

CHAPTER VII. A GREAT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM 125

 I. "Co-operation" and "Progressivism" 125

 II. An Educational Creed 127

 III. Vitalizing the Kindergarten 129

 IV. Regenerating the Grades 132

 V. Popularizing High School Education 137

 VI. A City University 140

 VII. Special Schools for Special Classes 141

VIII. Special Schools for Special Children 144

 IX. Playground and Summer Schools 145

 X. Mr. Dyer and the Men Who Stood With Him 147

CHAPTER VIII. THE OYLER SCHOOL OF CINCINNATI 153

 I. An Experiment in Social Education 153

 II. An Appeal for Applied Education 156

 III. Solving a Local Problem 157

 IV. Domestic Science Which Domesticates 159

 V. Making Commercial Products in the Grades 161

 VI. A Real Interest in School 162

 VII. The Mothers' Club 163

VIII. The Disappearance of "Discipline" 165

 IX. The Spirit of Oyler 167

CHAPTER IX. VITALIZING RURAL EDUCATION 170

 I. The Call of the Country 170

 II. Making Bricks With Straw 171

 III. Making the One-Room Country School Worth While 182

 IV. Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse 187

 V. A Fairyland of Rural Education 188

 VI. The Task of the Country School 193

CHAPTER X. OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS 195

 I. Miss Belle 195

 II. Going to Work Through the Children 196

 III. Beginning on Muffins 197

 IV. Taking the Boys in Hand 200

 V. "Busy Work" as an Asset 201

 VI. Marguerite 203

 VII. Winning Over the Families 204

CHAPTER XI. WIDE-AWAKE SLEEPY EYE 207

 I. Fitting Schools to Needs 207

 II. Getting the Janitor in Line 208

 III. The Department of Agriculture 209

 IV. A Short Course for Busy People 212

 V. Letting the Boys Do It 214

 VI. A Look at the Domestic Science 214

 VII. How It Works Out 216

VIII. Theoretical and Practical 217

CHAPTER XII. THE SOUTH FOR THE NEW EDUCATION 220

 I. A Dream of Empire 220

 II. Finding the Way 222

 III. Jem's Father 224

 IV. Club Life Militant 228

 V. Canning Clubs 234

 VI. Recognition Day for Boys and Girls 235

 VII. Teaching Grown-Ups to Read 236

VIII. George Washington, Junior 237

 IX. A Step Toward Good Health 239

 X. Theory and Practice 242

 XI. A People Coming to Its Own 249

CHAPTER XIII. THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW EDUCATION 251

 I. The Standard of Education 251

 II. Standardization Was a Failure 252

 III. Education as Growth 254

 IV. Child Needs and Community Needs 255

 V. The Final Test of Education 257

THE NEW EDUCATION

INTRODUCTION

THE OLD EDUCATION

I The Critical Spirit and the Schools

"Everybody is doing it, " said a high school principal the other day. "Ilook through the new books and I find it; it stands out prominently intechnical as well as in popular magazines; even the educational papersare taking it up, --everybody seems to be whacking the schools. YesterdayI picked up a funny sheet on which there were four raps at the schools. One in particular that I remember ran something like this, --

"'James, ' said the teacher, 'if Thomas has three red apples and Williamhas five yellow apples, how many apples have Thomas and William?'

"James looked despondent. 

"'Don't you know?' queried the teacher, 'how much three plus five is?'

"'Oh, yes, ma'am, I know the answer, but the formula, ma'am, --it's theformula that appals me. '

"Probably nine-tenths of the people who read that story enjoyed ithugely, " continued the schoolman, "and they enjoyed it because it strucka responsive chord in their memories. At one time or another in theirschool lives, they, too, bowed in dejection before the tyranny offormulas. "

This criticism of school formulas is not confined to popular sources. Prominent authorities in every field which comes in contact with theschool are barbarous in their onslaughts. State and citysuperintendents, principals, teachers, parents, employers, --all havemade contribution to the popular clamor. On every hand may be gleanedevidences of an unsatisfied critical spirit. 

II Some Harsh Words from the Inside

The Commissioner of Education of New York State writes of theschools, --[1] "A child is worse off in a graded school than in anungraded one, if the work of a grade is not capable of some specificvaluation, and if each added grade does not provide some added power. The first two grades run much to entertainment and amusement. The thirdand fourth grades repeat the work supposed to have been done in thefirst two. Too many unimportant and unrelated facts are taught. It islike the wearying orator who reels off stories only to amuse, seemsincapable of choosing an incident to enforce a point, and makes noprogress toward a logical conclusion. 

"When but one-third of the children remain to the end of the elementarycourse, there is something the matter with the schools. When half of themen who are responsible for the business activities and who are guidingthe political life of the country tell us that children from theelementary schools are not able to do definite things required in theworld's real affairs, there is something the matter with the schools. When work seeks workers, and young men and women are indifferent to itor do not know how to do it, there is something the matter with theschools. [2]

"There is a waste of time and productivity in all of the grades of theelementary schools. "[3] "The things that are weighing down the schoolsare the multiplicity of studies which are only informatory, theprolongation of branches so as to require many text-books, and theprolixity of treatment and illustration that will accommodatepsychological theory and sustain pedagogical methods which have somebasis of reason, but which have been most ingeniously overdone. "[4]

Former United States Commissioner of Education, E. E. Brown, isresponsible for the statement that, --"With all that we have done tosecure regular and continuous attendance at school, it is still a markof distinction when any city is able to keep even one-half of the pupilswho are enrolled in its schools until they have passed even the seventhgrade. "[5]

Here is an illustration, from the pen of a widely known educationalexpert, of the character of educational facilities in the well-to-dosuburb of an Eastern city. After describing two of the newer schools(1911) Prof. Hanus continues, --"The Maple Avenue School is too small forits school population, without a suitable office for the principal or acommon room for the teachers, and, of course, very inadequately equippedfor the work it ought to do; it ought, therefore, to be remodeled andadded to without delay. The Chestnut Street School is old, gloomy, crowded, badly ventilated, and badly heated, has steep and narrowstairways, and it would be dangerous in case of fire. There are fireescapes, to be sure, but the access to some of these, though apparentlyeasy in a fire drill, might be seriously inadequate and dangerous incase of haste or panic due to a real fire. In such a building sustainedgood work by teachers and pupils is very difficult. . . . 

"The High School is miserably housed. It is dingy, badly lighted andbadly ventilated. These defects constitute a serious menace to thephysical welfare of pupils and teachers and, of course, seriouslyinterfere with good work. It is crowded. Intercommunication is deviousand inconvenient. The building is quite unfit for high school uses. Someof the school furniture is very poor; the physical and chemicalclassrooms and laboratories are very unsatisfactory, and its biologicallaboratory and equipment scarcely less so. The assembly room is toosmall, badly arranged, and badly furnished. There are no toilet-roomsfor the teachers, and there is no common room. There is no satisfactoryor adequate lunch-room. The library is in crowded quarters; theprincipal's office space is altogether too small, and his private officealmost derisively so. "[6]

Overwork in the school is said to be alarmingly prevalent. "It isgenerally recognized by physicians and educators to-day that manychildren in the schools are being seriously injured through nervousoverstrain. Throughout the world there is a developing conviction thatone of the most important duties of society is to determine howeducation may be carried on without depriving children of their health. It is probable that we are not requiring too much work of our pupils, but they are not accomplishing their tasks economically in respect tothe expenditure of nervous energy. Some experiments made at home andabroad seem to indicate that children could accomplish as muchintellectually, with far less dissipation of nervous energy, if theywere in the schoolroom about one-half the time which they now spendthere. German educators and physicians are convinced that a fundamentalreform in this respect is needed. In fact, among school children we arelearning the same lesson as among factory employees, viz. , that highpressure and long hours are not economy but waste of time. "[7]

The school has been rendered monotonous. "We have worked for system tillthe public schools have become machines. It has been insistentlyproclaimed that all children must do things the same way for so long atime, that many of us have actually come to believe it. Children unbornare predestined to work after the same fashion that their grandparentsdid. "[8]

III A Word from Huxley and Spencer

These are typical of a host of similar criticisms of the schools whichleading educators, men working within the school system, are directingagainst it. Out of the fullness of their experience they spread theconviction that the school often fails to prepare for life, that itfrequently distorts more effectively than it builds. The thought is notnew. Thomas Huxley asked, years ago, whether education should not bedefinitely related to life. He wrote, --"If there were no such things asindustrial pursuits, a system of education which does nothing for thefaculties of observation, which trains neither the eye nor the hand, and is compatible with utter ignorance of the commonest natural truths, might still be reasonably regarded as strangely imperfect. And when weconsider that the instruction and training which are lacking are exactlythose which are of most importance for the great mass of our population, the fault becomes almost a crime, the more so in that there is nopractical difficulty in making good these defects. "[9]

Approaching the matter from another side, Tyler puts a pertinentquestion in his "Growth and Education, --" "In the grammar grade islearning and mental discipline of chief importance to the girl, or iscare of the body and physical exercise absolutely essential at thisperiod? No one seems to know, and very few care. What would naturesay?"[10]

Herbert Spencer answers Tyler's question in spirited fashion. "Whilemany years are spent by a boy in gaining knowledge, of which the chiefvalue is that it constitutes 'the education of a gentleman;' and whilemany years are spent by a girl in those decorative acquirements whichfit her for evening parties; not an hour is spent by either of them inpreparation for that gravest of all responsibilities--the management ofa family. "[11] "For shoe-making or house-building, for the management ofa ship or a locomotive-engine, a long apprenticeship is needful. It is, then, that the unfolding of a human being in body and mind, may wesuperintend and regulate it with no preparation whatever?"[12]

One fact is self-evident, --the existence of a body of criticism andhostility is prima facia evidence of weakness on the part of theinstitution criticised, particularly when the criticism comes strong andsharp from school-men themselves. The extent and severity of schoolcriticism certainly bespeaks the careful consideration of those mostinterested in maintaining the efficiency of the school system. 

IV Some Honest Facts

Let us face the facts honestly. If you include country schools, and theymust be included in any discussion of American Education, the schoolmortality, --i. E. , the children who drop out of school between the firstand eighth years--is appalling. We may quarrel over percentages, but thedropping out is there. 

The United States Commissioner of Education writes, --[13] "Oftwenty-five million children of school age (5 to 18), less than twentymillion are enrolled in schools of all kinds and grades, public andprivate; and the average daily attendance does not exceed fourteenmillion, for an average school term of less than 8 months of 20 dayseach. The average daily attendance of those enrolled in the publicschools is only 113 days in the year, less than 5-3/4 months. Theaverage attendance of the entire school population is only 80-1/2 days, or 4 months of 20 days each. Assuming that this rate of attendance shallcontinue through the 13 school years (5 to 18), the average amount ofschooling received by each child of the school population will be 1, 046days, or a little more than 5 years of 10 school months. This bureauhas no reliable statistics on the subject, but it is quite probable thatless than half the children of the country finish successfully more thanthe first 6 grades; only about one-fourth of the children ever enterhigh school; and less than 8 in every 100 do the full 4 years of highschool work. Fewer than 5 in 100 receive any education above the highschool. "

Taking this dropping out into consideration, it is probable that themajority of children who enter American schools receive no moreeducation than will enable them to read clumsily, to write badly, tospell wretchedly, and to do the simplest mathematical problems(addition, subtraction, etc. ) with difficulty. In any real sense of theword, they are neither educated nor cultured. 

Judge Draper, Superintendent of Public Instruction in New York State, writes, --[14] "We cannot exculpate the schools. They are as wasteful ofchild life as are the homes. From the bottom to the top of the Americaneducational system we take little account of the time of the child. . . . We have eight or nine elementary grades for work which would be done insix if we were working mainly for productivity and power. We have shapedour secondary schools so that they confuse the thinking of youth andbreak the equilibrium between education and vocations, and people andindustries. . . . In the graded elementary schools of the State of NewYork, less than half of the children remain to the end of the course. They do not start early enough. They do not attend regularly enough. Thecourse is too full of mere pedagogical method, exploitation andillustration, if not of kinds and classes of work. The terms are tooshort and the vacations too long. . . . More than half of the children dropout by the time they are fourteen or fifteen, the limits of thecompulsory attendance age, because the work of the schools is behind theage of the pupils, and we do not teach them the things which lead themand their parents to think it will be worth their while to remain. "

Observe that Judge Draper writes of the graded schools only. Could youconceive of a more stinging rebuke to an institution from a man who ismaking it his business to know its innermost workings?

These statements refer, not to the small percentage of children who goto high school, but to that great mass of children who leave the schoolat, or before, fourteen years of age. If you do not believe them, goamong working children and find out what their intellectualqualifications really are. 

One fact must be clearly borne in mind, --the school system is a socialinstitution. In the schools are the people's children. Public taxesprovide the funds for public education. Perhaps no great institution ismore generally a part of community interest and experience than thepublic school system. 

The most surprising thing about the school figures is the overwhelmingproportion of students in the elementary grades--17, 050, 441 of the18, 207, 803. If you draw three lines, the first representing the numberof children in the elementary schools, the second showing the number inthe high school, and the third the number of students in colleges, professional and normal schools, the contrast is astonishing. 

It is perfectly evident, therefore, that the real work of educationmust be done in the elementary grades. The high schools with a millionstudents, and the universities, colleges, professional and normalschools with three hundred thousand more, constitute an increasinglyimportant factor in education; at the same time, for every sevenstudents in these higher schools, there are ninety-three children in theelementary grades. The proportion is so unexpected that it staggersus--more than nine-tenths of the children who attend school in theUnited States are in the elementary grades! Can this be the schoolsystem of which our forefathers dreamed when they established auniversal, free education nearly a hundred years ago? Did they foreseethat such an overwhelming proportion of American children would neverhave an opportunity to secure more than the rudiments of an education?

Be that as it may, the facts glower menacingly at us from city, town andcountryside, --the overcrowded elementary grades and the higher schoolswith but a scant proportion of the students. So, if we wish to educatethe great mass of American children, we must go to the primary grades todo it. 

There are, in the public schools, 533, 606 teachers, four-fifths of whomare women. These teachers are at work in 267, 153 school buildings havinga total value of $1, 221, 695, 730. Each year some four hundred and fiftymillion dollars are devoted to maintaining and adding to thiseducational machine. 

The school system is the greatest saving fund which the American peoplepossess. The total value of school property is greater than the entirefortune of the richest American. Each year the people spend upon theirschools a sum sufficient to construct a Panama Canal or atranscontinental railway system. Thus the public school is the greatestpublic investment in the United States. 

It is one thing to invest, and quite a different matter to be assured afair return on the investment. Nevertheless, the individual investorbelieves in his right to a fair return. From their public investments, the people, in fairness, can demand no more; in justice to themselves, they may accept no less. Are they receiving a fair return? The people ofthe United States have invested nearly a billion dollars in the publicschool system; each year they contribute nearly half a billion dollarsmore toward the same end. Are they getting what they pay for?

Turn to another section of the Report of the Commissioner of Education, and note how, in mild alarm, he protests against teachers' salaries solow "that it is clearly impossible to hire the services of men and womenof good native ability and sufficient scholarship, training andexperience to enable them to do satisfactory work;" against theschoolhouses, which are "cheap, insanitary, uncomfortable andunattractive;" against "thousands of schools" in which "one teacherteaches from twenty to thirty classes a day;" against "courses of studyill-adapted to the interest of country children or the needs of countrylife;" against "a small enrollment of the total children of school age, "and a school attendance so low that "the average of the entire schoolpopulation is only 80-1/2 days per year. "[15]

The tone of these statements is certainly not reassuring. Perhaps it ishigh time that the citizens inquired into the status of theireducational securities--their public school system. 

V Have We Fulfilled the Object of Education?

The object of education is complete living. A perfect educational systemwould prepare those participating in it to live every phase of theirlives, and to derive from life all possible benefit. Any educationalsystem which enables men to live completely is therefore fulfilling itsfunction. On the other hand, an educational system which does notprepare for life is not meeting the necessary requirements. 

Charles Dickens, in his characteristic way, thus describes in "HardTimes" a public school class under the title "Murdering the Innocents:"

 "'In this life, we want nothing but Facts, sir; nothing but Facts. '

 "The speaker and the school master swept with their eyes the inclined plane of little vessels then and there arranged in order, ready to have imperial gallons of facts poured into them until they were full to the brim. So Mr. M'Choakumchild (the school master) began in his best manner. He went to work on this preparatory lesson, not unlike Morgiana in the Forty Thieves--looking into all the vessels ranged before him, one after another, to see what they contained. Say, good Mr. M'Choakumchild: when from thy store thou shalt fill each jar brim full by and by, dost thou think thou wilt always kill outright the robber Fancy lurking within, or sometimes only maim him and distort him!"

Is the picture overdrawn? Are there grades in our large American citieswhere conditions similar to those just portrayed may be found? Everyparent who has a child in the public schools, every taxpayer whocontributes to school support, has a right to a direct, impartial andhonest answer to that question. 

Among educators as well as among members of the general public a spiritof educational unrest has developed. Everywhere there is an ill-definedfeeling of dissatisfaction with the work of the schools; everywhere anearnest desire to see the schools do more effectively the school workwhich is regarded, on every hand, as imperative. 

The facts of school failure are more generally known than the facts ofschool success; yet there are successful schools. Indeed, some of theschool systems of the United States are doing remarkably effective work. Emphasis has been lavished on the failure side of the educationalproblem, until public opinion is fairly alive to the necessity of someaction. The time is, therefore, ripe for a positive statement ofeducational policy. Many schools have succeeded. Let us read the storyof the good work. Efficient educational systems are in operation. Let usmodel the less successful experiments on those more successful ones. 

Circumstances force people to live in one place, to see one set ofsurroundings and meet one kind of folks, until they are led to believe, almost inevitably, that their kind is _the_ kind. Schools are thevictims of just such provincialism. Although the school superintendentsand principals, and some of the school teachers meet their co-workersfrom other cities, the people whose children attend the schools almostnever have an opportunity to learn intelligently what other schools aredoing. This city develops one educational idea, and that city developsanother idea. Although both ideas may deserve widespread consideration, and perhaps universal adoption, they will fail to measure up to the fullstature of their value unless the people in all communities learn aboutthem intelligently. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 1: "American Education, " Andrew S. Draper, Boston; Houghton Mifflin Co. , 1909, pp. 281-83. ]

 [Footnote 2: Ibid. , p. 275. ]

 [Footnote 3: Ibid. , p. 281. ]

 [Footnote 4: Idem. ]

 [Footnote 5: The Responsibility of the School, E. E. Brown, U. S. Commissioner of Education. A pamphlet privately printed in Philadelphia, 1908, containing a series of addresses. ]

 [Footnote 6: Report on the Programme of Studies in the Public Schools of Montclair, N. J. , Paul H. Hanus, Cambridge, Mass. , pp. 7 and 8. ]

 [Footnote 7: Report on National Vitality, Irving Fisher, Washington Government Print. , 1909, pp. 76-77. ]

 [Footnote 8: The Problem of Individualizing Instruction, W. F. Andrew, Education, Vol. 26, p. 135 (1905). ]

 [Footnote 9: Evolution and Ethics, T. H. Huxley, New York, D. Appleton & Co. , 1902, p. 220. ]

 [Footnote 10: Growth and Education, J. M. Tyler, Houghton Mifflin Co. , New York, 1907, p. 21. ]

 [Footnote 11: Education, H. Spencer, New York, D. Appleton & Co. , 1861, p. 162. ]

 [Footnote 12: Supra, p. 63. ]

 [Footnote 13: Annual Report, U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1911; Washington Government Print. , 1912, Vol. I, pp. 12-13. ]

 [Footnote 14: Conserving Childhood, Andrew S. Draper; The Child Workers of the Nation, Proceedings of the Fifth Annual Conference on Child Labor, Chicago, Ill. , Jan. 21-23, 1909; New York, 1909, pp. 9-10. ]

 [Footnote 15: Report U. S. Commissioner of Education, 1911, Vol. I, p. 12. ]

CHAPTER I

THE NEW BASIS FOR EDUCATION[16]

I Can There Be a New Basis?

Can there be a new basis for education? Does the foundation upon whicheducation rests really change? Is the educational system of one agenecessarily unfitted to provide for the educational needs of the next?These, and a multitude of the similar questions which people interestedin educational progress are asking themselves, arise out of the processof transition that is seemingly one of the fundamental propositions ofthe universe. All things change, and are changing, from the smallestcell to the most highly organized creature, the noblest mountain range, and the vastest sun in the heavens. To-day differs from yesterday asto-morrow must differ from to-day. All things are becoming. 

Test this statement with the observed facts of life. Here is a garden, well-planted and watered. The soil is loamy and black. On all itssurface there is nothing, save a clod here and there, to relieve thewarm, moist regularity. Come to-morrow and the level surface is brokenby tiny green shoots which have appeared at intervals, thrusting throughthe top crust. Next week the black earth is striped with rows of green. Onions, beets, lettuce, and peas are coming up. Go back to the hillswhich you climbed in boyhood, ascend their chasmed sides and note howeven they have changed. Each year some part of them has disappearedinto the rapid torrent. Had you been there in April, you might have seenparticles of your beloved hills in every water-course, hurrying towardthe lowlands and the sea. While you watch them, the clouds change in thesky, the sunset wanes, and the forest covers the bared hills. Nature, fickle mistress of our destinies, spreads a never-ending panorama beforeour eyes that we may recognize the one great law of her being, --the lawof progression. 

II Social Change

How well does this principle of change apply to the organization ofsociety! The absolute monarchy of one age yields to the semi-democracyof the next. Yesterday the church itself traded in men'sbodies, --holding slaves, and accepting, without question, the proceedsof slavery. To-day machines replace men in a thousand industries. To-morrow slavery is called into question, until in the dim-gloweringnineteenth century, men will struggle and die by tens of thousands;--onthe one side, those who believe that the man should be the slave; on theother, those who hold that the slavery of the machine is alone necessaryand just. Thus is every social institution altered from age to age. Thusis effected that transformation which men have chosen to call progress. 

How profoundly does this truth apply to the raw material ofeducation, --the children who enroll in the schools! Under your very eyesthey lose their childish ways, feel their steps along the precipice ofadolescence, enter the wonderland of imagery and idealism, and pass oninto the maturity of life. How vain is our hope that the child mayremain a child; how worthless our prayer that adult life shall never layher heavy burden of cares and responsibilities upon his belovedshoulders. Even while you raise your hands in supplication, the childhas passed from your life forever, leaving naught save a man to confrontyou. 

From these mighty scythe strokes which change sweeps across the meadowsof time, naught is exempt. The petals fall from the fairest flower; thebluest sky becomes overcast; the greatest feats of history aresurpassed; and the social machinery, adequate for the needs of one age, sinks into the insignificance of desuetude in the age which follows. Thus does the inevitable come to pass. Thus does the social institution, wrought through centuries of turmoil and anguish, become useless in thenewer civilization which is arising on every hand. The educationalsystem in its inception was well founded, but the changes of timeinvalidate the original idea. Yesterday the school fulfilled the needsof men. To-day it fails to meet a situation which reshapes itself witheach rising and each setting of the sun. 

Each epoch must have its institutions. With the work of the past as abackground, the present must constantly reshape the institutions whichthe past has bequeathed to it. These modified institutions, handed on inturn by the present, must again be rebuilt to meet the needs of thefuture; and so on through each succeeding age. 

III Keeping Up with the Times

At times the march of progress is so rapid that even the most advancedgrow breathless with attempts to keep abreast of the vanguard. Again, marking time for ages, progressive movements seem wholly dead, and thepath to the future is overgrown with tradition, and blocked by oblivionand decay. The rapid advances of the nineteenth century, challenging thequickest to keep pace, forced upon many institutions surroundingswholly foreign to their bent and scope. 

Nowhere is this more true than in the case of the educational system, which had its rise in an age of individualized industry and governmentalnon-interference, and now faces a newly inaugurated socialization ofindustry and an impromptu system of government control. 

The new basis of education lies in the changes which the nineteenthcentury wrought in industry, transforming village life into citydwelling, and substituting for the skilled mechanic, using a tool, themachine, employing the unskilled worker. The men of the eighteenthcentury made political institutions, and were content with democracy;the men of the nineteenth century, accepting government as it stood, built up a new industry. The society which we in the twentieth centurymust erect upon the political and industrial triumphs of ourforefathers, can never be successful unless it recognizes thefundamental character of the issues which nineteenth century industryand eighteenth century politics have brought into twentieth centurylife. 

Is it too much to ask that the school stand foremost in this recognitionof change, when it is in the school that the ideas of the new generationare moulded, tempered, and burnished? May we not expect that in itslessons to the young our educational system shall speak the language ofthe twentieth century rather than that of the eighteenth?

IV Education in the Early Home

Before the modern system of industry had its inception, while the oldhand trades still held sway, at a time when the household was the centerof work and pleasure, when the family made its butter, cheese, oatmeal, ale, clothing, tools, and utensils, --in such an atmosphere of domesticindustry, Froebel wrote his famous "Education of Man. " Note thisdescription of the way in which a father may educate his son. "The sonaccompanies his father everywhere, to the field and to the garden, tothe shop and to the counting house, to the forest and to the meadow; inthe care of domestic animals and in the making of small articles ofhousehold furniture; in the splitting, sawing, and piling up of wood; inall the work his father's trade or calling involves. "[17] In anotherpassage he calls upon parents, "more particularly fathers (for to theirspecial care and guidance the child ripening into boyhood is confided), "to contemplate "their parental duties in child guidance;"[18] and heprefaces this exhortation with a long list of illustrations, suggestingthe methods which may be pursued by the farm laborer, the goose-herd, the gardener, the forester, the blacksmith, and other tradesmen andcraftsmen, in the education of their sons. Any such man, Froebel pointsout, may take his child at the age of two or three and teach him some ofthe simple rules of his trade. How different is the position of the sonof a workman in a modern American city! An American city dweller readingFroebel's discussion would not conceive of it as applying in any senseto him, or to his life. 

V City Life and the New Basis for Education

The very thought of city life precludes the possibility of home work. The narrow house, the tenement, the great shop or factory, on the onehand, prevent the mechanic from carrying on his trade near his family;and on the other hand, make it impossible for the father whose worklies far from his home to give his boys the "special care and guidance"about which Froebel writes. 

The system of industry which was established in England during theclosing decades of the eighteenth century, and which secured a footholdin both Germany and the United States during the first half of thenineteenth century, has revolutionized the basis of our lives. Theworkshop has been transplanted from the home to the factory; both menand women leave their homes for ten, eleven, or even twelve hours a dayto carry on their industrial activities; great centers of populationcollect about the centers of industry; the farm, the flock of geese, thegarden, the forest, and the blacksmith shop disappear; food, clothing, and other necessaries of life--formerly the product of homeindustry--are produced in great factories; and the city home, strippedof its industrial functions, restricted in scope, robbed of its adults, presents little opportunity for the education of the city child. Standing on the threshold of his meager dwelling, this child of sixlooks forward to a life which must be based on the instruction providedin a public school system. 

The country boy still has his ten-acre lot, where he may run and play. There are flowers and freckles in the spring; kite-flying, fishing, hunting, and trapping in summer and autumn. The general farm is astorehouse of useful information in rudimentary form. From day to dayand from year to year the country boy may learn and enjoy. 

The city boy is differently situated. His playground is the street, where he plays under the wheels of wagons, automobiles, and trolleycars; or else he plays in a public playground in company with hundreds, or even thousands, of other children. Even then his activities arerestricted by city ordinances, monitors, policemen, and other exponentsof law and order. 

The city home, whether tenement or single house, cannot begin to supplythe opportunities for growth and development which were furnished bylife in the open. Where else, then, does the responsibility for suchgrowth and development rest than upon the school? On the farm the boylearned his trade, as Froebel suggests, at the hands of his father. Thefather of the city boy spends his working hours in a mill, or in anoffice, where boys under fourteen or sixteen are forbidden by law to go. The city home is unavoidably deprived of the chance to provide adequaterecreation or adequate vocational training for its children. The burdenin both cases shifts to the school. 

A hundred years ago practically all industries were carried on inconnection with the home. The weaver, the carpenter, the hatter, thecobbler, the miller, lived and worked on the same premises. Then steamwas applied to industry; the machine replaced the man; semi-skilled andunskilled labor replaced skilled labor; great numbers of men and women, and even of children, crowded together in factories to spin thread, makebolts and washers, weave ribbon, bake bread, manufacture machinery, ordo some one of the many hundreds of things now done in factories. Thechange from home industry to factory industry is well named theIndustrial Revolution. It completely overturned the established andaccepted means of making a living. 

The industrial upheaval has changed every phase of modern life. Industryitself has replaced apprenticeship by a degree of specializationundreamed of in primitive life. From the superintendent to the officeboy, from the boss roller to the yard laborer, from the chief clerk tothe stenographer, the work of men and women is monotonous andspecialized. The city has grown up as a logical product of an industrialsystem which centers thousands, or even tens of thousands, of workmen inone place of employment. The city home differs fundamentally from thecountry home as the city differs from the country. 

The changes now going on in farming are no less significant than thosewhich the nineteenth century witnessed in manufacturing. Science hasbeen applied to agriculture. Old methods are brought into question. Intensive study and specialization are widespread. The time has passedwhen a farmer can afford to neglect the agricultural bulletins orpapers. To be successful, he must be a trained specialist in his line, and the school and college are called upon to provide the training. 

No individual is responsible for these changes. They have come as thelogical product of a long series of discoveries and inventions. Newmethods, built upon the ideas and methods of the past, have created anew civilization. 

The civilized world, reorganized and reconstituted, rebuilt in all ofits economic phases, demands a new teaching which shall relate men andwomen to the changed conditions of life. This is the new basis foreducation, --this the new foundation upon which must be erected asuperstructure of educational opportunity for succeeding generations. Itremains for education to recognize the change and to remodel theinstitutions of education in such a way that they shall meet the newneeds of the new life. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 16: Portions of this chapter originally appeared in The Journal of Education. ]

 [Footnote 17: "The Education of Man, " F. Froebel. Translated by W. N. Halliman, New York; D. Appleton & Co. 1909, p. 103. ]

 [Footnote 18: Ibid. , p. 187. ]

CHAPTER II

TEACHING BOYS AND GIRLS

I The New School Machinery

The influence which the industrial changes of the past hundred years hashad on education is considerable. With the transformation of the homeworkshop into the factory has come the transition from rural and villagelife to life in great industrial cities and towns. The introduction ofspecialized machinery has placed upon education the burden of vocationaltraining. More important still, it has so augmented the size of theeducational problem that an intricate system of school machinery hasbeen devised to keep the whole in order. 

The rural, or village, school was a one or two-room affair, housing ahandful of pupils. Aside from matters of discipline, the administrationof the school was scarcely a problem. General superintendents, associatesuperintendents, compulsory attendance laws, card index systems, andpurchasing departments were unknown. The school was a simple, personalbusiness conducted by the teacher in very much the same way that thecorner grocer conducted his store--on faith and memory. 

The growth of cities and towns necessitated the introduction ofelaborate school machinery. In place of a score of pupils, thousands, tens, and even hundreds of thousands were placed under the same generalauthority. City life made some form of administrative machineryinevitable. 

The increasing size of the school system, --and in new, growing citiesthe school system increases with a rapidity equal to the rate of growthof the population, --leads to increase in class size. A school of twentypupils is still common in rural districts. In the elementary grades ofAmerican city schools, investigators find fifty, sixty, and in someextreme cases, seventy pupils under the charge of one teacher, while theaverage number, per teacher, is about forty. 

Recrimination is idle. The obvious fact remains that the rate of growthin school population is greater than the rate of growth in the schoolplant. The schools in many cities have not caught up with theireducational problem. The result is a multiplication of administrativeproblems, not the least of which is the question of class size. 

II Rousseau Versus a Class of Forty

A toilsome journey it is from the education of an individual child by anindividual teacher (Rousseau's Emile) to the education of forty childrenby one teacher (the normal class in American elementary city schools). Rousseau pictured an ideal; we face a reality--complex, expanding, attimes almost menacing. 

The difference between Rousseau's ideal and the modern actuality is moreserious than it appears superficially. Rousseau's idea permitted theteacher to treat the child as an individuality, studying the traits andpeculiarities of the pupil, building up where weakness appeared, anddirecting freakish notions and ideas into conventional channels. Themodern city school with one teacher and forty pupils places before theteacher a constant temptation, which at times reaches the proportions ofan overmastering necessity, to treat the group of children as if eachchild were like all the rest. A teacher who can individualize fortychildren, understand the peculiarities of each child, and teach in a waythat will enable each of the children to benefit fully by herinstruction, is indeed a master, perhaps it would be fairer to say asuper-master in pedagogy. A class of forty is almost inevitably taughtas a group. 

There is another feature about the large school system which is evenmore disastrous to the welfare of the individual child. Rousseau studiedthe individual to be educated, and then prescribed the course of study. The city teacher, no matter how intimately she may be acquainted withthe needs of her children, has little or no say in deciding upon thesubjects which she is to teach her class. Such matters are for the mostpart determined by a group of officials--principals, superintendents, and boards of education, --all of whom are engaged primarily inadministrative work, and some of whom have never taught at all, norentered a psychological laboratory, nor engaged in any other occupationthat would give first-hand, practical, or theoretical knowledge of theproblems encountered in determining a course of study. 

A course of study must be devised, however, even though some of theresponsible parties have no first-hand knowledge of the points at issue. The method by which it is devised is of peculiar importance to thisdiscussion. The administrative officials, having in mind an averagechild, prepare a course of study which will meet that average child'sneeds. Theoretically, the plan is admirable. It suffers from onepractical defect, --there is no such thing as an average child. 

III The Fallacious "Average"

Averages are peculiarly tempting to Americans. They supply the samedeeply-felt want in statistics that headlines do in newspapers. Theytell the story at a glance. In this peculiar case the story isnecessarily false. 

An average may be taken only of like things. It is possible to averagethe figures 3, 4, and 8 by adding them together and dividing by 3. Theaverage is 5. Such a process is mathematically correct, because all ofthe units comprising the 3, 4, and 8 are exactly alike. One of thepremises of mathematics is that all units are alike, hence they may beaveraged. 

Unlike mathematical units, all children are different. They differ inphysical, in mental, and in spiritual qualities. Their hair is differentin color and in texture. Their feet and hands vary in size. Somechildren are apt at mathematics, others at drawing, and still others atboth subjects. Some children have a strong sense of moralobligation, --an active conscience, --others have little or no moralstamina. No two children in a family are alike, and no two children in aschool-room are alike. After an elaborate computation of hereditarypossibilities, biologists announce that the chance of any two humancreatures being exactly alike is one in five septillions. In simpleEnglish, it is quite remote. 

IV The Five Ages of Childhood

A very ingenious statement of the case is made by Dr. Bird T. Baldwin. Children, says Dr. Baldwin, have five ages, --

 1. A chronological age, 2. A physical age, 3. A mental age, 4. A moral age, 5. A school age. 

Two children, born on the same day, have the same age in years. One isbound to grow faster than the other in some physical respect. Thereforethe two children have different physical ages, or rates of development. In the same way they have differing mental and moral ages. The schoolage, a resultant of the first three, is a record of progress in school. Even when children are born on the same day, the chances that they willgrow physically, mentally, and morally at exactly the same rate, andwill make exactly the same progress in school, are remote indeed. Schoolchildren are, therefore, inevitably different. 

V Age Distribution in One Grade

A very effective illustration of the differences in chronological age, in school age, and in the rate of progress in school is furnished in the1911 report of the superintendent of schools for Springfield, Mass. There are in this report a series of figures dealing with the ages, andtime in school, of fifth-grade pupils in Springfield. The first tableshows the number of years in school and the age of all the fifth-gradepupils. 

TABLE 1

_Age and Time in School, Fifth Grade, Springfield, December, 1911_

 Years in Ages School 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Total -----------------------------+---+----------------------------------- 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1| . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 . . . . . . 2 1 1| 1| 2 2 . . . . . . . . . . 9 3 . . . . . . 6 38 25| 9| . . 1 1 . . . . . . . . 80 4 . . . . . . . . 162 200| 63| 12 10 3 . . . . . . . . 450 -----------------------------+---+----------------------------------- 5 . . . . . . . . 17 178|131| 47 14 2 . . . . . . . . 389 -----------------------------+---+----------------------------------- 6 . . . . . . . . 1 11|120| 60 29 3 . . . . . . . . 224 7 . . . . . . . . . . 1| 3| 46 29 8 1 . . 1 . . 88 8 . . . . . . . . . . . . | 1| 4 17 4 1 . . . . . . 28 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . | . . . . 4 1 . . . . . . 5 10 . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . | . . . . 1 . . . . . . . . 1 11 . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 . . . . . . . . . . . . | . . | . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Total . . . . . . 8 219 416|329| 171 102 26 3 . . 1 . . 1, 275 -----------------------------+---+-----------------------------------

Theoretically, children in Springfield enter the school at six, andspend one year in each grade. If all of the children in the Springfieldschools had lived up to this theory, there would be 1, 275 eleven yearsof age, and 1, 275 in the fifth grade. A glance at the table shows thatonly 131, or about 10 per cent of the children, are both eleven years ofage and five years in the school. Among the 1, 275 fifth-grade children, 389, or 31 per cent, have been in school five years, and 329, or 26 percent, are eleven years of age. 

The superintendent follows this general table with other tables giving amore detailed analysis of over and under age pupils, and of rate ofprogress in school. 

TABLE 2

_Age and Progress Groups of Fifth-Grade Pupils in Springfield, December, 1911_

 Young | Normal | Over-age | Total | | | Per | Per | Per | Per No. Cent | No. Cent | No. Cent | No. Cent

 Rapid 435 34 | 74 6 | 31 2 | 540 42 Normal 195 16 | 131 10 | 63 5 | 389 31 Slow 13 1 | 124 10 | 209 16 | 346 27 --- -- | --- -- | --- -- | ----- --- Total 643 51 | 329 26 | 303 23 | 1, 275 100

The inferences from Table 2 are very clear. Of the 1, 275 fifth-gradepupils, 435, or 34 per cent, are not only under-age for the grade, butthey have progressed at more than normal speed. They are theexceptionally capable pupils of the grade. At the other extreme we find209 children, or 16 per cent of all in the grade, who need specialattention because they are both over-age and slow. Feeble-mindedchildren rarely advance beyond the second grade; hence we know that noneof these are feeble-minded, but among their number will be found manywho will be little profited by the ordinary curriculum; 110 of them arealready 12 years old, and 75 are 13 years old. A majority of them will, in all probability, drop out of school as soon as they reach the age of14, unless prior to that time some new element of interest is introducedthat will make a strong appeal; for example, some activity toward avocation. 

A further study of the over-age column shows that 31 pupils, 2 per cent, are over-age, but they have reached their present position in less thanusual time; while 63 of them, also over-age, have required the full fiveyears to reach their present grade position. Unless by limiting therequired work of these over-age pupils to the essentials, or by someadministrative arrangement involving special grouping with relativelysmall numbers in a class, so that we can in the one case maintain, andin the other case bring about, accelerated progress, there is littlelikelihood that any large number will remain in school to complete theninth grade, much less take a high school course; for four years hencetheir ages will range from 16 to 18 years. The 124 pupils who are ofnormal age, but slow, are also subjects for special attention, for theyhave repeated from one to three grades, or have failed to secure fromtwo to six half-yearly promotions, and are in danger of acquiring thefatal habit of failure, if they have not already acquired it. 

The superintendent then goes on to emphasize the imperative duty restingon each principal, to examine and to understand the varying capacitiesof individual children in his school. Without such an understanding realeducational progress cannot be made. 

This study is most illuminating. Nothing could more effectually showvariation in individual children than the difference in one city gradeof the most obvious of characteristics--age and progress in school. Theinfinitely greater variations in the subtle characteristics thatdistinguish children can be more readily guessed at than measured. Underthese circumstances, the attempt to prepare studies for an "averagechild" is manifestly futile. The course may be organized, but it willhardly meet the needs of large numbers of the individual children whotake it. 

VI Shall Child or Subject Matter Come First?

The old education presupposed an average child, and then prepared acourse of study which would fit his needs. The new education recognizesthe absurdity of averaging unlike quantities, and accepts the ultimatetruth that each child is an individual, differing in needs, capacity, outlook, energy, and enthusiasm from every other child. An arithmeticaverage can be struck, but when it is applied to children it is ahypothetical and not a real quantity. There is not, and never will be, an average child; hence, a school system planned to meet the needs ofthe average child fits the needs of no child at all. 

Mathematics may be taught to the average child. So may history andgeography. While subject matter comes first in the minds of educators, acourse of study designed to meet average conditions is a possibility. The moment, however, that the schools cease to teach subjects and beginto teach boys and girls, such a proceeding is out of the question. 

The temptation in a complex school system, where children are grouped byhundreds and thousands, to allow the detail of administration to overtopthe functions of education is often irresistible. The teacher withforty pupils learns to look upon her pupils as units. The superintendentand principals, seeking ardently for an overburdened commercial idealnamed "efficiency, " sacrifice everything else to the perfection of themechanism. Among the smooth clicking cogs, child individuality has onlythe barest chance for survival. 

VII The Vicious Practices of One "Good" School

There are school systems in which organization has overgrown childwelfare, in which pedagogy has usurped the place of teaching. In suchsystems the teacher teaches the prescribed course of study, whether orno. The officers of administration, aiming at some mechanical ideal, shape the schools to meet the requirements of system. 

The proneness of some teachers and school administrators alike tooveremphasize mechanics, and to underemphasize the welfare of individualchildren is well illustrated in a recent statement by Dr. W. E. Chancellor, who, in writing of a first-hand investigation made in a cityin the Northeast, describes a condition which he says "I know by fairlyauthoritative reports does exist in a considerable number of cities andtowns--not merely in a school here and there, but generally andcharacteristically. 

"In the city to which I definitely refer, " Dr. Chancellor continues, "Ifound that the intermediate and grammar grade teachers hadsystematically, deliberately, and successfully sacrificed hundreds ofboys and girls upon the altar of examinations to the fetish of goodschools. They have been so anxious to have good schools that they havekept an average of 20 per cent of their pupils one grade lower than theybelong. In some schools the average runs to above 35 per cent. 

"Some teachers and some school superintendents cannot see that theschool is simply a machine for developing boys and girls; cannot seethat the machine in itself is worthless save as it contributes to humanwelfare. A school may be so good as actually to damage the souls andbodies of human beings. It damages their souls when the machineoperators, seeking 75 per cent in every subject, keep boys and girls ingrammar schools until they average sixteen years of age. "[19] Dr. Chancellor continues with a stinging arraignment of school officials whosacrifice children to systems. 

The article strikes an answering chord in the experiences of many menand women. A friend came recently to our bungalow, and, with a troubledface, spoke of his daughter's ill-health. 

"She is not sick, " he said, "but just ailing. These first May days havetaken her appetite. She needs the country air. "

The daughter was a dear little girl of twelve--any one might have enviedthe father of his treasure--and we offered to keep her with us for amonth in the country, and to go over her school work with her every day. The father accepted our proposal on the spot, but two days later he cameback to say that he could not make the arrangements. 

"It cannot be done, " he explained, "because the school will not let heroff. I told the principal about my daughter's health and showed him theadvantage of a month in the country with her school work carefullysupervised. Her school is rather crowded, and as I want her to go onwith her class in the autumn, I asked him if he could arrange to keepher place for her. In reply he said, --

"'I cannot do as you wish. Such cases as yours interfere seriously withthe working of the school. '"

VIII Boys and Girls--The One Object of Educational Activity

Perhaps our language was not as temperate as it should have been, but wetold that father something which we would fain repeat until everyeducator and every parent in the United States has heard it and writtenit on the tables of his heart, --

 THE ONE OBJECT OF EDUCATION IS TO ASSIST AND PREPARE CHILDREN TO LIVE. 

Why have we established a billion-dollar school system in the UnitedStates? Is it to pay teachers' salaries, to build new school houses, andto print text-books by the million? Hardly. These things are incidentsof school business, but they are no more reason for the school'sexistence than fertilizer and seed are reasons for making a garden. Gardens are cultivated in order to secure plants and flowers; the schoolorganization of which Americans so often boast exists to educatechildren. 

"Of course, " you exclaim, "we knew that before. " Did you? Then why wasmy friend forced to choose between the wreck of his daughter's healthand the disarrangement of a bit of school machinery? Why is Dr. Chancellor able to describe a situation existing "generally andcharacteristically, " in which the welfare of children is bartered awayfor high promotion averages? The truth is that society still tolerates, and often accepts, the belief that the purpose of education is theformation of a school system. We have yet to learn that, to use HerbertSpencer's phrase, the object of education is the preparation ofchildren for complete living. 

Education exists for the purpose of preparing and assisting children tolive. To do that work effectively, it must devote only so much effort toschool administration and to school machinery as will perform for boysand girls that very effective service. 

No two children are alike, and no two children have exactly similarneeds. There are, however, certain kinds of needs which all childrenhave in common. It is obviously impossible to discuss in the abstractthe needs of any individual child. It is just as obviously possible toanalyze child needs, and to classify them in workable groups. It is truethat all children are different; so are all roses different, yet allhave petals and thorns in common. Similarly, there are certain needswhich are common to all children who play, who grow, who live amongtheir fellows, and who expect to do something in life. The matter may bestated more concretely thus, --

 I. The school exists to assist and prepare children to live. 

 II. Living involves three kinds of needs, which it is the duty of the school to understand and interpret. 

 1. Needs which the child has because he is a physical being. 

 2. Needs which result from the child's surroundings. 

 3. Needs which arise in connection with the things which the child hopes to do in life. 

A further analysis of these groups of needs constitutes the subjectmatter of the next chapter. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 19: Sacrificing Children, W. E. Chancellor, Journal of Education, Vol. 77, pp. 564-565 (May 22, 1913). ]

CHAPTER III

FITTING SCHOOLS TO CHILDREN

I Child Growth--A Primary Factor in Child Life

In the first place children have certain needs because in common withmany other living creatures they develop through spontaneous, self-expressive activity. The growth of children is a growth in body, inmind and in soul. 

During the first six years of life the bodies of children grow rapidly, and during these years we wisely make no attempt to train their minds. From six to twelve or thirteen body growth is slower, the mind is havingits turn at development, and during these years the children start toschool. 

Then, at twelve or thirteen or fourteen, differing with different racesand different individuals, all normal children enter the fairyland ofadolescence. Life takes on new meanings, human relationships are closer, great currents of feeling run deep and strong through the child's being, because there is coming into his life one of the most wonderful of humanexperiences--the dawning of sex consciousness. 

This period of sex awakening produces a profound change in the lives ofboys, but it works an even greater transformation in the lives of girls. For both sexes it is a time of rapid physical growth and of severemental and spiritual strain. It is a time when the energies of the bodyare so entirely devoted to the development of sex functions that greatmental stress should above all things be avoided, yet it is at thisvery time--think of it!--when we send our boys and girls to high school, and force them to spend a great part of their waking hours in severeintellectual efforts. 

II Children Need Health First

Had we set out with the deliberate intention of torturing our childrenwe could have devised no better method. If we had applied ourselves tophysiology, found out the time when the child needed the most energy forphysical growth and the most relief from mental strain, and had then setout to plan a course of study which would wreck his health, we shouldhave built a school system which gave him the comparatively easy work ofthe elementary grades until he was fourteen, and then, at the mostcritical period of his life, sent him into a new system of schools tostudy new, abstract subjects. 

What is it that our children must have before they can acquire anythingelse? Health! We cry the word aloud, emphasizing and exhorting--nothingwithout health! Yet, despite our protest, at a period of rapid physicalgrowth, at the time of severe spiritual trial, there yawns the highschool--grim for boys, ghastly for girls--with its ever-recurringdemand: "Work, study; study, work. "

Considering the child's physical welfare, the high school is placed atexactly the point (fourteen to eighteen years) where it is bestcalculated to destroy the delicate balance of sanity, rendering itsvictims unable to stand the burden and heat of life's later day. 

We cannot escape the fact that children have bodies. The first duty ofthe schools, therefore, is to recognize the existence of these bodies bygiving them due attention, particularly at the crucial periods ofphysical growth. Therefore every school must provide as much physicaltraining as is necessary to insure normal body growth at each particularage. 

Then there are certain rules of health--"hygiene, " they arecalled--which should be taught to every child. Since bodies do not staynormal if they are abused every child should have right ideas of bodycare. 

Most important of all, the schools must instruct children in sex hygienebecause the growth of sex consciousness is one of the most significantof the changes which occur in the life of a child. 

"But must sex hygiene be taught in the school?" you will ask. 

Undoubtedly it must. If it were a choice between sex instruction in thehome or in the school, there would be no hesitation about delegating itto the home; but since most homes neglect the discussion of sex matters, leaving the children to gain their knowledge of sex from unreliablesources on the streets, the choice lies between the perversion of sex asit is taught on the streets, and the science of sex as it should betaught in the schools. 

III Play as a Means to Growth

Children's minds grow as well as their bodies--grow in retention, ingrasp, and in power. Memory work (the learning of poems, songs, andformulas) helps to make minds more retentive, while all studies, butparticularly number work, increase mental grasp and power. 

Besides body growth and mind growth all children have soul growth. Theydevelop human sympathy, and they are interested in esthetic things. Tosupply these needs the school must give the child literature and art. Simple these lessons must be, particularly in the elementary grades; butthere is scarcely a child who will not respond to the noble inliterature or the beautiful in art if these things are presented to himin an understandable way. 

The bodies, minds, and souls of children grow. They are all sacred. Eachchild needs a normal body, an active mind, a healthy and a beautifulsoul. We dare not develop bodies at the expense of minds and souls, butneither may we educate minds at the expense of souls and bodies--atendency which has been fearfully prevalent in American education. 

The most valuable means of securing this all-important growth is "play, "which Froebel said contained the germinal leaves of all later life. Growth comes only through expression. One does not develop muscle bywatching the strong man in the circus, but by exercising. The child'schief means of expression is through play, hence play is the child'smethod of securing growth. 

In their earliest infancy children play. Their frolics and antics arereally "puppy play, " the product of overflowing life and animal spirits. At this "puppy play" stage, when the child plays merely to work offsurplus energy, the most essential thing is a place to play, and theschool must meet this need by providing playgrounds. 

As children grow older they turn to a more advanced type of play. Instead of romping and frolicking individually they play in groups. Itis in these group plays that the child gets his first idea of the dutywhich he owes to his fellows, his first glimmering of a social sense. Inthe home and in the school he is in a subordinate position, but in the"gang, " or "set, " he is as good as the next. Group play teachesdemocracy. More than that, group play has a moral value. Each one mustplay fair. Those who do not are ruthlessly ostracized, so children learnto abide by the decision of the crowd. While children's plays should beas untrammeled as possible, it is the duty of the school to stimulategroup play by suggesting new games, organizing athletic meets, gettingup interclass sports, and in other ways supervising and directing gamesand sports. 

In the course of the child's life play takes another form, the form ofcreative work. Boys build wagons and houses; girls cook, and make dolls. The "puppy play" of their early childhood has evolved into a form ofcreative activity that sooner or later grips every human creature. Wewant to plant, to build, to plan, to make. It is the creative powerwithin us yearning for expression, hence the well-planned school willprovide simple forms of manual training by means of which both boys andgirls will be taught to use their hands so skillfully that they maytranslate an idea into a concrete product. 

Civilization has been described as the art of playing. Big folks are aptto look down on play because most of it is done by children. But listen, big folks: When Anna plays dolls she does it in a frank, serious, whole-souled way that you seldom imitate. There is no activity so vitalto the child as play, nor does any man succeed at his work unless he can"play at it" with the fervor and abandon of a child. 

IV Some Things Which a Child Must Learn

So much for the needs which a child has because he is a living creature. Suppose we turn now to some other needs--the needs which arise becausethe child is in a great universe and surrounded by his fellowmen. Wherever a child lives and whatever he does he must always face certainsurrounding conditions. First among his surroundings are people. No oneexcept Robinson Crusoe can get away from people, and even Crusoe had hisman Friday. 

Since we are compelled, whether we like it or not, to live with people, the school must teach language (oral and written), in order that thechildren may learn to tell others what they think, and may likewiseunderstand the thoughts of others. The better the language the moreclearly can they understand each other. 

In order that children may have a proper respect for the rights ofothers the school should teach ethics by means of simple stories aboutpeople. Teachers should explain how men live in groups, and how, ifgroup life is to be tolerable, men must respect each other's rights. 

Perhaps in the upper elementary grades, and certainly in the highschool, there should be some simple work in psychology in order thatchildren may know how people's minds work. 

Then besides the people of the present there are the people of the past, and, because the things which they did enable us to live as we do, children should be taught history, particularly the history of their owncountry, state, and town. 

The child comes into contact, in addition to people, with theinstitutions which people have constructed--the home, the school, thestate, the industrial system. Every child who grows to maturity willparticipate in the activity of these institutions, hence every childshould be taught about them. In the last two years of the elementarygrades civics can be successfully taught, since even at twelve yearschildren are interested in the things which are happening around them. In the high schools this work can be carried much further in the form ofsocial and industrial problem courses. 

The most universal and by far the largest of the child's surroundingsconsist of the things about him. He lives in a world, a very littleworld to be sure, but to him it is great; and a knowledge of the worldcomes through a study of geography. Beginning with the geography of hisnative town (not with the basin of the Ganges) he can learn successivelyabout the geography of the county, the state, the country, and then ofthe world. 

Surrounding the child on every hand are plants and animals. Nature studygives him an intelligent interest in them. As he grows older generalnature study may be subdivided into geology, botany, zoology; and theforces of nature may be examined in astronomy, chemistry, and physics:but most of these subjects are too specialized for the elementarygrades, and should appear, if at all, in the high schools. 

There is a group of courses which belongs in every school--elementaryschool as well as high school--namely, the courses which preparechildren for life activity. Growth and training in the art of livingenable children to fulfill the third function of their being--that ofdoing. Every man and every woman needs work in order to live, and it isa part of the duty of education to prepare them for that work. 

First of all, as modern society has developed, every man and many womenneed an income-producing trade or occupation; hence it is the duty ofthe schools to provide trade and professional educations (really thesame thing under different names). No child should be permitted to leavethe schools until he is proficient in some income-giving work. Thecharacter of the teaching must be altered to suit the locality, but theprinciple is absolute. 

Further, since men should not devote their entire lives to the sametask, because they require a change of occupation, the school should aimto provide an avocation, or secondary occupation, which may occupyleisure hours. Manual training, agriculture, art work, and civics willsupply different people with occupations for spare time. 

Finally, since one of the chief duties of society is to insure a healthyand increasingly valuable supply of human beings, no one should leavethe schools without a thorough domestic training, including training forparenthood. While this training should be given in a measure to boys, itshould be intended primarily for girls, and should include biology, hygiene, chemistry, dietetics, psychology, and nursing. Although theelementary grades can provide only the simplest training along theselines that training should be given to every future housekeeper andmother. 

V What Schools Must Provide to Meet Child Needs

If, up to this point, we have rightly described child needs, the schoolmust be so organized as to provide for growth and play, for instructingthe child in a knowledge of people, institutions, things and ideas, andfor preparing every child to do his work in life. 

These subjects must be so apportioned over the grades that each childhas the benefit of them. The high school is a continuation of theelementary school. It is in the high school that children should beginto specialize, because specialization before the beginning ofadolescence is undesirable; but since, in many localities, almost all ofthe children leave before reaching the high school, these subjects mustbe taught in the elementary grades. Certain things every child mustknow. If he is going to drop school at fourteen, as three-quarters ofthe American school children do, he must be reached in the first eightschool grades. If he goes to high school he may there be given anopportunity to complete and intensify the education which the elementaryschool has started. 

We believe that these fundamental principles of education aresufficiently flexible to fit any community in the United States; theywill apply to places of the most divergent school needs. 

VI The Educational Work of the Small Town

Let us begin by applying the scheme to a mining village of threethousand inhabitants, a typical industrial community. 

In this village more than nine-tenths of the children leave school at orbefore fourteen years of age, so that whatever school training they getmust be secured between the ages of six and fourteen. 

The kind of activities that the children will take up in life is fixedby the custom of the town. The great majority of the boys go into themines or shops, while practically all of the girls help around the homeuntil they marry. A small number work in stores and factories. 

The life is rather primitive; the houses are set far apart; the childrenhave an abundance of play space; they are required to do chores in homeswhere they receive little home training. The town affords anunparalleled opportunity to learn nasty things in a nasty way. 

Almost all of the educational work in such a town must be done in theelementary schools. While high school facilities may be afforded theywill appeal to a vanishingly small percentage of the children. 

The elementary schools in such a village must provide organized gamesfor the younger children and organized sports for the older ones; asufficient amount of physical training to insure robust bodies; carefulinstruction in physiology, body hygiene, and sex hygiene; simple manualtraining for the younger children; thorough preparation in the readingand writing of English; the fundamentals of numbers; geography withparticular reference to the geographic conditions in the immediatelocality; civics and history--particularly American history; a thoroughdrill in English and American literature; a minimum amount ofinstruction in fine art--drawing, painting, modeling; an extensivesystem of nature study, supplemented by field trips. 

This course should be required of boys and girls alike. In addition tothese studies the boys in a coal-mining village should receive carefulinstruction in geology, particularly in the mineralogy of the region inwhich the mine is located; technical training in mining, drafting, andshop work; and a sufficient training in agriculture to enable them tomake good kitchen gardens, since gardening is one of the chiefavocations of men in such a community. 

Parallel to this special training for boys the schools should providefor girls a thorough course in domestic science, with particularemphasis on economical purchasing, and an education for parenthood, including hygiene, dietetics, psychology, and nursing. 

Such a course of study given in a typical mining village would tend tomake of the boys educated, trained workmen, and of the girls educated, trained mothers. To be sure this course would not make of the boysrailroad presidents or United States senators; but even that is not adrawback because, incredible as it may sound to many old-fashionedears, the vast majority of these boys will be miners and mechanics. Thequestion is, therefore, Shall they be good miners or bad ones? UnitedStates senatorships bother them not a whit. 

If there are, as there always will be in such a village, a fewexceptional children who desire more advanced work, the teacher can doexactly what he does now--namely, give them special instruction. 

Such an educational system as that outlined would require more trainingin the teachers, and an additional outlay for tools and school-rooms, but it would train the boys and girls of the village to live their liveseffectively. 

The mine-village educational problem is rendered especially easy ofsolution because the community is small in size, and because there areonly two occupations, mining and homekeeping, into which the childrengo. 

A similar situation may be found in most of the agricultural districts, except that the boys take up farming instead of mining, while the girlsare called upon to participate in farm work to the extent of caring forchickens and pigs, and sometimes for milk. In such an agriculturalcommunity the same outline for study might apply, except that intraining for occupations boys should be taught the facts regarding soilfertility, fruit culture, dairying, market gardening, and otheragricultural problems, while girls need instruction which will fit themfor domestic life and for parenthood. 

In New York State a number of agricultural high schools giving a coursesuch as the one just hinted at, have met with marked success. Mostcountry children do not go to high school, however--although they aredoing so in increasing numbers--and hence the necessity for shaping theelementary course along similar lines. 

VII The Educational Problems of an Industrial Community

When the mining village and the farming district are replaced by theindustrial town and the city, the school problem is greatly complicatedby the crowding of many people into a small space and by the greatdiversity of occupations which the people pursue. The larger the townthe worse the crowding and the greater the variety of jobs. Otherwisethe problem of education remains largely the same. 

The most apparent need of the town child is a place to play, and theplainest duty of the town elementary school is to provide play space. Inthinly settled places there is no such need. In towns and cities thereis no more imperative duty resting on the school than the furnishing ofplaygrounds and gymnasiums for children. The practice of building schoolhouses without gymnasiums and without play spaces cannot be too stronglycondemned. It is robbing children of the chance to grow into normalhuman beings. 

The other side of the town problem--the question of occupations--hasbeen settled in Germany, and more recently in certain American cities, by the "continuation" school, which unties the Gordian knot by cuttingit. Instead of allowing children to stop school at fourteen the"continuation" system requires partial school attendance until they areeighteen. 

Under this system, when children reach the end of the elementary schoolsthey may either go on with a high school course for four years, or elsethey may take a "continuation" course for four years. 

For example, if a boy elects to be a carpenter he spends forty hours aweek as a carpenter's apprentice. Then for fourteen hours a week he goesto a school where he is taught mechanical drawing, designing, thetesting of materials, and any other subjects which bear on carpentering. The time he spends in school is credited on the time sheets of hisemployer. 

So at the end of four years the boy, at eighteen, has been well trainedin the practice of carpentering by working at his job, and well schooledin its theory by taking a "continuation" course which bore directly onhis work. Thus wage-earning and education are united to produce awell-trained man. 

The school problem of the city suburb is very different from that of themining village, the rural community, the industrial town, or the city. The children have space, good homes, and abundant opportunity to gothrough high school and even through college. Under these conditions theelementary grades can be directly preparatory for high school work, since six or even seven out of ten children will go to high school. 

In the city suburb there need be little specialization in the elementarygrades. The high school, with a general course and two or three specialcourses, can be relied upon for all necessary specific training. 

VIII Beginning with Child Needs

In the industrial town, in the city, and in the city suburb the highschool is being looked to as the place where specialized training mustbe given. The trade school can succeed a little, but its effectivenesswill always be limited by the narrow technical character of itsinstruction, which makes the "continuation" school generally preferable. The high school is not a separate institution, but an integral part ofthe school system. In a high school, therefore, the children should movenaturally from the studies of the elementary grades to more advancedstudies, but the purpose of both elementary and high schools is thesame--the preparation of children for living. 

Children have needs which the schools are here to supply. Certain ofthese needs are common to all children, and to that extent all schoolsmust provide similar training. Other needs, varying with the size andcharacter of the community, call for a like variation in the course ofstudy. 

CHAPTER IV

PROGRESSIVE NOTES IN ELEMENTARY EDUCATION

I The Kindergarten

No single chapter can contain all of the progressive notes that arebeing sounded in American Elementary Education; yet it is possible, after some arbitrary picking and choosing, to describe a number of themost typical and most successful educational innovations. At the bottomof most up-to-date elementary school systems is the kindergarten. Not sooften as it might be, but still frequently, the child begins school workthere. The games, the songs, the children's sports of these kindergartenyears, make a joyous entry-way into the grades. In Gary the kindergartenchild sees life. The flowers, leaves, grasses, lichens, fruits, butterflies, moths, and birds are usually brought to the classroom. TheGary children go on expeditions to explore nature's wonderland, besidesmaking excursions to squares, parks, and to the open country. Thekindergartners of Cincinnati plant tulip bulbs in the city parks, andvisit farms in order to have a chance to meet the farm animals. Singing, visiting, playing, shaping, building, the kindergarten child sees lifeon many sides. Perhaps, finally, other cities following the lead ofCincinnati will introduce the kindergarten spirit and kindergartenactivities into the lower grades where they will clarify an atmosphere, fetid and dank with concepts which to the six-year-old are meaninglessabstractions. 

II Translating the Three R's

At best the kindergarten reaches but a few. Even in cities which boastof a system of organized kindergartens, only a small portion of thechildren attend them. On the other hand, since practically all schoolchildren enter the grades, it is on them that an inquiry into elementaryeducation must be focused. 

The time has passed when reading, writing, and arithmetic made up theentirety of a satisfactory elementary education. Like the kindergarten, the elementary school must touch life; like the kindergarten, it mustprovide for child needs. Everywhere schools are turning from the oldmethods of teaching spelling, multiplication, and syntax to the newmethods of teaching children, --yes, and teaching them those things whichthey need, irrespective of name. Three R's no longer suffice. The childrequires training from the Alpha to the Omega of life. 

Compare, for example, the old method of teaching geography with the new. Under the abandoned system, the child began with capes, peninsulas, continents, meridians, trade routes, rivers, boundaries and products. Under the new system, he begins with the town in which he lives. Eachschoolroom in Newark, for example, is provided with a large map of thecity. In addition to these complete maps, each child is given a seriesof small maps, each of which centers about a familiar square, store, orpublic building. Then, from this simple beginning, the child fills inthe surrounding streets and buildings. Newark geography begins in thethird grade with a description of the school yard and the surroundingsof the school lot. After all, what more simple geography could beconceived than the geography that you already know. Borneo andBeloochistan are abstractions except to the most traveled, but whatchild has not noted the red bricks and ugly iron fences surrounding hisown school yard? Charity and geography both begin logically at home. 

When in the later Newark grades the children are taught about Europe andAustralasia, they are taught on a background of the geography of yards, alleys, squares, streets and playgrounds with which they are familiar. Geography thus concretely presented, becomes comprehensible to even thedullest mind. 

III Playing at Mathematics

The passing system of elementary mathematics took the innocents throughaddition, subtraction and the abatis of multiplication tables, untilevery child was fully convinced that

 Multiplication is vexation, Division's twice as bad, The rule of three perplexes me, And practice drives one mad. 

To-day arithmetic begins with life. The teachers at Gary organize gamesin which the children are divided into two sides. Some of the childrenplay the game, while others keep score. Unconsciously, under the stressof the most gripping of impulses--the desire to win--these littlescorekeepers learn addition. As they advance in the work, they take uppractical problems--measure the room for flooring and measure the schoolpavement for cementing. At school No. 4, in Indianapolis, one of theteachers wanted a cold-frame and a hot-bed for use in connection withher nature work. The class in mathematics made the measurements; thedrawing class provided the plans; the boys in the seventh and eighthgrades dug the pit and constructed the beds. 

The higher grade mathematics work in Indianapolis is extremely concrete. Prices and descriptions of materials are supplied, and the children areasked to compute given problems involving the buying of meats, groceries, and other household articles; the cost of heating andlighting the home; the cost of home furnishing; the construction ofbuildings; cost-keeping in various factories; the management of the cityhospital; the taxation of Indianapolis; the estimation and constructionof pavement; and, generally, the mathematical problems involved in theconduct of public and private business. 

Mathematics is alive when it is joined to the problem of life. Welltaught, it becomes a part of the real experiences of childhood andfurnishes a foundation for the knowledge of later life. 

IV A Model English Lesson

Of all subjects taught in the schools, English is the most practical, because it is most used in life. We buy with it, sell with it, conversewith it, write with it, adore with it, and protest with it. English isthe open sesame of life in English-speaking countries. In some classesthe English period would be fascinating even for adults. 

What experience could be more delightful than a visit to a third orfourth grade room in which the children were writing original poems, fables and stories! The monotony of routine English work was completelybroken down; the children were enthusiastic, --enthusiastic to such adegree that they had all written poetry. 

Just before Halloween the teacher had distributed pictures of a witch ona broomstick, with a cat at her side, riding toward the moon. Eachchild was called upon for an original poem on this picture. One boy ofeight wrote:--

 There was an old witch Who flew up in the sky, To visit the moon That was shining so high. 

Another child improved somewhat upon the versification--

 The witch's cat was as black as her hat, As black as her hat was he. He had yellow eyes which looked very wise As he sailed high over the trees. 

How many of you mature men and women could have done a better piece ofwork than Dorothy Hall, nine and a half years old?

 THE MOONLIGHT PEOPLE

 When the stars are twinkling, And the ground with snow is white, And we are just awaking For to see the morning light; Little moonlight people Are dancing here and there O'er a snow white carpet, Dancing everywhere. 

This same class of little people, after learning Riley's "Pixie People, "were asked to write down what they believed were the circumstances underwhich Riley composed the poem. Their reasons varied all the way from adream of butterflies, to cornfields. 

Seventh and eighth grade children in this same city (Newton, Mass. )write books, the titles of which are selected by the children with theapproval of the teacher. "A Boy's Life in New York, " "Fairy Stories, ""A Book About Airships, " "A Story of Boarding School Life, " are a few ofthe titles. Having chosen his title, the child outlines the work andthen begins on it, writing it week by week, illustrating the text withdrawings, illuminating and decorating the margins with water colors, painting a tasty cover, and at last, as the product of a year's work inEnglish, taking home a book written, hand printed, hand illumined, covered and bound by the author. Could you recognize in this fascinatingtask the dreaded English composition and spelling of your childhooddays?

One eighth grade lad, who had always made a rather poor showing inschool, decided to write his book on birds. As he worked into thesubject it gradually got hold of him. In the early spring he foundhimself, at half past four, morning after morning, out in the squares, the parks and the fields, watching for the birds. He became absorbed inwriting his book, but at the same time the teachers of other subjectsfound him taking additional interest in them. The whole tone of hisschool work improved; and when, in May, he delivered an illustratedlecture, before one of the teachers' meetings, on the birds of Newton, he was triumphant. In less than a year he had vitalized his whole beingwith an interest in one study. 

"In his talk to the teachers, " said Superintendent Spalding, "he showeda deeper knowledge of the subject than most of the teachers presentpossessed. "

Those who remember with a shiver of dread the syntax, parsing, sentencediagramming, paragraph dissecting, machine composition construction ofthe grammar grades, should have stepped with me into the class of anIndianapolis teacher of seventh grade English. The teacher sat in theback of the room. The class bent forward, attentively listening while aroughly clad, uncouth boy, slipshod in attitude, stumbled through thebroken periods of his ungrammatical sentences. 

"And Esau went out after a venison, " he was saying, "and Jacob's mothercooked up some goat's meat till it smelled like a venison. And thenJacob, he took the venison--I mean the goat's meat to Isaac, and Isaaccouldn't tell it wasn't Esau because"--so the story continued for two orthree minutes. When it was ended, the boy stood looking gloomily at theclass. 

"Well, class?" queried Miss Howes, "has any one any criticism to make?"

Instantly, three-quarters of the class was on its feet. 

"Well, Edward. "

Edward, a manly fellow, spoke quietly to the boy who had told the story. 

"Paul, you don't talk quite loud enough. Then you should raise and loweryour voice more. "

Several of the class (having intended to make the same criticism) satdown with Edward. The teacher turned. 

"Yes, Mary. "

"Paul, your grammar wasn't very good. You didn't make periods. "

One by one, in a spirit of kindly helpfulness, criticisms were made. When the children had finished, Miss Howes said:

"Paul, you did very well. This is your first time in this class, isn'tit?"

"Yes'm. "

"Yes, Paul, you did very well; but, Paul"--and with care and precisionshe outlined his mistakes, suggesting in each case ways of avoiding themin the future. 

Throughout the grades in Indianapolis the children have some oralEnglish work every day. When they reach the seventh and eighth yearsthis oral work takes on quite pretentious forms. Beginning with Aesop'sFables, the children tell fairy tales, Bible stories, Greek legends, Norse legends, animal stories, and any other stories that the teacherthinks appropriate. Each child may select in the particular group ofstories whatever topic seems most interesting. 

Each day has its written English work, too. On Monday, letters arewritten and criticized; Tuesday is composition day; on Wednesday eachscholar writes a description of the day in a Season Journal; Thursday isset aside for the revision and correction of compositions; and onFriday, the letters for the following Monday are written. Whereverpossible, the subjects for written work are selected with reference tothe other studies which the child is taking. 

V An Original Fairy Story

The work is arranged primarily to arouse interest. At Halloween, thetheme is timely, and one girl, Dorothy Morrison, selects as her title, "How the Witch got the Black Cat for her Prisoner. " Read this charmingfairy tale--an original piece of work by a girl of twelve:

 "Years ago, when the witch rode her broomstick, no snarling black cat accompanied her on her midnight rides. That wicked person was always planning and plotting how to get some nice young girl to go with her. 

 "At this time there lived a beautiful fairy, who was condemned to death by a cruel magician, who had no reason to do so. This good fairy, Eilene, finally decided to take the shape of a bird and to fly through the tiny window of her prison to her old friend, Mr. Moon. 

 "She did so, and when she arrived at her friend's home she assumed the form of a fairy and entreated him to keep her safe from the cruel clutches of the magician. 

 "He promised to do his best. 

 "The next Halloween, the witch, Crono, rode up to the moon and on spying Eilene she exclaimed, 'Aha, just what I have been looking for--a nice young maiden. '

 "Eilene became frightened at first and clutched the moon's hand. Just then Crono grabbed at her, but she was too quick for her, for she changed herself into a bird and flew out of the reaches of the witch. 

 "Shaking her fist at the girl she muttered, 'I will get you yet. '

 "Then the witch returned to her caldron and Eilene returned to the moon. Mr. Moon then advised her to be careful for Crono wanted her for her prisoner. She did not heed this because she thought that she could outwit Crono with all her fairy power, but she was mistaken, for Crono had more power than she. One day, while sitting at the moon's knee, listening to the story of how he got up in the sky, Eilene's hands and feet were tied, and before Mr. Moon could help her, what little power that fat personage possessed was taken from him. 

 "Crono transformed Eilene into a snarling black cat which now always accompanies her on her Halloween rides when she tells the grinning Jack-o'-Lanterns of how she captured Eilene. 

 "Because Mr. Moon loved Eilene so well, Crono gave him a picture of the fairy, which he always keeps near him, and even to this day, if we look up at the moon, we can see the picture of Eilene. So let us remember that, although the black cat does appear fierce, she is really good at heart. "

VI The Crow and the Scarecrow

When corn was sprouting, "Crows and Scarecrows" was announced as atopic, and one Irish lad, giving rein to his imagination, wrote:--

 THE CROW AND THE SCARECROW

 "Having a story to write concerning a crow, I decided to go to the zoological gardens and seek an interview with one of the species. Accordingly I went, and after passing numerous cages containing all kinds of animals, I arrived at the bird cages. Here in one cage all by himself I met Mr. Crow. He was a big bird with coal-black feathers that glistened in the sunlight. 

 "I made a bow, explained my errand and asked for a story. He cocked his head to one side, looked steadily for a few seconds and then actually winked at me. 'Well, young man, ' he said in a throaty voice, 'you have certainly come to the right place. But as it is near my lunch time I must be brief. 

 "'In the first place, I was the leader of as wild and mischievous a band of crows as you ever heard tell of. There was one particular farm in our territory we loved to visit. The owner's name was Silas Whimple and he was the grouchiest, most miserly man in the county. He lived alone and what part of the ground that was tilled, he did it himself. As much to tease as to eat, we would pay him an occasional flying visit, digging up his newly planted seeds, nibbling at the young green shoots, or, later on, scratching up his potatoes. All his shouting and screaming did not scare us a bit. One day one of my companions came winging with the news that Silas had a farm hand. I laughed and said, "If there is another man on the farm then Silas Whimple must be dead. " Off we flew to investigate. Sure enough, out in a patch of potatoes was a man. Watching him quite a while, I saw he did not move or make a noise as Silas would. He just stood still. I came down to take a closer look, when who should come to the doorway but Silas himself. He was laughing and shouting, "Now I have something to keep you away. The scarecrow shall keep you from bothering me any more. " He laughed and laughed, but I watched my chance and flew behind this being and scratched off his cap. Then the story was out. It was only a straw man. I went back to my companions and explained, and before evening we had picked the scarecrow to pieces. Next day I was unfortunate enough to put my foot in a wire trap and then they sent me up here for life. '

 "At this moment his keeper came up with something to eat, so I bade him good-bye and left. "

English, in these classes, is so alive with interest that the childrenwrite with ardor and read eagerly the literature which, improperlyhandled, they learn so soon to despise. 

The time-honored studies of the old curriculum may be charged withinterest if they are linked to life. The most irksome task has itspleasant aspects. Even the three R's may be translated into currentthought. 

VII School and Home

Even more significant for the future is the work which is being done ina few cities to train girls for their chief work in life--homemaking. The home schools at Indianapolis and Providence are, perhaps, typical. The Indianapolis School Board bought a number of wretched homes near oneschool in a crowded district. The boys in the school renovated thehomes, converting one into a rug shop, another into a mop factory, andstill a third into a shoe-shop. In these shops the children of theschool did their trade work. Another house was made into a modelhome--(model for that quarter)--in which the domestic science departmentwas located. Of this home the girls took entire charge, living in it bythe day. There they were taught, by practical experience, the art ofhomemaking. 

The home school of Providence, Rhode Island, under the direction of Mrs. Ada Wilson Trowbridge, has received nation-wide recognition. Six hundreddollars, appropriated by the Board of Education, renovated and furnishedthe flat on Willard Avenue in which the school is held. 

The girls who elect to take work in the home school--the work is whollyelective--may come on Monday and Tuesday, or on Wednesday and Thursday. The hours are 4 to 6, or 7:30 to 9:30. On Friday, anyone comes who caresto. The day pupils are from the grammar schools and the evening pupilscome from the factories and shops. Seventy-five names on the waitinglist of day classes indicate the popularity of the school. 

"We try to keep the school like the homes from which these girls come, "explained Mrs. Trowbridge, as she showed her tastefully arrangedapartment. "The girls in the Technical High School worked out the colorschemes, selected the patterns and bought the materials. We tried to getthings which were good looking and durable. "

The three kinds of work, (1) Cooking, (2) Housekeeping, and (3) Sewing, are carried on in rotation, a girl spending one entire afternoon atcooking, the next at sewing and a third at housework. Thus each girldoes an afternoon's job in each subject. The cooking class studiessuccessively "breakfast, " "lunch" and "dinner, " in each case preparingmenus and cooking the food. A meal is served nearly every day. Theservice falls to the housekeeping class, which is also responsible forcleaning up, tending the furnace, washing, ironing and the like. Included in this part of the work are a number of thorough discussionsof personal hygiene and home sanitation. To the sewing class, the girlsbring their home sewing problems. Certain classes darn stockings while ateacher reads to them. Some girls make underclothing and dresses. Thebeginners hem table cloths, napkins, towels, dustcloths, etc. , for theschool. The classes are small (ten to fifteen) making individual workpossible. 

"No, no, " protested Mrs. Trowbridge, "we have no course of study, orelse, if you please, there are as many courses as there are girls. Eachgirl has her problems and we aim to meet them. "

The backyard, utilized as a garden, furnishes vegetables which the girlscook and can. These vegetables, together with canned fruits, jellies, jams and pickles, which the girls put up, give the school such anexcellent source of revenue that last year it turned over $15 to theSuperintendent of Schools. 

The crowning work of the school was done in a bare upstairs room whichthe girls papered and painted themselves. "Two of them have since donethe same thing with rooms at home, " declared Mrs. Trowbridge, happily. "Isn't that good for a start?"

The home school stays close to home problems, dealing with the facts oflife as the girls who come to school see them. It would hardly be fairto expect more of any school. 

VIII Breaking New Ground

The regular work of the public school has been supplemented, of lateyears, by a number of significant innovations, of which the mostfar-reaching is, perhaps, a medical inspection of schools which involvesa thorough physical examination of all school children by experts. Bythis scheme, the defect of the individual child is corrected, and thedanger of widespread contagion or infection in the schoolroom is reducedto a minimum. 

Following these physical examinations, the children who are clearlysub-normal are placed in special classes or special schools, where, under the direction of specially fitted teachers, they do any mentalwork for which they are fitted, in the interims of time between manualactivities. Weaving, woodworking, folding and similar employments holdthe attention of sub-normal children where intellectual work will not. The special school, freed from the throttling grip of an iron-cladcourse of study, studies the need of each child, and makes a course ofstudy to fit the need. Although the special school has been used forincorrigibles, its real value rests in its care of the defective child. 

Anaemic children and those who show a tubercular tendency are treated inopen air schools. In Springfield a special school was constructed. InProvidence an old building was employed. In all cases, however, thewindows are notable by their absence. The school supplies caps and armyblankets, a milk lunch in the middle of the forenoon and the afternoon, and a plain, wholesome dinner at noon. A few months of such treatmentworks wonders with most of the children. It seems only fair that thesick school child should be treated to fresh air and full nutrition, even though the well child is not so favored. 

The open air school has borne fruit, however, in the establishment ofnumerous open-window classes. Against these classes, there seems to beonly one complaint. The children are too lively. Fancy! They get asupply of oxygen sufficient to stimulate them into life during schoolhours. How tragic this must seem to the teacher who is in the habit ofcalming the troubled spirits of her class by a generous administrationof closed windows and carbon dioxide. 

A few cities are attempting to relieve underfeeding by the provision ofwholesome school lunches at cost. Buffalo leads in the work, withChicago, Philadelphia and a number of other cities trailing behind. Whenyou remember that the Chicago School Board reported that in the Chicagoschools there were "five thousand children who were habitually hungry, "while "ten thousand others do not have sufficient nourishing food, " youwill perhaps agree that the time has come for some action. 

Among the liveliest educational movements of the day is that ofproviding school children with a legitimate occupation and a convenientplace to be occupied outside of school hours. Chicago, with an unequaledsystem of playgrounds, and Philadelphia, with a department devoted toschool gardens, are leaders in two fields which promise great things forthe future welfare of American city school children. 

IX The School and the Community

Not content with doing those needful things involved in the education ofchildren of school age, the school is reaching far out into thecommunity. Night schools came first, as a means of education for thosewho could not attend school during the daytime. Every progressive cityand town has a night school now, and the scholars who come after workinghours use the same expensive equipment that is furnished to the regularclasses. Machines, cooking apparatus, maps and blackboard all do doubleduty. In the foreign quarters, particularly, the night schools attract alarge following of adults, eager to learn the language and ways of thenew land. Though many a one falls asleep over the tasks, who shall saythat the spirit is not willing?

Public lectures are being used more and more as a means of publiceducation. There is scarcely an up-to-date city that has not some publiclectures connected with its school or library system, while in a centerlike New York, the Board of Education has established an elaborateorganization for the delivery of lectures in public school buildingsthroughout the city. The lecture topics--widely advertised through theschools and elsewhere--cover every field of thought. 

Perhaps the whole movement of the schools to influence the community maybe summed up in the phrase, "A wider use of the school plant. " Whyshould not the schools be open, as they are in Gary, day and evening, too? Why should the mothers and fathers not be organized into "Home andSchool Leagues, " meeting in the schools as they do on a large scale inPhiladelphia? Why should not the social sentiment of a community becrystallized around its schoolhouse, as it has been in Rochester? Is itbetter to have the children playing in the street in the summer time, orin the school yards and playgrounds, as they do in Minneapolis and St. Paul?

The billion dollars invested in the school plant must be made to yield areturn in broader social service with each succeeding year. 

X New Keys for Old Locks

Nor have progressive educators been satisfied to change the methods ofteaching old subjects. More important still, they have introduced newcourses which aim to open larger fields for child experience. Hygiene, nature study, civics, manual training and domestic science have all beencalled upon to enrich the elementary school curriculum. 

The nineteenth century physiology--names of muscles and bones, symptomsof diseases and the like--has been replaced in the twentieth centuryschools by a physiology which aims to teach that the body is worthcaring for and developing into something of which every boy and girl maybe proud. Beginning with nature study and elementary science, thehygiene course in Indianapolis emphasizes, first, the care of the bodyand then, in the seventh and eighth grades, public health, private andpublic sanitation, etc. From nature and her doings, the child is led tosee the application of the laws of physiology and hygiene to the life ofthe individual and of the community. 

Nature study, elementary science, horticulture and school gardens havetaken their place, on a small scale, in all progressive educationalsystems. There is an education in watching things grow; an education inthe sequence and significance of the seasons, which brick and cementpavements can never afford. 

Scattered attempts are being made to teach children the relation betweenindividual and community life. All of the seventh and eighth gradechildren in Indianapolis visit the city bureaus--water, light, health, fire and police. Trips to factories teach them the relation betweenindustry and the individual life, while social concepts are developed bynewspaper and magazine reading, book reading and class discussions ofthe articles and books which are read. At election time they discusspolitics; they take up strikes and labor troubles; woman suffrage isoccasionally touched upon; and they are even asked to suggest methods ofmaking a given wage cover family needs. 

The widespread introduction of domestic science and elementary manualtraining renders any special discussion of them unnecessary. In someinstances, however, they are developed to a high degree. In Gary, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, seventh and eighth grade girls make theirown garments, cook and serve meals to teachers or to other classes;while in the advanced grades the boys make furniture, sleds, derricks, bridges and telegraph instruments. Chair caning, weaving and claymodeling are also widely used in the hand work of both boys and girls. 

Fitchburg, Mass. , has developed a Practical Arts School, paralleling theseventh and eighth grades in the grammar school. The school includes aCommercial Course, a Practical Arts Course, a Household Arts Course anda Literary Course. The regular literature, composition, spelling, mathematics, geography, history and science of the seventh and eighthgrades is supplemented by social dancing, physical training and music inall of these courses; and in addition for the Commercial Course bytypewriting, shorthand, bookkeeping, business arithmetic and designing;for the Practical Arts Course, by drawing, designing, printing, makingand repairing; for the Household Arts Course, by cooking, sewing, homekeeping and household arts; and for the Literary Course, byhalf-time in modern language and the other half in manual training andhousehold arts. 

At the end of the sixth year (at about twelve years of age) children inFitchburg may elect to take this school of Practical Arts instead of theregular grammar school course. The results of this election areextraordinary. The practical course was planned for the children whoexpected to leave school at fourteen, or at the end of the eighth grade. Curiously enough, all types of children have flocked into it. Sons ofdoctors, lawyers and well-to-do business men; boys and girls preparingfor college, and children who must stop school in a year or two are allclamoring for admission. In spite of the fact that pupils are kept inthese schools six hours a day instead of five, as in the other schools, the attendance at the end of two years has outrun the accommodations. The children who leave this applied work and enter the high school areapparently not a whit less able to do the high school work than thosechildren who have come up through the regular grades. 

The new education is broader than the old, because it accepts and adoptsany study which seems likely to meet the needs or wants of any class ofchildren or of any individual child. The storehouse of the mind isto-day unlocked with educational keys of which educators in pastgenerations scarcely dreamed. 

XI School and Shop

For the present, at least, there are a great number of children who mustleave school at fourteen, whether they have completed the grammar gradesor not. With them, the problem of education shapes itself into thisquestion: "Shall they be well or badly prepared for their work?" Theboys enter the shops and mills; the girls marry and make homes. Are theyto be efficient workers and housekeepers? The answer rests largely withthe schools. 

Ohio has provided, for the solution of the problem, a continuationschool law, modeled on the more extensive plans of the GermanContinuation School system. The law reads: "In case the board ofeducation of any school district establishes part-time day schools forthe instruction of youths over fourteen years of age who are engaged inregular employment, such board of education is authorized to require allyouths who have not satisfactorily completed the eighth grade of theelementary schools to continue their schooling until they are sixteenyears of age; provided, however, that such youths, if they have beengranted Age and Schooling Certificates and are regularly employed, shallbe required to attend school not to exceed eight hours a week betweenthe hours of 8:00 A. M. To 5:00 P. M. During the school term. "

Cleveland and Cincinnati, acting under this authority, have establishedcontinuation schools. In Cleveland they are voluntary; in Cincinnatithey are compulsory. In both cities, children between fourteen andsixteen may attend school, during factory time, for four hours eachweek. 

Little enough, you protest. Yes, but it is a beginning. 

The child in such a continuation school may choose between academicwork, art, drawing and designing, shop-work, millinery, dressmaking anddomestic science. In some cases a continuation course is possible. Thusfar the system has worked admirably. 

Equally significant are the Massachusetts Vocational Schools, which areintended to provide a technical training for the boys who wish to passdirectly from the grammar school into industry. 

Under the Massachusetts law, the state pays half of the running expensesof any vocational school which is organized with the approval of theState Director of Vocational Training. The Springfield school, underthe supervision of E. E. MacNary, is housed on one floor of a factorybuilding. The boys may not come at an earlier age than fourteen and Mr. MacNary insists, where possible, that they complete the regular seventhgrade work before coming to him. His school, which includes patternmaking, cabinet work, carpentry and machine shop work, is run on the"job" plan. That is, a boy is assigned to a job such as making ahead-stock for a lathe. The boy makes his drawings, writes hisspecifications, orders his material and tools, estimates the cost of thejob, makes the head-stock and then figures up his actual costs andcompares them with the estimated cost. Not until he has gone through allof the operations, may he turn to a new piece of work. 

"We tried the half-day and half-day in shop plan, " Mr. MacNary explains, "but it was not a success. It disturbed the boys too much. So we hit onthe plan of letting each boy divide his time as he needed to. When hehas drawing and estimating to do, he does that and when the time forlathe work comes, he turns to that. It breaks up any system in yourschool, but it gives the best chance to the individual boy. "

One day a week all of the boys meet the teachers in conference todiscuss their work and to make and receive general suggestions. 

The boys who come to Mr. MacNary's school are boys who would probablyleave the regular school at fourteen. Many boys come because they arediscouraged with the grade work, and of these "grade failures, " manysucceed admirably in the new school. During the two years of thisshop-work, the boys get a training which enables them to take and holdgood positions in the trades. As one foreman said, "A boy gets moretraining in the two years of that school than he gets in three years ofany shop. "

These are but an index of the myriad of attempts which cities are makingto bring school and shop together, to train for usefulness, to startboys in life. 

XII Half a Chance to Study

There are other ways in which the school may help. For example, in thecase of homework. On the one hand, homework for the sake of homework maybe eliminated. On the other hand, children may be given half a chance toread and study. 

One day in a squalid back street I glanced through the window of acorner house. The front of the house was a grocery store. The room intowhich I happened to look was a general dwelling room. On one side stoodthe kitchen stove; the floor was littered with children and rubbish, andjust under the window a child sat, her book before her on thesupper-covered dining table, doing multiplication examples--herhomework. The well-to-do child, less than ten squares away, who bentover her problems in a quiet room, could scarcely appreciate thedifficulties attached to homework, when the family lives in three roomsand does everything possible to reduce the bill for kerosene. 

There is just one place in every neighborhood where the child can findlight, air and quiet--that place is the school. Why then should theschool not be open for the child? "Why, indeed, " asked the schoolmen ofNewark, N. J. Passing from thought to deed, they opened schools in thecrowded neighborhoods four nights a week from 7 to 9. 

Into these evening study classes, in charge of advisory teachers, anychild might come at all. The city librarian, generous in co-operation, lent library books in batches of forty, for two months at a time. Evening after evening, the boys and girls assemble and with text-booksor library books, do those things in the school which are impossible inthe home. For what other purpose should the school exist?

XIII Thwarting Satan in the Summer Time

Another project, equally effective, involves the opening of schoolsduring the summer time. The farmer needed his boy for the harvest, sosummer vacations became the established rule, but the city street needsneither the boy nor the girl at any time of the year. Idleness andmischief link hands with street children and dance away towarddelinquency. Then why not have school in the summer time? Why not?

The answer takes the form of vacation schools. In most cases the work ofthe vacation school is designed primarily to interest the child. Games, stories, gardening, manual work of various sorts, excursions and similardevices are relied upon to maintain interest. 

A few cities, like Indianapolis, Worcester and Gary, on the other hand, have established vacation schools in which children may make up backwork, or pursue studies in which they are especially interested. 

As a means of bringing below-grade children up to the standard ofaffording an opportunity for the able children to advance more rapidlyin school, and, in general, as a means of keeping city children usefullyoccupied during the summer months, the vacation school has won itsplace. 

Newark, making an even more radical departure from tradition, runs someschools twelve months in the year. Edgar G. Pitkin, principal of aschool in an immigrant district, first put the idea into practice. Atthe end of the regular session in June, he announced to his childrenthat school would start again on the following Monday. Fearfully heapproached the building. The streets about the school seemed unusuallydeserted that Monday morning. Suppose no one should be there! When thegong sounded, however, more than seven-tenths of the two thousandchildren belonging in the school were in their places. The attendancethat summer was ninety-two per cent, and the promotion ninety-five percent. During the three summer months there were exactly two cases ofdiscipline. 

"You see what happened, " Mr. Pitkin explained. "All of the brightambitious children came back and the loafers stayed away. From thatpicked crowd nothing but good work could be expected. There was noattendance officer on duty, but the children were regular. Order was sogood that on hot days we put up the sashes between rooms, and on thesecond floor, where four class-rooms were thrown into one, four classesworked industriously under four teachers without the least friction. "

This school has been organized on a year schedule. If the children comefour terms each year instead of three, they will reduce the time betweenthe first and eighth grades by one-third, which means a saving to themand to the school. Since it is the able children who come, the twelvemonths' school affords them an opportunity to go quickly through work onwhich the slower classmates must hold a more moderate pace. 

XIV Sending the Whole Child to School

It is a long step from the school of--

 Reading, and writing and 'rithmetic, Taught to the tune of the hickory stick, to the school which aims at the education of the whole child; yet thatstep has been attempted in Gary, Indiana. There, perhaps moreconsistently than anywhere else in the United States, the schoolauthorities are providing for the whole child in their schools. Manyschools have manual training and domestic science; many schools haveschool gardens and playgrounds; many schools have nature work in theparks and squares; but in no school that I have visited did I find amore conscious effort to unite mental and physical, hand and head, andvocation and recreation, in one complete system. 

This result, which to some may sound unbelievably like the impossible, is accomplished first, by engaging experts to teach such specialsubjects as botany and physical training; second, by abolishing gradepromotions and permitting each child to advance in his subject when heis ready to do so; third, by keeping the school open morning, afternoonand evening during practically the entire year; fourth, by making thework of interest to each individual child. Perhaps this matter ofinterest sums up better than any other the spirit of the Gary schools. The system aims to make the school so attractive that children willprefer to be there rather than to be anywhere else. 

How is this done? Take the case of John Frena, who occupies a place ofno particular distinction in the fifth year of the Gary schools. John'sschool day (from 8:30 A. M. To 4:00 P. M. ) is divided equally betweenregular work (reading, writing, geography, etc. ) and special work (play, nature study, manual training and the like). A day of John's school lifereads like this:

 _First period_--Playground, games, sports and gymnastics, under the direction of an expert. 

 _Second period_--Nature study, elementary science and physical geography. 

 _Third and fourth periods_--Reading, writing, spelling and language. 

 _Lunch hour. _

 _Fifth period_--Playground (as before). 

 _Sixth period_--Drawing and manual training. 

 _Seventh and eighth periods_--History, political geography and arithmetic. 

During his school day, John has played, used his head and his hands, andalternated the work in such a way that no one part of it ever becameirksome. 

Next week, music and literature will be substituted on John's programfor drawing; the following week manual training will replace one periodof play. The four special subjects (drawing and manual training, musicand literature, nature study and science, and plays and games) rotateregularly. Each day, however, includes four periods of this special workand four periods of regular work. 

Such a plan sounds complicated. In reality, it is very easy. Thegymnasium teacher stays in the gymnasium, the drawing teacher in thedrawing room. In the regular work, there are forty children in eachclass. For science and manual training these classes split in two. Atthe end of each period, or of each two periods, depending on thesubject, the children pass from one room to another. While this systembrings them under several teachers each day, it enables them to take asubject like art with one teacher for twelve years. 

Meanwhile our little friend John has shown himself bright in language, but slow in arithmetic. Immediately he is advanced in language, andperhaps placed in a lower arithmetic class. He may even be transferredto another teacher for special arithmetic work. The system permits thisflexibility because it allows each teacher, an expert in her own field, to shape her work to suit her pupils. 

Better still, if John cannot master his arithmetic in the regularclasses, he may attend voluntary classes on Saturday, at night, orduring the summer months. The schools afford him every chance to keep upin every subject, and if he cannot make his way in this subject or inthat, he works in the fields which are open to him, doing what he can tomake his course a success. 

John, in the schools of Gary, is John Frena, with all of John Frena'slimitations and possibilities. The Gary school seeks to bridge thelimitations, expand the possibilities, and give John Frena a thousandand one reasons for believing that if there is any place in the worldwhere he can grow into a complete man, that place is the Gary school. 

XV Smashing the School Machine

One of the oft-repeated complaints against the old education arose fromthe iron-clad system of promotion which once in each year, withautomatic precision, separated the sheep from the goats, saying to thesheep, "go higher, " and to the goats, "repeat the grade. "

For the sheep, the system worked fairly well, at least that once; butfor the goats, it was a tragedy. The child who had failed in one out ofsix branches, side by side with the child failing in six out of six, repeated the year. 

The new education affords several remedies for this situation. Of thesethe most generally known is promotion twice yearly. While this affordsconsiderable relief, it is greatly improved upon in Springfield, Mass. , by the division of each grade into three divisions--advanced, normaland backward. These divisions the teacher handles separately so thatwhen promotion time comes the children who have shown special aptitudeare prepared to go into the next grade. Meantime the children have beenconstantly changing from one division in the class to another. 

Perhaps the most generally practicable plan for relieving the mechanicalfeatures of promotion is found in Indianapolis, and even more intenselyin Gary, where children are promoted by subjects rather than by grades. In Indianapolis, the child entering the sixth grade, takes all Englishwith one teacher from that time until the end of the eighth grade. Ifthe child is strong in English, he advances rapidly. If he is weak inEnglish, the teacher gives him special attention. Learning each pupil'scapabilities in her particular branch, the teacher is able to give theindividual child, over a series of years, the help which his specialcase requires. 

In Gary the departmental idea is carried through the entire schoolsystem. In the Emerson School, for instance, children may take eighthgrade work in English and high school work in nature study or history. The departmental work is strengthened in Gary, in Indianapolis, and in anumber of other cities, by afternoon work, Saturday classes and vacationschools. Here, a child interested in any phase of the school work ordesiring to make up work in which he is deficient, may spend his sparetime to his heart's content. 

An even greater individuation of children exists in Fitchburg andNewton, Mass. , and in Providence, R. I. Children from the country andforeign children who have difficulty with their English, together withany other children who do not fit into any grade, are placed in anungraded class. A typical ungraded class of fifty pupils containedGermans, Russians, Greeks, French, Italians and Polish children, whowere unable to speak English on entering the school. The ages of thesechildren varied from eight to fifteen. As soon as the ungraded childrenappear to be fitted for any special grade, they are transferred. 

This ungraded work is supplemented by "floating teachers, " who arelocated in each school for the purpose of dealing with special cases. The case of any child who, for this reason or that, cannot keep up withthe work in a particular subject, is handed over to these teachers. Thusindividual attention is secured in individual cases. 

XVI All Hands Around for An Elementary School

These progressive educational steps are not isolated instances ofsuccess in new lines, nor are they incompatible with good work. They maybe welded into a unified system, aglow with the real interests of reallife. It is possible to correlate the old standard courses and the newfields in such a way that the child will gain in interest and in lifeexperience. 

Nowhere is this possibility better illustrated than in the elementaryschools of Indianapolis. Take as an example School No. 52, which islocated in an average district. The children, neither very rich nor verypoor, possess the advantages and disadvantages of that great mass knownas "common people. "

The children in grades one to three, inclusive, in addition to studyingthe three R's, spend thirty minutes each day learning to measure, fold, cut and weave paper. In grades four and five, an hour and a half perweek is devoted to simple weaving, knife-work, raffia work, sewing andbasketry. Grade six has four and a half hours of similar work each week, while in grades seven and eight, the pupils are occupied for one-thirdof their entire school time in art work, book-binding, pottery work, weaving (blankets and rugs), chair caning, cooking, sewing and printing. 

"But how is it possible?" queries the defender of the old system. "Howcan the necessary subjects be taught in two-thirds of the time nowdevoted to them? Are we not already crowded to death?"

Yes, crowded with dead work, the proof of which lies in the fact thatthe children who devote a third of the time to apply their knowledge getas good or better marks in the academic work than the three-thirdschildren. That, however, is not the really important point. This courseof study is valuable because it gives a rounded, unified training. 

This is how the course is organized. The school life is a unit, intowhich each department fits and in which it works. The spelling lesson iscovered in the classroom and set in type in the print shop. The grammarlesson consists in revising compositions with regulation proofreaders'corrections. The art department designs clothes which are made in thesewing classes. The drawing room furnishes plans for the wood and ironwork and designs for basketry and pottery. In the English classes, theproblems of caning and weaving are written and discussed. Themathematical problems are problems of the school. Children in thesixth year keep careful accounts of personal receipts andexpenditures--accounts which are balanced semi-weekly. The boy in onewoodworking class makes out an order for materials. A boy in anotherclass makes the necessary computations and fills the order. All costs ofdressmaking and cooking materials are carefully kept and dealt with asarithmetic problems. For the older boys, shop-cards are kept, showingthe amount and price of materials used and the time devoted to a givenoperation. These again form a basis for mathematical work. The whole isknit together in a civics class, which deals with the industrial, political and social questions, in their relations to the child and tothe community. 

Best of all, the things which the children talk and figure about, planand make, have value. The seventh and eighth year girls make clotheswhich they are proud to show and wear; they cook lunch for which some ofthe teachers pay a cost price. The baskets are taken home. Eighty chairsare caned by the children each year. The bindery binds magazines, songsand special literature. The boys make sleds and carts, hall stands, umbrella racks, center tables and stools. They make cupboards andshelves for the school, quilting-frames on which the girls do patchwork. Rags are woven into rag carpets and sold. The print shop prints all ofthe stationery for the school. Each can of preserves, in the ample stockput up by the girls, is labeled thus:

 "PRESERVED PEACHES"

with labels printed by the boys. 

June, 1912, witnessed a triumph for the entire school. The children inthe upper class had taken up the study of book-making. They even went toa bindery and saw a book bound and lettered. Then, to show what they hadlearned, they composed, set up and printed--

 A BOOK ABOUT BOOKS by June 8 A Class. 

This book of twenty-eight pages, tastefully covered and decorated, contained three half-tone cuts which the children paid for by means ofentertainments; an essay by Hazel Almas on "The History of Books, " oneby Adele Wise on "The Printing of a Book, " and one by Ruth Kingelman on"The Art of Bookbinding"; the program of the commencement exercises, anda collection of poems and wise sayings. 

The children went further and invited Mr. Charles Bookwalter, the ownerof the bookbindery where they had learned their lesson, to come and talkto them on Commencement Day. He came, made a splendid address and wentaway filled with wonder before these achievements of fourteen-year-oldgrammar school children. 

Each grade has a special subject of study. This year the boys in theEighth A are studying saws; the boys in Eighth B, lumbering; the girlsin Eighth A are investigating wool and silk; while in Eighth B the girlsare studying cotton and flax. This "study" means much. Not only do thechildren discuss the topics, write about them, read books on them, anddo problems concerning them, but they visit the factories and study theprocesses from beginning to end. 

When the problem of pins came up, the teacher desired several copies ofa description of pin-making, so she asked the class to write out aletter to the manufacturers. The class, left to select, decided to sendthis letter:

 SCHOOL NO. 52, Indianapolis, Ind. , Oct. 11, 1912. 

 AMERICAN PIN COMPANY, Waterbury, Conn. 

 _Dear Sirs_: On seeing the pamphlet on pins you have been kind enough to send us, I have decided to write and ask you if you would kindly send us about twenty of your pamphlets on the making of pins. 

 We are in the eighth grade, and expect to go out into the world in January, and your process of making pins will be spread abroad to the whole world. 

 We are very anxious to know more about the making of pins, and we are very much interested in your process. 

 Yours sincerely, RUTH HARRISON. 

Need I say that the American Pin Company sent immediately twentyduplicates of the desired pamphlet?

The work in this school where thought and activity go hand in hand, isdone by the regular grade teachers--done, and done well. They are asenthusiastic as the pupils. Four years' trial has convinced them. On theday that I visited the school, I walked into a classroom where twentygirls were busy sewing. The order was perfect. Every one was busy. Theteacher was nowhere in evidence. 

"That teacher, " explained the principal to me later, "is off at ateachers' meeting. She left these girls on their honor to work. You seethe result. "

I saw and marveled. Yet why marvel? Was not this a typical product ofthe system which knits thought and activity into such a harmonious, fascinating whole as the most fortunate adults find in later life? Outof such a school may we not well develop harmony and keen life? Neveryet have men gathered grapes from thistles, but often and often havethey plucked from fig trees the figs which they craved and sought. 

XVII From a Blazed Trail to a Paved Highway

Pages might be filled with descriptions of similar successes, yet Ithink that my point is already sufficiently established. How can wedisagree regarding so plain a matter? The path of educational progresshas led away from the three R's along a trail, blazed at first by a fewmen and women who dreamed and stepped forward hesitatingly. Often theyretraced their steps, discouraged, and gave over the little they hadgained. By degrees, however, the trail was blazed. The way becameclearer. After all it was possible to connect education with life. 

Slowly the light of this truth dawned upon men's minds. Gradually theway opened before them. One by one they trod the path, bridging theworst defiles, straightening the road, cutting out the thickets andfilling in the morasses, until at last, behold the way, explored byhesitating, derided pioneers, no longer a trail, but a broad highway. Others have gone--their name is legion--and have succeeded. The threeR's are but the beginning of an adequate elementary curriculum. You, inyour own city, with your own teachers, can vitalize your elementaryschools. You can teach the children to use their heads and handstogether, and thus show them the way to a deeper interest in yourschools, and a larger outlook on their work in life. 

CHAPTER V

KEEPING THE HIGH SCHOOL IN STEP WITH LIFE

I The Responsibility of the High School

"Every pupil of high school maturity should be in high school atmospherewhether he has completed the work of the grammar grades or not, " insistsDr. F. E. Spaulding. "Perhaps the high school course of study is notadapted to the needs of such children. Well, so much the worse for thecourse of study. The sooner the high school suits its work to the needsof fourteen and fifteen-year-old boys and girls, the sooner it will befilling its true place in the community. " Such opinions, voiced in thiscase by a man whose national reputation is founded on his splendid workas superintendent of the school system of Newton Mass. , bespeak theattitude of the most progressive American high schools. 

The high school is not a training ground for colleges, nor is it arepository of classical lore. As an advanced school it differs no morefrom the elementary school than the six cylinder automobile differs fromthe four cylinder car. Though its work is more complex, like theelementary school it exists for the sole purpose of helping children tolive wholesome, efficient lives. 

II An Experiment in Futures

Children who get stranded in the seventh or eighth grades may havefailed in one subject or in several. Over age and out of place, theylose interest, become discouraged and at fourteen drop out of school towork or to idle. In Newton, as in every other town, there were a numberof just such children whom Mr. Spaulding decided to get into the highschool. 

"There they will be among children of their own age, " he explained. "They may take a new line of work and acquire a real interest. "

"But they will fail in their high school work as they have failed intheir grade work, " protested the doubters. 

Mr. Spaulding, smiling his quiet, genial smile, tried his experiment allthe same. From the seventh and eighth grades of the Newton schools hepicked the boys and girls who were fifteen or more at their nextbirthdays. These pupils, seventy in all--forty girls and thirtyboys--were transferred, without examination, into the high school. 

"These youngsters were going to drop out of school for good in one year, or two at the outside, " explained Mr. Spaulding, "so I made up my mindthat during that year at least they should have some high schooltraining. They went to the regular high school teachers for theirhand-work; but for their studies, I put them in charge of three capablegrade teachers, who were responsible for seeing that each child wasmaking good. I put it to the grade teachers this way: 'Here are a lot ofchildren who have got the failure habit by failing all through theirschool course. Unless we want to send them out of our school to makesimilar failures in life, we must teach them to succeed. Take each childon his own merits, give him work that he can do and let him learnsuccess. '

"We gave these boys and girls twenty hours a week of technical work(drawing, designing, shop-work, cooking and sewing) and ten hours aweek of academic work (English, mathematics, civics and hygiene). Shopcosts, buying of materials and simple accounting covered theirmathematics. Those were the things which would probably be most needfulin life. The boys got deeply interested in civics, and we let them go asfar and as fast as they pleased. With the girls we discussed hygiene, dressing and a lot of other things in which they were interested. 

"When those children entered the school they were boisterous and rough. The girls dressed gaudily, reveling in cheap finery. By Christmas, toall appearances, their classes differed in no way from the other highschool classes. They all brushed their hair. The boys were neater andthe girls were becomingly dressed. ["]

Most of the seventy children stayed through the year. Twenty-seven ofthe forty girls and seventeen of the thirty boys entered the regularhigh school course the next fall. They were thus put into competitionwith their former seventh and eighth grade comrades, although they hadhad only two-fifths as much academic work as the regular eighth gradepupils. There was the test. 

Could these derelicts, after one year of special care, take their placesin the regular freshman high school work? After the end of the firstquarter, a study made of the 800 children in the high school showed thaton the average there were fifty-four hundredths of one failure for eachscholar. Among the twenty-seven girls from the special classes, however, there was but seventeen-hundredths of a failure for each girl, orone-third as many failures as in the whole school. The boys made an evenbetter showing. Of the entire seventeen, only one boy failed, and inonly one subject. 

III The Success Habit

"We had given them something they liked and could do, " Mr. Spauldingconcluded. "They succeeded a few times, got the success habit, learnedto like school, went into the regular high school course and succeededthere. "

As an illustration of the way in which the new plan works, take the caseof James Rawley. James was in a serious predicament. Time after time thecourt had overlooked his truancy and misdoings, but James had taken thepitcher once too often to the well, and the open doors of the StateReform School stared him grimly in the face. 

"It will be best for him in the long run, " commented the judge. "Eachmonth of this wild life makes him a little less fit to keep his place inthe community. He has had his last chance. "

Yet there was one ray of hope, for James lived in and out of Boston, acity located near the Newton Technical High School. This fact ledJames's custodians to propose to the judge that he give James one moretrial, this time in the Newton Technical High School. The judge, also ofthe initiated, agreed to the suggestion, and James, a dismal eighthgrade failure, entered the Newton Technical High School in one of thespecial transfer classes. 

Just a word about James. He began life badly. His mother died when hewas young; and his father, a rather indifferent man, boarded the boy outduring his early years with an aunt, who first spoiled him throughindulgence, and then, inconsistently enough, hated him because he wasspoiled. Growing up in this uncongenial atmosphere, James becameentirely uncontrollable. He was disagreeable in the extreme, wild andunmanageable. 

The people with whom James was boarding grew tired of his continuedtruancy and he was placed on a farm near Boston. There, too, he wasdiscontented, dissatisfied and disobedient. Time after time he ran awayto Boston. He went on from bad to worse, falling in with vagrants, learning their talk and their ways, acquiring a love for wandering and adistaste for regularity and direction. Taken into custody by theJuvenile Court, and placed on probation with a family outside of Boston, James again ran away to mingle with a crowd of his old associates inBoston. It was at this point that the court decided to send him to theReform School. It was likewise at this time that some friendly peopletook him in charge, found him a home in Newton, and started his lifeanew in the Newton Technical High School, which James entered with aspecial transfer class. Promoted to the regular freshman class on trial, James has renewed his interest in education and bids fair to make hisway through the high school. 

James is doing well in the Newton Technical High School. Though he doesnot like all of the regular high school work, he has a full course, andis working at it persistently. Heretofore school has never appealed tohim--in fact, he hated it cordially--but the school at Newton offeredhim such a variety of subjects that he was able to find some which wereattractive. Since then he has been working on those subjects. 

There are many cities in which every school door would have been closedto James, because he did not fit into the school system, but thesuperintendent of the Newton schools believes in making the school fitthe needs of the boy. A fantastic theory? Well, perhaps a trifle, fromone viewpoint; nevertheless, it is the soul of education. 

IV The Help-Out Spirit

As a result of this special promotion policy, there are practically noover-age pupils in the grammar schools of Newton. Instead of square pegsin round holes, the Newton High School can boast of sixty or seventychildren who come, each year, in search of a new opening for which theyare technically not ready, but into which they may grow. After coming tothe high school, two-thirds of them find an incentive sufficient to leadthem to continue with an education of which they had already wearied. 

The Newton High School, recognizing its obligation to serve the people, strains every nerve to enable boys and girls to take high school work. The printing teacher pointed to his class of twenty. 

"Only three of them do not work on Saturdays and after school. Theycouldn't come here if they didn't work. Hiney, there, was in a bakeshopall day at three and a half a week. We got him a job afternoons andSaturdays that pays him three dollars. That tall fellow will sendhimself through high school on the six dollars a week that he gets froma drug store where he works outside of school hours. "

"We aim, " added Mr. Spaulding, "to do everything in our power to make itpossible for the boys to come here. If their parents cannot afford tosend them, we find work for them to do outside of school hours. "

That is virile work, is it not? And the result? During the past eightyears the number of pupils in the Newton schools who are over fourteenhas increased three times as fast as the number of pupils who are underfourteen. The school authorities have searched the highways and bywaysof the educational world until one-quarter of the school children ofNewton are in the high schools. 

V Joining Hands with the Elementary Schools

The same result which is attained informally at Newton is accomplishedmore formally by the organization of the junior high schools which havesprung up in Berkeley and Los Angeles, California; Evansville, Indiana;Dayton, Ohio, and a number of other progressive educational centers. Thechild's school life under this plan is divided into three parts--theelementary grades (years one to six), the junior high school (yearsseven to nine) and the high school proper (years ten to twelve). Thebreak, if break there must be, between the elementary and the highschool, thus comes at age twelve and at age fifteen, instead of, asformerly, coming at age fourteen, when the temptation to leave school isso strong. Then, too, the sharp transition from work by grades to workby departments is made easier because the junior high school combinesthe two, leading the pupil gradually over from the grade method to thedepartment method. 

Though the junior high school has so great a popularity, its work iseclipsed by the still more revolutionary program of those educators whoadvocate the complete abolition of any line between the elementary andthe high school, and the establishment of a public school of twelveschool years. This plan, coupled with promotion by subjects rather thanby grades, replaces the machine method of promotion and the gap betweenelementary and high schools by an easy, natural progression adaptable tothe needs of any student, from the end of the kindergarten to thebeginning of the university. 

Superintendent Wirt of Gary, Indiana, has established such atwelve-year course in the Emerson School. The grades, numbered from oneto twelve, are so arranged that a girl may take half of her subjects inschool year eight (last grammar grade) and the other half in school yearnine (first high school grade). In order to make the harmony morecomplete, Mr. Wirt places the elementary rooms, containing the secondgrade pupils, next door to the rooms which shelter high school seniors. On this side of the hall is a kindergarten; directly across from it is aclass in high school geometry. 

The same plan, on a larger scale, has been adopted by I. B. Gilbert, principal of the Union High School, Grand Rapids, Michigan, which housestwelve hundred students. 

"We have obliterated the sharp line of distinction between the grades, "declared Mr. Gilbert. "The school, which is a new one, has a verycomplete equipment--physical, chemical, and biological laboratories, twocooking rooms, dressmaking and millinery rooms, an art department, awoodworking shop, a forge room and a machine shop; the print shop, though not yet installed, is to be put in this year. By bringingchildren of all grades to the school, we place at the disposal of gradepupils apparatus ordinarily reserved for high school pupils only. At thesame time, our equipment is in constant use and the cost of establishinga separate industrial department or school for the grades is eliminated. 

"These are merely the surface advantages, however. The real gain to thestudents is in other and most significant directions. First, theabolishing of rigid grading allows each child to follow his own bent. Atthe beginning of the adolescent period, when the old interests begin tolag, some new ideas must be furnished if the child is to be kept inschool. We provide that new stimulus by beginning departmental workwith the seventh year (at twelve or thirteen). Then, if the child showsany particular preference for any line of work, he may pursue it. Fromthe seventh grade up, promotion is by subjects entirely, and not bygrades. If a student elects art, she may follow up her art work for thenext six years; similarly, a boy may follow shop-work, or a girldomestic science or millinery. In order to fit the school more quicklyto the pupils' need, we make a division at the beginning of the eighthgrade of those pupils desiring to take academic work and those desiringto take industrial work in the high school. The latter group does extrasewing or shop-work twice each week. 

"Again, we take all over-age and over-size pupils from the schools inthis section of the city, and by placing them in ungraded classes, permit them to take the work which they can do. Here is a boy who cannotmaster grammar. That is no reason why he should not design jewelry, sowe give him fourth year language, and take him into the tenth year classin jewelry design. Yes, and he makes good, doing excellent craft workand gradually pulling up in his language. By this means we make ourtwelve grade school fit the needs of any and every pupil who may come toit. 

"We have a natural educational progress for twelve years, " concluded Mr. Gilbert. "There is no break anywhere. Instead of making it hard to stepfrom grade eight to grade nine, we interrelate them so intimately thatthe student scarcely feels the change from one to the other. The result?Last June there were 152 pupils in our eighth grade. Of that number 118, or more than three-quarters of them reported in the ninth grade thisfall. We have cancelled the invitation to quit school at the end of theeighth grade and our children stay with us. "

VI The Abolition of "Mass Play"

Thus the dark narrow passage-way from the elementary to the higherschools is being widened, lighted, paved and sign-posted. In some schoolsystems it has disappeared altogether, leaving the promotion from theeighth year to the first year high school as easy as the step from theseventh to the eighth grade. After the children have reached the highschool, however, the task is only begun. First they must beindividualized, second socialized, and third taught. 

"The trouble with the girls, " complained Wm. McAndrew, in discussing hisfour thousand Washington Irvingites, "is that they have always beentaught mass play. Take singing, for instance. A class started off willsing beautifully all together, but get one girl on her feet and she isafraid to utter a note. The grade instruction has taught them groupacting and group thinking. I step into a class of Freshmen with a 'Goodmorning, girls'. 

"'Good morning, ' they chorus. 

"'Are you glad to see me, girls?'

"'Yes sir, ' again in chorus. 

"'Do you wished I was hanged?'

"'Yes sir, ' generally, --

"'Oh, no sir, ' cries one girl who has begun to cerebrate. The ideacatches all over the class, and again the chorus comes, --

"'Oh, no sir, no sir. '

"So it goes. The bright girl takes her cue from the teacher and theclass takes the cue from the bright girl. They must be taught to thinkand do for themselves. "

Everyone interested in school children should visit the WashingtonIrving School (New York) and watch the truly wonderful McAndrew systemof individualization. In the office, you are cordially greeted. You wishto see the school? By all means! But no teacher is detailed to serveyou. Instead, a messenger goes in search of the Reception Committee. Twoof the school girls, after a formal introduction, start your tour ofinspection, if you are fortunate enough to be there at nine, with avisit to one of the assembly rooms, where, in groups of three or fourhundred, the girls enjoy three-quarters of an hour each morning. Theword "enjoy" is used advisedly, for, unlike the ordinary assembly, thisone is conducted entirely by the girls. 

Each morning a different chairman and secretary is selected, so that inthe course of the year every girl has had her turn. The chairman, aftercalling the meeting to order and appointing two critics for the day, reads her own scripture selection, and then calls upon some girl to leadthe salute to the flag. The minutes of the previous day's meeting arethen read, discussed and accepted. After fifteen minutes ofsinging--singing of everything from "Faust" to "Rags"--the chairmancalls on the two critics for their criticism of the conduct of thatday's meeting. Some special event is then in order. On one Monday inDecember Miss Sage, head of the Biology Department, described theBiological Laboratory in the new school building. After she hadfinished, the chairman rose. 

"Will anyone volunteer to tell in a few words the principal points whichMiss Sage made?"

Three girls were promptly on their feet, giving, in clear, collectedlanguage, an analysis of the talk. 

After you, as a guest, have been conducted to the platform, introducedto the chairman, and given a seat of honor, the chairman turns to theassembly, with the announcement, --

"Girls, I wish to introduce to you our guest of this morning. "

Instantly the whole assembly rises, singing blithely, "Good morning, honored guest, we the girls of the Washington Irving High School areglad to welcome you. "

The proceedings having come to an end, the chairman declares the meetingadjourned and you look about, realizing with a start that thegirls--freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors--have spentthree-quarters of an hour in charge of themselves, and have done it withinterest, and with striking efficiency. Continuing your journey, youfind the process of individualization everywhere present. Here a girl isin front of a class, directing the calisthenics which precede each classhour. There a girl is standing at the front of the room, leading singingor quizzing in geometry. 

"Yes, it was a wrench, " Mr. McAndrew admits. "You see, the teachershated to give up. They had been despots during all of their teachinglives, and the idea of handing the discipline and a lot of theresponsibility of the school over to the girls hurt them dreadfully, butthey have tried it and found that it works. "

VII Experimental Democracy

The high school pupil, after discovering himself, must next determinehis relation to the community. It is one thing to break down what Mr. McAndrew calls the W. I. (Wooden Indian) attitude. It is quite anotherto relate pupils to the community in which they live. Yet this, too, canbe done. The school is a society--incomplete in certain respects, yet inits broad outline similar to the city and the state. The social work ofthe school consists in showing the citizens of the school-community howto enjoy the privileges and act up to the responsibilities ofcitizenship. The Emerson School at Gary and the Union High School atGrand Rapids, organized into complete schools from the first grade tothe end of the high school, are miniature working models of thecomposite world in which all of the children will live. 

Particularly effective work has been done on the social side of highschool organization at the William Penn High School (Philadelphia), where Mr. Lewis has turned the conduct of student affairs over to aStudent Government Association, directed by a Board of Governors ofeighteen, on which the faculty, represented by five members, holds anadvisory position only. The Association gives some annual event, like aMay day fete, in which all of the girls take part. It assumes charge ofthe corridors, elevators, and lunch rooms; grants charters to clubs andstudent societies, and assumes a general direction of student affairs. 

"It really doesn't take much time, " Irene Litchman, the first term(1912-13) President, explained. "We like it and we're proud to do it. Weused to have teachers everywhere taking charge of things. Now we do itall ourselves. " True enough, Madame President, and it is well done, asany casual observer may see. Similar testimony is to be had from thesick girls who have received letters and flowers, from the childrenwhose Christmas has been brightened by Association-dressed dolls, andfrom the girls whose misunderstandings with members of the faculty havebeen settled by the Student Association. 

Each class in the Washington Irving High School (New York) gives onereception a term to one of the other classes. In addition, an annualreception and play are given by the entire school. The plays for theseoccasions are written, costumed and staged by the students. Last yearthe reception was given to Mrs. Dix, wife of the Governor of New York, and the play "Rip Van Winkle" was acted by eighteen hundred girls. Suchorganizations and activities lead high school students to feel socialrelationships, and to assume responsibilities as members of the socialgroup. 

VIII Breaching the Chinese Wall of High School Classicism

A high school education is included, by progressive communities, in thebirthright of every child. Since only a small part of these children arepreparing for college, the school must offer more than the traditionalhigh school course. The principal of a great Western high school whichhoused nearly two thousand children, pointed to one room in which a tinyclass bent over their books. "That is probably the last class in Greekthat we shall ever have in the school, " he said. "They are sophomores. Only two freshmen elected Greek this fall, and we decided not to formthe class. " Time was when Greek was one of the pillars of the highschool course of study. In this particular school, splendidly equippedlaboratories, sewing rooms, and shops have claimed the children. Theclassics are still popular with a small minority, but the vast majoritycome to learn some lesson which will direct their steps along thepathway of life. 

Everywhere the technical high school courses are gaining by leaps andbounds. The William Penn High School (Philadelphia), established in1909, is to-day enrolling four-fifths of the girls who enterPhiladelphia high schools. In some cities, technical work and classicalwork are done in the same building; in other cities, they are shelteredseparately, but everywhere the high school is opening its doors to thatgreat group of school children who, at seventeen or eighteen, must andwill enter the arena of life. 

The technical high school has not gained its prestige easily, however. The bitter contests between the old and the new are well portrayed byone dramatic episode from the history of the Los Angeles High School. Mr. John H. Francis, now superintendent of the schools of Los Angeles, was head of the Commercial Department in the Los Angeles High School. Despite opposition and ridicule the department grew until it finallyemerged as a full-fledged technical high school, claiming a building ofits own, --a building which Mr. Francis insisted should containaccommodations for two thousand students. The authoritiesprotested, --"Two thousand technical students? Why, Los Angeles is not ametropolis. " Mr. Francis gained his point, however, and the building waserected to accommodate two thousand children. When the time for openingarrived it was discovered, to the astonishment of the doubters, thatmore students wanted to come into the school than the school would hold. When Mr. Francis announced that students up to two thousand would beadmitted in order of application, excitement in school circles ran high, and on the day before Registration Day a line began to form which grewin length as the day wore on, until by nightfall it extended for squaresfrom the school. All that night the boys and girls camped in theirplaces, waiting for the morning which would bring an opportunity toattend the technical high school. 

Though less dramatic in form, the rush toward technical high schoolcourses is equally significant. It is not that the old high school haslost, but that the new high school is drawing in thousands of boys andgirls who, from lack of interest in classical education, would have gonedirectly from the grammar school into the mill or the office. 

IX An Up-to-Date High School

The modern high school is housed in a building which contains, inaddition to the regular class rooms, gymnasiums, a swimming tank, physics, and chemical laboratories; cooking, sewing, and millineryrooms; wood-working, forge, and machine shops; drawing rooms; a musicroom; a room devoted to arts and crafts; and an assembly room. Thisarrangement of rooms presupposes Mr. Gilbert's plan of making the highschool, like the community, an aggregation of every sort of people, doing every sort of work. 

Physical training in the high school has not yet come into its own, though it is on the road to recognition. All of the newer high schoolshave gymnasiums, but the children do not use them for more than thirty, forty, or fifty minutes a week. Sometimes the work is optional. The WestTechnical of Cleveland, with its outdoor basket ball court, its athleticgrounds and grandstand, in addition to the indoor gymnasium, offers agood example of effective preparation for physical training. William D. Lewis of the William Penn High School sends all students who havephysical defects to the gymnasium three, four, or even five times aweek, until the defects are corrected. These exceptions merely serve toemphasize the fact that we have not yet learned that high schoolchildren have bodies which are as much in need of development andtraining as the minds which the bodies support. 

Several real attempts are being made to teach high school boys and girlsto care for their bodies, as they would for any other precious thing. Hygiene is taught, positively, --the old time "don'ts" being replaced bya series of "do's. " In many schools, careful efforts are being made togive a sound sex education. The program at William Penn, in addition tothe earlier work in biology and in personal and community hygiene, includes a senior course, extending through the year, in DomesticSanitation and Eugenics. The course, given by the women in charge ofPhysical Training, deals frankly with the domestic and personal problemswhich the girls must face. The time is ripe for other schools to fall inline behind these much-needed pioneers. 

The course of study in the modern high school is a broad one. Latin mayalways be taken, and sometimes there is Greek. French, German andSpanish, Mathematics, History, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Civicsare almost universally offered on the cultural side of the curriculum. In addition, girls may take dress designing, sewing, millinery and homeeconomics; boys may take wood-working, forge work, machine-tool work, electricity, printing, and house designing; and both boys and girls havean opportunity to elect art, arts and crafts work and music. 

In some schools the combination of subjects group themselves intodefinite courses, as in the Newton High School, which offers, --

 The Classical Course. The Scientific Course. The General Course. The Technical Course. The Technology-College Course. The Extra Technical Course. The Fine Arts Course. The Business Course. 

Other schools, like the Indianapolis Manual Training School, permit thepupil, with the advice of the principal, to make his own combination ofsubjects. Whether prepared by the school or by the pupil, however, thecourses lead to college, to normal schools, to advanced technicalschools, or to some definite vocation. On one subject, progressive highschools are in absolute agreement, --the course of study must furnishboth culture and technical training in a form which meets the needs ofhigh school children. 

X From School to Shop and Back Again

The tendency toward vocational training finds its extreme expression inthe so-called Industrial Co-operative Course in which boys and girlsspend part of their time in school and part in the factory. Note thislegal document. "The party of the second part agrees to place, as far aspossible, the facilities of his establishment at the disposal of theSchool Committee for general educational purposes along industriallines. " In these words, the individual manufacturers of Providence, Rhode Island, who are co-operating with the school board for theestablishment of the industrial co-operative course in the TechnicalHigh School, place their mills and factories at the disposal of theschool authorities. The plan instituted at the suggestion of themanufacturers themselves has won the approval of all parties during thetwo years of its operation. 

The Providence experiment differs from those of Cincinnati andFitchburg, Mass. , in two respects, --in the first place, the schoolauthorities have a written contract with the manufacturers. In thesecond place, they may decide what the character of the shop-work shallbe. The boy who elects to take the industrial co-operative course inProvidence spends ten weeks in a shop at the end of his freshman year. Apprenticeship papers are signed, the boy gives a bond, which isforfeited if he drops the course without a satisfactory reason, and forthree years he spends 29 weeks in the shop and 20 weeks in school, alternating, one week in the shop, the next in the school. For theirshop-work the boys receive ten cents, twelve cents, and fourteen centsan hour during the first, second, and third years, respectively. Thoughthis wage is not high, it is sufficient to enable the boys to earnenough during the year ($175 to $250) to pay for their keep at homeduring their high school course. 

At the present time sixty-two Providence boys are working part time inmachine shops, in drafting rooms, in machine tool construction, inpattern making and in jewelry making. In order to keep the schemeelastic, the school offers to form a class in any trade for whichsixteen or more boys will apply. 

The part-time course is primarily educational and secondarilyvocational. Since it may determine the character of the shop-work, theschool is in a position to insure its educational value. Again, theacademic training is still received in the school, while the technicalwork, heretofore done in school rooms, is carried on in the fields ofreal industry. As a supplement of the old time system of apprenticeship, the part-time school is an undoubted success, because it adds to shopapprentice work all of the essential elements of a high schooleducation. 

XI Fitting the High School Graduate Into Life

The high school has not done its full duty when it has educated thechild, --it must go a step farther and educate him for something; then itmust go a step beyond that and help him to find himself in his chosenprofession. This vocational guidance which is filling so large a placein public discussions, may mean guidance to a job or it may includeguidance in the job. In either case children must be led to decide uponthe kind of work for which they are fitted before they leave the school. 

Jesse B. Davis, Principal of the Central High School at Grand Rapids, furnishes a brilliant example of this vocational directing. Mr. Davisbegins his work through the theme writing and oral composition of theseventh and eighth grades. The purpose of the pupils' reading anddiscussion is to arouse their vocational ambition and to lead them toappreciate the value of further education and training for life. Thisstudy upon the part of the pupil is supplemented by talks given by Mr. Davis, prominent business and professional men and high school boys whohave come back to finish their education after a few years of battlewith the world. 

The high school classes in English are small--never more thantwenty-five, and the work is so arranged that the teacher may get a goodidea of the capability of each student. To facilitate this, the EnglishDepartment has prepared a series of essay subjects in the writing ofwhich the pupil gives the teacher a very definite idea of himself. Beginning with "My Three Wishes;" the pupil next writes a story abouthis ancestry; an essay on "My Church, " which explains his belief; anessay on "The Part I'd Like to Play in High School;" a study of "My BestFriend, " and finally an essay on "The Work of My Early School Days, "which shows the pupil's likes and dislikes. In addition to this, theteacher notes any physical defects--eyesight, hearing, and thelike--which might incapacitate the pupil for particular vocations. Thisdata, together with reports from all departments on neatness, sincerity, ambition and other qualities is filed in the office. 

During the second term of the freshman year papers are written onapproved biographies, dealing in each case with the qualities, opportunities and education of the great one. These essays, read inclass, form the basis for a compilation of the elements necessary forsuccess in life. 

The work of the sophomore year begins with the preparation of a classlist of professions, semi-professions and trades, --a list which ischecked with the permanent list kept by the department. Succeedingclasses thus discover the breadth of the vocational field, besidesadding to the knowledge accumulated by their predecessors. 

After completing this list, the pupils write a letter to the teacher, choosing a vocation and assigning reasons for the choice. When the pupilcannot decide, the teacher assigns the vocation apparently best suitedto the pupil's capacity. An essay on his vocation is then prepared byeach pupil, showing first, what kind of activity and whatresponsibilities the vocation involves; second, its social, intellectualand financial advantages; third, the corresponding disadvantages;fourth, the qualifications and traits necessary to success in thevocation; and fifth, the reasons for choosing the vocation. Then, underthe advice of the teacher, the pupil writes to some man well known inthe profession of his choice--some lawyer, mining engineer, doctor orcontractor--explaining what he is doing, and asking for advice. Thegenerous responses given by men in all walks of life do much to confirmthe pupil in his faith, or to make him see that his choice is an unwiseone. 

At the beginning of the junior year those pupils preparing for collegesend for the catalogues of the colleges which stand highest in the lineof work in which they are interested, and write an essay, giving thecomparative value of the courses offered by the various institutions. Bythis means judgment takes the place of sentiment in the selection of acollege. While the college preparatory pupils are engaged in writing ontheir college courses, pupils who are going directly from the highschool into business write an elaborate essay on the kind of preparationnecessary for their vocation, the qualities requisite for success in it, and the best place and means of entering it. Studies of the properrelations between employer and employed occupy the second half of thejunior year. 

The work of the senior year deals, in the first half, with the relationbetween a citizen and his city; the second half, with the relationbetween a citizen and the state. The pupil has thus passed from thenarrower to the broader aspects of his work in life. 

The effectiveness of the work is enhanced by the organization of thehigh school boys into a Junior Association of Commerce (in an exactimitation of the Grand Rapids Association of Commerce), which meets inthe rooms of the latter on Saturday morning; transacts business; listensto an address by a specialist, and then visits his works, if he isengaged in a local industry. On the Saturday before Thanksgiving (1912), for example, Mr. VanWallen, of the VanWallen Tannery Co. , gave the boysa talk on the tanning industry, then took them through his tannery, where they saw the processes of manufacture. The business men of GrandRapids, who are highly pleased with this practical turn in education, co-operate heartily in every way. The boys are urged, during the summermonths, to take a position in the work which they have chosen, start atthe bottom and find out whether their beliefs regarding the industryare true. Then, too, the Free Library makes a point of collecting booksand articles on various professions and vocations, and placing themprominently before the students. The English Department (with fiveperiods a week) does other work, but none so vital to the pupils' livesas this of directing them in the thing which they hope to do when theyleave school. 

The school may do more than direct the pupils in the choice of theiroccupations, by actually securing positions for them. The head of theCommercial Department in the Newton (Massachusetts) High School has acard for every student, giving on one side a record of class work forfour years, and on the other side a statement of positions and pay ofthe graduate. New pupils are placed; old pupils are offered betteropportunities. Employers are interviewed in attempts to have thempromote graduates. Through this system, Mr. Maxim keeps in constanttouch with the labor market and with graduates of his school. 

Certainly the high school must prepare students for life. Whether, inaddition, it shall constitute itself a Public Employment Bureau, findingpositions for students, keeping in touch with their careers, andassisting in their advancement, is a matter yet to be determined. 

XII The High School as a Public Servant

Will the high school retain its present form? Probably not. If theBerkeley-Los Angeles plan prevails, there will be three steps in thepublic schools, --from elementary to junior high, to high school. If theGary plan wins, there will be twelve years of schooling, following oneanother as consecutively as day follows night. Whether the Los Angelesor the Gary plan is adopted, one thing seems reasonably certain, --thehigh school will keep in close touch with life. 

The high school is securing a surer grip on the world with each passingday. It is reaching out toward the grades, calling the pupils to come;it is reaching out into the world, making places there for them tooccupy. The modern high school has ceased to be an adjunct to thecollege. Instead, it is a distinctive unit in educational life, takingboys and girls between the ages of fourteen and nineteen and relatingthem to the world in which they must live. 

The era of the high school course is being succeeded by the era of thehigh school boy and the high school girl. First, last, now and always, the boys and girls, not the course, deserve primary consideration. Whatever their needs, the high school must supply them if it is tobecome a public servant, responsible for training children of highschool age in the noble art of living. 

CHAPTER VI

HIGHER EDUCATION AT LOWVILLE[20]

I Lowville and the Neighborhood

Away off in northwestern New York State, where the sun shines fiercelyin the summer mid-day, where the ice forms thick on the lakes, and thesnow lies on the north side of the hills from Thanksgiving well on toEaster, there is a town of some three thousand inhabitants, calledLowville. The comfortable homes, brick stores, wide tree-borderedstreets, smiling hills and giddy children look very much the same atLowville as they do in any one of a thousand similar towns east of theMississippi. Situated far back from the line of ordinary travel, thetown is typical of a great class. 

Stretching in all directions about Lowville is a fertile, prosperous, agricultural region, farmed by good farmers, who are intelligently awaketo the problem of scientific agriculture in its multiple phases. 

These farmers grow fruits, raise general farm produce, breed a littlestock, cut some timber, besides all of the time-honored occupations ofthe professional farmer. The boys and girls growing up in the town orthe neighboring countryside, blessed with good air, and a cheap supplyof wholesome food, look pleasantly forward toward life as somethingworth living. 

So much for the good side of Lowville. Sad indeed is it to recall thatthere is another side. Anyone who has been in close contact withcountry life can readily imagine the ignorance, bigotry, prejudice, unfairness and unsociableness of the population; the tendency to clingto the past no matter what its shortcomings; the unwillingness toventure into even the rosiest future which involves change. Lowville isblessed a great deal and cursed a very little. The blessings are beingaugmented and the curses minimized by means of the local high school. 

II Lowville Academy

Lowville Academy is an ancient private school whose usefulness wasimmensely enhanced when it was converted into a public high school. WhenMr. W. F. H. Breeze took over the principalship he made no particularobjection to the old class rooms and wooden stairs, but he was veryinsistent upon discovering, first, what the community needed, andsecond, whether or not the school was meeting the need. 

More than half (at the present time sixty-five per cent. ) of the pupilsat the school came from outside of the village. That is, they come fromthe farms. As farmers' boys, many of them have been brought up to all ofthe unscientific crudities which have been handed down in Americanagriculture since the early settlers took the land from the Indians ingrateful recognition of their instructions in fertilization. While manyagricultural anachronisms may be laid to the door of the redskins, planting by the moon and several equally absurd customs are traceable tothe higher civilization of Western Europe. 

Saturated with traditional agricultural lore--some better and someworse--the boys and girls from outside of Lowville, sixty-five in eachhundred high school students, were growing up to become the owners ofpromising New York farms. They needed, first of all, an education whichshould equip them with all of the culture of our schools, beside givingthem a knowledge of the sciences of agriculture and of mechanics. Thoseboys and girls who were planning to go to college required an advancecourse in those purgatorial topics which, for some inexplicable reason, are still regarded as necessary preliminaries to a college education. Most of the girls in Lowville and the immediate vicinity hope to marrysooner or later, and to preside over wholesome, clean homes. Forhome-making, also, there were certain possible educational provisions. 

As prospective farmers, mechanics, college students, business men andwomen, as prospective fathers and mothers, the boys and girls ofLowville were looking to the schools--high as well as elementary--for aneducation which should enable them to do successfully and efficientlythose things which life was holding before them. 

Furthermore, Lowville had no spot around which community interests andcivic ideas could center. There was intelligent interest in Lowville, its streets, schools, trees, houses, and business interests; there was, too, an interest, expressed among the neighboring farmers, in thewonderful strides of agriculture; furthermore, men and women wereanxious to discuss political and social happenings in other parts of theworld. 

What more natural than that the school be converted into a center ofinterest and education for Lowville and the surrounding territory. Adults, as well as young folks, needed school help. Adults as well asyoung folks should then be accommodated in the Lowville schools. 

III The School's Opportunity

"There was a peculiar opportunity, " said Mr. Breeze, in his crisp directway. "The place needed organizing in educational lines. People wereanxious to have it done. They wanted the advantage of a moderneducational institution, but no one had provided it, so I made up mymind that my business was to do it. "

Mr. Breeze made his first innovation in the course of study, supplementing the old course by domestic science, several phases ofagriculture and mechanics. Then he correlated the various branches insuch a way that the subjects all harmonized with the work which anyparticular student was doing. 

"We made up our minds, " Mr. Breeze explained, "that if we were to holdthe children and to educate them usefully, we must make our course fitthe things which they had to do in life. The work must come down toearth. It had to be practical--that is, applicable to everyday affairs. Some people confuse practical with pecuniary. There is no relationbetween the two words. Practical means usable. We set out to make ausable education. "

"No education is usable which has frills, " Mr. Breeze insists. "Frillsare nice for looks, but you can't put on frills until you have a garmentto which they may be attached. Our school is providing the garment--wewill leave the frills to some one else. "

With this idea in mind, the applied courses in the school wereorganized. Wood-alcohol cook stoves, such as those used in the village, ordinary sewing machines, typewriters for the commercial course, and thesimplest tools for the machine shop, made up the equipment. 

"These boys have but a few tools at home, " Mr. Breeze says. "When theygo on the farm they will be compelled to use these tools. Why, then, should they be taught mechanics with tools which they cannot duplicateon their farms without an unjustifiable extravagance?"

IV Field Work as Education

Pursuant to such philosophy, the boys began their shop-work by equippingthe shop, building benches, tool-chests, cabinets, and saw horses;putting lath and plaster on the ceiling; setting up the simple tools andputting the shop in running order. Meanwhile, the agricultural studentsset up two cream separators and a milk-tester, and arranged theirlaboratory. Then the school was ready for applied work, or rather, thestudents having graduated from a course in shop equipment, were readyfor shop practice. 

The entire class in agriculture makes inspection of nearby farms--hereto see a well-managed orchard, there a new type of cow-barn or silo. Again they inspect the soil of a district, going carefully over it, picking samples and testing them on return to the school. Infruit-packing season, the students visit the packing houses, or else, inthe case of some of the boys, they take a week of employment with a goodfruit packer. In season they practice tree pruning, grafting, budding, transplanting and spraying. Whenever possible, the applied work of theschool is done in connection with the real applied work of life. 

The physics and chemistry are both related to the agriculture and themechanics courses in the most intimate manner. From the earliest lessonsin physics through analyses of heat, light and the principles ofmechanics, the theories are constantly interpreted in practicalproblems which arise in the daily work of the Lowville farmer. Thephysics teacher, enthusiastic over his students and his work, buildsmachines and testing devices, which the boys and girls use in solvingthe problems which they bring from their homes. No less close to thelife of the place is the chemical laboratory, which offers opportunityfor the analysis of soil, the chemistry of fertilizers, experiments intesting food and milk, and a number of other matters pertaining toagriculture and domestic life. 

The mechanical courses are closely related to the work in agriculture, since most of the boys who take up the mechanical work are to go on thefarms. The course in mechanics passes quickly over the elements of thework--most boys have learned to use saw, plane, chisel, auger, andhammer years before. The smithing work of tempering, annealing, welding, soldering and removing rust, all leads up to the real work of theshops, --the making of products. The boys make pruning knives, squaresand drawing boards, grafting hooks, nail boxes, apple-boxing devices(for this is an apple country), cement rollers, mallets, whiffle-trees, bob-sleds, holders for saw filing, bag-holders, chicken-coops, poultryexhibit boxes, hammer handles, greenhouse flats. Besides, they haveexercises in belt-lacing, in cement work, and reinforced concrete. Then, too, they make models of barns and bridges, computing strains, lumber-costs, labor-costs, floor spacing and arrangement. 

The agricultural course deals, in some detail, with fruit-growing, animal husbandry, grain-growing, and related topics. Though the scope ofsuch a course is necessarily limited in a high school, it forms aninvaluable addition to the knowledge of the boy who cannot go to anagricultural college before he begins his life on the farm. Taught byan agricultural expert, the work assumes real importance to theprospective farmer. 

Nor are the girls of Lowville neglected. 

V Real Domestic Science

The domestic science department, in charge of an expert, takes uphousehold economics, sewing, dietetics and cooking. The work throughoutis practical, the girls learning the principles of sanitation, and theirapplication to the household; domestic art and home decoration;lighting, heating and ventilation. The sewing classes cover the usualexercises in simple hemming and darning, making towels, hemming napkins, and the like; then underclothes, and later dresses are made. 

In the cooking laboratory the girls learn food values and foodcombinations, the cooking of simple dishes, the preparation of entiremeals. The girl who finishes the domestic science course in the LowvilleAcademy is competent to organize a home, cook, sew, keep house and makeas efficient use of her opportunities as does her brother who has beentrained in mechanics or agriculture. 

It is not in the applied courses alone that an extraordinary amount ofco-operation has been attained. The academic branches, likewise, are soadjusted as to bear directly upon the work of the remaining courses. TheAcademic co-ordination is particularly noticeable in the English work, which is required of everyone during the entire high school course. English composition is made to serve as a connecting, co-ordinatingstudy--related to all of the other courses in the school. 

The student in agriculture writes reports on various phases ofagricultural work, collecting them in a folder and arranging them inorder, according to subject. Chemistry reports, history reports, allare made a legitimate part of the work in English. 

The results of this system have been more than satisfactory to Mr. Breeze and his staff of co-workers. Students who would have left at theend of the grammar school, are attracted by the high school program, and"saved" by a high school course. The appeal of the school is a wide one. There are no class of boys and girls in Lowville who cannot findsomething worth while in the high school. Often a student otherwise notbrilliant will succeed remarkably in a particular line. Of one such boyin particular Mr. Breeze spoke. 

VI One Instance of Success

"He had no taste for Greek, but his reports and analysis in agricultureand mechanics were brilliant. The excellent drawing and sketching andthe careful work showed how much appeal the applied course had made tohis mind; yet but for the agricultural course he would never have cometo high school. A farmer's son with little taste for the ordinaryacademic studies was inspired by the idea of improved, scientificfarming and was getting a thorough insight into the principles ofagriculture, chemistry, physics, and mechanics, which will be of thegreatest service to him when he takes up farming. Such topics as judgingthe age of cows, breed of cattle, cost of milk production, the cost ofcow-barn construction, grain, hay, cattle rations, silage, and nutritionwill all bear directly on the work of the farm in which he is so deeplyinterested. ["]

So much for the contribution of the Lowville High School to the studentswho have gone out of its class-rooms and class excursions, stronger inbody and more alert of mind. No less remarkable has been its service tothe community. At the suggestion of the school authorities acting inco-operation with the Grange, the State, and several other agencies, Lowville has secured an agricultural specialist, whose business it is totravel through the countryside, advising farmers, discussing theirproblems and suggesting better methods of operating the farms, or ofexperimenting in new directions. Each winter for one week, a school foradults is held, with courses in agriculture for the men and courses indomestic science for the women. The teachers, --experts from the CornellSchool of Agriculture, --are exceptionally well prepared to deal with theproblems of New York State farmers. 

Higher education at Lowville is education for everyone in Lowville andvicinity who wants it. With one eye on community needs and the other onthe best means of supplying them, the Lowville Academy is giving to thecitizens of Lowville a twentieth century higher education. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 20: Much of the material in this chapter appeared originally in the Journal of Education. ]

CHAPTER VII

A GREAT CITY SCHOOL SYSTEM[21]

I "Co-operation" and "Progressivism"

If any two words in the English language can express the spirit of theCincinnati schools, they are "co-operation" and "progressivism. " Thepeople of Cincinnati, high and low, have banded themselves together inan endeavor to make good schools. Cincinnati schools are not a monumentto any individual or group of individuals, rather they are the handiworkof the citizenship. In their eagerness for educational progress, thepeople are not hypnotized by every cry of "lo here! lo there!" nor dothey live in terror of new educational ideas. Their one aim, theeducation of Cincinnati's children, takes precedence over every otherconsideration. Perhaps that fact explains both the co-operation and theprogressivism. 

Co-operation in the educational work of Cincinnati has been developed toa remarkable degree. "There is not a civic society in the whole townwhich is not working with the schools, " says former Superintendent Dyer. Mr. Dyer might have left out the word "civic" and still have been veryclose to the truth. 

Mr. Frederick A. Geier, a leader among the manufacturers who have madepossible the "half time in shop, half time in school" system, says ofhis activity in co-operating with the school authorities: "As a citizenof Cincinnati, I am interested in the schools for two reasons: first, because good schools will bring under their influence the maximum numberof pupils and parents, and it is the best agency I can conceive of forproducing a high quality of citizenship; second, as a manufacturer Ifeel that the material prosperity of a community is directly related tothe mental and manual equipment of its people. " Showing his faith by hisworks, Mr. Geier has labored in season and out of season to make theschools of Cincinnati the most progressive in the country. 

Speaking as "a woman and mother, " Mrs. Isabella C. Pendleton, of theCivic League, which has played an active part in building up schoolsentiment, says: "I consider that the most important features of ourschool system are the manual training for boys and the domestic sciencefor girls. I am happy to say that to-day a girl on graduating from ourschools is capable of taking care of a home. " As public schools go, thatis not an insignificant achievement. No wonder Mrs. Pendleton, a womanand mother, is interested in schools which accomplish such vitalresults. 

From what extraordinary sources do the schools in Cincinnati securetheir support! "All of the local dentists have been brought into closecontact with the school system by the efforts of the Dental Society tointroduce mouth hygiene into the schools, " says Dr. Sidney G. Rauh. "Wedentists, " adds Dr. Rauh, "are firm believers in general co-operation. "No less cordial is the Board of Health in its endorsement of theschools, and in its efforts to raise the health standard of schoolchildren. 

"I do not believe there is any city in the United States which offers asgood an example of the spirit of co-operation as Cincinnati does, "affirms Carl Dehoney, of the Chamber of Commerce. "Why are we so activein co-operating with the schools? Simply because we realize that goodschools, and especially practical schools, which will fit young men andwomen for their real life work, have a tremendous bearing upon theefficiency of the people of the city. " Mr. W. C. Cauldius, also of theChamber of Commerce, says: "Our school development is the result of afew years of public support and sympathy. " In similar enthusiastic wordsthe leaders of every phase of Cincinnati life express their interest ineducational progress. 

II An Educational Creed

Let no one infer from what has been said that the people of Cincinnatiare agreed upon all of the details of educational policy, nor upon thefundamentals either, for that matter, but they have adopted aneducational creed which runs about as follows:

1. I believe in making the schools provide for the educationalnecessities of every child. 

2. I believe that this can be done when all work together. 

3. I believe that new ideas are the life-blood of educational advance. 

That simple creed adopted by teachers, principals, mothers, manufacturers, dentists and trade unionists has become a great motiveforce in the upbuilding of the Cincinnati schools. 

The most evident thing about the Cincinnati school organization is itsdemocracy. The feudal spirit of lordship and serfdom existing in manyschools between superintendents and principals on the one hand, andteachers on the other, is nowhere evident in the Cincinnati schools;instead, each teacher, thrown upon her own initiative, is a creativeartist, solving her particular problem as she believes that it should besolved, and abiding by the consequence of her failure or success. 

Early in his work Mr. Dyer made it clear that he would not tolerate amechanical system of education. "Up here on the hill, in a wealthysuburban district, is a grammar school. Its organization, administrationand course of study must necessarily differ from that other school, located in the heart of the factory district. The principal of each ofthese schools has a problem to face--each will succeed in proportion ashe grasps the significance of his own problem and the readiest means forits solution. " Is not that a refreshing sentiment from a superintendentof city schools? Note this other delightful touch: "My teachers soonlearned that I regard the teacher who works exactly like another teacheras pretty poor stuff. " Before the axe of such incisive radicalism, howthe antiquated structure of the old school machinery came crashing tothe ground, to be replaced by a system which recognized each teacher asan individual builder of manhood and womanhood, working to meet theneeds of individual children. It is not an idle boast which the Englishmake when they glory in the absence of a curriculum; for even the bestcurriculum, if mismanaged, is speedily converted into a noose, the knotof which adjusts itself mechanically under the left ear of teacher andchild alike. The school authorities of Cincinnati destroyed both knotand rope by giving to their teachers and principals this injunction:"Make your school fit the needs of your children and your community. "

The old-time, machine-minded school superintendent, filled with thespirit of co-operative coercion, assembles his teachers. "Now let's allwork together, " he exclaims, "Here, Susie Smith, this is what you areto teach your pupils, and this is the way in which you are to do it. " Itwas in quite a different spirit that Mr. Dyer said to each one of histeachers: "You do your work, I'll do mine, and together we will make theschools go. " It was in this spirit that the teachers were calledtogether to confer on the reorganization of the course of study. Eachteacher in each grade had her say in the matter. If the mostinsignificant teacher in Cincinnati said to Mr. Dyer: "I have an ideathat I think would improve the work in my grade, " his invariable replywas: "Then try it. There is no way to determine the value of ideasexcept to try them. " By that policy Mr. Dyer surrounded himself with agroup of vitally interested people, each one suited to the task in whichhe believed implicitly, and each one fully convinced that the success orfailure of that part of the Cincinnati school system with which he wasimmediately concerned, depended directly upon his efforts. No wonder theschools succeeded!

III Vitalizing the Kindergarten

The kindergartens are at the basis of the educational system ofCincinnati, and they are in charge of a woman who believes in herselfand in her work. Perhaps the people of Cincinnati are not justified inbelieving that their kindergartens are the very best in the whole UnitedStates, but Miss Julia Bothwell, who directs them, says, modestlyenough, that she has visited kindergartens in many cities, adoptingtheir schemes and improving in response to their suggestions, until sheis convinced that no other city in the land can show a betterkindergarten system than that of Cincinnati. In truth, her plan isordinarily referred to as the "Cincinnati idea. "

Cincinnati children begin their kindergarten work at four and a half orfive, entering the first grade at six. While in the kindergarten theyplay the games and sing the songs that all kindergartens play and sing, but with this difference: their plays and songs are built around thethings that they do. 

The yellow October leaves of Cincinnati's parks half shadow the activityof the busy classes of little kindergarten folks who go there to workand to learn. The Park Commissioners, like every one else in Cincinnati, are in thorough sympathy with the work of the schools, so they allot toeach kindergarten class a plot in the park, in which the children--usingall of the tools themselves--plant tulip bulbs under the direction ofthe park gardeners. 

"Tulips are the first thing up in the spring, " Miss Both well explained, "so we have decided to use them. For years we tried gardens, butchildren of kindergarten age are not willing to give gardens as muchattention as they require; then, too, the gardens ran wild during thesummer, so we have settled on the tulip. After the children have plantedthe bulbs they sing and talk about their work. Then, early in thespring, they begin to visit their plots, watching the first shoots ofgreen as they appear, looking eagerly for the buds, and then, at last, as the reward of their interest, picking the flowers and taking themhome. Thus, each child, during his kindergarten course, sees thecomplete cycle from bulb to flower. "

Besides this flower-culture in the park, the children grow hyacinths inthe school rooms, visit the woods to collect autumn leaves and springflowers, make excursions to the country, where they may see animals andcrops, and always, for a few days after an excursion, talk about thethings which they saw, draw them, sing about them and play games aboutthem. In order to facilitate the work the Board of Education leases afarm, to which the kindergartens go in succession. By these means thelife of the city kindergarten child is thoroughly linked with nature. 

These things are not new in kindergartening, however. They have merelytaken firm root in the fertile soil of Cincinnati's educationalenthusiasm. The real excellence of Miss Bothwell's experiment consistsin connecting the kindergarten with the early elementary grades on theone hand and with the community on the other. 

The first grade children of Cincinnati come back to the kindergartenteachers for an hour's kindergartening once each week, in order toclinch the kindergarten influence on the lives of the first graders. Thefirst grade teachers meet the director of kindergartening once eachweek, for a discussion of kindergarten methods, and an initiation intothe kindergarten spirit. Thus the lump of first grade abstraction isleavened with the leaven of kindergarten concretes, and the gradeteachers get the spirit of kindergarten work. In the near future MissBothwell hopes to have the kindergarten work extend to the second grade, in order that the spirit, rhythm, harmony and joy of the kindergartenmay thoroughly permeate the roots of the Cincinnati school system. 

Even more significant--if anything could be more significant than thebreakdown of the ironclad, first grade traditions--is the grip which thekindergartens of Cincinnati have secured on the people. The Cincinnatikindergartener is more than a teacher--she serves many masters. In themorning she holds kindergarten classes. On two afternoons a week shedoes kindergarten work with first grade children; on one afternoon sheholds a conference with the supervisor; on a fourth afternoon she visitsthe classes of first grade teachers or confers with mothers' clubs, andon her remaining afternoon she visits her children in their homes. Outof these varied duties has come: first, a group spirit among thekindergarteners, built upon frequent interchange of plans and ideas;second, an understanding of the relation between the problems of thekindergarten and the problems of the grades; third, a sympathetic graspof the home conditions surrounding the life of many a difficult child;and fourth, sixty-one mothers' clubs, one organized in connection witheach kindergarten, which furnish a social gathering-place for mothers, an opportunity to influence parental ideas, and a body of invaluablepublic sentiment. 

The idea of a kindergarten, usually regarded as a small part of theschool program, has been evolved until, in this one city, it is a potentinfluence, working on children, teachers, parents and public opinion. 

IV Regenerating the Grades

The kindergarten is not alone in its appeal to the child and in itsaffiliation with the community. Traditional grade education has likewisebeen modified and rehabilitated until it makes an appeal to parent andchild alike. In the first place, a consistent effort has been made toprovide accommodations for the physical education in the grades of thefifty-seven elementary schools. Twenty-five now have fully equippedgymnasiums in which children have two or three periods of exercise eachweek. In the schools not so equipped the physical work is confined tocalisthenics. Each year the Board of Education appropriates fivehundred dollars for the Public School Athletic League, which organizesmeets and games, open to all public school pupils free of charge. Besides field days, baseball, soccer and football there is an athleticbadge awarded to all pupils who pass an "efficiency" test in athleticactivities. 

The academic work of the grades is alive with enthusiasm. History, sooften made a mass of dead names and dates, is taught in terms of life. The children learn that history is in reality a record of the thingswhich people did, and of the forces which were at work in their lives;furthermore, that the commonplace acts of to-day will be the history ofto-morrow. Translated into ideas and social changes, history stimulatesthought, turning the child's mind from the purely personal side of lifeto the social activities of which history is made. 

Arithmetic and geography begin at home, in the things which the childrenknow and do. Both are taught in terms of child experience. Both call tothe child mind the things of daily life. 

English, too, which is so important an element in education, is made toreflect child experiences. Teaching the reading lesson of "Eyes and NoEyes" one teacher asked her class: "Well, children, what did you see onyour way to school this morning? What did you see, Elmer?"

"Well, I saw--I saw--" and Elmer sat down. 

"I saw that it had been raining in the night by the mud in the streets, "said Alice; while John had seen trolley cars, and remembered that thenumber on one of them was 647. 

A seventh grade girl had read the Psalm beginning, "Who shall ascendunto the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in His holy place?" Afterasking what a psalm was, and who wrote the Psalms, the teacher asked:

"Who was David?"

"He was the king of Palestine, " replied one boy promptly. Afterstraightening out the history the teacher next asked:

"For what was David noted?"

"For being Solomon's father, " ventured one little girl. 

"Oh, no, " protested a boy, "He was the fighter. "

"Sure enough, " said the teacher, "would the fact that he was a warriornaturally influence his thoughts?" After an affirmative answer from theclass: "Where do we find any evidence of that in this Psalm, George?"asked the teacher. 

George considered the reading a moment. "Oh, I see, it's where he says, 'The Lord mighty in battle. '"

After an elaboration of this idea the teacher went on to ask why Davidwrote, "Lift up your heads, oh ye gates, and the King of Glory shallcome in. " By careful questioning the class was led to see that citieshad walls and gates; that David, who had won many victories, wasaccustomed to have the gates thrown wide to receive him, and that histriumphal entries had made a deep impression on his thoughts. After somemore discussion the Psalm was read again, this time with surprisingintelligence and feeling. 

One eighth grade class in English was engaged in preparing a catalog ofall of the pictures in the school, looking up the painters, their lives, their principal works, and the circumstances connected with the paintingof the pictures which hung on the school wall. In the same room a girlhad written a description of a sunset, in which she had said: "Thewestern sky is illuminated with a fiery red, and the edges of theclouds are also tinted with a silvery hue. "

"What would Corot say about that?" asked the teacher. 

The girl thought a moment. "I guess he would say that there was too muchcolor. "

"Yes, " smiled the teacher, "he would say, 'Let's go home and wait for afew moments. '"

The essay work in the upper grades is linked with all of the otherschool work. The children write about civics, architecture, localities, books and pictures. One girl of thirteen wrote on "The Reaper"--"As Ienter my bedroom one picture especially catches my gaze. It hangs on theeastern wall. It is the picture of a large city by moonlight. The moonis bright and the stars are out. A beautiful lake borders the far end ofthe city, and the moon makes the lake look like a mirror. The churchsteeple stands out clear against the sky. It is a beautiful summernight, and while the city sleeps an angel descends and bears a littlechild to the heavens above. Some mother must have given up one of herbeloved flowers. "

No less valuable are the essays describing an ideal kitchen, a locationfor a house, a home, school life, and the various other things withwhich the child comes in contact. 

Last among the academic branches, there is a carefully organized eighthgrade course in civics, which, beginning with the geography and earlyhistory of Cincinnati, covers family relations and the tenement problem;the protection of public health--street cleaning, sewage, water, smokeabatement, and the activities of the Board of Health in providing forsanitation and the suppression of disease; the protection of life andproperty; the business life of the community--relation of the citizento business life, the growth of commerce and industry in Cincinnati;Cincinnati as a manufacturing center, the labor problem, and theregulation of business by the government; the necessity for civicbeauty; the educational forces of the community; the care of dependentsand delinquents; the functions of government; and the collection andexpenditure of city funds. In this way the child, before he leaves theelementary school, is given an idea of the real meaning of citizenship. 

Beginning in the kindergarten, the art work extends through the highschool, including in the lower elementary grades, paper-cutting andpasting related to school work, the seasons and the holidays. From thethird grade on, the children make real products--trays, boxes, blotterpads, calendars, booklets and folios--work which is supplemented byobject and constructive drawing and designing. 

Shop-work is given to boys, and domestic science to girls, in all of theschools. The point at which these subjects are introduced and the amountof time devoted to them depends upon--what do you think? The regulationsprescribed in the course of study? Not a bit of it! It depends upon theneeds of the community and of the child. 

Schools which are located in the poorer districts begin manual trainingand domestic science with the second grade, though ordinarily they arenot introduced until the sixth. Normally the children are given one andone-half or two hours a week of such work, but over-age, backward anddefective children may spend as much as half of their time upon it. Forsome of the girls a five-room flat has been rented, in which they aretaught housekeeping in all of its phases. Otherwise the domesticscience consists of hand and machine sewing, the designing and making ofsimple garments, the planning and preparation of food, and theorganization and care of a household. Wherever possible, the boys makeuseful products in their shop-work, instead of constructing show pieceswhich have no value. 

From top to bottom the grades are shaped to meet the needs of children. Each class and each school is built around this central idea. The schoolsystem, instead of taking the usual form of a cumbrous machine, is adelicate mechanism adjusted to the wants of Cincinnati children. 

V Popularizing High School Education

Not content with making the grades interesting, the school authoritiesof Cincinnati have made the high schools so profitable and popular thatninety-five out of each one hundred children who complete the eighthgrade go to the Cincinnati high schools. Furthermore, during the pastsix years the high school attendance in Cincinnati has doubled. Thesetwo noteworthy conditions are the product of carefully matured andefficiently executed plans, and of infinite labor. Yet the results havemore than repaid the labor which they cost. 

"Our first task, " explained Dr. E. D. Lyon, principal of the Hughes HighSchool, "was to persuade the community that it needed high schooltraining. Next we secured two fine new high school buildings. Then thoseof us who are engaged in high school work faced the supreme task. We hadto prove to the people that their expenditures on high schools wereworth while, by providing a high school education that would meansomething to the pupils and to the community. " Note the spirit of socialobligation--a feeling prevalent throughout the Cincinnati schools. 

"Most parents fail to see the importance of the high school problem, "said Assistant Superintendent Roberts, "because they never makeconsistent efforts to have their children choose their vocationsintelligently. We began our work right there, at the bottom, by tellingthe parents of grade children about the high school courses, and whatthey meant. Eighth grade teachers, under the guidance of Mr. F. P. Goodwin, are expected to talk to their classes regularly on thevocational opportunities in Cincinnati and elsewhere, and to help thechildren get started right in high school careers. Besides that, we takethe grade children on trips to the high schools, showing them on eachtrip some striking feature of high school work. Parents' meetings areheld, in which the high schools are explained and discussed, and we sendcirculars to the parents of sixth, seventh and eighth grade pupils, explaining the high school work as simply as may be. "

After arousing such expectations, the high school cannot fulfill itsobligations in any way other than by the provision of a thorough courseof study adapted to the needs of all types of pupils. The preparationfor this in Cincinnati has been made with consummate skill. The pupil, on entering the high school, may select any one of the nine generalcourses, in which there are twenty-three possible combinations ofsubjects. 

Four of the courses--General, Classical, Domestic Science and ManualTraining--prepare for various colleges and technical schools. The otherfive courses--Commercial, Technical Co-operative Course for Boys;Technical Co-operative Course for Girls; Art and Music, lead tovocations. Housed in the same high school building is this range ofwork, which permits boys and girls to select a course which will beardirectly on almost any line of work that they may care to follow inlater life. 

Each course is shaped to give the children who select it a definitetraining in the line of their interest. The General Course preparespupils for college; the Domestic Science Course shows girls how to makeand keep a home; the Commercial Course turns out bookkeepers; theTechnical Co-operative Courses, enabling boys and girls to spend part oftheir time in the school and part in the factory, are arranged inco-operation with the principal industries of Cincinnati. The Art andMusic Courses, like the other special work, are in the hands of expertswho are competent to give a practical direction to the activity of theirpupils. 

In passing, it is interesting to note that the people of Cincinnati aregetting the best possible use out of their splendid high schoolequipment. In addition to the regular classes which fill the WoodwardHigh School from 8:30 to 3:00, the pupils in the continuation coursesoccupy the building every afternoon and all day Saturday. Five nights aweek it is filled by an enthusiastic night school, three thousandstrong, and during six weeks of the summer vacation a summer schoolholds its sessions there. It would be difficult to find a school plantwhich comes nearer to being used one hundred per cent of its time. To besure, such things were not done "in father's time, " but then the peopleof Cincinnati have a theory that while a good thing is worth all itcosts, it does not pay to let even the best of things decay for lack ofuse. That is why the school system tingles from end to end with vigorand enthusiasm. 

VI A City University

Besides the kindergarten, elementary schools, and high schools, the cityof Cincinnati has a university, which, like all of the other educationalforces of the city, is tied up with the general educational program. Those graduates of the Cincinnati high schools who desire to go tocollege, may pass from the high school of Cincinnati into the Universityof Cincinnati without a break in the continuity of their education. 

The University of Cincinnati is a municipal university. The cityappropriates one-half of one mill on the general assessment, foruniversity purposes. The board of education appropriates ten thousanddollars a year toward the maintenance of the Teachers' College, theschool in which the city teachers are trained. The training school forkindergarteners is affiliated with the university, having the sameentrance requirements as the other university courses. In explanation ofthis close connection between the city and the university, PresidentDabney begins his 1911 report to the board of directors by saying: "Aneffort has been made in this report to explain the service of theuniversity to the city and people of Cincinnati. It is therefore notonly an official report to the directors, but is also a statement forthe information of all citizens. " Begun in this spirit of publicobligation, the report details the services of the Teachers' College insupplying teachers; of the School of Economics and Political Science insupplying municipal experts; and of the Engineering School for itsinauguration of the widely-known industrial co-operative courses--for beit known to the uninitiated that the five hundred students of theUniversity Engineering School spend alternately two weeks in the schooland two weeks in a shop. More than that, the Engineering Schoolfurnishes experts for municipal engineering work. 

That the students of the University may feel the interest of the city intheir work, preference is given to the University graduates inappointments of teachers, of municipal engineers, and of employees onsuch municipal work as testing food, inspecting construction, and thelike. University students may thus occupy their spare time in practicalmunicipal work. 

"The University should lead the progressive thought of the community, "says President Dabney, and by way of making good his proposition heavails himself of every opportunity to turn his students into municipalactivities, or to co-operate in any way with the forces that are makingfor a greater Cincinnati. 

VII Special Schools for Special Classes

There are children in Cincinnati, as in every other city, who cannotafford to go to the high school. The easiest answer to such children is, "Well, then, don't. " The fairest answer is a system of schools whichwill enable them to secure an education even though they are at work. Cincinnati in selecting the latter course has opened a school for theeducation of every important group unable to attend the high schools whowish to avail themselves of advanced educational opportunities. 

First there is the night school work, which, in addition to the ordinaryacademic courses, offers special opportunities in machine shop practice, blacksmithing, mechanical and architectural drawing, and domesticscience. As these courses are carried forward in the Woodward HighSchool building the students have all of the advantages of high schoolequipment. 

Night school, coming after a day's exertion, is so trying that only themost robust can profit by it. No small importance therefore attaches tothe operation of the compulsory continuation schools under the Ohio law, which empowers cities to compel working children between fourteen andsixteen years of age to attend school for not more than eight hours aweek between the hours of 8:00 A. M. And 5:00 P. M. --hours which willpresumably be subtracted from shop time. By means of this adaptation ofthe German system even those children who must leave school at fourteenare guaranteed school work for the next two years at least. Althoughthis is but a minimum requirement, it represents a beginning in theright direction. 

No less significant than this compulsory system are the voluntarycontinuation schools for those over sixteen years of age, which havebeen established for machinists' apprentices, for printers' apprentices, for saleswomen, and for housewives. The first two courses are conductedunder the direction of a genius named Renshaw, who takes from themachine shop boys of every age, nationality and experience, fits themsomewhere into his four-year course; gives them a numbered time checkfrom his time board; teaches them reading, writing, arithmetic, mechanical drawing, geometry, algebra and trigonometry by means of aningenious series of blueprints, which constitute their sole text-book;visits them in their shops, giving suggestions and advice about the shopwork, and finally sends them out finished craftsmen, with an excellentfoundation in the theoretical side of the trades. The work is entirelyvoluntary, yet so excellent is it that a number of Cincinnatimanufacturers send their apprentices to Mr. Renshaw, paying themregular wages for the four hours of credit which the said Renshawregisters weekly on the boys' time-cards. "One firm sends sixty boyshere each week, " commented Mr. Renshaw's assistant. "That makes twohundred and forty hours of school work each week for which they payregular wages. Well, sir, the superintendent there told me that theydidn't so much as notice the loss. "

"I tried to explain my system to one superintendent, " said Mr. Renshaw, "but he wouldn't even listen. 'It makes no difference how you do it, ' hegrumbled, 'I don't care about that. I know that the boys are neater, more careful, more accurate, and better all-around workmen after theyhave been with you for a while. That's enough explanation for me. '"

Acting on such sentiments the manufacturer peremptorily dismisses theboy who does not do his school tasks satisfactorily. The responsibilityis in the school, whose growing enrollment and influence tell their ownstory. Firms send their boys to the school with the comment that thehours of school time, for which they are paid, do not add to the cost ofshop management, but do add to the value of the boys to the shop. Increased efficiency pays. 

A school of salesmanship for women has met with a like success. Theleading stores, glad of an opportunity to raise the standard of theiremployees, grant the saleswomen a half day each week, without loss ofpay, during which they take the salesmanship course. The course has thehearty backing of the best Cincinnati merchants, who see in it anopportunity, as Mr. Dyer put it, "to make their employees the mostskilled and intelligent, the most obliging and trustworthy, the besttreated and best paid--in short, the very best type of saleswomen inthe country. "

That this work may keep pace with the demand for it the schoolauthorities offer industrial instruction in any pursuit for which aclass of twenty-five can be organized. 

"A large number of women were born too soon to get the advantage of thecourses in domestic science now being offered in our high schools, "comments Mr. Dyer in his dry way. Scores of such women anxious to learnall that was known about domestic arts constituted a class for which theschool was well equipped to provide. "Then suppose we give them whatthey need, " said Mr. Dyer. Just fancy--a continuous course in domesticscience! Yet there it is, in Cincinnati, with an enrollment of more thaneleven hundred women, attending the public schools to learn domesticarts. What could be more rational than this Cincinnati system of makinga school--even though it be a continuation school--to fit theeducational needs of Cincinnati people--grown-ups and children alike?

VIII Special Schools for Special Children

The Cincinnati schools provide for special children as well as forspecial classes of people. First there are the unusually brightchildren, who "mark-time" in the ordinary classes. These children wereplaced in "rapidly moving classes. " While omitting none of the work, they were allowed to go as fast as their mental development would allowthem, instead of as slowly as the other members of the class made itnecessary to move. At the beginning the teacher found theseexceptionally able children lacking in effort and attention, qualitieswhich they had not needed to keep their place in the grades. "The extrawork and responsibility stimulated their mental activity, increasedtheir power of attention, fostered thoroughness and accuracy, developedresourcefulness and initiative, and those other qualities necessary forleadership. " Why should it not be so? Why should not the specially ablechild be taught as thoroughly as the defective one? Yet Mr. Dyer, speaking from experience, remarks: "Strange to say, it is harder toestablish such classes than defective and retarded ones. " Strangeindeed!

For the sub-normal or retarded children Cincinnati has made ampleprovision. Spending from a quarter to a half of their time in manualwork, the children are no longer tortured with the doing of thingsbeyond their powers. The overgrown boys have instruction in shop work. The overgrown girls have a furnished flat in which they learn the artsof home-making at first hand. There are in all over four hundredchildren in these schools. 

Similar accommodations are provided for other special groups. Theanaemic and tubercular children are taught in two open-air schools; sixteachers are detailed to instruct the deaf children; one teacher devotesher time to the blind children, and ten teachers are employed to takecharge of those children who are mentally defective. Thus, by adjustingthe schools to the needs of special groups of people, and of specialindividuals, Cincinnati is providing an education which reaches theindividual members of the community. 

IX Playground and Summer Schools

The vacation school is planned to meet the needs of the children in thecrowded districts during the hot summer months. "For that reason, " saysMr. Dyer, "it provides industrial work of all kinds unassociated withbook instruction, but mingled with a great amount of recreationalactivity--excursions, stories, folk-dancing, and a wide variety ofgames. "

The field of industrial activity is a broad one, including cooking, nursing, housekeeping, sewing, knitting, crocheting, weaving andbasketry; drawing and color work, brush and plastic work; bench workwith tools, making useful articles; sports and games, includingfolk-dancing for girls and ball for boys. The primary and kindergartenclasses offer a delightful round of song, story, games, excursions, paper work and other forms of construction. For the girls who have totake care of babies there are special classes. The boys make usefularticles in the shops, and the girls, in sewing-room and cookinglaboratory, learn to do the things around which the interests of thehome always center. By co-operation with the park commissioners, theplaygrounds were made an integral part of the summer school work. 

Besides the recreational summer school Cincinnati has maintained for thepast five years an academic summer school, in which children might makeup back work in school, or do special work in any line which was ofparticular interest to them. In these schools "the very best instructorsthat can be secured" are employed, and their recommendations areaccepted by the school principals when the fall term opens. "This schoolis one of the means taken to deal with the problem of repeaters in ourschools, " says Mr. Dyer. "Instead of requiring children who are behindto fall back a year, they may, if they are not hopeless failures, butonly deficient in a few studies, remove their deficiencies in the summerschool and go on with their class. We have followed up these pupils, "Mr. Dyer adds, "and found that a normal percentage keep up with theclass in succeeding years. "

X Mr. Dyer and the Men Who Stood With Him

A spirit of comradeship and hearty co-operation breathes from every nookand cranny of the Cincinnati schools. Principals and teachers alikesense the fact. Alike they aim toward the upbuilding of the schools. 

"Never in my life have I found such a spirit of mutual helpfulness, "says Assistant Superintendent Roberts. "Every teacher has felt that shehad a part to play, that she counted, that her suggestions were worthwhile, and she has worked earnestly toward this end. "

"Everywhere I encounter the same willingness to co-operate with theschools, " said Superintendent Condon, after spending three months in theplace that Mr. Dyer vacated when he became superintendent of the Bostonschools. "There is a heartiness in it, too, that grips a man. "

"There is always the jolliest good-fellowship in the Schoolman's Club, "exclaimed a grammar school principal. "It's always 'Roberts' and 'Lyon'and 'Dyer' there. They're as good as the rest, no better. We all gothere to work, and to work hard for the schools. "

On such a spirit is the school system of Cincinnati founded. From itspoint of vantage, set upon its high hill of ministry to child needs, itflashes like a searchlight through the storm of nineteenth centurypedagogical obscurity. The optimist sings a new, glad song; thepessimist is confounded; the searcher after educational truth uncoversreverently before this masterpiece of educational organization, thispractical demonstration of the wonders that may be accomplished wherehead and heart work together through the schools, for the children. 

Such is the triumph, but whose the glory?

"It is not mine, " protests Mr. Dyer, "I did only my part. " "Nor mine, ""Nor mine, " echo his assistants. Truly, wisely, bravely spoken. Theglory is not to Mr. Dyer, nor to any other one man or woman--the gloryis to Mr. Dyer and the men and women who worked with him for theCincinnati schools. 

"My predecessor was an able organizer, " explained Mr. Dyer. "He leftthings in splendid condition, and we took up his work. There were fivethings which marked great epochs in the upbuilding of the Cincinnatischools:

"First, we established the merit system for the appointment of teachers. 

"Second, we improved the school buildings and equipment. 

"Third, we organized special courses for children who were not able toprofit by the regular work. 

"Fourth, by putting applied work in the grades we gave the children achance to use their hands as well as their heads. 

"Fifth, we enlarged the school system by adding buildings and coursesuntil there was a place in the schools for every boy and girl, man andwoman in Cincinnati who wanted an education. 

"That was the sum total of our work. It was a long and difficult task. "Mr. Dyer's tall form straightened a trifle. His earnest, determined facerelaxed. From under his bushy eyebrows flashed a gleam of triumph--thetriumph of a strong, purposeful, successful man. "But when it was allover, " he concluded, "and when the things for which we had striven wereaccomplished we knew that they were worth while. "

When Mr. Dyer left his position in Cincinnati to become Superintendentof the Boston schools, there was, on every hand, a feeling of loss andof uncertainty among those most interested in the city's educationalproblems. During those months which elapsed between Mr. Dyer's departurefor Boston and the election of his successor there was a feeling that, after all, perhaps he was not replaceable. 

Then the successor came, --a quiet man, with a constructive imaginationthat enabled him to grasp, readily and completely, Cincinnati'seducational need. There had been an era of radical educationaladjustment in the city. The school system had been changed, --artfullychanged, it is true--but changed, nevertheless, in all of the essentialelements of its being. Some of the changes had been made with suchrapidity that their foundations had not been fully completed. Thebrilliant school policy which Mr. Dyer had inaugurated needed roundingout for fulfilment and completion. Randall J. Condon saw these things;and he saw, furthermore, that in a community so awakened as Cincinnati, almost any educational program was feasible, so long as it remainedreasonable. 

The Cincinnati school people who went to Providence for the purpose ofinviting Mr. Condon to take charge of the Cincinnati schools, felt theconstructive power of his leadership. Providence had been educationallytransformed, and Mr. Condon was the man responsible for thetransformation. 

The people of Cincinnati have every cause to congratulate themselvesupon the new school head. At the outset Mr. Condon said, --"I purpose, tothe best of my ability, to live up to and follow out the policiesinaugurated by Mr. Dyer. " With the utmost fidelity he has kept his word. 

There is far more in Mr. Condon's administration than a mere follow-uppolicy. Everywhere he is building. In the face of a difficult financialsituation which compels a serious curtailment of expenses for the timebeing, he is insisting upon additional kindergartens, extended highschool accommodations, a more intimate correlation of the elementary andhigh school system, and an extensive system of recreation and socialcenters. It is upon the latter point that Mr. Condon is laying thegreatest emphasis at the outset of his administration. 

The Cincinnati policy which Mr. Condon has inaugurated with regard tocivic centers is admirably summed up in his statement of the case. "Alarger use of the school house for social, recreational and civicpurposes should be encouraged. The school house belongs to all of thepeople, and should be open to all the people upon equal terms, --as civiccenters for the free discussion of all matters relating to local andcity government, and for the non-partisan consideration of all civicquestions; as recreational centers, especially for the younger membersof the community, to include the use of the baths and gymnasiums forgames and sports, and other physical recreations, the use of class-roomsand halls for music, dramatics, and other recreational activities, andfor more distinct social purposes; as educational centers in which themore specific educational facilities and equipment may be used byclasses or groups of younger or older people, in any direction whichmakes for increased intelligence, and for greater economic andeducational efficiency; as social centers in which the community mayundertake a larger social service in behalf of its members, --stationsfrom which groups and organizations of social workers may prosecute anynon-partisan and non-sectarian work for the improvement of the socialand economic conditions of the neighborhood, rendering any service whichmay help to improve the condition of the homes, giving assistance to theneedy, disseminating information, helping to employment, and in generalaffording the community in its organized capacity an opportunity toserve in a larger measure the needs of the individual members. " Here is, indeed, a broad-gauge social school policy, to which the administrativeauthorities of the Cincinnati schools are fully committed. 

The movement for social centers in the schools is to be under thedirection of a social secretary appointed by the superintendent. Untilthe organization is more highly perfected, principals are free, undercertain restrictions, to open their schools for classes, groups, and allother legitimate community activities. 

Mr. Condon's activities in the direction of socialized school buildingsfinds a ready response. "There was already a large use of a number ofthe schools for community meetings--for welfare associations, for boys'and girls' study clubs, and for musical and social gatherings. " Theprogram is a program of extension, rather than of innovation. It hasalready won the approval of the citizenship. 

Spontaneity must be the soul of such a movement. "It was my strongconviction that the development of such a social movement should comefrom the people themselves, not that a ready-made program or plan shouldbe given them, but that they should develop their own. " One by onecenters are being formed. The Board of Education furnishes the building, the local social center organization pays the immediate expenses whichits activities incur. The movement has been started right. "I am a greatbeliever in democracy, " Mr. Condon says. "The people can be trusted tosettle social questions as they should be settled, provided all sidescan be fully presented and time taken for deliberation. The school houseaffords the one opportunity where all can meet on common ground asAmerican citizens and as good neighbors, where the question of wealthand position may be forgotten, and where what a man is in himself, andwhat he is willing to do for the common good, counts most. "

Such is the spirit in which Mr. Dyer, the men and women who worked withhim, and the men and women who succeeded him, have striven for theadvancement of education; such the spirit of co-operation andprogressiveism which dominates this great city school system. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 21: Much of this material appeared originally in Educational Foundations. ]

CHAPTER VIII

THE OYLER SCHOOL OF CINCINNATI

I An Experiment in Social Education

On the west side of Cincinnati, separated from the main part of the townby railroad yards, waste land and stagnant water, surrounded byfactories and a myriad of little homes, stands the Oyler School. "Canany good thing come out of Nazareth?" queried a doubter. Answers, inbell tones, the philosopher, "If a man can build a better house or makea better mousetrap than his neighbor, though he fix his home in thewoods, the world will find a path to his door. " Because Oyler has builta better school in a better community the world sits at Oyler's feet tolearn of its experiment in social education. 

The first time that I went to the Oyler School I encountered a Committeeof Manufacturers. A Committee of Manufacturers in a public school duringbusiness hours! These men had met to talk with the school principal overthe location of a library, which the entire community had worked tosecure. When the time came to go before the Park Board over in thecenter of the city, to secure a playground near the Oyler School, thelocal bank furnished automobiles, and dozens of business men, leavingtheir offices, took the opportunity to endorse the work of the school, and to second its demands that play space be given to West End children. The manufacturers have become interested because in less than a decadethe Oyler School has changed the face of the community, creatingharmony out of discord, and order out of chaos. 

The struggle of Oyler is the story of a man, a delivered message, athriving, enthusiastic school and a reborn neighborhood. Many yearsago--about twenty to be exact--a young man named Voorhes was made firstassistant in a West End school. Like other young men who go into schoolwork he applied himself earnestly to his tasks, but unlike most of themhe did some hard thinking at the same time. Among other things hethought about the relation between the school and the community, wondering why the two were so completely divorced from one another. Thenthe problem was focused on one concrete example--a boy named John, nearly sixteen years old, who had succeeded in getting only as far asthe eighth grade. John, who had never taken kindly to language orgrammar, began thinking pretty seriously toward the end of his last yearin the grammar school. He tried, he struggled, but the syntax was toomuch for him. After all, it was not his fault, and he complainedbitterly against a punishment in the form of "leaving down" forsomething which he could not help. His training was so inadequate thathe was entirely unable to pass the high school examinations which, inthose days, were like the laws of the Medes and the Persians. 

"I am safe in saying that he did not know the difference between a verband a preposition, " said Mr. Voorhes, "but during the grammar lesson hecould make a drawing of the face of the teacher that was in no sense acaricature. This phase of his ability gave me a cue to what might bedone for him. Knowing both the superintendent and the principal of theTechnical School, I talked the situation over with them, begging them, with all the persuasive power at my command, to take the boy, forgetting his shortcomings, and magnifying his peculiar talents, whichI felt sure were considerable along mechanical lines. They acceded to myrequest, giving John a place in the school, to which he walked threemiles back and forth daily for three years. For many years John has beensuperintendent of the lighting plant of a large city, and his experiencehas always stood out before me as a terrible rebuke to the then dominanteducational regime, which could offer John nothing but a sneer. Thesefacts took such a vital hold on me, seeming to reinforce so fully thethought that the industrial abilities which I had acquired back on thefarm proved of incalculable value to me, that the resolution to promoteindustrial education became a fixed part of my educational creed. Thememory of that lesson in educational equity kept the need for industrialtraining constantly in my mind, till I had opportunity to give itexpression in the Oyler School. "

John bespoke the needs of the community by which Oyler was surrounded. It was so different from other communities. There were the uglystraggling factory buildings, the miserable homes, their squalidtenants, and worst of all there were the rough, boisterous, over-age, uninterested, incorrigible boys and girls, who flitted from school tohome, to street, to jail, and then, gripped by the infirm hand of thelaw, in the form of a Juvenile Court probation officer, or a truantofficer, they came back to school unwillingly enough to begin the cycleall over again. 

"As for discipline, " remarked one of the city school officials, "theschool hadn't known it for years, the probation officer couldn't keepthe children in school and the Juvenile Court couldn't keep them out ofjail. Even the majesty of the law is lost on children, you know. " Thechildren taunted the police; the police hated the children; the homerepelled; the factory called, grimly; child labor flourished, and theschool despaired. 

II An Appeal for Applied Education

Such were the conditions when Mr. Voorhes became school principal. Grinding factories, wretched homes, parental ignorance, social neglect, educational impotence--few men could enter such a field of battle with alight heart, but Mr. Voorhes did. 

What, think you, was his first move? He addressed to the heads of all ofthe factories in the neighborhood a letter, suggesting the establishmentof a manual training department in connection with the grade work of theOyler School. "As I become more and more familiar with existingconditions in our school district, " he wrote, "I am convinced that aManual Training Department would be of vital importance to the schooland to the general welfare of the community. Such departments are beinglooked upon to-day as necessary adjuncts to modern school equipment. 

"Our school is being drained constantly of its life force by theadjacent factory demands, and if we could send pupils forth with trainedhands as well as trained minds they could render a much more usefulservice, which, in time, would not only show itself in more profitablereturns to employers, but must also tend toward a higher standard ofculture in the neighborhood, and a longer continuance in school by ourpupils. 

"I know of no other section of the city where the actual need shouldmake a stronger appeal for support than here. Anything you may do willbe greatly appreciated. "

"You can imagine my surprise, " says Mr. Voorhes, "when during the nextfew days my mail brought me a hearty response of checks and pledgesamounting to nearly a thousand dollars. " Manual training was assured!No! Not yet. The Board of Education reached the conclusion that manualtraining in the grades was undesirable. "With the exception of $85 whichI was told to use as I saw fit the checks and pledges were alikereturned to the donors. That $85 gave a piano to our kindergarten. "

That failure back in 1903 was the seed-ground of later success. Thecommunity was interested to the extent of a thousand dollars at least. The manufacturers were not only interested in education, but werewilling to support it financially. There was a change of administration. Mr. F. B. Dyer became Superintendent of Schools and at once met thesituation by establishing a manual training center in the Oyler School. 

III Solving a Local Problem

The end was not yet, however. The truant officers and the Juvenile Courtwere still busy keeping Oyler children out of mischief and in school. The conventional type of manual training--one period per week in thesixth, seventh and eighth grades--was not holding the pupils. 

"The children were not getting enough manual work to establish eitherhabit or efficiency, " Mr. Voorhes comments, "besides, this work reachedonly to the sixth grade. At this time there were in the school fiftyboys and girls below the fifth grade who were from two to five yearsbehind their normal classes. That is to say, they were--most of them--ofthat unfortunate class that has seen more trouble in a few years thanmost of us see in a lifetime. I was constantly asking myself: 'Where dothese folks come in?' 'What is our school doing to help their functionin life?' 'Are we really of any assistance to them after all?' 'Is itworth their while to come to our school?' My sympathy for the pupils wasconstantly growing, and I went at last in desperation to thesuperintendent with a plan for a revolution in the organization of myschool, a revolution that I was sure would meet the needs of thecommunity and one upon which I was willing to stake my reputation if Ihad any. "

At this point it is worth remembering, parenthetically, that Cincinnatischool men have a habit of going about their school problems in verymuch that spirit, beginning by sizing up the needs of the community, continuing by becoming imbued with an idea of the community needs andending by presenting this idea to the school authorities andgetting--within bounds--carte blanche to make their schools serve thelocality in which they are situated. 

This was Mr. Voorhes's experience. He was told to go ahead and makegood--a permission of which he availed himself in an astoundingly shortspace of time by introducing a system of applied education, aimed tomeet the needs of the children who attended the Oyler School. 

"There is a peculiar situation, " said Mr. Dyer, "and it needs peculiarhandling. You have only one problem to solve--that of the west end. Goahead!" Mr. Voorhes did go ahead with a plan under which all children inthe sixth and seventh grades were given three periods a week inlaboratories and shops. Subnormal pupils in the third, fourth and fifthgrades were to have four and one-half hours (one school day) for appliedwork each week. In order to give special help to backward pupils theywere sent in small groups to the seventh and eighth grade teachers whiletheir classes were doing applied work. Below-grade children go to theeighth grade teacher for special work in arithmetic and geography, andthe seventh grade teacher for English and history. In this way thebackward children from the lower grades have special training by thebest equipped teachers in the school. 

The eighth grade pupils give one-fifth of their time to applied work. During the year the boys have, in addition to the shop-work, twentylessons in preparing and cooking plain, substantial meals. To make this"siss" work palatable to the sterner sex much of it takes the form ofinstruction in camp life--cooking in tin cans and other handy home-madedevices. In a community where boys have always been trained to regardhome work as menial, but where the absence of servants makes a "lift"from the husband or brother such a Godsend to the wife at odd times, thevalue of giving grade boys a taste for cooking can hardly beover-estimated. 

The boys also receive twenty lessons in the simpler forms ofsewing--darning, hemming, sewing on buttons. At the same time the girlsare taught the use of simple tools. 

IV Domestic Science Which Domesticates

Beginning with the second grade the girls have domestic science whilethe boys are at manual training. This domestic science has a truer ringto it than most of the teaching which passes under that name. Thechildren at Oyler have a peculiar need for domestic science, because inmany of the homes mother works out, and even when she is not away herknowledge of domestic arts is so rudimentary that she can impart littleto her daughters. So it comes about that the Oyler School seeks to teachthe girls all that they would have under intelligent direction in anormal home. 

Once each week they cook and once they sew, devoting from one-eighth toone-fifth of their entire time to these activities. By way ofpreparation for both cooking and sewing they are carefully trained inbuying. They must make the dollar go a long way--buying in season thethings cheapest at that time and preparing them in a way to yield themaximum of return. For example, they are called upon in January to buy a50 cent dinner for six persons. Laura Wickersham's cost list is:

 Soup meat $0. 20 Can of tomatoes . 10 Spaghetti . 05 Cheese . 05 Bread . 05 Butter, etc. . 08 ---- $0. 53

Gus Potts, a mere boy, makes this suggestion:

 Meat $0. 20 Potatoes . 05 Cabbage . 05 Bread . 05 Milk . 04 Butter . 05 Coffee . 05 ---- $0. 49

In their cooking laboratory they learn to cook simple foods, one thingat a time, until they reach the upper grades, where they must prepareentire meals on limited allowances. 

The sewing is equally practical. The girls learn to patch, darn, hem andmake underclothing and dresses. Then, going into homes where nointelligent needlework has ever been done--where frequently a darningneedle is unknown--they teach the mother and older sisters how to sew, until whole families, under the influence of one school child, improvetheir wardrobe and reduce their cost for clothing. Certain sewing daysin school, called darning days, are sacred to the renovation of worn-outgarments which the girls bring from home. 

The Oyler system may not turn out artists in dress design--it has nosuch aim. The children who come to its class-rooms are ignorant of thesimplest devices known to civilization for the making of comfortablehomes. The domestic science courses are organized to take care of theirchildren by teaching them to be intelligent home-makers. 

V Making Commercial Products in the Grades

No less practical is the work of the boys in the shops, since the greatmajority of them will enter factories. The shop-work is designed tofamiliarize them with the ideas underlying shop practice. Instead ofmaking useless joints and surfaces the boys turn out finished, marketable products. The eighth grade boys, with the aid of theinstructor, have built a drill-press from the scraps of machinery whichwere found lying about. Now they are at work on an engine. Elaborateproducts you will say, for eighth grade boys, yet these boys are likelyinterested, they do their task with zest, and linger about the shopafter school hours are over--anxious to complete the jobs which theday's work has begun. 

Boys in grades two to six made three dozen hammer handles for use in thehigh school machine shops. Of forty-two pieces of rough stock there wereproduced thirty-six handles, a record which some commercial shops mightenvy. These same boys made a book and magazine rack, of rather elaboratedesign, and an umbrella rack for each of the schools in Cincinnati. These racks, displayed in the offices of the various principals, wouldstand comparison with a high grade factory product. The boys are nowengaged in making a desk book-rack (a scroll saw exercise) for everyschool teacher in Cincinnati. When they have finished there will be morethan a thousand. 

Besides these routine class exercises the Oyler boys are privileged tomake anything which appeals to them and for which they can supply thematerial. The school machines are theirs, subject to their use at anytime. Taking advantage of this, the boys sharpen the home knives andhatchets, make axe handles, umbrella racks, hall stands, stools, sleds, cane chairs, and repair or make any product which fancy or homenecessity may dictate. 

VI A Real Interest in School

Let no one infer that the academic branches are neglected at Oyler. Farfrom it, they are taught with consummate skill by a corps of teacherswho enjoy the work because they find the children interested. Strange torelate, an interest in school came in at the front door with Mr. Voorhes' new plan for applied education. The wild boys and dishevelledgirls of the West End, who had erstwhile hated school, came now toparticipate in school activities with an interest seldom surpassed inpublic or private schools. 

"You see, " Mr. Voorhes remarked, "a day a week in the shop orlaboratories is just about enough to keep down the high spirits of theolder ones, and at the same time give them an applied education of whichthey feel the value. That one day of practical work did the trick. Itmade the other four days of academic work taste just as good as pie. "

Mr. Voorhes' plan arrived. It won the interest of the children and laterwith the assistance of the Mothers' Club and the kindergarten it won thesympathy of the community. 

VII The Mothers' Club

Like all of the other school centers in Cincinnati, Oyler has akindergarten and a Mothers' Club, around which the change in communityfeeling has centered, until Mr. Voorhes describes them as "the mostimportant influence that ever came into our school. " Yet thekindergarten here, as elsewhere, has had a life and death grapple forexistence. In the West End, dominated by its conservative, Germanatmosphere, the pleas for kindergartens fell on deaf ears. At last, after much preparation, a meeting of mothers and children was held forthe purpose of forming an organization; at the meeting there werethirteen children and five mothers, and all antagonistic, or at bestsuspicious. 

"I went around and played with every one of those children, " said Mr. Voorhes, "talking to the mothers, and trying to persuade them that thiswas not failure, but merely the forerunner of success. The next day Iwent into every grade, saying to the children:

"'What was the matter? Mother did not come to the Mothers' Meetingyesterday. '

"'Oh, she couldn't leave the baby. '

"'Leave the baby! Why, of course not. No one expected her to leave thebaby. Tell her to come and bring the baby along. '"

So another meeting was held, and another to which the babies werebrought--some women bringing as many as three, who were too young to goto school. At one Mothers' Meeting, after the club had been wellorganized, there were twenty women, listening, discussing and nursingbabies, all at once. 

If the beginnings of the experiment were discouraging the results havemore than offset the original disappointment. At the last meeting (inJanuary) seventy of the eighty-five paid up members were present, intelligent, eager, interested, participating heartily in thediscussions. It has cost years of labor, but these mothers have reachedthe point where they can talk intelligently about the children and theirneeds. 

"Only yesterday, " said Miss Phelps, Kindergarten Director, "one mothersaid to me: 'I used to be the most impatient woman with my children--Isimply couldn't stand it when they refused to do what I told them. Theother day my mother said to me, "You're about the most patient woman Iever saw. What's done it?" And I said to her: "Well, mother, I do notknow of anything except those folks at the kindergarten, which allhelped me to look at children in a very different way. "'"

Through the Mothers' Meetings the mothers have come to feel that theyare co-operating with the teacher and the school. Those mothers who havechildren in the upper grades as well as in the kindergarten go to thegrade teachers too, seeking advice, or making suggestions. They havelearned to feel that they are an essential part of the educationalplan, and their enthusiastic interest tells of the advantages gained bythis co-operation. 

The Oyler Mothers' Club has been the center of the movement to clear upthe community. Through them and through the grades refuse has beencleaned and kept from the streets. The club maintains, out of its fund, a medicine chest at the school, which is used by the visiting nurse. Ithas cleaned up the children, and that is no small item. 

"Back in 1904, " says Mr. Voorhes, "I had five hundred of the childrenvaccinated in my office, and such dirt and vermin I never saw! Nearlyevery child had the high water mark on his wrist, and their clothes andbodies were filthy. They didn't know a bathtub from a horse trough; theydon't now for the matter of that, because there are scarcely a dozenhouses in this section that have bathtubs, but the children are clean. "

Each year the old members of the Mothers' Club bring in the new mothers, saying to Miss Phelps: "This is my mother, I brought her, " "This ismine!" with a delighted satisfaction in having added something to theclub. The kindergarten, filling two rooms, is thriving, and thekindergarten teachers, visiting and advising in the home, are cordiallywelcomed everywhere. 

VIII The Disappearance of "Discipline"

"Discipline, " smiled Mr. Voorhes, "no, we don't mention the word anymore. Five years ago the discipline problem in this school was moreserious than in any school in town. We couldn't handle it, not even witha club. To-day the discipline looks after itself. "

The disciplining of an undisciplined school may sound like an immenselydifficult task. Wrongly essayed it would be. Rightly directed itbecomes the merest child's play. The teachers have disciplined theschool--disciplined it through kindness--and here, again, theinspiration may be traced to the Mothers' Club and the kindergarten, forit was in the kindergarten that the first real attempt was made to bringthis school into closer relations with the home by home visiting. Littleby little the example told on the grade teachers, who went to see thechildren when they were absent; nor was it long before a custom grew upin the school, by virtue of which a teacher who wished to visit oneabsent child, might pick her own time to make her visit. If perchancethe psychological moment was during school hours, she went then, whileanother teacher or the principal took her place. 

Among the many illustrations of the efficiency of this system one standsout strongly. A boy had been away for a week, sick with rheumatism, whenhis teacher decided to call and see him. She went hesitatingly, however, for this boy had been rough and troublesome all through school, butparticularly to her. At last her mind was made up. She visited the boyand came away radiant, overjoyed at the cordial reception he had givenher. Again she went, and the mother, opening the door with a glad face, said:

"Come right in, Tom's been looking for you. "

"Is he better?" the teacher asked. 

"Yes, pretty much, but he said that he would get well right quick whenyou came to see him again. "

Does anyone wonder that the boy should feel so kindly over attentions towhich he was not accustomed? Is it strange that he should have come backto school with a firm resolve to be decent to his teacher?

Discipline? There is no longer a problem of discipline. The teachersare enthusiastic over the work, because they can see its results in thechanged homes and lives about them. The children engaged in occupationswhich they enjoy and sensing the efforts of the school in their behalf, discipline themselves by being frank and hearty in work or in play. 

Mr. Voorhes is not surprised at this transformation. The plan on whichhe staked his reputation was a simple one, based on the idea of servinga community which he had studied carefully, by providing for it aneducation that met its needs. Though revolutionary from an educationalviewpoint, the plan succeeded because it was socially sound--because itlinked together the school and the community, of which the school is alogical part. 

IX The Spirit of Oyler

Oyler has a motto, a very shibboleth, "The school for the community andthe community for the school. " Not only do its principal and teachersbelieve that the school must center its activities about the needs ofthe community in which it is located, but they put their belief intopractice, studying the community diligently and seeking to find ananswer for every need which it manifests. Out of this spirit of servicehas grown up a warmth of feeling and interest among the teachers seldomsurpassed anywhere. 

"When I came to Oyler I felt about it as Sherman felt about war, " saysMr. Voorhes. "Now I would not trade places with any school man inCincinnati. The teachers feel the same way. Never yet have we had ateacher who wanted to leave. Each one has her class, that is enough. Wehave no problem of discipline now. The children and their parents areworking for the school. ["]

Sometimes people get the idea that Mr. Voorhes does not do very much. One visitor spent half a day observing, and then sitting down in hisoffice she said:

"Mr. Voorhes, I have been here half a day and I haven't seen you aroundat all. What do you do?"

"Madam, " answered Mr. Voorhes, "I am a man of leisure. All I do is tosit here at this desk, ready to get behind any one of my teachers, withtwo hundred and fifty pounds from the shoulder, in order to preventanybody or anything from getting in the way of her work. "

Small wonder that the teachers like to stay. Small wonder that the workwhich the school does commands the respect of the people of Cincinnati. In the school, as well as in the neighborhood, each person has a taskand a fair chance to do it well. 

From its position as "the worst school in Cincinnati" Oyler has risen, first in its own esteem, and then in the esteem of the city, until it islooked upon everywhere as a factor in the life of the west end, and aninvaluable cog in the educational machinery of the city. Its tone haschanged, too. Mr. Roberts, who came, a total stranger, to assist in thework while Mr. Voorhes was sick, says, "I have never heard a word ofdiscourtesy or a bit of rudeness since I came to this school. " That isstrong testimony for a new man in a new place. Splendidly done, Oyler!

Mr. Voorhes has not stopped working. On the contrary, he is at it harderthan ever, shaping his school to the ever-changing community needs. Hehas stopped disciplining, though, and he has stopped wondering about thesuccess of his experiment. Time was when Oyler looked upon high schoolattendance much as a New York gunman looks at Sunday School. Last yearof the thirty-three children in the eighth grade, eighteen--more thanhalf--went to high school. The tradition against high school has beenreplaced by a healthy desire for more education. "One day a week in theshops, " Mr. Voorhes says, "means interest and enthusiasm. Our childrencompete in high school with the children of grammar schools from thewell-to-do sections, and with the best our boys and girls hold theirown. "

The community is interested. Parents and manufacturers alike come to theschool, consult, advise, suggest, co-operate. The school boy is nolonger sneered at by "the gang. " The school has made its place in thecommunity, and "the gang" is enthusiastically engaged in school work. The complexion of the neighborhood has changed, too. It is less rough, the police have less to do. Houses are neater, children better clothedand cared for. Oyler has won the hearts of its people, improved the foodon their tables and the clothes on their backs, sent the children tohigh school, and their mothers to Mothers' Clubs; and the people whoonce uttered their profanity indiscriminately in every direction nowswear by Oyler. 

CHAPTER IX

VITALIZING RURAL EDUCATION

I The Call of the Country

There is a call of the land just as there is a call of the city, thoughthe call of the city has sounded so insistently during the past centurythat men innumerable, heeding it, have cast in their lot with thethrongs of city dwellers. Yet the city proves so unsatisfying thatthousands are turning from its rows of brick houses and lines of pavedstreets to the fruit trees, dairy herds, market gardens and broad acresof the countryside. The call of the city is answered by a call which isbecoming equally distinct--the call "Back to the Land. "

The ten-acre lot may not be any nearer paradise than the "Great WhiteWay, " but there is about it a breadth of quiet wholesomeness whichcannot make its presence felt in the bustle of the clanging cars and therushing whirl of crowded streets. The unsmoked blue of the sky is overthe country, as are the fragrance of flowers, woods and mown grass; thestars are brilliant by night, and by day the birds sing, and the cowsand barnyard fowls talk philosophically together. The children have roomto run and play between their periods of work, which is very near of kinto blessedness, because, aside from being instructive, it binds thechild into the family group in a way that factory work can never do. Thecountry cries health and enthusiasm to the world-weary soul as it doesto the barefoot boy. Whittier was very near the heart of things when hewrote:

 Blessings on thee, little man, Barefoot boy, with cheek of tan! With thy turned-up pantaloons, And thy merry whistled tunes; With thy red lips, redder still Kissed by strawberries on the hill. 

Despite the loneliness, isolation and overwork in some country places, the rural life is, on the whole, very rich in--

 Sleep that wakes in laughing day, Health that mocks the doctor's rules, Knowledge never learned of schools. 

Country life holds a great promise for the future--a promise of vigorousmanhood and womanhood, and of earnest, sane living. Through the rapidlyprogressing country school, more perhaps than through any other agency, this promise may be fulfilled. There are two possibilities in thedevelopment of the country school. On the one hand, several one-roomschools may be consolidated into one central graded school, to which thechildren are transported at public expense; on the other hand, theold-time, one-room school may be reorganized and vitalized. 

II Making Bricks with Straw

Even the doughtiest son of the soil must needs admit that the farmer ofthe past, living secluded in his house or village, was provincial, narrow, bigoted and individualistic. Times are rapidly changing, however, and out of the old desolation of rural individualism there isarising the spirit of wholesome, virile co-operation, which hastransformed the face of many a country district almost in the twinklingof an eye. Nowhere is this co-operative spirit better expressed than inthe consolidated country schools, which are organized, like the cityschool, by subjects and grades. 

Considered from any viewpoint, the consolidated school is superior, as aform of organization, to the district school. Rather, the consolidatedschool permits organization, and the district school does not. Whereverit has been tried the testimony in favor of consolidation isoverwhelming. 

"Comparison, " cried one county superintendent in consternation. "Comparison! There is no comparison. The old one-room school, like theone-horse plough, has seen its day. The farmers in this country, afterfiguring it out, have reached the conclusion that the one-room school isin the same class with a lot of other old-fashioned machinery--good inits day, but not good enough for them. That is why over eighty per centof our schools have been consolidated. You see it's this way: Thefarmers need labor badly, and rather than see their sons go to a schoolwhere they are called on once or twice a day by a sadly overworkedteacher they would put them to work on the farm. The consolidated schoolwins them with its good course of study and the boys stay in school. "

That is the first, and perhaps the most vital, advantage of theconsolidated school--it permits the enlargement of the course of study. Sewing, cooking, agriculture, manual training, drawing and music, haveall been introduced, because the teachers have time for them. Highschool work has been added, too. The consolidated school, in so far asthe course of study is concerned, is very nearly on a par with thegraded school of the city. 

Have you ever attended a one-room country school? If you have not youcan form but the faintest idea of what it means to the teacher. Her dayis so split up with little periods of class work that she can never doanything thoroughly. Here, for example, is an average schedule of workfor a one-room class in Indiana:

 DAILY PROGRAM

 FORENOON

 Time Class Grade

 8:30 Opening Exercises All 8:40 Reading Primary 8:45 Reading First 8:50 Reading Second 8:55 Reading Third 9:00 Reading Sixth 9:10 Grammar Fourth 9:20 Grammar Fifth 9:30 Grammar Sixth 9:40 Grammar Seventh 9:50 Grammar Eighth 10:00 Reading Fourth 10:10 Reading Seventh 10:20 Recess All 10:30 Reading Primary 10:40 Reading First 10:50 Numbers Second 11:00 Numbers Third 11:05 Arithmetic Fourth 11:15 Arithmetic Fifth 11:25 Arithmetic Seventh 11:35 Arithmetic Eighth 11:50 Reading Fifth Noon Noon All

Appalling, do you say? What other word describes it adequately? Thereare twenty-one teaching periods in the morning; twenty-four in theafternoon. Forty-five times each day that teacher must call up andteach a new class. The college professor is "overloaded" with fourteenclasses a week. This woman had two hundred and twenty-five. Will any onebe so absurd as to suppose that she can do them or herself justice?

Consolidation, among its many advantages, reduces the number of classesper day, and increases the time which the teacher may devote to eachclass. Note the contrast between that schedule of a one-room teacher andthe teaching schedule of a consolidated school teacher in the samecounty:

 TEACHER'S DAILY PROGRAM

 FORENOON

 Time Class Grade

 8:30 Opening Exercises All 8:45 Desk 1-B 8:50 Phonetics 1-A 9:00 Phonetics 1-B 9:15 Reading 1-A 9:30 Reading Second 9:45 Rest Exercise All 10:00 Nature All 10:15 Rest All 10:30 Words 1-B 10:50 Words 1-A 11:10 Numbers Second 11:30 History 1-A

The "district, " or one-room, schools in Montgomery County, Indiana, havetwenty-three pupils per teacher, scattered over six grades. Theconsolidated schools in the same county show sixteen pupils per teacher, in three grades. While the teacher in the district school averagestwenty-seven recitations a day, the teacher in the consolidated schoolhas eleven; but the time per recitation is: district, thirteen minutes;consolidated, twenty-nine minutes. The number of minutes which thedistrict teacher may give to each grade is fifty minutes; theconsolidated teacher has one hundred and seventeen minutes per grade. Badly sprinkled with figures as that statement is, it gives some idea ofthe increased opportunities for effective teaching in the consolidatedschool. No teacher can do justice to twenty-seven classes per day, andan average recitation period of thirteen minutes is so short as to bealmost unworthy of mention. 

Most consolidated schools, in addition to the ordinary rooms, have anassembly room in which lectures, festivals, socials, public meetings, and farmers' institutes are held. Acting as a center for community life, the consolidated school takes a real place in the instruction of thecommunity. The big brick or stone building, well constructed andsurrounded, as it usually is, by well-kept grounds, furnishes the samekind of local monument that the court house supplies in the county seat. People point proudly to it as "their" public building. It is anexperience of note in traveling across an open farming country to comesuddenly upon a splendidly-equipped, two-story school, set down, at apoint of vantage, several miles away from the nearest railroad. 

The consolidated school at Linden, Montgomery County, Indiana, forexample, situated in a town of scarcely three hundred inhabitants, isequipped with gas from its own gas-plant; with steam heat; ample toiletaccommodations; an assembly room; and halls so broad that the primarychildren may play some of their games there in bad weather. 

One of the most widely discussed among consolidated schools is the JohnSwaney Consolidated School, of Putnam County, Illinois. [22] The JohnSwaney School occupies a twenty-four acre campus, lying a mile and ahalf from the nearest village, and ten miles from the nearest town. Theagitation for consolidation in Putnam County led John Swaney and hiswife to give twenty-four acres as a campus for a local consolidatedschool. Hence the name and much of the success which has attended thework of the school. 

The school cost $15, 000, equipped. It is of brick with four class-rooms, two laboratories, a library, offices, a manual training shop, a domesticscience kitchen, and a basement play-room. The building is lighted, heated, and ventilated in the most modern fashion. The John SwaneySchool thus came into existence with an equipment adequate for anyschool and elaborate for a school situated far from the channels oftrade and industry. 

The course of study organized includes all of the modern specializedwork which the effective city school is able to do. Securing goodteachers and possessing unique facilities, the school carries boys andgirls through a series of years, in which intellectual, experimental, manual, recreational, and social activities combine to make the schoolthe center of community life and community influence. 

The school campus is used as a laboratory and a play ground. The treesprovide subject matter for a course in horticulture. The fertile land isturned to agricultural use, and the broad expanse of twenty-four acresfurnishes additional space for games and sports. 

The social life of this school is no less effective than is its locationand equipment. The teachers' cottage, an old school building convertedfor this purpose, furnishes a center for the life of the teaching staff, and makes a background for the social life of the entire school. Thereare two strong literary societies, including all of the pupils in theschool. Each year plays are presented on the school stage. There aremusical organizations, parents' conferences, entertainments, andcommunity gatherings of all descriptions. In every sense, the JohnSwaney School is a community center. 

Prosperity has followed in the wake of this educational development. TheJohn Swaney School is known far and wide, and consequently farm rentersand farm buyers alike seek the locality because of the educationalopportunities which the school affords for their children, and becauseof the social opportunities which the community around the schoolaffords for them. 

The movement for school consolidation, like many another good movement, originated in Massachusetts. From that state it has spread extensivelyto Indiana, Minnesota, Iowa, Kansas, Idaho, Washington, and a number ofother states, --East, West, and South. In every progressive ruralcommunity, wherever prosperous farmers and comfortable farm homes arefound, there the consolidation movement is being discussed, agitated, oroperated. 

The movement toward consolidation has been particularly active duringthe past few years in the South. The Southern States are, for the mostpart, largely agricultural communities. The rural population faroutnumbers the urban population, and it is in these districts, therefore, that the consolidated school can have its greatest influence. By 1912, the state of Louisiana alone was able to report over 250consolidated county schools. Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina showthemselves almost equally active in forwarding this generally acceptedprogressive educational movement. 

The difficulties involved in consolidation may be summed up under twoheads. There is, first of all, the conservatism and prejudice of thosepeople who believe that the things which were good enough for theirfathers, are still good enough for them. Secondly, there are thetechnical difficulties involved in transporting pupils from distantlocalities to the school center. Roads are bad at certain times of theyear. Wagons are costly. Desirable drivers are difficult to secure. These factors, taken together, make the administrative difficulties ofthe consolidated school far greater than those of the old-time one-roomcountry school. 

The forces operating to overcome these difficulties are destinedultimately to triumph. The widespread acceptance of an agriculturaleducation that followed upon the work of experiment stations, universities and high schools, has convinced even the most reactionaryof the old-time group that there are, at least, certain things in thenew generation which surpass, in their economic and social value, thelike things of the old. The inroads of scientific agriculture haveplayed havoc with agricultural tradition and conservatism. The obviousmerits of the new scheme are destined to overcome the prejudices whichthe long continuance of the old scheme created. 

The technical difficulties of transportation are being met in a numberof ways. Wagon builders in various parts of the country are devotingthemselves to the designing and building of wagons which will be cheapand effective. State and local authorities are actively engaged in theimprovement of roads. The near future promises a standard oftransportation facilities that will far surpass any that theconsolidation movement has thus far enjoyed. The details oftransportation administration are being worked out variously indifferent communities, and always with a view to the particular needs ofthe community involved. 

While the disadvantages of consolidation lie mainly in the overcoming ofprejudice and the solution of administrative problems, the advantages ofconsolidation seem to be primarily educational and social. Theconsolidated school is the only method thus far devised for givinggraded school and high school privileges under adequately paid teachersto the inhabitants of rural communities. Again the consolidated schoolis the only method of securing a school attendance sufficiently large toprovide the incentive arising from competition and emulation for pupilsof each grade or age. Furthermore, the consolidated school, standing outas the most distinctive feature of a rural landscape, is readilyconverted into a center of rural life and activity where young folks andold folks alike find a common ground for social interests. 

The advantages of the rural school are thus summed up by MabelCarney, [23]--"For the complete and satisfying solution of the problem ofrural education and for the general reconstruction and redirection ofcountry life, the consolidated country school is the best agency thusfar devised. " The reasons for this statement are summed up under sevenheads. In the first place, the consolidated school is a democratic, public school, directly in the hands of the people who support it. Secondly, it is at the door of farm houses and is wholly available, evenmore available, when public transportation is provided, than the presentone-teacher school. Third, every child in the farm community is reachedby it. All children may attend because of the transportation facilitiesafforded. Fourth, the cost of the school is reasonable. Fifth, itaccommodates all grades, including the high school. The country highschool, by excluding the younger children, denies modern educationalfacilities to any except pupils of high school grade. Sixth, itpreserves a balanced course of study. While educating in terms offarm-life experience, it does not force children prematurely into anyvocation, although it prepares them generally for all vocations. Lastly, the consolidated school is the best social and educational center forthe rural community that has been thus far organized. 

However just may be the judging of a tree by its fruit, the fruit of theconsolidation movement seems uniformly good. First, because the childrenget to school; and second, because after they get there they are taughtsomething worth while. 

When the schools of a district are consolidated, transportation must befurnished for the students. Union Township, Montgomery County, Indiana, covering one hundred and six square miles, has replaced thirty-sevendistrict schools with six consolidated schools. Some of the children arebrought as far as five miles in wagons, or on the interurban electriccars. The wagon calls at stated hours, and the children must be ready. Tardiness is therefore reduced, until one county reports ten hundred andninety-one cases of tardiness in its district schools (for 1910-11) andninety-two cases in consolidated schools, although in this county thereare more children in the consolidated than in the district schools. 

Then, too, the children stay later in the consolidated schools. InMontgomery County, Indiana, the children who have not finished theeighth grade and who are staying away from school constitute twenty-nineper cent. Of the population in the consolidated schools, as againstsixty-three per cent. In the district schools. The Vernon consolidatedschool in Trumbull County, Ohio, has enrolled nearly nine-tenths of thechildren of school age. Before the consolidation only three-fifths werein school. 

Theoretically, the introduction of agriculture, manual training, andother applied courses which are found in most consolidated schools, should have some effect on the lives of the children. In order to showits extent Superintendent Hall, of Montgomery County, Indiana, asked onethousand children (five hundred in district schools and five hundred inconsolidated schools) what they proposed to do after they left school. Arranged according to the kind of school in which the children were, theanswers showed as follows:

 _District_ _Consolidated_ _Chosen Profession_ _Schools_ _Schools_

 Teaching 151 122 Business 123 73 Farming 92 129 Law 55 21 Mechanics 48 86 Medicine 13 9 Ministry 12 4 Stock-breeding 3 41 Miscellaneous 3 15 --- --- Total 500 500

Agricultural studies--stock-breeding and farming--and mechanics show upstrongly in the consolidated schools, at the expense of teaching, business and law in the district schools. While such figures do notprove anything, they indicate the direction in which the minds ofconsolidated school children are moving. 

Eli M. Rapp, of Berks County, Pennsylvania, voices the spirit of theconsolidation movement when he says:

"The consolidated school furnishes the framework for a well-organized, rural education. Its course of study is broader, its appeal is stronger, its service to the community more pronounced, and, best of all, it holdsthe children. Progressive rural communities have wakened up to the factthat unless their children are educated together there is a strongprobability that they will be ignorant separately. "

III Making the One-Room Country School Worth While

The brilliant success of the consolidated schools reveals thepossibilities of team-work in rural education, but it cannot detractfrom the wonderful work which has been done, and is still being done, bythe one-room rural school. Always there will be districts so sparselysettled that the consolidated school is not feasible. In such localitiesthe one-room school, transformed as it may be by enlightened effort, must still be relied upon to provide education. Nor is this outcomeundesirable. The one-room country school bristles with educationalpossibilities. Under intelligent direction, even its cumbersomeorganization may yield a plenteous harvest of useful knowledge andawakened interest. 

The droning reading lesson and the sing-song multiplication table areheard no more in the progressive country school. In their place areEnglish work, which reflects the spirit of rural things, and thearithmetic of the farm. Here is a boy of thirteen, in a one-room countryschool, writing an essay on "Selecting, Sowing and Testing Seed Corn, "an essay amply illustrated by pen and ink drawings of growing corn, cornin the ear and individual corn kernels. Mabel Gorman asks, "Does it paythe farmer to protect the birds?" After describing the services of birdsin destroying weed seeds and dangerous insects and emphasizing theirbeauty and cheerfulness, she concludes: "The question is, does it paythe farmer to protect the birds?" The only answer is that anything thatadds to the attractiveness of the farm is worthy of cultivation. Happilya farmer who protects the birds secures a double return--increasedprofit from his crop and increased pleasure of living. Viola Lawson, writing on the subject, "How to Dust and Sweep, " makes some pertinentcomments. "I think if a house is very dirty, a carpet sweeper is not avery good thing. A broom is best, because you can't get around thecorners with a sweeper. " Note this hint to the school board: "We spendabout one-third of our time in the school house, so it is very importantto keep the dust down. The directors ought to let the school havedustless chalk. If they did there wouldn't be so much throat troubleamong teachers and children. Then so many children are so careless aboutcleaning their feet, boys especially. They go out and curry the horses, and clean out the stables, and get their feet all nasty. Then they cometo school and bring that dust into the schoolroom. Isn't that awful?"Viola is thirteen. 

Over in eastern Wisconsin Miss Ellen B. McDonald, County Superintendentof Oconto County, has her children engaged in contests all the yearround--growing corn, sugar beets, Alaska peas and potatoes; the boysmaking axe handles and the girls weaving rag carpet. During the summerMiss McDonald writes to the children who are taking part in the contestssuggesting methods and urging good work. One of the letters began withthe well-known lines:

 Say, how do you hoe your row, young man, Say, how do you hoe your row, Do you hoe it fair, do you hoe it square, Do you hoe it the best you know?

"How are you getting along with the contests?" continues the letter. "Are you taking good care of your beets, peas, corn or garden? Rememberthat it will pay you well for all the work you do upon it. " In reply onegirl writes: "My corn is a little over five feet high. My tomatoes havelittle tomatoes on, but mamma's are just beginning to blossom. My beetsare growing fine. I planted them very late. My lettuce is much betterthan mamma's. We have been eating it right along. " Mark the note ofexultation over the fact that her crop is ahead of her mother's. 

Sometimes the school child brings from school knowledge which materiallyhelps his father. Here is a Wisconsin English lesson, and a proof of thesaying, "Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings, " all in one. 

These country boys and girls take an interest in English work, becauseit deals with the things they know. Miss Ellen B. McDonald, CountySuperintendent of Schools in Oconto County, Wisconsin, publishes acolumn of school news in each of the three county newspapers. Here isone of her contributions, in the form of an English lesson and acounting lesson combined: (A "rag-baby tester" is a device fordetermining the fertility of seed corn before it is planted. )

 "My dear Miss McDonald:

 "The rag-baby tester is causing a whole lot of excitement. We have tested one lot and this morning started another. We notice one thing in particular, the corn which was dried by stove heat sprouts perfectly, while that dried in granaries, etc. , is not sprouting at all. Last fall papa saved his seed corn, selecting it very carefully, and hung it up in the granary to dry. I selected several ears from the same field and at the same time, and dried them on the corn tree at school. Upon testing them this spring papa's corn does not sprout at all, while mine is sprouting just exactly as good as the Golden Glow sent out to the school children. This morning I am testing some more of papa's, and if that fails he will have to buy his seed, a thing he has never had to do before. We tested the corn secured from four of our interested farmers last week and one lot germinated; the other three did not. This morning pupils from seven different homes brought seed to be tested. We had a package of last year's seed left and tested several kernels of that, as well as some sent out this year, and we think last year's seed is testing a little the better. "

The new arithmetic, like the new English, deals with the country. Itseems a little odd, just at first, to see boys and girls standing at theboard computing potato yields, milk yields, the contents of granaries, the price of bags and the cost of barns and chicken houses; yet whatmore natural than that the country child should figure out his andperhaps his father's problems in the arithmetic class at school?

The geography is no less pertinent. Soil formation, drainage, thelocation and grouping of farm buildings, the physical characteristics ofthe township and of the county are matters of universal interest andconcern. Every school in Berks County, Pennsylvania, is provided with afine soil survey map of the county, made by the United States GeologicalSurvey. What more ideal basis for rural geography?

Here and there a country school is waking up to the physical needs ofcountry children. "Country boys are not symmetrically developed, "asserts Superintendent Rapp, of Berks County. "They are flat-chested andround-shouldered. " That is interesting, indeed. Mr. Rapp explains: "Itis because of the character of their work, nearly all of which tends toflatten the chest. Whether or not that is the explanation, the factremains, and with it the no less evident fact that it is the business ofthe school to correct the defects. In an effort to do this we haveworked out a series of fifty games which the children are taught in theschools. " In May a great "Field Day and Play Festival" is held, to whichthe entire county is invited. Each school trains and sends in its teams. Trolleys, buggies, autos and hay wagons contribute their quota, untilfive thousand people have gathered in an out-of-the-way spot to help thechildren enjoy themselves. 

Mr. Rapp is a great believer in activity. Tireless himself, he has fiftyteacher-farmers--men who teach in the winter and farm in the summer--anexcellent setting for country boys and girls. He believes in activityfor children, too. "If the school appealed as it ought to the motorenergies of children, instead of having to drive them in, you would haveto drive them out. " To prove his point Mr. Rapp cites the instance ofone man teacher, who, before the days of manual training in the schools, decided to have manual training in his one-room Berks County school. 

"He did the work himself, " Mr. Rapp says, "dug out the cellar and set upa shop in it. The only help he had was the help of the pupils, and thework was done in recess time and after school. They made their owntools, cabinets, book-cases, picture-frames, clock-frames, and anythingelse they wanted. And do you know, when it got dark, that man wouldsend the children home from the school in order to be rid of them. "

Consolidated schools help. They make rural education broader and easier, but the one-room country school, presided over by a live teacher, may bemade worth while. Social events, sports, contests in farm work anddomestic work, studies couched in terms of the country, may all provepotent factors in shaping the child and the community. 

IV Repainting the Little Red Schoolhouse

Without, as well as within, the little red school-house may betransformed. The course of study may establish a standard in ruralthought. The rural school-house may set a standard of rural architectureand landscape gardening. 

How typical of old-time country schools are the lines:

 Still sits the school-house by the road, A ragged beggar sunning. Around it still the sumacs grow, And blackberry vines are running. 

The unpainted, rough exterior of the little school vied with the unkemptschool grounds. Both supplied subjects for artistic treatment. To theconsternation of the poet and the romancer, the modern one-room schoolis painted, and the school yard, instead of being filled with a thicketof blackberry and sumac, is laid out for playground, flower-beds andgardens. The up-to-date country school, while far less picturesque, ismuch more architectural and more useful. 

The State Superintendent of Education in Wisconsin furnishes free tolocal school boards plans of modern one-room schools. With a hall ateach end for wraps, an improved heating and ventilating device, and allof the light coming from the north side, where there is one big windowfrom near the floor to the ceiling, these buildings, costing from twothousand dollars up, provide in every way for the health and comfort ofthe children. The superintendent may go farther than to suggest inWisconsin, however, for if a school building becomes dilapidated he maycondemn it, and then state aid to local education is refused untilsuitable buildings are provided. The law has proved an excellentdeterrent to educational parsimony. 

Superintendent Kern, of Rockford, Illinois, has done particularlyeffective work in beautifying his schools. Within the schools aretastefully painted and decorated. Outside there are flower-beds, hedges, individual garden plots, neatly-cut grass, and all of the othernecessaries for a well-kept yard. No longer crude and unsightly, theRockford school yards are models which any one in the neighborhood maycopy with infinite advantage. As the school becomes the center ofcommunity life local pride makes more and more demands. Could you visitsome of the finer school buildings in Ohio, Indiana, Wisconsin andIllinois you would be better able to understand why men boast of "OurSchool" in the same tone that they use when boasting of their cornyields. 

V A Fairyland of Rural Education

You will perhaps be somewhat skeptical--you big folks who have ceased tobelieve in little people--when you hear that out in western Iowa thereis a county which is an educational fairyland. Yet if you had traveledup and down the country, gone into the wretched country schoolbuildings, seen the lack-luster teaching and the indifferent scholars, which are so appallingly numerous; if you had read in the report of theinvestigating committee which has just completed its survey of Wisconsinrural schools the statement that in many districts the hog pens were ona better plane of efficiency than the school houses; if you had seen themiserable inadequacy of country schools North, East, South and West, andhad then been transported into the midst of the school system of PageCounty, Iowa, you would have been sure that you had passed through thelooking-glass into the queer world beyond. Yet Page County is there--afairyland presided over by a really, truly fairy. 

The schools in Page County, Iowa, which, by the way, is one of the bestcorn counties in Iowa, are little republics in which the children havethe fun, do the work and grow up strong and kind. Each school has itssong, its social gatherings, its clubs, and its teams. How you wouldhave pricked up your ears if you had driven past the Hawley School andheard a score of lusty voices shouting the school song to the tune of"Everybody's Doing It!"

December was the time of the Page County contests, when each school sentits exhibits of dressmaking, cooking, rope-splicing, barn-planning, essay-writing and its corn-judging teams to the county seat, where theywere displayed and judged very much as they would be at a county fair. Further, it was the time when the prizes were to be awarded to the boyhaving the best acre of alfalfa, of corn and of potatoes. (Queer, isn'tit, but last year a girl got the first prize for the best crop ofpotatoes. ) December is a great month in Page County. This year more thanthree thousand exhibits were sent into Clarinda, the county seat. Everyboy and girl is on tip-toe with expectancy, and after the awards thesuccessful schools are as proud as turkey cocks. 

"We have never taken the thing seriously here before, " explained afarmer who had left his work in mid-afternoon and come in to teach theboys of a school how to judge seed corn. "This year we're going downthere to Clarinda for all that's in it. " If he hadn't meant what he saidhe would scarcely have been spending his hours in the school-room. Ifthe Hawleyville boys had not been thoroughly in earnest they would nothave been there, after school, learning how to judge corn. 

The community around each school is agog with excitement whilepreparations are being made for the county contest. The men folk advisethe boys regarding their corn-judging and their models of farmimplements and farm buildings, while the women give lessons galore inthe mysteries of country cooking, for it is no small matter to be hailedand crowned as the best fourteen-year-old cook in Page County, Iowa. 

One Page County teacher conducts her domestic science work in theevening at the homes of the girls. On a given day of each week theentire class visits the home of one of the girls, prepares, cooks andeats a meal. What an opportunity to inculcate lessons in domesticeconomy at first hand! What a chance to show the behind-the-timehousekeeper (for there are such even in Page County) how things arebeing done!

Because Page County is a great corn county much school time is devotedto corn. In every school hangs a string of seed corn which is brought inby the boys in the fall, dried during the winter, and in the springtested for fertility. A Babcock milk-tester, owned by the county, circulates from school to school, enabling the children to test theproductivity of their cows. Teams of boys, under the direction of theschool, make their own road drags, and care for stretches of road--fromone to five miles. The boys doing the best work are rewarded withsubstantial prizes. Do you begin to suspect the reason for the interestwhich the big folks take in the doings of Page County's little folks? Itis because the little folks go to schools which are a vital part of thecommunity. 

Three times a year there is, in each school, a gathering of the friendsand parents of the children. Sometimes they celebrate Thanksgiving, sometimes they have a "Parents' Day. " Anyway, the boys decorate theschool, the girls cook cake and candy, and the parents come and have agood evening. The children begin with their school song, sung, perhaps, like this Kile School song, to the tune of "Home, Sweet Home":

 1. What school is the dearest, The neatest and best, What school is more pleasant, More dear than the rest, Whose highways and byways Have charms from each day, Whose roads and alfalfa, They have come to stay. 

 _Chorus. _ Kile, Kile, our own Kile, We love her, we'll praise her, We'll all work for Kile. 

 2. Whose corn is so mellow, Whose cane is so sweet, Whose taters are so mellow, Whose coal's hard to beat, Whose Ma's and whose Grandpa's Are brave, grand and true, Their love for their children They never do rue. 

There follows a program like the program of any other social evening, except that very often the parents take part as well as the children. The things are interesting, too, like this little duet, sung at theThanksgiving entertainment by two of the Kile girls:

 1. If a body pays the taxes, Surely you'll agree, That a body earns a franchise, Whether he or she. 

 _Chorus. _ Every man now has the ballot, None, you know, have we, But we have brains and we can use them, Just as well as he. 

 2. If a city's just a household, As it is, they say, Then every city needs housecleaning, Needs it right away. 

 3. Every city has its fathers, Honors them, I we'en, But every city must have mothers, That the house be clean. 

 4. Man now makes the laws for women, Kindly, too, at that, But they often seem as funny As a man-made hat. 

The grand event of this fairyland comes in the summer, when the boys andgirls from all of the schools go to the county seat for a summer camp, where, between attending classes and lectures, playing games andreveling in the joys of camp life, they come to have a very much broaderview of the world and a more intense interest in one another. 

They are only one-room schools out there in Page County, but they haveadapted themselves to the needs of the community, focusing the attentionof parents and children alike on the bigger things in rural life, andthe ways in which a school may help a countryside to appreciate andenjoy them. So the boys and girls of Page County have their fairyland, and are devoted to the good fairy, who, in the shape of a generous, kindly county superintendent, helps them to enjoy it. 

VI The Task of the Country School

The teacher of a one-room school in Berks County was quizzing a classabout Columbus. 

"Where was he born?" she queried. 

"In Genoa. "

"And where is Genoa, Ella?"

"On the Mediterranean Sea, " replied Ella promptly. 

"What was his business?" was her next question. 

"He was a sailor, " ventured a bright boy. "A sailor, " chorused theclass. 

"Why was he a sailor, Edith?" Edith shook her head. 

"Yes, George. "

"Why, because he lived on the sea. "

"Of course. Now think a minute. Do many of the boys from this countrybecome sailors?"

"No'm, " from the class. 

"What do they become?"

"Farmers, " cried the class, hissing the "f" and flattening the "a. "

Certainly, the boys in a farming community, brought up on the farm, naturally become farmers, yet in the interim, between babyhood andfarmer life, they go to school. How absurdly easy the task of theschool--to determine that they shall be intelligent, progressive, enthusiastic, up-to-date farmers. The girls, too, marry farmers, keepfarmers' homes and raise farmers' sons. How simple is the duty of seeingthat they are prepared to do these things well!

The task of the city school is complex because of the vast number ofbusinesses, professions, industrial occupations and trades whichchildren enter. In comparison the country school has the plainest ofplain sailing. What are the ingredients of successful farmers andfarmers' wives? What proportion of physical education, of mentaltraining, of technical instruction in agriculture, of suggestions forpractical farm work, of dressmaking, sewing and cooking, enter into themaking of farmers' boys and farmers' girls who will live up to thetraditions of the American farm? To what extent must the school be acenter for social activity and social enthusiasm? How shall the schoolmake the farm and the small country town better living places for themen and women of to-morrow?

The duty of the country school is simple and clear. It must fit countrychildren for country life. First it must know what are the needs of thecountry; then, manned by teachers whose training has prepared them toappreciate country problems, it will become the power that a countryschool ought to be in directing the thoughts and lives of thecommunity. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 22: An extensive reference to this school will be found in "Country Life and the Country School, " Mabel Carney, Row, Peterson & Company, Chicago, 1912. ]

 [Footnote 23: Supra, pp. 180-181. ]

CHAPTER X

OUT OF THE MOUTHS OF BABES AND SUCKLINGS

I Miss Belle

The sun shone mildly, though it was still late January, while the wind, which occasionally rustled the dry leaves about the fence corners, hadscarcely a suggestion of winter in its soft touch. Across the whitepike, and away on either side over the rolling blue grass meadows, theKentucky landscape unfolded itself, lined with brown and white fences, and dotted with venerable trees. A buggy, drawn by a carefully-steppingbay horse, came over the knoll ahead, framing itself naturally into thebeautiful landscape. Surely, that must be Joe and Miss Belle; it was solike her, since she always seemed at home everywhere, making herself anatural part of her surroundings. Another moment and there was no longerany doubt. It was Miss Belle with three youngsters crowded into her lapand beside her in the narrow buggy seat, while a dangling leg in therear suggested an occupant of the axle. 

"Well, well, " cried Miss Belle, cordially, as Joe stopped, glad of anyexcuse not to go, "where are you bound for? You didn't come all the wayover to ride back with me?"

"No, indeed, Miss Belle, " I laughed back, "no one ever expects to ridewith you so near the school-house. I'll walk along ahead until you beginto unload. "

"Go along, now you're casting reflections on Joe's speed. Come, Joe, we'll show him. " Joe, who did not leave his accustomed walk at once, finally yielded to the suggestion of a gentle blow from the whip andbroke into a trot. 

"Lem'me walk with you, " cried the rider on the springs, slipping fromher perch and stepping out beside the buggy. So we journeyed for half amile. The horse, under constant urging, jogged along, while the springrider and I trotted side by side over the well-made pike. Then MissBelle drew rein in front of a small, yellow house. 

"Now, out you go, " she exclaimed to her young companions. "All out herebut one. Goodbye, dearies. All right, up you get, " and in a moment wewere snugly fixed in the buggy for a half hour's ride behind Joe. 

"You see those two little girls who got off there, " said Miss Belle, pointing to the house we had just left, "well, they are two of a familyof six--two younger than those. Their mother died last winter, sonaturally I take an interest in them. Their father does his best withthem, but it is a big task for a man to handle alone. "

The last child was unloaded by this time, and Miss Belle, settlingherself back comfortably, chatted about her work in a one-room countryschool in the Blue Grass belt of Kentucky. 

II Going to Work Through the Children

"Maybe there are thirty-five families that my school ought to drawfrom, " she began. "Six years ago when I took this school some of themsurely did need help. Dearie me! The things they didn't know aboutcomfort and decency would fix up a whole neighborhood for life. Theywore stockings till they dropped off. Some of the girls put on sweatersin October, wore them till Christmas, washed them, and then wore themtill spring. You never saw such utterly wretched homes. There was hardlya window shade in the neighborhood, nor a curtain either. It wasn't thatthe women didn't care--they simply didn't know. 

"I saw it all, " said Miss Belle, nodding her head thoughtfully, "and itworried me a great deal at first. I just had to get hold of those peopleand help them--I had made up my mind to that. Impatience wouldn't do, though, so I said to myself, 'Now, my dear, don't you be in any hurry. You can't do anything with the old folks, they're too proud. If yousucceed at all it's got to be through the children. ' So I just waited, keeping my eyes open, and teaching school all of the while, until, thefirst thing I knew, the way opened up--you never would guess how--it wasthrough biscuits. ["]

III Beginning on Muffins

"The folks around here never had seen anything except white bread. Therewasn't a piece of cornbread or of graham anywhere. You know what theirwhite bread is, too--heavy, sour, badly made and only half cooked. Theold folks were satisfied, though, and there didn't seem to be any way togo at it except through the youngsters. Day after day I saw them takeraw white biscuits and sandwiches made of salt-rising white bread out oftheir baskets, wondering how they could eat them. Still I didn't sayanything, but every lunch time I ate corn muffins or graham wafers, withall of the gusto I could master. One day a little girl up and asked me:

"'Say, Miss Belle, what may you all be eatin'?'

"'Corn muffins, ' said I. 'Ever taste them?'

"'Nope. '

"'Well, wouldn't you like a taste?'

"'Sure I would. '

"She took it, and a great big one, too. 'Um, ' says she, smacking herlips, 'Um. '

"'Like it?' I asked. 

"'Um, ' says she again, like a baby with a full stomach. 

"'Oh, Miss Belle, ' piped up Annie, 'how do you make 'em?'

"That was the chance I had been waiting for. 

"'Would you like to know?' I asked, and to a chorus of 'Sure, ' ''Deed wewould, ' 'Oh, yes, ' I put the recipe on the board, and it wasn't two daysbefore those girls brought in as good corn muffins as I ever tasted. Little Annie is a good cook--never saw a better--and before the week wasout she says to me:

"'Miss Belle, ma's mad with you. '

"'What all's the matter?' I asked. 

"'She says since you taught us to make those corn muffins she'll beeaten out of house and home. The first night I made 'em pa ate eleven. He hasn't slackened off a bit since. He must have 'em every day. '

"That made the going pretty easy, " Miss Belle went on. "The muffins weremighty good, they were new, and, by comparison, the white biscuitsdidn't have a show. It wasn't long before I had the whole neighborhoodmaking corn muffins, graham wafers, black bread, graham bread andwhole-wheat bread. They sure did catch on to the idea quickly. EveryMonday I put a recipe on the board. These women knew how to cook thefancy things. It was the plain, simple, wholesome things that theyneeded to know about, so my recipes were always for them. During theweek each of the children cooks the thing and brings it to me, and theone who gets the best result puts a recipe on the board Friday. 

"You see, after I once got started it wasn't hard to follow up any lineI liked. By the time I was putting a recipe a week on the board themothers got naturally interested and would come to school to ask aboutthis recipe and that. They wouldn't take any advice, you understand, notthey! They knew all about cooking, so they thought, but they were mightyproud of the things their daughters did, particularly when they took theprizes at the county fair. Besides that, it made a whole lot ofdifference at home, because the things they made helped out a lot andtasted mighty good on the table. "

Miss Belle's next move was against the cake--soggy, sticky stuff, fullof butter, that was very generally eaten by all of the families thatcould afford it. Expensive and fearfully indigestible it made up, together with bread, almost the entire contents of most lunch baskets. 

"I couldn't see quite how to go about the cake business, " Miss Bellecommented, "because they were particularly proud of it. Finally, though, I hit on an idea. One of the women in the neighborhood was sick. She wasa good cook and knew good cooking when she saw it, so I got my sister tomake an angel cake, which I took around to her. I do believe it was thefirst light cake she had ever tasted--anyway, she was tickled to death. It wasn't long after that before every one who could afford to do it wasmaking angel food. Of course it's expensive, but since they were boundto make cake, that was a lot better than the other. "

Similar tactics gradually replaced the fried meats by roasts and stews. When Miss Belle came, meat swam in fat while it cooked and came from thestove loaded with grease. Everybody fried meat, and when by chance theybought a roast they began by boiling all of the juice out of it beforethey put it in the oven. Miss Belle's stews and roasts made bettereating, though. The men-folks liked them hugely and the old fryingprocess was doomed. 

"No, " concluded Miss Belle, laughingly, "you can't do a thing with theold folks. Why if I was to go into a kitchen belonging to one of thosewomen and tell her how to sift flour she would run me out quick, butwhen Annie comes home and makes such muffins that the man of the familyeats eleven the first time, there is no way to answer back. The muffinsspeak for themselves. "

IV Taking the Boys in Hand

While the girls were making over the diet of the neighborhood Miss Bellewas working through the boys to improve the strains of corn used by thefarmers, the methods of fertilizing and the quality of the truckpatches. A few years ago when the farmer scorned newfangled ideas it wasthe boys that took home methods for numbering and testing each ear ofcorn to determine whether or not the kernels on it would sprout whenthey were planted. The farmer who turns a deaf ear to argument can offerno effective reply to a corn-tester in which only one kernel in threehas sprouted. The ears are infertile, from one cause or another, and thesooner he replaces them by fertile seed the better for his corn crop. 

Out beside a white limestone pike stands the school in which Miss Bellehas done her work. One would hardly stop to look at it, because itdiffers in no way from thousands of similar country school-houses. Modest and unassuming, like Miss Belle, it holds only one feature ofreal interest--the faces of the children. Bright, eager, enthusiastic, they labor earnestly over their lessons in order that they may get attheir "busy work, " and linger over their "busy work" during recess andafter school, because it glides so swiftly from their deft fingers. Inthis, as in everything else which she does, Miss Belle has a system. Thechild whose lessons are not done, and done up to a certain grade, is nottaught new stitches or new designs. Even the youngest responds to thestimulus, and the little girl in a pink frock, with pink ribbons on herbrown pig-tails, lays aside the mat she is making to write "Annie BelleLewis" on the board, and to tell you that she is seven; while JohnMurphy, of the mature age of eleven, stops crocheting ear-mufflers for amoment to tell you what he is doing and why he does it. 

V "Busy Work" as an Asset

"You never would guess what a help the 'busy work' is, " smiled MissBelle. "You see, they never can do it until their lessons are finished, so they are as good at arithmetic as they are at patching. Then I alwaysteach the little ones patterns and stitches where they have to count, 'One, two, three, four, five, and drop one, ' you know, and in theshortest time they learn their number work. It seems to go so much morequickly when they do it in connection with some pieces that they cansee. But you never would guess the best thing the sewing has done--ithas stopped gossiping. It's hard to believe, I know, but it's true. There used to be a lot of trouble in this neighborhood. People toldtales, there was ill feeling, and folks quarreled a great deal of thetime. It wasn't long before I found out that it was the girls who didmost of the tale-bearing. No wonder, either! They weren't very busy inschool, and they had nothing much to do at home except to listen andtalk. Really, they hadn't any decent interest in life. Of course therewas no use in saying anything, but I felt that if I could get them busyat something they liked they would stop talking. It wasn't enough tostart them at dressmaking, either, but when I started in on hard, fancywork designs I had them. They made pretty clothes, embroidered them;made lace and doilies. Most of the girls can pick up a new Irish-lacepattern from a fashion-book as easily as I can, and they are rabid fornew patterns. The same girls who did most of the tale-bearing are busyat work, and I find them swapping patterns and recipes instead ofstories. "

While the girls patch, darn, crochet, hem, knit, weave baskets, makegarments and do the various kinds of "busy work, " the boys clean theschool yard, plant walnut trees--Mrs. Faulconer, the CountySuperintendent, is having the school children plant nut trees along allthe pikes--and do anything else which is not beneath their dignity. "They have no work benches, " lamented Miss Belle, "I hope they will getthem soon, although there is really no place to put them. " Indeed, in alittle building packed with fifty children and the school-room furniturethe space is narrow. 

Yet this little one-room building at Locust Grove has left such a markon the community that when the County School Board recently decided totransfer Miss Belle to a larger school the member from her districtpromptly resigned, and refused to be placated until every other memberof the board had apologized to him and promised to leave Miss Belle inhis school. 

"We never saw the old gentleman mad before, " said a neighbor. "But hecertainly was mad then. He had watched Miss Belle's work grow, and knewwhat it had meant to the children; so when they proposed to take heraway he went right up in the air. "

VI Marguerite

What wonder? He had seen the magic workings of a hand that felt thepulse, judged the symptoms, and prescribed a sure-to-cure remedy for acountryside full of ignorance, drunkenness, bitter hatreds andnever-ending quarrels. Within a stone's throw of his house he had seenthe transformation in the life of a little girl named Marguerite. Sinceher birth she had lived in darkness, but into her desolate home MissBelle had sent light. 

"You never saw a worse home, " says Miss Belle. "Her mother was woefullyignorant of everything in the way of home-making. The children werewretchedly dressed. The house was barrenness itself--no shades, nocurtains, no decorations of any kind. It was pathetic. When she came toschool neither she nor her mother could sew a stitch. "

Marguerite, an apt girl with her fingers, eagerly learned the needleworklessons of the school. She taught her mother to sew, while she herselfmade portieres and curtains, lightening up the old home with a rare newbeauty. 

Here again is Lillie, who is very slow at needlework and arithmetic, butwho has put the family diet on a wholesome basis by learning to cooksome of the most delicious, nourishing dishes. Her bread--the best inFayette County--is light as a feather. Hannah comes back after leavingschool to learn how to ply her needle. Until a year ago Christmas shecould not sew a stitch; now her stitches are so neat as to be almostinvisible. Mrs. Hawly, aroused to enthusiasm by her thirteen-year-olddaughter, has come to school, learned plain and fancy sewing, andstarted to make her own and her daughter's clothes. Everywhere are themarks of a teacher's handiwork stamped indelibly on the lives of herscholars and their families. Small wonder that the old gentleman on theboard was loath to part with Miss Belle!

VII Winning Over the Families

With supreme joy Miss Belle tells of her conquest of the fathers of herboys and girls--her family, as she calls it. "The children were verypoorly cared for, " she says. "The fathers spent the money for whiskey, and the mothers lacked the means and the knowledge to clothe thechildren better. Sometimes they were pitiful in their poor shoes andthin clothes. Well, sir, we got up a Christmas entertainment, and, except for one or two, the children wore the same clothes they had beencoming to school in all winter--shabby, patched and dirty as some ofthem were. They stood up there, though, one and all, to do their turnsand speak their pieces, and their fathers were ashamed. They saw theirchildren in old clothes, and the children of some of the neighbors allfixed up, and they just couldn't stand it. 

"It surely did make a difference the next year. " Miss Belle's cheeryface broadened with a satisfied smile. "The men didn't say a word--youknow our men aren't in the habit of saying very much--but they went totown themselves the day before the entertainment and came back with newdresses for the girls and new clothes for the boys. Of course some ofthem were so small they would scarcely go on, while others were milesbig; but every one had something new and no one felt badly. 

"This Christmas, " concluded Miss Belle, "our entertainment packed theschool-house, and some were turned away. Just to show you how crowded itwas--there were twenty-four babies there. I was ready for them, though, with two pounds of stick candy; so whenever a baby squalled he got astick of candy quick. "

Strange, good things have followed the visits of the mothers to theschools. They would never have come had it not been for the wonderfulthings which their children were learning with such untoward enthusiasm. One girl, who had been particularly successful with her needlework, brought her mother to school--a hard woman who had a standing quarrelwith seven of her neighbors at that particular time. It took a littletact, but when the right moment arrived Miss Belle suggested that shepay a visit to a sick neighbor and offer to help. The woman went atlast, found that it was a very pleasant thing on the whole to befriendly, and carried the glad tidings into her life, substitutingkindness for her previous rule of incivility. To her surprise herenemies have all disappeared. 

The mothers, coming to school to talk over the work of their children, have for the first time seen one another at their best. Sitting over afriendly cup of tea, chatting about Jane's dress or Willie's lessons, they have learned the art of social intercourse. Slowly the lesson hascome to them, until to-day there is not a woman in the neighborhood whois not on speaking terms with every one else, a situation undreamed offive years ago. 

Nine months in each year Miss Belle McCubbing holds her classes in theLocust Grove School, which stands on the Military Pike, seven milesoutside of Lexington, Kentucky. "Angels watch over that school, " saysMrs. Faulconer. Doubtless these angels are the good angels of thecommunity, for in six years the bitterness of neighborhood gossip andcontroversy has been replaced by a spirit of neighborly helpfulness. Boys and girls, doing Miss Belle's "busy work, " fathers and motherslearning from their children, have heaped upon Miss Belle's deservinghead the peerless praise of a community come to itself--regenerated inthought and act, turned from the wretchedness and desolation of the pastto the light and civilization of the future, saved and blessed by thelives of a teacher and her children. 

CHAPTER XI

WIDE-AWAKE SLEEPY EYE

I Fitting Schools to Needs

This is the story of a school that was built to fit a town, and itbegins with a hypothetical case. Suppose that there was a town--aprosperous town of some 2, 247 souls, set down in the middle of awell-to-do farming district. As for business, the town has a fewindustries and some stores; the countryside is engaged in generalfarming. Suppose that the school board of such a town should come to youand say: "We are looking for a school superintendent. Are you the one?"Suppose you said, "Yes. " How would you prove your point?

Out in Minnesota there is a town named Sleepy Eye, set down in awell-to-do farming district. At the head of the Sleepy Eye schools thereis J. A. Cederstrom. Mr. Cederstrom has proved by a very practicaldemonstration that he is "the one. "

When Mr. Cederstrom took charge of the Sleepy Eye schools he found anexcellent school plant, an intelligent community and a school systemthat was like the school system of every other up-to-datetwo-thousand-inhabitant town in the Middle West. Before Mr. Cederstromthere lay a choice. He could continue the work exactly as it had alwaysbeen carried on, improve the school machinery, and make a creditableshowing at examination time. That path looked like the path of leastresistance. Mr. Cederstrom did not take it, however. Instead he made uphis mind that after measuring the community and the children he would, to use his own words, "fit the work to their respective needs. "

"The work offered has been somewhat varied, " Mr. Cederstrom explains. "Ihave not attempted to follow any set course or outline of work made outby some one else who is not familiar with our conditions and needs. "

Where does there exist a more admirable statement of the principleunderlying the new education? This man, when given charge of a schoolplant, deliberately chose to make the school fit the needs of thecommunity upon which the school was dependent for support. Oblivious oftradition he set about remodeling the school in the interest of itsconstituency. 

Sleepy Eye is located in a farming district. Many of the boys who cometo the Sleepy Eye School will manage farms when they are grown men, andmany of the Sleepy Eye girls will marry farmers and manage them. Herewere farmer men and farmer women in the making. What more natural thanto organize a Department of Agriculture?

A Department of Agriculture in a school? Yes, truly; and a short wintercourse for farm boys and girls who could not come the year round, and aschool experiment station with school farms for the children, and a livefarmers' institute that met in the school and was fed and cared for bythe Department of Domestic Science, and all sorts of courses built uparound the needs of the children and of the community. 

II Getting the Janitor in Line

As a result of this method of course-making the school janitor foundhimself on the instruction staff of the school. One day a couple of theshort course boys were in the engine-room while the janitor wasrepairing a defective pipe in the heating plant. The boys lent a hand inthe work; and one of them, having a practical turn of mind, suggestedthat he would like to learn more about pipe-fitting in order to installa water system on the farm at home. The janitor repeated the remark toMr. Cederstrom, who called the boys out and had a talk with themregarding the possibilities of the plan. 

The outlook for the course was not bright. Every instructor in themechanical department was working on full time. Only one way outremained and that way led to the janitor. 

The janitor was a busy man during the day, but his evenings werecomparatively free. After some parleying he agreed to give a course inelementary plumbing and steam-fitting on Tuesday and Thursday eveningsat seven-thirty. So the boys came to school in the evening, and underthe direction of the school janitor learned how to install a watersystem in their homes. Their work for the year consisted in making amodel water system for a house, a barn and the other farm buildings. Thematerials for this course were picked up from the school's scrap-heap. 

Perhaps some people will not understand the spirit of it--getting thejanitor in line to give a course in steam-fitting from the odds and endsthat are found on the scrap-heap. Such a proceeding is unconventional inthe extreme. But, on the other hand, here were boys who wished to knowhow they might go back and improve their homes. Who shall say that theimparting of such knowledge is not the business of a real school?

III The Department of Agriculture

Let us go back for a moment to the organization of the Department ofAgriculture. The school at Sleepy Eye have available what every otherschool should have--five acres of tillable ground. This tract at SleepyEye is devoted to tests and experimental work, to flower gardens and toindividual school gardens--one for each child who applies. 

The experimental work and tests are carried on exactly as they would beat a state experiment station. In the section of Minnesota surroundingSleepy Eye, corn is the great staple crop. Therefore on thedemonstration grounds of the Department of Agriculture, IndependentSchool District No. 24, Sleepy Eye, Minnesota, they are growing a numberof plots of corn, each plot variously planted, fertilized, cultivated, and cared for, so that the children may learn at first-hand scientificmethods of discovering the best kinds of crop, and the best ways ofhandling a crop in their own locality. 

The allotment of the school gardens carried with it instruction inengineering and in civics at the same time that the bonds between homeand school were cemented. The part of the school land that was to bedevoted to school gardens was turned over to the older boys, whosurveyed it in exactly the same way that the United States governmentsurveyed the homestead tracts. The plot was laid out in towns andranges. The sections were staked and numbered. Then the children whowished to take up plots went into the newly surveyed territory, pickedtheir plots, and filed an application with the land commissioner for aplot, stating the section, town and range. After that a line formed andthe plots (20×20 feet) were allotted. No child was permitted to take upan allotment unless he had the endorsement of a parent or guardian. Theform on which this endorsement was secured was as follows:

 Name____________________ Grade______________ _______ Sec____ Town__________ Range________

 APPLICATION FOR LAND IN PUBLIC SCHOOL GARDEN, DEPT. OF AGR. , SLEEPY EYE HIGH SCHOOL

 "It is assumed that the parent or guardian who endorses this application will co-operate with the school authorities and have the applicant care for and weed said land during the growing season, and devote at least two and a half hours each week this summer to the agricultural work as may be directed or required by the Director of the Department of Agriculture, Mr. Haw. 

 "I hereby apply for. . . . . . Sec. . . . . . Town. . . . . . . Range. . . . . . In the Public School Garden of Sleepy Eye High School, and will cultivate and care for same as may be directed by the proper authorities, and will keep a careful record of the returns therefrom and report same on or before Oct. 20, 1911. I will do the additional agricultural work that may be directed as indicated above. 

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Applicant. 

 Endorsed by . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Parent or Guardian. "

The form carried on its opposite side statements showing the characterof crop and its value, the amount paid for seeds and an itemizedstatement of the returns. The school gardens proved an admirablesuccess. The children had learned the details of a great historicalevent in their own state--the giving out of free land; the boys hadconducted a miniature survey; rivalry had been developed in thecompetition over plots; the gardens, laid out side by side, served as asplendid object lesson in quality of work; no boy or girl could allege ateacher's unfairness from an untilled, weedy plot; the parents were madeto feel that the school was doing something practical for theirchildren; the children were taught a simple form of accounting andcost-keeping; and, best of all, they were made to feel their citizenshipin the school. 

The Department of Agriculture has, in addition to its experimental farm, a well-equipped laboratory, in which tests and experiments are carriedon. Sleepy Eye is located in a dairy section; therefore one of the chieffunctions of this laboratory has been the testing of milk. Any farmermay bring milk samples and have the Babcock test applied to determinethe percentage of butter fat which an individual cow is yielding. 

IV A Short Course for Busy People

In the neighborhood of Sleepy Eye, as in many other places, there aremany boys and girls who cannot attend school throughout the year, butwho would welcome a chance to go to school in the winter months. Agricultural colleges have recognized this need by the organization of"short courses" during the winter months. Only a few children can go tocollege, however. Lack of preparation and lack of funds compel them toremain at home. It was for them that the school at Sleepy Eye organizeda short course like that given in the agricultural colleges, extendingfrom the end of November to the middle of March. Of the pupils attendingthis course, some of the boys are as old as thirty-seven, and some ofthe girls as young as fifteen; yet all come, eager to find out some ofthe things which the school has to teach them. 

The agricultural work of the short course centered around theagricultural problems of the Brown County Farm. Planting, milk and creamtesting, work in seed testing and germination, and treatment of seedsfor fungus growths, corn judging, and similar topics covered the workof the term. The short course boys had already learned many lessons inthe practical school of farm work. The school at Sleepy Eye offered themin addition the knowledge which science has recently accumulatedregarding the work of the farm. 

As the successful farmer must be a trained mechanic, the short courselaid great stress on manual training. The boys were taught how to handleand care for tools, how to frame a building, how to make eveners, hayracks, watering troughs, wagon boxes, and similar useful farmarticles. In the blacksmith shop the simpler problems in forging werecovered, including the making of hooks, clevises, cold chisels and othersmall tools. 

While the boys were engaged in agricultural and mechanical work thegirls took domestic science. In addition to the elementary work incooking and sewing there were advanced courses in dress designing, soplanned as to prepare a girl to work out her own patterns and make upher own materials. 

Let no one suppose that the short course neglected academic work. Indeed, it was originally intended to enable boys and girls who felt toobig for the local school, or who had no time to take the entire termthere, to review common school subjects. The courses in industrial work, in agriculture and in domestic science were offered in addition to theseregular school studies. 

The proof of the pudding is in the eating. The boys and girls who takethe short course for the first year come back in considerable numbers totake a second and a third year of work during the winter months. Theshort course is a success, because it gives the boys and girls who takeit training and knowledge which they would not otherwise acquire. 

V Letting the Boys Do It

The school at Sleepy Eye needed a farm building on the school farm. Theshort course boys and some of the older boys in the school were anxiousto learn. What more natural procedure than for the school to buy thelumber and have the boys do the work? Exactly this proceeding wasfollowed, and the pupils erected the building which they needed to carryon the applied work of the school. 

The mechanical work of the school is splendidly organized. First of all, the pupils built a large part of the equipment themselves. Five simpleforges, made by the students of pineboards and concrete, form anexcellent shop equipment, besides giving the boys who did the work aninkling of the ease with which a forge can be erected in connection withthe tool-house on the farm. The boys built a turning lathe, on which thewood turning of the school is done. Besides the shop-work there is awell-organized course in mechanical drawing. The whole department isprepared to teach boys, particularly farm boys, some of the things whichthey will most need in the mechanical work on the farms. 

The mechanical courses are open to the boys in the grades, as well as tothe high school and the short course pupils. The work is graded, and maybe followed through the high school course. 

VI A Look at the Domestic Science

While the boys are in the shops the girls are occupied with domesticscience. A well-equipped laboratory and sewing-room furnish the basisfor some thorough work. The Domestic Science Department is one to whichMr. Cederstrom points with justifiable pride. "Of all my constructivework since coming here, " he says, "I probably take my greatest pride inour Domestic Science Department, where elementary and advanced work isoffered in cooking and in household economy. "

Because the space in the school was small, and the demand forinstruction large, Mr. Cederstrom planned the domestic science tableshimself, and superintended their building. Again the effectiveness ofthe school's work is shown by its results. With the modest equipmentwhich the funds and space available provided, the girls in the DomesticScience Department each year serve a dinner to the farmers and farmers'wives attending the annual farmers' institute held in the school inFebruary. On one occasion the department baked almost half a cord ofbread, roasted one hundred and forty pounds of beef, and fed fivehundred and seventeen persons at one dinner. 

The sewing work includes a complete course in dressmaking. Students arerequired to make patterns from pictures selected in fashion magazines. These patterns are then used in cutting out the garments, which thegirls themselves make up. 

Each girl in the High School is required to take at least one year eachof cooking and of sewing. These courses occupy five periods a week. Anadditional year in each course is optional. Most of the girls eagerlyelect it. Mr. Cederstrom takes a very practical view of such educationalmatters. "Our girls like the domestic science work, " he says. "They takeas much pride in bringing to my office a good loaf of bread, or awell-prepared dish of vegetables or meat as they do in being able togive a perfect demonstration of a theorem in geometry, or a perfectconjugation or declension of a Latin word. Possibly ten years from nowthey may have more demand upon their ability to prepare a square mealfor a hungry life companion, or to cut out a dress or apron for ayounger member of the family than they will have need of doing some ofthe other things which I have just mentioned. "

They do not teach domestic science for its own sake out in Sleepy Eye;they see farther ahead than that. Mr. Cederstrom is making his workpractical, because, as he says, "We are anxious to do what little we cantoward making our girls more efficient and capable as housekeepers, wives, and possibly as mothers. "

VII How It Works Out

There are two questions that naturally arise: First, what is the effectof this work on the children? Second, what is its effect on the farmers?Both questions must be answered briefly, though the answers to bothmight be followed out through pages of illustrative detail. 

The children like the school at Sleepy Eye. The boys and girls comeearly and stay late. The school doors open at eight o'clock and are notclosed until dark. There are always pupils there from the beginning tothe end of that period. The children are not interested in the appliedwork alone. Their interest in that has led them very often to aninterest in some of the academic studies toward which they had noparticular inclination. 

The homes in Sleepy Eye are also interested in the school. As one womanremarked: "My girls like to do work about the house now; they never didbefore. " School work which gives girls a new desire and a new viewpointon the work in the home is a step, and a long one, toward buildingsounder homes and stronger family ties. There are some Sleepy Eye homesin which the interest of the boys in the school shops has led theirparents to buy benches and tools which the children may use at home. 

The school at Sleepy Eye has interested the farmers. It has persuadedthem that high grade seed is better than mongrel seed. Consequently thefarmers are shelling more bushels of corn to the acre planted. Theschool has persuaded the farmers that well-bred cattle are moreprofitable than mongrel cattle. Consequently the farmers are raising thestandard of their herds. When the farmers come into Sleepy Eye they goto the school. Perhaps they have milk to be tested; perhaps they arelooking for suggestions regarding soil or blight; perhaps they want toknow the latest facts about the scale or rust; perhaps they want someadvice about farm implements. In any case they go to the school. 

The farmers have been led to the school through the children. The boyshave gone home to their fathers with suggestions and improvements ofinestimable value in the management of the farm. The girls have gonehome to their mothers with practical ideas on the running of thehousehold. These demonstrations of school efficiency have done more thanargument or persuasion ever could hope to do in convincing the fathersand mothers of the usefulness of the school. 

VIII Theoretical and Practical

The work in mechanics seems to interfere in no essential particular withthe regular academic work of the school. The boys and girls areinterested and enthusiastic. That counts for a great deal. Then, too, boys and girls come to school for the mechanical work who would not comeat all if the mechanical work were not there. The academic work whichsuch boys take is clear gain. Through the mechanical work many pupilsbecome interested in the school, and the school means, for all pupils, academic as well as applied work. 

"We do not discount those parts of an education that were once the sumtotal of the work in every high school, " Mr. Cederstrom says. "They areall offered and taken by the students. We are trying to give in additionto these academic branches the kind of education which will appeal tothe children as being of a common-sense order. " There is in the highschool a Latin Course, a Scientific Course, beside the AgriculturalCourse and the Industrial Course. All of the students are required totake this academic work. Many, in addition, take the industrial andagricultural work, even when they do not receive credit in theiracademic course. Each high school student is allowed two periods a dayin laboratory work, shop-work, or some other form of applied education. In addition to those periods, the students may work in the shops orlaboratory after school, if they please. Many of them get their appliededucation in that way. 

How great is the fire that a little spark kindles! It was more than athousand miles away that I first heard of the school at Sleepy Eye. Ithappened in this way. The clock had scarcely announced that it was highnoon when a group of men drew their chairs up to a dinner tablegenerously loaded with country hotel fare. There were two schooldirectors in this happen-so party, a carter, a salesman, a lawyer, afarmer and two teachers, who talked with a professional twang. Thesalesman listened impatiently to the educational clap-trap, watching foran opening between phrases. When at last the loophole appeared:

"Gentlemen, " said he, "you're interested in schools? Then you ought tosee some real schools. Did you ever go to a school to listen to aphonograph?" Then, turning to the farmers: "Did you ever go to school toget your horses shod? You go to school for both in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota. They're the greatest schools I have ever seen. They run fromseven in the morning till eight at night, and accommodate every kid thatwants an education. Gentlemen, if you want to see real schools go toSleepy Eye. "

CHAPTER XII

THE SOUTH FOR THE NEW EDUCATION

I A Dream of Empire

A keen Atlanta business man leaned forward on his chair and spokeeagerly. "Yes, sir, " he exclaimed, "the world is ours. We have thebiggest, finest batch of undeveloped resources in the country--perhapson the planet. Iron, coal, stone, timber, power--our hills are full ofthem, so full that we have never even inventoried our treasure-house. Our possibilities are beyond the power of words, and we've got to liveup to them. "

This man knew Georgia and the South. He had helped, and still is helpingto convert the iron, coal, timber, and water-power into Southernprosperity. He was still unsatisfied. 

"The trouble with us is, we can't go fast enough, " he admitted. "Do youknow why? Do you know the biggest burden we have to carry--the mostdetermined enemy we have to fight? Well, sir, it's ignorance--theignorance of the common man about his farm or his trade; the ignoranceof the business man about outside things; the ignorance of the teacherswho are supposed to enlighten us. " He leaned forward again. "That soundsstrong, doesn't it? But it's gospel. "

I reminded him of the rapidity with which the South was forging ahead inits educational activities. He threw his head back proudly. "Of course, "he cried, "the experiment stations, the colleges, the high schools, theclub movement, and all that--of course we're going ahead. I'm notspeaking of that. My point is that we must wake up to two things. Firstof all, we must never make the mistakes that you did in the North whenyou built up your educational system. That means no pedantry, orclassical snobbery. We mustn't go that way. Our way is plain though. Isee it more clearly every time I think the matter over--we must trainthe intelligence of the Southern people. "

He continued, in his enthusiastic mood. "Yes, there is a great futurefor the South. Its resources make a future possible; but unless thoseresources are intelligently used, our prosperity will not go very deep, or reach very far. We must take the people with us. "

This man's view typifies the educational vision that is sweeping overthe South. "We must take the people with us, " he said. There is nothingnovel in the idea; but coming as it did from a representative businessman, it carried weight and conviction. 

Another thing he said in the same connection enforced his argument. "They talk about the race problem in the South, " he said. "That is, theold generation does. We younger men are not so much concerned about therace problem as we are concerned about efficiency in industry and inagriculture. The races are here to stay; we cannot change that if wewould. Meanwhile, all of us, whites as well as blacks, are slovenly inour farming, indifferent in our business transactions, and hopelesslybehind in our methods of conducting affairs. From top to bottom we needtrained intelligence. That, more than anything else, will solve theSouth's problems. "

II Finding the Way

The step is a short one from a vision of trained intelligence to ademand for effective education. Throughout the South, the will toprogress is everywhere in evidence, and with unerring accuracy, onecommunity after another is turning to this as the way. 

There is no Southern city in which the agitation for increasededucational activity is not being pushed with vigor and intensity. Onall hands there appears the result of a conviction that the only meansby which the effectiveness of the South can be maintained and increased, lie along the path of increased educational opportunities. The South, ifit is to fulfill the greatness of its promise, must remodel itseducational system in the interests of a larger South, as the West hasremodeled its educational system in the interest of a larger West. Thenotable State universities of the Middle and Far West, the NormalSchools, the prevalent system of education, have been felt, and are nowbeing felt, in the progressive, efficient, Western population. Nothingless than a generally educated public could have made the West in thebrief years that have elapsed since it was a wilderness. Nothing savegeneral education can make the resources of the South yield up theirgreatest advantage to the Southern people. 

The time for traditional formalism has passed in the South, as it haspassed in every other progressive community. Whatever the needs of thecommunity may be, those needs must be met through some form of publiceducation. In the South the most pressing need appears in the demand forintelligent farming. For decades the tenant farmers, largely negroes, cultivated their farms as their fathers had cultivated. They raisedcotton because the raising of cotton offered the path of leastresistance. Farm animals were scarce, because the farm animals only camewith surplus cash, and surplus cash was scarce indeed in districts wherethe tenant farmers lived through the year on the credit obtained fromthe prospective cotton crops. There was little corn raised, because thepeople did not understand the need for raising corn, nor did theyrealize the financial possibilities of the Southern corn crop. In aword, the agricultural South lacked the knowledge which modernscientific agriculture has brought. 

The past generation has seen a revolution in Southern agriculture, because of the revolution which has occurred in Southern agriculturaleducation. Led by the experiment stations and universities, the Southhas undertaken to reorganize its system of living from the land. 

The Atlanta banker fully realized the need for culture. He was himself acultured gentleman; but he also saw that before the people of the Southcould have culture, they must have an economic system directed withsufficient intelligence to supply the necessaries of life, which mustalways be taken for granted before the possibilities of culture arerealized. Cultural education comes after, and not before, education forintelligent and direct vocational activity. 

During the educational revolution of the past twenty-five years, nosection of the country has thrown itself into the foreground ofeducational progress with more vigor and with greater earnestness andzeal than that displayed in the South. In certain directions the Southhas proved a leader in the inauguration and administration of newactivities. In other directions the Southern States have followedactively and energetically. 

A traveler through the New South stumbles unavoidably upon countlessillustrations of the part which modern education is playing in Southernlife. Individuals, families, communities, are being re-made by the neweducation. 

III Jem's Father

Jem wasn't a good boy, but he was interested in his school. He was oneof those fortunate boys who lived in a county that had been possessed bythe corn club idea, and the corn club was the thing which had given Jemhis school interest. 

Jem never took to studies. Each year he had told his mother that "thereweren't no use in goin' back to that there school again. " Persistentlyshe had sent him back, until one year when Jem found a reason for going. 

A new teacher came to Jem's school--a young man fresh from normalschool, full of enthusiasm, energy, and new ideas. The boys felt fromthe start that he was their friend, and before many weeks had elapsed, the community began to feel his presence. This new teacher wasparticularly enthusiastic over the "club idea. " "We must get the boysand girls doing something together" he kept saying to his classes. 

The year wore on, but interest in the school did not flag, because allthrough the winter months there were entertainments, parents' meetings, literary meetings, spelling bees, reading hours, and other eveningactivities. In fact, the time came when there was a light in theschool-house three or four nights in each week. 

Toward spring the new teacher began to push the "club idea. " He startedwith the boys, and, as luck would have it, picked out Jem. "Jem, " hesaid one day, "I want you to stay after school, I want to speak to you aminute. " Jem stayed, not knowing exactly what was coming. When the restof the pupils had tumbled out of the school door, and disappeared alongthe muddy road, the teacher and Jem sat down together. 

"Jem, " said the teacher, "we ought to have a corn club in this school. "

Jem looked up doggedly, but gave no sign of interest or enthusiasm. 

"You see, " the teacher said, "it's this way. Farming isn't all that itmight be around here. People raise things the way they have always beenraised. Our county superintendent has an idea. He proposes to teach thefarmers in this county how to raise corn. "

Jem looked skeptical. "Are you to do the teaching?" he asked. 

"No, " was the answer, "you are. "

"I?" said Jem. 

"Yes, " said the teacher, "you and the other boys in the school. "

Jem scratched his head. "I ain't never taught no one nothing in mylife, " he commented. 

"It's this way, " the teacher went on. "Up at Washington and out at theState College they have been doing a lot of thinking and working withcorn. They found, for instance, that if you pick seed corn carefully, you get a better crop than if you are careless in seed selection. Theyhave also found that if you follow certain rules about planting andcultivation you get a better crop. For years the men at the ExperimentStation and at Washington talked about these things in Farmers'Bulletins. They established experiment farms, and demonstration farms, too. Lately they have been doing something more, and something which Ithink is better than anything so far--they have decided to have the boysteach their fathers how to raise corn. "

"Do you mean to say, " asked Jem, "that I could teach Dad anything aboutcorn-raisin'?"

"Yes, " said the teacher, "you can, and, what is more, you will, won'tyou?"

"Well, " said Jem, "I dunno. "

"Here is what we have to do, " said the teacher. "This year the countysuperintendent is going to offer prizes for the boy with the best acreof corn. He sends out rules. You have to plough a certain way, plant acertain way, and cultivate a certain way. If you do not follow the rulesyou are not allowed to stay in the contest. Now I'll tell you what Iwant to do. The boys in this school are as smart, if not smarter, thanthe boys in any other school in the country; so I guess it is up to usto get some of those prizes right here at home. "

Jem was visibly interested. "Money prizes?" he asked. 

"Yes, money prizes, " said the teacher. "The first prize will be fiftydollars. "

Jem's eyes opened wide. "I'm in for that, " he said with conviction. 

That night, when Jem sat down to supper, he broached the cornproposition to his father. 

"Shucks, " his father exclaimed. "You raise an acre of corn? Why youwouldn't get twenty-five bushels!"

"Twenty-five, " said Jem, contemptuously. "I'd get a hundred. "

"A hundred, " said his father. "Here, look here, boy, I have beenfarming this land for thirty odd years, and the best I ever done on anacre of corn was seventy bushels. I'll tell you what, though, " he addedconclusively, "this here talk about corn clubs makes me tired. You andyour hundred bushels! I was looking over the paper when it came in thisnoon, and I saw a piece about a chap over by Southport with over ahundred bushels to the acre. Do you know what I'm goin' to do tonight?I'm goin' to write that editor a letter, and tell him that any paperthat publishes lies like that ain't fit for my family to see. Thisyear's subscription ain't run out, but they don't need to send me therest. I'll get a paper somewhere else. "

Despite home opposition, Jem persisted and prevailed. His father gavehim an acre grudgingly, but it was a good acre. And when, following therules which he and the other boys who had agreed to enter the contestread over with the teacher, he disked his land and ploughed his narrow, deep furrows, he listened, not without misgivings, to the remarks whichhis elder brother passed at his expense. 

"Say, Jem, " this brother remarked, "you have spent three times as muchtime on that acre as any acre of corn raised in this county was everworth. Are you diggin' graves for 'possums?"

When, later in the season, Jem cultivated with persistent regularity, hewas forced to listen to similar comments. Jem wasn't good at repartee;so he said nothing; but, sustained by the encouragement of the newteacher, who came to see his acre every week, Jem followed the rules tothe letter. 

He had his reward at harvest time. When the ears first set it becameapparent that Jem had a good crop. As they developed, the goodness ofthe crop became more manifest; but when the acre had been harvested, put through the sheller and bagged, and Jem had stowed in his pocket acertificate of "ninety-six bushels on one acre, " it was time for someexplanations. 

"Jem, " said his father at the supper table on the evening of thatmemorable day when Jem's corn went through the sheller, and hiscertificate showed ninety-six bushels, "I wrote a letter to that editor, and sent him next year's subscription in advance. "

IV Club Life Militant

The experience of Jem's father has been duplicated many times by parentsand communities during the past ten years of club growth in the South. The school, working through the children, has educated fathers, mothers, villages, and whole counties. 

All of the agencies of government, --local, State, and national, --havecooperated to make the children's clubs one of the leading agencies indeveloping that trained intelligence which is so great an asset in theprosperity of any community. Thanks to the tireless efforts of men likeWilliam H. Smith, the children's clubs have become one of the mostaggressive factors in educating rural communities to higher standards ofefficiency. There are many kinds of clubs--corn clubs, potato clubs, tomato clubs, pig clubs. Anything which the children can raise is alegitimate object of club activity. The work in the South started withcorn clubs. 

The corn-club idea in Mississippi grew out of an educational experienceof Professor William H. Smith. [24] For years Professor Smith had taught, in a mildly progressive way, the time-honored subjects which wereincluded in the study-course of the rural school. Two of ProfessorSmith's students, a boy of twenty and a girl of seventeen, left school;and they left, as the boy told Professor Smith very frankly, because theschool taught them very little that would be of use later on in the workwhich they would be called upon to do. This boy expected to grow cotton;the girl expected to marry the boy, manage his domestic affairs andattend to the many duties which fall to the lot of women on a farm. 

When he left school, the boy put it to Professor Smith in this way: "Iam goin' to be a farmer. I ain't fitted to be nothing else, and booklearnin' ain't helpin' me none. It's just a waste of time. I've got toclear land and work it into a farm. If I was goin' to be a bookkeeper oran engineer, or somethin', what you are teachin' me here might help; butI can't remember that I have ever learned a thing since I got the hanghow to figure the interest on a mortgage, that will be of any account tome on a farm. Almost all the boys has got to be a farmer like me. Youknow, professor, it appears to me like these schools for the peopleought to be teachin' the children of the people how to make a livin' onthe farm--how to make life better and easier, instead of just makin' usplum disgusted with ourselves. "

This experience, standing out among a multitude of similar experiences, led Professor Smith to an interest in some form of educational work thatwould help boys and girls in their lives on the farm. The outcome of histhinking and experimenting, combined with the thinking and experimentingof many another capable educational leader, is the club idea for boysand girls alike. 

There was a real need for the corn club. For the year 1899 the totalcorn area in Alabama was 2, 743, 060 acres. On these acres the farmerssecured an average of 12. 7 bushels per acre. Ten years later, in 1909, the total acreage had decreased to 2, 572, 092, and the per acre yield haddecreased to 11. 9 bushels per acre. Here was a decrease of 170, 968 acresin corn; of 4, 367, 310 bushels in the corn crop; and of . 8 of a bushel inthe average yield per acre. The boys' corn club movement was started inAlabama in 1909. That year two hundred and sixty-five boys wereenrolled. The average per acre yield of corn in the State was 11. 9bushels. The next year the enrollment of boys reached twenty-onehundred; the total yield increased more than sixty per cent. ; and theaverage number of bushels per acre rose to eighteen. The figures for1911 and 1912 show an increase, though less extensive, in the totalacreage and the total yield of corn for each year. 

Southern land will grow corn. Properly treated, it will better a yieldof twelve bushels per acre, five, ten, and even fifteen-fold. Theleaders of Southern agricultural education knew this. They knew, furthermore, that the betterment could never be brought about until thefarmers were convinced that it was possible. How could they be shown?The Farmers' Bulletin had a place; the experiment farm had a place; butif it were only possible to make every farm an experiment farm!

The way lay through the boys. They could be induced to organizeminiature experiments in scores of farms in every county, and then thefarmers would see!

Backed by a carefully worked out organization, the authorities set outwith the deliberate purpose of educating the farmer through his son. Ifhis corn yield was low, he would learn how to get a larger yield. If heraised no corn, he would learn of the spot-cash value of corn. Boyswere organized into clubs; directions were given; prizes were offered, and the boys went to work with a will. For the most part they took oneacre. 

When compared to the yield on surrounding acres, the corn crops securedby the boys are little short of phenomenal. In Pike County, Alabama, where the number of boys engaging in corn club contests increased fromone in 1910 to two hundred and seventy in 1912, the average number ofbushels per acre grown by the boys rose from 50. 5 to 85. 3. In the entireState there were one hundred and thirty-seven boys who made over ahundred bushels per acre each in 1911. The average per acre for each ofthese boys was one hundred and twenty-seven bushels, and the totalprofit on their corn crop was $12, 500. 

Records made by individual boys through the Southern States run veryhigh. Claude McDonald, of Hamer, S. C. , raised 210-4/7 bushels at a costof 33. 3¢ a bushel. Junius Hill, of Attalla, Ala. , raised 212-1/2bushels. Ben Leath, of Kensington, Ga. , raised 214-5/7 bushels. JohnBowen, of Grenada, Miss. , raised 221-1/5 bushels. Eber A. Kimbrough, Alexander City, Ala. , raised 224-3/4 bushels; and Bebbie Beeson, Monticello, Miss. , raised 227-1/16 bushels. [25] These boys were allState prize winners. 

There are several things worthy of note about these record yields. Practically all of the high yields were made on deeply ploughed, widelyseparated rows. The record made by Bennie Beeson (227-1/16 bushels, at acost of fourteen cents per bushel) was secured on dark, upland soil, with a clay sub-soil, ploughing to a depth of ten inches, rows threefeet apart, hills six inches apart, with ten cultivations. Beeson used5-1/2 tons of manure and eight dollars' worth of other fertilizer on hisacre. The seed corn was New Era. Barnie Thomas, who grew 225 bushels onrich, sandy loam, ploughed nine inches, planted his rows three andone-half feet apart, and kept the hills ten inches apart. He cultivatedsix times, and selected his own seed from the field. Many of the boysmaking the fine records developed and selected their own seed. One boy, with an acre yield of 124. 9 bushels, cleared six hundred and ninety-fivedollars, counting prizes. Another boy, with a yield of 97-4/5 bushels, reports that his father's yield was thirty bushels. John Bowen, with ayield of 221-1/5 bushels, reports the yield on nearby acres as fortybushels. Arthur Hill, with 180-3/5 bushels, reports the nearby yields astwenty bushels. 

Such figures, uncertified, would challenge the credulity of theuninitiated. The land on which these record yields were secured had beenraising twenty, forty, and fifty bushels of corn to the acre. Over greatsections, the per acre average was well under twenty. Into thisdesolation of agricultural inefficiency, a few thousand school boysentered. Under careful supervision and proper guidance, with littleadditional expenditure of money or of time, they produced results whollyunbelievable to the old-time farmer. Yet he saw the crop, husked, andwatched it through the sheller. There was no magic and no chicanery. Hehad learned a lesson. 

The records cited above are exceptionally high. There were hundreds ofothers almost equally good. "Twenty-one Georgia club members from theseventh congressional district alone grew 2, 641 bushels at an averagecost of 23 cents per bushel; 19 boys in Gordon County, Georgia, average90 bushels, 10 of them making 1, 058 bushels. The 10 boys who stoodhighest in Georgia averaged 169. 9 bushels and made a net profit of morethan $100 each, besides prizes won. In Alabama 100 boys average 97bushels at an average cost of 27 cents. In Monroe County, Alabama, 25boys averaged 78 bushels. In Yazoo County, Mississippi, 21 boys averaged111. 6 bushels at an average cost of 19. 7 cents. In Lee County, Mississippi, 17 boys averaged 82 bushels at an average cost of 21 cents. Sixty-five boys in Mississippi averaged 109. 9 bushels at an average costof 25 cents. Twenty Mississippi boys averaged 140. 6 bushels at anaverage cost of 23 cents. Ninety-two boys in Louisiana grew 5, 791bushels on 92 acres; 10 of these boys had above 100 bushels each, although the weather conditions were very unfavorable in that State. InNorth Carolina 100 boys averaged 99 bushels. In the same State 432 boysaveraged 63 bushels. In Buncombe County, North Carolina, 10 boysaveraged 88 bushels. In Sussex County, Virginia, 16 boys averaged 82bushels. Fifteen boys in the vicinity of Memphis, Tenn. , where thebusiness men contributed about $3, 000 to aid the work, averaged 127. 4bushels at an average cost of 28 cents per bushel. Many other records inother States were equally good in view of the fact that a droughtprevailed very generally throughout the South in 1911. ["][26]

Such returns challenge the attention of the most hidebound. These boysgot results that exceeded anything that had ever been heard of in theircommunities. The old folks who had scoffed; the wise-acres whose advicewas not taken; and the "I told you so" farmers who had uttered theirpredictions, all stood aside, while the boys, pointer in hand, taughttheir respective communities one of the best lessons they had everlearned. 

V Canning Clubs

Parallel with the boys' corn clubs are the girls' canning clubs. If theboys could grow corn (in a number of cases the corn contests were won bygirls), why might it not be possible to have the girls do somethingalong parallel lines? The idea found expression in the girls' tomatoclubs and similar organizations. During 1910, three hundred andtwenty-five girls were enrolled in such clubs in Virginia and SouthCarolina. Dr. Knapp and his fellow workers decided that one-tenth of anacre would be enough for a good garden. Each girl was urged to plantsome other kind of vegetable in addition to her tomatoes, and to cansurplus fruit. In 1911, more than three thousand girls, in eightdifferent States, had joined clubs and planted their gardens. By 1912the number had grown to twenty-three thousand girls in twelve States. Many of the girls put up more than five hundred quart cans of tomatoesfrom their plots, besides ketchup, pickles, chow-chow, preserves, andother products. Quite a number of girls put up more than a thousandquart cans, and one girl put up fifteen hundred quart cans. Some of thegirls, in addition to the prizes, had a net profit of as much as ahundred dollars on their gardens. 

The United States Bureau of Plant Industry sets forth the object of thegirls' demonstration work as follows:

 "(1) To encourage rural families to provide purer and better food at a lower cost, and utilize the surplus and otherwise waste products of the orchard and garden, and make the poultry yard an effective part of the farm economy. 

 (2) To stimulate interest and wholesome cooperation among members of the family in the home. 

 (3) To provide some means by which girls may earn money at home, and, at the same time, get the education and viewpoint necessary for the ideal farm life. 

 (4) To open the way for practical demonstrations in home economics. 

 (5) To furnish earnest teachers a plan for aiding their pupils and helping their communities. "[27]

VI Recognition Day for Boys and Girls

The most astonishing thing about the club activity is the recognitionwhich it has won wherever it has been worked out on an extensive basis. The reason for this general recognition is quite obvious, and its effectis no less stimulating. 

Public officials and business men have vied with one another in theirefforts to reward the winners of county and State club contests. Thesame bulletin which records the astonishing figures on corn yields, tells about the things that were done for the 56, 840 boys who weremembers of corn clubs. Fifty-two Georgia boys received diplomas signedby the governor of the State and other officials, for producing morethan a hundred bushels per acre each, at an average cost of less thanthirty cents per bushel. Business men and citizens generally subscribedliberally money, free railroad transportation, and trips to Statecapitals. In 1911 the total value of the prizes offered in the South tothe boys' corn clubs approximated fifty thousand dollars. In Oklahoma, one thousand dollars in gold was offered to the one hundred and twentyboys making the best record in that State. The State prize winners weresent to Washington for a week, where they were received at the WhiteHouse by the President, and at the Capitol by the Speaker of the Houseof Representatives. They were presented with special cards of admissionto the Senate and House of Representatives, and, when visiting Congress, they were presented to their Senators and Congressmen. By specialinvitation these distinguished visitors appeared before the Committee onAgriculture at the House of Representatives. They also visited theoffice of the Secretary of Agriculture. They were photographed, andlarge diplomas bearing the seal of the Department and the signature ofthe Secretary were awarded to them. 

One does not wonder at the widespread recognition accorded these boys, in view of the fact that their efforts have been responsible for animmense increase in the business prosperity of their respective States. Once more have educators demonstrated the possibilities of teachingparents through the education of children. 

VII Teaching Grown-Ups to Read

The educational work which is being done in the uplands of the South hasalready received widespread recognition. The slogan, "Down with themoonshine still and up with the moonlight school, " typifies the spiritof the upland community. 

One might journey far before discovering a more enthusiastic people thanthe teachers and the scholars of the Southern uplands. The appallingextent of illiteracy among the descendants of Marion's men finds aparallel in their pathetic desire for some form of education. 

The Southern hill whites love the old and fear the new. Traditionally, they belong to a past generation; actually, they are reaching out forthe better things which the new generation can offer. The moonlightschools are attended by old people and young alike. The strugglingcolleges, the industrial and technical schools, with their record ofprivation and hardship, bear eloquent testimony to the genuine effortswhich the upland population is making in these early years of itseducational awakening. 

Every sincere effort among the hill whites meets with instant response. For the most part, they deprive themselves of the necessaries of life inorder that they may send their children to school. Boys skimp and save;girls walk for miles along mountain trails and paths; communities giveof the scanty means of their effort for the building and maintenance ofschools. Everywhere the spirit of the new education is permeating theSouthern upland communities. 

VIII George Washington, Junior

One teacher, whose years of effort in the Piedmont have brought her theconfidence and co-operation of the community, tells of the success ofone of her earliest ventures with a boy of thirteen. 

The boy's father was bad; his mother slovenly and indifferent. The boyhimself was bright and active. 

When the time came for him to enter the cotton mill, the teacherprotested to his family, but without success. Still there was somethingthat she could do for him, still she saw an opportunity of serving him, and she asked him to come to her home with a number of other boys, for acouple of nights a week, when they sat together, reading, or playinggames. 

The boy had appeared sullen at first, but toward the end of his schoolterm he showed an active interest. It became apparent that he wasparticularly clever at languages. None of his lessons troubled him, and, with the assistance of the teacher, he learned Italian readily, andduring the evenings, when the other boys played games or talked, heworked over his Italian sentences with vital interest. 

Just before Christmas, during the first year that this boy had spent inthe mill, a friend visited his teacher, became interested in her work, and asked if there was any way in which she could help. 

"You may, " said the teacher. "You may buy Andy an outfit. "

The friend went to the city with the order in her pocket, --a hat, asuit, and a complete outfit, new, as a Christmas present for Andy. 

On Christmas eve, Andy alone came to the teacher's house. She had notasked the other boys, --partly because most of them preferred to stay athome, partly because she had no such fine present for them as she hadfor Andy. 

"Never in my life, " the teacher said, "had I seen Andy clean. I made upmy mind that for once he should have a clean body as well as cleanclothes. "

When Andy came that Christmas eve, the teacher took him into a roomwhere there were towels, soap, a basin, and a new outfit of clothes. 

"Andy, " she said, "this is your Christmas present from my friend, andnow you are going to give me a Christmas present, too. You are going towash up and dress up. "

Andy followed directions, and when he emerged from the room in his spickand span outfit, his hat set side-wise on his wet, newly combed hair, hestood up very straight, surveying himself as best he could from head tofoot, and exclaimed, --"Gee! I feel just like George Washington. " Thebath and the new suit were a realization of his highest ideal. 

"Andy and I were always friends after that, " said the teacher, "andsince Andy was the moving spirit among the boys in the village, the boysand I got along well together. It was my introduction to the heart ofthe community, and it came with Andy's realization of an ideal which hehad long cherished. "

IX A Step Toward Good Health

Having won Andy over, the teacher prepared to work her way past some ofthe barriers of prejudice which the community had placed between itselfand civilization. The girls offered the readiest opening. 

"The homes were wretched, " the teacher said. "The people did not knowthe simplest health rules. They were strangers to sanitation orcleanliness. Their housekeeping was primitive and their cookingmiserable. I had won the boys by getting them together in something thatresembled a club. I decided that my best path to the girls, and fromthem to the community, lay through housekeeping. "

The hypothesis was, at least, worthy of a try-out. The teacher began bykeeping her own house in the most approved manner, and asking the girlsto come in and help her do it. 

"You'll like to take supper with me this evening, " she would say to agroup of girls at recess time. "Speak to your mothers when you go home, and you, Sadie and Annie, will stay over night and sleep in the sparebed. "

They were slow to respond at first. Long habit made them suspicious, butwhen the first few girls had spent their night with the teacher and hadcome home with the tales of her wonderful household arrangements, theothers were looking eagerly for a chance to duplicate their experiences. 

"Am I next?" a little girl asked anxiously one day, after theinvitations to a party had been given out. The assurance that she was, made her face shine for the remainder of the afternoon. 

"The school girls all came willingly, " the teacher said. "It was after Ihad them so interested that one of the factory hands came in. It wasSaturday night, and she rapped on the door before coming in with ahesitating touch, as if she was afraid. She sat down across from me, smoothing her dress and looking unhappy. "

"You'll not understand, " said the factory girl, apologetically. "ButMame is in your school--she's my sister. You had her up last week tospend the night. You'll remember?"

The teacher nodded. 

"She came home, and ever since she's been telling us about the way youdid things. And I've been thinking, ----"

She stopped and looked at the teacher, half suspiciously, halfappealingly. 

"I've been thinking how nice it would be for me, if I could do themthings the same as you. You see, " she spoke rapidly, "I'm gettin'married soon now, and when Mame came a-telling that way, and our houselike it always is, and the baby crying, and nothing done exceptin' maa-scoldin', and I says to myself, I says, if I could do things like thatteacher can do 'em mebbe I wouldn't make mistakes like ma makes 'em. "She paused for breath, looking expectant. 

"You would like to come here to see how I do things?" the teacher asked. 

The girl nodded eagerly. 

"Come Monday after hours, and spend the night with me. "

"After that, " the teacher said, "it was a great deal easier. The nextthing I wanted to do was to get the children examined for glasses andthroat trouble. There were two second-rate country doctors there whoknew little or nothing about modern medicine. The nearest man that Icould trust was forty miles away. He was a specialist, too, and highpriced. Still, I sat down and wrote him a letter, telling him how wewere fixed. He answered by return mail, making a special rate andsetting a day. I hoped to take twelve of the children, but I had carfare for only seven. Then came our windfall. I told the railroad what Iwas trying to do, and they made a special excursion rate and took thechildren at less than half fare. We were all able to go, and the extramoney went for a treat to soda and the movies. "

The children went back home, singing the praises of the trip, theteacher, and the doctor. They went back, too, with expert advice andassistance, and with the good news that others would soon have a turn. 

Group by group, the needy children were brought down to the specialistin the city. Some were even operated on, although at the outset theparents would not hear of operations. In the end the children won, however. Their enthusiasm for the teacher and their doctor carried theday. 

"It has been slow, " the teacher said, "but at the end of it all, theysee better, hear better, eat more wholesome, nourishing food, livebetter, and understand themselves better. On the whole it has paid. "

X Theory and Practice[28]

The rural schools of the South have no monopoly on progressiveeducational views. A number of Southern cities have taken up theirposition in the vanguard of educational progress. Notable among thesecities is Columbus, Georgia, --a city of 20, 554 people, in whichSuperintendent Roland B. Daniel has undertaken a vigorous policy ofshaping the schools in the interests of the community. There were in1913, 5, 356 children of school age in Columbus. Of this number, 4, 089were in the schools. The school population is rather unevenly divided, racially, --3, 348 of the children of school age are white, and 1, 198 arecolored. About one-quarter of the white population depends for itslivelihood upon the mills. Columbus is surrounded by an agriculturaldistrict from which come many children in search of high schooltraining. The city of Columbus presents an industrial problem of anunusually complex character, and the manner in which this problem hasbeen handled by the schools is worthy of the highest commendation. Superintendent Daniel has laid down three definite planks in hiseducational platform for the city of Columbus. In the first place, heaims to provide school accommodations which are fitted to the peculiarneeds of each part of the community. In the second place, he aims toshape the school system of Columbus in terms of the local environment ofthe children. In the third place, he has inaugurated a high schoolpolicy, which makes high school training practical as well astheoretical. 

Among the mill operatives of Columbus, Superintendent Daniel estimatesthat there are approximately 800 children of school age. The situationpresented by these children was critical in the extreme. There was anabsence of compulsory education laws; few of the children attended anyschool, and when they did enter a school they seldom remained longenough to secure any marked educational advantage. Less than 5 per cent. Of the children continued in school after they were old enough to workin the cotton mills. 

Pursuant of his intention to make the schools supply the needs of all ofthe children of Columbus, Superintendent Daniel organized the NorthHighlands School in the factory district. Of this school he says: "It isnot made to conform, either in course of study or hours, to the otherschools of similar rank in the system, for the board desires to meet theconditions and convenience of the people for whom the school wasestablished. Classroom work begins in the morning at 8 o'clock andcontinues until 11 o'clock, with a recess of 10 minutes at 9:30. Theafternoon session begins at 1 o'clock, and the school closes for the dayat 3:30 o'clock. "

The long intermission in the middle of the day is given in order toallow the children to take hot lunches to parents, brothers, and sisterswho are working in the mill. Many of the mills are located at somedistance from the school. Some of the children are called upon to walkas much as two miles during the noon hour, in order to carry thelunches. These "dinner toters, " when carrying lunch baskets for personsoutside of the family, receive 25 cents per week per basket. In caseseveral baskets are carried, the income thus earned is considerable. 

The school thus organized on the basis of local needs is furtherspecialized in a way that will appeal to the needs of the mill operativegroup. The academic courses are similar to the courses offered in theother schools, except that more emphasis is laid upon the "three R's. "Superintendent Daniel says that the time is very limited in which thesechildren will attend school, and more attention is given as to what maybe regarded as fundamental. "While the prescribed course contemplatesseven years, few continue after the fifth or sixth year, so strong isthe call of the mills. Not more than 1 per cent finish this school andpursue their studies further. "

The three morning hours and the first hour in the afternoon are devotedto academic studies, while the last hour and a half of the day is givento practical work. The boys are required to take elementary courses inwoodwork and gardening, alternating these two branches on alternatedays. The girls are given work in basketry, sewing, cooking, poultryraising, and gardening. 

The results of the introduction of this applied work are summed up bySuperintendent Daniel in this way, --"In all of these lines of work it isnow the hope of the school only to better living conditions a littleamong the people for whom it was especially organized. Thetransformation is necessarily slow. In the beginning, no doubt, theadvocates of this type of school thought that many might be induced tocontinue in school and do more advanced work, especially alongvocational lines. In this respect the school has been a disappointmentto some. We are seldom able to induce pupils to finish even the limitedcourse offered in this school. "

The North Highland School, in addition to its work for the children, hasbegun an organized effort to raise the standards of the local community. Every day the principal and teachers of the school visit some of thehomes, giving helpful suggestions, caring for the sick, and in any otherpossible way contributing to home life. Superintendent Daniel reportsthe progress in this respect by saying, --"Confidence is now so strongthat one of the teachers every Saturday morning collects the physicallydefective ones in the community and takes them to the free clinic foroperations or treatment. At first parents would see their children dierather than permit them to be operated upon, but now they seldom declineto permit them to be taken by a teacher to the free clinic, when in thejudgment of the teacher it is necessary. "

The school has made an effort to organize the older people of thecommunity. There are entertainments and school gatherings in whichparents and children alike participate. As a further help to thoseparents who are compelled to work in the mills, the school grounds, which are amply provided with a full play equipment, are open to all ofthe children at all hours of the day and all days of the week. "It isnot infrequent, " says Superintendent Daniel, "that, when the mother goesto work at 6 in the morning, she sends her children to the school toenjoy the privileges of the grounds until the opening of the school at 8o'clock. "

The work of the negro schools is similarly fitted to the industrialneeds of the negro children. Boys and girls alike devote a considerableportion of their time to industrial work. The main purpose of this workfor negroes is to prepare them for the line of industrial opportunityopen to them. The school reports that it has developed a number of goodblacksmiths, carpenters, cooks, seamstresses, and laundresses. Pupilswho remain in the schools long enough to complete the course are able toearn, upon leaving school, about twice what they would be able to earnhad no such training been provided. 

A vigorous attempt has been made to reorganize grade work in theinterests of clearness and effectiveness. As Superintendent Daniel putsthe matter, --"We undertook to place before the teachers a definiteproblem, and to put suggestions into tangible form. We stated that allsubjects could be taught with the books merely as helps and means to anend, and contend further for the doctrine that a working knowledge ofbooks and subjects is far more desirable than accomplishing the feat ofmemorizing the printed page. " Many teachers will be astonished by thedoctrine which Superintendent Daniel evolves from this statement ofeducational theory. "The teachers were asked to conduct the work in sucha manner that it would not be necessary to recite or take written testswith closed books, but that school books be used as tools with which towork, and that the child should use text-books as adults do books ofreference, while the teacher guides and directs in the development ofthought. ["]

This attempt of Superintendent Daniel to proceed with the grammar schoolwork in a more natural way, and to relate all of it more closely tolife, met with some interesting results, as may be gathered from thefollowing test questions which were worked out by teachers in pursuanceof the instructions to make text-books incidental and thought primary inthe school work. 

 ARITHMETIC, THIRD B

 Roy shops for his mother at Kirven's. He buys 2 boxes of hair pins at $. 05 each, 6 towels at $. 10 each, and 5 handkerchiefs for $. 25. What was his bill? If he hands the clerk $1. 00, how much change will he receive?

 THIRD A

 If Isabel's 2 pair of shoes cost $4, how much will shoes for all the girls in the class cost?

 GEOGRAPHY THIRD B

 Turn to the map on page 65 and find and write the names of seven different shore forms. 

 ARITHMETIC, FOURTH B

 In our room are 46 pupils. The class receives 230 tablets and 138 pencils for the term. How many of each does each child receive?

 GEOGRAPHY, FOURTH B

 What products may be sent to us from New England? If they were shipped from Portsmouth, N. H. , on what bodies of water would they travel?

 GEOGRAPHY, FOURTH A

 Why does the United States carry on more trade with the British Isles than with Germany? At what seaport would our vessels land in the British Isles? What would they carry and what would they bring back?

 GEOGRAPHY, FIFTH A

 What highways of trade will be used for shipping oranges from San Francisco to Columbus, Ga. , by way of the Panama Canal? How many miles is this, approximately? (Use rule and map on page 65. )

 GEOGRAPHY, FIFTH B

 What is the chief industry of the people of Columbus, and why? Describe the climate of our city, tell what fruits, vegetables and farm products find a market here. What would a boat coming up the river bring to Columbus? What would it carry back?

Superintendent Daniel's viewpoint is clear and sane. "It is notsufficient, " he says, "to maintain courses in domestic science andmanual training for the grades, and to teach other subjects as if theybelonged to another realm. " Consequently he has made every endeavor tobring together the forces of the community and of the school in asympathetic whole, around which the educational life of the town mustcenter. 

The industrial high school is an integral and highly important part ofthe work in the Columbus schools. Side by side with the academic highschool, it affords an opportunity for the children who do not intend tocontinue their educational work beyond high school grade to get someassistance in the direction of a training for life activity. It wasoriginally intended to duplicate, in a measure, the conditions and hoursmaintained in the industrial plants of the city. Formerly the school wasopen for eleven calendar months; at the present time a vacation of sixweeks is allowed. The school hours are from 8 o'clock in the morninguntil 4 o'clock in the afternoon, for five days each week. Pupils whohave not maintained the required standard during the week are compelledto attend school on Saturday. 

All pupils of the Industrial High School are required to take academicwork of high school grade in mathematics, history, English, andscience. 

The introduction of manual training and domestic science into the gradesof all Columbus schools has pointed many children in the direction ofthe Industrial High School. While it is not the intention of the schoolauthorities to make the work of the Industrial High School final, it ishoped that those children who are enabled to continue with educationalwork are benefited markedly by this specialized course. 

Throughout this deliberate attempt of the Columbus school administrationto make the schools fit the needs of the community there is evidence ofa scientific spirit which is in the last degree commendable. Thecommunity need is first ascertained. The school work is then organizedin response to this community need. If, perchance, the first effortmeets with little success, additional effort is continued until somemeasure of success is assured. The school authorities are not afraid tochange their opinions or their system. They are not even afraid to failon a given experiment. The one thing of which they are afraid is failureto provide for the educational needs of the community. 

XI A People Coming to Its Own

The first great battle in the educational awakening of the South hasbeen won. The people realize the necessity for an intelligently activepopulation. 

The second battle is well under way. The people of the South are shapingthe schools to meet the peculiar educational needs which the economicand social problems of the South present. 

A rallying-cry is ringing through the Southern States, --"The schools forthe people; the people for the schools; and a higher standard ofeducation and of life for the community. "

The South is in line for the New Education. School officials areworking. Superintendent Daniel writes, --"Everyone connected with thesystem has been too intent on doing his work well and in establishingand maintaining the ideals of the system to be disturbed by pettydifficulties. The teachers, " he adds, "have appeared to feel that it wasrather a privilege than a burden to participate in making the Columbussystem efficient through the preparation of her children for life. "[29]The public is asking for a correlation of school with life, and theschools are educating the South through the children. 

 FOOTNOTES:

 [Footnote 24: Now State Superintendent. See an article "'Corn-Club' Smith, " P. C. Macfarlane, Collier's Weekly, May 17, 1913, p. 19. ]

 [Footnote 25: United States Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Results of Boys' Demonstration Work in Corn Clubs in 1911, Washington, May, 1912, p. 4. ]

 [Footnote 26: Op. Cit. , pp. 5-6. ]

 [Footnote 27: U. S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Plant Industry, Girls' Demonstration Work, Washington, January, 1913, pp. 1-2. ]

 [Footnote 28: For a full statement of the work of the Columbus Schools see "Industrial Education in Columbus, ["] Ga. , R. B. Daniel, U. S. Bureau of Education, Bulletin 535, Government Printing Office, 1913. Also, The Annual Report of the Columbus Public Schools for the Year Ending August 1, 1913. ]

 [Footnote 29: Annual report of the Columbus Public Schools, 1913, p. 18. ]

CHAPTER XIII

THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW EDUCATION

I The Standard of Education

The educational experiments described in the preceding chapters arereplete with the spirit of the New Education. From the virileeducational systems of the country a protest is being sounded againsttraditional formalism. School men have learned that that which is is notnecessarily right. Each concept, each method, must run the gauntlet ofcritical analysis. It is not sufficient to allege in support of aneducational principle that the results derived from its application havebeen satisfactory in the past. Insistently the question is repeated, "What are its effects upon the problems of to-day?"

Educational ancestor worship is no more acceptable to the progressivespirit of the Western World than is ancestor worship in any other form. The past has made its contribution, and has died in making it. For thecontribution the present is grateful, but it must steadfastly refuse inits own name, and in the name of the future, to be bound by any decreeof the past which will not stand the acid test of present experience. 

The old education was beset by traditionalism. Under its dominance, education, defined once and for all, was established as a standard towhich men must attain; hence a preceptor, guiding his young chargesalong the straight path to knowledge, might, with perfect confidence, admonish them, "Lo here, the three R's is education, " or "Lo there, Greek and higher mathematics is education, " according as his traininghad been in the three R's or in Greek. In either case he felt certain ofhis general ground. Once and for all the educational standard had beenset. By that standard new ideas were judged, and either justified orcondemned. 

Under this predetermined scheme there was a formula for education--aformula as definite as that for making bread or pickling pork. Theformula was applied to each child who presented himself to theadministration. If the formula worked successfully the child wasdeclared educated in the same way that pork which has been successfullytreated by the proper processes is declared to be pickled. If theformula did not work the child was not educated. He sat in school with adunce-cap upon his head, or else played hookey and spent his hours infishing, swimming or idling. 

Perhaps, in view of the recent contributions of science, it would bemore illuminating to say that the old education inoculated the childwith a predetermined educational virus. If the virus "took" the childwas declared immune to the bacteria of ignorance, illiteracy, stupidityand other prevalent social complaints. If the virus did not take theschoolmaster ostentatiously washed his hands of the recreant. 

II Standardization Was a Failure

Only one argument need be urged against this method of attacking theeducational problem--it did not work. In the first place, the mostbrilliant school successes often turned out to be the most arrant lifefailures, while the school derelicts frequently became life successes ofstellar magnitude. To the thinking man the inference was plain; theformula was not an unqualified success. Not only was this true of thechildren who went through school, but there were crowds of children forwhom the school held no attraction whatever. They attended a fewsessions, wasted a scant bit of energy in educational effort, and thendropped out, hopeless of obtaining results by further "study. "

The old education read out of the school those children who could notbenefit by its teachings. How utterly different the concept which hasgripped the minds of progressive, modern educators! Under their guidanceeducation has become what Herbert Spencer called it--a preparation forcomplete living. No longer a fixed, objective standard, education hasbeen recognized as an enlargement of the life horizon of each individualboy or girl in the community. "Teach us individual needs, " proclaim theeducational progressives, "and we will tell you what the character ofeducation must be. "

Thus has education ceased to be an objective standard, created by oneage and handed down rigidly immobile to the ages succeeding. Instead itis accepted as a fulfilment--a complement--to child needs. Alwayseducation has been regarded as a process of molding life and character. The chief difference between the old and the new education is that theold education made a mold, and then forced the child to fit the mold, while the new education begins by determining the character of childneeds, and then fits the mold to the needs. The old education was likethe farmer who built a corn-sheller, and then attempted to find ears ofcorn which would fit into the sheller; the new education is like thefarmer who first measured the corn and then built his sheller to fit thecorn. The old education selected the class which was able to conform toits requirements; the new education serves all classes. 

III Education as Growth

Under the impetus given to it by modern thinkers, education has becomethe direction of growth, rather than the application of a formula. Thechild is a developing creature. It has become the function of educationto watch over and guide the development. 

Nor do the modern schools consider mental development as the sole objectof educational endeavor. Physical growth is an equally essential part ofchild life. Therefore the direction of physical growth becomes just asvital a part of the educational machinery. Aesthetic and spiritualgrowth require like emphasis. Each phase of child life receivesindependent consideration. 

The old education through mental impression is giving way before the neweducation through physical, mental and spiritual expression. Expressionis the essence of growth; and since the school is to foster child growthit must place child expression in a place of paramount importance. 

Child needs, rather than abstract standards, have thus become the basisof school activity. The old education developed its course of study bysurveying the interests of adults, and picking from among them those, apparently the most simple, which were fit for children. The neweducation applies the laboratory method--studying children and theirinterests--reports, among its other findings, the quite evident factthat children enter into life as whole-heartedly as adults; that thefield of their interest lies, not in the left-over problems of olderpeople, but in their own problems and processes; and that therefore theeducator must found his philosophy and his practice on an understandingof the child and child needs. 

There is in the world a phenomenon called adult life, with its phases, problems and ideals. There is likewise in the world a phenomenon calledchild life, with its phases, problems and ideals. A completeunderstanding of either may not be derived through a study of the other. Child needs exist separate from and different from adult needs. It isthe business of the new education to understand them and meet them. 

Two appeals are reaching the ears of the modern educator: the first, theappeal of the child; the second, the appeal of the community. The appealof the child is an appeal for the opportunity of developing all of itsfaculties. Physically, children grow. The school, recognizing this fact, is making a vigorous effort to break the shell of custom, which hasconfined its activities to purely intellectual pursuits, and provide aphysical training which will lead the school child to perfect normalbody growth, as well as normal growth of mind. Even in its intellectualactivity the school is recognizing the importance of making the childmind an active machine for thought, rather than a passive storehouse forinformation. Though less emphasized, the training for sensual growth isbecoming of ever increasing importance in the new education. Above all, the aesthetic side of child life is being expanded in an effort to roundout a completed adulthood. 

IV Child Needs and Community Needs

The recognition of child needs, which forms so integral a part of thenew education, is paralleled by a similar recognition of the needs ofthe community. The progressive educator is laying aside for a moment thedetails of his task, and asking himself the pertinent question: "Whatshould the community expect in return for the annual expenditure of abillion dollars on public education?" What are community needs if notthe needs for manhood and womanhood? They are well summed up in threewords--virility, efficiency, citizenship. Possessed of those attributesa group of individuals rounds itself inevitably into a vigorous, progressive community. They are normal qualities which a people mustdemand if their social standards are to be maintained. Since theyconstitute so vital an element in social life, a community lavish in itsexpenditures for schools may surely expect the school product to bevirile, efficient, worthy citizens. The new education, recognizing thejustice of this demand, is crying out insistently for social, as well asindividual, training in the school. 

The new educational institutions have set themselves to meet the needsof the child and of the community. Their success depends upon theirability to understand these needs and to supply them. 

The old-fashioned schoolmaster asked: "How can I compel?" His answer wasthe rod. The modern schoolmaster asks: "How can I direct?" His answer isa laboratory, open-minded, scientific method, and a host of variedcourses designed to meet the needs of individual children and ofindividual communities. 

Communities vary as greatly in their characteristics as do children. Itis now certain that no formula will provide education for all children. Each new study of community needs makes it more evident that no systemwill supply education for all communities. It is the business of theeducator to study the individual child and the individual community, andthen to provide an education that will assist both to grow normally andsoundly in all of their parts. 

V The Final Test of Education

The school is a servant, not a master. In that fact lies itsgreatness--the greatness of its opportunity and of its responsibility. As an institution its object is service--assistance in growth. Development is the goal of education. Virility, efficiency, citizenship, manhood, womanhood--these are its legitimate products. Its tools andformulas are such as will most effectively serve these ends. When theincrease of knowledge leads to new methods and formulas which will provemore effective than the old ones, then the old ones must be laid aside, reverently, perhaps, but none the less firmly, and the new ones adopted. Changes may not be made hastily and without due consideration; but whenexperiment has shown that the new device is more advantageous infurthering the objects of education than the old and tried formulas, achange is inevitable. 

The first and last word on the subject is spoken when this question isasked and answered: "Does education exist for children, or do childrenexist for education?"

If children exist for education, then it is just that an objectiveeducational standard should be created; it is fair that a hard and fastcourse of study be mapped out in conformity with that standard; it isright that educational machinery be constructed which automaticallyturns away from the schools any child who does not conform to the schoolsystem as it is. If children exist for education, they should eitherconform to its requirements, or else, if they will not or cannotconform, they should be mercilessly thrust aside. 

If, on the other hand, education exists for children, then the primalconsideration must be child needs. If any one child, or any group ofchildren, has needs which are not met by existing educationalinstitutions, then these institutions must be remodeled. If an adequatecongenial education is a part of the birthright of every American child, then educational institutions must be reorganized and reshaped untilthey provide that birthright in the fullest possible measure. 

Already the answer has been formulated. Already educators haverecognized the potency of the saying: "The schools were made for thechildren, not the children for the schools. " Hence it follows that noschool system is so sacred, no method of teaching so venerable, notextbook so infallible, no machinery of administration so permanent, that it must not give way before the educational needs of childhood. 

Concerning the educational problem of to-day, yesterday cannot speakwith authority. Each age has its problems--problems which may be solvedby that age, or handed on unsolved to the future. The past is dead. Onlyits voice--its advice and suggestion--serves as a guide or as a warning. Of authority it should have not an atom. 

The educational opportunities of to-day are without peer. Theeducational machinery, ready at hand, is being transformed to meet thenewly understood needs of the child and of the community. The spirit ofthe new education is the spirit of service, the spirit of fair dealing, the spirit of growth for the individual and of advancement for society. Here are individual needs. There are aligned the social obligations andrequirements of the age. In so far as it lies within the power of theschool, the children who leave its doors shall have their needssupplied, and shall be equipped to play their part as virile, efficientcitizens in a greater community. Such is the spirit of the neweducation. 

INDEX

 Age distribution, 36. And school progress, 37. 

 Ages of childhood, 35. 

 American school system, Statistics of, 19, 20. 

 Applied education, need for, 156. 

 Applied work, Cincinnati, 136. In the grades, 161. 

 Average children and the old education, 39. Fallacy of, 34. 

 Berks County schools, manual training in, 186. Physical training in, 186. 

 Boys and girls, object of educating, 42. 

 Brown, E. E. , quoted, 13. 

 Carney, Mabel, quoted, 179. 

 Chancellor, W. R. , quoted, 40, 41. 

 Change, prevalence of, 24. In social structure, 25. 

 Child growth, stages of, 44. 

 Child needs, recognition of, 56. And community needs, 255. 

 Childhood, ages of, 35. 

 Children, needs of analyzed, 45. Social needs of, 48. Varying capacity of, 37, 38. Vs. Subject matter, 39. 

 Cincinnati, educational advantages of, 148. Kindergarten work in, 129. School system of, 125. School policy continued, 150. Special school work in, 141. Schools, co-operation in, 126. Creed of, 127. General support of, 126. New plans for, 149. Social centers in, 151. Social work of, 150. 

 City and country, educational value of, 29. 

 City home, effect of industrial changes on, 30, 31. 

 City life and the new basis for education, 28, 29. 

 Civic education, necessity for, 49. 

 Civics teaching in the grades, Cincinnati, 135. 

 Club activity in schools, recognition of, 235. 

 Columbus, Ga. , curriculum of schools, 244. Local needs basis of, 242, 243. School policy of, 242, 243. 

 Community and the school, 72. Education applied to a small town, 52. Life, contribution of schools to, 167. Needs and child life, 256. 

 Consolidated school, advantages of, 179, 180. Course of study in, 172. Daily program in, 174. Disadvantages of, 179. Growth of in South, 177, 178. 

 Continuation High School work, 109. Schools in Ohio, 76. 

 Co-operation, spirit of in consolidated schools, 172. 

 Country, the call of the, 170, 171. 

 Country life, transformation in, 171, 172. 

 Country school, daily program in a district, 173. Daily program in a consolidated, 174. Two possibilities of, 171. The duty of, 194. New geography, 185. Task of, 193, 194. Transformation in, 171, 172. Schools and physical training, 186. 

 Courses of study, correlation in, 135. Home school, 69. 

 Criticism of schools, general, 11. Significance, 17. 

 Curriculum, content of, 44. Requirements of, 51. 

 Defectives, treatment of, Cincinnati, 144. 

 Discipline, disappearance of, Oyler School, 165. 

 Distribution of age, 36. 

 District school, daily program in, 173. 

 Domestic science, course in Lowville High School, 122. Course in Page County, 190. Home school movement, 68. Importance of, 51. In the grades, 159. In a Kentucky school, 195-200. In Sleepy Eye schools, 213-216. Problems in, 160. 

 Draper, A. S. , quoted, 12, 13, 18. 

 Education and the industrial revolution, 26, 27, 30. And the success habit, 95. As growth, 254. City, effect of industrial changes on, 30, 31. Creed of, Cincinnati schools, 127. Elastic system of, 127. Essentials of, 15, 16. For home-making, 68. For life, 43. For the whole child, 81. In the early home, 27, 28. Place of physical training in, 71. Public lectures and, 73. Purpose of, 15, 16. New basis for, 24. New studies, 74. Object of, 22, 23, 42. Social importance of, 19, 20. Specialization in, 75. Standard of, 251. Theory and practice, 242-249. In Kentucky, reaching parents through children, 195-206. In the South, canning clubs, 234, 235. Corn clubs, 225-228, 229-233. Effect of on corn yield, 230-233. Improving health, 241. Improving home life, 239, 241. Teaching parents through children, 225-228, 229-233. 

 Educational advance in Cincinnati, 148. 

 Educational formulas, danger of, 252. 

 Educational needs and the small town, 52. 

 Educational problems of an industrial community, 55. 

 Educational work and the small town, 52. 

 Elementary grades, activities of, 87. Co-operation in, 86. Special studies for, 89. Spirit of service in, 90. 

 English, as a stimulus for other studies, 63. Constructive work in, 61, 62. New methods for, 61. Organization of, Grand Rapids High School, 111. Original work, 65. Story work and, 64. Use of in other studies, 111. 

 Enrollment and attendance, statistics of, 17, 18. 

 Facts, place of in education, 22. 

 Fallacy of average children, 34, 35. 

 Fisher, Irving, quoted, 15. 

 Formalism in education, danger of, 252. 

 Froebel, F. , quoted, 28. 

 Gary, plan of the schools in, 81. 

 Geography, new method of teaching, 59. 

 Geography and arithmetic, method of teaching in a southern school, 246-248. 

 Geography in Newark, 59. 

 Grade work, regeneration of, Cincinnati, 132. 

 Grades, amalgamation of with high school, 99. Applied work in, 161. 

 Grand Rapids High School, vocational guidance in, 110. 

 Growth, and child activity, 47. And education, 254. Through play, 46. Of children, stages in, 44. 

 Hanus, P. H. , quoted, 13, 14. 

 Health, importance of, 45. 

 High School, amalgamation of with grades, 99. At Lowville, 116. Course of study in Cincinnati, 138. Future of, 114. Growing importance of, 54-56. Popularization of Cincinnati, 137. Promotion to, without examinations, 94. Responsibility of, 92. Social status of, 92. 

 High school children, experiments with, 92. 

 High school courses, arrangement of, 108. 

 High school status, Superintendent Spaulding on, 92. 

 High school training, right of children to, 105. 

 High schools, co-operation with elementary grades, 98. Technical development of, 106. 

 Home, education in, 27, 28. 

 Home making, education for, 68. 

 Home school, activities of, 70. Course of work in, 69. In Indianapolis, 68. In Providence, 69. 

 Home visiting in the grades, 166. 

 Home work, disadvantages of, 79. Opportunities for in school, 79. 

 Huxley, T. H. , quoted, 16. 

 Industrial communities, educational problems, 55. 

 Industrial High School, place of in the school system, 248. 

 Industrial system, effect of on education, 27. 

 Institutions, effects of change upon, 26. 

 John Swaney School, course of study, 176. Equipment of, 176. Social life in, 176, 177. 

 Junior High Schools, outlook for, 98. 

 Kentucky education, teaching a community to cook, 195-200. 

 Kindergartens, at Gary, Ind. , 58. Progressive work in, 58. In relation to grade work, 131. Vitalized work in, 129. 

 Linden, Ind. , equipment of consolidated schools, 175. 

 Locust Grove School, method of teaching a community, 195-206. 

 Lowville High School, courses in, 121. Domestic science in, 122. Social service of, 123. Work in, 116. 

 Mass training, defects of, 101. 

 Mathematics, and life problems, 60. In Gary schools, 60. In Indianapolis schools, 60. 

 Mothers' clubs, organization of, 163. Work of, Cincinnati, 132, 163. 

 Needs of school children, 43. 

 New basis for education, 24. And city life, 28, 29. 

 New education in the South, 220-250. 

 Newark vacation school, 80. 

 Newton Technical High School, success of, 96. 

 North Highland School, industrial training in, 245, 246. Raising community standards, 245. 

 Oconto County, Wis. , schools, agricultural work in, 183-185. The new arithmetic, 184, 185. The new English, 184, 185. 

 Ohio, continuation schools, 76. 

 Old education, spirit of, 253. 

 One-room school, making it worth while, 182-187. Possibilities of, 182-187. 

 Open air schools, 71. Results of, 72. 

 Original work in English, 65. 

 Overwork, extent in schools, 14, 15. 

 Oyler School, social education in, 153. 

 Page County, Iowa, contests in schools, 189. Domestic science, 190. Ideal schools in, 188-193. Social life in, 191, 192. Training for country life, 189-190. 

 Physical training and education, 71. A part of school work, 82. 

 Play, and growth, 46. Creative forms of, 48. Stages of, 47. 

 Playgrounds, Cincinnati, 145. 

 Popularized High Schools, Cincinnati, 137. 

 Promotion for special students, 92. 

 Promotion, improvements in, 85. New methods of, 85. 

 Promotion average, fetish of, 40, 41. 

 Public lectures, and education, 73. 

 Rapp, Eli, quoted, 182, 186. 

 Regeneration of grade work, Cincinnati, 132. 

 Rural districts, needs of, 54. 

 School and community, 167. 

 School and shop work in high school, 109. 

 School feeding, 72. 

 School children, needs of, 43. 

 School equipment, educational nature of, 120. 

 School houses, social uses for, 117. 

 School machinery, abolition of, 84. Necessity for, 32. New standards of, 32. 

 School mortality, statistics of, 18. 

 School plant, wider use of, 73. 

 School progress and age distribution, 37. 

 School work related to shop work, 76. 

 Schools, agricultural training at Sleepy Eye, 208-211. Agricultural training in Oconto County, Wis. , 183-185. Agricultural training in Page County, 189, 190. And the community, 72. As public servants, 257. City, effect on children, 33, 34. Condition of, Montclair, N. J. , 13, 14. Consolidated vs. District, 171, 172. Courses at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 218. Courses fitted to community needs at Sleepy Eye, 207, 208. Domestic science at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 213-216. Elementary plumbing at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 209. Equipment at Sleepy Eye, 214. Equipment of Linden, Ind. , 175. General criticism of, 11. Influence on community at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 217. Local service of, 157. Mechanical course at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 214. Montgomery County, Ind. , 180, 181. Page County, Iowa, 189-193. Purpose of, 42, 43. Short agricultural course at Sleepy Eye, Minn. , 212, 213. Size of, 33. Social uses of, Cincinnati, 158. 

 Self-government in high schools, 102, 104. 

 Sex hygiene, importance of, 46. 

 Shop work and school work, 76. 

 Sleepy Eye, Minn. , course in domestic science, 213-216. Course in elementary plumbing and steam-fitting, 209. Courses given in schools, 218. Department of agriculture, 208-211. Equipment for mechanical work, 214. Fitting schools to community needs, 207, 208. Influence on community at large, 217. Mechanical course, 214. 

 Sleepy Eye, Minn. , short course in agriculture, 212, 213. 

 Small town, educational work of, 52. 

 Smith, W. H. , "Corn Club, " 228. 

 Social centers in Cincinnati schools, 151. 

 Social change, 25. 

 Social education, Cincinnati, 153. Content of, 49. 

 Social importance of education, 19, 20. 

 Social needs of children, 48. 

 Southern schools, corn clubs in, 225-228, 229-233. 

 Special school for defectives, Cincinnati, 144. 

 Special schools, Cincinnati, 141. 

 Specialization in education, 75. 

 Spencer, H. , quoted, 16. 

 Standard of education, 251. 

 Story work and English, 64. 

 Student organization in high school, 102. 

 Subjects of study, summary of, 51. 

 Success habits in education, 95. 

 Summer schools, Cincinnati, 145. 

 Technical High Schools, development of, 106. 

 Three "R's, " Progressive work in, 59. 

 Twelve-year schools, possibilities of, 99. 

 Tyler, J. M. , quoted, 16. 

 University of Cincinnati, social relations of, 140. 

 Vacation schools in Newark, 80. 

 Vernon school, before and after consolidation, 181. 

 Vocational guidance in high schools, 110. 

 Vocational training, appeal of, 78. Cincinnati, 142. In elementary grades, 77. Lowville, 117. 

 Washington Irving High School, procedure in, 102. 

 Waste in education, 12, 13. Extent of, 18, 19. 

 Wider use of the schools, Lowville, 117. 

 William Penn High School, student organization in, 104. 

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TRANSCRIBER'S NOTE:

Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully aspossible, including obsolete and variant spellings. Obvioustypographical errors in punctuation (misplaced quotes and the like) havebeen fixed. Corrections [in brackets] in the text are noted below:

page 4: missing quote added

 article, will exclaim, --"[']There is something that we must introduce into our schools. '"

page 8: added missing word

 VIII. Breaching [the] Chinese Wall of High School Classicism

page 9: typo corrected

 I. "Coöperation"[Co-operation] and "Progressivism"

page 29: typo corrected

 Standing on the threshhold[threshold] of his meager dwelling, this child of six looks forward

page 77: typo corrected

 school district establishes part-time day schools for the instruction of youths over fourteen years af[of] age who are engaged in regular employment, such board of education

page 94: typo corrected

 buying of materials and simple acounting[accounting] covered their mathematics. Those were the things which would probably

page 94: missing quote added

 school classes. They all brushed their hair. The boys were neater and the girls were becomingly dressed. ["]

page 103: typo corrected

 "Yes, it was a wrench, " Mr. McAndrews[McAndrew] admits. "You see, the teachers hated to give up. They had been

page 123: missing quote added

 will all bear directly on the work of the farm in which he is so deeply interested. ["]

page 167: missing quote added

 that is enough. We have no problem of discipline now. The children and their parents are working for the school. ["]

page 197: missing quote added

 first thing I knew, the way opened up--you never would guess how--it was through biscuits. ["]

page 220: typo corrected

 biggest burden we have to carry--the most determined enemy we have to fight? Well, sir, its's[it's] ignorance--the ignorance of the common man about his farm or his

page 233: missing quote added

 other States were equally good in view of the fact that a drought prevailed very generally throughout the South in 1911. ["][26]

Footnote 28: missing quote added

 For a full statement of the work of the Columbus Schools see "Industrial Education in Columbus, ["] Ga. , R. B. Daniel, page 246: missing quote added

 should use text-books as adults do books of reference, while the teacher guides and directs in the development of thought. ["]